Brawn GP on Pole Position for first Grand Prix

I just want to say congratulations to the Brawn GP F1 team. Well done guys, on attaining an all-Brawn front row of the grid first time out. Its a stunning acheivement given the problems and lack of testing. You did say you had an exceptional car for this year way back last summer and you've been proved right.

Have fun tomorrow!

This Week: A turning Point?

This week has been a turning point. I've been privileged to watch and be part of it as it unfolds. The way Dan Hannan's video was taken up by the blogosphere and promoted, reaching around the globe, surely shows the power of the uncensored commentary of the blogosphere. It may only be a start, a small thing, but I truly believe that it has changed things. Power has shifted, people will have taken note and things cannot be the same afterwards.

I'm new to blogging, having only started on blogspot only a month or so ago (although I did put general thoughts including politics down on yahoo over a year ago), but I'm sure there are more like me that found the blogosphere after finding the bias and untruths in the mainstream unbearable. In my own case after finding the commentary of the BBC's Nick Robinson totally at odds with what I saw and heard for myself. A chance mention of Guido's site on the comments to Nick's blog opened a new chapter in my use of the internet.

I well remember as a youngster listening to the outputs of the BBC World Service and Radio Moscow and comparing the two to form my own opinion of what was happening in the world.
I get the same feeling now. I've understood the bias in the mainstream and moved on to find my counterbalancing source of information.

I hope the mainstream takes note and now starts to engage more with those commentators on the internet. They DO count and they CAN make a difference. The political parties also need to take note: they can't provide manipulation, bias and spin, we have alternative sources to coroborrate or deny. They have to be truthful in their dealings with us.

The abomination that is Labourlist is an example of all that is wrong when attempting to engage with the internet blogosphere. It spins and promotes and attempts to manipulate through smear.

I hope that Labourlist is consumed and something more worthy and honest rises from the ashes. Labour do themselves no favours by letting it stand in its current form.

And I sincerely hope that ALL political parties start to be more open and honest in future, because if not, they will be found out and it will be reported.

Dann Hannan vs Derek Draper

Not seen this blogged anywhere before, Dan Hannan and Derek Draper on the Channel4 news.



Draper does his talking over everyone trick yet again.

Dan Hannan in yet another US Interview

Its a better interview with Glenn Beck than the earlier one with Neil Cavuto. At least Dan gets to speak a bit more!

I'm still waiting for him to get the same opportunity on the UK TV networks.

That Dan Hannan Speech Again

I've seen a lot of talk on political blogs over the past two days in praise of Dan Hannan's speech and why don't the guys over here in Westminster rip Gordon Brown a new arsehole in the house of commons.

The fact is, they can't. Thanks to Parliamentary protocol, everything has to go through the speaker rather than directly to the MP you are criticising. The "Don't you agree Mr Speaker, that the Prime Minister is grinning buffoon?" doesn't have the same impact, because Mr Speaker is in fact staunchly Labour, wouldn't agree and would most likely rebuke the opposition leader for saying it, just to make him feel like a naughty schoolboy.

The other thing about PMQs is that the number of questions that are put to the Prime Minister are limited. The leader of the opposition has a privilege where he can ask more than 1 question of the Prime Minister, but the problem seems to be the Prime Minister has no obligation to directly answer any questions put to him.

So in short, despite Dan's speech being effective, succinct, direct and to the point, it's thanks to EU Parliamentary protocol that it hapened at all. It simply wouldn't happen in our Parliament, which really does impoverish our so-called democracy.

Guido Vs Draper on the Daily Politics

I've just finished watching the Guido vs Draper battle on the Daily Politics show.

All I can say there is that it would have been more interesting had Draper shut his gob more and let the pair of them have reasoned debate. Instead it turned into a "Draper shouts over the top of anyone that disagrees with him" fest. Hardly a glowing advertisement for Draper to the rest of the blogging public that were eagerly watching the show.

Guido sounded nervous and I guess felt a little hamstrung by what the BBC refused to let him discuss.

So in the end, on the day, on the show, I'd call it a draw, as neither side got a substantial point across.

However, my sense of fair play and justice says to side with the guy that allows free speech and doesn't shout over the top of people.

So Guido wins on a technicality.

To be honest, my personal opinion is that Draper comes across as an obnoxious, self-interested, arrogant, antagonistic jerk. The sort of person that really doesn't belong anywhere near politics, but those in charge seem to employ more and more in order to bully people opposed to them into submission.

If you want proof of how this tactic is used in politics, just go to labourlist and have a look here and see their comprehensive character assasination attempt of Guido.

Its nasty, disgusting negative mud-slinging politics of the worst kind.

But, quid pro quo, I expect to see what other skeletons Draper has in his closet.

F1 old boys network swings into action again.

