Time's up, Tony

I hear that Barack Obama has been less than impressed by Tony Blair's failure to grapple with the crisis in the Middle East.
The President-Elect is currently reviewing whether Blair should be retained as Middle Eastern envoy for the 'Quartet' - Russia, the U.S., the EU and UN.
Indeed, I am told that it is likely the former PM will be asked to stand down before too long.

Secretary for dishonesty

Sometimes it doesn't matter too much if a Home Secretary is stupid, but it is very important that he or she should be honest.
Sadly, Jacqui Smith is beginning to acquire the reputation of a serial fabricator. Last year, she was forced to admit that immigration numbers were concocted, and over Christmas we learnt that various letters to newspapers endorsing her while attacking her Tory opponents were actually written by her friends or relations.
Now comes the revelation that the Home Secretary misled MPs over knife crime statistics.
There are urgent questions that need answering when MPs return to the Commons next week about whether Smith or her advisers were aware of the bogus figures issued by her department last week.

More broken promises and the scandal of why MPs still refuse to admit how they squander our money

Last updated at 2:37 AM on 10th January 2009

The is barely a week old and the direst predictions are already being realised, with news of fresh job losses being brought every day.
But there is one important aspect of this recession which differentiates it from the economic downturns of 1981 and the early 1990s: this one is hurting only those who work in the private sector. The public sector, on the other hand, has been ring-fenced against the worst effects.

The truth is that Britain is moving towards an economic apartheid. While the State continues to offer higher wages, generous benefits and goldplated pensions, those in the private sector are forced to suffer wage cuts, work unpaid overtime, take even shorter holidays and make all kinds of other sacrifices to keep their jobs.
At the head of this new 'public sector aristocracy' stand the country's 646 MPs, who return to Parliament on Monday. They have just enjoyed a record-breaking 24-day holiday - the same amount that most people get in an entire year.
Thanks to this protracted break, our indolent MPs have not yet debated either the domestic crisis caused by the recession, or - and this is equally shameful - the world crisis that has followed the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The contrast between the increasingly harsh conditions endured by the bulk of the British population and the cosseted comfort of our political directorate has been very troubling for many years. The economic crisis, however, makes it grotesque.

In the real world, occupational pension schemes are being closed down or altered beyond recognition. Yet MPs' pensions remain protected with increasing amounts of taxpayers' money
Whereas hard-working families struggle with their monthly mortgage payments, MPs have their mortgages paid for them by the taxpayer - and, more incredible still, are allowed to use any profits made from selling their houses to invest in the property market.
Equally, while many people are tightening their belts when it comes to even small purchases of household groceries, MPs' generous expenses system allows them to squander taxpayers' cash on their own furniture and home improvements.

Although the Commons authorities had agreed to make public details of these lavish expenses, last autumn's deadline shamefully passed with Speaker Michael Martin and the House of Commons Commission (the group of senior MPs responsible for policing the expenses system) failing to honour that promise

The agreement to release details came only after a long battle by Speaker Martin and MPs to defy a ruling by the Information Tribunal that they should publish their expenses.

This affront to democratic openness took place against a backdrop which involved a series of scandals, of which perhaps the most distasteful was the revelation that the Tory MP Derek Conway had diverted tens of thousands of pounds of public money to pay his son for 'research duties' - even though he was studying at Newcastle University and there was no record of any work ever being done.
What's more, MPs wasted approximately £150,000 (of taxpayers' money, needless to say) taking their case to the High Court. The verdict of the judges was damning, however.
Ruling in favour of publication, they declared that there was 'no doubt that the public interest is at stake. We are not dealing with idle gossip, or public curiosity about what, in truth, are trivialities. The expenditure of public money through the payment of MPs' salaries and allowances is a matter of direct and reasonable interest to taxpayers.'

In the wake of this withering condemnation, MPs had no choice but to give in.

Therefore, last May, they announced that their expenses would finally be placed in the open, promising publication by the autumn. In October, the date was put back until Christmas. Yet, still, nothing has been published.
Last week, I contacted LibDem MP Nick Harvey, who is the spokesman for the House of Commons Commission (headed by Speaker Martin). He told me that there is no chance that anything will emerge until April and that the intention is to publish their expenses by the summer recess in late July.
Harvey said the logistics of processing so many MPs' receipts has proved far more complicated than originally foreseen.
I do not doubt Nick Harvey's good faith but I'm afraid to say that I do not believe a word he says.
First it needs to be borne in mind that this delay in the publication of MPs' expenses follows a long pattern of obstruction by the Speaker and senior MPs of all parties.
Apart from the wasteful High Court action, as I revealed in a film for Channel Four Dispatches called Nice Work If You Can Get It, they even sanctioned the abuse of Commons procedure in order to keep secret the lavish scale of MPs' spending, by pushing through a bill which exempted them from provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.
Of course, MPs of all parties have every motive to keep details of their expenses secret.

