reactionarytimes.co.uk

Cameron’s use of expenses whilst legal would not be understood by anyone else. Yet he uses expenses as a stick to beat Brown on the rather faux point only one of his peers was charged and 3 Labour MPs. The public were initially upset not at illegal claims but the scale and reasons for claims that have proved legal. Such as claims of 2nd homes that were not 2nd homes.  The fact people may have made a few fictitious claims was not the issue – after all most of us think many more claims should have been illegal. He seems to not mind that he is a hypocrite. As with Clegg and his contempt of court this is opportunistic desperation.

Whilst it’s nothing to me it does seem odd to this wastrel that Cameron and a front bench who have snorted enough class A drugs to supply Bristol for a year would get personal with Gordon Brown over character. We’re not talking the class ‘A’ drugs that Alan Johnson says are class ‘A’ because they are but the ones that have earned their status. Yet don’t expect sanity in drug law when he takes over? I guess hypocrisy is his right.

Whilst it’s hard to lose a character contest with Brown it seems to me from a more conventional viewpoint than my own Cameron’d lose.

I may have to wash my mouth out with soap and water but that leaves one narcissistic nut case clown looking  relatively within hailing distance of Prime Ministerial. Relatively is the key word there.

INLA give up their guns for good. Afghanistan 2 more deaths. Now those are news stories.

This is election froth.

written by reaction \\ tags: Afghanistan, David Cameron, Drugs Policy, Gordon Brown, INLA, MPs' Expenses, Nick Clegg

Can people be misled? Wilfully misled by themselves for their own convenience? Professional middle aged UK educated MPs? Of course.

Alastair Campbell assumes we are all emotional infants that if he says something choking up we will all believe he is more sincere. Nonetheless the case of the case for the war in Iraq does show how people can redefine the truth until it appears to say something different. The key point is that Blair, Campbell and Scarlett allowed others misconceptions of their ambiguities to go uncorrected. It’s not lying but it’s a Rizla paper from it and maybe more malevolent?

However anyone who read newspapers in the years before would have known Iraq was not in a position to organise a Barbecue never mind weaponise nasty concoctions.

The Foreign Secretary resigned and said they had no weapons. The Foreign Office lawyers thought the war illegal. Any MP or minister who claims to have been misled was wilfully so. They only had to be professional and ask the Foreign Office. Indeed even Jack Straw supported the war and says he did not believe Iraq was a threat.

Let’s not pretend this country does not do what the Americans ask. It’s abject to suggest that we as a country were ever going to do anything different.

The late Robin Cook is the only one who emerges with a smidgeon of credit from this. Campbell and Blair should just be forgotten as representatives of the most hot air filled achievement less years of British politics – Blair was the true inheritor of Thatcher with guff filled bubbles of economic incompetence.

Really nothing positive is coming from this Naval Gazing. We  will still elect the kind of spivs that are  rapidly cowed by a call from the Oval Office.

written by reaction \\ tags: Alastair Campbell, Dodgy Dossier, Foreign Office, Iraq, Jack Straw, Lying, Robin Cook, Sir John Scarlett, Spivs, Tony Blair, Wilfullly Misled

Nick Clegg in his desperation to get 20 seconds looking alpha male and kiss up to tabloid populism decided to lash out at MPs potentially using a privilege defence to get off charges of expenses fiddling. Clegg’s motivation if it is not dismally opportunistic is unclear. How can one vote for a party which wants to tell the courts what to do and defendants to not use their rights?

The sums involved in these so called frauds are ridiculously small and actually not the matters that so upset the populace last year. Any trial will be a farce and arguably poisoned already. Surely anything that spares us from that will be a bonus? Look these guys are history regardless of a court case or conviction. Indeed looking at them it does seem they are the sacrificial lambs rather than the real trash who made 10s of thousands like Jacqui Smith.

Watching Cameron and Clegg try to disembowel the democracy for advantage makes one wonder if another Brown administration is not a bad idea. Brown is a pitiable reactionary weakling but even he is not stooping as low in search of votes.

