WHO AM I?

I have recently been through the trials and tribulations of tracing my ancestral roots. Many years ago my wife and me did the same for her side of the family. It turned an already spectacular holiday into something magical. We met people whom her father had grown up with, we visited the church where he received his first Communion, the river where he caught his first salmon, the house in which he grew up and the town where he spent the latter part of his teenage years.

Her father was still alive when we made the trip and he gave his full blessing for our fact-finding mission. It soon became apparent to us both that some of the stories her father had related to us about his home town and the escapades that he and his friends were party to, were in fact, not the embellished tales that we thought but truthful tales of triumph over hardship and a talent which was recognised at an early age but never taken to its true potential.

Most of all, we both came away with an understanding as to why my wife’s father would not go back to the land of his birth, the land which had shaped him and the people who had walked, talked and laughed with him in his youth. He did not want to lose the essence of that time before he left nor, did he want to see change in the town or the people. All had become treasured memories, like a pristine cake expertly covered in icing which becomes too precious to cut. 

Soon all of that will be lost. The government want to abolish the National Census a practice established over two hundred years ago because, ironical given today’s figures,  the powers that be of the time thought that the population was rising too quickly (16,000,000) and were afraid of a French-style revolution. One of the proposals is to replace it with information gathered from stores, banks, and estate agents. The official line  is that the census costs too much. (£500m)

That is the official reason and, given Osborne’s penchant for austerity measures one could believe that there is an element of truth in it. However, I think that it is obvious that a statement such as that can only be a lie. Or, at the very least, an economy of the truth. Given the surge in population in this country over the past ten years because of a deliberate policy of open borders by the insidious Labour Party and the equally insidious Coalition, is it any wonder that the government want to hide the true extent of this mismanagement of the UK population? 

The census is much more than a tool for chasing down your family roots.To quote from nidirect government services:

‘With statistics from the census, central and local government can allocate funds, decide future policy and plan important services such as:

• population - knowing how many people live in an area helps central government allocate funding - local government also uses this data to plan what is needed in their local areas
• health and disability - health services and policies are planned around the census data so that the necessary services are provided where they are needed
• housing - housing needs can be much better planned if we know what the demand is now and likely to be in the future
• employment - by establishing how many people work in different occupations and industries, census information can be used to help plan jobs and training policies
• ethnic groups - census information can be used to help allocate resources and monitor policies to ensure that all groups are treated equally
• transport - identifying how and where people travel to work and study will help us understand the pressures on our transport systems and improve planning for roads and public transport
• education - census information can be used to help plan for education resources, such as schools and teachers’

Call me a cynic but I just do not trust this government. They have already proved that they cannot guarantee the safety and security of our citizens. Gangs from Eastern Europe control large parts of our major cities, carrying out their illicit dealings with impunity. The Coalition have cut Front-Line services to the bone, meaning that the Emergency Services are stretched to the limit. The police can no longer police our streets effectively and data held on the public by government departments is being sold off to the highest bidder.

Is it any wonder then that they want to cut out the one quality assurance process which really works? 

If, as the government wants, computerised records of people, which are held by banks, petrol companies, major retail outlets and utility companies, are used then surely this is a breach not only of our Human Rights but, illegal under the Data Protection Act?

We will all be well and truly into the Orwellian nightmare whereby the government can track you from birth to death and all stops in between. It is, in my opinion, a step too far!

One of the arguments put forward by the government through the Office of National Statistics  (ONS), apart from the cost factor, was that because of mass immigration the census as we know it has become too complex and cumbersome. They argue that many immigrants simply do not fill in the census and / or, because we have a migratory population, it is increasingly difficult to pin people down at the time of the census. I would argue that everyone with a National Insurance number be required by Law to complete a census either hard copy or online every time one is due. I would also suggest that the Border Agency (or whatever it is called nowadays) be made to track down all immigrants, legal or otherwise and make them fill in a census form.

Hard work, difficult work but, a necessity if we are going to get a realistic figure to determine the true population of this country.

I do not ascribe to the theory that migrant workers should be exempt from a National Census, If they are living and working in this country then they are using this country’s resources. Because the local authority in which they are working is responsible for those resources it is only fair that they know exactly how many people are using them. Without that knowledge, how are they going to allocate money and resources through their local budgets sufficient to meet the needs of the local community?

