The Not So Loyal Speech. A Monument To 13 Years of Labour Failure

When the General Election finally happens Labour will have been in power for 13 years. Labour was elected with a massive majority in 1997, they promised reforming zeal and delivered nothing.

Their legacy is one of a failed economy crippled by debt and unlikely to recover for many many years.

An acute housing shortage, deliberately encouraged to continue boosting house prices to beyond economic sense.

Spending billions on “cutting child poverty”, while creating a tax credit system with overpayments and debt built in.

Despite the real difficulties young people have as registering as unemployed the highest ever levels of youth unemployment.

American levels of student debt being accepted as a norm. Removing a ladder of opportunity from the poorest.

Public service waste because services became driven by performance indicators, not service delivery.

The Queen’s speech today reflected a manifesto of promises that Labour should have tackled years ago, not 6 months before an election.

The proposed bills stand not as a promise of a bright New Labour future but as a monument to Labour failure.

Bribery Bill
This if passed would make it illegal to bribe a foreign official to obtain or retain business. Furthermore, if businesses fail to prevent a bribe being paid by their employees or by other firms on their behalf an offence would be committed.

I guess that the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair and the “estranged” husband of Labour Minister Tessa Jowell are grateful that this bill was not on the books previously.

Child Poverty Bill
This will enshrine into legislation a promise that was so badly broken by Labour, their desire to end child poverty by 2020. It forces the government to make annual reports to Parliament on the success of its strategies to end child poverty. This bill owes NOTHING to the aim of ending child poverty, it simply reflects a demand from Labour campaigners to enshrine into law Labour policy. This bill is as meaningless as its aim.

Equality Bill
Again a complete monument to Labour failure. The gap between rich and poor has never been wider, but this bill would require the whole public sector a duty to “narrow the gap between rich and poor”. Departmental wide responsibilities tend to mean no one is responsible.

This bill would also ban age discrimination outside of the workplace – such as when buying goods and services like healthcare. Does this mean the end of SAGA?

Business with more than 250 employees would have to report on gender differences on pay.

Labour finally wakes up to the power the Government has as a customer, not by directing LAs to properly control the amounts spent on suppliers, but by forcing Public bodies to use their £200bn of public procurement power “drive equality” in private sector firms.

Fiscal Responsibility Bill
The title is NOT a joke. This would place into law the promise to halve the budget deficit within four years. Labour is still attached to the Neo Cons. Parliament would be able to approve medium-term fiscal plans. Again, something previously shrouded in secret under Labour, but now a requirement in law?

Children, Schools and Families Bill
This is yet another bill ignoring student poverty, something Labour made worse when they replaced the previous Tory mix of loans and grants with loans and fees. Not exactly something proised in the Labour manifesto and with public finances in a disastrous state, something that will now take generations to tackle.

This bill shows yet again the Labour Nanny approach to education, while attempting to portray it as parental rights. Labour have learned nothing from the failure of performance indicators, so to prove the point they are making these indicators – guarantees. Parents will have a right to nag schools if they do not deliver. The schools will be given report cards.

Teaching to performance standards is the reason why school children can pass a test, but know nothing of the subject they are taught.

We should of course be grateful that this bill promises “greater flexibility” for primary schools to set their own curricula.

It would set a requirement that all young people receive at least one year of sex and relationships education. Those children from religious backgrounds would not, as now be able to opt out. This may or may not be a good thing, but it is hardly more parental power.

Home educators will have to be registered and inspected.

Flood and Water Management Bill
The floods of 2007 caused £3bn of damage, this bill will pass the financial responsibility to Councils. Surface water flooding would become their legal responsibility.

Sustainable drainage systems will have to be considered for new building developments, this is nothing new. Existing Planning law could achieve that.

Further powers will be given to the water companies to control customers’ usage during droughts. Again another sop to the French Government Water Industry.

Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill
This would make it an offence to use, produce, develop, acquire, stockpile, retain or transfer cluster munitions.
So why now when Labour has no time to dio anything? Why did they seek an exemption from a treaty ban in 2008?

