Why 12 million British smokers should vote UKIP

UKIP today reveal that the EU wants to ban smokers from even having a cigarette OUTSIDE! According to today's revelations, the EU are "intending to ban all smoking in public places, including beer gardens, parks, festivals" - a plan outline claim that UKIP backs up by providing the relevant policy briefing links.

Godfrey Bloom MEP says of the plan: "Today six pubs will close in the UK. Part of our culture is under threat and now is the time to say enough is enough. These jumped up puritanical dictators must be told where to get off. These bullies seem to have no truck with freedom, liberty or tolerance. Well, in that case we shall have to take it back. And if that means a certain level of civil disobedience, well, so be it".

Many voters possibly do not realise that UKIP have a very pro-choice policy when it comes to smoking. Their criminal justice document 'Rebalancing Justice' states clearly that:

15.5 The UK Independence Party would replace the smoking ban with legislation requiring the owners of premises – such as pubs, restaurants and bingo halls – to provide proper smoke free areas and/or dedicated internal smoking areas with adequate ventilation. If these measures are not possible, the premises would have to be designated all ‘non smoking’ or ‘all smoking’ and advertise this prominently outside.

So, if you're a smoker or a non-smoker who thinks that freedom of choice is an important matter of liberty, you know who to vote for...

Elsewhere on the Good Ship UKIP, leader Nigel Farage has echoed this blog's thoughts of today by pouring scorn over ZaNuLiebour's liberty-loathing biometric identity cards. Mr. Farage also issues a bleak, prophetic warning to libertarians, telling the British people: "If the Lisbon Treaty is ever in force the day will come when as citizens of a country called Europe we will all be forced to carry an ID card".

German Court apparently saves Britain... for now!

We'll have to do a bit more research on this later this evening, but the Conservative Party website is reporting that the German Constitutional Court has SUSPENDED ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

In their ruling, the German court has stated what we all knew all along - the treaty gives up even more national powers.

If all they have done is to throw a temporary spanner in the works, then we still sing 'hallelujah' and shout 'thank you!' to the people of Germany.

It gives us hope of a General Election in Britain (in lieu of the referendum they all promised us in their manifestos, of course) before Gormless and his New World Order loving cronies gift any more of our sovereignty to faceless bureaucrats who - like half of the ZaNuLiebour Cabinet - are unelected.

The Germans saving the British from a European dictatorial superstate - now there's a turn up for the books.

UPDATE: It seems the German court decision is somewhat complex. It appears from this BBC News report that in order to meet the German constitution criteria, the German Parliament has to bring in legislation to make sure that the German Parliament gets a say in EU proposals which tilt the balance of power from the nation state. We'll keep looking for more analysis of what today's decision means, but in the short term, it is at least a temporary delay to the relentless drive towards a federal European superstate. For the next couple of months anyway.

In Ireland we trust...

ZaNuLiebour - Same Old Danger

Fallen former 'Fräulein' Jacqui Smith's take on the V2 rocket - the compulsory biometric identity card - which she planned and pushed to use to control the population of Britain has suffered a supposed kick in the proverbials today.

Her replacement, Alan Johnson, has announced that ID cards will no longer be compulsory for airport workers and will instead be voluntary.

Some civil liberty-minded blogs are celebrating this as a signal that the hated proposed cards are dead and consigned to the dustbin.

But just before reaching for the Cava and celebrating (no one can afford Champagne in Gormless Buffoon's Britain)... mind the gap!

For this looks to be another example of electioneering double speak.

They KNOW we hate ZaNuLiebour for their wilful destruction of the liberties that we have valued in this once proud nation.

So, announce the removal of compulsion for a small group of people and a few wavering sheeple who might have deserted ZaNuLiebour for fear of their civil liberties might be loony enough to vote for them. Again.

However, watch out for the double-speak.

Yes, nothing is ever as it seems. For, in the same breath, we learn that plans for the roll-out of the 'voluntary' scheme are to be accelerated. It's not just Manchester they have in their sights - apparently Londoners are going to be gifted the chance to 'choose' to get one from next year.

We haven't got a crystal ball. And we can't read tea leaves. But we can see where this is headed.

Next thing you know, they'll target bars and clubs and accuse them of serving to people under-age, fining bar owners and shopkeepers and threatening to close them down.

So, shopkeepers and bar owners will only serve alcohol and cigarettes to people who can prove their age with... a 'voluntary' biometric identity card. Then it will be access to the National Health Service, access to Social Security... come on, it's glaringly obvious why they want to speed up a 'voluntary' scheme and how they'll still try to get their own very wicked way.

It's the same old ZaNuLiebour and the same old danger - whether Jacqui Smith still wears the jackboots or not.

The only way to ensure that our civil liberties are not eroded further is to vote for anyone but Labour. Yes, anyone. And oi! uneducated oaf at the back - putting an 'X' into a box next to the Labour candidate does not indicate you do not want them to win... sigh.

The Conservative Party recently warned companies wanting to make a big buck or six million from the ruination of our civil liberties not to bother investing in enslavement, as they plan to scrap the dreadful identity card scheme completely.

We love the BBC report on this. They state that "[s]ome 3,500 UK citizens have already applied for the cards".

And? Hundreds of thousands of British people voluntarily bought "classics" like Whigfield's 'Saturday Night', Aqua's 'Barbie Girl' and 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' by Bombalurina and Timmy Mallett.

Just because lots of people do something doesn't make it right. Take voting for Labour as an example...

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One of the private citizens who was hoping to drag Jacqui Smith into court, Anthony Weaver, has dropped his bid to bring her to book over her expense claims. Speaking of the decision, Weaver states that he could not meet the costs of ongoing legal action against the former Home Secretary.

Come on everyone - send him a tenner already...

Naughty, naughty, very naughty...

A report by the Home Affairs Select Committee today is to strongly criticise the police over the way they handled aspects of the G20 protests in London.

And that's it. Strongly criticising. No action taken. It's a case of 'naughty, naughty, don't do that again'.

So, that's okay then.

We're sure they're terrified of MPs tut-tut-tutting and wagging their finger.

They're bound to behave themselves in future.

And with them behaving themselves, the public can stop feeling quite so terrified of people in uniform.

Yeah, right. Call us cynical.

Sunday Paper Review: 28th June 2009

The Sundays have - quite unsurprisingly - dedicated acres of space to the death of Michael Jackson. The result is an interesting assortment of stories for those looking for other news content.

The Sunday Times speculates on the earnings potential of Michael Jackson's unfinished songs. One of their most significant political stories accuses Alistair Darling of embarking on "a further example of Government dishonesty" as he "tries to hide Labour cuts from voters".

The Mail on Sunday reveals that the Government have been submitting fake job applications to businesses to try and catch them discriminating against people with non-"Anglo Saxon" sounding names. A spokesperson (cough) for the British Chamber of Commerce has criticised the covert operation as "unethical".

The Observer has a story which we're sure you'll see more of on the big political blogs (especially likely is Guido, we suspect) as Ed Balls reveals that he's been in contact with Damian McBride.

Off on a big tangent is a story in the Sunday Express in which it is revealed that NASA have found the original moon landing tapes - a discovery that it is claimed will put an end to the long running conspiracy theory about the moon landings being faked. Or maybe even just add to it...

The quirky story of the day comes in The Telegraph which has a report on the 'most haunted' locations in the English Heritage property portfolio. We like that sort of 'news'. We like all those UFOs and crop circle stories which are also making the papers regularly these days too. Speaking of 'Most Haunted', the former anchor of the 'Most Haunted Live' show, Dr. David Bull, has reportedly stepped down as the PPC for Brighton Pavilion after being asked to head a Conservative Party review on sexual health policy.

The Independent on Sunday publishes it's annual 'pink list' of the 'the 101 most influential gay and lesbian people in Britain today'. They have Peter Mandelson at number one. Obviously, this blog prefers the people at numbers two, three, and four - really rather like them, in fact - but you'll have to look at the paper to see who they are.

So, there we go. A whole load of Michael Jackson tributes and reportage and a lot of fun stuff, too. Enjoy your Sunday.

German public join British public in demanding referendum

People of Britain - you are not alone.

No, it's not a Michael Jackson song reference.

Four days ahead of a German Constitutional Court ruling on the Lisbon Treaty, it has been revealed that a HUGE 77% of the people of Germany want to have their say on the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty in a referendum.