No, the good old census is more than just a head count. It is a valuable tool and one which must not be lost to fiscal foolery. It is also a thorn in the side of the EU. In their ‘Federal Bubble’  there is no place for an accurate head count from within Member States. It causes them problems, it shows up their appalling lack of respect for Sovereign Territory. It also lays bare the calculated trafficking of cheap labour from country to country within the EU. I would suggest this to be a major cause of economic instability within the Union and one which was orchestrated by the faceless suits in Brussels and Strasbourg.

We must send a message to the Coalition detailing why the census must stay. It isn’t out of any sense of nostalgia that I suggest this, more from a position of anger and frustration at a government which uses the people it is supposed to protect as tools in a dodgy EU experiment.

I will be writing to my MP to demand that he do something about this mass auction of private data which will surely take place when the government calls time on the census. I would hope that many more will follow my lead and bombard the ONS and their MP’s with letters of complaint. 

I will also be reminding my MP that next year is crunch year for LibLabConDem and the following year could see the nail go into their collective coffins. For too long they have ignored a somewhat apathetic electorate but now that the apathy has reached many a wallet, people are waking up to the fact that they are being led by conmen and that a change is needed. A change which will come a lot sooner than the present incumbents of the HofC think!

A MAN FOR THE WRONG REASONS.

Prologue

Writing a blog should, I am told, get easier. The more you write, the more you want to write and words will cascade from fingertips to the page. Of late I have found this to be false. Why? Mainly because my interests go deeper than just one subject and, therein lies my problem. I sit down, fingers poised over my keyboard, ready to rant about the latest injustice to break the tranquility of Philbo Towers when; wham! Another shot across the bows! 

It is not a paucity of subject matter which is preventing me from posting what was once a weekly blog but a paucity of concentration. The past month has been alive with controversy both home and abroad and I ought to have been able to sift at least four or, maybe five decent posts from it. For not doing so, I apologise and offer this humble post as a gesture of contrition.

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"I wonder if its small man's syndrome"

It would appear to some in the great Russian Republic that we, in Britain, are not only ‘Little Englanders” but ‘Little Islanders’, as well. Apparently we have become so insignificant on the World stage that we no longer afford the attention of such luminaries as  Vladimir Putin, Francois Hollande or even the diminutive Barak (that’s my real name) Obama.

Our beleaguered, thin-lipped Prime Minister sits in his designated chair at the G8 Summit in St Petersburg, face reddened by days of  bad press and International ridicule, hopelessly scanning the room for someone to talk to. The media, ever ready to kick one of their own when they are down, pounced upon Dave at the earliest convenience and asked:

“Would you like to comment on what Mr Putin said about Great Britain?”

Dave screwed up his well-scrubbed face in order to get the correct shade of indignant red upon his Eton cheeks and replied:

“I refute that!”

What no-one came back with was, refute what? The fact that Putin said it or, the fact that in his (Dave’s) opinion the statement was untrue.

As good a politician as he may be, Cameron is like a fish out of water when it comes to the big stage. The problem he has and, the problem that previous British Prime Ministers have, is that they try too hard to emulate Margaret Thatcher. They forget the axiom that men are from Mars and women are from Venus. By that I mean, men and women tackle problems in a totally different way. 

She, (Mrs Thatcher) got out her favoured blinkers and tackled problems head on. Men, to her, were a weak link in her chain of command but, being the woman she was, she would not allow any other woman to share her vision so she went where instincts lead.   

Blair, to the disgust of many in his party, traded on her legacy mistaking the folly of a woman scorned for warmongering and Cameron is trying to do the same. 

Sadly, they both lacked, (lack in Cameron’s case) the dedication to the UK that she had. Blair has made his vast fortune out of the misery of others, his fortune being where his true focus always lay. Cameron is dedicated to the EU and no matter how many lies he tells or facts he spins, the transparency of his quest is open for all to see. Pity then that his clarity was flawed when he attempted to get Parliament to agree to go to war against Syria. 

Rarely have I seen a leading politician orchestrate and then talk his way into defeat in the manner upon which Cameron did. 

His problem now that he has alienated the United States and given Russia cause for scorn is that he has nowhere to go and no-one to turn to. By sucking up to the EU and the USA he has all but severed relations with the Commonwealth and he will have the Queen to thank when these wounds are healed and good relations are restored. 

If, as he says, his passion is Human Rights and redressing the suffering caused to others, why isn’t he advocating sending troops to Zimbabwe? Or, Myanmar (formerly Burma)? He is willing to send money, which only serves to prop up the despots ruling these countries but is not so keen to either criticise or condemn the vile practices and atrocities inflicted upon the people under the brutal boot of these regimes.

