If only Tebbit was running the Tory Party...

... not only would they have my vote, they'd probably be a shoe-in right now. Compared to the current pygmy war party in charge of the tories, Norman Tebbit seems like some kind of Herculean warrior. His blogs over at the Telegraph, such as this one, are excellent reading.

He has what Cameron lacks: principles which people can relate to. Even if you don't agree with them, at least you know what they are.

Whereas Cameron keeps pumping out the spin from the Tony Blair handbook:

" Mr Cameron said he got a lot of "advice" from his own side and added: "Some say 'Go back to what you might call the Conservative 'comfort zone' and just bang out the old tunes.'

Others say: 'Look, Labour are in meltdown so just play it safe and you'll win by default.'

"Well I can tell you, I have made my choice – and it's for us to be both modern and radical, not to go back to the old ways and not to play it safe."

This is a cunning blend of meaningless and stupidity. Even though I don't believe he rejected the 'playing it safe' stratagem, as he's been assiduous in not promising anything and being almost wholly policy-free, the major selling point of the tories is that they are conservative, which means they do stick to the old ways - old-fashioned common sense. This has great appeal, especially in uncertain times such as now. Instead of this, Cameron thinks his special 'vision of the anointed' will inspire the sheep into the voting fold. For this reason, he has picked many a fight with his own party, thinking that by abusing his captive vote, he will win over the airhead floaters he needs to get into number 10.

In order to survive, any party needs to renew itself and move with the times, and the question is 'what should be preserved and what should be jettisoned?' It seems to me the only thing Cameron wanted to keep was the self-discipline of the grassroots to turn out and vote when required, but he was too wary of them to allow them any kind of say in what the new party would stand for. Too many of them hold beliefs which run contrary to the slick, modernising narrative Dave wants to spin, and he didn't have the wit to channel these beliefs in a positive way, so he merely cut out the grassroots' voice.

The only principle Cameron is acting upon is 'do whatever you need to do to win'. Fair enough, this is politics, but in order to do this in a general election, you need to convince people that they are part of 'us', that they will be winning too. If victory is reserved for the small coterie around Cameron, it really makes no difference to anyone else (like a coup d'etat, as opposed to a popular revolution). Captain Dave's ship may limp into port, but if all the cargo has been lost overboard, and most of the crew were put off at Tangiers, there won't be many celebrating on the quayside. Now the polls are showing a nasty storm is blowing up between here and the harbour, and poor old Dave may regret his decision to lighten the load.

At large

This post at Nourishing Obscurity got me looking at a string of Dave Allen clips, reminding me how I liked the theme tune of his show, by Alan Hawkshaw.

Keep going Nigel

No doubt my dear readers will have seen the short version of this clip, with Nigel Farage speaking truth to power, but it's worth repeat viewing and also seeing the response of the sneering Socialist leader. THEY DON'T LIKE IT UP 'EM!

With the tories in their current neutered state, UKIP are looking the best choice in the forthcoming elections.

From the people who destroyed Magna Carta

Apparently Baron Mandelson's poisonous e-bill has been slightly watered down. The Register reports:

"Overnight amendments tabled by Lord Mandelson give significant concessions to critics of the Digital Economy Bill."

I suppose that's good news, but hold on, what's this?

"In order to comply with EU law, the presumption of innocence has been restored."

That sentence encapsulates just how far these pig-fuckers have trashed our nation's laws and constitution. Am I supposed to thank the stinking EU for giving us the privilege of being presumed innocent?

Stand up to bullies

Bravo to Michael Mancini, who stood up to the ludicrous coppers who tried to mug him with a fixed penalty fine for blowing his nose, whilst sitting in a traffic jam. The prosecutors have decided, wisely, not to give Mr Mancini his day in court.

Insanity is...

... doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So the famous Einstein quote goes. It comes to mind when I read:

"More than one in 10 five-year-olds are already at risk of disengaging from education when they start school, according to a think tank report. A study of 15,000 young children by Demos found 11.5% begin school without the behavioural skills they need to learn or to build friendships. The study comes ahead of figures out later on young people not in education, employment or training - Neets. Early intervention at the nursery stage is needed, the report argues."