The results come in a poll of 1010 people conducted by German research firm Psyma, and it was conducted between the 8th and 10th June 2009.

Open Europe Director Lorraine Mullally said of the findings: "The public are crying out to be consulted - it is time to stop pretending that politicians know best, and inject some democracy into EU politics".

Some of the pro-Europe minority in Britain accuse those of us who demand our say of being xenophobes, 'Little England-ers' and so forth and claim that we would have our nation marginalised on the fringes of Europe.

However, the PEOPLE - not the political class - the PEOPLE of Germany clearly stand united WITH the PEOPLE of Britain in saying to the ruling elite:

You haven't consulted us. We want OUR say.

The Dutch had their say. The French had their say. The Irish had their say. All said 'NO'.

The British haven't been consulted. The Germans haven't been consulted. We all want our say.

So what is the masterplan behind the E.U. that makes it's leaders and architects so damned insistent that they're going to plough on with it anyway..? Just what is the big agenda that they're driving towards and making sure the people of each nation do not get a say in?

And that seemingly secret agenda might just be the reason that the PEOPLE of Europe - when they get asked - keep on saying 'no'.

BBC Question Time: 25th June 2009

Looking at what you've posted on The Talking Clock, after last week's BBC Question Time, Esther Rantzen became to Northern Ireland what Anne Robinson is to Wales. Will any of this week's guests offend any area of the United Kingdom?

Remember, in our review, our marks are out of twelve and based both on what they had to say and on how convincingly they 'performed'.

The official BBC site for Question Time is here.

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In a case of good timing, the Conservatives were represented on the panel by Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, the Shadow Security Minister. She appeared on the same day as David Cameron gave hope to those outraged at Labour's erosion of civil liberties by announcing ways in which a Conservative Government will abolish some of Labour's widely abused dodgy 'anti-terror' powers. Last week, Neville-Jones herself announced that the Conservatives will turn back the tide of 'Big Brother' Britain that has also been set up to intimidate the population by ZaNuLiebour. She started by saying that the key thing to restoring trust in Parliament after the expenses scandal is transparency and said that this "fag end Parliament" needs an election to sort it out. Said that she personally felt that the burqa is a bar to equality, but banning is a serious thing to do and must be reserved for serious issues. However, she said that there are some public roles in which wearing the burqa might be inappropriate. Called for the empowering of Muslim women to take their own decisions. On banks, she pointed out that the public 'are the board' following the bailouts and that the banks have to share some of the pain of the economic collapse.
Our Rating: Came across as intelligent and thoughtful. 8/12

ZaNuLiebour were represented by the Gormless-supporting Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform, Jim Knight. Knight said he supported Bercow as Speaker throughout the voting, but said his election alone will not restore trust in MPs and Parliament - trust he says has been "destroyed". Says Labour won't follow David Cameron's lead in which he has ordered MPs to repay expenses and will instead wait for an independent audit. In this context, he accused David Cameron of being 'an opportunist'. Cracked a joke with Dumblebee and asked whether he was being as well paid as his brother. On the burqa, he said Governments shouldn't stick their nose into people's private lives... which is a bit rich coming from a ZaNuLiebour politician - the party of control, civil liberty abuses, police brutality and constant population monitoring. Tried to justify the potential 'good deal' in the vast pay for RBS bosses. Drew groans from the audience when he said that the amount RBS paid it's bosses was up to the RBS board. On Prince Charles, he cracked a joke about the cost of Duchy Original biscuits - but the joke backfired when Dumblebee made reference in that context to MPs expenses. Becoming serious, he spoke in support of the Royal Family and their value for money.
Our Rating: Begrudgingly, he wasn't as irritating as some ZaNuLiebour politicians, we suppose - but out of touch with public opinion on a few occasions. 6/12

The LibDems were represented by Julia Goldsworthy. Said that those MPs who had claimed for mortgages which do not exist are far more important to focus on than those who have claimed for ridiculous things. Dumblebee asked whether she was embarrassed over claiming for "half a rocking chair" to which she started talking about commuting to Cormwall. No, we didn't understand what that had to do with a rocking chair either. Made an interesting point about the amount of money being spent on and through quangos. Said attempts to ban the burqa in France could, at a ludicrous extreme, lead to the 'fashion police' banning 'hoodies'. Said one of Britain's core values is freedom of expression. Openly proclaimed herself to be a Royalist and that the Royals are ambassadors for Britain.
Our Rating: Incredibly confident, even unshaken by questions of her half a rocking chair. 7/12

Plaid Cymru had a representative on this week's panel from... Newquay, Cornwall - Leanne Wood. Said that the UK has a problem with prison overcrowding so we should think carefully before sending MPs with dodgy expense claims to clinky. Called for an election, PR, a review of the whips system and revision of the House of Lords. Said that transparency in BBC spending was especially vital at a time when the public purse is overstretched. Called Sarkozy's bid to ban the burqa in France "ridiculous". Said the huge payment for bank bosses could not be justified. Said the public should have a say in bank finances. Said the UK Government had meddled enough in the Middle East and so we should keep out of Iran's problems. However, she expressed her hope that demonstrators could bring about change. Said we shouldn't spend a single penny on the Royal Family and we could save money by scrapping the Monarchy.
Our Rating: Very much a likeable personality which helped win over the studio audience, judging by their reaction to a lot of what she had to say. 7/12

And the person most likely to add a bit of colour to proceedings was the former editor of The Sun, Kelvin McKenzie. Drew laughter when giving a concise 'no' to the question of whether John Bercow's election to Speaker would sort out Westminster's problems. He said that what was needed instead was a General Election to clear out MPs from what he says will "always be known as 'the Crooked Parliament'". Praised Cameron for steps to repay dodgy expenses of Conservative MPs and called on Labour and the LibDems to follow Cameron's lead. Argued that the BBC should not pay vast amounts to it's 'talent' - especially as we, the licensee fee payers, pay such a large amount in the license fee. On Sarkozy and the burqa, he praised the French President for "raising the flag of a difficult subject" of the role of women in the Islamic faith - an issue politicians in the UK would be too scared to tackle. Spoke in favour and support of the RBS boss - but drew little support for that view from the audience. Said we should support the people demonstrating in Iran.
Our Rating: Not as shockingly outrageous as we hoped he might be. Hey ho... 8/12

One of the biggest audience responses was for a member of the public who, on the issue of the burqa and following a 'when in Rome' point, said he felt that Britain needs to become 'more British again'. There was another huge round of applause for a man in the audience who said someone in Newquay could do the job of the RBS boss for a tenth of the money. Huge applause for the gentleman who said he would rather Prince Charles get his comparatively small amount of public money than see vast amounts of taxpayer's cash be given away to the European Union.

Cameron wakes up to the alarming civil liberties crisis in Britain caused by authoritarian Labour... and promises change

The BBC were covering David Cameron's very important speech on civil liberties this afternoon, but for editorial reasons known only to themselves, they cut Cameron off part way through his announcement of what he was going to do about it - so if anyone from Conservative HQ reads this, put an embeddable video on your website and this blog will gladly carry it.

Anyway, it seems that Conservative Party leader David Cameron has woken up to the alarming erosion of civil liberties under ZaNuLiebour. He has attacked ZaNuLiebour for creating a "control state" with "shadowy powers" run by "political authoritarians" who are creating "endless laws" and "herding people into the net of the control state" with "over 3,000 new criminal offences in the last decade".

He said that the election of a Conservative Government would lead to a return to some level of personal freedom and political accountability - with people in control of the Government, not the other way around.

Cameron specifically condemned the misuse of terrorist legislation - particularly section 44. He also attacked attempts to remove juries from criminal trials and inquests. Cameron also expressed concern that attempts to erode the rights and justice from the British citizen were international with the ZaNuLiebour Government having signed up to deals giving alarming extradition powers.

Part of the policy pledges Cameron managed to outline before the BBC cut him off included:

- revoking powers of state authorities to enter your home without permission
- revoking powers that have been abused under RIPA (which he constantly referred to as "the grim RIPA")
- a pledge to review section 44 and stop and search powers
- to strengthen the legal right to trial by jury

We'll keep an eye on the Conservative Party's website for the rest of what Cameron was saying before the BBC cut him off and update this later (incidentally, Sky News had nothing of the speech at all).

In the meantime, we hope that Cameron is as good as his word. Someone needed to do something about the utterly vile way the ZaNuLiebour Government has ruined this country and stolen the civil liberties of the public - using their agents and the bullshit excuse of 'terror' in order to make us subject to harassment at any time.

