A Family Affair (the good kind)

Prince Harry is following the tradition laid down by his family by serving in the armed forces and I commend the decision to send Harry to Afghanistan. I was incredibly frustrated to hear of the decision not to send him to Iraq in May thus I am delighted by this latest development. Whilst I understand the dangers present, I feel the decision to send him was the right one. Harry is a soldier serving his country in the armed forces and he should be treated as such. I am well aware of his status but in the end duty is duty. Lest we forget Prince Andrew served as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands in 1982 bearing in mind he was 2nd in line to the throne at that time! Through out history Kings used to lead their army in to battle and perhaps in a somewhat nostalgic, sentimental and patriotic way I believe that the Prince should be with his (grannys) men on the front line. I believe this will do the image of the Royal Family the world of good, as it shows they are not a class apart and that they are willing to put themselves on the line as any other soldier.

Abortion

Sorry this is a bit late as the media debate has moved on, but I was considering my response before I posted it. David Cameron recently caused some controversy by saying that he agreed with claims that the abortion limit should be reduced from 24 weeks to 20 weeks. He does so in defiance of BMA recommendations. I am glad he has. There has been and will continue to be a rise in the survival rates of foetuses born at 24 weeks and although it is a very small amount, that is enough for a change.

 I however would like to see further reforms of abortion law. Around 97% of women justify their abortion by saying they are not mentally or physically able to cope with a child, with the majority citing mental health reasons. This needs to be addressed with narrower or more specific reasons needed before being given access to abortion. Obviously in the case of rape or incest this increased stringency does not apply. 

According to the independent, citing information it gained through the freedom of information act more than 100 girls under the age of 18 are on their second abortion. This is a gross statistic. It shows a complete lack of knowledge about sex management and family planning, but it also shows a system that is being abused and life is being destroyed at levels which are just unacceptable. A further reform needed regarding those girls under 16 is that an adult should be informed before any abortion is undertaken, that adult should be a relative but not necessarily a parent. This is essential as the decision being made is so huge that someone under 16 should not be left to deal with it alone.

  Women have the right to choose what happens to their bodies, that choice lies not in abortion but in using contraception well, choosing to perhaps have less sex. Men are not without a huge responsibility too, they need to be actively choosing to use contraception and both parties should understand that if you have sex you risk creating another life.  

A tightening in the categories that allow women to have abortions would help reduce this increasing culture of contraceptive abortion. Do not forget that life in this world is precious, that does need to be balanced with women’s rights, but with those rights come sexual responsibility. Accidents happen the throws of passion can consume one, there is a place for abortion in our society but at the moment its usage is far too high and a small but increasing minority are abusing it.

 

I am pro life and pro choice, women have the choice before they get pregnant once they are, they need to have a very good reason to not have the baby.

Local View: The Labour led Council Tax swindle.

Just so the wider world knows the Conservative led Birmingham city Council has, for a third year in a row, delivered a below inflation Council Tax rise. The rise of 1.9% has made it the lowest rise of any of the other leading cities in the U.K. It’s worth comparing this against a few of our major city competitors.

The poor residents of Leeds will suffer a whopping 4.7% rise from April onwards. They, by the way have a Labour led council.

Bristol was not far behind in the ‘how much can we put it up by and not provoke a revolution’ competition with a 4% rise. They, by the way have a Labour led council.

Newcastle will be burdened by a 3.9% increase on hard working people and pensioners. Interestingly the tried to defend there rise by issuing a press release saying ‘this is what we predicted’. Yeah thanks for the heads up. Is it suddenly O.K. to get ripped off because you have advanced notice? The Great Train Robbery was still a robbery even if they phoned in advance. They by the way have a Labour led council.

Manchester – 2.9% – yet they had the audacity to issue an almost libelous statement saying ‘our council tax increase is one of the lowest in the country’. Err, we can count… They by the way, almost obviously, have a Labour led council.

