Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Feigned Angst Of Politicians

Politicians feign anxiety about voter apathy and low turnouts at polls and then launch a dirty tricks campaign in the build up to an election! I can think of nothing that is guaranteed to turn off voters more than dirty politics. There is clearly a vast chasm between what politicians say and what they do. Either they simply do not understand the consequences of their actions or the meaning of their words or they simply do not care. I suspect it is the latter


Poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

Sunday, February 20, 2005

When

When the world around you has gone mad,
When you no longer recognise the good from the bad,
When right becomes wrong and wrong becomes right,
When we drink not to laugh but the courage to fight,
When instead of a smile we simply stare,
When we throw out the elderly from their homes of care,
When we spy every move through a camera’s lens,
When we lock every door and homes become dens,
When image is all and substance a sin,
When truth is lost to deceitful spin,
When no one cares and no one votes,
When we burn our bridges and sink our boats,
When we sell our heritage down the drain,
When all that matters is profit and gain,
When every day brings trouble and strife,
What is the point of living a life?



More poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

Friday, February 11, 2005

EU Accounts Still Not Ratified

EU accounts have not been ratified by the Cours De Compte (European Commission auditors) for a number of years. If the EU Commission were a corporation, the Commissioners would have been "de-commissioned" long ago by angry shareholders!

This refusal by the Cours de Compte to ratify EU accounts arouses strong suspicions with regard to gross mismanagement and/or misappropriation of hundreds of millions of EU funds. If true this is a scandal of massive proportions.

Why therefore have none of the EU member governments been willing to call the Commission to account? Why have EU Governments not insisted on an independant audit of EU accounts? What is going on? Why are Europe's citizens being kept in the dark with regard to the details and reasons for the Cours de Compte's refusal to ratify the accounts? What exactly is the extent of the misappropriated funds in question?

It appears that nobody is willing to cast any light on the matter. This is totally unacceptable to Europe's tax paying citizens and we want answers and we want appropriate action to be taken against those responsible. We believe democracy is about accountability. We see none here.
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If you agree with the sentiments expressed here, copy the above text and expedite it to: E-Mail escom@parliament.uk (European Scrutiny Committee at the Houses of Parliament.

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11th February 2005

Well folks, the following is the response I received:

In response to your email below, may I refer you to the European Scrutiny Committee's 32 nd Report of the 2003-04 Session (HC 42-xxxii) relating to the fight against fraud. The Report can be found through the following link:


The Committee recommended this for debate, alongside the Court of Auditors' 2003 Annual Report and a document relating to the European Anti-fraud Office (OLAF). This debate will take place in European Standing Committee B on Wednesday 2 March at 2pm on the Committee Corridor of the Houses of Parliament. The Hansard of which will be available through the parliament website (www.parliament.uk)

Please get in touch if I can help further.

Best wishes
Olivia Davidson Second Clerk of the European Scrutiny Committee House Of Commons 7 Millbank London SW1P 3JA Tel: 020 7219 6481
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Hmmm.......stranger and stranger! Check out the links to find out what happens or does not happen next!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Chickens are coming home to roost

It is my belief that the British economy is far too reliant on the financial services sector. We have too many, if not all our eggs in one basket. Conventional wisdom suggests this is a high risk strategy.

I also believe that certain factors are looming which could destabilise financial markets. Rising consumer debt, rising bad debts to third world countries, increasing government indebtedness, a possible fall in house prices, collapsing pensions and falling consumer demand pose a serious threat to economic well being in the medium to long term. Add to this the war in Iraq and the ever present terrorist threat and it seems that no matter where you look, it is difficult to see any positives on the economic horizon as far as Britain is concerned.

These factors will have a serious impact on consumer confidence, equity markets and the banking sector. This in turn, will impact on business in general. Bankruptcies will increase, unemployment will rise, consumer spending will fall, culminating in a classic vicious circle scenario pushing the economy into free fall.

This is not some airy fairy doom and gloom scenario. These negative factors are clearly present for all with eyes to see and have been for 18-24 months now. Add to this the downturn in savings over the last few years and we are clearly heading for tempestuous waters.

Furthermore, Britain no longer has a manufacturing industry of any consequence producing goods with which we could trade our way out of trouble should financial markets wobble. Equally worryingly for different reasons is the fact that we no longer have an agricultural base capable of sustaining the country in times of crisis.

Germany, France, Japan, USA and even Italy and Spain have much more diverse economies than Britain, as do China and India. They are less dependent on financial and other service industries. This, I believe gives them an economic edge in the medium to longer term. I see absolutely no real awareness whatsoever of Britain's economic deficiencies in government circles. Blair and Brown continue to make believe all is well with everything. Meanwhile, those of us who do not wear rose tinted glasses, watch helplessly as manufacturing, agriculture and the fisheries industry shrink slowly but inexorably into non-existence.

The extended dot.com boom of the 90s coupled with rising house prices and low interest rates has encouraged and extended consumer borrowing and spending, for longer than would have been the case in previous economic downturns. It is this that has kept the British economy relatively strong but it cannot and will not go on forever. At some point the bills have to be paid and it is that point that the economy will start to unwind. Blair talks about developing a high tech economy but I see no concrete Government strategy in place to catalyse this revolution. Therefore any evolution in that direction is likely to be painfully slow and thus ultimately inadequate. Others will do it better and faster.

It is also a fact of economic life that booms are inevitably followed by busts and it is quite often the case that the bigger the boom, the bigger the bust that follows. I am thus extremely pessimistic about Britain's economic prospects in the medium to long term. I am also pessimistic about many other aspects of British life under this appallingly, shallow and incompetent government. Mark my words the chickens are coming home to roost. Well at least we will have something to eat, I suppose.



Poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

Monday, February 07, 2005

Ideas

Flowing streams of illuminated imagination,
Sparks of genius igniting thoughtful speculation,
Ideas riding upon the crests of crashing waves,
Floundering upon the rocks and filling empty caves.

From the recesses of a curiously empty mind,
Ideas come and go of every conceivable kind,
As though conjured up by a mystical magician,
They ebb and flow, of their own volition.



Poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

Saturday, February 05, 2005

New Labour's Smear Campaign

Message sent to New Labour:

The reports in the media of New Labour's dirty tricks campaign to bismirch the character and integrity of its principle opponents, shows just how far down the greasy pole your party and those who lead it, have slipped. This is the politics of the gutter, a politics bereft of principle, integrity, intelligent debate and common respect for one's fellow beings. No wonder people are so disenchanted with politicians and politics. It's an absolute disgrace.

If I hear another Labour MP feigning anxiety at voters apathy and bandying around phrases like, " this should concern us all" and "this is something we need to address very seriously", I think I will be physically sick.

Poetry: http://www.spearman.blogspot.com

Thursday, February 03, 2005

New political party

(Extract from a proposal for a new political party)

The Reform Party

Raison d'etre

Social and economic management

It is the belief of the undersigned that the existing political status quo has failed to respond effectively to many of the challenges faced by this country over the last 10-15 years. The failure of leadership shown by successive governments has led this country to the edge of a precipice from which we must recoil before it is too late. It is now clear that a majority of British people have lost faith in politics and feel excluded from the political process. This is not only unhealthy for democracy but it is damaging to the social fabric and welfare of the nation.

During the course of the last two or three decades, there has been massive under investment and mismanagement of public services by consecutive governments. As a result, healthcare, public transport systems, social services and the police force/law and order, are all in a state of varying degrees of disarray.

Britain's economic diversity has been destroyed and is now critically dependent on the services sector industries. Manufacturing and agriculture have been degraded to the point that the nation is now a massive importer of the vast majority of products, it once exported to the rest of the world. Our superficially healthy economy has been fuelled by high consumer spending encouraged by higher personal borrowing and record debt. Savings have been seriously eroded by low interest rates and the collapse of pension schemes, despite the longest economic boom in equities in our history. The future now looks bleak for millions of people in this country.

Political Spin

The political process now dominated by spin, half truths and political correctness gone mad, has lost its credibility. The institution of Parliament has been surreptitiously undermined. The longer term interests of the nation are often subjugated by short term party political ambition in the pursuit of power at the expense of integrity and principle.

Media

Sections of the British tabloid press are regarded by many as the most socially irresponsible in the world and are symptomatic of a general malaise within British society today, which irrationally seeks to destroy those who succeed but does little to help those who fail to achieve.

The BBC, once the most respected broadcasting organisation in the world, is a pale shadow of its former self. The aim of a public broadcasting service in a developed society should be to help raise standards not lower them. We now live in a country where the lowest common denominator is the accepted norm. This is not good enough.

Middle-aged and elderly

The middle aged are the first to be made redundant and the last to be offered new employment. We live in a society where experience is sacrificed to a culture of youth, where celebrity worship is the new religion. We live in a country that has lost its sense of direction and its sense of core values.

The elderly are too often given little respect and generally treated as second class citizens despite their valuable contribution to society over entire lifetimes. Their wisdom and experience is ignored by governments and corporations alike. They are attacked in their homes and in the streets by semi-illiterate thugs unaware that they owe their own freedom and their democratic lifestyle to many of those they abuse. Britain today repays the contribution made by its elder citizens by destroying their savings, leaving them more vulnerable to crime, closing down care homes and hospices and undermining their dignity. This is unacceptable in a so called civilised and cultured society.

Crime and anti-social behaviour

Successive governments have presided apathetically over alarming increases in crime, drug abuse and anti-social behaviour which are now endemic in the streets of our cities, towns and villages. Prisons are overcrowded. Sentencing laws are a laughing stock. Society is in virtual meltdown because government has failed in its duty to uphold the values that are essential to a civilised society. This is unacceptable to the majority of decent, honest, hard working people in this country.

Traditional political parties

It is evident for all to see that the structure of the traditional parties no longer reflect the structure of British society. They are out of touch, out of tune and out of date with the aspirations of modern Britain.

Britain is now at a crossroads when it must decide on its future destiny. The choices offered by the existing political parties are limited, simplistic and narrow in their vision. They would also spell the end of the Britain we have known for more than a millennium and the end of Britain as a major influence on the world stage.

This is the last chance the British people will have to decide what kind of Britain they would like their children and their grandchildren to live in. This is the opportunity to create, not an ordinary Britain but an extraordinary Britain, that remains true to its heritage and continues to stand for freedom, tolerance, democracy and justice, a country of which we should and can all be proud.

Europe or what?

It is also worryingly self evident that the current political parties are entrenched in orthodox thinking with regard to Europe. They have never sought nor presented the British people with any alternative strategy other than to join or not join the Euro. Are they telling the British people that these are the only choices open to us, that there are no alternative strategies that might serve Britain's interests as well or better?

Why should Britain isolate itself and lose its identity in a protectionist trading block when it could and perhaps should eliminate its trade barriers on a quid pro quo basis with trading partners around the world? Could Britain not set the definitive standard for true globalisation?

The British people must be presented with the widest possible choices before deciding for themselves which course they believe best serves the interests and aspirations of the nation and its people. No government has the right to dictate policy on matters of constitutional importance but all governments have a duty to protect the sovereignty of the nation.

New political consensus

Given the general malaise that now pervades this country, it is clear that a new political consensus is required. The undersigned therefore believe the time is now right for the formation of a modern new political body which will be known as the Reform Party capable of facing the problems of the 21st century as well as resolving the mistakes of the previous one.

My poetry: