The Talking Clock: How the British people pay to keep themselves clueless

The Talking Clock is an opinion based, independently authored, small 'c' conservative, libertarian blog.

"The laws of England are the birthright of the people thereof; and all the kings and queens, who shall ascend the throne of this realm, ought to administer the government of the same according to the said laws; and all their officers and ministers ought to serve them respectively, according to the same."
Act of Settlement, 1700/01

"And I do declare that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state or potentate hath or ought to have any
jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence or authority, ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm."
Bill of Rights, 1689
- an important and still exisiting part of OUR both written and unwritten English constitution

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

How the British people pay to keep themselves clueless

A high level court case is at the centre of this blog post, so we will be very careful in our wording.

However, The Times and The Independent both report on proceedings in the Court of Appeal over the allegations of British complicity in the torture of Binyam Mohamed.

David Miliband wants to stop redacted passages revealing detail of what supposedly happened to Mohamed from being made public.

The Independent has a profile of Jonathan Sumption QC who is representing the Government. Whilst making reference to his role in the Hutton inquiry into the strange death of Dr. David Kelly, the newspaper also notes the fees that this high flying lawyer commands - the newspaper suggests these are more than £1 million per year. The Indy dubs him the "best money can buy".

Leaving aside the fact we thought the brilliant Mike Mansfield is the best money can buy...

Who do you think is paying for the Government's lawyer?

Do you think it is David Miliband..? Of course it is not.

Do you think it is the Government..? Well, they are very indirectly...

But how do governments ever pay for anything?

They pay for it from our tax money.

So, the person paying for this lawyer is... we, the people.

Take that logic a step further...

So, the people paying to make sure that the British public do not learn what the British Government might or might not have been doing are... the British public.

It's quite beautiful, when you think about it.

The system of Government is so beautifully designed that we're actually paying to try and keep ourselves from learning anything.

Doh!

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Forever... Diana

...genuine goodness is threatening to those at the opposite end of the moral spectrum.

"And when I look at people in public life... I'm not a political animal but I think the biggest disease this world suffers from in this day and age is the disease of people feeling unloved, and I know that I can give love - for a minute, for an hour, for a day, for a month, but I can give. I'm very happy to do that and I want to do that."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"I think the British people need someone in public life to give affection, to make them feel important, to support them, to give them light in their dark tunnels. I see it as a possibly unique role, and yes, I've had difficulties, as everybody has witnessed over the years, but let's now use the knowledge I've gathered to help other people in distress."
- Diana, Princess of Wales, 1996

"Diana was the very essence of compassion, of duty, of style, of beauty. All over the world she was a symbol of selfless humanity, a standard-bearer for the rights of the truly downtrodden, a truly British girl who transcended nationality."
- Earl Spencer

"..she was our guardian, friend and protector. She never once allowed her unfaltering love for us to go unspoken or undemonstrated. She will always be remembered for her amazing public works. But behind the media glare, to us, just two loving children, she was quite simply the best mother in the world."
- Prince Harry

The People's Sovereignty

"...our membership of the European Union has removed our democracy; it has taken away the right of the British people to elect and dismiss those who make their laws. Our system of representative parliamentary democracy, for which millions have died over hundreds of years, has been frittered away. It no longer serves the people. That is why the time has come to give power back to the people. They deserve it anyway; it is their power and it belongs to them. Before long their anger will overflow if they do not get it back."

- Former UKIP leader Lord Pearson in the House of Lords, 5th February 2009

British resistance and liberty

"We British have in a very special way contributed to Europe. Over the centuries we have fought to prevent Europe from falling under the dominance of a single power. We have fought and we have died for her freedom. Only miles from here, in Belgium, lie the bodies of 120,000 British soldiers who died in the First World War.

Had it not been for that willingness to fight and to die, Europe would have been united long before now - but not in liberty, not in justice. It was British support to resistance movements throughout the last War that helped to keep alive the flame of liberty in so many countries until the day of liberation."

- Margaret Thatcher, Bruges, 1992

Tuesday, 15 December 2009

How the British people pay to keep themselves clueless

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