Globalisation: The Stealer of Skills

OK my snarly gnarly little English illiterati. Here the next dose of why Globalisation is bad for you, me, and the rest of the world-wide Hoi Polloi** (see note below).

Put that bottle of cider down and pay attention.

The easy way to illustrate this is to give you a couple of recent examples regarding the theft of skilled workers from the third world and the corresponding theft of jobs from England

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One of the great obscenities perpetrated by the last Labour government was the bribery and theft of trained medical professionals from the third world.

What! I hear you exclaim. The Labour party indulging in a spot of slavery? Well, Almost.

Starting in the late 90's teams of recruiters from local health authorities were flown to places like India, South Africa and the Philippines with the sole aim of stealing the medical staff away to the UK.

Nobody would dispute that these individuals were a great gain for the UK.

I would also hope that nobody would dispute that stealing them away from their own nations was not only immoral but also a catastrophe for those Hoi Polloi** left doctor-less and nurse-less back home.

Why did the ruling elite do this?

Because it was cheaper than training our own medics.

It got them out of a short term hole of their own making regarding impractical promises they made about the NHS.

Simple.

Now of course, it is a long term problem. But they don't care anymore. Another ruling elite has to pick up the pieces.

It also gave them leverage in keeping down wages. It enhanced their control over the NHS at the expense of the medics.

I am sure that in the future the Labour party's addiction to globalisation and its immoral theft of these medics will be regarded much in the same way as we regard slavery today.

To be fair there were rumblings of discontent from the odd senior (though soon to be junior) member of the Labour Party (like Clarles Clarke)

The other skilled worker obscenity we will be looking at today is the abuse of skills within the third world.

An engineer or technician is a precious resource in any country. But today many multi-lingual highly educated individuals in the third world will be found answering the phone and dealing with Mr Angry from Cheam and his missing direct debit.

Meanwhile the people in this country that used to do this job sit at home watching the afternoon telly waiting to sign on again. Their prosperity and self reliance ruined.

The foreign engineer, temporarily gets paid more than he would doing his proper job. Meanwhile his skills rot and the country that trained him goes without.

Long term nobody gains.

Except the fat cats.

OK?

Sermon over. Back to the cider.

**NOTE
I know you lot are, like me, a bit dim. (John Prescott told me this. So it must be true.)

So I need to explain the term Hoi Polloi.

Hoi Polloi is a Greek expression meaning the many, the masses, etc. It is usually used in private by the Great Good and Extremely Well Fed. They use it as a sneeringly derogatory term when describing people like you and me, my plebian proletariate mates.

Occasionally they get carried away and use it in public, so if you hear it, now you know what it means.

So theres a little lesson for you.

Of course Dioclese should know this already. It is not because he is brighter than the rest of us its just that as a short term past resident of Greece he must have heard the remark delivered about himself as he queued up every night to buy his industrial strength Metaxa.

An Outbreak of Common Sense

Many of the Great Good and Extremely Well Fed are moaning about the lack of commitment that has been shown to the victims of the Pakistani floods.

So why is the level of support so low?

Why are we not providing significant support from either the government or from the general population?

Cast you mind back to the Tsunami of 2004. Initially, that catastophe also went unaddressed. At the start the government grudgingly donated a derisory amount of aid. The sum was actually soon outstripped by personal donations. The government under Gordon Browns direction tried to hold its position. But public outrage dictated otherwise.

Today, the the lack of public support for the Pakistani disaster is primarily due to the economic constraints upon the country at this time. This is ampified by the fact that Pakistan spends £2 billion a year on nuclear weapons, and has been actively seen as supporting those that are murdering British troops in Afganistan.

But in both the Tsunami disaster and the Pakistani floods the government has found itself in a position where it simply did not have any money left in the coffers. The reason for this is that most of the Foreign Aid budget has always been squandered on African gangsters and other odious members of the worlds corrupt elites. We have always heavily contributed to the UN Central Emergency Relief Fund. This fund is supposed to deal with crises like the Pakistani floods but it is arguably worse than useless.

At least now, the coalition government appears to (at last) have smelt the coffee and is axing some of the multitude of commitments that have previously soaked up the foreign aid budget like a sponge.
See Channel 4 here

Morover, (shock and horror) we will be targetting aid to help extract us from the mess of Afganistan. See Guardian Here

Maybe in future years we will not be buying Lear jets for the corrupt bully-boys who rule the third world. Perhaps we will have enough kept back so we can immediately respond to a calamity like the Pakistani floods.

Maybe if there is not a disaster in a particular year, then maybe, just maybe, we could spend it on our own poor and needy instead.

Globalisation: The Real Enemy.

Dear fellow disowned and derided little Englanders

Billothewisp is going to have a rant (or occasional series of rants) about Globalisation. This is the first.

Today I am just setting the stage with an outline of this wrecking ball of an idealogy.

I promise to interperse this stuff with some more digestable (or at least drinkable) posting or I, like you, will probably have a haemorrhage.

Globalisation

On a personal level, we all hold self reliance and self sufficiency in high esteem. But on a national level, these same attributes are villified and undermined.

Globalisation dictates that a national self reliance is regarded as something to be aborred and Free Trade (which is anything but) should fill the gap.

Nationally all our political parties are beholden to the great god of Globalisation. They appear oblivious to the damage and distress it causes to many societies, not just our own.

There is opposition to globalisation but most of the anti-globalisation movement is firmly entrenched on the more lunatic fringes of the left.

Billothewisp does not think firebombing MacDonald's is going to solve anything. Neither does he think that the average member of the Global Justice Movement has so much as a clue as to what is really going on.

Globalisation is a semi-random methodology that entrenches vested interest. The Great Good and Extremely Well Fed get ever richer, while the rest of us become ever more serf like in our position.

Globalisation encourages many of the woes we see in the world today.

Examples include:

Skilled Worker Theft
Predatory pricing
Unemploymnet
Sweat shop labour
mass migration
poverty
false competition
and many others.

To keep these posts to sensible lengths I will keep to one issue/example per post.

The next post will be Skilled Worker Theft.

There. I have said it. Now I feel better. Pass the cider.

England Erased

Good evening my fine fettled fellow little Englanders.

Billothewisp has a request.

I would like to try and compile some documentation on the airbrushing out of the English identity and the villification of Englishness.

My first port of call was going to be the notorious letter that hailed from the offices of John (pass the pies) Prescott in 2002.

You may remember it. If you don't, make sure you are sat down or at least stood well clear of breakable objects before reading the following snippet (all I can currently find....)

Ready?

[quote]
…there is no such nationality as English as laid down by various acts of Parliament and accession. Persons born in the United Kingdom are citizens of the United Kingdom and are therefore British/English.
[unquote]

Now, I really need the full text of this letter, vile and poisonous though it is. If you have a copy could you attach a link to it as a comment to this post?

Thanks

Billothewisp

Taxing Empty Containers

OK my bankrupt and poverty stricken English compatiots. As you may know Billothewisp is no fan of taxation. But today he has obviously had a little too much sun (or cider, or both) and he wishes to suggest a shiny new tax to help out our financially deprived exchequer.

While I can see some of our control freakery ruling classes jumping up and down in excitement on the possibility of stiffing the average Joe Bloggs for a bit more of his hard earned dosh, they may not like it so much after they have read what it is.

There are, of course, brethren who will despair at the mere thought of yet another tax. They can give me a good kicking later. The cider will ensure I don't feel a thing. But I digress, back to Taxing containers.

One of the main avenues ruthless globalists are using to stiff our economy is via the use of sweat shop labour in poor foreign countries. In these countries their ruling elites or "Great, Good and Extremely Well Fed" get ever richer while the slaves employees get paid a pittance. But the goods produced by these globalists are priced too highly or are inappropriate for local population.

We end up in the bizarre situation where our own people are on the dole because no business can compete with the sweat shops. But in the countries involved in this sweat shop labour there is a shortage of economical goods for the local population. This because the fat cats can make much more money out of shipping it to the UK than they can by doing the right thing and supporting their own people.

This abuse is made even worse due to the containerisation revolution that has taken place in the shipping industry. As an example, it is considerably cheaper to ship a television to the UK from China than it is to ship that same television 100 miles up the motorway from the port to the supply depot.

We need to level the playing field. One way of doing this would be to place an tax on each container coming into the country full and leaving empty. This would also help our exporters by inducing a market where shippers actually competed to fill their containers. At the moment most cannot be bothered. If a container leaves the country full of goods then the tax would be neutral for the shipper. If a container comes in empty (unheard of) no tax is paid and VAT is waived if it leaves full. At the moment most containers come in full and then simply ship fresh air out of our ports.