They realise that publication of their claims could be highly embarrassing, revealing just how callously some of them have abused their privileged position as legislators to feather their private nests. In certain cases, some MPs may fear that publication could lead to questions about fraudulent claims.
Above all, the argument that it takes a year to make expenses claims ready for publication is not credible.
Just over three years ago, in November 2005, the Scottish Parliament promised to disclose the expenditure of Scottish MPs. Exactly six weeks later, they were published.

I believe that the delay in Westminster is a national scandal and that MPs who return to Parliament this week are treating voters with contempt. The fact is that they have milked their expenses system in a way that would be unacceptable in any other walk of life.
They know that publication of details about how they have squandered taxpayers' money - particularly at a time of unprecedented economic crisis - will lead to an outcry.
This state of affairs is not just immoral. It is profoundly damaging to our democracy. As recession bites, we need politicians who understand the difficulties of ordinary voters and who do not appear to be self-interested chancers who put private profit above public interest.
Those MPs who will drift back to the Commons on Monday - tanned from skiing holidays or visits to exotic beach resorts - have not merely lost their connection with how ordinary people live but, more worryingly, have lost all connection with ordinary morality.

Seven months have now passed since Speaker Martin promised openness and transparency. There is no excuse for further delay.

Appearence and Reality

Platell's People: Oh, you're so selfish, Madame Supermum
Last updated at 9:59 PM on 09th January 2009

At first glance, the pictures flashed across the world of French justice minister Rachida Dati returning to work less than five days after the birth of her first child represent a triumph for career women everywhere.
The outfit was so calculatingly chic, the heels so high they would tower over mere mortals.
Beautiful, successful, chic, beaming with happiness, Ms Dati looked every inch the role model for sophisticated high achievers.
Indeed, she was working from her hospital bed the day before, despite a Caesarean.
Supermum or super-selfish? For behind the perfectly coiffured glamour I fear there lies a more troubling trend of the marginalisation of men from family life and the institutionalisation of single motherhood by the state - not just in France but in many Western nations and particularly here in Britain.

Inside Europe's corruption capital: how Bulgaria and Romania's crime mafia plunders EU grant money

Just a year after these former corner of the Soviet empire became part of the European Union, their country lanes roar to the sound of brand new four-wheel drives, while alongside tumbledown peasant cottages have sprung up smart new villas.
Among the locals sipping brandy in the village bars, there is little doubt what the most lucrative annual harvest is these days. It comes not from the soil or the vine, but from piles of grant application forms marked "Sapard".
Officially the "Special Accession Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development", Sapard is the multi-billion pound Brussels fund set up to help former Eastern Bloc countries drag their backward farming sectors into the modern world. But in Bulgaria and neighbouring Romania, farm workers are already proving quick to spot what their colleagues in France, Italy and Spain first noticed 30 years ago - that as with any generous subsidies administered from afar, it is ripe for fraud.

I went last month to a farming town where the locals asked me 'Do you know how to recognise somebody round here who has got a Sapard grant?'" said Bulgarian MP Atanas Atanasov, an outpoken critic of his country's corruption record, which is the worst of all 27 EU nations.
"They said, 'Just look for the people driving the most expensive SUVs.' It isn't accidental that these people have suddenly got so much money, and it isn't just in that one town either. It's everywhere."

Tories finally expel MEP over misuse of funds

By Michael Savage, Political Correspondent
Thursday, 13 November 2008

An MEP who channelled more than £500,000 of allowances into a business run by his wife and daughter has been expelled from the Conservative Party. Den Dover, who used to be the party's chief whip in Europe, was dismissed after David Cameron learnt that a European Parliament investigation had found major discrepancies in his use of allowances.

read more: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tories-expel-mep-over-misuse-of-funds-1015829.html

Prince fears he will be silenced by becoming King

By Robert Jobson, 09/11/2008. News of the World.


PRINCE Charles will turn 60 this week. He is the longest serving heir to the throne in British history—and he is still waiting. As as he posed for birthday portraits at Clarence House, it must have crossed his mind: “Will I ever be King— and do I even want the job?”Our 82-year-old Queen is still in fine health, and her mother lived until she was 101, so it is possible Charles could be 80 before he ascends, Their longevity is understandable, in accordance with protocol, two or three hundred people are in attendance to their every whim and ailment twenty four hours every day. Money, a source of stress in itself, never has been a problem, or, indeed, can it be ever mentioned. Their perhaps one major upset being when the Royal yacht Brittanica was removed from the establishment, they all visibly cried. One can sympathize at such a loss.

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It is hardly to be felt this subject is relevant after the happenings with our transatlantic friends and the epoch of Mr Tony Blair's insistence on human rights, political correctness, multiculturalism along with his wife Cherie, both making millions of pounds from these noble causes. As we all know, anyone even hinting that there is reverse "racism" (a word of their invention) in their work or any other deep, dubious aspect to their joint policy, is dealt with instantly by the iron fist of totalitarianism. I was speaking to Mr Keith Vaz only yesterday, his enthusiasm for this remarkable transition in the West knew no bounds. No, he does not wish to be Prime minister, quite willing to leave that grind to bleary eyed Gordon. Keith feels that the present incumbent at the end of the Mall has been there quite long enough, as Robert Jobson pointed out and as with the voting patterns, desires, wishes of Islam and immigrants, he would be King, indeed, should be King, his right, setting his mark in history by being the first black Muslim as the emblem of the Realm. " Vaz the First". His relentless ambition would then be satiated. A thousand years of history overturned. Vast, black masses will throng the Mall, endlessly chanting of his name. he enthused. He does have precisely the qualifications, relentlessness and attributes of the ruling class, the rich, the arrogant, to rule Britain. Multiculturalism and Blair both proving their ultimate point. The mere fact that Blair and Cherie have quietly departed with their millions at what has been proved to be a impeccable piece of timing, no doubt both fully aware of these portentous events unfolding and the possible bearing on their now situation. No elections, no formalities, just the faint wave to their few close friends before leaving the country and Britain in the hands of whomever. Aside, Keith admitted, perhaps apologetically, that he would feel comfortable in ermine, also, the smooth, hard touch of precious stones always induced in him a strong sense of achievement. He added, as he rushed off, something about liking the look and atmosphere of Buckingham Palace, one or two alterations in keeping with his religion and taste would, however, be required, a few minarets, possibly. A jolly good fellow, I might add.

suspicion

Many non-Muslims think that Islam is just another religion like Christianity or Judaism. If that were so, Powell’s views about Muslims would be correct. However, religious Muslims are the first to say that Islam is NOT like other religions, that Islam is a complete way of life which organizes all aspects of life and society and the world. That is what differentiates Islam fundamentally from other religions. This is not my personal opinion; this is the view of all Islamic scholars and religious authorities; and you can easily verify that for yourself. Therefore, if Islam is, in fact, NOT like other religions, then it would be wrong to treat Muslims like we treat members of other religions. Yes, there is reason to at least suspect Muslims of adherence to a totalitarian and imperialistic ideology whereas we would not harbor the same suspicion toward followers of other religions. The other religions do not have the ideological element that Islam has.

Posted by Monte Doro

Cat charity's racketeers pain

Cats Protection has become one of the largest charity victims of the Icelandic banking crisis, with £11.2million at risk.
Plans for a series of new adoption centres for abandoned and unwanted cats could be in jeopardy because of its investments in Kaupthing Singer and Friedlander banks.

The charity - which shortened its name from the Cats Protection League in 1998 - helps 142,000 cats and kittens a year through its nationwide network of 256 voluntary-run i.e. no wage bill…. branches and 29 adoption centres.

A frontman for the racket said: 'Cats Protection would like to assert that, whilst upsetting, this news will have no impact at all on the charity's day to day operation. CP is still well placed to live within its means - this news makes no threat to the charity's ability to pay bills, salaries, support its network of branches or most importantly, provide for the cats in its care.

'Cats Protection believes there is a case to be made to the Treasury that its deposits are public money that has been donated for us to help cats and provide benefits to the public. The charity feels strongly that it’s deposits should be safeguarded.'