Some how, after pulling off one of the best jokes of the decade – winning the capital of culture – Liverpool is still keeping sane thinking people laughing by trying to justify a 2.9% rise. They, by the way have a Lib Dem led council.

It doesn’t take a genius to as the question, if Birmingham can deliver a below inflation rise and still invest in services for its people, then why can’t its competitors? Is it a coincidence that the councils above seem to be led by councilors that seem to represent not only no commitment to delivering value for money to tax payers, but also an adherence to a tired, old, heavily state-ist approach to government that the old style Labour party will always embody?

There has been mixed reaction to this from both sides of the political spectrum that represents just how difficult being in office must be.

The left have tried the tired old debate relating to a cut on council tax means a cut in front line services. If this were true how come Birmingham City Council has given us a below inflation council tax rise for the past three years but we got 3 ‘stars’ from the Audit Commission recently?

The area of our party, perhaps diplomatically termed ‘right of right of centre’, will argue that a is still a rise and we should be looking to lower the tax burden on hard working families so they are free to spend the money they earn in a way they choose. Any increase in tax represents, in some way at least, an increase in the state.

As students or default position is always usually one of criticism. If some of us go on to loose our idealism latter in life it’s sad, but it is only a pragmatic reflection that actually life, like politics, is a full of compromise.

The few percentage difference that separates the councils above is vitally important because of what it represents. When people feel that the tax they pay is a serious issue to those who receive it then there is less resentment in paying it. Less resentment means they don’t mind working harder to earn more because they know it won’t be ripped out of there hand; when they do this their family benefits and society benefits.

So I think that we should welcome the below inflation rise, not as perfect answer to the council tax debate, but at least a reasonable start.

Politics?…who cares?voter apathy

What’s wrong with people nowadays huh? It seems the average person on the street doesn’t really feel engaged with politics and I’m struggling to work out why!

The question of voter apathy is not a new phenomenon of the noughties but when only 59% of people voted in the election in 2001- the lowest since 1918 (before women got the vote!!) one has to ask the question as to why?

To bring the question to a local level i.e onto campus, I’m currently bombarded as I walk around with election campaign posters of hopefuls in the Guilds executive elections and I’m also bombarded by groups of bright-faced 18yr olds with their parents traipsing round campus on tours. Now if I were one of these young candidates I would stare in awe thinking yeh this is the place for me look at the interaction, the engagement, wonder what these elections are about, get me here now this is what university is about!! Now I admit that perhaps that is only what I would think because I’m a geek like that, and you’re probably right that the average prospective student isn’t going to be swayed to come to Birmingham uni solely based on visions of student politics.

But this my friends is the problem! When then are these young people going to get engaged with any kind of politics, local, student or otherwise? In my view university is a melting pot of ideas and opinions, it’s a time to express those and have them shaped by debate and engaging with people you don’t agree with, it’s a place of activity and protest, a place to become an adult with rounder opinions and experience than when you arrived. This aspect of Bham uni life seems to be fading and fast. Many students don’t believe the Guild has any relevance to their uni lives other than the spar shop and Fab ‘n’ fresh and maybe the society they joined or if they are even aware of Guild council they think it’s for people only interested in arguing and politics that don’t mean anything in the real world. The unawareness and lask of voting in the Guild referendum demonstrates this neatly, wonder what the turn out will be like for the exec elections? not good I expect considering how many students now attend Bham uni!

But why is this happening? There’s probably no answer or several! Disillusionment at the system or politicians (or even people standing for exec elections), disinterest, lack of understanding on the issues or plain laziness? I must admit to feeling slightly exasperated when discussing this subject because to me being involved and understanding why I’m voting for so-and-so and what they stand for seems common sense and my duty as a citizen of a democracy. Especially when there are countries that do not have free elections and even here where women died for me to have the right to vote, I believe it is a disservice to them and to the best intentions of democracy.