There are approximately 5.5 million TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit) deep sea (i.e. non European) container traffic movements a year. If you assume that 4.5 million of those are shipping air back to their point of origin and you charged a £500 tax per empty deep sea container leaving the country, you would bring in £2.25 Billion. It would also incentivise shippers to get UK goods shipped out cheaply.

Just an idea. Now let the kicking start.

The Trouble with VAT

Cast your mind back my despised little Englander mates. To when the last group of "Those Who Should Be Obeyed", panicked and adopted the ludicrous concept of dropping VAT by 2.5%.

As if that was ever going to make people stampede to the shops.

It did though cost a shedful of money. Not only that, it had no positive effect on employment within the small businesses.

Now of course the latest group of "Great Good and Extremely Well Fed" plan to raise VAT to 20%.

Granted, it is an easy hit. A way of raising a considerable amount of money in a short time. "As is" this rate increase will probably also have little effect on employment levels.

But VAT does have a big affect on employment. Especially within the small business sector. But this is due to the VAT Registration Threshold.

The VAT Threshold is based on the turnover of a business. If a business has a turnover of £70K or more it must register for VAT. This means that any bill the business issues will be inflated by 20% (i.e. the VAT). However this will be off-set by the business being able to reclaim VAT it has paid to its suppliers.

So how does this effect employment in small businesses?

Take a plumber working as a sole trader. Say his turnover (that's not profit... that's everything) is £68K. He does not have to register for VAT. No VAT registration means he has to absorb the VAT on the goods he supplies but does not have to charge 20% on his labour. As his labour will account for probably 2/3rds of the final turnover, he can charge less (or make more profit) than another plumber with a turnover of £71K.

There is a distinct disincentive to go through the VAT threshold. If you are going to breach it then you need to do it in style (aka turnover £150K etc.).

Now let us assume that our plumber decides to expand and wants to employ a labourer. Automatically the plumbers turnover inflates by the wages paid to the additional employee. The plumber goes through the VAT threshold and now (as well as paying the labourers wages) has to increase his bills by 20%.

The labourer will have to bring in a great deal more work to make his employment viable. In essence it make much more sense for the plumber to leave the labourer on the dole and to take a holiday when his turnover gets too close to the VAT threshold.

This could be fixed by raising the registration threshold to (say) £100K. It would encourage small enterprises (like our plumber) to expand and to do that he would then require the labourer to help him. Multiply that by (say) 300,000 small businesses across the country and you see the affect.

In the cash straitened time the big question is how much would this cost the exchequer? I think the answer is very little. One of the big savings is the labourer is no longer on the dole (and he is paying taxes) also there is the enterprise affect. As he has expanded once, maybe our plumber will hire more people and risk going go through the VAT threshold. But now it won't hurt so much. Relative to his expanded business, the hiring of extra staff is not so monumental.

So raising the VAT threshold could possibly take 300,000 people off the dole maybe more.

Seems like a good idea to me.

Billothewisp Returns from the Dead

My dear deranged and desperate English pals.

Billothewisp is not dead. He just smells funny.

A new list of topical and contentious blogging items for beration and derision are being prepared.

In the mean time, Billothewisp has been on tour, or, at least, to the Cambridge Folk festival.

Here among the dreaming spires (or is that Oxford?) you find an interesting and eclectic mix of individuals from the far flung frontiers of our nation. From the Mung bean eating classes through to our tattoo bedecked shaven headed brethren. You know, those who always give you the urge to look at your shoes when they pass by.

This year the festival was, well, so-so. But hey! that is only my view.

What I do wish to impart is a tale of stunning achievement performed by one of our young and delightful English female patriots at the festival.

The venue was the main beer tent.

At that time Billothewisp was sticking to the Bishops Tipple, a fine brew.

However there are those who would consider Bishops tipple a mere Nancy boys drink compared to the main item.

The drink of champions.

The nectar of the gods (of war).

Of course I refer to Old Rosie (7.2% ABV).

Old Rosie is cloudy. This may be due to its apple heritage or possibly because it is dissolving the glass.

Anyway, I digress.

Let us call our English champion Tracy.

Tracy is 5 foot nothing and weighs about 7 stone. She has a charming English rose tattoo on her upper left arm. Her hair auburn with blonde streaks. There are two pints of Old Rosie on the bar.

Tracy lifts the first pint and puts the glass to her lips. The pint of Old Rosie vanishes in less than 5 seconds.

She is still standing. A hush descends on the bar.

Then (Oh Mother of God!) she lifts the second pint of Old Rosie.

It vanishes. Tracy smacks her lips and saunters off into the night (in a straight line)

I think even Boudicca herself (Warrior Queen of the Iceni) would have quaked at such a feat.

Believe me. As long as we have girls like Tracy, England is safe.

Germany Wins?

My dear depressed, disconsolate and despairing English compatriots.
It was not to be.
It might have been legitimately 4-2 but it was never going to be a victory.
We played crap.
Never mind. It was only a game.

Although one more important than life and death.

But look on the bright side.

At least we do not have to pay for the Greek spending extravaganza.

Or the Spanish.
Or the Portuguese.
Or the Irish
or the Italians.

I dare say that there are many in Germany tonight who would happily trade in their football victory for an indemnity against their Euro liability.

But tempting though such a deal would be, I suspect us grieving English losers would rather count the pound coins in our pockets, smile sweetly and walk away.

Love & kisses

Billothewisp

Ten things you did not know about Germans

My dear degraded demonised and dirty little Englander mates. As you undoubtedly know, tomorrow we play the Krauts. That is the Germans to any politically correct plonkers who are just wafting by this blog in a state of shock and horror.

In order to whip you all up into a state of hysteria (well, at least for the duration of the match) I thought I would detail to you ten reasons the German nation en-masse should be regarded with distain and derision.

However before I do this I should inform you that this list was actually formulated and agreed during a brief encounter with a rich blonde German women in the back of a 1972 Mercedes pillar-less coupé in the summer of 1975.

I named the pillar-less coupé Helga. But only because she so closely resembled her owner.

Helga was elegant, sophisticated, drank like a fish and was very, very fast. I hope you appreciate why the name was shared.

Dare I say this, but, my dear mucky English mates, that night, in the back of that car, I had experiences that I am still trying to come to terms with 35 years later.

A bit like post traumatic stress disorder but in reverse. Anyway as part of our fun and games we built a list of the ten most derisory characteristics of the English and the Germans.

Out of shame I will not mention the English characteristics.

But hey! Its the world cup so the Germans are fair game. I have modified the derogation on Germany to be a little to be more contemporary. In fact I had to do this because I simply couldn't remember all the original ones.

Here we go.

10 things to You Need To Know about Germans:

1.Luther was a German. Consequently all Germans are ex-communicated. Which means that all German marriages are null and void. This means that for the last 500 years all Germans have been born out of wed-lock. Consequently all Germans are Bastards.

2.Before they bought Rover group BMW could not build a good 4x4. After they acquired the intellectual property of Land Rover, all of a sudden, they could build X5's. Consequently all Germans are Plagiarists.

3.Greece is virtually bankrupt. Things are so bad there have even been calls for Greek doctors to stop fiddling their taxes. The Germans have been calling for the Greeks to get their house in order before giving them yet more money. The simply show that all Germans are Control Freaks.

4.The PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain) are all upset that they are going bust.
This is solely down to the bloody Germans who are only grudgingly paying for other peoples profligacy. But the Germans are doing OK. This must surely prove that all Germans are thieves.

5.On a more personal note, have you ever noticed that it is only the bloody Germans who lay claim to the deck chairs with their towels? All Germans are secret colonialists and empire builders.

6.All Germans are decadent perverts. Not only that, their beer is a tasteless fizzy chemical concoction the colour of urine.

7.Why do German women not shave under their arms? It is disgusting. A veritable crime against common decency. All Germans are all fashion criminals.

8.Helga (the car) was a masterpiece. But it should also be remembered that the Germans gave us the Trabant. Germans are inconsistent.

9.If Germany wins tomorrow it will because of one simple fact; All Germans are cheats.

10. Finally. It must be said. Germans, generally speaking, even with their hairy armpits, tasteless beer and sexual perversions are hard working and productive. It can only be assumed then that they must be Satan's Slaves.

Have a good game. Remember it is fun. A laugh. A jolly Wheeze. But if they win... see item 9. If we win, well, it just proves all of the above!

Whatever the outcome, after the game, we should be kind to our German colleagues. They are, after all, keeping the rest of the Euro-Zone in the nationally unaffordable state of luxury they have become accustomed to.

Love & kisses

Billothewisp

Cider with Rosie George

Greetings my poisoned spotty and red-nosed fellow little Englanders:

Billothewisp has some tremendously good news for you.

Yea! Great tidings of joy and I bring.

There will be celebrations in the streets and not least festivities down the pub.

Prepare for ecstasy

And this is why:

You may well remember that we have recently had a change of those-who-should-be-obeyed. A realignment of the Great Good and Extremely Well Fed.

A changing of seats, portfolios and expense claim forms.

But this is not the reason for the celebration.

You may well remember what a complete bunch of conniving bastards the previous group of Great Good and Extremely Well Fed were.

You may recall how good it felt when the Conniving-Bastard-In-Chief was finally evicted from No 10 much to his displeasure and much to our joy.

But again, this is not the reason for celebration.

Now of course we have a new Conniving-Bastard-In-Chief.

In fact arguably we have two new Bastards-In-Chief. No celebration there.

We have had grindingly painful budget.

Again no cheer there.

Or is there?

OK my sour faced grubby little English chums here it comes.

Make sure you are either sat down or stood well clear of breakable objects.

Try not to windmill your arms with glee or you might knock the wife's teeth out.

George Osborne announced.........

The removal of the extra 10% tax on Cider!!!!

Yippee!

At least my weekly consumption of fermented apple juice is not going to be crucified for some politically correct anus in the Labour Party.

You know, I have to say, what a bunch of bastards.To up the tax on cider.

They would have been taxing penicillin next.

Personally I rely on cider to give me my five a day.

Mind you, I usually stop at 3 these days otherwise I tend to pass out.

But really what a bunch of politically correct champagne quaffing snivelling elitist buffoons would put an extra tax on cider?

George Osborne may well be a claret swilling chinless wonder but at least he has let the working man avoid punitive taxation on one of his few pleasures.

Forget how they wrecked the economy, buggered up our defence, gave away all our money in foreign aid, ponced and posed on the world stage at our expense.

When I next come to vote I will remember that the utter scum that became the Labour party and how they threatened to punitively tax my cider.

Bastards.

The Budget: Vicious but Fair

Osbourne should be applauded for his emergency budget. If nothing had been done we would have gone down the Greek road to ruin.

But Why Oh Why is foreign aid ring fenced? Eight billion a year goes out the door on foreign aid. Much of this goes into the pockets of ruling elites that don't give a damn about their poor.

If pensioners and others in this country are expected to go without, I am sure the foreign aid budget could at least be trimmed.

Most other countries in Europe put their own people first. Why don't we?

Cameron warns of financial calamity

Although Billothewisp predicted the current dire financial straights the country finds itself in, he hates to to say "In told you so". Especially over such a financial calamity. (See Billothewisp's Crystal Ball July)

But it looks like we really are in the doo-dah up to our necks thanks to Gordon "The Abyss" Brown and his cohort Darling buds of May. But even now Darling makes fatuous statements about how everything was just wine and roses. See Times Here (see Times here)

In truth, Billowthewisp would have gladly, gleefully, gratefully got this wrong as he did with many other of his predictions.

But he didn't.

Our sad ruined little England may well recover.

But, this is going to be a painful 5 years. Maybe more.

It is up to our new "Dear Leader" David Cameron and collegues to pick up the pieces.

At least in Gordon Brown he has a good example:

On NOT how to run the economy.

David Willets and the UK Space Agency

Lets hope that David Willets gets his way and there is a drive forward in the UK space industry. (See BBC article here) While the UK has done moderately well out producing satellites, the lack of foresight over the years has left the UK trailing a long way behind in many critical space technologies. This has cost us dear in jobs, wealth and technical innovation.

For example countries as diverse as France, the Ukraine and the USA make great profits from the their satellite launcher programs.

There are now new entrants as well. For example India now has a highly advanced launcher design and development programme. The Indian Space industry is pre-eminent in the Indian technological advance. The Indians know exactly how important this technology is to their progress.

We could have been in a lot better a position than we are now but for crass inane and short sighted decisions over the last 40 years. But, that was then. This is now. And bitching about the past is not going to achieve anything.

While the large monolithic companies dominate what there is of the UK space industry, there are, surprisingly, a whole raft of small to middling companies. Even humble enthusiasts have played a great part in keeping the UK space industry alive. What separates these new small companies from the monolithic monsters is the level of enthusiasm and ingenuity that they put into their work. Today they produce a startling array of sub-systems and some even have embryonic launch systems in development..

Companies like

Sounding Rocket Services Ltd
Surrey University Space Centre
Starchaser Industries

Then there are the larger mavericks like the on-going development of Virgin Galactics Launcher One

Don't forget the enthusiasts like Rob Harrison (See Earlier Post Here)

But all of these companies need support ( and I don't just mean money). They need acknowledgement, encouragement and a fair slice of the cake. In the past too much of the slender budget has been gobbled up by the big defence based companies that squander the money and have little to show for it at the end of the day.

If we are to progress and make this industry pay and produce jobs and wealth we need to nurture and support the smaller companies that are untainted be the dead thinking and bloated corporate cynicism that infects the large aerospace industries in this country.

We need to invest in and support the small dynamic companies that are driven by enthusiasm.

Even at this late stage we could, as a nation take a niche slice of the lucrative world launcher budget and we could create long term high value jobs and wealth.

To do this we need to think small and support the hard working can-do companies.

There should be no place blinkered politicians or bloated corporate monsters who have dismally failed to achieve anything worthwhile since the short sighted cancellation of Black Arrow in 1971.

David Laws and Fair Expenses

Billothewisp offers his humble apologies to the Great and Good, the divine leaders and reporters of the truth who preside over the us, the Plebeian riff-raff that pollute this poisoned and betrayed little England.

But Billothewisp wishes to go against the grain on the current outrage against David Laws.

In recent history we have all been confronted by the crimes of the corrupt members of our ruling elite .

You may remember, within the ranks of the cognoscenti there have been “accidental” claims for non existent mortgages, claims for the rental of porno movies (no doubt for educational reasons) and the flip-flopping of houses for considerable gain..

If I remember correctly some of our Great and Good are facing criminal charges over these travesties.

Now David Laws has been forced to resign over paying £40,000 in rent to his boyfriend.

Admittedly, on the surface that looks pretty bad. Especially when we have all been conditioned to provide a knee jerk reaction to such claims by the crooked goings on in the last parliament.

But look a little deeper. This claim for £40,000 spans eight years. So that is about £400 (ish) a month.

Try renting a bedsit in London for £400 a month. You will probably fail .

So, David laws is homosexual (who cares?). He pays his lover a fair rent for staying in London. What is wrong with that?

You know. Seriously!

I don't even really like the Liberal Democrats.

But we supposedly live in a (wishful thinking here) libertarian Democracy.

If David laws chooses to be homosexual that is his decision and none of our business. If he chooses to pay his lover a fair market rate rent rather than living in a crummy bedsit, then that is his decision and not yours or mine.

Further more, by sacking David Laws for a non-crime we lose a capable administrator, all be it a Liberal-Democrat one (but then again, we all have our faults)

We need to make sure that our justified outrage at criminals lining their pockets does not turn into a witch hunt against everyone who simply does not fit the mould.

The Coming Dark Age

Billothewisp would like to reassure his readers that he does not believe Western civilisation is about to collapse.

He is though seriously concerned about the clock ticking us down to an energy famine. An energy famine that, in eight to ten years time will have a catastrophic effect on jobs, society and especially on the old and frail.

I use the word “will” rather than “may” because arguably it is already too late.

The lights will go out.

In ten years our generating capability is likely to be so compromised, so under resourced and so out of date that even if Chris Huhne saw the light and ordered 15 nuclear power stations tomorrow, there still would be a shortage.

But there is no real likely-hood of Chris Huhne doing anything of the sort.
(See Telegraph article here)

He says Nuclear power is a “failed technology”. Tell that to the French, who currently top up our already inadequate supplies from their (85% Nuclear) power grid. Even tell it to the UK where 25% has been reliably and continuously provided for 30 years by nuclear.

Our nuclear power generation is going to decrease not because there is any flaw in it but simply because the stations are old and need to be retired.

Chris Huhne continues to clutch at a truly failed power option, that of wind generation. Wind power has its niches, but it is incapable of keeping the lights on or the wheels of industry turning. It is time Mr Huhne put the future victims of an energy shortage above his personal dogma.

The clock is ticking.

Unless something effective is done very soon, people will die.

I have two urgent words of warning for Mr Huhne.

Tick Tock.

The German Cash Cow

Oh Doom.

The Euro is diving.

Billothewisp sends his sincere condolences to our euro-patriot German taxpayer friends.

But never mind.

I'm sure the Greeks, Spanish, Portuguese, Italians and Irish will really pull back on their expediture.

I am sure they really would not want someone else to be picking up the bill for their profligacy.

Surely their honour will not be compromised!

I am certain that they are thinking all the time about the cost to you my German pals.

That is the glory of the Euro.

Everyone contributes spends according to their ability and then they all try and pay the bills.

But, unfortunately, it also looks like paying the bills is going to be done according to ability.