No surprise, coming from Demos. It would take a stick of dynamite up its collective arse to budge it from its preconceived worship of big brother, big nanny, fabian government. Whatever Demos investigates, it will discover a problem requiring more government intervention at an ever-earlier stage. Children at nursery age are now the proposed target. It never occurs to them to question whether the problem is caused by English children being forced into state schooling earlier than any other country. Maybe the reason 11.5% of five-year-olds, by your measure, are not ready for school, is because they are only five years old! Perhaps if you looked into it a little more, you'd find out that the ones that were born in August were more likely to be unprepared than those born the previous September?

Demos want to bind these little children's minds, like the Chinese used to bind the little girls feet. LEAVE THEM ALONE, YOU CUNTISH CONTROL FREAK SCUM.

The tories prepare for failure

What a bloody disgrace the tories are. Cameron and his cronies thought they could just sit back and ride a friendly wave into government. Now they're preparing for a hung parliament (according to the Graun, not exactly an unbiased source).

All Cameron needed was principles and pragmatism. All he needed to do was set out some key policies that would energise his party, and bring together the conservative, liberal and libertarian elements of the electorate. With the current government in place this would have been as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. If this was beyond his wit, he could have just stuck with the promises he had already made.

Instead he thought that his personal magnetism and Brown's lack thereof would be enough, but 'trust me, I'm a politician' is not a great sales pitch. As if to underline the utter vacuity of Cameron's tories, I read that their slogan is to be 'vote for change'. Dear me, the public has undoubtedly been dumbed down in recent years, but I don't think they're thick enough to be dazzled by that clunker.

The Power Pledge - I think I'll pass

The 2010 Power Pledge poll is over and the five issues have been selected. I wonder should I support it? I think I won't bother. Here they are:

1) Introduce a proportional voting system.

What does this matter, if our sovereignty has been handed over to the EU, WTO etc? Unless our sovereignty is re-asserted, then Parliament and its inhabitants are of no more consequence than me and my mates arguing down the pub. Besides, a PR system will give us what? Most likely a coalition of either Lib and Lab or Lib and Con or all three for all I know. All this means is business as usual.

2) Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state.

Totally agree.

3) Replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber.

As number 1 above, this is no guarantee of positive change. In reality, the hereditary peers have served this country far better than the washed-up party hacks and donors who bought their peerage from Levy and Blair. The power of the second chamber has been undermined considerably, because it was too effective a check on the government - exactly what it is supposed to do!

4) Allow only English MPs to vote on English laws.

I agree, but without sovereignty, this will achieve little.

5) Draw up a written constitution.

My views on this have changed over recent times. The reality is that we have a constitution, and a very fine one, with guarantees of individual liberty. The problem is that it has been neglected and obscured by the proliferation of bad laws and is despised by the political class. If these same politicians are now to write up a new constitution, it would be a disaster.

So, all in all, I won't support this pledge. It would be different if there was an EU referendum included in the list. I gather from James Higham that there may have been some dirty tricks involved to keep it out, which I can well believe.

Debra Medina: you've been had

The hope of a constitution-loving conservative winning the Texas gubernatorial race has been dashed. Debra Medina walked into a set-up by Benedict Arnold Glenn Beck, who demonised her as a truther. This she rebutted, and she stuck to her guns, saying that people had a right to question the government's version of events that terrible day. And then, the operatives got to her and led her back into captivity, and she denounces those she had defended the day before.

Debra, you've been neutralised. The establishment knew you were a threat to the status quo, and turned their guns on you. All you needed to do is look to the example of the founders of Texas. You may not have won, but you would have kept your honour.

Another judge in conspiracy to murder

Judges don't care about protecting the public. That's why this happens all the fucking time.

101 strikes and your out... for a few months

Ooh, the criminals are quaking in their boots, at shock news that a burglar with 101 convictions has been locked up. The key, however will not be thrown away as they'll need it in 18 months when he will be free to continue his human right to burgle.

"The judge, Recorder Andrew Long, told him he had an 'appalling' criminal record and added: 'You know that these offences are so serious only a custodial sentence can be imposed for them.'"

The words will sound familiar to the criminal, as he heard it all last time round.

"His latest offences came last December after he was freed 12 months early from a two-and-a-half year jail term for what a judge branded a 'frightening' campaign of break-ins.