It is with utter relief that we heard David Cameron speaking today. Utter, total, relief.

The Government should get out of our face, get out of our lives and if David Cameron recognises that, we will give him every bit of support in that endeavour.

Bravo Cameron. You've said it - and we pray you mean it.

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UPDATE: The BBC News website is now carrying the full text of David Cameron's speech and it is also up on the Conservative Party's website so you can now read what this blog is warmly applauding.
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UKIP to fight new Commons Speaker

UKIP have announced that they are to field a candidate in the Buckingham constituency at the next General Election.

Convention dictates that the major parties do not field a candidate against the Speaker of the House of Commons.

UKIP - standing at 10% in the latest Harris poll - say that they WILL field a candidate, Dave Fowler.

Explaining why they have decided to fight the new Speaker, John Bercow, UKIP leader Nigel Farage says: "John Bercow is not the man to bring the much needed transparency and honesty to Parliament. His own behaviour over expenses claims, second-house flipping and the rest have made him untenable as a long-term choice".

And I need you today, oh Mandy...

The Spectator has gone all conspiracy theory on us today.

The author of this blog does not fancy a walk in the woods or being driven through a French underpass, so we'll word this very carefully.

John Kampfner, writing in The Spectator, states that the decision to hold the Iraq inquiry in private centred on the relationship between Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson and Gormless.

Kampfner claims that in exchange for propping up Gormless when he looked doomed as PM, Mandelson "on Blair’s behalf... set down specific conditions for the Iraq war inquiry".

Kampfner goes on to claim that: "Not only would the hearings be fully in private, but the committee would, as with Hutton, be manageable".

One of the implications of Kampfner's piece is that Gormless is so pathetically weak that he obediently does whatever Mandelson tells him.

Make of it all what you will...

What the parties say today...

The Conservatives are calling today "demolition day" for Gordon Brown's tax and spend policies.

Gormless will find it increasingly difficult to wave the spectre of 'Tory cuts' or '10%' figures at the Conservatives after Bank of England boss Mervyn King criticised Labour's budget which has led to "a situation where the scale of deficits is truly extraordinary".

In a separate development, the OECD has issued a stark warning about the UK economy and their latest figures have been seized upon by both the Conservatives and LibDems to attack Labour's running of the economy.

The Green Party are attacking new Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham. Burnham recently resigned as Vice President of the British Fluoridation Society to avoid accusations of a conflict of interest. On the same day as he resigned, he told a conference that the country should speed up fluoridation plans. The Green Party state that Burnham "was instrumental in proposing the inclusion of compulsory water fluoridation in the Government's 2003 Water Act" and yet "Burnham's links with the Society were not included in his register of interests, despite strict Parliament regulations stating such interests must be declared". The Green Party is strongly opposed to water fluoridation which it says is "mass medication" of the population.

UKIP are getting all excited about the fact that a new Harris poll shows that 10% of people are planning to vote UKIP at the next General Election. The Harris poll makes fascinating reading (here in .pdf format) with the 'minor' parties polling some quite high numbers.

The SNP is trumpeting a claim that Scotland is leading the world in climate change efforts.

Plaid Cymru are flagging a higher education scheme in the Heads of the Valleys area.

The British National Party are accusing Trevor Phillips of the EHRC of hypocrisy after highlighting what they say was his call for companies to adopt "anti-white hiring policies" in 2007.

The LibDems have nothing new today.

Respect and credit where due...

Goodness. Not normally a fan of George Galloway. Far from it, in fact. However, he's just given one of those speeches in the House of Snouts which occasionally makes one sit up - on, unsurprisingly, the Iraq inquiry debate.

If the debate is repeated on BBC Parliament later, try and catch it for Galloway. Really robust performance - as is characteristic of Galloway on this issue.

In addition to his points on Iraq, he was pretty much on the button in expressing that large body of public opinion which holds in contempt the current crop of careerists occupying British political position.

At the very least, we'll try and remember to update this with the Hansard text later.

Fascinating debate... there have been one or two speeches which have been of a very high standard this afternoon. Conservative MP Richard Shepherd impressed again and spoke with his statesman like gravitas.

One of the interesting things is the number of Labour MPs accepting that they may have been told falsehoods about the case for war and the number expressing 'regret' for voting in favour of it.

One wonders if they now accept that they were told falsehoods of the effects of the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty and whether they now regret voting in favour of it?

PMQs: 24th June 2009

This is John Bercow's first PMQs as Speaker.

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Patrick Hall (Lab) asked about affordable housing and used this point to not question Labour's failure in affordable housing but to attack the Conservatives. The new Speaker did well and did not let him get too far into the presumably planted part of the question.

Gormless vs. Cameron

David Cameron: Started by asking about capital expenditure and asked Gormless to correct figures that he had given to the House of Commons a week ago, at which point he did have to concede that there will be a fall in capital expenditure - but Cameron said the answer from Gormless was not good enough. Cameron rallied off figures which showed that Gormless had not been truthful and asked for an apology. Gormless decided to invoke his 'Tory cuts' mantra. Cameron said: "The Prime Minister has been caught absolutely red handed" and again demanded an apology. He got no such thing, just a '10% cuts' charge. Cameron calmly pointed to the budget red book and said that Gormless had to explain that what he said last week was wrong. Gormless could only stick to his 'Tory cuts' claims. Cameron cited Cabinet reports which said that the attacks on Tory cuts would not stand up to scrutiny. Cameron demanded truth, transparency, honesty, and openness - he demanded Gormless find his moral compass and tell the truth. Gormless listed a lot of claims about Tory cuts.

Paul Farrelly (Lab) asked about the Iraq inquiry and Gormless said that he could not think of an inquiry with wider terms of reference.

Gormless vs. Nick Clegg

Cleggy said that Gormless had been wrong on many things and said Labour's only gear was reverse. He charged Gormless with being wrong on public spending. Clegg pointed out that balancing the nation's books required some tough questions and said that Gormless had no ideas. Gormless responded with his "it's right" to invest through a recession line.

Jim Cunningham (Lab) asked a '10% cuts' question. Will the next Labour MP also be asking about '10% cuts' too?

James Dudderidge (Con) asked whether Damien McBride had been continuing to communicate with the Labour Government.

Ashok Kumar (Lab) asked about steel in his constituency. At least he didn't ask about Tory cuts.

Daniel Kawczynski (Con) asked about Gormless insulting the Polish ruling party.

Tom Clarke (Lab) asked about Burma. Gormless said that Burma may face further sanctions.

Peter Bone (Con) asked about high unemployment in Wellingborough and asked whose fault it is. Gormless said the high unemployment figures supported Labour policy on public expenditure.

Martin Salter (Lab) asked about the order paper for the day's business and the scheduling of business.

Bob Russell (LibDem) asked why Essex County Council was closing two secondary schools. Gormless said investment is rising.

Barry Gardiner (Lab) listed some crime reduction figures and used it to allude to '10% cut' claims.

Mark Harper (Con) asked about mental health and it's effect on the qualification for Members of Parliament.

Jim Dobbin (Lab) asked about funding crisis in higher education and said that they need help getting out of a mess.

Phil Willis (LibDem) said the increase in black, mature and lower socio economic group applicants for Higher Education was a cause for celebration and asked about onward investment.

Linda Gilroy (Lab) asked about high water bills in the South West and requested a meeting to discuss solutions.

Sir Paul Beresford (Con) asked about Equitable Life and compensation. Gormless said there's another inquiry.

David Crausby (Lab) asked for budgets for the armed forces and tried to attack the Conservatives supposed budget cuts. The new Speaker was having none of it and cut the question. Gormless still put his '10% cuts' mantra into the answer.

Julian Brazier (Con) asked about the armed forces in Afghanistan.

Phil Wilson (Lab) attacked the Conservatives EU grouping. Gormless said the Conservatives are 'isolated on the fringes of Europe'. Many members of the British public would rather we were not involved with the EU at all.

Susan Kramer (LibDem) wanted to know about Sri Lanka.

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The Talking Clock's verdict

The new Speaker, John Bercow - did well to spot planted questions and interrupt them and tried to exert authority over an overexcited House. 9/12

Gormless - displayed his normal, charmless angry persona. 5/12

David Cameron - cool as a cucumber, holding firmly to his point, speaking with the gravitas one would expect of a leader. 10/12

Nick Clegg - failed to carry any kind of punch and Gormless easily batted his question aside. Needs to work on his lightweight routine. 5/12

The five million dollar question (well, £5 million actually)

Did you hear about Gormless giving £5 million extra of OUR money - yes, our money - to Zimbabwe?