So, our illustrious German friends, it looks like you are going to pick up the tab.

Tough luck my friends.

Life is hard and unfair.

Especially for you and the Euro dream.

Wakefield, Autism and Heresy

I hold the concept of vigorous scientific process in very high esteem. There is also great and pressing need for regulation within medicine.

But I feel uneasy about the case of Dr Andrew Wakefield. (see BBC here)

Here the scientific peer review and examination appears to be one sided and vindictive.

It may well be that Andrew Wakefield is wrong but the level of vilification that has been heaped upon him does not feel right. While he certainly did demotivate parents from accepting the MMR for their children, he did also encourage the use the triple separate vaccine.

It was the government who deliberately banned access to separate vaccines. The only reason for this ban can be one of purient petty finance and an evil defence of their position.

There has been a continued implied suggestion (though never followed through) that Wakefield's research was purely motivated by money. This is, to put it kindly, patently and obviously wrong. To me it feels more like slanderous propaganda.

Wakefield may well be wrong. His findings may well be incorrect. But all honest and capable scientists deserve to be heard, even if their words go against the current accepted opinion.

We used to burn heretics at the stake.

Striking them off the medical register because they offend the government and “settled science” is just as medieval

BBC to get even more money.

Companies are working short time and trying to survive.
People are having their wages frozen or even cut.
Front line services are going to have to live within their means.
The government is trying to cut £6 billion out of the overspend.
Even cabinet ministers have taken a 5% pay cut.

Yet the bloody BBC gets the OK to increase the licence fee. (see here) . No doubt they haven't got enough champagne or caviar in the cellar to keep the glitterati happy.

Really.
Honest to God.
What the hell is going on?.

When is anybody ever going to have the guts to stand up to these self serving elitist bastards in the BBC?

Supermarkets, Drink and Pubs

A police officer spoke a lot of sense on Radio 4 on Friday regarding binge drinking. While he generally welcomed the latest publicity stunt pulled by Tesco, (who now suggest selling booze at a loss is a bad idea), he went on to expound on the real damage done by ruthless and irresponsible supermarkets selling booze. (See Independent Here)

He was particularly lucid on the effect cheap supermarket booze has had on the structure of our communities. He explained how the supermarkets have destroyed working mens clubs and community pubs by selling their drink so cheap. Years ago the young used to learn to drink (and get drunk sometimes) within the confines of their community and elders. Now it is within the confines of the local park or cemetery and without any adult presence.

There needs to be a break put on the irresponsible use of alcohol. One way of doing this would be to encourage responsible drinking within working mens clubs and community pubs. Regrettably these are the very establishments that are currently closing at an alarming rate.

The government (or at least previous governments) spend our money on just about every hair brained and politically correct “community” project they can find. Perhaps it is now time to support traditional community drinking establishments. Maybe the government could even squeeze the likes of Tesco for the money.

MI5 On Trial?

There is a great desire to see justice for the victims of the 7/7 brutality. But I worry that the Great and Good within our judiciary are simply going to use the 7/7 inquest to grandstand their opinions and showcase their “liberal” credentials. No doubt they hope to con us all into thinking they actually care about our society.

Yet only last week we saw a case where two known enemies of the state were unbelievably let loose rather than be deported to their native country. (See Telegraph Here)

Thank the judiciary for that one.

Think back a little further. Remember those “Hate Preachers?” They couldn't be evicted either.

Guess who ensured they stayed put.

Now it appears that the 7/7 coroner (Lady Justice Hallet) is going to perform a hostile interrogation on MI5 in open court and potentially risk aspects of our national security. (see Guardian here)

Inevitably, it appears that if there is some good publicity in it for the lawyers, (and a little bit more power and influence maybe) the happier they will be.

Meanwhile people who actually defend the average guy on the street will be pilloried and put at risk.

Perhaps she should remember who the real criminals were before bouncing off on a sanctimonious ego trip.

Don't forget, it was only a short while ago that these self serving insensitive buffoons we call “the law” had intended (in their oh so Politically Correct way) of have a single inquest for both the murderers and their victims of 7/7.

Swallowing that decision and being forced to have separate inquests must have come hard to our well feathered legal friends. But even they know their limits in the face of public outrage.

Maybe we do need to learn lessons from the 7/7 atrocity but we really do not need witch hunts or inquisitions.

We especially do not need the ruling elite slavering over the prospect of humiliating and vilifying some of our finest.

Luckily there are people out there defending us from the likes of the 7/7 murderers.

It is a pity that a significant part of the legal establishment appear to be on the other side.

The Germans are Rattled (and so am I)

Dear Angela Merkel has done a complete U turn in less than a week about a bank transaction tax. (See TimesOnline Here)

This looks like another desperate ploy to try and shore up domestic German support for the the Greek financial bale-out.

If that falls apart then all hell will break loose.

Meanwhile the Stock market is in a tail spin. The Euro has nose dived against the dollar (as has the already heavily devalued Pound) and in the USA jobless figures are going the wrong way.

In South-East Asia, North Korea is threatening war against anyone who criticises it for murdering 46 South Korean sailors.

Just to round it off the BA strike is back on.

Blimey! Anything else about to turn sour?

Nuclear: The Only viable Option

The new energy minister Chris Huhne is evidently a nuclear sceptic (see here).

I reckon there are a few things he needs to take a long hard look at. Otherwise he could be remembered as the minister who sentenced the old and frail to death by hypothermia if we get a bad winter in 10 years time.

Currently we have about 20% of our electricity comes from an ageing fleet of British designed nuclear reactors. Very reliable, highly successful but getting old. Many of these are due to be decommissioned due to the their age. 70% of our nuclear reactors will be shut down in the next ten years.

But a another hidden portion of our electricity is actually generated by nuclear. We import electricity from France where almost 80 % of their power is generated by nuclear. Today. French nuclear power is regularly used to top up sagging British supply. This will only get worse as we lose more base-line generating capacity. We could of course simply rely ever further on French Nuclear power (as we do today to an extent) or we can properly provision and provide for our own energy supply.

So what about wind power? Let us get real. Wind power is a non starter. It is intermittent difficult to harvest and requires massive maintenance and support.

This support has to be done over a large area, often serving machines that are barely viable. If and when they break down it will be cheaper to leave them off line than to fix them until their regular servicing period arrives.

Place them off-shore and you have massive problems with transmission and the maintenance costs multiply further The only reason the utility companies are interested is due to the incredible subsidies they get. Wind power simply cannot compete with just about any other form of power generation. That competition can be on just about any criterion: reliability, availability, financial cost and (dare I say it) environmental cost per MWe.

Wind power is, in its current state of development, simply an expensive fashion statement, eagerly clutched at by anti-technology Luddites and those who kow-tow to them.

Due to the the negligence of the last government the country finds itself in an invidious position. There is likely to be a serious shortfall in generating capacity within the next ten years. Labour was simply not prepared (until it was arguably too late) to take any difficult and decisive decisions on how we will power the national grid.

Chris Huhne needs to remember he is in government to support the British people and to ensure that they have sufficient electricity to maintain their lives and jobs.

He is not there to to make fashion statements or fund latter day follies.

Liam Bryne tries Leesons Cure

When Nick Leeson ruined Barings bank he at least had the decency to place a A4 sheet of paper on his keyboard giving his apologies. That was just before he did a runner.

On that sheet of paper were two words.

“I'm Sorry”

In total he lost about $850 million.

Nick Leeson went to jail and Barings went bust.

It looks like history may be repeating itself, although on a far grander scale. Nick Leeson's losses were, all-in-all, a mere smidgen of the amount of wealth vaporised by Gordon Brown and associates.

Liam Byrne of the outgoing Labour administration also left a note, just before making an exit. It was addressed to his successor at the Treasury.

The note read:

"I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left."

I suppose at least that shows a level of honesty. (See Timesonline article here)

A level of honesty similar to Nick Leeson's anyway. But I don't expect anyone will be going to prison.

As for the main architects of this calamity, namely Messrs Brown and Darling, barely a squeak. The only statement being a piece of flannel coming from Darling. He stated that Osborne's warnings about the Labour debt mountain were simply propaganda.

Actually I'm surprised Darling didn't blame it all on the last Conservative administration.

The one thing Osborne must not do is to try and hide the magnitude of the problem. OK the pound may take a hammering, we may lose out AAA credit rating but the facts of this catastrophe must be made public.

Electorates rely on information to make their decisions. That is why Brown postponed the last spending review. The present government has started well and must continue to treat voters with honesty and clarity.

Osbourne will be doing nobody any favours by papering over the fissures left by the Brown and Darling.

I hope we hear the unbridled truth. However bad it may be.

Oh Joy! BBC to get a kicking

Dear readers, you may have noticed that Billothewisp is hardly a fan of the that self serving corporate monster that many endearingly refer to as “The Beeb”

“The Beeb”.