Still plenty of cash flowing about for the sin and tonics

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Cheriegate flat selling at bargain basement price as the Blairs feel the impact of the credit crunch

Last updated at 1:26 AM on 11th October 2008
By Neil Sears

Tony and Cherie Blair are on the verge of selling one of two flats they bought with the help of a convicted fraudster.
A media storm engulfed their purchase of the Bristol properties in 2002 because of the involvement of Peter Foster, an Australian who was jailed in his homeland last year.
The Blairs are said to have accepted an offer slightly below their £285,000 asking price, meaning they will be able to turn only a modest profit. In February an almost identical flat in the same block changed hands for £305,000.
They paid £262,500 for each property in the upmarket Clifton area of Bristol, a figure which included a £69,000 discount negotiated by Foster after a reported six weeks of haggling.

At the time of the 'Cherigate' purchase, Foster was dating Mrs. Blair's confidande Carole Caplin, the former topless model.

When the Daily Mail revealed he had helped purchase the flats, Mrs Blair tried to issue a denial. The old tart running true to form

Palace denies Queen to spend £7m on private 'Heir Force One'

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:19 PM on 27th September 2008

The Queen is taking a great personal interest in the design of the Royal private jet
Buckingham Palace remained tight lipped today about newspaper reports that the Queen plans to buy a private jet - the first of her 50-year reign.
Four firms have allegedly been asked to submit designs for the executive £7m aircraft, which will be for the sole use of the royal family and its pets, reports The Sun.
Her Majesty is said to be taking a very personal interest in its design. She was even heard asking 'Where will the corgis sit?' a source told the tabloid.

Haider is our Lady Di'

• 
• • Kate Connolly
  • The Guardian,
  • Saturday October 18 2008
  As you are fully aware, the answer is yes. Just needs a further slide into recession and push will become shove...
  

Rule Brittania

Camilla's 60 birthday presents for Charles...one for every year of his life

By Katie Nicholl
Last updated at 11:47 PM on 18th October 2008

Prince Charles has already raised eyebrows by having not one but two birthday parties, and now his wife Camilla is planning to give him 60 individual gifts - one to mark every year of his life.

The presents, which friends describe as a 'labour of love', include a pair of walking boots, a personalised fly fishing rod and his favourite episodes of The Goon Show.


The only Goons are us, paying for the rubbish ,all contexts.

Labor MP Keith Vaz and 21st Century Royalty

Brilliant !

Today's leader should have been the ..............."Fall and Fall of England "

The shots of Thief Vaz and the woman flat on her back, legs wide open, showing all her possessions, complete with roller skates, were emphatic.

Tony will be celebrated like Winston Churchill, claims Cherie Blair

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 3:54 PM on 30th September 2008

Cherie Blair has compared her husband to Britain's greatest wartime leader.The ex-Prime Minister’s wife praised Tony Blair's political career in an interview with Vanity Fair magazine

Pair of the biggest crooks and contortionists in recent British History. Obviously with more front than Selfridges. Blair is set to be the richest Ex Prime Minister.

Reality for the Filthy Rich

I'm too terrified of jail to carry on, says eco-warrior

Benedict Moore-Bridger 15.10.08

"but the reality of it was terrifying.

The judge made it pretty clear. I am definitely not doing anything or taking a role in front-line demonstrating"

Reality has always been a concept in the distance for the rich, especially for their little bitches, right down through the ages .

Could be, hopefully, we are in for the same catastrophe as the Black Death when the rich (our betters) had to clean their own shoes.

Beatrice the bunny girl! Pictures of princess partying in Thailand on her gap year

By Rebecca English

Last updated at 11:15 PM on 17th October 2008

Larking around in sunglasses and 'bunny girl' ears made from drinking straws, it is very much an unofficial portrait of the Queen's granddaughter.

What are you looking for ? your name in the honours list ?

These creatures are "larking about" on our money. For how much longer...... is a interesting conjecture.

"The only gap she'll ever have is between her legs"

Had one too many? Worse-for-wear Prezza found fast asleep on QE2's final voyage

By Paul Harris

Last updated at 1:45 AM on 18th October 2008

Perhaps it was the emotional stress of saying goodbye to an old friend when the QE2 embarked on her final voyage.

Or maybe it was one too many nightcaps.
For whatever reason, John Prescott was to be found fast asleep in a chair after a long day aboard the luxury liner QE2 on its final voyage from Southampton to Scotland.

With multiple chins on his chest and one hand protecting his valuables, the former deputy prime minister slept through the loud music and bustle of people around him - and was still snoring, a permanent pastime when he is not chasing secretaries...

