Why you shouldn't vote Tory - 2

A Ribble Valley councillor, sent a racially offensive joke on to a fellow councillor and an ex-Tory parliamentary candidate, who then sent it on to a long list of Tories, including the mayor of South Ribble.

The e-mail, as well as being painfully unfunny, ends with another joke (!?!):"IF YOU DON'T PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS YOU WILL RECEIVE 3 ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS ABSOLUTELY FREE".

Oh no please stop, it's so rib-splittingly comic. Poor old Bernard Manning must be spinning in his grave.

What is it with Tories and gays?

For a party that is supposedly into individual liberty, the Tories seem preternaturally obsessed with peoples' personal lives, especially their sex lives.News that the Tory candidate for Ayrshire North and Arran has got into trouble (again) for saying that he did not "accept that their [gays] behaviour is ‘normal’".
Not bad for a teacher!

This is not the first time this bloke has guffed, a couple of years ago he sang the praises of racist former Rhodesian PM Ian Smith, saying Smith "typified a British hero". He has also said that Enoch Powell's far-right warnings about immigration had "come true".

He was a member of the Young Conservatives in the 1980s, at a time when they used to sport "Hang Mandela" badges.

Even peachier, he is an advocate of nuclear power who believes that people promoting wind farms as a sustainable energy source are only in it for the money. So much for the Big Society.

The Tories... "plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose".

The RN recruiting illegally?

One of the more astonishing claims by Dave "Man of the People" Cameron on the TV debate on Thursday, was this gem:
I was in Plymouth recently, and a 40-year-old black man made the point to me. He said, "I came here when I was six, I've served in the Royal Navy for 30 years..."

Now bear with me on the maths, but if this bloke was 40 and had been in the Navy for 30 years, then he would have to have been 10 when he joined, MAX.

Far be it from me to imply that Dave made this encounter up, that would be verging on the libellous!

I can only conclude that this "black man" was a fantasist, and DC was just too polite to point it out, in which case why did he repeat it in front of 10 million people?

I married for love... not for £150

I don't know whether to laugh or be insulted by the latest "policy" by Tory Party Central Office.

£150 to get wed.
£150.
One hundred and fifty pounds.

Now depending on where you look, the average wedding cost here in the UK is somewhere between £15,000 and £25,000.

That's right, the average LOWER budget for a wedding is £15,000.
So £150 is 1% of the cost of the wedding.

When we got wed, we were very careful with costs, spending a fifth of that amount, but I'm sure we spent more than £150 on flowers alone.

Do the Tories think bribing folk with £150 to get wed will do the trick?

I admit they're talking about £150/year, but that's still not enough to buy most people their local daily paper.

The Tories are out of touch with life in Britain, they insult not just married couples, but all those who'd like to marry.

They insult love.

Cameron's Tories: Stripey Leopards or Spotted Tigers?

I do not take pleasure in pointing out how the Nu-Tories "talk the talk" but rarely if ever "walk the walk".

I genuinely want them to have become de-toxified. I want them to have shaken off the shameful shackles of Thatcherism, and the poisonous politics of class-hatred.

As a liberal I believe that there should be a multiplicity of political philosophies competing for our attention and indeed votes.

The Tories however are not there yet, and one might argue will never get there.

The comments by Chris Grayling that B&Bs should have the "right" to turn away gay couples, because of their "faith" is offensive, illegal, stupid, and just wrong.

If you want to give these "rights" to homophobes running B&Bs, why not extend them to other businesses like furniture stores because gays might cuddle up on their sofas.

This dim-witted comment should send out a very strong message to any gay person who may have been thinking of voting Tory... Don't!

Cameron's Tories are, "Soft And Dull-Eyed Fools" more like Paper Tigers than lions worthy of leading the country.

After the poetry... passion and politics

I know those of you reading the last few postings have been thinking "Aye, Aye, Fekri's being all Fotherington-Thomas with his 'hullo clouds, hullo sky' offerings, but where's the politics?"

Well, gentle readers, I hesitate to jar your gentle nerves, but may I remind you that it is exactly twenty years ago since we had the great "Anti-Poll Tax" demo in London.

The tax was a fixed payment for all adults to the local council. It was unpopular, regressive, and ultimately punitive.

It had the beneficial effect of leading to the downfall of then PM, Mrs. Thatcher in the November, but because of the huge campaign of non-registration, it seriously affected the Census in 1991 (with some 1 million adults missing) and more importantly that same number becoming effectively disenfranchised in the 1992 General Election.

So despite the myth, it wasn't "The Sun what won it" in 1992. In fact, it was Kenneth Baker, William Waldegrave, Lord Rothschild, and the Dept. of the Environment with their 1986 Green Paper "Paying for Local Government" which set in train the chain of events that led to the ghastly Tories remaining in office a further five miserable years when they should have been kicked out.