Sounds nice doesn't it?

A little homely. Cuddly even.

A bit like referring to a Stalin as Uncle Joe or Kim Jong II as the Dear Leader.

It makes them sound, well, Oh so nice.

The ugly truth is that the BBC acts very much like a state within a state. It has its own tax raising power through the laughably outdated TV licence. It protects its patch with any weapon that comes to hand and it has not been slow on bending politics to its own will if need be (see this piece by Daniel Hannan)

Surely a public service broadcaster should be restricted to the same powers and controls as any other public service. But when have you ever come across say, the judiciary raising their own special tax?

Which other branch of the Civil Service pays £4.6 million to its top nine executives? What public service pays £834000 to its Chief Executive? That is the pay by the way. God knows what are the pension rights/severance pay/terminal bonus/pat-in-lieu etc. etc.

This thing is a monster and like all ugly self serving monoliths it threatens our very democracy.

So Billothewisp was very pleased to see this article which indicates that these self serving fat cats Civil Servants are going to be brought to heel.

I hope it is true.

I expect the BBC will whine bitch and threaten. I expect that there will attempts at intimidation and blackmail to prevent any curtailment of their privileged position.

We should expect various irrelevant revelations “In the National Interest” about who is sleeping with who etc. etc. especially concerning those trying to control the monster.

The BBC establishment must be faced down and the whole thing reformed.

Or we will all continue to be the losers, while paying for the champagne lifestyles of the self serving unaccountable elite that is the BBC.

What about England Dave?

It is good to see that David Cameron has honoured his promise and visited Scotland within one week of taking office. It looks like the Scottish parliament is going to get more tax raising power so it can raise more of its own revenue. Hopefully this means they will be less dependant on Westminster and ultimately the English taxpayer.

The new coalition government has also made some promising statements about repealing the despised Barnett formula and there is a prospect of something being done about the West Lothian issue i.e. Scottish votes on English matters in the Commons.

That is all good news.

But whatever way you cut it, the lack of any form of English assembly is still a running sore. We need at least debate on an English parliament and the future of the Union.

It is simply unfair and undemocratic that all the other countries of the UK have their own parliament/assembly and yet the English have nothing.

The counter argument, often given, is that the UK parliament is also the legitimate English parliament. This infers that then the UK is really England plus colonial outposts. That is an idea that most people within these islands of all nationalities would find distasteful. (and quite rightly so)

The English currently have only a subset of the democratic rights inferred on other UK nations. It is easy to believe that this is simply so England can be bureaucratically administered and can then be used as the cash cow to finance profligacy elsewhere.

I appreciate that there are a mass of problems that this new government have inherited , especially related to our ruined economy. They of course, must be addressed urgently and first.

I do hope though, that these current pressing needs are not used as a subterfuge to sweep the English issue under the carpet.

Cameron, Clegg and Elephants.

Billothewisp has been rather quiet this week due to suffering from 'flu.

So may I offer my belated congratulations to David Cameron and Thingy from the Liberal Doo-Dahs, who have at least managed to lever Gordon Brown out of 10 Downing street.

Actually when you think about it, they should probably get a Nobel prize for that single feat alone.

It is also good to see that there is a possibility for upgrading our decrepit electorial system.

However there is still the Elephant in the room.

Namely that little known and almost forgotten non country of England.

How are our new Divine Duo going to address the no vote, no country, no representation issue? Are the sour faced little Englanders going to be ignored again or is this issue going to be addressed?

In a recent poll (see here) nearly 70% of those polled wanted an English Parliament.

Dear Dave and Thingy.

The English Elephant is still here.

(Hat tip to Waking Hereward blog for the original report. see here)

England in a Losers Coalition

First off: A hat tip to the Free England Alliance - Hampshire Blog which alerted me to this article in the Times today. I suggest you read it.

Meanwhile tonight, it looks like the Lib-Dem activists are cutting up rough about a coalition with Tories.

Even Gordo has said he is going to fall on his sword to try and stop a Conservative led government (but, Um, Oh.. not quite yet).

There is a distinct possibility that a government, of sorts could be formed by an alliance of Labour, Lib-Dems, SNP, Plaid Cymru, SDLP, Greens and anyone else who doesn't like the Tories.

Can you imagine how effective that will be?

Lots of feuding, disparate parties, myopically focused on their own narrow interests. They have little in common except their joint wish to undermine the Tories.

In order to keep the nationalists on-board, there would have to be a strong preservation of their services and jobs. Except of course in England, and guess who will pick up the bill.

Getting this lot to vote in one direction would be like herding cats. So don't expect much to get fixed. It could prove entertaining for us humble Proles. But only in a masochistic and very expensive way.

I am surprised that this potential Losers Coalition has any appetite for it, bearing in mind the parlous state the country. Obviously they haven't read the dire warnings from people like the Governor of the Bank of England. (see Independant article here).

Perhaps Cameron should sit back and let them have a go. It is going to be a cert that the whole thing would collapse within a short time. We may all hurt a lot during a Coalition Of The Losers but it may be worth it in the long run.

Finally, just a thought. Why is the Conservative Party so obsessed with the now obsolete concept of the United Kingdom? It's time has passed. If they were to give a lead to (at least) an English Assembly their large support within England would turn into an avalanche.

Maybe though things are changing. See this ConservativeHome article.

John Redwood tends to be out in front of Conservative policy.

Looks like he is leading again.

Meanwhile on Wall Street

Billothewisp would just like to remind readers that while political deals are being made, that the world has been turning.

One thing you may have missed due to the election Roo-Ha-Ha and while Cleggy and Cameron have been sidling up to each other is that on Thursday, at one point, the world economy appeared to go into global meltdown.

The Dow Jones, at one point lost nearly 1000 points (that is a lot. In fact the biggest daily fall since 1987)

But of course, the people who run these markets are all closely related to sheep.

For some reason one decided to turn and then the whole thing went back on up . It ended the day having lost a mere 350 points. That was still the biggest loss since 2008.

As well as some issues regarding electronic trading, there is the fear this is also tied up with the Greek financial debacle. This is now threatening a domino effect on a number of other (mainly) European economies (unfortunately we are one of the dominoes).

Dear Auntie Angela in Germany is wafting lyrical about the future of the EU etc. etc. etc. A faint hint of hysteria and panic is entering her otherwise dulcet tone these days.

If you have any shares you will probably find they have lost nearly 10% of their value in the last week alone.

This is bad. Very very bad. And getting worse.

So, you thought a hung parliament was a problem!

Extracting Gordon Brown

I had a cynical little smile tonight when the Dear Leader was on the Box telling us that he will, for the moment, remain in No 10, and will deal with anyone.

I reckon that the only way you will get Gordon Brown out of No 10 will be with a crowbar and a pair of pliers.

I can imagine Gordo, with his arms wrapped around the bannister of the stairs screaming Nooooooo! as the electorate frantically pull on his legs towards the door.

Expect some breathtaking offers in the next few days and some blatant power plays from all corners but especially from the King.

We live in “interesting times”, in the worst Chinese interpretation of that phrase.

God Bless you, my fellow sour faced little Englanders. Let us hope that in the coming flux our country at least gets a look in.

Vote, Drink and Moan

My dear fellow ugly, tainted, sour, little Englanders. As you know Billowthewisp likes a good moan. In fact Billothwisp hold a diploma in moaning awarded by his local pub. It would have been a doctorate in moaning but the landlord was biased against me. (bastard) You cannot rely on anyone these days. But there I go again.

Anyway.

It has been pointed out to me that moaning and not voting are mutually exclusive (e.g vote and moan or don't vote and shut-up). This blogger makes the point Here.

As I have no intention of shutting up I had better toddle off to the voting booth. Luckily the pub will be on the route home. Then that biased unfair landlord will get the full force of my Ire.

I suggest you do the same. Vote for the bloke/sheila who you think is the best candidate. If you think they are all a load of crap spoil your ballot paper. But always cast your vote. As for tactical voting, A vote form a crap candidate is a crap vote. Vote for who you believe in.

Then go down the pub and get rightously hammered.

This is why Billothewisp recommends evening voting, when the pub is open.

You know it makes sense.
Love & Kisses
Billothewisp

A Greek Tragedy and an English Vote.

As we come to the end of the British election campaign, matters in Greece have turned ugly. Greece is nigh on bankrupt and sliding towards anarchy. To maintain their position within the Euro zone they have to make massive cuts . Even our future cuts, that will be very bad, will not match those currently demanded of Greece.

There is a lesson here for us. Greece gave up its sovereignty too easily. It surrendered its national control over its currency and, like us has kow-towed to the Bureaucrats in Brussels. While things were good, the Greeks wafted along on a sea of debt. Now it has all turned sour. Today Germany is calling the shots. Greece does as it is told.