The US and UK used nearly 13,000 cluster munitions containing an estimated 1.8 to 2 million submunitions in the three weeks of major combat. A total of 63 CBU-87 bombs were dropped by US aircraft between May 1, 2003 and August 1, 2006.

Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill
The one worthwhile part of this bill reminds me of right wing Tea-Baggers in the US. Labour finally propose ending the stupid Serious and Organised Crime Act ban on demonstrations around Parliament. So it will be ok to demonstrate against a potential Tory (Tory/Lib Dem) Government, but for most of the time Labour was in Government – not against them.

As long as they don’t start saying protest is patriotic.

It would give Parliament the ability to scrutinise treaties, while of course ignoring the fact Labour promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

It ends the by-election of hereditary peers to sit in House of Lords, which therefore reduces their number over time. It also allows for the disqualification of peers convicted of serious offences or subject to a bankruptcy order. I wonder who they are getting at?

It allows Peers to resign Peerages. Something that already has a precedent.

Crime and Security Bill
More Nanny and less tackling the real problems, as this introduces mandatory assessment of parenting needs when 10 to 15-year-olds are considered for an ASBO.

The amount of information police need to record when carrying out stop and search, I guess they are forgetting SUS laws. Yay to the Daily Mail agenda.

It gives police the power to bar suspected domestic violence offenders from their homes for a period, even if not charged. All very well, except of course it ignores the somewhat important principle of innocent before guilty, but who will house those barred from their own homes?

It would make it a legal requirement to store air guns safely.

Possession of a mobile phone in prison without authorisation would become a criminal offence.

Wheel-clamping businesses will be subject to a licence.

The DNA database will continue to grow. Adults who are arrested but not charged will have their DNA recorded for six years. Of course, when Labour politicos were arrested, they were not subject to fingerprinting and DNA testing. It would also allow the police to record DNA samples and fingerprints of sexual and seriously violent offenders returning to UK following a conviction overseas.

Digital Economy Bill
A disgusting and disgraceful sop to the music and film industry at the expense of Internet Service providers. A bought and paid for Government.

Of course in terms of technology, this bill does nothing to deal with the highly unfavourable tax regime this Government placed on IT workers. The consequence of this is that the UK games Industry, which was the 3rd largest in the World is slipping to 5th place and probably even worse.

Ofcom would be given a legal obligation the duty to assess the UK’s communications infrastructure every two years.

The digital radio switchover would happen by 2015.

Video games ratings would become compulsory for games designed for children aged 12 and above.

Channel 4 would be given a public service remit – despite the pressures it faces on advertising.

Energy Bill
Private companies will bee forced to issue rebates for fuel to poorer customers. Interesting as a fair chunk of the UK fuel industry and the Water industry is liked to the French government.

Financial Services Bill
This would establish a Council for Financial Stability, after all, the man who served as Chancellor for so many years was able to deliver Britain from Boom and Bust – NOT. It would be chaired by the chancellor, and comprising representatives of the Treasury, Bank of England and Financial Services Authority.

Strengthens the FSA to take “action” on pay of those in financial services, following the recent outcry over bonuses. So pay deals become more hidden. It also supposedly promises “action” in UK and somehow internationally, on bankers’ pay.

It would require banks and other financial firms to set up “living will” to make them easier to wind down in the event of a crisis. From “too big to fail” to how to fail.

It would bans unsolicited credit card cheques and enables the setting up of national money guidance service. Despite the fact that they exist already.

It also promises to allows groups of consumers to bring court actions against financial institutions. Again something consumers can do.

Personal Care at Home Bill
This election bribe would guarantee free personal care for the 280,000 people with the “highest needs”, such as those with serious dementia or Parkinson’s disease.

It provides free care to a further  166,000 people who would otherwise have to use their savings to contribute. It also promises to help 130,000 people needing to enter care homes for the first time to “regain their independence”. As well as adaptations to the neediest people’s homes to increase their independence.  Where is the money Gordo?

These bills are promised, but lack of Parliamentary time pretty much ensures that they will never see the light of day.

House of Lords Reform Bill
Promises that the Lords will be between 80% and 100% elected. States the government should not hold a majority in the second chamber and its members must be independent.Nice timing from a Party that will no longer be in Government. Legislate themselves in to a position of power.

