Goodwood Festival Of Speed.

A couple of weeks ago I was given an early Birthday present by Mrs D: a ticket to Goodwood Festival of Speed. Being an avowed petrolhead, I thoroughly enjoyed the day. Plenty of noise and speeed, of the sort the health and safety Nazis would quash.

Just a snippet of the day is this, my favourite car of the meeting. A lovely little Alfa Romeo, that looks like a baby Ferarri.

The Political Elite in Disarray?

Or maybe they're just turning on each other as each faction vies for more power.

I've been criticised in the past for saying the Police are too politicised and too cosy with Politicans. "Where is the evidence?" my detractors would say and honestly, I couldn't give them hard procedural evidence, instead citing practical examples where undue political influence seemed to be swaying Police actions and vice versa.  There are numerous examples now where Police investigations into MPs has resulted in a damp squib, and also examples of how the MPs roll over and give the Police ever wider powers at the merest request.

Similarly the other partner of the cosy cabal; the media show how cosy they really are with both the Police and politicians in the way they steadfastly refuse to hold either to account for their actions or inaction.

Its interesting to note that the current crisis has been a long time coming. Threads started to unravel several months ago. One could say the spat between Boris Johnson Sir Iain Blair was indicative of things unravelling. The investigations into government leaks which saw the Police entering Westminster and the arrest of MP Damien Green another. The Telegraph buying the unedited details of MP's expenses and then releasing them caused as we know consternation in Parliament (mainly because they thought they were doing nothing wrong) and the arrest and imprisonment of some of the worst offenders. Others quit Westminster altogether in order to hold onto their ill-gotten gains.

At issue is the reason for all of this posturing and infighting. The main reason is the lack of power. Real power doesn't reside in Westminster any more. The EU controls the legislation and the Mega Banks and Corporations control the economy. Organised crime is international now and well beyond the reach of  the Police and MPs, unable to effect powerful legislation thanks to the omnipresent EU, instead tinker with minor laws in effect reducing the Police to glorified tax collectors and pub-closing-time bouncers. Sure they have helicopters and fast cars, but more often than not, these tools are used to affect tax collecting fines on the public. Such is the importance placed on the job of tax collection placed on the Police by Parliament.

With the withering of Police and Political power, the media have also seen their grasp on the hearts and minds of the elite reduce, with the elite moving into Pan-European and even Global enterprises as the power in Parliament fades. Witness now the huge influence the likes of the IMF, UN and others have on the world stage, along with an infinite number of quangos, committees and NGOs.

One only has to look where the monied classes reside now. Once they craved power in Parliament: double-barrelled names and received prunounciation were de-rigeur. Now you only need to look where those same names and accents have made a home in order to see where the real power resides.

The current commoner infighting might be interesting to some, but it's not the new political paradigm that some in the media would have us believe.

A Letter to David Willetts, My MP.

                                    Thursday 14 July 2011

Dear David Willetts,

I note that on Monday the 11th, you voted to increase our contribution
to the IMF by 9 billion pounds, primarily to help with the economic
crisis in the Euro-zone.

Please can you tell me how the IMF intend to repay this loan, given
that the countries in trouble (for instance Greece) are certain to
default on any money loaned to them?

If the countries the IMF loan to defaulted, would the IMF themselves
default our loan to them, or are they still required to repay it? If
so, how would they raise the finance to repay the loan?

I would also ask you to confirm whether the money provided for this
loan by the government requires the UK exchequer to pay interest on it.

Yours sincerely,

Lets see what sort of reply I get... probably a simple fobbing-off, but you never know.

What made Murdoch Mortal?

The thought at the back of my mind throughout all of the media storm about News International is: what has made Rupert Murdoch so mortal?

For decades he was untouchable, the kingmaker, his support was essential for political success. Politicians crossed him at their peril, lest some tidbit of scandal about them was dragged out into the public domain.

Just how have things turned round so quickly and so fully? What has given our politicians the confidence to go head-to-head with Murdoch and in effect win, given that News International are backing out of the bid for control of BSkyB? What do they have on Murdoch that has wounded him so mortally?