It's about the only thing Gormless is good at - giving the British taxpayers cash away.

Still, compared to the billions upon billions that he took from the hard working British taxpayer which he then gave to the banks, it's small fry.

That said, we still want to know what that £5million of our money has been given to Zimbabwe for.

Food and 'education aid' is the official line.

Likely story.

£5 million sounds more like the consultation fee for lessons in population control and cracking down with violence on political dissenters, if you ask us.

Don't worry, though. We believe there's a good chance that Iran and North Korea might be sending the British public similar amounts through recognised charities after becoming concerned about human rights and civil liberties abuses in Britain.

So, if you fall victim of the never ending catalogue of abuses that are being inflicted upon the British public, just remember that it's you - the taxpayer - who paid for it. Enjoy it in a kinda masochistic perverted pleasure kind of way. May as well get yor money's worth.

Would Jacqui Smith have banned Sarkozy..?

Former (thankfully!) Home Secretary Jacqui 'Jackboot' Smith made banning a few supposedly controversial types from Britain one of her last acts of office.

So, we wonder what she would have done had she been in office today.

According to the Daily Mail, France's President Sarkozy has today called for the Islamic burqa to be banned - saying it "is not a sign of religion, it is a sign of subservience".

Don't have a pop at us over that sentence. We're citing it - not thinking it.

We have no opinion on the burqa, but we have chuckled at the Old Holborn blog's suggestion that they're great for people "tired of being "CCTV'ed".

Anyway, Sarkozy's comments would probably have been deemed 'offensive' and that's what Jacqui Smith banned US 'shock jock' Michael Savage from Britain for - being 'offensive', we're told.

So, would Jackboot Jacqui have banned Sarkozy from Britain?

And how fast would Nick Griffin of the BNP been arrested if he'd stood up and said the same?

It's another one of those strange curios which makes us raise an eyebrow and ask 'did he really say that?'.

Terrible timing... but congratulate the Conservatives!

It's terrible timing. News of something positive (for a change) is coming out on the same day as the election for the new Speaker so this is going to make little in the way of fanfare in the headlines.

However, the Conservative Party must be congratulated now that news of their new European Parliament grouping has been officially announced.

The new grouping - which the Conservative Party website says is 'likely' to become the fourth largest grouping in the European Parliament - comprises fifty-five MEPS from eight nations: Czech Republic, Poland, United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Hungary, Latvia and The Netherlands.

Calling themselves the 'European Conservatives and Reformists Group', the Conservative Party have signed up to a group declaration which explicitly states that they believe in "the sovereign integrity of the nation state" and "opposition to EU federalism".

The declaration (here in pdf format) also states that they will be calling for "free enterprise, free and fair trade and competition, minimal regulation, lower taxation, and small government as the ultimate catalysts for individual freedom and personal and national prosperity".

Small wonder that there have been hysterical howlings about the Conservatives getting mixed up with 'racists', 'homophobes' and 'holocaust deniers', huh? Because here is the real truth - the Conservative Party's new group is saying "stuff you" to the plan to make us into one homogenised identikit culture in a federalised Europe.

In calling for less regulation, they will be telling the constant rule makers to get their great big noses out of our lives - and our fruit bowls.

And by talking about 'personal freedoms', lets hope that the Conservatives will strike back at the civil liberty erosions that have originated in the EU but been carried out with great delight and gusto by ZaNuLiebour.

Okay, it's not withdrawal from the EU. However, it's pretty damn good, all the same.

So, how bizarre that they should announce this in the shadow of the Speaker election.

They've struck a nail on the head pretty firmly here and need to make sure they sing this from the rooftops.

Big thumbs up, Tories!!

New Speaker may be tainted before they start

Many people were hoping that the election of a new Speaker today might usher in with it a greater era of transparency, accountability and - dare we say - democracy into the tainted House of Snouts.

Alas, if reports in two of today's broadsheets are anything to go by, we're in for more of the same.

The Times states that Labour Party whips are working behind the scenes and are "accused of colluding with Conservatives" to ensure Margaret Beckett is elected the new Speaker.

What makes The Times' claim more credible is the very similar story running in The Telegraph. Where the two differ in early reports is that The Telegraph names at least one of the MPs blowing the whistle on interference by Labour Party whips in the race to become Speaker.

So, if Margaret Beckett wins the Speaker gig today, the British public are probably going to see her with at least as much disdain as they viewed Michael Martin. Which makes the whole thing a farce, a charade beneath contempt.

Let us remember that the whips - which all political parties have - are the people who bend the arm of your MP to make them toe the party line. What that means is that your MP might not be able to vote how you want them to - even if they agree with you, support your view, and stood on a specific manifesto commitment.

A referendum on the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty, perhaps.

The whips system taints British politics as much as dodgy expenses, because it works to ensure that your MP does not serve YOU, the voter and taxpayer, it merely makes politicians into subservient tribal lapdogs.

--

Talking of being made subservient little lapdogs, The Guardian is reporting another case which should cause concern to civil libertarians. As in the recent past, it's a shocking piece of video footage that we are being asked to form our opinions on.

If it carries on at this rate, they'll soon be using tasers on us for dropping litter.

We did hope to start the day with a funny slogan and a comic make up of the person we wanted to see made Speaker in a wig and flowing black gown.

Alas, we are starting the week in the same way as we ended the last one - somewhat depressed at the state of democracy and oppression in Britain and seriously praying for the end of the nightmare that is ZaNuLiebour.

Spot the difference..?

Interesting piece on BBC News just now. Apparently, political protesters in Iran are being further clamped down on and are now being accused of being involved in 'terrorist activity'.

Seems a global tactic. They do the same here.

Except here, you're also accused of the same if:

1. You're a trainspotter
2. You are an octogenarian who shouts 'rubbish!' at a Labour Party conference
3. You put your dustbin out on the wrong day
4. Your dog has a poo in the park
5. You want to leave a football match early
6. You want to join a peaceful protest about any political issue whatsoever

...and so on and so on and so on.

And, especially with point six, you run the risk of being bludgeoned to death, violently assaulted, locked up for four weeks for no reason, whisked away in the night to a foreign country...

So, while we might rightly say 'oh, that's terrible' with regards to Iran... some of us at home - thankfully a dwindling minority - are still daft enough to think: "nothing to hide, nothing to fear".

And these are just some of the reasons why we cannot wait to see the back of ZaNuLiebour.

Sunday Paper Review: 21st June 2009

You don't want to hear any more about MP's expenses, do you? The Talking Clock is totally bored of being outraged now. So, while all that stuff is in the newspapers in abundance, we're moving on... but there's still plenty to be outraged at if you like that kind of thing.

The Observer, for example, reports on a "confidential memo" (or at least it was) which it says outlined plans to provoke the war with Iraq. This one will cause an almighty row, we feel. The newspaper also notes that there's a separate inquiry going on in The Netherlands that will publish it's report in November. So, The Talking Clock wonders whether it's worth putting £10 on Gormless calling an October General Election..?

The Independent on Sunday picks up on what many other papers have which is the assertion that Tony Blair was instrumental in getting the Iraq inquiry made private, but the IoS also ponders whether any move to hold the Iraq inquiry in public would scupper Tony Blair's hopes of becoming the EU President. Oooh, do we sniff conspiracy theory in the air? We do like one of those.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reveals that Gormless is far from secure as, it says, the Cabinet turned on him last week and started openly questioning his tactics for taking on the Tories. There's a "cabinet split" about our Gormless, apparently. Didn't half a dozen who couldn't abide Gormless just this minute walk? And those that remained are still split? Oooh, that imminent summer Parliamentary recess - will it be a curse or a blessing for our Unelected PM..?

The Mail on Sunday has a story which speculates on Gormless resigning BEFORE the next General Election to avoid suffering a humiliating defeat. They suggest he could announce he's going in the New Year. Only another six months of ruining the country and gifting us lock, stock and barrel to the European Union, then...

However, before proud British patriots get too excited at the hopes of having a country left to try and pull back from Brussels, the News of the World carries an interview-ette in which Gormless insists he will lead Labour into the next General Election. Which, in a bittersweet way, we're rather pleased about... for somewhat 'sadistic pleasure' reasons, you understand.