Within week of his release he broke into an 88-year-old woman's home in Padiham and stole her television as she slept, later slashing the tyres of a witness in revenge after she called the police."

Why even bother locking him up?

Self-hating humans

More eco-loonery at the tax-payers' expense. This piece of crap was funded by you and me. The makers' obvious disdain for their fellow humans explains why they are happy to slurp up our government-extorted moolah for a stack of children's drawings over-read by some camped-up thesp. The failed government goes on about protecting 'frontline services', and yet they've got spare cash for this? Cunts. Hat tip: The Register.

Hat tip: Constantly Furious...

... for this witty piece on the discovery of a new element Governmentium (Gv), which he confesses is not all his own work, and the below which I found elsewhere on his blog.

How to confuse a Guardian reader

Not particularly difficult a task, no doubt, but here's one way: Get the Pope to say something that they would ordinarily agree with, in this case he speaks out about the naked body scanners being set up in airports all around the (New) World (Order). Cue deluge of anti-catholic remarks, references to the persecution of cathars (ffs), spluttering rage that he should say anything at all, etc.

I for one applaud the Pope's comments.

Take a second look? Watch this, reflect that your taxes paid for it, and make a mental note to throw shit in Gordon Brown's face

Gordon Brown wants us to take a second look at Labour... Yep. Done that. They're still a bunch of control freak scum who want to micro-manage every aspect of our lives, while stealing our money and spunking it away on shit like the above. 'Rite2No' is what this excrescence is called; propaganda that makes Der Sturmer seem fair and balanced. An educational film? The cunts can't even spell the title.

Don't give Labour a second look, give them your scat, with extreme prejudice.

It only takes a minute

The central fraud of the political establishment is the assertion that there are significant differences between the three major British parties. In reality you couldn't force a rizla paper between the libs, the labs or the cons on any of the key issues.

So here we have the Gordon Brown, speaking to the 'progressive left' (sic), doing David Cameron's job for him, helping to bolster the tory grassroots by pushing the idea that the Conservatives (in name only) are against the EU, when everyone who knows the recent history can tell you that it was the Conservatives who dragged us into the EEC, as it then was, signed every unifying treaty put in front of them, and has no intention of changing direction on the road to EU superstate hell.

Any thinking conservative has worked out that Cameron is a Blair-style snakeoil monger, but in order for the tories to continue as the major block to real conservative action, they need to keep alive the hope that although they proclaim themselves modern and progressive, at one with the fabian agenda, beneath the superficialities there is a true conservative heart still beating. If they cannot do this, then the true conservatives will finally abandon the tories and find a better vehicle for their aspirations. This is a terrible threat to the status quo.

Meanwhile, labour have to scare their minions with tales of the tory bogeyman hiding under the bed. Only an atavistic hatred for the tories can overcome the sense of betrayal and depression in the hearts of the traditional labour voters.

The incident in Austin

My favourite Austinite speaks. Also read this. Or else just go along with the MSM narrative.

Scotland: a dark country ruled by paedophiles...

It seems Grampian Police don't like journalists reporting the paedophile ring at the top of the Scottish legal profession, hence the ridiculous arrest of journalist Robert Green for 'breach of the peace' who was planning to attend a public protest calling for justice in the case of Holly Greig, a victim of well-connected perverts.

Maybe they'll try to slap a 100 year secrecy rule on the story, like the Operation Ore gag and the Thomas Hamilton case, both of which barred the trail of evidence into high places.

Alex Jones: a message to Republicans

Alex turns his attention to the take-over of the Tea Party movement by mainstream Republicans, such as Glen 'crybaby' Beck and Sarah Palin, down in Texas to endorse encumbant Governor Rick Perry, against true conservative Debra Medina.

In all (inalienable) fairness...

From 'The Enemy Within' by Kirby Ferris, writing at Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership.

