Mobs riot again as Sydney race tensions explode

Friendly, liberal Australia is now suffering violent clashes between different ethnic groups. The media and Australian politicians have no hesitation in condemning white participants in those clashes as "racists" and "thugs" without considering whether they have legitimate grievances. The same commentators leap to the defence of Muslim Australians without even considering whether some of them may be to blame for the problems they are now experiencing. Isn't that knee-jerk reaction racist?

The liberties exported from Europe and further developed in the United States and elsewhere are everywhere under threat because of the barbarous actions of extremist Muslims. We have now had suicide attacks in London, street riots in France, a train bombing in Madrid, and - of course - the horrors of 9/ll. My most abiding memory of that day is of my horror at the celebrations on "the Arab street". What a large minority the "extremists" seemed to be.

Our media and politicians are quick to excuse, if not actually to justify, such actions because of the supposed alienation of Muslim communities. Thought pieces in the press invariably focus on what the rest of us can do to overcome that alienation. It is taken as read that the alienation is justified. It is also taken as read that no amount of alienation would justify similar conduct by the white community. Aren't the Guardianistas being racist in expecting a higher ethical standard from whites?

No-one ever seems to consider that a majority population can become alienated too. Australia, to the surprise of its leaders, seems to be proving the point. Of course, nothing can justify assaulting innocent individuals because they belong to a particular ethnic or religious group. If we applied that standard consistently, not least to Muslims, we might have less difficulty in explaining it to aggrieved Australians.

Telegraph | News | Mobs riot again as Sydney race tensions explode

Mocking idiots is no job for a grown-up

This country increasingly resembles China during the Cultural Revolution. Why is the story recounted in this obscure Telegraph opinion piece not headline news? What was the point of the police calling someone to say that her views had been "noted", if not political intimidation? What else are we to understand from the conviction of a protester for quietly reading out the names of our war dead in Iraq at the Cenotaph, but that we are not permitted contrary views?

David Cameron is good news for the image of the Conservative Party, but the jury is out on whether he will stop the rot in terms of free speech. The token Conservative on Andrew Marr's Sunday am yesterday, Giles Brandreth, was incongruously (for him) not wearing a tie - under orders from his leader. If Cameron is down to that level of detail, can there be doubt that he has also given orders as to the range of opinions to be expressed by his troops?

Telegraph | Opinion | Mocking idiots is no job for a grown-up

Police 'may be charged over tube shooting'

How could the police officers who killed Jean Charles de Menezes NOT be charged? If the Crown Prosecution Service fails to do so, it will be clear that another "independent" arm of the British State has fallen under political control.

I feel sorry for the officers. They were given illegal orders and they probably acted on them in good faith. However, they have no available defence to a charge of murder. They were not provoked. They did not have reasonable cause to apprehend any danger to them or anyone around them, so there was no question of self defence. The innocent young man was carrying nothing that could have been a bomb and did nothing to make the police suspicious. It was a cock-up, apparently beginning with a surveillance officer taking a slash in the bushes when he should have been ID'ing the "suspect". He only saw de Menezes in his peripheral vision while otherwise engaged. His snap judgement at that moment, seems to have cost an innocent life.

The problem is that the killers are criminally responsible. Following orders was no excuse for them. They should have refused to fire. The real issue is the responsibility of those who gave them the orders. There is no legislative sanction for a shoot to kill policy. If we need one, Parliament must change the law. Therefore the orders given by the PM, the Home Secretary, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner and the superior officers of the shooters were ALL illegal. They are as guilty as the poor schmoes in uniform who will take the rap. Who will charge them?

Telegraph | News | Police 'may be charged over tube shooting'

George Orwell estate to sue Government over breach of copyright

I love this!! Do visit and read it. Hat tip to "Attempting Escape" at http://attemptingescape.blogspot.com/

NHS may not treat smokers, drinkers or obese

This is fine, I guess, if the Government ensures that all taxes paid by the individuals concerned and applied to the NHS are repaid. By taxing them in the first place, the Government denied them the chance to make their own health care provision. To deny them treatment now is outrageous, unless they are given their money back to buy private service.

Personally, I would be more than happy to take up smoking or whatever if I could get back my taxes and pay for proper, non-socialised, health care myself.

Telegraph News NHS may not treat smokers, drinkers or obese

Extremists 'could take over our schools' | the Daily Mail

With great respect to the teachers' unions, extremists took over our schools over 30 years ago. Their communist doctrines of "one size fits all" education have blighted the lives of millions of people in Britain, causing a decline in literacy and numeracy which is - from the point of view of employers - quite startling.