International Development Spending Bill
Requires that 0.7% of gross national income is spent on development from 2013. This was in each Labour Manifesto and they continually failed to meet it. Gordon broke his promise to the poor of the World.

The promises on health care and housing of course failed to materialise.

A failed legislative agenda from a failed Government.

Has Gordon Doomed Himself?

Guido Fawkes refers to Gordon Brown as Jonah. Gordon Brown has an awful record of offering support to football teams or companies – only to have disaster follow.

Well he has now cursed himself.

His response to a petition calling on him to resign, one of the largest petitions on the Downing Street website was entirely reminiscent of a football chairman declaring that his Manager has the full support of the board.

The Prime Minister is completely focused on restoring the economy, getting people back to work and improving standards in public services. As the Prime Minister has consistently said, he is determined to build a stronger, fairer, better Britain for all.

Well we are all a lot poorer, income inequality is worse under Brown than under Thatcher and unlike the US, which saw its deficit come in lower than expected, the deficit in the UK is worsening and we are still not out of the recession.

Bye Bye Gordon. Time to go.

There is one man to blame for the rise of the BNP

The BBC Question Time programme gave Nick Griffin the oxygen of publicity and he choked on it.

Jack Straw was useless. However, if you draw up a list of politicians who engage in Muslim bashing for cheap political points, Jack Straw is up there with Nick Griffin. After all it wasn’t Griffin that said he would not talk to women wearing a burkah.

David Dimbelby tried too hard. He wanted a posh version of the Jerry Springer show in order to boost ratings. His show invited a Nazi and Dimbleby just had to show that he was not a racist sympathiser.

The provocativability of the audience was guaranteed. The Mail is wrong. If you took any group of 200 people from Britain, the same level of disgust would be shown to the BNP.

The BBC did not as Peter Hain suggest, boost the BNP. He should look closer to home.

Poverty and fear drives extremism.

The house price bubble and lack of social housing.
Unemployment.
Taxes hitting the poorest.
“British jobs for British workers”.
MPs expenses.
The Government created monster of “Radical Islam”.

All of these were fostered by the man Peter Hain is happy to call his Leader.

Peter Hain – your Leader is helping the BNP. Gordon Brown the best recruitment tool for the BNP.

If you push the politics of fear you get the politics of hate.

Gordon Brown A Saviour?

Can we replace this Gordon Brown, self professed saviour of the World with this one?

Xavier Gordon Brown is the youngest person to ever to get an A* at GCSE. In mathematics. Something the Saviour Gordon appears less than good at.

Sion Simon is Scum Part 2

Sion Simon the Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington who attacked Susan Boyle, ran a stupid smear against David Cameron that completely backfired and got Cameron even more support, called Labour Party rebels “deserters” and then backed an early campaign to oust Tony Blair, has now been made “Minister for Creative Industries”.

Why? Well it can not be for his support for those creative industries. After all, Susan Boyle was seen as a national treasure, he is simply a joke.

It can not be because he is good on tv.

(By the way here is blog this idiot runs, that he is says he not interested in (he does not allow comments) – and he may learn too late the way you could have kept a Labour Government was not to point out the opposition – but to run the Country well, something his Party singularly failed to do).

Hmm – must be something to do with this crappy voting record then.

Voting record (from PublicWhip)

How Siôn Simon voted on key issues since 2001:

* Voted moderately against a transparent Parliament.
* Voted a mixture of for and against introducing a smoking
ban.
* Voted strongly for introducing ID cards. votes, speeches
* Voted very strongly for introducing foundation hospitals.
* Voted strongly for introducing student top-up fees.
* Voted very strongly for Labour’s anti-terrorism laws.
* Voted very strongly for the Iraq war.
* Voted very strongly against an investigation into the Iraq
war.
* Voted very strongly for replacing Trident.
* Has never voted on the hunting ban.
* Voted moderately for equal gay rights.
* Voted a mixture of for and against laws to stop climate change.

He is also another MP who likes to expense it up. He claimed his stamp duty, and even a MacBook Air and all the accessories on expenses. A £399 laptop, obviously would not have been good enough for him. Who is the young person who keeps getting expensed and was that a legitimate claim for the student/teacher edition of Microsoft Office either to Microsoft or the taxpayer? Perhaps an explanation is due for all the money expensed to Susan Hayes? Who is she, what “strategic” advice was given necessary to his work as an MP?

The Labour MP, who was once happily in the pay of Rupert Murdoch, now gets to decide in the run up to an election year, what regulations are imposed on digital media.

Please Minister, May I Have Some More?

Of late, quite a few public officials have wanted to volunteer how especially useless their job is. This is of course good, who ever takes on the reigns of British Government after the next election will indeed face many many challenges and appalling public finances. After all, the Government will want to strip out services areas that have become the Department of Silly Walks.

Step forward, Gill Fine. “Director” of “Consumer choice and Dietary Health” at the Food Standards Agency. Of course as this is a Government Department, her role actually means getting rid of food choice. Her service is consulting on just how to do this right now.

The Government, wants the British public to buy fewer fatty foods and sugary drinks. An admirable aim. The NHS employs people with the same admirable aims, they are called dieticians, but never mind, a little bit of Government duplication is fine.

The British public have not however been buying fewer fatty foods and sugary drinks. That is of course their choice. Well not according to Ms Fine.

English people and that includes me, are all such fat ugly people we can not make up our own minds. In fact we are so fat and unable to do anything by ourselves, we must be forced to do it.

Cakes are easy to deal with. Cut the saturated fat. Tesco has already managed to remove 110 tonnes of saturated fat from their cakes. I would not want to see what that looked like. Of course, it does not tell you how much sugar went in to replace the fat (therefore making it less suitable for diabetics), nor does it tell you of what the increase in food waste was, given that the fat was for shelf life. Anyway thumbs up to Tesco for having slipped past the fact it is selling low fat versions of their full fat cakes and no one noticed.

You may also have noticed that “full fat” drinks have had the amount of sugar they contain reduced, supplemented by Rumsfield’s poison gift to the World, Aspartame. (TM Dr Death). It will be this Department that has encouraged such changes in recipe. (Or as they call it “reformulate”).

The Food Standards Agency is supposed to be independent, set up in the wake of the outbreaks of BSE and foot and mouth disease. So it is of no surprise to learn that Lord Rooker (previously Jeff Rooker), the former food minister, during the Foot & Mouth crisis, is head of it.

He will be paid around £55k a year and will need to work 8 days a month on this quango.

They cannot reformulate chocolate. In Belgium, chocolate is chocolate. The Europeans do not really like what the British call chocolate and thus they ensured that chocolate had to contain some chocolate product as a kind of starting point. The Belgians were the most vociferous about this. The Belgians, who make really bloody good chocolate, tried to ensure that the British product was called something like cocoa based non animal fat sludge product. One thinks that would not have done much for sales. Of course, Ms Gill would have been happy. However I doubt that the Cadbury family would be too happy.

The Ministry of Funny Walks has a solution to that. Make the chocolate companies give us less. Even though I personally could choose to buy less. Who cares about personal choice. Manufacturers will be told to shrink portion sizes. The appropriately named Ms Fine, wants chocolate-based snacks such as Mars bars to be no bigger than 50g compared with the current 58g size and bars of chocolate to be no larger than 40g. Reducing the size of the Yorkie Bar down by over a 1/3rd.

These are some of the current size

• Mars bar 58g to lose 8g
• Snickers 58g to lose 8g
• Dairy Milk 49g to lose 9g
• Galaxy 46g to lose 6g
• Yorkie 68g to lose 28g

Remember you will probably still pay the same

I do wonder if those in the Ministry of Silly Walks know that these sizes can be purchased in “fun bags”?

Anyway these people have form. The Ministry of Funny Walks tried this in 2004. They attempted to ban King Size products just before the last General Election to show Ministers it was actually doing something. Of course they made a complete failure of it andpeople just laughed. Mars kept selling a King Size product, but conveniently provided it as 2 3/4 length bars and renamed it DUO. The good ol’ baby burning French Nestlé, just ignored the Government.