There is more to this affair than meets the eye.

The really serious thing that has been highlighted this week is the unholy alliance between politicians, the press and the justice system. Our elected representatives have for a long time been too cosy with the people that control the media and our justice system in the form of the Police and the CPS are also wrapped up in the cosy cabal.

The prime example is the initial investigation into phone hacking which went nowhere, thanks to limited terms of reference and lack of political and media support. It was destined and probably designed to fail. Months later we now know that the problem was a whole lot broader than the hamstrung inquiry could investigate.

Its quite clear the Politicians, Paparazzi and Police swim in their own cosy cesspool.

Cleaning it up will be a major task, one that the current political system will be unwilling to undertake. We need new brooms to sweep away the shit.

EU Debt and Bail-Outs: A Legal Avenue to Persue?

Our Parliament has just agreed giving an additional 9 Billion pounds to the IMF which more than likely will be channelled into extending the Eurozone crisis. Both EU Referendum and Subrosa have commented on this.

Right now, everyone knows that the countries in the worst positions will default. Certainly Greece will: its inevitable, because the austerity measures required by the IMF bail-outs on their own won't repay the money lent to them. So, there's going to be a default and everyone knows it.

So why then, would our Parliament approve giving away the money with little expectation of it being repaid?
If we are going to be repaid, how would the IMF do it? If Greece can't pay it, would the IMF have to increase the cost of loans to other countries like African or Asian ones ( the poorest in the world) to make up the shortfall? Does anyone think thats fair?

Finally my point: If there's no hope of the money being repaid, is there any legal process that can be invoked such as a judicial revue to stop the money being paid?

If a judicial revue is out of the question, is there any legal mechanism whereby those MPs that voted for the loan can be made liable for their portion of it?

If there is no way we can make these people immediately liable for their actions, then we have no democracy. It makes me feel sick that they can carry on borrowing money that my children and grandchildren will have to repay and give it away just like that, without any sanctions.

Lots Going On.

First off, its seems that Italy is now firmly in the sights of the financial speculators, with rumours that Italian Banks are seriously exposed to risk and will fail a new stress test when it is implemented. This is more extremely bad news for the UK, as we've made the financial sector the powerhouse of our economy.

As I blogged 3 years ago or more, whilst we continue to have financial uncertainty, the economy will continue to be in the toilet. You cannot have serious economic growth without a serious amount of confidence in the financial sector. Whilst banks remain over exposed to toxic debt and the financials in the City of London remain exposed directly and through derivatives, growth will continue to flatline.

I said all those years ago that it will take more than a decade to recover from the crash of 2007/8 and here we are almost half a decade later, still in the doldrums. We are to all intents and purposes in a great depression and its about time we started acting like we were. We need to start making solid financial foundations by changing the economic mix back from high-risk virtual financials and services over to real-life, low-risk buyable economic generators like  manufacturing.

Unfortunately instead. our government insists on giving away money it doesn't have to finance "bail-outs" and "rescue packages"; all of which are just throwing money away. Our finance sector is heavily exposed thanks to credit default swaps and other forms of loan insurance.

We really are in a pickle, especially as the government continues to put its head in the sand and ignore the root of the problem and the real size of it.

Before the election I said the government had to come clean about the size of the crisis in order to get the country to follow it. Unfortunately they continue to fob the public off with illusions, half-truths and lies. Instead we get diversion tactics and smokescreens such as the phone hacking affair.

Yes, the "phone hacking" affair, which has been blown out of proportion by the government, eager to kill a number of birds with one stone. First is the aforementioned diversion, second is a chance to scare and muzzle a serious political threat, third is the chance to stop Rupert Murdoch from gaining too much influence via the media and finally it provides an opportunity to legislate the press.

If this was a low-ranking issue, all of the evidence would have been released, but there's the fingerprint of media management all over this affair. The constant drip-drip of anti Murdoch evidence, designed to keep the affair in the media spotlight is a sure sign of news manipulation/management.

The outcome of it all will be interesting to observe, but I fear the worst.