As our schools have become unpleasant theatres of class war, the quality of those prepared to work in them has declined. At one point the head of modern languages at my old school was the class dunce at French in the year above me when I was there. The man could barely string a sentence together in his own language, and he was teaching French and supervising the work of other teachers.

We are losing our capacity to teach any subject which requires skills marketable elsewhere. Hence we are increasingly unable to provide science and language education at all. This is impairing the life chances of millions of students and destroying our economic competitiveness. Blair is right to try to take on the Leftist dinosaurs of education, and Cameron is right to back him.

In a well-run society, teachers are the most important and respected of all professionals, not whingeing unionised public-sector workers. The National Union of Teachers disgraces Britain's teachers by its very existence. let alone by its ludicrous and outdated pronouncements.

Extremists 'could take over our schools' | the Daily Mail

The Joy of Curmudgeonry: White with Loathing

Here is some advanced taurocoprology from my favourite blog. If I had not followed the links, I would have thought he was making it up.

The Joy of Curmudgeonry: White with Loathing

The West Lothian Question

British politics is in a mess over devolution. 85% of the UK's population lives in England. The United Kingdom has one Parliament. Scotland has a second in Edinburgh, which has voted - for example - to provide better healthcare and free university education for Scots. Labour's Scottish MP's at Westminster, however, have voted with the government against such measures in England. Without those Scottish MP's, Labour could not push through its programme.

Meanwhile, England subsidises Scotland. Estimates vary, but ten billion pounds a year seems the most common round number. It's cheap by comparison with the EU, but it provides even fewer benefits to England. It has never won an ounce of goodwill from ordinary Scots, whose hatred of the "sassenachs" seems actually to have become worse with increasing economic dependence. Englishmen like me who love Scotland and like to visit learn to play up real or imagined Celtic antecedents so as to be treated with moderate courtesy while we are relieved of our money.

Soon it is likely that all three major national political parties will be led by Scots. Scots dominate the present cabinet and will probably dominate the next. 80% of the voters of Gordon Brown's Scottish constituency derive their income from the state, one way or another. This is fairly typical. Scotland is a Socialist "voter farm".

English anger at the "Scottish Raj" is rising to dangerous levels. Ordinary working-class English people are sick and tired of being blamed for everyone else's problems because of the alleged misconduct of their ancestors. St Georges' Day was a non-event when I was a boy with The Times snootily commenting on one occasion that "...nationalism varies inversely with the importance of the nation..." Now the flag of St George flies on that day and the long-slumbering beast of English nationalism is stirring. Debates on the England/Scotland question in the blogosphere are becoming quite disturbing in their intensity.

There is no ethnic difference between us. The DNA of the people on our islands (including the island of Ireland) is so mixed as to make the pretence of ethnicity ridiculous. We are one people, but sadly we don't feel it. Like Conan Doyle, I would like the entire Anglosphere to be politically united, but that's an idealistic dream. What Billy Connolly calls "...the wee pretendy Parliament..." will probably develop into a real one. The original West Lothian question will be supplemented with a new one; how can a United Kindgom government and parliament dominated by Scots negotiate Scottish independence with the Scottish Parliament without the English being stuffed for one last time?

We need an intermediate stage; ideally one which costs no more money and gives employment to no more wasters and scoundrels than the present set up. Here is my proposal

The present House of Commons should remain, but with fair representation for England, Scotland and Wales (i.e. fewer Scottish and Welsh MP's). The House of Lords should be abolished. An English Senate should be elected. The Welsh Assembly should become the Welsh Senate and the Scottish Parliament the Scottish Senate. The three "Petty Senates" should meet separately on issues solely relating to England, Scotland and Wales respectively as unicameral local parliaments with specific delegated powers (identical in each case, rather than the present mishmash).

The three Senates combined (the "Grand Senate") should fulfil the present functions of the House of Lords.

The appointment of judges should be delegated to the chairman of each of the Petty Senates, so that independent judiciaries can emerge over time. The Grand Senate should be charged with forming a new constitution for the United Kingdom. That constitution could include entrenched provisions (e.g. on civil liberties) which could only be amended with the consent of all three Petty Senates.

In the short term this would provide fairness and improve parliamentary democracy. In the long term it would create constitutional perforations which could later be torn to separate two or three of the nations if they so require.