In fact how about this for a last sentiment, a suggestion for a change in the law: If you do not vote in 3 consecutive elections (local and national) then you loose the right to vote and must prove that you deserve to have it back. This proof would be done by a simple rudimentary test of basic political knowledge. Argue amongst yourselves as to the logistics of this but just putting it out there to stir the waters!

EXCITING CAMPAIGN LAUNCH

 

Tomorrow the Conservative Party is launching a £500′000 advertising campaign which will appear throghout newspapers, billboards and on the internet.

You can see the images below, and the video too, which I got from Conservativehome.

I am sure you will all have your two cents worth about the quality of the video and the campaign.

However, I am really pleased with the way the party has been moving over the last two weeks, it seems to be launching a much longer term strategy, it is fair to say that up until now, we have focused a lot of big catchy campaigns in the short term. This is inevitably what an opposition has to do to grab attention. However, coupled with the focus at PMQs today of challenging Brown to live TV debates before a General Election. It indicates that we are properly settling down from the Election that never was, and all the Government debacles and settling on our own long term strategy. I think that this is the perfect time to do it and is very encouraging.

Europe, a pointless debate?

I am afraid that I have to respectfully disagree with my BUCF colleague Ryan Castle in a blog posted below (25 Feb). I have issues with his central point; that Nick Clegg is headline grabbing in calling for a referendum on our position in the EU as opposed to Cameron who is promising one only on the Constitutional Treaty.

In my opinion it is only Clegg that seems to be facing the truth and giving the people a right to reflect on our position in the Union (what a vile word..) over the past 30 years.

The Cameron option seems to be the only headline grabber; what is realistically going to happen if we vote against the Constitutional Treaty? Nothing. We’re just going to look silly. The referendum vote will surely be inferred as a ‘No’ vote on Europe anyway but it won’t give the government of the day the legal mandate to pull out of the treaty.

We don’t even need a referendum to do that anyway, but one would give public legitimacy. If the Government wants to pull out of a treaty, any treaty, all they need is to vote on it in the Commons and repeal the Act that made it law. No Parliament can bind its successor, thus we can vote out of the treaty without any referendum what-so-ever.

Our party is not engaging with this issue in the way it should. Cameron is in a tough position. He is constrained by the fact that if he opens up the issue with a bold statement he risks tearing the party apart. I suspect that this may be the reason why Clegg has given this promise. There’s something mischievous about it.

Ryan is right to say that it’s unrealistic to expect the U.K. to pull out of Europe any time soon. But that doesn’t stop this county, me among them, being sceptical of the European project. It seems to be some creeping leviathan that won’t stop until our individual identities are little more than historical footnotes.

Europe passes around 50% of our laws yet we are largely unaccountable to the people who do that because the people we vote for only have limited competence to challenge legislation. The European Parliament is little more than a talking shop for the hundreds of Regulations, Decisions, Directives and Opinions that have a direct impact upon us every single day of our lives.

Also, disturbingly, democratic accountability seems to mean very little to the mandarins at the EU. In 2006 the author of the treaty, Valery Giscard d’Estaing, made her view on any ‘No’ vote in a referendum clear when she said , ‘“People say ‘We cannot vote again.’ What is this joke? We have to vote again until the French see what the stakes are.” She’s not alone, in 2005 the Luxembourg Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker said, “If it’s a Yes, we will say ‘on we go’, and if it’s a No we will say ‘we continue.”

Is it any wonder people are skeptical of Europe when they hear this? It renders any referendum campaign pointless. They’re planning to beat us down with attritional war.
Well luckily the British have proven themselves quite adept at attritional war in the past.

The blood that was spilt on the fields of Flanders should surely be enough to demonstrate our commitment to Europe. And too large a sacrifice was made between 1939 – 1945 to think we can simply hand over our liberty so we become slaves to a bureaucracy that to us is faceless

As David Hume once said, ‘It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once’.

Method to the madness…

    

    

I completely accept our esteemed Treasurer’s point of view that leaving the European Union is not a serious option. At least, not at the moment. I am however struck by the Liberal Democrats’ committment to a referendum on the UK’s entire membership.