I’d also wonder if any of the MPs can get a fair trial as it is. This has been a spat it seems between The Telegraph’s owners and Parliament.  The only winners fringe far right parties with nothing positive to say which I guess was The Telegraph’s aim.

I just hope Clegg’s view of our [the people's] irrationality and lack of perspective is wrong and he will be seen for what he is a chancer.

written by reaction \\ tags: Liberal Democrats, MPs' Expenses, Nick Clegg, Tabloid Culture, The Telegraph

Asda is the latest supermarket to mock itself with a seemingly overly strict alcohol sales policy. A 44 year old woman was refused alcohol because her son had no ID.

There is a point with these seemingly odd stories. I think it can be concluded that after years of a gap between their patronising of parents over the dangers of drugs it has been easy for anyone of 14 or older to buy alcohol – I know I was. At least that gap in Govt policy appears to be closing with the Supermarkets clearly worried they will lose licenses or face minimum price legislation that would stop them selling below cost alcohol as a loss leader and a boon to teenage entertainment.

The only problem with actually enforcing our alcohol laws is of course that alternative drugs are cheaper, plentiful and of questionable quality and as they are sold illegally. Illegal and not subject to this scrutiny.

The point is whilst the Govt is obsessed with legality people and especially kids will abuse what they can especially on our sink estates where adult examples and supervision are intermittent – something likely to get worse as we follow US style policies that lock people up at younger and younger age.

Currently Govt policy is reactive and not based on a logical rational framework. Something Home Secretary Alan Johnson boasted as he mocked the Science of harm last year. What does the Govt consider worse? Under-age drinking? Or the alternatives? It’s not a joined up policy. It seems to ignore that humans taking drugs of all legalities is older than civilisations of any sort. It reacts to headlines and parental worries.

It’s a shame we cannot move towards a German style society where people do not abuse alcohol even though they can fairly freely drink from a youngish age.

written by reaction \\ tags: Alan Johnson, Drink Policy, Drugs Policy, Under Age

Hopefully at least one achievement will come from 13 years of Blairist 3rd way and Brown reaction and self aggrandisement the end of large scale troubles and unrest in Northern Ireland.

From the 9th Feb any weapons found will be subject to forensic examination. There will be no amnesty for past crimes. The UDA and INLA have bowed to that fact in the last week or so and de-commissioned. In many respects this is more important than the impotent squabbling of the DUP (or amazingly who John Terry slept with). After all without men with guns their objections carry less weight and they have to grow up as their leverage is reducing whether they force the British to run Ulster or not.

No matter how reluctantly they [INLA, DUP, UDA] did it they are bowing to what thus seems an inevitable.

Some good news.

written by reaction \\ tags: Devolved Govt, DUP, INLA, UDA

One of the most bizarre example of British Corporate depravity is that British Airways apparently has a wall where staff can write messages of support damning the Cabin Crew.

BA’s ambition is to have flight attendants with Ryanair wages, lousy customer care combined with a complete lack of care about anything bar taking your money.

No mention of the fine for corrupt business practices I mentioned last blog of course.

written by reaction \\ tags: British Airways

It really seems that the biggest British companies only method of staying in the game is to cheat. As an example here is the recent experience of 3 British companies, all corrupt and corrupting

• This week BAE Systems just fined £280 million for bribery and corruption of the degenerates who run the kingdom of Saudia Arabia and others. Many will consider these fines minimal given that it took the personal intervention of discredited cyphers of international capital Goldsmith and Blair to prevent a criminal investigation in 2006.
• British Airways (and Virgin) fined £270 million for price fixing. This fine is far more than kicking the Cabin Crew and workers will save in decades. Never mind the Civil Case.
• BP guilty of obsessive and depraved cost cutting rather than real efficiency that led to their murder of 15 people in Texas. Given paltry fines of at least $87 Million. One hopes the lawsuit does some real damage

The British corporate culture is hierarchical and dominated by decrees handed down the management chain. Cost is not understood. Essentially any British firm of any size seems to want to grow by acquisition and to reduce costs by destroying what it was once good at.