Zimbabwe used to be known as the ‘bread basket’ of Africa. It is now one of the poorest nations in the World. The leader of this once rich nation is amongst one of the richest people in the World. Mugabe and his gang of thugs have raped, pillaged, plundered and murdered in order to keep power. Cameron says he deplores what is going on there but refuses to do anything about it except, that is, flood the accounts of Mugabe with hard earned British taxpayers money.

In South Africa, white people are being sadistically tortured and murdered by the indigenous people while the South African government turns a blind eye. Is Cameron advocating British intervention there? I think we all know the answer to that.

In Britain we have a lot to be proud of, we have a proud history and have helped shape the modern World. What we do not have a lot of is wealth. The Empire brought this country immense wealth, most of which was squandered on war. Another lesson not learned from history. I am not in any way a pacifist and I realise that sometimes you have to stand up and say enough is enough when you see blatant injustice. Gassing your own people is a blatant act and it is right that the World condemn such an act but to go to war for it; that is a whole new ball game. 

There is probably a hidden agenda in this battle of wills between East and West. The Russians hold a monopoly in natural gas distribution to Europe. A project that brings in billions in revenue to the Russian Exchequer. The small Arab Kingdom of Qatar is sitting on probably the largest  field of natural gas in the World and has plans for a pipeline to Turkey. If this goes ahead Mr Putin will have lost his leverage over Europe. Obama will become the saviour of the West while American companies will reap a rich reward from the gas fields.

Apart from his inherited hatred of the British and all things British, this gives a clue as to why Obama was so keen to bankrupt BP over the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Notice that Exon is still flourishing, a company with a record for environment safety and welfare as good as Obama’s promises on health reform.

However, back to Cameron. Here is a man who, in his head at least, is on a mission. His whole term in office has been a delusion, one perpetuated by him and fuelled by the sycophants he has put around himself. His mission, as he sees it, is to save the World from itself and in doing so build a better future for our offspring. All very noble if you have the tools with which to carry out your dreams.

When Cameron came into Office the country was, for all intents and purposes, bankrupt! Insidious Labour had emptied the piggy bank and retired, laughing, to the Back Benches. One of his first acts as Prime Minister was to declare that he and his Chancellor would put the economy at the forefront of his priorities and then promptly borrowed billions of £s in order to give it away to foreign despots. In the name of fiscal unity, after all, lets face it, we are all in this together, he and his Cabinet have systematically beggared the poorest in our society whilst making the rich richer. A lack of vision and policies which were not well thought out have ensured that Britain has taken longer than was necessary to gain economic growth. He would have made an excellent Labour Prime Minister.

On the World stage he promises much but in reality can deliver very little. Why? Because he has no money and an under strength Armed Forces with a moral lower than a snakes belly. All his own doing because in his efforts to get the economy back on track he has sold his soul to the Devil. In a case reminiscent of wiping your arse before you have a shit, he sells off our Harrier jump jets and then commissions an aircraft carrier designed to take them with no replacement VTOL aircraft on the horizon for years to come. This has left the Royal Navy in the embarrassing position of having to share an aircraft carrier with France plus spending some of their budget on French lessons.

It is an absolute farce and contributes to the lack of respect shown to Cameron and Britons in general on the World stage.

The ‘Walter Mitty’ of British politics needs to take an early bath along with his cohorts and the entire Opposition. Between them they have flooded the country with foreign nationals, lost control of our borders, given all our power, laws and decision making over to the EU and told lie upon lie in order to cover up their misdeeds.

If the people of this country want to get the pride back that was once abundant in every British person we first have to take control of our country. I do not advocate revolution, I say do it through the ballot box. I have heard and read comment by members of the United Kingdom Independence Party saying that it takes time to change the face of politics in this country. Some also say that you have to support the opposition in some areas in order to keep such and such a Party out. No, you do not! You have to have the courage of your convictions and you have to go out onto the streets, into the communities, into the pubs, on peoples doorsteps and show people that there is an alternative to partisan politics. Sitting back in the hope that someone else will do it is to give Cameron, Clegg and Miliband another term in Office. 

Shrug off the Labour induced apathy, look about you, see what a mess over twenty years of Conservative and Labour policies have done to your communities and to the country. Demand change and if it is not forthcoming, force it through using the ballot box. 

Never again give some jumped up Russian Vodka taste-tester cause to say that we live on a small island of no significance who’s views can be ignored. I blame Cameron for that, his posturing from a weak political position has left this country weak and made us all look stupid.