'There seems to be two basic personality types involved in the “gun control” debate. They are:

1. The “cold, dead fingers” crowd, who, because of combat or law enforcement experience, a personal encounter with violent crime, or a thoughtful analysis of history (mixed in with some simple common sense), realize that personal self defense is a natural right, an unalienable right. It is a right that is not merely a privilege granted to you by government. And to many, along with the defense of the innocent, it is a mandate of their deepest religious beliefs - see "The Ten Commandments of Self Defense"

2. The “only soldiers and the police should have guns” crowd. These patently illogical and deluded individuals have a perverse trust in government, especially Big Government. In fact, for most of them, the Bigger the Better… ala the United Nations. Many of them are mentally ill. See psychiatrist Dr. Sarah Thompson’s terrifically insightful essay here: "Raging Against Self Defense"'

Read the article. Hat tip: Infowars

More from Blackstone

Picking my way through Blackstone's Commentaries, I find much of value. Here he comments on the unfortunate growth of legislation concerning the poor:

"These are the general heads of the laws relating to the poor, which, by the resolutions of the courts of justice thereon within a century past, are branched into a great variety. And yet, notwithstanding the pains that have been taken about them, they still remain very imperfect, and inadequate to the purposes they are designed for: a fate that has generally attended most of our statute laws, where they have not the foundation of the common law to build on.

When the shires, the hundreds, and the tithings were kept in the same admirable order in which they were disposed by the great Alfred, there were no persons idle, consequently none but the impotent that needed relief: and the statute of 43 Eliz. seems entirely founded on the same principle. But when this excellent scheme was neglected and departed from, we cannot but observe with concern what miserable shifts and lame expedients have from time to time been adopted, in order to patch up the flaws occasioned by this neglect.

There is not a more necessary or more certain maxim in the frame and constitution of society, than that every individual must contribute his share in order to the well-being of the community: and surely they must be very deficient in sound policy, who suffer one half of a parish to continue idle, dissolute, and unemployed, and at length are amazed to find that the industry of the other half is not able to maintain the whole."

Blackstone's Commentaries Bk 1, Cap IX

Of the Absolute Rights of Individuals

"... Thus much for the declaration of our rights and liberties. The rights themselves, thus defined by these several statutes, consist in a number of private immunities; which will appear, from what has been premised, to be indeed no other, than either that residuum of natural liberty, which is not required by the laws of society to be sacrificed to public convenience; or else those civil privileges, which society hath engaged to provide, in lieu of the natural liberties so given up by individuals.

These, therefore, were formerly, either by inheritance or purchase, the rights of all mankind; but, in most other countries of the world being now more or less debased and destroyed, they at present may be said to remain, in a peculiar and emphatical manner, the rights of the people of England. And these may be reduced to three principal or primary articles; the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right of private property: because, as there is no other known method of compulsion, or abridging man’s natural free will, but by an infringement or diminution of one or other of these important rights, the preservation of these, inviolate, may justly be said to include the preservation of our civil immunities in their largest and most extensive sense."

Blackstone, Commentaries Chapter 1, *219

A man for all seasons

As a knock-on to 'Liberal England's fantasy piece on libertarian bloggers in their pyjamas smoking fags, I thought of Kevin the moody teenager, which in turn led me to this:

NSS versus RCC

I love the double standard from the NSS - National Secular Society. They're planning widespread protests for when the Pope visits the country, trying to get everyone with an axe to grind to come together in vocal opposition to the Pontiff and bemoaning the estimated cost to the taxpayer of the visit, saying the Church should pay. But, my dear secularists, isn't a large chunk of that cost going to be attributable to dealing with the baying mobs of anti-catholics that you are organising? Is the NSS offering to pay for part of the policing costs?

When Reagan was right

Listening to this speech from the 1964 Goldwater presidential campaign, it is easy to see why Ronald Reagan was so beloved by the conservatives of America. It is also striking how little has changed in the ideological struggle between one side calling for ever-bigger government and the other calling for a return to individual liberty and the principles of the Founding Fathers. It's a shame Reagan could not deliver the agenda he believed in and turn back the tide of statism which rises to this day.

As long as the focus is on America, I find myself in agreement. Perhaps the stumbling block in this version of conservatism is how it relates to the outside world, insofar as an aggressive foreign policy with a large military requires high taxes and big government, so Reagan avoids the liberal road to welfare hell, paved with taxpayer-funded good intentions, only to pave his own way through rampant military spending.

Part two here. And for additional evidence that 'plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose', hear a young-sounding Ronnie on socialised healthcare.

One to watch

Following on from 'American Drug War' Kevin Booth's latest documentary focuses on the legal cannabis trade in a number of states, including California, and how the feds continue to violate state sovereignty by sending in the swat teams. Definitely worth checking out.