This is unusually astute for the Liberal Democrats. They are free to and can benefit from committing to an EU referendum. They are not seriously in contention for office, but still have to attract as much of the protest vote as possible to win prominent positions in a Labour/Liberal coalition. So it makes sense politically. And Ed Davey’s outburst was I imagine, a ploy to attract more attention.

However, the fact that they consider this commitment populist enough to win them support is a first in British politics, and suggests the issue is irritating the public. Of course, Labour would look irresponsible if they announced a similar referendum, and the Conservatives are certainly not in a position to bang the EU drum anywhere near as hard.

However, the Liberal Democrats can bang away and might unwittingly become the great European stalking horse. Their commitment could be the precursor to more serious debate about the UK’s entire membership.

FORWARD TOGETHER

Matthew Richardson is standing for CF Chairman, he has composed a team ‘of all the talents’ who are standing for the National Management Executive they include Karen Allen, Anne Marie- Bray, Charlie Groome, Christian May, Adele Douglas and Craig Cox.

Here is the Forward Together Campaign Video.

www.forwardtogether.co.uk

Oh, Obama…

It seems there has been yet more squabbling between Obama and Clinton as the pressure mounts throughout the election contest.   The cause of tension this time? A photo of Barack Obama robed in traditional Somali dress…

Apparently accusations have been flying that Clinton’s office released the image to discourage people from voting for Obama as analysts report that Clinton must win Ohio and Texas to remain in the running.

It appears that the image released on Monday was taken in Kenya in 2006 as Obama dressed up on a visit to the country. The photo is clearly intended to smear the image of Barack Obama and follows a former false allegation that he is Muslim, which is of course untrue.

It really is a very low blow at this stage in the proceedings – actions such as this one by leading and influential politicians like the former first lady herself are essentially the cause of the slander and dirt that is put upon party politics.

 Although these claims were rapidly dismissed by Clinton’s campaign manager, Maggie Williams and putting a total spin on the story by adding that in suggesting that the photo denotes a negative image of Obama, they should be ‘ashamed’ of themselves.

Does the enitre story remind anyone of the Punch and Judy show? Or is it just me?

ROCK4CF

Student politics warning if you don’t like it don’t read it.

Michael Rock is standing for Conservative Future National Chairman, he has asked me to post this video explaining what he would do with CF.

“>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeomUoMNqfs]

In or Out of Europe? what a stupid debate.

Nick Clegg again has released a policy purely aimed at grabbing the headlines. in a similar move to his ridiculous statement that the NHS was one of the world’s worst healthcare systems he has now announced there should be a referendum on whether or not we should leave the EU. This sort of statement might on a surface level go down well with some voters, but the idea of us leaving the EU is simply ridiculous. We are part of Europe and we gain alot of benefits from EU membership. Statements like this are purely aimed at getting people to notice him, rather than any thought out policy.

The real debate to be had here is to what extent to we want to be involved in Europe, this is the debate Cameron has identified it. In us calling for a referendum on the reformed constitutional treaty we are showing ourselves to be engaged in the real debate.

 Adebate over our participation in Europe is a waste of politcal time and tax payers money. even if we did leave we would have to instigate many individual treaties with countries, so that the over all effect would be the same.

 Let’s keep to the rreal issues and not pander to the media headlines. 

Do we expect too much from politicians?

So it has become apparent that Sarkozy snapped at one of the members of the French Public at the Farming Fair.

The apparent exchange went as follows:

French Voter after Sarkozy tried to shake their hand, “Oh no, don’t touch me, you’ll dirty me.”

Mr Sarkozy replies: “Get lost then you bloody idiot, just get lost!”

Ok, so its not the best reply, but some of our leaders have to work 18 hour days and are under immense pressure to perform consistently, and well are unlikely to ever receive any word of thanks, and very little praise.

I think it is perfectly normal for politicians to snap, and quite frankly in my opinion it shows their human, and that they do show emotion, I certainly would not approve of someone refusing to shake my hand because I would make them, ‘dirty’.

