Via Chicken Yoghurt we have this shining example of just what makes our nation great and glorious:
What a pathetic nation we have become and what a sad indictment of the state of our so called “democratic and free society”.
I’m amazed the phone wasn’t confiscated.
In personal news - blogging has been light the last few weeks as I’ve been suffering from a particularly vicious chest infection. The last thing I needed was to dwell overly on the woeful state of our economy, politicians, freedom, crime, education and health service.
While our political masters sun themselves on beaches, enjoy the Olympics, and pretend that an invasion hasn’t been taking place they are still finding time to invade our privacy yet further.
Unsurprisingly they want to extend dirty filthy snooping powers introduced last year to other forms of communication. They’re not content with a log of your phone calls - now they want your emails and website access too. The Times and Telegraph report on it today.
And don’t for a moment think that this information is restricted in any way. It will be available to councils and a variety of quangos. The Post Office for exampe. The Food Standard Agency. I mean really, what business if it of the Food Standards Agency what websites I visit? Are they afraid I’ll import a misshapen root vegetable? A slightly off-colour pepper? God forbid maybe some cheese?
The only form of “protection” built into the system is the signature of an authorising officer - who is appointed by the very organisation who wants to snoop on you. I feel better already. And of course we all know how good the government is at keeping our data secure.
And as I’ve said before and as Dizzy says here - for real criminals there are straightforward ways of circumnavigating this spying. The officials bringing these measures in know this. They know it. For all their talk of chasing terrorists and catching serious criminals what they really want is a system by which they can fine ordinary largely honest people for minor transgressions of pointless laws. The easy targets. The low hanging fruit.
Be afraid people. Be very afraid. The police state is nearer than you think.
And ond don’t look to the Tories to save you. They want it too. They showed their real colours with regards to civil liberties this week with the announcement of their plans to rid the police of the pesky impediments put in the way to prevent them spying on us.
Interesting debate going on over at Tim Worstall’s with regards to what boils down to eugenics.
I agree completely with the anti-eugenics stance - it should not be for the state or any appointed body to determine who can and cannot have a child.
I firmly believe that the decision to have a child should lie with the parents. But having a child is not a right - by which I mean its not the job of the state to provide funds for the basic environment - food, clothing and shelter.
If prospective parents can’t afford to provide those things themselves then I for one would hope that they’d think twice before bringing a child into the world. To do otherwise is, in my opinion, irresponsible and, frankly, a failure at the first hurdle. They are putting themselves before the child and its an indication that they are not yet ready to raise a child responsibly.
Post Milliband’s bid for future leadership of the Labour party (you know the one masquerading as a roadmap for the future of the Labour party) Brown’s allies have hit back with some personal attacks on Millipede accusing of disloyalty and over ambitious.
Ironic really when you consider that the last 10 years of Brown’s career have been spent knifing people in the back. Rather blatantly.
Beyond dragging their party into outright open warfare this, I think, is likely to backfire on Brown given the current media narrative.
The Pimpernel was at the Womad music festival over the weekend (wonderful stuff and heard music ranging from throat singing, and kenyan roots through to traditional folk and disco) and managed to black himself out from just about all forms of news only really concerning himself with the next days weather.
What a pleasant surprise it was to get back and discover that Labour lost the Glasgow East byelection.
Of course Gordon is just getting on with the job…
Womad related photos taken by yours truly. Here are some Tibetan Monks exiled from their homeland by those fun loving hosts of the Olympics the Chinese government:
And here’s Phil Beer of Show of Hands - playing his fiddle during a song about the erosion of an English identity.
See here. Given the fact I find it despicable I’ve really got start linking elsewhere than the BBC. Anyway.
It’s no surprise really. The way the current government is pissing money up the wall Cameron is going to be faced with the same situation Thatcher was. A country and economy completely fucked up by the erstwhile Labour Party.
While I’m not overly enamoured with the Tory party they come nowhere near the level of contempt I hold the Labour Party in. Bring back David Mellor and his toe sucking. That was funny and harmless.
How, you might ask, can our political overlords bear to deal with such people. How could Mr Blair shake the hand of his Chinese counterpart and stand next to him grinning that awful grin? I suspect most of us “ordinary” folk would choose to stab him in the eye with a chopstick rather than shake his hand.
The answer I suspect is that our European political leaders are not actually all that different from their Chinese counterparts and probably secretly envy them - none of those pesky elections to deal with. Still they’ve done quite well considering - a cosy symbiotic relationship with the mainstream media and, in some cases, state sponsored media, a gradual erosion of civil liberties, tax departments with powers traditionally reserved for the police, and elections that are held again and again until the desired answer is given. Not to mention the largely silent transfer of law making to the EU - an organisation that is demonstrably anti-democratic.
Yes I may be cynical bitter and twisted but I see no real difference between what drives these people: power. The pursuit of power is what drives them pure and simple. And then hanging onto it by the fingernails. You’ve only to witness our current Glorious Leader’s flapping around. He schemed and backstabbed his way to the top and now he’s got there his every action has been a shameless short term attempt to hang on to the top spot. The nanny state, welfare dependence, tax credits, they’ve got nothing to do with lifting the poor out of poverty. Not a jot. It’s all about making the state more powerful.
