Manchester to test Jacqui Smith's ID Cards

"allowing people to give their fingerprints and a face scan while "out doing the shopping". "

I feel like I'm going to vomit. Vomiting would not be an exaggerated action at the fear and disgust and rage I feel about this right now. You'd think Labour would learn not to test their bullshit in Manchester after their Congestion Charge humiliation earlier in the year. But no, will Manchester ride out for the rights and freedoms of British people for a second time? I fucking hope so. What gets me, is that Jacqui Smith is committing billions to this scheme, a scheme that the Conservatives say they'll reverse as soon as they win the next election. So with Labour trailing so badly in the polls and the likelihood of them winning the next election decreasing with every sleaze filled day they're essentially throwing money down the drain. Either that, or they're trying to force Cameron's arm into keeping the ID card system lest he appear wasteful. Fuck it. Appear wasteful.

"ID cards will deliver real benefits to everyone, including increased protection against criminals, illegal immigrants and terrorists," the home secretary said.

I'm scared. Genuinely scared. How many Muslims with beards have to be arrested, detained for the maximum time, have a request for further time denied and be cleared of all charges before these stupid home office stunts stop meaning anything? Middle aged white lady in middle England, don't believe them. This is bullshit. Please, hug a Muslim, they do not want to kill you, or enslave you, or control you. They do not want to give you an ID Card.

LINK: BBC.co.uk

Tory MEP is internet sensation?

So Daniel Hannan [a Tory MEP] stood up and told Gordon Brown about himself the other day and his speech has become a Youtube sensation. So much so that American TV picked up the footage. But all of this was achieved without any acknowledgment from the BBC or any other British media outlet. It's incredible to think that Gordon Brown can be humiliated like this in public and nobody choose to run it as a story; but I believe it highlights one of the main problems with the democratic process in this country. I don't actually believe there are many real journalists working for the major news outlets. Important things are overlooked in favour of ratings and profile, MPs get away with defrauding the tax payer for decades before it becomes a hot topic and suddenly they're all exposed. Banks and government policy dig us into a crippling recession and they know about it later than anybody. I think the politicised nature of the BBC and the left and right leaning newspapers learned too much from Tony Blair and his government and are actually prepared to dance in front of the problem rather than actually show us what's going on behind the bullshit if it supports their angle. Maybe that's always been the way. I'm not sure, but it stinks of rotting corpses from where I'm standing. Show us the bodies Guardian. Show us the bodies Daily Mail. Fuck you if you think we don't understand. Respect our capacity to process important information. Or are you just that lazy?

LINK: BBC News talks about Daniel Hannan's speech with left and right leaning bloggers. [how "New Labour" did that Labour List guy come off though? Seriously? What a patronising cunt].

The line is drawn

So after about 11 years of confusion a line has finally been drawn. It turns out that the recession has made Labour transmorph into...get this...Labour! I know right? I couldn't believe it either! They bought some banks and taxed the rich! They played the fence on most major issues over the last 11 years while they implemented totally socialist policy locally and in the civil service. Now, when they had to go left or right they went all the way left. Could they have gone more left with it? I don't think so. I guess they could have included the word "Union" somewhere in the budget but beyond that...It's now Britain's choice, more than ever it is Britain's choice, it's Left Vs. Right, for the first time in about 20 years, Cameron can't sit in the centre anymore. He's been edging away from it the last few months anyway but now they've got a George Osbourne finding his voice (I weedy little fruit of a voice but a voice nonetheless) and a back bench starting to make names for themselves it's going to be an interesting 2009.

Politricks: JK Rowling, Tax breaks and David Milliband

You may have read over the weekend that JK Rowling of Harry Potter fame has donated £1Million to Gordon Brown's Labour Party as a show of support in these dark times. Rowling claims the £1Million is for Labour's record on tackling child poverty. Which is interesting, since that £1Million really could have done a lot for some poverty stricken children around Britain and the UK. But realistically all it's actually going do is help Labour fight an election they have no hope of winning. Or have any hope of salvaging beyond the point of absolute humiliation. Doesn't that make it something of a moot point? New Labour definitely did a lot for child poverty in the late 90s (although a lot of that was put in place before they arrived, they could have easily fucked it up. Word to the economy) but handing over cash money in support of a policy that we all know is so far down the priority list at number 10 right now that it might as well be tax cuts for the poor seems a little worthless. I'm not talking in the sense that JK Rowling shouldn't hand over one of her millions in support of something she genuinely believes in, but knowing that she's a close personal friend of Gordon Brown's surely there could have been a slightly more convenient PR excuse other than Child Poverty? After all we can attribute those changes to a Blair government surely? Would giving £1Million straight to Save The Children not be a better idea?

JK also claims that David Cameron's proposed tax breaks for married couples were reminiscent of the Conservative government she remembered as a lone parent. The tax breaks for married couples is an interesting one to me, I've seen Cameron explain and defend the tax break a few times now and knowing as many unmarried fathers and mothers as I do, the change is of specific interest to me. I don't see how anything other than perception can lead somebody to condemn the plan. It doesn't affect single parents, there are actually more proposed supports for single parents in the plan, but David Cameron wants to "Fix our broken society" (whatever that means), and he thinks two parents are better than one, with exceptions he probably has a point. Will tax breaks encourage happy families? It's a ludicrous suggestion, but should married couples who look after children together be given the same support and encouragement a single parent gets? I'd say absolutely. But the flip side is that the welfare state encouraged under New Labour over the last 11 years probably lends itself to that support, without the regulations introduced under this government there wouldn't be enough support for anybody.