And the biggest political overreaction, I though I would post a video to remind us all :-)

US Election Update: Ralph Nader

The Spoiler returns.

David Cameron and William Hague

Very amusing

A message from Patrick Sulivan

Student Politics: if you don’t like it don’t read it!

As many of you know, I have steered clear of most of the National CF election malarkey a lot of people, have asked me for opinions and endorsements, but i am still holding fire on this. The committee will not endorsing anyone, but I think it is fair for us to put some of the candidates messages out. Back in December I did invite all candidates for chairman and the National Management Executive to do guestblogs, Patrick is so far the only one to get in touch, so here is his message:

 My name is Patrick Sullivan and I am running for the National Executive of Conservative Future.

I am running with a clear and positive plan to build a more effective and cohesive organisation.

I am a longstanding party member. I have served on my University Branch Committee and Area Executive.

I am a proven campaigner. During the Ealing Southall by-election, I was in charge of CF campaigning during week days.

I am an effective fundraiser. I have organised numerous large events for charity. I once raised over £6000 from £50 start-up costs.

I have the experience to change Conservative Future in a positive direction. My plans are outlined at www.changingtowin.com

So when you get your ballot paper – please cast a vote for Patrick Sullivan!

On a personal note, I worked with Patrick in the Ealing Southall campaign, and it must be said his effort was absolutely tremendous, in total we ended up delivering over 100′000 leaflets, a huge amount of this co ordinated by Patrick, it was a fantastic effort, and if this can be repeated in other by elections and campaigns generally it could have a massive impact.

Best of luck Patrick.

Thatcher… again

I hae come across a brilliant article in the Times. Instead of boring you with a long winded account of it, I shall simply post the link. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3402330.ece

Caption Competition

At the request of a few of you . . .

 

Local View: A Carry-On farce that won’t be funny one day.

I knew that modern morality was doomed when my main reaction to news that a Brummie Islamic fundamentalist, Parviz Khan, planned to cut the head off a serving soldier in the city was not revulsion at the repugnant objective of the crime but the fact that he was claiming £1700 in benefits per month. That’s right the man who so hated us and our way of living, our toleration, our hospitality, our free healthcare and rule of law was on a fat £20k a year courtesy of you and me (well ‘you and me’ if you pay income tax…). But that’s probably the only serious bit in what is actually ‘Carry-on up the Khyber’ style farce.

The most heartening thing about these fanatics is that they’re only converted from peaceful Islam because they are idiots. And before someone comments that the 7/7 bombers were graduates etc, think how many people you know, or knew, at Uni and thought ‘how on earth did he get in?..’. On the whole they’re muppets, berks, utter losers. Khan was on benefits because he couldn’t get a job. A fundamental flaw in the global terrorist network seems to be that the people they attract are the kind of people that can’t even hold down a proper job. It’s a bit like MI:6 recruiting any smack-head doley they find simply because they are willing to attend the briefing meetings. Maybe this is why the security services gave him the comical code name of “Motorway Madness”.

A neighbour of Khan’s said he ‘used to see him in Pound-Stretcher a lot’ and ‘thought he was normal’. Those who know this cheerful little retail outlet will also know that on average there’s very little ‘normal’ about its regular patrons. Even so, with top quality economising like this going on no wonder Khan was able to use part of his £1700 big ones per month to send various military equipment to Afghanistan on a regular basis (the thought of a machine gun shaped brown paper parcel marked ‘Front Line, Afghanistan’ making its way through the Royal Mail system unchecked does make me chuckle).

Predictably for someone of Khan’s ability he had somehow (though sources remain mystically quiet why) managed to raise the suspicions of the security services who were taping his every word. The tiny bit that has been released is, quite frankly comedy gold.

One snippet reveals to us that Khan was afraid that he would be unfavourably judged by his god in death. By his own admission Khan’s achievements were as banal as a ‘handful of commanding performances in the Birmingham Coronation Sunday League’. Khan described his foot-balling ability in the highest order. Well not really the highest order, more excruciatingly average. He was heard to say of himself, ‘Brother was a good footballer… centre mid-field . . . it’s not going to be good enough is it’? I can’t claim to know the vast intricacies of the ancient and noble Islamic faith but I somehow suspect it won’t be.

But what do we really expect to happen when this city goes around doling out positions and honours to some very nasty people who paradoxically rely upon a mixture of screwed up Islam and Western free speech to preach a wholly intolerant message.

Take Birmingham City Respect Councillor Salma Yaqoob; Spokeswoman for the Chairman of Birmingham Central Mosque, Dr Naseem, the capricious conspiracy theorist and advocate of capital punishment for homosexuality, also a funder of her party Respect. She has written of her fantasy vision of Great Britain as an Islamic Republic which at the end would have Salman Rushdie, and presumably any other freedom loving individual, fleeing for his life.

A Respect colleague of hers is a certain Adam Yosef, columnist for Desi Xpress, a monthly pullout in The Asian Today Newspaper. A few years ago he sparked criticism when he questioned the level of commitment in gay marriage and described it as a ‘great way of evading tax’. He also said of Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner, that he should take his ‘queer campaign army’ and ‘pack their bent bags and head back to Australia’. When Tatchell responded he was threatened with ‘beheading’, he would be “chopped up”, in accordance with “Islamic law” and put on a “hit list”. I am not saying for a second that this ‘promotion’ to the aforementioned ‘list’ had anything to do with Yosef but we all know what happened the last time a bunch of fanatics decided to make a list comprising who they wanted murdered on it. They took over Germany in 1933…

The Times recently reported that Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the head of the Muslim Council of Britain was asked on the BBC Radio 4 PM programme if homosexuality was harmful to society, he replied: “Certainly it is in moral issues. It is not acceptable. If you look into the scientific evidence…where homosexuality is practised there is a greater concern in that area.” In an example of just how skewed this mans argument is he has to appeal to science! Science and fundamentalist religion have never been the happiest of bed fellows.

What is unbelievable is that that man Yosef wasn’t sacked, The leader of the Birmingham Central Mosque, Dr Naseem, has recently been honoured by our very own university and Sir Iqbal continues to get political support from the government. They have responsibilities in these positions that they are breaching. We will never be able to stop the Parviz Khan’s of the world if we don’t take a tougher line on those in the public eye. The balance of free speech is a fine one, but one thing we don’t have to do I give these people honorary doctorates!

Incase one is thinking that this blog is in any was Islamophobic then I remind them that it is not anti-Islamic just anti-idiot. Not anti Burqa just anti Berk.

Barack Obama – Sewn Up

Obama has in my eyes pretty much won the Democratic nomination, 10 states in a row is impressive, and if it had been the other way round, I am sure that we would have heard much more from the Biliary Clinton camp that it was all over. However, I may well yet be proved wrong! For me Washington needs a break from the Bush – Clinto Dynasty, hopefully within a couple of weeks we can be assured of this.

 An interesting argument was put forward by someone calling in five live last night, saying an agent of change previously in American History has always been assassinated and therefore this is why we should not vote for Obama! I doubt even Hiliary would try that line of attack.

It is all summed up well in the cartoon below:

Pollwatch: The Cameron/Osborne double act

  

According to YouGov, 51% of respondents think that David Cameron is doing ‘Fairly well’ or ‘Very well’, compared to 57% who think Gordon Brown is doing ‘Fairly badly’ or ‘Very badly’. And not unusually for the Lib Dems, nearly half of respondents ‘don’t know’ how Nick Clegg is doing :-) 

Significantly, David Cameron and George Osborne now lead Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling on who people trust to raise their family’s standard of living, by six points. In fact all the latest economic indicators show the Cameron/Osborne double-act out-performing their rivals. I say significantly because the economy has always been a winning issue for Labour, and because this is now changing.

So what of it? Well, History tells us that the economy can make or brake governments. Northern Rock probably isn’t on the scale of Black Wednesday (1992) or the IMF crisis (1976), but it comes close and could come a lot closer. ‘Nation Rock’, as it is now dubbed, looks set to become a horrible nightmare for the government.

More generally this isn’t a good time for Labour to lose economic credibility. On the brink of a recession, they need to look more credible than ever. Instead they have Alistair Darling.

Lastly, George Osborne appears to be coming into his own after much mocking in the past. Crucially, in arguing that Northern Rock should now be closed for business rather than compete unfairly with commercial rivals, Osborne finds himself on the right side of business opinion. Also, his appointment of Geoffrey Howe to lead the party’s new tax review, will go down nicely in the City.

The Mummy Returns… again!

 Thats right DC & MT are back together again for their latest photo op. They are making quite the double act! Once again the Conservative party is heaping praise on the Former Prime Minister as a bust of her was unveiled in the Conservative party HQ symboling that Thatcher… is back at the heart of the party. Thatcher is reported to have said “The Conservative Party has always been at its best when it has held firm to its beliefs. As we face the future, let us remain steadfast. As Churchill taught us, let us never falter in proclaiming what we know is right. My message to you is to have faith in all we stand for and to go forward with confidence.”

To which Cameron replied “We now have two bronze statues in Conservative Party Headquarters. One is of Winston Churchill, the greatest wartime leader this country has ever had. And now it is joined by a statue of the greatest peacetime leader this country has ever had.” Perhaps one day Cameron will be unveiling a bust of himself staring directly at Thatcher…

Al Fayed’s ‘moment’…

Whilst watching the news last night, I was very disturbed by what I saw.

The report on Mohammed Al Fayed’s appearance at the Royal Court of Justice yesterday left me feeling rather angry. As many of you will be aware, Mr Al Fayed believes that the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and his son, Dodi were caused by a conspiracy hatched by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales amongst others.  Yesterday he gave contraversial evidence in support of his claim, where he stated determined in his protest that it is the Establishment and the security services including MI5 and MI6 who had worked together to ensure the murder of the couple.  Fayed also stated that that he believed their motive was to prevent the marriage of the couple due to the fact that Princess Diana was pregnant.  Which it has been proven that she was not.  Right then…

I don’t think I have ever heard such a totally unfounded and ridiculous claim as this one.  The media circus that surrounds the terrible events of the death of Diana is bad enough as it is after 10 years of a constant stream of reporting on what happened, let alone what Al Fayed is saying now.  I despair at the situation.  Surely some respect is due, it is a cliche I know but doesn’t the Princess of Wales deserve to rest in peace?

The claims being made in court yesterday by Fayed were laughable to an extent that the BBC news report seemed to convey an almost satirical edge because what was being suggested was merely preposterous.  Amongst others, a particularly insightful comment from Al Fayed referring to the Royal Family suggested they were the ‘Dracula’ family with particular reference to Prince Philip being a ‘Nazi’ and a ‘racist’. Nice.

And there’s more… when the BBC’s royal correspondent, Peter Hunt questioned Mr Al Fayed as he left the court, he was branded as working for MI6 (obviously) and called an ‘idiot’.  How lovely.

It was certainly a remarkable day in Court for all those present.  But the entire claim being made here is utter madness, one might even say a joke, with a total lack of respect for the Princes’ whose mother’s memory is seemingly being dragged through the mud, yet again.  It’s a disgrace.

Fidel Castro: End of an Era

 The Great Survivor has resigned as leader of Cuba and Commander in Chief of its Armed Forces. Whilst I have a great many issues with Castro, who has ruled Cuba with an iron fist for half a century, one cannot help but admire his survival skills. Castro is a man who has frustrated countless US Presidents and remained at the helm of a communist nation…. right on the capitalist superpowers doorstep! Castro is undoubtedly a charismatic leader famous for his long speeches delivered in his green military fatigues. He is admired in the Third World for standing up to the United States as well as providing free health care and education, but considered by his opponents to be a tyrant who suppressed freedom. As mentioned previously I have reservations about his leadership but I can also acknowledge the many achievements to his name. The question now is who will succeed him and will his resignation mark a new dawn in Cuban politics or will it be nothing more than a continuation of the Castro era under a different chief?