Now, we've waited a week for an official response from the Tories over Ken Clarke's comments on BBC1's The Politics Show last Sunday. Still nothing official, but there's a report in The Telegraph which says David Cameron has been telling Conservative MPs not to listen to Ken Clarke on the matter - that they're still as opposed to the Lisbon Treaty as ever and that Ken Clarke has been "slapped down" over his comments. The article is supported in a comment piece by the ever likable Dan Hannan who tries to reassure his followers (The Talking Clock included) that David Cameron's supposed eurosceptic position is for real while accusing Peter Mandelson of sacrificing the Labour Party on the table of EU subservience. This leaves us in a quandary. We like Dan Hannan. We mostly trust Dan Hannan. We want to believe Dan Hannan. But do we trust any British politician not to betray our nation over Europe anymore? Maybe the Conservatives should make their manifesto a legally binding document, somehow...

Saturday Paper Review: 20th June 2009

Here's The Talking Clock's guide to the stories not to be missed in this Saturday's papers:

The Guardian have an interview with Gormless in which he says of being PM: "I could walk away from this tomorrow" and reveals that he thinks he could "move to teaching". Our response to the first part of that is 'yes please'. But please don't inflict yourself on the children. Take note, too, of his use of the phrase 'common purpose'. Coming after his regular use of the phrase 'new world order', we reckon he's deliberately trying to get talked about on all of those conspiracy websites we read when we get bored.

The Independent talks about the cosy Brussels stitch up of the British financial sector and says that France's President Sarkozy has undermined Gormless's claims to have done the right thing by the UK. Also take note of the following sentence and as you read it, absolutely know that - especially when it comes to the EU - politicians are renowned for double-speak. So, repeating this as The Independent report it, Gormless is claiming to have defended us from: "the threat that British taxpayers could have to bail out European banks against the Government's wishes". And you know what that probably means, don't you?

Two days before the new Speaker of the House of Commons is chosen, Frank Field tells The Telegraph why he's throwing his support behind Ann Widdecombe for the job. We'll have to stop agreeing like this, Frank.

Away from politics, The Times carries a report on demands for a public inquiry into the events in London on 7/7. The most interesting aspect of it is their comments box where the weight of public opinion from around the globe seems to suggest that 7/7 was an inside job, "a black op", or - put another way - "a false flag" operation. We were quite surprised to see readers of The Times questioning the official version of events. We make no comment.

The Daily Mail has what it calls a 'special investigation' into the backstory of the race attacks that took place in Belfast and it asks who is "really to blame". There's also an article by Peter Oborne in which he suggests that the Conservatives are falling out... over Tony Blair. Strange, but true?

The Times also poses the most ridiculous question of the day when it asks: "Is the countryside racist?". No dear. Last time I checked, the countryside was lots of fields, trees, cows, pigs, sheep, the occasional stream, the chug of a tractor and the faint aroma of animal poo...

And The Sun has a lovely photograph of the world's most expensive football player wearing nowt but a pair of red shorts with his legs wide open... and someone's head bobbing around his crotch area.

Enjoy your weekend.

Lib Dems rocked in cash row

The spotlight on politics and money has taken another turn tonight as the Liberal Democrats look set to be centre of an investigation into a very substantial donation they received in 2005. The details have been revealed by the BBC following broadcast on their Newsnight programme.

The sum of money involved is £2.4million which puts a duck house and two porn films in the shade...

Open Europe: Ireland offered absolutely nothing

Open Europe have responded to the so-called 'promises' made to the people of Ireland with regards to the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty today. They point out that the Irish will be made to vote on the exact same Lisbon Treaty as they rejected first time around and that none of the empty 'promises' carry any kind of weight or binding.

Open Europe's director Lorraine Mullalley writes: "The outcome of this latest round of EU backroom deals is pretty clear – the Irish people will be asked to vote on exactly the same text they rejected last year – which is precisely what the Irish government promised not to do".

She concludes: "Forcing Irish people to vote again on exactly the same Treaty, while simultaneously telling them they have listened to their concerns is an extension of the shocking dishonesty that saw EU leaders trying to pretend that the Lisbon Treaty was different from the Constitutional Treaty rejected by France and the Netherlands. This is EU politics at its worst".

A detailed analysis of what has supposedly been offered to the Irish (conclusion - absolutely nothing) is provided in this PDF file from the Open Europe site.

Eeek... the Clock went mainstream!

Goodness, The Talking Clock appears to have gone a bit mainstream today. We're being linked to from the BBC's Question Time page.

So, welcome to BBC viewers. This is a harmless blog. We just want a referendum on the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty as we were promised and we are disgusted at the erosion of civil liberties under Labour. We'll go quietly when these two things are put right.

In the meantime, do we have to be careful about creating ludicrous names for politicians now? Will we get in trouble for referring to two of our politicians as "Gormless" and "Minibrained"..?

Heck... compared to some names that people have used to describe our Unelected PM, these are pretty tame.

So, while we raise our guard against flying staplers, can we ask our new visitors whether you have looked at the excellent policies of UKIP yet?

Or, if you're a Tory, have you woken up to the brilliance of Dan Hannan? We also really like this Conservative leader...

And if you're a Labour supporter... our condolences. We supported them once, too. Then we woke up. Labour could be worthy of a vote again if they had this man or this woman as their leader. Be brave.

Welcome, have a laugh, and have a great weekend.

UKIP applaud Boris... but demand answers from Cameron

UKIP are giving a big hand of congratulations to the ever more likeable Boris Johnson after the latter slammed the Government in it's failure to protect the City of London from EU regulation.

UKIP cite Boris as telling the CBI: "It is crazy that we are so passively and supinely accepting EU directives on hedge funds, capital adequacy and other issues. We should be far more robust in defending the City of London. We are crazy to go around attacking our financial services industry and should hope for its speedy recovery."

This blog liked Boris before this. We like him even more now.

Boris for Prime Minister, we say...

Meanwhile, Nigel Farage gives his verdict on the latest EU skullduggery...

This post is difficult to understand. As were the two sources we're blogging about. Thank EU.

Does anybody ever understand Gormless? We just tried but struggled. He's in Brussels with his snivelling schoolboy sidekick Minibrained. Minibrained? Gosh, this spellcheck is rotten. Miliband...

So, what have they said? Good question.

The one thing we did understand was them saying that they want Jose Manuel Barroso to have another term in the gig of Top Dog. And that they'll do all they can to make it so. Awww. Even though roughly only six people in Britain gave the ZaNuLiebour party permission to go to the European Dictatorship and represent us.

More people voted for the Conservatives and UKIP in the last lot of European elections, so maybe in the name of democracy, Gormless and Minibrained (damn spellcheck again) should naff orf and let those who we elected to represent us on EU matters have their say first?

Still, Gormless has form when it comes to elections and democracy.

Gormless and Minibrained had something to waffle on with regarding Iran accusing the UK of being a banana republic ruled over by a brainless dictator and civil liberties abuser. Or something.

And then we got to the Big Mamma. Completely incoherent in the waffle dished up by Gormless and Minibrained. Probably designed that way, so we'll see what the broadsheets make of it later.

Anyway, it seems that Ireland have been offered something or another to try and persuade their populace to consent to the signing of the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty. They do not spell these things out clearly, so we'll wait and see what UKIP make of it later.

The big thing is, however, that they are adamant that these new things being offered to the Irish do not effect the way the Lisbon Treaty applies to Britain. And they were so insistent upon that too, bless 'em. They probably think we believe them.

And they are going to deny the House of Commons a say on what the Irish have been promised until an accession treaty. Which would be after an Irish referendum. Which means the Lisbon Treaty would come into force if the Irish people are conned into agreeing to it in their democracy ignoring second referendum.

So, seeing as ZaNuLiebour and their EU bosses are trying to do things with the Constitutional Lisbon Treaty and not put this to the House of Commons, we will sit back and wait to hear an announcement from Stuart Wheeler, UKIP or the Conservatives on what action they will take to prevent this happening.

We'll pledge £20 to Stuart Wheeler if he wants to take it back to the High Court...

Review: BBC Question Time, 18th June 2009

Readers of this blog are advised that the following is our review - no more than a personal opinion - of the panellists and what they had to say. Our rating is out of twelve and is based both on performance and how much we agreed with what they had to say.