The face of politics. You left out Baron Mendelson.

Pipeline War, the iminent cataclism and the 8000 pounds handbag and my trip to Barbados

.... and I do like to be beside the seaside... said Mr. Cameron

The Pipeline War: Russian bear goes for West's jugular.

By Svetlana Skarbo and Jonathan PetreLast updated at 3:06 AM on 10th August 2008. D.M.

The war in Georgia escalated dangerously last night after Russian jets reportedly bombed a vital pipeline that supplies oil to the West.

The Pipeline War: Georgia calls for ceasefire as Russia 'bombs military airport near Tblisi'

By Daily Mail ReporterLast updated at 5:21 PM on 10th August 2008

• 2,000 civilians now feared dead
• Russia takes the South Ossetian capital of Tskhinvali
• Georgia calls for a ceasefire in the stricken region
• Refugee crisis as 40,000 flee

Action girl Kate spends time with her Prince charming on their 'honeymoon' hideaway

By Sharon Churcher and Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:38 AM on 10th August 2008

Sporting a sexy black and white bikini she could have been any woman happily in love and spending quality time with her boyfriend on holiday. And Prince William looked equally as smitten as he and girlfriend Kate Middleton relaxed and soaked up the Caribbean sunshine.

Surfer dude Dave Cameron and his beach babe Sam make waves in the surf

Last updated at 4:02 PM on 10th August 2008.D.M.

With his slicked back hair, toned pecs and trendy wet suit he could be any surfer dude, catching the waves on a trendy Cornish beach. But this isn't your average beach bum - instead the man with 'peak' emblazoned across his chest is leader of the Conservative party, David Cameron.
'Life as a WAG is lonely and horrible - even if I spent £8,000 a week on clothes and bags,'

Suzanne Franklin reveals

By Anthonia Hoyle
Last updated at 2:39 AM on 10th August 2008.D.M.

There is a metallic gold leather Jimmy Choo handbag at the back of Suzanne Franklin’s wardrobe. It is called a Riki, it costs £1,000 and is the ultimate in sartorial status symbols. Yet Suzanne hasn’t so much as admired its silk lining for six months because for her, it is no longer an item of beauty but a stark reminder of a life she has left behind. It was a life that, on the surface, screamed glamour and excess. Dating a £25,000-a-week Premier League footballer, she was sucked into a heady whirlwind of designer clothes, expensive restaurants and celebrity-laden nightclubs.

Syria Expected to Reach Arms Deals

22 August 2008By Oleg Shchedrov / ReutersSOCHI

Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad backed Russia's military action against Georgia at talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday that were expected to cover purchases of Russian arms. A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax on Wednesday that Russia and Syria were preparing a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems. Syria, a foe of Israel in the Middle East that stands accused by the United States of supporting international terrorism, became only the second country after Belarus to voice public backing for Russia's operation in Georgia.

U.S. Sees Much to Fear in a Hostile Russia

N.Y.Times 22Aug;

Although Russia has long supplied arms to Syria, it has held back until now on providing the next generation of surface-to-surface missiles. But the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, made clear that he was hoping to capitalize on rising tensions between Moscow and the West when he rushed to the resort city of Sochi to meet with his Russian counterpart, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
The list of ways a more hostile Russia could cause problems for the United States extends far beyond Syria and the mountains of Georgia. In addition to escalated arms sales to other anti-American states like Iran and Venezuela, policy makers and specialists in Washington envision a freeze on counterterrorism and nuclear nonproliferation cooperation, manipulation of oil and natural gas supplies, pressure against United States military bases in Central Asia and the collapse of efforts to extend cold war-era arms control treaties.

TOP Tory Caroline Spelman—already under investigation for paying her nanny from public funds—was last night embroiled in a NEW £100,000 cash row.

News of the world . 24.08.2008

For the Conservative Party chairman used taxpayers’ cash to pay her top aide, DESPITE him undertaking party political work.
Mrs Spelman used parliamentary staffing allowances to pay her chief of staff Simon Cawte up to £47,500 annual salary for up to TWO years during her spell as the party’s Shadow Local Government Secretary.
But parliament’s rulebook specificially FORBIDS paying party political staff out of the public purse.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner Sir John Lyon is already probing the “nannygate” allegations that former nanny Tina Haynes was paid £25,000 from Mrs Spelman’s staff allowance.

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