There but for the grace of God we go. I must admit that, several years ago I was of the opinion that joining the Euro was a good idea. How wrong I was.

When we go to vote tomorrow, we should all ask ourselves as to whether the people we are voting for will strive to keep us off the Greek road to ruin.

The European Union has just about cost the Greeks everything. It has also cost us dear.

As the SNP seems ultra Europhile, maybe the primary concern we should express with our vote should be for the sovereignty of (at least) England if not the whole of the UK.

Let us prevent the Greek tragedy becoming the English tragedy.

Examine the manifestos.
Who is really going to protect our sovereignty?

Watch out who you vote for.

Lib-Dems and Flying Pigs

Billothewisp loves the party political leaflets. He swoons over the promises and is thrilled by the wonderful feats of rationality they include. But he does get puzzled by the maths, especially the Dorset South pre-poll results given by the Lib-Dems.

A Hat tip to James Cleverly for this post. It made me take a closer look at the Lib-Dem literature that has been poked through our door. Like James we see a miraculous transformation of the voting intentions of the electorate.

My constituency is South Dorset.

In the Lib-Dem leaflet there is a bar-graph of party support. According to the Lib-Dem leaflet, this is the voting intentions

Lib-Dem 37%
Conservative 41%
Labour 14%

The Labour bar on the bar graph also has a handy little arrow stating “A Long Way Behind”

Hmmmmm.

I felt a little nonplussed by this, especially as the sitting MP is Jim Knight (Labour). While I expect he is going to lose his seat, he is actually one of the better of the Labour bunch and actually commands a level of loyalty within the constituency. I would be very surprised (amazed even) if his support fell to 14 %..

I thought I would Google the last election result. Here it is in this Guardian article.

In summary we got:

Lib-Dem 15.7%
Conservative 37.9%
Labour 41.6%


So Ros Kayes (Lib-Dem) reckons she has more than doubled Lib-Dem support. While poor old Jim Knight has seen his support fall by 2/3rds!

Hey! There goes another flying pig.

I hope this is simply wishful thinking and not a deliberate attempt at deception.

Maybe it is simply that the Lib-Dems need a few maths lessons. If so it doesn't sit well with the idea of them running the economy. But it is much worse if they have been deliberately deceptive.

One thing politics desperately needs in this country is honesty.
Not spin, not deception or wishful thinking.
We have had quite enough of those, thankyou.

A Scottish Debate – In England

Billothewisp has been drinking too much cider. He is annoyed. My apologies to my fellow ugly, sour faced, little Englanders..

But what the hell is going on?

Here I am, sitting in the middle of rural Dorset in the non country of England listening to a Scottish debate on the coming election. (BBC News channel)

A similar debate will not occur for my non country. No parliament. No assembly. No representation.

There will be no English debate. England has been abolished. At least in the minds of those who seek its demise.

So then, even by the ruling elites corrupt standards, where is the missing, bastardised regionalism?

So where are (at least) the Regional debates? Tell me. I want to know.

The ugly brutalised dissection of England into a set of regions was supposed to mirror the other countries within these islands.

So then: Where are the regional debates?

We have a Scottish debate, a Welsh debate, a Northern Ireland debate.

At least, where is the Northumbrian debate? The Wessex debate?

Of course they will never happen.

The truth is that there are no regional debates because publicising the false regional dissection of England would risk questioning English identity. Likewise there will be no English debate because that would destroy the grand regionalism master-plan.

England and the English are patient and tolerant.

But there are limits to everything. To put it mildly.

This is unfair.

Lib-Dems Euro Fighter Cancellation

During the last Leader Debate, Billothewisp watched Nick Clegg announce that Euro Fighter (Typhoon) should be cancelled. In fact I think what he meant was cancellation of the Tranche 3B contract as outlined in his Defence Policy (see summary here).

As I understand it cancellation of the Tranche 3B contract is actually a cancellation of the latter stages of the overall contract. Some Typhoons are already in service. So at least Nick Clegg's grand money saving idea would only seriously damage the RAF's air defence capability rather than completely crippling it.

It is funny how ambitious political leaders simply cannot remember recent history.

You would have thought he would at least be able to remember the utter catastrophe Gordon Brown unleashed on our forces by failing to provide enough helicopters and modern armoured vehicles for use in Afghanistan.

But lets go back in time a little further, and to another country..

Go back to 1st September 1939, and look what happened to Poland. Like us, the Poles had dedicated brave and courageous airmen. Unlike us they had old and out-of-date aircraft ( see PZL P.11 here). While their airmen flew with undoubted bravery, they had little chance of stopping the Germans (even the German bombers were faster than the Polish fighters).

One of the reasons Nazi Germany attacked Poland was it knew the Polish air force was outdated, under equipped and no match for the Luftwaffe. If the Poles had had a up-to-date air force with sufficient equipment then maybe the Nazi's would have bottled it. Then today the world would be a very different place.

Now come forward to a little known aspect of the Battle of Britain. We all know of the success of Hurricanes and Spitfires. Even then these state-of-the-art machines were hard pressed. But what is often forgotten is that there were two other aircraft used in Britain's aerial defence. These fared less well.

These planes were the Boulton-Paul Defiant and the Bristol Blenheim (a bomber conversion). Both of these planes were also flown by dedicated courageous crews but they both suffered such appalling losses that they were soon relegated to night interceptions only. These aircraft were not completely obsolete like the Polish PZL P.11 but were they inadequate for the role given to them. If, at the time, we had had to rely on these aircraft rather than the more advanced Spitfire and Hurricane we would have probably lost. Again the world today would be a very different place.

If the remaining Euro fighter contract is cancelled we end up being defended with what we have got. Air defence will be left to a mix of a few Typhoons and Tornado F3's( which are, like the Blenheim, essentially bomber conversion) The Tornado is now at end-of-life. Tornado F3's are not (and never have been ) highly regarded. Now they are also obsolete.

If Euro fighter (Typhoon) is cut back then we leave ourselves open to aggression from those who are better equipped.

I could go on about who/what/where the threat may be. But is that necessary? Have we not learnt Gordon Browns lesson?

He ignored the need for more helicopters and new armour because the threat, at that time, was not fully tangible.

He gambled with our security and with the lives of our servicemen.

Are we going to make that mistake again?

Why Labour won't Die

Billothewisp has been drinking a lot of cider. During his drinking he has pondered the fate of the Labour Party and politics in general. Especially after the events with Mrs Duffy.

However bad the election result, there is a simple reason Labour will not die. Irrespective of the self serving, elitist clique who own, run and rule the party.

That simple thing is loyalty.

The loyalty of people like Mrs Duffy. People who are generally despised and treated with contempt by the Labour cognoscenti.

Straight forward working people, concerned about their communities. People who get treated like lepers by the ruling elite. They are the ones who will vote Labour even after being demonised and betrayed.

They will vote Labour because they are loyal and trustworthy. They will do it because they respect their forebears who formed the Labour party. They will vote Labour as an act of loyalty to their community.

Lucky ruling elite.

But what about the ruling elite?

I don't want to address the immigration issues again, but I do want to address the mind set of King Gordo and others of the intelligentsia within the Labour party who would deign Mrs Duffy and her like as “bigoted”. Simply because she expressed a view non centric to their mindset.

Bigoted. Really! What a thing to think! Let alone say. Even if it was said in private.

Here we have a pensioner, reasonably expressing her concern on a number of issues. She is smiled at, condescended to, and virtually patted on the head like a good dog. Later she is referred to as a bigot.

Lets make no mistake over this. That is exactly what Brown felt. He said it in private. There is no reason for him to have said it at all, unless that is what he thought and wanted to express. All the snuffling, apologies and false smiles later were there simply to try and dig himself out of the crap.

Even if she had been wrong (and I don't think she was), Mrs Duffy expressed her views in a controlled, reasonable and dignified manner. She deserves more than to be instantly labelled, categorised and demonised.

That is what the McCarthy witch-hunts were about or the Stalinist show trials.

It lays bare the narrow minded elitist mindset that grips the Labour Party.

But loyalty is a great thing. The overpaid luvvies, the champagne socialists and the intellectual contortionists can be assured it will keep them going for quite a few more years.

But one day, maybe, the trough snuffling elite will push things just too far. The loyal will rebel. Maybe then we will get a political party that tries to represent the electorate rather than a narrow intellectual clique. Maybe then we will get a Labour party that good people like Mrs Duffy deserve.

Democracy and Gerrymandering

Billothewisp was delighted to see this article in the Independent claiming that there has been a “Remarkable” rise in voter registration.

Believe me, nobody would be happier than me if it turns out to be genuine. One of the failures of our democracy is that it engages with too few of the electorate.