If you missed the show, you can catch up by following the links on the BBC's Question Time website:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/question_time/8101704.stm

Lord (Charlie) Falconer (Labour) Recently suggested that it would be better for the Labour Party if someone other than Gordon Brown were to lead the party. You don't say! Said there was "no point" in the redacted versions of MP's expenses that had been released and it just makes everything look like a "cover up". Staying with the cover up theme, he said felt that the Iraq inquiry should mostly be held in public. Struggled when given opportunity by Dumblebee to criticise Gordon Brown for the decision to make the inquiry private, but when asked explicitly, he repeated his opinion that Brown should go so that the Labour Party can unite. Mostly on the quiet side, but keeping quiet is probably a good tactic for all Labour politicians.
Our Rating: 6/12

Ken Clarke (Conservative) Has just caused a backlash against the Conservative Party by suggesting that if Ireland ratify the Lisbon Treaty, then the Tories will virtually "do nothing" to get us our country back. The party has barely uttered a murmur to amend the way his revelations about their position on the issue have been received by the public since. On MP's expenses, there was much laughter when it was pointed out how many of his bills were subject to overdue reminders. He earned on-side laughter when he said that point was "scraping the barrel". Spoke a lot of sense on expenses and called the redaction "ludicrous" and "ridiculous". Said some MP's "should be prosecuted" as "they would be in any other walk of life" - which won him a round of applause with the studio audience. However, he also called for a sense of proportion. On Iraq, he said the only person who believed the inquiry should be in private was Gordon Brown and that he would "have to climbdown". Accused Gormless of being "a control freak" utterly unsuitable to lead the country. On immigration, he said we have to accept that in the modern world, people move about between different countries and said the British are incredibly tolerant people. Said xenophobia and bigotry have no place in the British way of life. Was asked about the Conservative Party's new grouping in Europe and claimed that he did not know who the party was aligning with. Throughout questions on the EU, he was speaking somewhat tellingly as though he was separate from "they", i.e. the Conservatives. When asked by Ed Davey, he said that he would not have taken the Tory decision to leave the EPP grouping.
Our Rating: 9/12

Ed Davey (Lib Dem) Dumblebee pointed to an entry on Davey's expenses that was redacted. Davey said he was letting his local press see unredacted copies of all his expenses tomorrow and he thought the House of Commons authorities "had gone mad with the black ink" in concealing details from the public. Pointed out that Lib Dems and some Tories had tried to revise the system before but were defeated by Labour. On the Iraq inquiry, he implicitly accused the Labour Government of a cover up, listing political reasons he thought had motivated Gormless to have the inquiry in private. Made the stand out point on a question about BA workers being asked to work for nothing for a month. He said that the Chief Executives might be able to afford to work for nothing, but the lowest paid staff should not be made to. Said that he thought the race attacks in Belfast were a move towards nationalism which we have to fight. Said that British people benefit from the freedom to move throughout the European Union. Accused Prince Charles of abusing his power in intervening on the Chelsea barracks matter.
Our Rating: 6/12

Polly Toynbee Guardian journalist who had previously been a huge supporter of New Labour and Gordon Brown, but recently used her column to call on Gormless to go. Said the redaction of MP's expenses was "extraordinary" and "a terrible blunder" which she could not understand. Was warmly applauded when she called it all "very peculiar". Spoke passionately and said she hoped Parliament had got the message over the expenses scandal and she hoped that we would see real change - including proportional representation. Spoke a lot of sense on background to the Iraq war but did not have too much to say about the inquiry being in private rather than in public. Talked with great sense on the inequalities in pay throughout Britain. Made a good point about immigration having been of benefit to employers, not necessarily to those on the minimum wage. Called for an amnesty on illegal immigrants. Condemned Prince Charles over his role in stopping the Chelsea barracks development and called for the end of the Monarchy after the current Queen's reign.
Our Rating: 6/12

Esther Rantzen The That's Life! host and Childline founder recently announced that she was considering standing for Parliament against controversy stricken Margaret Moran MP. Spoke with great thought and intelligence on what she called "the cover up" of MP's expenses. The audience sat in complete silence and listened to her with great respect. Won big support when she demanded all MP's apologise rather than looking to find something or someone else to blame for the outrage. Not much to say on the status of the Iraq inquiry. Spoke with great passion to condemn racist attacks in Belfast. With humour, she strongly defended Prince Charles for intervening on the architecture designs for Chelsea barracks.
Our Rating: 10/12

While you're picking over MP expense claims...

Many of the blogs seem to be doing stuff on M.P. expense claims today. Not surprising.

We hope that many will also pick up on the precedent that has been set today as judges have given the green light for a trial to be held without a jury.

Obviously, no one can comment on the criminal case in question. But a right to trial by jury has been part of British justice for centuries. And it's now yet another cornerstone of the British way of life that has been dismantled on ZaNuLiebour's watch.

Ireland can still S.O.S. (Save our Sovereignty)

Gormless is in Brussels with his New World Order (EU Branch) chums today. And he's just given a press conference, carried on Sky News.

'Global, global, global'. That's his mantra for financial regulation. We can't manage our own affairs any more. We have to be globalised and governed by... oooh, someone whose name and face we do not know and who we cannot vote in or out, probably.

Thankfully, the link with Brussels was cut off. Gormless may well have been announcing something important that we should know about, but at least we didn't have to listen to him. We can read it in the newspapers tomorrow.

What he did say was in reference to the Lisbon Treaty. Just before he got cut off, he was in the process of saying that any guarantees given to Ireland must not effect the way the Lisbon Treaty impacts on the UK. Then he got cut off by a dodgy line into Sky.

So, we did a search for what the Irish have been saying. If, like The Talking Clock, you are fiercely opposed to being part of a European superstate, then you might find a little hope in your heart if you read this report in today's Irish Times.

Wonder if Gormless will have to talk about 'Tony Blair for EU President' while in Brussels?

Ka-ching! Expenses go online for all.

If you wanted to know what YOUR M.P. has been claiming on expenses but have found the Telegraph hasn't got round to them yet, then today's the day you can check for yourself.

Here's how:

1. Have no life
2. Love looking at huge swathes of blackness (known as 'redacting' and raising eyebrows with the mainstream media)
3. Click the link and look your MP up... and here's the link:

http://mpsallowances.parliament.uk/mpslordsandoffices/hocallowances/allowances-by-mp/

We actually did look up what our MP has been claiming. Aren't we sad? All very dull. Appears to be lots and lots of stamps. Call out the national guard...

Rare Job Vacancy in Britain: Junior Minister Post (Unlimited Potential Earnings)

Sky News is reporting that Junior Treasury Minister Kitty Ussher has resigned to avoid causing Gormless any (more) embarrassment, though says she has done nothing wrong - though we don't yet flipping know what about.

Which means that in Unemployment Line Britain, there's a rare job vacancy!

Don't bother applying, though. You know how Gormless will fill it.

Only question is, which random person is he going to pluck from nowhere, make into a peer and have in his mostly Unelected Banana Republic Government now?

We'll go have a look at Bet365.com - if they have Susan Boyle in the running, she's worth sticking a tenner on - you know how big a fan Gormless is.

Can't Cam lock Clarke in a cupboard?

Good grief.

Still reeling from last weekend's Ken Clarke revelations of the Conservatives "do nothing" response were Ireland to ratify the Lisbon Treaty, you'll never guess what the Conservatives have gone and done now?

Yup, they're letting Ken Clarke out in public on no other a public platform than... tomorrow's BBC Question Time.

You just know he's going to be asked about Conservative policy on Europe, don't you?

As far as the Conservatives are concerned on the EU issue, Ken Clarke is a liability. But hey, as far as we - the electorate - are concerned, he may well be the only one honest enough to have told us what the Conservatives are really thinking. At least we know.

Look at the backlash on internet forums for the Conservatives over what Ken Clarke let slip on the EU last weekend and which the Conservatives have since failed to seek to correct or clarify. So, at the moment, the electorate must assume Clarke was being truthful.

Anyone get the feeling that the Conservatives really do not want to win the next General Election?

Almost any one of us could run the Tories better. Condemn civil liberty abuses by Labour, promise a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and withdraw from the EU if the damn thing is in force when they come to power, promise to curb Government spending, stem the flow of immigration and voila - it's in the bag. They're getting much right, but trying to ignore the tide of anti-EU sentiment... surely they must realise by now that it will not simply be ignored away?

Meanwhile, isn't there a Ken Clarke sized cupboard that the Conservatives could lock him in until the election is over? Or, in order to respect his civil liberties, couldn't they just keep him off the telly? Or, best still, why don't the Conservatives just come clean and tell us what they will do if the Irish ratify the Lisbon Treaty in their forced, democracy ignoring second referendum.

If we worked in ZaNuLiebour HQ, we'd be priming Charlie Falconer - their representative on tomorrow's QT panel - to pump Ken Clarke over Europe.

Mind you, Ken Clarke just has to point out who ZaNuLiebour's leader is and score an easy open goal...

PMQs: 17th June 2009

Alan Whitehead (Lab) asked about green energy and climate change budgets and asked what would happen if they were "cut by, say, 10%". Gormless trotted out the predictable piffle.

Gormless vs Cameron

David Cameron's first words were "welcome to Prime Minister's Planted Questions". He said that when Gormless talked of "Mister Ten Per Cent", Gormless was talking of his own opinion poll ratings. Cameron asked about Gormless's own spending cuts. Gormless did not answer. He asked a question about the Tories and trotted out his usual attacks.

Cameron responded by noting that Gormless gave "absolutely no answer to the question". He then said Gormless should try to be honest for as long as Mandelson allows him to continue in the PM job. Cameron repeated the question about Labour's own cuts. Gormless gave an answer that meant nothing. Cameron said he sounded "more and more desperate". Cameron listed Labour cuts. Gormless did not answer in terms any member of the public could understand.

Cameron asked why Gormless found it impossible to give a straight answer and be honest with the British people. Gormless answered with some meaningless figures and his usual slogans.

Cameron then appeared to gaffe by talking about recession all over Europe, much to the delight of the Labour benches. Cameron responded by saying Labour MPs "shout for half an hour on a Wednesday and spend the rest of the week trying to get rid of [Gormless]".

Cameron said Gormless can't be straight with people and is not worthy of being Prime Minister - a charge which earned Cameron a light-hearted rebuke from The Speaker. Gormless answered with his usual 'Labour investments versus Tory cuts' mantra.

Cameron said 'character' and policy come together in the honest answering of questions. Gormless kept on about Tory cuts and Labour investment.

Eddie McGrady (SDLP) asked about devolution to Northern Ireland.

Gormless vs. Nick Clegg

Nick Clegg asked about the regulation of banks. Gormless said they are already changing the regulation of the banking sector. Clegg said Gormless is passing the buck and the Government is to blame for the recession for not heeding warnings and regulating the banks. He also warned that without action, the current crisis might happen all over again. Globalist Agenda Gormless talked about cross border global regulation...

Barry Sheerman (Lab) asked about job losses in Yorkshire stemming from reorganisation in the Lloyds banking group.

Tom Brake (Lib Dem) asked about Iraq and a detainee. Gormless said he will write to him.

Ann Clwyd (Lab) asked about race attacks on Romanians in Belfast.

John Randall (Con) asked about dossiers being compiled on opponents to Heathrow runway three and being passed to police and demanded to know whether a dossier had been compiled on him. Gormless denied all knowledge.

Mark Hendrick (Lab) asked about Lancashire Police and the effects of a 10% cut on the force. Sigh...

Peter Robinson (DUP) asked about policing in Northern Ireland.

Judy Mallaber (Lab) asked about the purchase of knives online by a 16 year old and asked for tougher regulation.

Angus Robertson (SNP) asked about Scottish devolution and powers.

Joan Walley (Lab) asked about Universities and further education.

Lee Scott (Con) asked about Damian McBride.

Andrew Mackay (Lab) demanded ministerial peers in the House of Lords attend the Commons personally to account for their actions, rather than sending underlings.

Paul Burstow (Lib Dem) asked about assaults on the elderly in care homes.

Emily Thornberry (Lab) said some words which meant nothing, but Gormless used them to talk about Labour investment versus Tory ten per cent cuts.

Willie Rennie (Lib Dem) asked about children and Chernobyl and visas for access to care programs.

Brian Donohoe (Lab) asked about energy company profits.

--

This was the last PMQs presided over by Michael Martin in the role of The Speaker.

Tories warn firms not to bother with ID cards

The Conservative Party has warned companies who might be interested in contracts for ZaNuLiebour's compulsory biometric identity cards that they will be wasting their time and money doing any work towards the scheme, because the Conservatives will cancel it.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling, writing for The Guardian, reveals that he has already written to the five companies with their snouts in our freedoms and told them his party will kill the ID card project.

In a minor victory for civil libertarians, the move may slow down the roll out timetable that ZaNuLiebour had been following. The cancelling of the ID card scheme would then follow a Conservative repeal of the original legislation.

The Talking Clock still has concerns about the Conservatives and civil liberties, despite this great positive. Written in their policy documents is an explicit plan to increase stop and search powers. It's on their website if you have any doubts.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives are getting a bit of a bashing over at The Times. Bizarrely, they are suffering a Blair backlash after a report in The Times claims that the Conservatives would not oppose Tony Blair as first EU President.

At the time of writing, the Times had received 117 comments from it's readers, the vast majority of which were attacking the Conservatives for failing with their weak position on Europe - with many members of the British public saying they felt they were being "stitched up" on the EU... and this may lead them to vote the same way in a General Election as they did at the European Elections.

When considering the numbers that the Tories need to win power and when considering how easy it would be to get them (clue - it involves Europe), it does seem rather suspicious that the Conservatives seem incapable of putting 'two' and 'two' together on the issue...

BNP: LibLabCon in wolves' clothing?

The Talking Clock picked up a copy of the Evening Standard this evening. Some interesting, quality news reporting in it covering stories which do not make the national headlines.

We were most curious about a story concerning the bill for the Met's translation services - apparently it will hit £20million by 2012.

The article talks about the diverse number of communities and languages spoken in London and the heavy demand for translation services this creates.

Then comes the response from Lib Dem Home Affairs spokesman Chris Huhne who is quoted as saying: "This highlights the failure of the Government's policy to ensure that immigrants speak English".

Now, you might think Chris Huhne's comment is fair enough. We do.

...but then we thought about it and thought 'but most of what is on the BNP's website is exactly the same kind of comment about exactly the same issue'.

So we mulled on that a bit more and remembered that a few years back, the then Labour Home Secretary David Blunkett got a few people in a flap by suggesting that immigrants should face a 'Britishness' test.

A few years before that, Conservative Lord Tebbit (then just 'Norman') sparked controversy when he said a test of integration of immigrant communities was what he dubbed the 'cricket test'.

So the Lib Dems, Labour and the Conservatives all have prominent people saying roughly the same thing.

Which then takes us to asking what the difference is when the BNP ask the exact same question in the exact same language...

One could argue that the BNP are 'thugs'. Maybe. But they are not responsible for current civil liberties abuses in Britain or a 'dodgy dossier' war.

One could argue that they are racist. Maybe. But they do point out on their website that there are no end of groups in the UK aimed squarely at non-white British folk and that groups aimed exclusively at white British folk would be illegal.

So, apart from the fact they like waving the national flag (why shouldn't they?) and the fact that they want Britain to be self-governing (we agree - naff orf Brussels), what's so outrageous about the BNP? How are they any different from the Liberal Democrats or any other party?

Is it because they would like to repatriate immigrants? Only, in the same copy of the Evening Standard - today's - is a report on a LSE study commissioned by Boris Johnson. It looks at the effects of an amnesty for illegal immigrants of whom, the article says, it is estimated that there are 618,000 in the UK.

The report, written by Rashid Razaq - says that 111,265 illegal immigrants have been deported since 1998.

Well, excuse us for being slightly simple, but it wasn't the BNP who deported anybody. It's Labour who have been in power since 1997, so it was Labour doing the deporting. And we're sure the Conservatives would have deported illegal immigrants, too. And we're quite sure that the Liberal Democrats would have deported them, too.

So, when it comes to deportations and matters related to integration, there appears to be a commonality of policy for everyone - including the BNP.

Of course, if people of any political party commit an illegal act of violence then they should be punished like everyone else.

Yet bizarrely, the BNP are not making the papers for acts of violence against innocent members of the public at the moment...

Perhaps if there had not been a 'no platform' policy on the BNP in most of the media for the last few decades, we might be able to identify what is so shocking and horrible about the BNP. But as we have not been able to hear their arguments and only have their website to go on, we do not see anything so very different in what they say and what the three main parties say on this issue.