The fallacy of centralisation

Slightly difficult to follow the audio, but worth the effort to hear F. A Hayek in his own words.

Beware the expert

"Do not be bullied out of your common sense by the specialist; two to one, he is a pedant."

Oliver Wendell Holmes

What was that, Mel?

Thank heavens for the Telegraph's standards, saving our blushes. Apparently Mel Gibson swore at a journalist.

"Mel Gibson swore at a television reporter who questioned him about his controversial past, referring to him as an --------."

He said what?

He called him an --------.

Shocking! So... something beginning with a vowel ...

The Twilight Zone: Gordon Brown on 'the new politics'

Listening to a speech by Gordon Brown, you would be forgiven for thinking you must have died and gone to hell. It is such exquisite torture to hear a man who has wiped his hairy arse with this nation's Constitution for over a decade preaching on about 'a new constitutional settlement'.

Remembering, perhaps, what he learnt in his school debating society, he repeats vacuous phrases and verbal hooks over and over: the new or the old; the new or the old; the new or the old; it's a choice; it's a choice; it's a choice; like a tape loop in an MK Ultra dungeon, Brown's voice drones on, in and out of consciousness you slip, suddenly you are awake and ready to kill Manchurian Candidate style, only Brown hasn't quite perfected the technique; it is him you are ready to kill.

Due to New Labour's poisonous hatred for our traditional liberties, I'd as soon trust a boa constrictor to babysit my pet rabbit than trust Gordon with the Constitution. Thus it would be pointless to dwell on anything positive in his proposals. The idea of making the political class more approachable and accountable is as hollow as a barrel, when the real power has been shifted out of politicians' hands and into the unaccountable, unelected committees in Brussels and elsewhere. And when this is understood, the true meaning of Brown's agenda becomes clear.

Our national government is being downgraded into a purely administrative arm of the 'New World Order' global system, where the cycle of elections is replaced by a procession of showcase conferences, travelling the world like the Grand Prix season; today Copenhagen; next it's off to Mexico City.

They can afford to make our political system more accountable, now that it has no more power than a local council.

Long live Clare!

Clare Short earns my heartfelt praise for speaking the truth to the Chilcot Inquiry, and exposing the real story behind the preparations for the invasion of Iraq. Her testimony reveals how Tony Blair and his cronies subverted government by Cabinet and lied this country into an avoidable war.

See for yourself.

Alex Hilton: name-calling won't save you

Speaking for myself, I take umbrage at being called a 'xenophobe' because I want the people of this country to have a referendum on the EU. It's not xenophobic to come to the sad realisation that the political class, which Alex Hilton so eagerly desires to join, has betrayed this country, its people and its Constitution. The need for a referendum is itself a damning indictment of the political system. It is a need born of betrayal: the betrayal of clear manifesto commitments from the major parties to hold a referendum on the last EU treaty.

I am a nationalist, and make no bones of the fact. Does this mean I despise other nations or the people thereof? Most emphatically not! It is internationalism, world government, the 'New World Order' that Gordon Brown so often proclaims that are my enemies. Nationalists across the world are my allies. All those who want to live in free and self-governing countries are my friends.

Perhaps I shouldn't take too much offence, seeing as I routinely refer to New Labour in the most unflattering terms. But there is a fundamental difference:

Wanting the laws of this country to be decided in this country is not xenophobic. Wanting the politicians of this country to be accountable to the people of this country is not xenophobia. Alex Hilton is factually incorrect and either wilfully dishonest or shamefully ignorant to call me such.

Whereas New Labour, the party that Alex Hilton represents are indeed slimey, scat-munching scum who hate freedom and worship tyranny. They have strained at the leash to destroy and devour our Constitution of Liberty, and all good Englishmen and women of whatever origin, creed or colour, should unite to defeat them.

Hard selling the body scanners

Hmm, how can we propagandise the people that it's normal and good that the government wants to force them to be photographed naked whenever they take a flight...

I know! Let's get a bunch of top models in the scanner pose, stark naked. That'll work.

No, mother fuckers, it won't, cos your little mind tricks don't work on me. There's nothing sexy about having my privacy violated by a bunch of control-freak scumbags.