Its not going away is it?

The English Defence League are protesting again in Birmingham. The Government sponsored rent-a-mob outfit United Against Facism of course have to attend to stir up trouble.

Certainly these protests seem to be gathering pace rather than quietening down.

One wierd thing is why would the Police force the EDL to hold their protest under an underpass?
Or do the Police vet whether demonstrations can and can't be seen by the public now?

Political Arrogance?

Burning Our Money has a blog here on whether David Cameron and George Osborne have a secret plan to implement cuts when they get into power.

But why should it be a secret plan? Why would we vote for them not knowing what their plans are in advance? We might disagree with the contents.

Labour are no better: they spout spin and rhetoric, but either fail to implement their plans, implent them, but in an incompetant way, or worse still to exacly the opposite. Worse than that, they've now gone to a court of law and argued that an election manifesto isn't binding.They are arrogant enough to use governance in a way that borders on criminal activity in the way they feather their own nests at the expense of the country's prosperity.

There seems to me to be supreme arrogance in that basically us the voter doesn't count. Gone are the days where manifestos were carefully crafted and placed before the voters, with political parties rewarding the trust the poulation put in them by electing them to office by implementing manifesto pledges.

Now it just seems that its "Vote for us because its our turn". Parties after being elected will implement any old tosh as long as it benefits them rather than the country at large.

The problem is how you deliver a big enough shock to the political system that they start to take notice. The population have tried that by voting BNP, but the political elite have responded by attacking the BNP any way they can.

Its time we all had our own secret plan: voting for any candidate on your voting slip that doesn't belong to a political party. Lets teach those arrogant enough to assume we will vote for them no matter what a bloody nose.

Mainstream Media: What Exactly is it good for?

It seems the blogosphere is rife tonight with rumours of Gordon Brown's health. If true (especially the claims that pointers to the deterioration of his mental health have been around for several months) it really does call into question the role of the mainstream media in all of this.

If true, it would appear that the MSM have resisted the persuit of this story for over a year. The question needs to be asked: why?

This is the prime minister we're talking about. His health and especially his mental health is not a private matter. This is the man with his finger on the nuclear button, the man in charge of national security, of national policy, of directing our armed forces.

The same goes for those working around the PM. Its patently obvious that we shouldn't have a manic depressive at the helm of the country, so why haven't those in the cabinet made moves to remove him? Why haven't those in the civil service either?

If the stories are true and the mainstream media and the political establishment have colluded in suppressing this story, you really have to ask what the Mainstream is good for any more.

Not only that, what use are the spineless bastards in the cabinet and those in Parliament that know about this and did nothing?

The next few days will be interesting as this story develops.

Defence Aide Quits

I see Eric Joyce has resigned, citing in roundabout terms the uselessness of Bob "Chocolate Fireguard" Ainsworth.

He's quite right of course: there's a disconnect between the military, civillians and the government. Its time the government were honest with the civillian population for the reasons we're in Afghanistan and the job they're there to do, its time the government were honest with the military and provided them with the support and resources neccessary to do that job.

All this government skullduggery and smoke and mirrors, keeping troop numbers down, obfuscating the real reason we're in Afghanistan, et al are damaging and hugely wasteful.

We need a clear reason to be in theatre, we need a clear plan of action to resolve the reasons we're in theatre and we need to provide the resources to enact that plan. Even a meerkat would say its simples.

So why do the government beat about the bush? Is it really that the truth is too awful to contemplate? Is the reality of providing adequate troop numbers too much for the population to bear?

Tell us the truth Gordo, and our sympathy might extend to you rather than just be reserved for the soldiers needlessly wasted in Afghanistan.

If there is no truth that would unite us, if the there is no pressing reason for us to be fighting in Afghanistan, then we should exit. Or are we back to the old story of ego: politicians too proud to retreat, who would sacrifice the lives of young soldiers rather than lose face?
The civillian population I think has already made up its mind...

Finally one last thought: Is THE truth, the awful, unpaletable truth that we were drawn into war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the behest of religious zealots in Government? One only has to look at the political power of Christian fundamentalism in the US, Gordon Browns "son of the manse" stance and Tony Blairs zealous promotion of his conversion to Catholicism to wonder....

Fat Thighs Prevent Heart Disease? W. T. F?

This report is quite interesting.

So, the chronically obese people you see meandering around impoverished town centres in disability scooters are only chain-smoking to offset the imortallity they've gained by having thighs the size of tree-trunks.

Although if the premise of the report were true, then stick-thin supermodels should have the life expectancy of a mayfly.

Maybe its something related to Scandinavia where the survey was conducted. Maybe its the number of stick-thin models dying of hypothermia and the fatties surviving thanks to a layer of blubber that'd put an elephant seal to shame skewing the results.

OECD: UK Will Exit Recession Later than rest of World.

According to this report by the OECD, the UK will stay in recession while the rest of the world is due to exit it in the 3rd quarter of this year.

I predicted this would happen 12 months ago, thanks to the fucktards in government squandering all our money.

I mean, its not at all fucking obvious is it?

Al Megrahi: Where will it end?

So, the Al Megrahi affair stinks worse than a fortnight old wheelie bin waiting to be emptied.

The cabinet are pretty openly at war with each other, although the MSM seem to be blind to it.

There's proof that Al Megrahi's release was linked to deals for oil, although the actual words in the letters skirt around it without mentioning it directly (A usual Labour tactic, they love to argue semantics about meaning and emphasis), but everyone has read the letters and has formed the opinion that the deal existed in essence if not hard evidence.

If any one of the fuckers in the cabinet gets a job anywhere near an oil company after the lose the next election, they should be fucking strung up and their assets siezed.

Being in Government is about working to make the nation better, not doing dodgy deals to feather your own fucking nest. You listening to me Mandelson? Or have you bet blinky a fiver on how far you cn push the public before they take action to stop you all?

It really does look as though the Nu Labour crew are into the endgame of government now: intent on doing deals with anyone, just so they can fund a happy and prosperous retirement. Fuck the Scottish, who have to take the lions share of blame, fuck the Americans, our biggest ally who are pretty pissed off about this, fuck those in the UK who have had their pensions schemes raided every year Labour have been in power.

In fact it seems their message is fuck everyone, we can do what the fuck we like.

Isn't it about time the British public rose up and told them no they fucking can't?

Al Megrahi: Cabinet at War?

I just wonder if the release of the letters surrounding the release of Al Megrahi, which put Jack Straw in a difficult position, could be any way related to Jackie Boy's moves to prevent peers from entering the house of commons.

I mean, such a prohibition would put paid to Mandelson's aspirations to become head honcho and a big dose of public embarrasment could just be a bit of payback from the Baroness.

Seems the cabinet is as slimy, devious, backstabbing a bunch of fucks as ever.

Chinook "Damaged" in Afghanistan

Note the spin on this story: the headline says the Chinook was damaged, which it was. But then it was deliberately destroyed in order to render it useless to the enemy...

So why wasn't the headline "Chinook Destroyed in Afghanistan"? Was it because destruction instantly makes the public know we're another helicopter short? As opposed to damaged, which signifies an ability to repair the helicopter.

Note the report goes on to say another Chinook suffered the same fate previously, so we're two Chinooks down.

The price of those cheap American Black Hawks we were offered a while back might start going up soon. Once we become desperate and will pay anything to replace our helicopter fleet, whats to stop the price going up?

UPDATE:

Defence of the Realm has the story too and basically agrees with my comment to Pavlovs Cat that its an indicator of how hostile the environment our forces are working in in that area. Although I'm not convinced the options DOTR promote for replacements are up to scratch.

Portsmouth Kite Festival

I've been interested in kite flying on and off since I was a kid. I've got an old parasail stunting kite I've had for 10 years or so that I get out every now and then. Since I moved to Portsmouth, I've been waiting for the annual Portsmouth International Kite Festival to come around, so I can have a look.

Went down to have a look yesterday and wasn't dissapointed, its pretty spectacular, with all the kites flying.

If you have kids, I'd recommend it, as there's nothing better than to get down on Southsea common and fly a kite for some parental bonding.

The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow, its free to enter, so why not pop down? Monday is free flying day: Buy a kite and fly it.

I've added pics I took yesterday on my phone camera, to show you what to expect.

I've also seen a kite I really, really like: a Revolution, which can do some pretty impressive aerobatics. If you go to the kite festival, check them out.

However, a Revolution is a bit out of my reach, as I'm not serious enough about my kites to justify the 150 quid asking price, even if I was working.

I think I'll stick with my 30 quid 10-year-old stunter for now.

UPDATE:

The weather is overcast and drizzly. So much for the weather forecast.

Best give kite flying a miss then.

UPDATE2:

The weather cleared to clear blue skies despite what I said at 7 o'clock. I've just come back from a couple of hours on Southsea common. It was packed to capacity.

Lots of dads flying kites, after the kids got fed up....

I still want a revolution, or at lest a kite that flies like it. Looks like I'll be doing some DIY: digging out the sewing machine and trying to cadge some ripstop nylon and some carbon poles.

Murdoch Attack on BBC News

This latest attck on the BBC from News Corporation and the Murdoch family in general is no suprise.

News Corp is already charging for news as they've found (as the dead tree press has) that there is no profit to be had in free news. The BBC are now a target because they provide news paid for by licence fees.

Ordinarily, I'd say there's no case to answer: thats the way we fund public broadcasting in this country and thats that. For drama, entertainment, documentaries and the like, the BBC should be beyond criticism. But for news, there's a fly in the ointment: the supposedly impartial BBC are far from impartial. Everyone knows over the past decade or more, the BBC has become more and more the propaganda wing of the Labour party, reiterating downing street press releases without any balancing commentary. A far cry from the days of Thatchers's and Major's governments.

I just wonder if Murdoch has found the chink in the BBC's armour, the weak spot that will eventually lead to the breal up of the BBC. Given News Corp's determination to make people pay for their news and the Murdoch clan's past record at sweeping competition aside, its a possibility.