Dear Chief Secretary to the Treasury,
I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left.
Signed, Liam Byrne

(Outgoing Labour Chief Secretary to the Treasury. May 2010)
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Sunday 7 February 2010

"We will defend the state."

In a CiF piece, discovered thanks to Douglas Carswell, Mr Ed Miliband and Mr Douglas Alexander ask a few questions of the Tories and also outline the Labour Manifesto.

The title of the piece is "We will defend the state." - which says it all really. Their aim is to defend the state, not the people who live in Britain.

As for an Election Manifesto, what's the point? In July 2008 Judges decided that things said in manifestos aren't legally binding - not even a manifesto promise to hold a referendum about a Treaty that gave Britain away to the Eurocrats and, frankly, even if some politicians were told they had to keep their promises, it wouldn't worry them too much because, as these chaps know, there are quite a few things their own government has done, and continues to do, that have been ruled illegal by ECHR.

They criticise the Tory manifesto - but who's to know whether the Tories, Greens, Lib Dems or indeed any of the other political groups are telling the truth? A precedent has been set, so they could be making it all up - just to enjoy watching government tangle itself in knots trying to criticise their 'plans'. Perhaps they can afford a sleight of hand, are Labour's pockets as deep?

These two eminent politicians also write about "empowering" the electorate.

In the past 13 years, whilst their own government has been in power, the British "electorate" has become the most watched and most regulated of any other modern country.

It is this electorate that is referred to by their Prime Minister as "Flat Earthers" if they don't abide by the preaching of the new religion that is AGW - and he leads a government that has a "Respect Campaign".

It would be members of be the same electorate that can now be taken from their homes and kept away from their friends and families for as long as 28 days without being told why, who can be tried in a secret court of law without the benefit of a Jury, and also without knowing what evidence is being laid against them.

There was a time when tourists could stroll through the streets of London clutching their cameras, snapping away at buildings old and new to show their friends what they had seen - but not now, despite Police assurances otherwise. Thanks to Section 44 of the Terrorism Act anybody who wears a uniform or a badge, and has been on a special course, can challenge the freedoms of those who walk along public streets and bully the ignorant into deleting their holiday pictures. These people can also issue on-the-spot fines, called 'fixed penalty notices', and have them enforced without the scrutiny of the Judiciary.

The whole article reads like something out of Alice. It's been dissected by far better people than Mrs Rigby, so she won't say any more about it except to repeat the opening sentence :-
The TV series "Faking It" made compelling viewing because people were trained for high-flying jobs and either got away with it or got rumbled
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

"but not now, despite Police assurances otherwise"

Well done Mrs R: that Met advisory should be printed out and handed to Plod next time he tries to stop a person taking a snap.

Mrs Rigby said...

I remember seeing a downloadable "crib card" on a site, it was quite small and could be kept in a wallet - but I can't remember where I saw it.