But I have worries. Hopefully this is paranoia, simply brought on by a lack of a regular haircut. But one comment at the end of the Independent article raised the hairs on the back of my neck.

Quote:
“The officer at the council showed me his computer screen to validate my details, what was then immediately noticeable that some moderate sized houses on my road had 40-50 registered voters registered to them which were at most able to accommodate 8 people.”

When questioned the officer shrugged his shoulders.

I will repeat that.

He shrugged his shoulders.

Democracy can easily be subverted by its enemies. Especially if no one cares.

Really, we must guard our democracy better than this. It is more important than income tax, traffic offences or VAT all of which have hoards of police/inspectors/officials protecting them. Democracy needs to be defended as well.

Gerrymandering is an ugly inexcusable crime. If it is found (or suspected) it must be vigorously and publicly investigated. Any perpetrators must be prosecuted.

If proven, those involved should go to jail.

Our democracy is in enough trouble as it is without being perverted with Gerrymandering.

Hat tip to Richard at EU Referendum Who blogged about this here first.

Bigotry, Anonymity and Immigration

This morning Billothewisp found he had this comment on this post concerning the Dear Leader, bigotry and a charming working class lady called Mrs Duffy.

The commentator, who goes under the funny name of "Anonymous" demanded facts and criticised some of the post. He/She even criticised bits I did't say and were not there, but never mind.

Billothewisp is pleased to get a criticism and happily provides the information. Blow by Blow.

So to "Anonymous": Thank-you for the question and challenge. You appear to have three areas of contention.

1. Anonymous: "Where's the evidence for your view that most Brits living abroad are retirees? Statistics and sources please."

Reply: Read what I said. ("most of the Brits staying in Europe are retirees or in high demand jobs.")

Read This BBC Report ( slightly old (2006) but do you think anything has changed? Also it is the same data cited by the Labour party in defence of Gordon Brown. Ironically, it is from his friends in the IPPR).

From The above link: ONS Passenger survey for emigrants:
40% professional managerial,
25% Manual/clerical
17.5% retirees/carers,
9.3% children
7.9% students

This is of course world wide emigration. Emigration to Europe is skewed more to retirees. Emigration to Australasia and the Americas is skewed to younger professionals.
See this BBC piece: Quote: "Many of those going appear to be young and highly skilled... The second group, particularly in Europe, are the middle-aged, retired or semi-retired."

I could go on from the BBC alone. The best source though is not the BBC, which is far from impartial (I'm using it first here because I suspect you love the BBC - I hate it)

This is an excellent account of this issue from Channel 4 website FactCheck. Better than anything the BBC produces.

But if you really want the Meat and Potatoes see What is the problem? This page at Migration Watch summarises extensive and detailed information concerning mass immigration. Trawl the Migration Watch website here and learn about the problem.

2. Anonymous: "Also, would you not say that her description of "immigrants" "flocking in" is both dehumanising and very problematic.

Reply: As for Mrs Duffy, From the latest reports I understand she turned down £30K from the Sun who wanted to put words in her mouth. So at least her personal integrity exceeds that of most MP's. So how would you describe 1M arrivals in such a short time to a single country? Flocking seems reasonable to me.

3. Anonymous: "Again, where is the proof that Eastern European immigrants have had an adverse impact on the economy, on the services that people receive from the state, on cultural life. Support your claims"

Reply With regard the Polish/East European influx, please read what I said and not what you want me to have said.

What I said: "The million(s) coming in are at best (like the Poles) looking for work and contributing through taxes. Although it can only be unhealthy for both England and Poland to have such a large number of workers dislocated from their own country. Like it or not, it does also mean less work for the locals."

To expand a little on what I actually wrote above:

The problem with the Poles is not their work ethic, attitude or honesty. The problem is simply the sheer numbers arriving. They are usually skilled and hard workers. Nothing wrong with that. But they often take jobs well below their actual qualification/ability level and displace the poorer and less able locals who end up on the dole. That was Mrs Duffy's worry (mine also). Further more, imagine what their absence is doing to the infrastructure in Poland.

Although I did not mention the impact immigrants have on the overall economy and social infrastructure I would suggest you read What is the problem? Section 10 and it's references. It may well challenge some of your pre-conceptions.

Finally:

The main theme of the post was that immigration is the taboo subject and that anyone mentioning is automatically (and unfairly) labelled a bigot.
I suspect you're allegiance is to the intellectual end of the Labour party. As such I suspect you (like your colleagues) are totally divorced from the cares and concerns of the the working class within this country (people like Mrs Duffy). Your blinkered and elitist attitudes isolate and frustrate fair, decent and loyal people.

Mainly due to Labours duplicitous handling of immigration, there is a possiblity that the BNP may get an MP elected. If that happens it will be solely because this issue has been ignored and brushed under the carpet. If this happens it will be due to people like you air-brushing out this problem and sneering at the concerns of honest people.

In other words it will be your fault.

p.s Why be anonymous? Only voting should be anonymous. How can I be influenced by your views if I cannot read your blog?

So when is the English Debate?

Billothewisp eagerly watched the Great Good and Extremely Well Fed engage in their little televised tryst over running the country.

At the end, Billothewisp watched the nice Mr Dimble-Thingy proudly announce the other debates that will be taking place.

There will be one in Scotland, broadcast live (Rah Rah Hoo-Ray!)
The will be one in Wales broadcast live ( Yip Yiop Yo!)
There will be one in Northern Ireland broadcast live ( Rah rah hurrah!)

Billothewisp eagerly awaited the finale in this roll call of nations within these islands. With glowing eyes he stopped filing his teeth and wrung his furry little hands in expectation. He watched like an obedient child about to be rewarded with sweeties for being good and not complaining.

But then Mr Dimble-Dumble simply went on to the next item, telling us that UKIP and the Greens would have a small slot on the following news broadcast.

Billothewisp was puzzled. There was something missing. In fact it was more than a something. It was a whole nation. An Identity spanning 50 million souls.

Billothewisp scratched his head. Puzzled and confused he wondered about the missing nation. He watched the news in case it may appear there. All he got was a virtual repeat of the leaders debate and about 90 seconds of Nigel Farage. Even the Greens did not seem to make an appearance (or maybe they were so irrelevant he just didn't notice).

Still no mention of the missing nation.

Billothewisp racked his poor brain. He had vague memories that the missing nation was actually, quite famous. Funnily, he vaguely remembered it had a long history and a football team that didn't win much. It had a name. But what was that name?

Suddenly Billothewisp looked up with a start. Oh yes! Now he remembered. It was the word that was always to be avoided. The identity that must be denied and derided lest the Proles push past the crappy football team and seek their own governance under its name.

Billothewisp shuddered and gulped. With his heart racing he dared to speak it out loud.
“England” he said.
He furtively looked around him in case others had heard. But they were all too slam dunked by four cans each of Old Speckled Hen to notice.

Billothewisp had that old feeling of betrayal that swam up whenever he heard or mouthed the name of the non-country with its no-identity and no-representation and no-parliament and non-assembly.

He comforted himself with another Old Speckled Hen Suddenly the world was a little rosier. The sense of betrayal lessened. He replayed the Weasel words of the divine three and felt comforted. For the moment the loss of his non-nationhood receded from his thoughts. He went back to filing his teeth to jaunty little points.

But deep down, he knew that sooner or later, the issue of English sovereignty and identity would have to be addressed, however much the ruling elite wished to avoid it.

Billothewisp knew that one day, the nice Mr Dimble-Dumbly would have to add to his role call of national debates. That there would have to be a debate for the English on English issues.

Or there will be hell to pay.

I Am Sorry Too, Gordon

Billothewisp would also like to offer his grovelling apologies to the population of our ravished little land.

Taking a lead from Gordon our great magnifico, let me say:

Sorry Sorry Sorry Grovel Squirm dribble wriggle whine.

Oh God. I AM SO SORRY.
Really.
Honest.

I am so grief stricken.
So overwhelmingly contrite and guilt ridden I can only repeat:

Sorry.

If you wish you can watch me flagellate myself (that is flagellate - you pervert)

I will cut myself with knives, gouge my flesh, smash my head against a wall anything to show my penance.

Sorry, sorry sorry

Oh GOD. I am so so so so so so Sorry.

But my sorrow is somewhat different to yours Gordon.

You are sorry because you were caught being a duplicitous conniving arrogant elitist bastard.

I am sorry because I voted for your bunch of criminally negligent do-nothings at the last election. (I hasten to add that is not a mistake I intend to repeat.)

So Gordon, after you are consigned to some powerless (but no doubt lucrative) backwater I will still be sorry, along with about 60 million other of your victims.

So to you Gordon, I can only that I am really sorry that you ever got to a position of authority.

As to my voting aberration during the last election, I must say to my fellow sour faced little Englanders:

Sorry.

So Why Exactly, is Gillian Duffy a Bigot?