The morality story of the week a footballer had sex with a woman.

written by reaction \\ tags: Asset Stripping, BAE Systems, BP, British Airways, Corporate Culture, Corruption, Cost Cutting, Fines, Greed, Lord Goldsmith, Tabloid Culture, Tony Blair

It’s a horrific case but it interests me that German based Dr Daniel Ubani slaughters one of his UK patients with an accidental massive diamorphine [Heroin] overdose. It’s on the news and amazingly a coroner spotted it within a few years because the relatives rightly pursued the case.

It’s already a far bigger story than the case of Dr Barton who killed at least 3 and potentially far more. She can still act as a doctor with restrictions and will face no criminal charges. Or those who kill and continue to kill nearly 2000 Dementia patients every year in the UK by wrongly prescribing anti psychotics, not one prosecution. Not heard of anyone being struck off for what is a wilful act surely? Not heard many coroners bump their gums.

This German doctor got a 9 month suspended sentence in Germany so at least he saw a court unlike Dr Barton. Frankly were he a British doctor he’d probably get off based on the GMC’s laughable open door policy on killers – they struck Shipman off 2 years after he was convicted and just before he killed himself, which was lucky.

Calling Doctors to account in court as Germany did would be anathema to the GMC who would bleat about the undermining of their authority. In light of the Barton and Shipman cases tell me he gets prosecuted in England if he was a domestic based doctor for 1 sad death? Indeed how often does this happen with palliative care? Is this case so outrageous? Or is the nationality the question?

The coroner has demanded much tougher rules for foreign doctors working here. The British ones can carry on killing and lecturing us on our diets and drinking clearly.

Facetiousness aside it does strike me as baffling the media would jump all over this one dark skinned doctor from Germany…

written by reaction \\ tags: Coroner, Dementia Patients, German Doctor, GMC, Manslaughter, Mass Murder, Media Racism, Murderers

Sir Thomas Legg in the manner of these old cruds that the establishment wheel out to do some inquiry never hesitates to play to the baying crowd on MP’s expenses. Everything is horrible and everyone should be wearing the Hair Shirts and whipping themselves apparently. Better still get a professional Dominatrix to do it , not on expenses of course.  The public are angry at these public servants stealing from them. It’s a classic ‘Politics of the Few’ issue with clear right and wrong and a few nasty individuals for the public stocks. No need to understand difficult facts.

It is of course all reactionary nonsense.

Nonsense?

Yes nonsense.

Legg has forced MPs to pay back a whole million and change. Last year MPs expenses were 95.6 Million. So over say 6 years MPs are paying back 2+% of previously approved expenses – these were approved. We have sacrificed our politicians on the basis of  2.5% or less as Legg may well  be going further back.

Compared to what the MOD and Military waste on procurement, never mind their backhanders, it’s trivial – they still feel self righteous enough despite their manifest incompetence to criticise the Govt for not giving them more when soldiers die because of their ‘military intelligence’.  Compared to PFI it’s not even a rounding error on the rounding error of the rounding error on the set up fees.

The real problem was that as an MP said on Newsnight early in this decade he was going to vote for a large salary increase as he felt the system of using expenses to subsidise salary was wrong – prescient. So the system was well established and from their detached perspective it’s hard to say MPs who over claimed or claimed for marginal items were wholly wrong – the approval of said items hardly supports chicanery in most cases.

The real cause of the current difficulties was the failure of the Speaker to smell the coffee and head them off. Expenses abuse stories have been emerging for several years now. There were even stories about Speaker Michael Martin’s wife’s use of taxis for instance. Yet Martin opted for head in the sand denial. Not surprising as it is a weakness of New Labour that this clearly weak and partial man was not removed as Speaker. They were happy to have the advantage of this seemingly ill equipped person to perform a role requiring integrity and impartiality. A person with a better grasp of anything but his short term good than Brown would have seen this coming and removed Martin. Really it’s on New Labour and specifically Martin and Brown.

The problem is that whilst the details have been shocking especially to poor working people at or near minimum wage the anger unleashed by the so called qualities and ‘bloids has been nihilistic. It’s been the perfect story where one can pretend that people are wholly wrong – with no dissenting voices either.