Regardless it may suprise readers to know that, for all Che Guevara’s convictions, Castro’s revolution was not at first communist; indeed initially Castro’s ‘adventurism’ was criticised by the Communist Party and he travelled to New York to court US support. It was not until after the fiasco of the attempted Bay of Pigs invasion by the CIA, signed off by JFK, that Castro declared himself a ‘Marxist-Leninist’, and embraced Moscow. How different things could have been…

US election update

Well it’s been a busy past few days on the campaign trail, Clinton has suffered 8 Consecutive across the states in the battle for the nomination and Obama is currently leading with the numkber of delegates.  The more interesting issue is still to be resolved; the question of who Edwards will throw his weight behind.  Obama was reported to have met with Edwards in secret in the past couple of days despite this it’s no clearer who if anyone Edwards does end up supporting, clearly vying for Vice he is still trying to hedge his bets and he may (especially if the race continues to stay so close) leave this until the national convention in August.

The next big challenge for Obama and Clinton will be Ohio and Texas on 4th March as such they are bouncing backwards and forwards across the states, Clinton looks (despite her recent losses) to take Ohio comfortably and do well in texas too, however if as some analysts are predicting Clinton fails to take either then she is as good as out of the race.  Obama has done an amazing job at enthusing his voters, with an almost rock star like quality he is spreading passion among the young and blacks alike and this has highlighted his turnaround from being the other candidate.  My guess is the campaign is going to go all the way to the convention but things could change very easily next month and more likely than not if it does it will go against Clinton.

 Meanwhile on the republican front, McCain has, with the result of little opposition from republicans, turned his focus to the November election, if the democrats do end up fighting their nomination out until their convention this is going to give McCain a massive head start and I stand by my original assesment that I personally think Clinton will be far far better at fighting a presidential campaign than Obama will especially against McCain, but I guess this remains to be seen.

 

All Hail our sovereign overlord Prince Philip…

WARNING – ROYAL, DIANA, FAYED 

Thats right. According to Mohammed Al Fayed “Prince Philip rules the country behind the scenes” He continued to say “I think Prince Philip is the actual head of the Royal Family. He is a racist” Hmmm… well he is either joking or seriously, dangerously dilluded. Mohammed Al Fayed has proved himself today to be nothing more than a jumped up, theatrical sycophant. He fails to accept court ruling after ruling simply because by accepting them he would have to look closer to home when searching for someone to blame. It was the actions of the security services of Mohammed Al Fayed, the actions of an oppressive paparrazi and the actions of Diana and Dodi themselves that sealed their fate.

 All in all this “inquest” makes a mockery of the establishement and the British legal system as a whole. Whilst I accept that “there are forces at work” in this country, I wholeheartedly believe Diana’s death was nothing more than a tragic accident. What I cannot abide is the blatant rantings and ravings of a sycophant. His comments were outrageous and downright slander. Here is a snapshot of his comments:

On Philip: – Nazi, Racist, Frankenstein, rules the UK, Send him back to Germany

On Camilla: Crocodile Wife

On the Establishment: Gangsters

On the Royal Family: “Dracula” Family

The most important thing about this whole episode is why do we continue to allow Al Fayed to put Diana’s children through further ordeals. They must feel haunted daily by the events of 31st August 1997 without being reminded of it by Al Fayed. To make matters worse he implicattes the father and grandfather that they clearly love dearly. He claims he is doing it for the British people… **** (Insert abuse here)… the British people don’t care Al Fayed. Al Fayed wants Philip to go back to Germany? Well why don’t you take your own advice and bugger off back to Egypt.