We are told the BNP are "nasty", "evil" "fascists". No explanation is given for those labels. That's the extent of the case against them for most members of the public. But the explanation of those labels hasn't been given - not to our eyes or ears, anyway.

Are they being judged on what they may have said or done some thirty years ago? If so, who were the Labour and Tory leaders in 1979? Shall we do the judging on that snapshot of history?

Maybe they're being judged on what they look and speak like. And isn't that, in itself, a form of racism? Thinking about it, it sounds like anti-working-classism.

It's all very baffling.

We're happy to be enlightened.

Human Rights concerns start at home, Gormless

It just doesn't carry credibility, does it?

Commenting on the situation in Iran post-election, Gormless says: "There must be no violence in response to peaceful protests".

Oh really? Has Gormless commented on the violence meted out to the British public at the G20 protests in London while he was busy 'saving the world' yet?

Pot. Kettle. Black.

Sort your own country out first, Gormless. There's enough civil liberties and human rights abuses being inflicted against your own population by people acting in your Government's name - so keep your Presbyterian nose out of the affairs of other nations and sort your own policies out first.

Who will protect us from Labour's reign of terror? Why, the House of Lords, old chap...

Lord Steyn, a crossbench peer and former Law Lord, will tonight set out why he thinks Jackboot Jacqui and ZaNuLiebour's proposed compulsory biometric identity card scheme is a breach of civil liberties and useless in the supposed counter terror movement.

According to an interesting report in The Telegraph, he will be joined in his endeavour by Baroness Neville-Jones, the Conservative shadow security minister who - at a separate event - will call for a roll-back of 'Big Brother Britain'.

They follow hot on the heals of Conservative peer Michael, 7th Earl of Onslow who put in an impressive display in defence of the public's civil liberties at a JCHR select committee hearing on political protest.

Last year, former spook boss and crossbench peer Baroness Manningham-Buller spoke out to criticise the proposal to lock people up for 42 days without any charge.

Lots of positives seem to come from the House of Lords when it comes to the defence of our civil liberties. On this one, thank goodness they exist. Goodness only knows what ZaNuLiebour might have done to the British public by now if the House of Lords wasn't there to tell them to naff orf...

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From British traditional values of freedom to traditional British values in architecture...

Another Lord, the acclaimed architect Lord Rogers, accuses Prince Charles of abusing his power in a row over dropped plans for the Chelsea Barracks.

Now, this blog doesn't particularly like Prince Charles much. This blog worships at the temple of Diana, Princess of Wales. We won't reopen that can of worms, but that colours our position on Prince Charles.

But in this architecture row, we're on Prince Charles' side. Have a walk around London. Look at the buildings. Beautiful Edwardian and Victorian architecture aplenty. And in and amongst it, there are no end of 'modern' grotesque twisted contortions of glass and metal - particularly as you head into the City.

Even before this row, we were thinking: "why don't they build beautiful stone buildings any more?".

So we do not mind at all if Prince Charles stepped in and put the stops on another 'glass and steel' architecture project.

Modernity is wonderful in moderation, but traditionalism and classicism have their place, too.

At the end of the day, Prince Charles saying 'yuck' and people changing their mind about design plans is hardly a huge constitutional crisis.

And if Prince Charles wants to go on TV and condemn Labour's erosion of civil liberties and call for political parties to honour their manifesto promises of a referendum on the European Union, we will support him on those things, too.

He won't, of course. More is the pity.

Let's just hope his mother, Her Majesty The Queen, decides to exercise her one constitutional power that hasn't been stolen from her and dissolves Parliament soon instead...

Cameron shows common touch to attack ZaNuLiebour

David Cameron... an ever increasing enigma.

One minute, we're angry at him over his party's position on the EU Constitutional Lisbon Treaty, the next minute we have to love him.

Because Cameron has finally found the common touch and used a "light hearted" gag to criticise ZaNuLiebour's Nazi-esque policies.

The Telegraph reports that when he was asked about ID cards, Cameron adopted a fake German accent and said: "Where are your papers?"

Now, we're absolutely certain that a few members of the thought-police gestapo will criticise Cameron for it.

But come on... if this was John Cleese in Basil Fawlty mode, you'd applaud him for parodying ZaNuLiebour and their apparatchiks to a tee.

And that Cameron has the balls to tell it as it is with these damned biometric ID cards is credit to him. Cameron can reclaim one kudos point.

This blog is strongly pro-liberty and extremely strongly against Jackboot Jacqui's ID cards. And we expect to meet a few of you in prison if they are made compulsory because we are not having one. We won't even follow Boris Johnson's lead and put the thing into a shredder and sprinkle it on cornflakes. We just will not have one. Let them chuck 60 million of us into prison.

...but we still want to know what Cameron will do if Ireland vote 'yes' in their forced second vote on Lisbon and the thing comes into force.

Anyway, we're off before ZaNuLiebour send their brown shirts around. Or send us for a walk in the woods.

What the parties say today...

UKIP give details of the Constitutional Reform Bill introduced in the House of Lords by Lord Willoughby de Broke, who switched from the Conservatives to UKIP in 2007. Amongst the measures included in the bill are British withdrawal from the European Union (hurrah!) and the reduction of the number of MPs in the House of Snouts to a rather more slimline 250. The text of the bill can be found in pdf form HERE. Lord Willoughby, you are a patriot sir, and we salute you!!

The Conservatives are - surprise, surprise - stone cold silent over their EU plans, despite the serious questions being raised after Ken Clarke's apparent admission on BBC1's The Politics Show. Instead, they talk about Cameron's criticisms of Gormless's Iraq inquiry and offer the full text of Cameron's response in the House of Snouts. All very eloquent, but this blog doesn't understand the point of yet another inquiry into the 'dodgy dossier war' anyway. We'd rather listen to Cameron talk about the Conservatives position on the EU. Now then, David, without saying "we would not let matters rest there", what will you do if Ireland vote 'yes' in a referendum and Lisbon comes into force?

The LibDems have Nick Clegg's response to the Iraq inquiry. They also openly accuse George Osborne of avoiding a £55,000 capital gains tax bill by 'flipping' his second home.

The SNP are focusing on the Scottish Government's Economic Recovery Programme - and slating Gormless for not having an economic recovery plan worth looking at. They also accuse Gormless of inadequacy and of using the newly announced Iraq war inquiry as "a cynical attempt to boost his faltering leadership".

The Stop The War people might not like the messenger but they will like the message as the BNP accuse ZaNuLiebour and the Tories over Iraq and say that the decision to go to war in Iraq was "most certainly a war crime as established by the precedent set by the Nuremburg Military Tribunal (NMT) war crimes trials". They also have what they say are "shock figures" on the student visa scheme, but we couldn't spot the source of their figures.

The Green Party and Plaid Cymru have nothing new today.

And we refuse to look at the website of the really nasty ZaNuLiebour party until they reverse all of their civil liberties abuses and give us the referendum we were promised in their manifesto.

Welcome back to police state Britain...

This is the video that you might have seen a brief clip of on the national news. It shows a man being repeatedly tasered in Nottingham last night and, while lying on the ground, continuing to be assaulted despite not offering resistance. A large crowd of bystanders develops, some of whom are shoved.

We make little comment. We had waterboarding in London last week, a death at the G20 protests... isn't this all getting too frequent, too terrifying and too depressing?

If this was a third world country, someone would have called in Amnesty International by now.

Cam accuses Gormless of Iraq inquiry 'fix'

Conservative leader David Cameron has just accused Gormless of 'fixing' his year long behind-closed-doors Iraq inquiry so that it reports after a General Election takes place in Britain.

The fact that the inquiry will not be held in public and it's terms have not been debated by the House of Snouts was also raised by Cameron. He noted that McBuffoon's pledge to make the Government more accountable to Parliament and open to the public hasn't even lasted a week.

LibDem leader Nick Clegg has accused Gormless of "covering up" and demanded that the inquiry be held in public. Clegg says that the reason the inquiry is not being held in public is not to "protect national security", but to protect the interests of Gormless and his ZaNuLiebour colleagues.

The Talking Clock sees no point in this inquiry. We know there was a dodgy dossier already. We know about the massive loss of life. We know there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. And we now know that there will be no apportioning of blame from this new inquiry. The public are excluded from the process. So what's the point? A waste of time and money.

Now, where's our EU referendum?