The formula 1 grand prix season hasn't started in earnest yet and we've already had the first controversy. A protest has been lodged against Toyota, Williams and Brawn GP regarding the illegality of of the diffuser on their cars.

It seems the usual suspects have done the complaining.

I suspect that the protest will be upheld, because what Ferrari hasn't thought of, tends to be made illegal.

Dan Hannan Video goes Global.

The stats are unbelievable: Dan Hannan's video is set to excede a million views by the end of the week. Its already over 660,000 views and gone global.

Its now been picked up by the stateside media, with Dan giving an interview on TV over there. I'm sure he'll be asked for more.

But the remarkable thing is its not been picked up at all by the UK mainstream media. The popularity of the video nor the speech in the EU Parliament itself. Nothing, not a ripple. Its either as if what happens in the EU parliament doesn't count, or there's some deliberate attempt to supress dissenting voices against the government.

Dan's speech, the youtube video, their online popularity and the lack of UK media exposure is a great example why people are turning in greater numbers to the online blogger network. The mainstream media can't be relied upon to provide balanced and evenly weighted comment. The BBC was nobbled after the resignation of Greg Dyke and continues to peddle a pro-government agenda. Time and again I've criticised Nick Robinson on his blog for pushing a pro-Labour line (even at one point provoking a terse reply in one of his blogs), which shouldn't be happening given the BBCs remit to be balanced and impartial.
If you notice an increased and more balanced output than normal from Nick over the next few days, hopefully its because I and hopefully a few others have made a complaint about his bias.

The main point is that we are now roughly 12 months from a general election and our mainstream media are pumping out a biased viewpoint, which the majority of the population aren't aware of.

I just wonder how long free and unbiased output from blog sites will be tolerated before some sort of "anti-terror" legislation is proposed in order to control them. The new legislation aimed at social networking sites amongst others needs or any proposed amendments to it will require careful scrutiny I think.

Video of Lord Ahmed Discussing his Time in Prison

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7961894.stm

I just want to make people aware of this video.

Takes the meaning of the word sanctimonious to a whole new level.

Yet ANOTHER Labour Snout in the Trough

Seems yet another London-based Labour MP has a second home and is claiming support for it.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article5963145.ece

I really am staggered by the depths these people go to. Do they not understand they're our servants?

This really, really, needs clearing up NOW. We don't need a year-long enquiry to tell us. Harriet Harman's court of public opinion has spoken. Lets see some action.

Related to this is the fact the BBC hasn't reported this story anywhere on their news website. You'd think it would be up there on the political home page, but no. We're 12 months away from a general election (much sooner than that if my predictions come true) and the BBC should be bending over backwards to be unbiased and even handed in their political reporting. It seems they aren't even close at the moment.

Update:

Here's the only mention on the BBC website, a video:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7962504.stm

24 minutes to get from either house to Westminster, so absolutely no reason to have a second home, except to have a nice little nest-egg she can sell when she leaves Parliament financed by the taxpayer.

IT HAS TO STOP!

Gordon Brown Gets Told the Truth.

Dan Hannan MEP (who deserves a medal) tells Gordon Brown what everyone else in the country wants to tell him. All Gordo does is smirk, looking all the world like the buffoonish madman everyone thinks he is.

Well he would smirk wouldn't he, he's ruined the country and still gets a fat pension. Remember Gordon, there should be no reward for failure.

This video is doing the rounds on the blogosphere, but hat-tip to Guido Fawkes where I saw it first.

I saw Dan Hannan on the Daily Politics a couple of weeks ago. He was the most lucid politician I've heard in a long time. Maybe thats a result of being in the European Parliament and not Westminster, maybe he's better able to talk without the withering machinery of state we have here, but his speech just shows what OUR Parliament should be, without the bollocks of protocol thats been hijacked by New Labour in order to stunt true debate and discussion.

Update:

In contrast, the Labour propaganda machine that is the BBC has this report on Gordon Brown's visit to the European Parliament. No mention of the Dan Hannan speech at all. It just confirms for me the bias in BBC reporting.
Lets see if the newspapers do report on it in the morning.

MPs Expenses: The Nonsense has to Stop

As time goes on and more MPs expense claims become public, the more ludicrous they seem to be.

Take Tony McNulty (the minister who's department thinks that me dropping off the jobless stats even though I'm still unemployed is a success):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7957555.stm

He claimed second home expenses despite the house he was claiming on being his parents house, despite that house being only 8 miles away from his own house and despite his constituency being in Greater London only 11 miles from Westminster and on a tube line.

IT HAS TO STOP!

MPs that do this sort of thing should pay back the expenses. I don't care whether the rules allow it, THE RULES ARE WRONG!

I call on all the decent MPs to get together and sort it now, before all MPS are tarred as money-grabbing, lying thieves.