It’s been an example of the tabloid nihilism, stoked by The Telegraph. They find it’s easier to make people angry than direct that constructively. This  is the problem with tabloid culture even when propagated by the so called qualities it lacks perspective when the issue is seemingly black and white. People want to believe some things and are happy to believe other things not on the basis of right or wrong but what is easiest for them to believe and understand.

To believe your country and its wars are immoral is too hard for many people. To believe the people who put you in those wars are chiselling crocks spending your money is bizarrely easy.

In terms of what is being dealt with it’s a hurricane in a thimble but extremely damaging for all that.

written by reaction \\ tags: Gordon Brown, Hair Shirts, Micheal Martin, MOD, MPs' Expenses, PFI, Politics of the Few, Sir Thomas Legg, Tabloid Culture, The Telegraph, Whips

Look I am no expert on the Middle East. However clearly the Western Envoy (Tony Blair)  is a man who has no idea either. He was appointed by a nut case (Dubya) who told Jacques Chirac that

Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…. The biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…. This confrontation is willed by God, who wants to use this conflict to erase his people’s enemies before a New Age begins.

Further Blair is now a member of a church which has just demanded a near crusade using missionary zeal against equality in Britain. Blair would no doubt square all his circles with a series of nice sounding information free one liners and other polarising rhetorical devices.

My view of Israel and Palestine is this that the status quo suits the Israeli leaders. Its death toll from these rockets and other weapons thrown at them is so small that whilst awful for those who suffer loss not probably on a par with deaths on roads. In last year’s war Israel lost less than fall into Britain’s frozen lakes and die in a cold snap. Internally suicide bombings are well down as well.

Nonetheless as with all terrorism there is the fear of the big one. I am sure that many people in Israel have recent memories of people blowing themselves up on buses or in coffee bars in gestures of futile nihilism. Their fear can be used and should be given more understanding than it is by ideologues who think throwing back the thousands of starving, dead and broken Palestinian lives is an answer rather than a worse tragedy. As much as simpletons wants to have good and evil you have to reassure the dominant populace before you will be able to move politicians for whom the status quo is nirvana – a decision free zone for them.

I’m not trying to skirt a faux middle way here by the way. It’s pointless doing the positives and negatives as though we are talking about a conflict between 2 states here. We are not.

However the Gazans and Palestinians should look at the following Israel is supported by: Egypt: Europe: USA. It is recognised as a country by just about everyone else.

The occupied peoples of Gaza and West Bank have no real support bar the crocodile tears of the Arab nations who use them as proof of something to justify their sometimes vile actions.

I am not au fait enough to know the options open to individuals and when or how they can influence things through whatever electoral process or means they have open to them. However some tentative observations:-

Hamas should represent its people not some dogma. No mealy mouthed nonsense recognise Israel because anything else is stupidity. Indeed recognise the Holocaust! Seriously is not recognising the obvious truth a positive? A starting point to be taken seriously? Ummh No.

In the West Bank they need to remove Fatah or at least change it so it represents them not the Swiss bank accounts of Abu Mazen and the rest of the dreck. Fatah have a stake in the status quo. The people have to say Fatah is your toy to the west. A corrupt gang of thugs funded by the US.

Start putting on trial or handing over the morons who fire rockets and keep providing Israel with the faux justifications. Honestly complaining Israel is a brutal quasi fascist occupying power and then complaining it behaves like one is not so much pissing in the wind as deliberately pissing on your own shoes.

The world is not listening. The world likes the status quo. Your stated allies like you as guile-less impotent victims of US/Israeli oppression.

It will be a long process but the current Israel, Hamas and Fatah stand off and representation means more of the same. I feel for the people but change has to come from them as it’s not coming from the West.

The Road Map from the US is as valid as a pre 1948 map of Palestine.

written by reaction \\ tags: Abu Mazon, Corruption, Fatah, George Bush, Gog and Magog, Hamas, Nihilism, Palestine, Tony Blair