The Dear Leader has got himself into a spot of bother.

The trouble is, our Gordon is so accustomed to dishing out the laws and edicts it must come as a shock when one of the proles starts asking pointed questions. Especially if they are questions about the Great Taboo.

And what is the Great Taboo?

It is, of course, the topic that must not be mentioned.

It must be avoided at all costs.Any queries must be crushed.

Anyone querying the great taboo must be vilified, smeared, derided and despised.

Gillian Duffy, a working class grandmother and pensioner crossed the line.

She mentioned the Great Taboo. That was her sin.

To be fair, she also gave the Dear Leader a good kicking about several other pertinent topics. But without doubt, Gordon Browns vilification and dismissal of Gillian Duffy was triggered by her mentioning the Great Taboo.

So what did she say?

This link offers the full transcript.

The words that propelled this otherwise straightforward, compassionate and dare I say,"normal" person to Bigot status were these:

"You can't say anything about the immigrants because you're saying that you're... but all these eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?"

That is it. That is all. No more.

The Great Taboo was mentioned.

Suddenly Gillian Duffy is a bigot, racist, Nazi or whatever.

The Dear Leader, in response, huffily announced that 1 million Brits have gone to Europe which, in his rather bizarre world, somehow compensates for the several million immigrants (some legal, some not) who have deluged our shores.

These are his words in reply:

"A million people have come from Europe but a million British people have gone into Europe. You do know that there's a lot of British people staying in Europe as well."

Dare I suggest that most of the Brits staying in Europe are retirees or in high demand jobs. Essentially they are fleeing our ravaged little England and seeking sanctuary across the water.

The million(s) coming in are at best (like the Poles) looking for work and contributing through taxes. Although it can only be unhealthy for both England and Poland to have such a large number of workers dislocated from their own country. Like it or not, it does also mean less work for the locals.

Then at worst, there are the parasitic and narrow minded who actively despise our culture, while forever extending out their hand and demanding more.

So there you have it. The Great Taboo.

So perhaps we should say to Gillian Duffy:
How dare you?
How dare you question the unmentionable?
How dare you bring up the topic the cognoscenti wish to hide and obscure?

Perhaps she should be warned that her words were bordering on a hate crime.
Maybe she should be questioned, examined, watched.

Just in case.

A Wonderfully Subversive Election Video

This is so damn good I had to put a link to it here.
This video has probably changed the way I will vote. It is just so ruthlessly accurate.
Unless you are happy and content with our present ugly political status-quo, watch this today.

Lib-Dems: The Return of the Care Bears.

Or is it the "My Little Ponies"?

After returning to our ruined little England from far away I made the mistake of looking up a synopsis of Lib-Dem policies. All I can say to you my fellow sour faced little Englanders is God help us all if this bunch of tosh gets anywhere near legislation.

Really, I would expect better from a group of nine year olds. Some of this junk simply beggars belief.

First off I will blame the cause of my unpleasant foray into Lib-Dem dream-world on this post by Ian Dale It describes the proposed Lib-Dem tax break for illegal immigrants. Basically, if you evade our laughable boarder protection for ten years, you do not have to repay any of the tax you have avoided (ker-ching!). Illegal immigrants only will be eligable for this concession. Nasty little Englanders need not apply. In fact YOU will be paying for this. So bugger off to the back of the queue as normal.

Regrettibly, after reading Ians post, I then Googled this Lib-Dem policy synopsis.

I was going to make a list of the most ludicrous and vacant of these touchy-feely pie-in-the-sky statements but then I read the section marked "Environment".

Then I got worried. Very worried.

There is crass stupidity elsewhere in their policy synopsis. But in the Environment section it gets worse. Much, much worse. So bad in fact, I fear for the future safety of our frail and elderly.

Get this:

"Setting a target for 40 per cent of electricity will come from renewable sources by 2020 rising to 100 per cent by 2050"

This is totally unachievable.

It is a pair of targets that are so ludicrous you have to question the technical ability (if not the sanity) of anyone suggesting them.

Worse than that, by implying it is achievable they will end up killing people. These victims will mainly old ladies who will freeze to death when the inevitable power cuts stop their gas or electric heating from working.

Now get these two further statements:

"Blocking any new coal-fired power stations"
"Rejecting a new generation of nuclear power stations"

So how exactly are they planning to generate electricity? Obviously no-one has told them that those mighty wind turbine thingys don't actually produce much power. Especially when you need it. Are they going to rely on gas? From the generous Mr Putin no doubt?

I had to take a break in writing this to cool down. This is just so bloody unbelievable. Do these people have any contact with reality at all?

I am really, really, worried that people with apparently no understanding of basic physics let alone real world energy generation and managment are "planning" our future energy strategy. The crass incompetence and cowardice of the Labour party has got us into a situation where there is likely to be real difficulties in avoiding power cuts in the next 5 years anyway. This lunacy from the Liberals would make things much worse.

To ensure this countries energy requirements are met we really must have a set of policies based on the real world and what can actually be achieved.

Ridiculous fashion statements will not suffice.

Normal Abuse Resumes

Dear spotty, ugly, fellow little Englanders, BilloTheWisp has returned from his hols in ethernet challenged parts. Internet access is now assured (I hope). Abuse and slander will shortly follow.
More love and Kisses
Billothewisp

Temporary Interruption

Unfortunately I have internet difficulties at the moment. Normal abuse/sarcasm/wit will be resumed A.S.A.P
Love & Kisses
BilloTheWisp

Spoil it for England

My dear dissolusioned fellow little Englanders, how should we address the choice presented to us during the forthcoming election? How should we choose between the bland tasteless porridge of spin and despair that is offered to us?

Maybe you are one of the millions of fair minded Englanders who is now in such a state of despair about our country they will choose not to vote. If that is you, read on.


First lets look at the sorry options we have.

Should we vote for King Gordo?, the Eternal Leader, the Nokia Ballista? The latter day McBeth? The Macawber-esque financial failure?

Or should we choose Posh Dave who has made such a hash of this election campaign thatt he has turned a dead cert into a possible catastpohe.

There is Thingy in the Liberal Doo-Dahs who is simply all things to all men. The political colour equivalent to Hearing-aid beige.

The host of small parties may be honest, but you may consider that they lack gravity.

So what can you do if the small parties do not attract you and the larger ones make you want to vomit?

You are (quite rightly) outraged by the fraud, corruption, hidden agendas and sheer incompetence. You despise the jobs for the boys, the champagne socialism, the privilege and control freakery.

So what are we to do? How can we show our rage? How can we breath life into the bloated corpse of our democracy?

Firstly, always try and find someone worth voting for, but if there is really no one you can stomache voting for, why not indulge in a little constructive bureaucratic vandalism.

Spoil your ballot paper.

Write "Spoilers" or "Thieves" or whatever you like across the paper. But remember the blushes of the nice lady doing the counting.

People who do not use their ballot paper aree ignored. But imagine the effect if there are hundreds of thousands of spoilt ballot papers. The crooks will have to take notice.

So whatever you do, whether you vote or spoil your ballot paper get out there on election day.

At the very least you can register your displeasure.

The Edge Of Space

Doesn't it just make your heart sing when you hear about someone like Rob Harrison with his high altitude balloon project featured in the Telegraph here.

Essentially this guy has waved two fingers at the "can't do" "shan't do" culture that infests our broken little land, and has gone on to produce something quite spectacular.

And all for 500 quid.

Today he has NASA calling and is something of an international celebrity.

I bet the control freaks who feast off the bureaucracy that usually stifles such endevour are blowing blood vessels.

All I can say is: Well done mate! Excellent!

There are others who are also breaking the mould and pushing the edge. See Here for another HAB (High altitude balloon) group that has some spectacular results.

Up and down the country there is an army of grubby little English engineers, in their sheds, plotting against the dead hand of state lethargy that infects these shores.

Not everyone gets to break the mould like Rob, but you can guarantee that his success will inspire others to even greater feats.

If anything will dig this country out of the morass it has got itself into, it is barnstorming technical invention.

Each spectacular achievement is a hammer blow against the current English mind set of apathy and technological despair.

Maybe each industrious little shed in this country should have a new plaque on its door.

“The Recovery Starts Here”

Redcar Steelworks. An 11th Hour Rescue?

It looks like there is a consortium trying to take back the Redcar steel works from the hands of TATA.

That's the good news. (See Gazette article here )

But TATA will still keep the coke works. This means they maintain a strangle-hold over the steel works. A functional Redcar would be a direct competitor with other TATA owned steel production plants.

Even so, lets hope the consortium make it work. The hard working people of Redcar deserve a bit of good news for a change.

A modicum of support from the government would not go amiss either. If the government implemented some controls over the predatory flooding of the local market with foreign steel, Redcar could prosper.

But don't hold your breath.