I anticipate it would be England that first decides to go. At least its Petty Senate, rather than the Scots-infiltrated House of Commons, could then provide the negotiating team for the constitutional settlement that would follow.

DVLA sells your details to criminals | the Daily Mail

Do those who want to trust the government with personal data still feel the same after reading this article? If a criminal sets up a fake car parking company, the DVLA will sell him all the information he needs to spot your nice car in traffic and find out where to go to steal it or maybe kidnap your family. Nice.

DVLA sells your details to criminals | the Daily Mail

Hyperactive and also useless | Samizdata.net

New Labour has now criminalised more than 700 activities, according to this item. This is a rate of "productivity" more than ten times greater than any previous government.

Hyperactive and also useless | Samizdata.net

School lessons in emotions

How degrading - both for pupils and teachers - is this? Since starting this blog, almost everything I have written highlights New Labour's lack of understanding of the proper boundary between individual and State. This little piece in today's Telegraph really proves beyond doubt that in the Government's view there is no boundary.

Telegraph | News | School lessons in emotions

"Who do you think you are kidding Mr Prescott?"

This is well worth a read; not just for the incredibly provocative Labour Party letter that began it, but for the sad spectacle of modern Scots and English attacking each other with dimly-remembered history. It's funny in a sad, poignant way.

"Who do you think you are kidding Mr Prescott?"

Departmental Legislation: 22 Nov 2005: Written answers (TheyWorkForYou.com)

Thanks to Simon Hughes MP for asking the question, so we can get the current "score" on New Labour's progress towards the criminalisation of everything. I suspect New Labour has created more new offences than this. These are only the ones created by laws steered through Parliament by the Home Secretary.

Departmental Legislation: 22 Nov 2005: Written answers (TheyWorkForYou.com)

No-jury trial plan 'presses on'

People trust juries more than they trust elected representatives. Juries may well be the most trusted element of our civil society. That's odd really, because they are chosen at random. They don't select themselves by applying for the job. Nor are they selected by politicians. They are also a very ancient institution. Most people in Britain have served on one, and they don't lose their faith in the course of the experience. This, despite the fact that they cost personal time and money. Voting, on the other hand, costs nothing. Yet almost no-one now believes in it or trusts its outcome.

Oddly, the House of Lords also performed better when selected by genetic lottery than when chosen on the crony principle by the Prime Minister. Even now, secure from the withdrawal of party support, the Lords consistently perform better than the democratically-elected House of Commons.

Far from undermining jury trial, perhaps we should be extending the principle behind it? Rather than voting, let's select 650 members of the House of Commons entirely at random. We would get a much better cross-section of the community; there would be the "right" numbers of women and ethnic minorities. There would be no such thing as a political career. We would not have nearly so many Scots in Parliament and the odds of getting any members of a political party would be derisory.

BBC NEWS | Politics | No-jury trial plan 'presses on'

Blair and Hain face fierce backlash over amnesty for 150 IRA fugitives

Imagine the scene 20 years in the future. A red-faced Prime Minister stands at the despatch box, being shouted down by angry MP's. To bring "closure" to Al Qaida's bloody campaign of violence in Britain, he proposes an amnesty. Those who murdered in the name of Islam will - on acknowledging their actions, but without having to appear in court - remain at liberty.

Their punishment? The "shame" of a criminal record!

The punishment of the British public for having been the victims of such crimes? The loss of their civil liberties, their privacy and their traditional fearlessness in the face of state power. Also the loss of numerous innocent lives; hundreds at the hands of terrorists and hundreds more at the hands of the sadistic goons attracted to the police force of the mid-2020's by limitless powers to do summary "justice".

Nothing exposes the hypocrisy of this government more than its attitude to the IRA. Irish terrorists were supported by the United States. So the government cravenly surrendered to them. We would like to believe its opposition to Muslim terrorists is more principled. Sadly, it only began when the USA was attacked. Before then, "Londonistan" was the de facto world headquarters of Islamic terror.

Perhaps it would be better to become the 51st State? At least then we would get some say in these matters? At least then, the President would need to appeal for our support directly to us, rather than to the poodles who lead us now.

Telegraph | News | Blair and Hain face fierce backlash over amnesty for 150 IRA fugitives

The end of time

What a perfect little Telegraph opinion piece; torn, like the newspaper itself, between liberty and nostalgia. New Labour has been a great boon to the "Torygraph" by allowing it to multiply one theme by the other and indulge in nostalgia for liberty.

Telegraph | Opinion | The end of time

Spy cameras to spot drivers' every move - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Another system to hook up to the ID database, perhaps?