On the plus side for Gordon though, David Milliband says he's not plotting on the party's top seat. Which is good for Brown in a sense that the rebels now have no viable contender and good in a sense that he can avoid calling a general election for another 18 months (I don't think he will). It's probably not the best thing for The Conservatives though as they sit back and watch the government swallow itself whole, the 52% in the polls shockingly isn't about David Cameron's green policy but a total lack of faith in our ludicrous government which as we approach recession is bickering about whether their longest serving, most respected member should be Prime Minister. Don't get me wrong here. I'm no Brown fan, far from it, this is his economy and this is his legacy, reckless lending from the banks created a false economy that was bound to collapse and ruin a few thousand lives in the process. That was directly Brown policy. But there can be very little argument that he's the most adept at seeing Labour remain a force in some respect past the next general election. That is ultimately his job at this point, he just needs to steer the crumbling ship into the dock and leave the crew to rebuild in a hope that it doesn't take a decade to regain power (ala the Conservatives in 1997). The idea that there are people within the government who think they can hand over the top job for the second time in 2 years without a public vote is something that I think captures Labour's time in government perfectly. A total lack of awareness or respect for the voter was only tolerated as long as house prices were good and the Conservatives couldn't offer a viable alternative. What if Michael Howard had 4 years to campaign? Rather than the 2 he got after the ludicrously inept Iain Duncan Smith was binned. Who knows? Howard made some pretty incredible inroads as leader of the opposition. David Cameron has done little since since, he's sat around drinking tea, riding bikes and smiling but his poll lead extends and extends. Unfortunately Nick Clegg and Vince Cable are saying exactly what needs to be said, when it needs to said and are actually losing votes. It's okay though, they probably don't mean it. Cut backs in public spending? Tax cuts? Liberal Democrats? Are you sure?

In real Politricks this week, Obama's favourite colour is Orange and McCain's favourite film is Mary Poppins. I was leaning towards Obama but Orange? I'm not sure about Orange.

Tego

Stunt and a farce?

EDITORIAL BY TEGO:

So Gormless Brown thinks that David Davis stepping down as Shadow Home Secretary and MP for Haltemprice and Howden is a "Stunt that has become a farce". It's clearly a "Stunt" and as far as I can see it's done its job, people are talking about the 42 days and they're talking about David Davis as a man of principle. Gormless also claims that David Davis is splitting his party, which I think shows exactly why Mr Brown is such a terrible leader, Davis had this to say "We're a party not a regiment and we're in politics hopefully, and virtually in all cases, for reasons of principle." I personally doubt that any politician is in politics for reasons of principle at this point, be they Liberal Democrats, Labour or Conservatives but while some in the "Political elite" media are calling David Davis' actions farcical I see them as the only hope British people can have in our political system. As far as I'm concerned you can sit on either side of the fence, you can allow yourself to be scared into thinking the Police need 42 days or you can be rational and see the law for what it is, a blatant disregard for civil liberties, but you can not deny that David Davis is doing something he believes in and something that needs to be done; the country needs to have a say in this, whether it's only Haltemprice and Howden, it will be more people than Labour are currently allowing to decide whether or not our freedom is destroyed. I personally don't see how this affair can reflect badly on David Davis or his party, David Cameron has already said that he's going to campaign for Davis if Labour nominate a candidate to run against him (of course they won't because they're scared).

I might be biased though as David Davis appears to be the only modern working class politician with any profile these days and of course My MP voted against the changes.

9 votes for 42 days

EDITORIAL BY TEGO:

Gormless Brown forced through his 42 day detention law yesterday by 9 votes. It's being reported that Gormless bought votes for his freedom destroying bill by promising funding for constituencies, mainly in Northern Ireland. This is when Democracy goes all the way wrong, it's no secret that New Labour have divided to conquer in their 11 years, separating the Scottish, the Welsh, the Northern Irish and the English by a growing veil of resentment, hell the North, South divide is as bad as I've known it socially; for no reason too, we're all getting fucked! The idea that we as common people under Gormless' rule can now be imprisoned for 42 days with no charge is so unbelievably frightening that you wonder whether we are in fact living in some kind of horrible sci-fi film. The abuses our civil liberties have suffered under this government defy belief, a Labour government at that, involvement in every level of existence in this country is affected by government on some level. Layers of blatant corruption are covered, re-covered and forgotten, the class divide is epic, education standards are at an all time low, bullying tactics at local government level blunt progress, the youth murder rate is beyond a joke. The BBC might want to focus on the politics side of Gormless Brown's failure; he can't convince his party, he has rebels, he backed out of the snap election etc. but of course it's deeper than that, Saint Tony of Blair is equally responsible, they are the 1-2, Tony's government fucked this country, Gormless just came in to finish the job (the only job he's done well so far). Save our economy? The Chancellor for 11 years is now going to save our economy? That's his economy! That false economy he built on debt, loans, mortgages and pensions. It's about time somebody with some profile broke down exactly what this government has done to this country, if it doesn't happen soon, any faith Britain has left in party politics will rapidly fade.

Say what you will about David Davis but resigning as an MP to re-fight the seat on the issue of the 42 days is exactly the kind of thing that the shit for brains politicians in this country need to be doing! That right there is a man of principle.