If the aim of the ban was to ensure that stupid people who were unable to break in half the King Size Bar, were now given more freedom by having it broken for them, the Ministry of Silly Walks won. If it was to cut down on the number of king sized chocolate bars – they did so only if you count a name change as abolition.

Even better, the Ministry of Silly Walks wants canned drinks reduced from the standard 330ml (33fl oz) that they are now to the nice airplane stubby 250ml (25 fl oz) and those 330ml fruit drinks reduced to 250ml as well. After all, you would not then buy a 500ml bottle, or two smaller cans if you so chose.

The problem for this official, Gill Fine, is that this thing is about as popular as Gordon Brown selling the Congestion Charge to residents of Kensington and Chelsea. The last time they tried anything like this, it was in the papers for weeks, with Government Ministers putting their names to all the documents. This time the Press Release is left, to the “Director of Consumer Choice and Dietary Health”. Not even a Ministerial rent a quote on the Press release. Of course that press release is amusing.

Ms Fine, declares “We recognise the excellent work already achieved by some food businesses to make healthier eating easier. But to make even greater progress it’s important that everybody gets behind our recommendations on saturated fat, added sugar and portion sizes.

“The food industry regularly reviews its ingredients and processes, as well as portion sizes, and the aim of this proposal is to encourage them to consider how they can play their part in improving public health and helping consumers to maintain a healthy weight.

“What we are not doing is telling people what to eat! What we want to do is to make it easier for people to make healthier choices – to choose foods with reduced saturated fat and sugar – or smaller portion sizes.”

Of course not Ms Fine. Just remember when people make a choice there has to be a choice. Stopping choice is not “enabling” it is not “making it easier” (well it is in kind of a way). It is nannying.

If people want more they will get more. They are not dependent on the Government to make that choice. Therefore the 58g Mars bar instead of becoming 50g becomes 100g. Unless you control how much we buy. Just a few steps away.

I seem to remember a very famous film scene, in which a young boy became somewhat unsatisfied with his “healthier choice”, yep,

this

The Two Trillion Dollar Man

UK Government Debt has now exceeded $1 trillion.

The BBC has reported that the official measure the total outstanding government debt rose to an all time high of £799bn, or 56.6% of UK GDP.

The Labour Government borrowed £13 billion in June. An amount that back before 1997 Blair called shameful and the “cost of failure” when that was the total borrowed for the whole year.

Whichever measure is used at the average exchange rate of £=$1.40, we now have over a $trillion of Government debt and more than a $trillion in privately held debt. When people were warning about the level of private debt held during the 2005 General Election – Brown and Blair both dismissed the issue.

Unlike the US, which increased short term borrowing to stimulate the economy, Brown, because of previous financial incompetence was unable to offer anything of real value. The reduction in VAT from 17.5% to 15% was worth little to the consumer. This reduction is coming to an end soon.

Is it any wonder that this is how Labour tried to sell its record to the voters of Norwich North?

Is it any wonder then that Brown had his arse handed to him in Norwich? A 16.5% swing that resulted in the a Conservative vote total that was more than the Labour and Liberal Democrat vote combined.

• Chloe Smith (Con) 13,591 (39.5%)
• Chris Ostrowski (Lab) 6,243 (18.16%)
• April Pond (LD) 4,803 (13.97%)
• Glenn Tingle (UKIP) 4,068 (11.83%)
• Rupert Read (Green) 3,350 (9.74%)
• Craig Murray (Ind) 953 (2.77%)
• Robert West (BNP) 941 (2.74%)
• Bill Holden (Ind) 166 (0.48)
• Howling Laud (Loony) 144 (0.42%)
• Anne Fryatt (NOTA) 59 (0.17%)
• Thomas Burridge (Libertarian) 36 (0.1%)
• Peter Baggs (Ind) 23 (0.07%)

In fact the Conservative majority of (21.37%) 7,348 was higher than the Labour vote.

The Brown Party in a strong could once again only get 18% of the vote.

Gordon, you were sent a clear message – Gordon,  Go Now.

President Barack Obama. Six Months In.