Spy cameras to spot drivers' every move - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Hunt stepped up for Pc's killer

Of course, this is an appalling crime and I hope the killers are caught. However I wish the police responded with such enthusiasm and determination when we "civilians" are the victims.

I am waiting for the usual reassuring statement that "...statistically, these crimes are very rare and there is no reason for public concern..." How odd that we are not hearing that on this occasion.

BBC NEWS | England | Bradford | Hunt stepped up for Pc's killer

One in five men won't reach retirement if age rises to 67

Surely this is the point? The intention of the "reform" is to match pension payments to the State's ability to pay. We are such mugs for the notion that only the State can be trusted that no-one is reporting this story as they should. The press has fulminated over private sector pensions scandals. This one is seen as the fault of "society" - i.e. no-one's fault.

In fact, it is a classic case of mis-selling and fraud. Our grandparents were sold a state pensions scheme funded from compulsory contributions, with an element of socialist subsidy so that the rich would pay more but everyone would get the same. They voted repeatedly for governments which promoted this lie.

Our grandparents never discovered it was a lie. The pension funds were stolen and used for various mad schemes. Their pensions were paid from general taxation. They were the parents of the baby boomers and their fecundity provided for them, just as that of medieval peasants used to do.

Our parents realised something was up. The scheme was "reformed" by the abolition of earnings-related pensions which were unfunded by contributions and which their taxes could not sustain - except for civil servants and politicians. They never discerned the lie though. They kept trusting the State to provide.

Now we are supposed to be so stupid that we don't detect the lie either. The "pot" to pay our pensions is long since spent; given to African dictators and other more deserving sorts than us. We have been taxed to pay our grandparents' and parents' pensions, but our children are too few and too poor to pay ours. Therefore we must die in greater numbers before becoming entitled to pensions. We must be grateful that the government is raising the pension age to achieve this. They could have proposed euthanasia instead. Perhaps that will be the next stage of "reform?"

How does the conduct of successive governments differ from that of the Halifax bank manager recently jailed? He defrauded investors by paying their "profits" from other peoples' money. So did they. The only difference is in the consequences to the individuals concerned. He is now serving well-deserved jail time as a guest of Her Majesty. They are her Ministers and Privy Councillors.

Telegraph | News | One in five men won't reach retirement if age rises to 67

Ex-MI5 chief sparks ID card row

I am surprised at the fuss. No-one believed ID cards would help counter terrorism anyway. Even David Blunkett (what bliss to mention his wretched name now he's gone) admitted as much.

ID cards and the associated database are not about safety. This project is about control. It is hard to know whether to fear more its success or its failure. If it "succeeds", our lives will be tracked by the state on a scale undreamed of in the most totalitarian regimes. Ministers lie brazenly that it will be a "yes/no" identity verification system. That may be true, at least initially, for those other than the security services, the police and their political masters. That seems quite enough intrusion to be going on with - and it will get worse.

Remember how asset seizure was at first an exceptional power to be used only against terrorists? Then it was extended to drug dealers. Now the police can seize and crush your car if you forget to renew your insurance. Or HM Customs can seize it if they don't believe you are personally going to smoke the fags and drink the booze you are bringing back from France. How long did that "function creep" take? It seems to have been more a "function sprint"

I give it not more than 5 years for the tax man to have full access to the database, regardless of which Government is in power. Before long after that the local librarian will be able to track you down to collect the fine on that book you forgot to return. You will be asked to produce the card to cash a cheque, hire a car or check into an hotel. A policeman wiil certainly ask for it if you sleep in a ditch. They will hook it up to their other mad plan - the compulsory satellite car tracking system for "road pricing" and speed limit enforcement.

If you want to be a free man, you will have to travel in stolen cars, live by mugging and spend only your stolen cash. Otherwise, you may as well live in a glass house and walk the streets naked with your net worth tattooed on your buttocks.

As for failure, the insanely-centralised and comprehensive database will be a global top ten hacker target. Breaking into it would enable identity theft so perfect that a victim will need to adopt a new one. Nor need we fear only the technically-minded criminal. Cash to the right official will secure whatever is needed.

As PJ O 'Rourke said "...giving money and power to politicians is like giving whisky and car keys to teenage boys..." Even if (mysteriously) you love and trust the present bunch, how much imagination do you need to work out what future politicians will do with the control over your life that this database will give them?

BBC NEWS | Politics | Ex-MI5 chief sparks ID card row