So if you're thinking of voting for the Tories just for a change, "Woe, woe, and thrice woe!" as Senna the Soothsayer used to say in Up Pompeii!

The Tories: The singer's changed but the song remains the same!

Project Cameron would have us believe that the Tories have become detoxified... some hope.

Analysis of the record of 25 Tory members of the European Parliament this year shows they voted against, or abstained, eight times on issues relating to sexual equality, family-friendly working hours, maternity leave, and reproductive health, often in clear defiance of official Tory Party policy.

Some detoxification!

A bit of fun for the week-end

Douglas Carswell, the Tory MP for Harwich, has claimed that the Conservatives are the party of the Levellers!

The Levellers (not the band) were an important faction before and during the English Civil War of the mid-17th century. I studied them, and others, in my degree, and going back over my notes I can't see anything that links them with the tiniest thread within modern Tory political philosophy.

Their manifesto, the "Agreement of the People" was inherently republican and democratic. Just the sort of thing to be supported by the present Tory front-bench!

David Cameron... "much more conservative" than the image he projects

Great story in today's Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/with-friends-like-these-tory-leaders-ally-puts-his-foot-in-it-1919447.html) confirming what many of us have said for a long time, namely that David "Tony Blair lite" Cameron is much more conservative by nature than he acts, or than he is forced to be by political expediency.

The man will say and do anything to get into power, and once in the mask will slip and it'll be back to the horribly divided, damaged, and destructive Britain of the 1980s.

The ghost of Thatcher lives on... Oh hold on, she's not yet dead... sorry!

Tories... all boss-eyed maniacs obsessed with Europe - BoJo

Great quote from Boris Johnson in tonight's Channel 4 programme Dispatches: Cameron Uncovered.

Tory education plans fundamentally flawed

The Tories’ apparent commitment to a Pupil Premium is totally meaningless unless extra money is put in. Without this money, many schools will see their budgets cut.

This will be even more devastating at a time when public spending will be squeezed, especially as the Tories are already targeting the Education budget for cuts.

It is nonsense to give "freedoms" to some schools, but deny them to others. The Tories' plans to simply rely on the market, without any accountability or local oversight will fail and will have little impact in the vast majority of schools.

Worse still, both the Labour and Tory obsession with academies will mean an eventual end to state education as we know it and a fragmentation that will lead to chaos.

We must enure every child gets an excellent education, not just a lucky few.

Lord Cashcroft runs the Tories like a "Banana Republic"

My favourite phrase of yesterday's was Chris Huhne likening the Tories to a Banana Republic.

A definition I liked is a "small country, esp. in Central America, that is politically unstable and has an economy dominated by foreign interest, usually dependent on one export, such as bananas".
Spooky isn't it?

The term was originally coined for Honduras in the last century which by happy co-incidence is neighbour to Belize (formerly British Honduras), where Lord Cashcroft resides. Belize's largest employer? Bananas!

The serious point, however, is how much all this money sloshing about in Tory coffers distorts and damages our political life. Given the preponderance of this "loose" money the question has to be asked, "How much are the Tories receiving in Keighley and Ilkley".

Ashcroft: Non-Dom All-Dim

So Lord Ashcroft owns up after ten years - mind that - surprise, surprise, he is a non-domiciled tax-payer.

The Tories, who were bleating about patriotism but yesterday, are only too happy to take money from someone (actually a law-maker in the Upper House) who loves Britain so much, that he can't be bothered to shoulder his share.

Ashcroft is willing to put in money in marginals like Keighley, to swing the elections but not pay his fair taxes.He's agreed to change his status if the Tories win. How big of him!

Surely another reason to keep well away from the Tories.

It may well be legal, but it sure as hell ain't cricket.

Tories out of touch with the real world

The Tories have recently claimed that more than half of all girls in deprived areas fall pregnant before their 18th birthday.

The claim is at best inept and at worst, totally bonkers.

The Tories are so out of touch with family life in Britain that they believe over half of teenage girls in the poorest areas fall pregnant, our town and cities are more like The Wire, and that folk will get married for a few extra quid.

If they really believe Britain is like this, it’s amazing that Tory MPs can pluck up the courage to leave their mansions.

"They should lower their drawbridges, spend less time tending their moats and duck houses, and join the rest of us in the real world", so said Danny Alexander, and I totally agree with him.

£63bn PFI bill for the NHS

The NHS is facing a £63bn bill for PFI hospitals which are only worth a fraction of that.

The NHS still owes £58bn on more than a hundred PFI contracts over the next three decades, and will have to pay back more than £7bn in PFI payments over the next Parliament alone (2010-2015).

This is the disastrous reality of Labour’s managemant of the NHS. We’re in one of the most difficult financial periods in the NHS’s history and this Government’s legacy will be a mountain of debt. Despite the huge sums of money we owe for these hospitals, many will never end up in public hands. Hospitals all over the country are mortgaged to the hilt and there are serious concerns that these repayments will lead to cuts in vital services.

We need a new approach to public services in this country. By setting up an infrastructure bank we Lib Dems will ensure that key projects get access to the funding they need to revitalise our economy.

We Lib Dems will change how the NHS works so that patients come first and money goes further.

Britain not "broken" - Tories wrong again

In this week's Economist there are two powerful pieces, "It has become fashionable to say that British society is in a mess and getting worse. It isn’t" and "Crime, family break-up, drunks and drugs: the Conservatives, and apparently plenty of voters, think that Britain has a “broken society”. Does the claim stand up?" that well and truly scotch the Tories' dangerously seductive narrative of "Broken Britain" and go on to argue that in fact it could be a calamitous misdiagnosis of the state of affairs.

They go on to conclude that, "Britain has a crunched economy, an out-of-control deficit and plenty of social problems; but it is not 'broken'".

Lib Dems like me concur wholeheartedly.

Tories: Soft on Crime - Soft in the head

As a sitting magistrate, I generally do not like to comment on "Crime and Punishment" issues.
I do not want in anyway to compromise (or give the impression) my impartiality and independence.

However, figures put out by the Tory Shadow Home Secretary alleging that violent crime had risen sharply under Labour, and their subsequent rebuttal by Sir Michael Scholar (chair of the UK Statistics Authority), I feel, needs a comment.

I don't mind when politicians get it wrong, we all do, but by giving an exaggerated picture of the "growth" of violent crime up and down the country, they are playing fast and loose with the public's feeling of security and safety, and indeed wrongly worsening their perception of "broken Britain", for party political gain.

Which brings me to a story about BoJo (Mayor of London, Court Jester to the Court of King Cameron) wanting to cut the number of police officers by 500-ish in the capital, despite him campaigning for election on making crime-fighting his top priority.

This would be the first major cut in police numbers in London since policing was devolved a decade ago.

You simply cannot have the wannabe Tory Home Secretary stoking up people's fears about violent crime on the one hand, and the most powerful elected Tory reducing police numbers on the other.

They are a shambles, and should not be allowed to to ru(i)n the country after the next general election.

Spending cuts should be based on economic indicators, not Tory dogma

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has produced a report today saying that there is still massive uncertainty over the outlook for the British economy.

It is critical that the Government has a plan to tackle the public finances which is flexible enough to adapt to the changing economic situation.

The IFS rightly points out that cutting spending further this year would be extremely dangerous given the weakness of the economy.

Not surprisingly, the Tories are now desperately trying to play down their desire to do just that.

When, and by how much, public spending needs to be cut must be based on economic indicators, not Tory political dogma.

The Hills Report on Equality in Britain

I really am at a loss as to explain how the Tories are going to fix this "Broken Britain" they keep banging on about.But then again, I'm not alone, it seems that they don't either.

They vacillate between Senna the Soothsayer in Up Pompeii ("Woe, Woe, and thrice Woe") and Private Frazer in Dad's Army ("We're doomed") to merrily chanting "Here we go gathering cuts in May, On a cold and frosty morning".

As we know when you have cuts in the public sector, unless done sensitively, and not swingeingly, it is those at the bottom end of society who disproportionately suffer most.

The Hills report "An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK" shows that the richest 10% are more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10%.

Are the Tories going to set this right? Are they heck as like. They started the trend with Mrs Thatcher.

Lib Dem policies of raising the tax threshold to £10k, and the "mansion tax" on properties over £2m will benefit four million poorer people and pensioners.

What do the Tories propose? A tax cut for the RICHEST 3,000.

Get your priorities right, eh?

Is Cameron really Winnie the Pooh?

A. A. Milne who created all the creatures of Hundred Acre Wood, seems to have been a prescient political commentator.
In The House at Pooh Corner written in 1928, we read the following exchange.
"I've got a sort of idea", said Pooh at last, "but I don't suppose it's a very good one".
"I don't suppose it is either", said Eeyore.

Now all you have to do is replace Pooh with Cameron and Eeyore with the British electorate, and you'll see what I mean.

The poor man is desperately caught between saying what he thinks he needs to to get elected, and needing to say what he must to keep the rabid-right in his own party happy.

Actually, I've got it he's Edward Scissorhands good-looking misunderstood boy who has to "cut, cut, cut" despite himself.