# Improved the reputation of America across the World
# Signed executive orders to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year, ban torture and end the CIA’s secret overseas prisons and define treatment of Detainees.
# Reversed restrictions on stem cell research.
# Signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Reducing discrimination based on gender, age, religion, or race.
# Signed an executive order reversing the ban that prohibits funding to international family planning groups that provide abortions. Gag rule revoked (Mexico City policy).
# Creates the White House Council on Women and Girls “to provide a coordinated federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.”
# Signed a Presidental Memorandum extending federal benefits to same-sex partners of federal workers and announced support for the Domestic Partners Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009.
# Reverses U.S. position on LGBT Issues at the UN: At the “Durban Review Conference,” U.S. supports language condemning “all forms of discrimination and all other human rights violations based on sexual orientation.”
# Signed executive order requiring federal contractors to offer jobs to current workers when contracts change.
# Largest funding increase to Veterans, considerably more than requested by the Veterans Agency
# Reversed a Bush order requiring federal contractors to post notice that workers can limit financial support of unions serving as their exclusive bargaining representatives.
# Signed executive order preventing federal contractors from being reimbursed for expenses meant to influence workers deciding whether to form a union and engage in collective bargaining.
# Created a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners.
# Expanded eligibility for the refinancing portion of the Making Home Affordable plan to help Americans struggling with distressed mortgages refinance at lower interest rates, even if they owe up to 25 percent more than their homes are now worth.
# Established a credit card “bill of rights”.
# Expanded loan programs for small businesses.
# Extended and index the 2007 Alternative Minimum Tax patch.
# Expanded eligibility for State Children’s Health Insurance Fund (SCHIP).
# Expanded funding to train primary care providers and public health practitioners.
# Created a new White House task force on the problems of middle-class Americans, and installed Vice President Joe Biden as its chairman.
# Appoints Vice President Joe Biden to Oversee Stimulus Plan Payouts.
# Granted a reprieve to Liberian immigrants facing imminent expulsion.
# Directed military leaders to end war in Iraq.
# Allowing Caskets to be photographed when the return from Iraq with family approval.
# Released nine previously secret internal Justice Department memos and opinions defining the legal limits of government power in combating terrorism.
# On Arab TV Network, Obama Urges Dialogue.
# Gave a speech in Cairo engaging the Muslim and Arab world.
# Bars independent contractors from conducting interrogations of terror suspects.
# Granted Americans unrestricted rights to visit family and send money to Cuba.
# Ordered the release of nearly a quarter of a million pages of records from the Reagan White House that were kept from the public during a lengthy review by President George W. Bush.
# Restored funding for the Byrne Justice Assistance Grant (Byrne/JAG) program.
# Released presidential records.
# Required new hires to sign a form affirming their hiring was not due to political affiliation or contributions.
# Pushed for enactment of Matthew Shepard Act, which expands hate crime law to include sexual orientation and other factors.
# Invites gay families to the Easter Egg Roll as part of the Obama administration’s outreach to diverse communities.
# Created a White House Office on Urban Policy.
# Increased funding for the NEA.
# Appointed an assistant to the president for science and technology policy.
# Funded a major expansion of AmeriCorps.
# Banned lobbyist gifts to executive employees.
# Investment in all types of alternative energy.
# Enacted tax credit for consumers for plug-in hybrid cars.
# Support for high-speed rail.
# Provided grants to encourage energy-efficient building codes.
# Extended unemployment insurance benefits and temporarily suspend taxes on these benefits.
# Created the White House Council on Automotive Communities and Workers to help auto industry workers transition to new manufacturing opportunities, including jobs in alternative energy.
# Stopped raids on medical marijuana dispensers.
# Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States. The first Hispanic to ever serve on the Supreme Court.
# Appointed more than 60 openly LGBT persons to positions in the executive branch.
# Issues Presidential Proclamation for Pride, proclaiming June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.
# Signed a mercury reduction pact with 140 other nations.
# Signed the Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act to curb wasteful spending by the Pentagon. Intended to price contracts and budgets lower; may potentially save billions of dollars in defense.
# Signed the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009, which serves to protect two million acres of land and creates a new system of land conservation for the Bureau of Land Management.
# Phase out government payments to crop producers making more than $500,000 a year and eliminates subsidies for cotton storage to help trim the U.S. budget deficit.
# Cut funding for a proposed U.S. nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain.
# Restored Endangered Species Act Provision requiring U.S. agencies consult with independent federal experts to determine if their actions might harm threatened and endangered species.
# Orders The Chesapeake Bay Protection and Restoration “to protect and restore the health, heritage, natural resources, and social and economic value of the Nation’s largest estuarine ecosystem and the natural sustainability of its watershed.”
# Signed the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act designating two million additional acres of public wilderness areas the highest level of government protection from logging and other forms of commercial use and development.
# Signed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act which will expedite the search for cures and treatments for millions of Americans living with paralysis caused by spinal cord injury, stroke, MS, Parkinson’s and many other diseases and disorders.
# Established The Joint Virtual Lifetime Electronic Record, a new system for updating medical records of servicemen and women both during and after their military careers.
# Established the White House Office of Health Reform
# Agreed to massively reduce the stockpile of nuclear weapons held by the United States and Russia
# Created new and stronger safety standards to safeguard the country’s food supply.

Not a bad list of achievements after just six months.

What has Gordon done?

New Labour New Shame. Speeding Motorists Deserve Rape

I really do hope that this is just a Departmental Head or a Junior Minister floating an idea. A very very bad idea. This story even as a proposal should earn that proponent a place on Keith Olbermann’s Worst “Person in the World” slot.

According to the Mail on Sunday , some complete bastard in this “no cuts” Labour Government wants to cut serious criminal injuries compensation payments for those convicted of minor offences, to include speeding.

The image links back to the Mail on Sunday article.

The Mail On Sunday goes on to report

In 2006, 857,000 fines averaging £142 were imposed in magistrates courts for driving offences.

They included 152,461 for speeding (average fine £121), 26,043 for failing to obey traffic directions (£95), 23,374 for careless driving (£159), 5,820 for parking offences (£65), 5,009 for lighting offences (£60) and 666 for noise nuisance (£66).

In the cases of murder victims, the rule applies to the deceased and any applicant for compensation.

So the amount paid to the parent of a murdered child will be reduced if the parent has been fined for a motoring offence in the past five years.

If the murder victim had been fined for a motoring offence, the amount payable to his children would also be reduced by the same proportion.

That reduction would be between £1,100 and £1,650, depending on how long had passed since the conviction, with a further deduction of between ten and 15 per cent from the sum paid to cover the victim’s funeral expenses.

Whichever idiot the so called Ministry of Justice got to speak on behalf of the Government just made it sound even worse.

A Ministry of Justice spokesman confirmed that the changes in compensation payments would affect motorists convicted of minor offences – but denied it was unfair and insisted the budget was not being cut.

‘The UK’s Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme is one of the most generous and comprehensive in the world. Each application will continue to be judged on a case-by-case basis,’ he said.

‘We need to recognise that compensation is paid with taxpayers’ money and this has always been taken into account when compensating those who have already cost the public purse.’

Even on the best reading of this, that it does not just affect motorists, but also those slapped with one of Blair’s stupid on the spot fines, it is a slap in the face for those raped or who have had a family member murdered. It is the Government saying to the victim, well you are a bit of a chav, or you do speed – so you kind of deserve it.

Again, if this is true, I would not suggest a Government minister deserved to be punched in the head, or worse, for this but if they were, perhaps they too would be less deserving of compensation. This person deserves the mad PUMAs set on them. The crazy ones and the not so crazy ones. Rape victims are no less a victim because they happened to be speeding within the past however many years.

h/t Timothy Wallace.

New Labour – New Jobs for War Criminals

Tony “Britain does not torture” looks set to be candidate for PERMANENT President of the European Union. Such a thought although horrible to think about at least has a funny side to it. Blair can reawaken old Brown jealousies.

Add a Single European Army to his control and who knows where a new Blair invasion would take the World. The US has WMDs. The 45 minute claim may stand up this time.

The only good thing I see coming out of this is that The International Criminal Court is nearby.

Hey – Ireland, remember you can still stop this.