Au revoir once again!

So I have said my final farewells to both of my daughters and my grandson, once again it was a case of unpacking my bags before I could pack them again, and the fridge is empty.
Off to bed soon so I will wish you all the very best for the next three weeks, may the sun continue to shine upon you all, although I know my mother wants rain to fill her water barrels.
Till we meet again - au revoir!

Last day's blogging.

As some of you will know this is my last day at home so blogging will be a bit hit'n'miss as I run around trying to do all the things I meant to get done during this leave.
Whilst you are waiting for my next post I will leave you with some fantastic images of Spring on Mars from the Indy.
Enjoy the rest of the day I might be too busy to do that!

Bercow beats Beckett.

So John Bercow has been elected as the new Speaker for the House of Commons, another piece of party politicing chicanery from NuLabor, having failed to get OGUL's nominee Hanging Baskets Beckett into the job.
Perhaps I am being unfair to the man, I should at least see how he conducts his first PMQs, but I have that feeling the better man lost in the finally ballot last night.

The FO did fail them, whilst OGUL lied!

James Denselow piece in the Guardian's CIF site concerning the reporting of the return of the bodies of two of the five hostages kidnapped in May 2007, with the insinuation that it was wrong of the Indy to headline it's front page article "Failed by the Foreign Office", and the complexity of hostage negations in Iraq raises an interesting point.
The Indy was right to say the FCO had failed the families of the hostages, staff from that office of our state should have been "hand holding" these unfortunate families, even if they had nothing to tell them they should have maintained open lines of communications with the hostages relatives.
That is where the FCO has fallen down on it's duty of care.
Where Mr. Denselow piece gets really interesting is in the penultimate paragraph -

"Rather than any failure by the FCO or their associated negotiations team, the real story is the disconnect between Brown's claim of regular briefings with the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and high levels of co-operation between the two governments, and Maliki's spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh's claim that the Iraqi government was not involved."

Now who do you think is telling the truth over this?
It would appear OGUL's lying knows no bounds especially where human life is at stake.

Is the Footsie trying to tell us something?

I have been watching with some interest the dropping Footsie this morning. I cannot think of anything that might spook the markets this Monday morning.
So are dealers on to something we should all know about?

Drano Drops?

Whilst having a wander this morning I came across an intriguing post headline that led me off to see what it was all about.
So if you see any footage of US forces coughing/spluttering with tears running down their eyes in Afghanistan or Iraq, it's not the effects of CS gas but our humble Fisherman's Friends!
I also liked the response from Hugo on another post in reply to one Yank's observation about the number of teabags in our compo rations -

"We run on hot brew and biscuits"

Regime change - Praiseworthy!

Bruce Anderson's eloquent arguing for the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war announced by OGUL sickens me.
Regime change is praiseworthy?
Excuse me Mr. Anderson if regime change is such a praiseworthy enterprise why are you not calling upon OGUL to do the same in Zimbabwe?
After all Robert Mugabe is inflicting as much pain and suffering on his people as we saw Saddam doing when he was in charge in Iraq. Also OGUL is supposed to be leading the fight against poverty on the African continent and what more praiseworthy way of doing it than removing Zimbabwe's present dictator.
No Mr. Anderson we need something like the South African Truth & Reconciliation hearings to cleanse the Iraqi stain from our democracy. I would like to see Tony Wots His Name and the other NuLabor tonks that took us into the Iraq war answer one question in public -

"Did you take this country into this war using deceit, half-truths and fixing legal opinion, and you may only answer Yes or No bearing in mind you are under oath, and if you are found to have perjured yourself you will be delivered to the Hague? "

Stitching up the Irish?

Daniel Hannan (he of the fantastic critique of OGUL at the EU Parliament which became a YouTube hit) is right to point out that Brian Cowen (Eire's leader) is returning to Dublin with just a vague promise to allay the fears of his electorate about the Lisbon Constitution, and nothing set in stone to prevent the EU leaders reneging.
Once again I will re-state my happiness to be in a common market with our European trading partners but not a political federation. So if you want my vote Mr. Cameron stick to your promises and do not turn out to be just another deceitful politician!

Druids, the Media and Stonehenge - they're all wrong!

As any self-respect Celt will know it is not the Summer Solstice that is to be celebrated but the exact opposite - it's the Winter Solstice.
Or should I say sunrise on Decembre 22nd should be the date remembered, from personal experience I prefer celebrating the Winter Solstice at Avebury henge, but whichever henge you decide to practice at wrap up warmly!
Melanie McDonagh is right to point out that St. John's Eve is a more traditional festival in this country. So just tell your boss you won't be in Wednesday as you will be recovering from St. John's Eve!

OGUL just can't help himself.

Like a junkie who is constantly involved in the desperate search for his next fix, or the liar who will continue to argue his Big Lie in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, so OGUL cannot help himself from trying to fix the election of the new Speaker of the House of Commons for party advantage.
Margaret Beckett with all her questionable expenses claims would be no better a choice for Speaker than old Airmiles Martin was.
It was because old Airmiles was "one of them" a fellow MP, a Labour MP to boot with all their clannish tendencies, that caused all the problems in the first place.
Perhaps the Speaker should be someone from outside of Parliament, maybe appointed by the Queen, or even elected by ourselves!

DAB another money making scam foisted upon us?

When DAB radios first came out the price put me off even trying the medium, since then prices have fallen to the level where I did invest in a DAB set from ASDA, and mightily have I been disappointed with it. So much so it now resides somewhere under my bed in it's original box with the threat of eBay hanging over it.
I discovered it could not pick up a signal from inside my cabin, basically a steel box with two windows in it, yet my old FM set would happily find any station I wanted. Then I found out it would not pick up anything over on the continent - at all! The final straw was the quality of sound and reception when I could get it to operate.
So I agree with Libby Purves this morning about it being a con, conspiracy theorist I am I think it was a sneaky collusion between manufacturers who wanted to force us into buying these useless sets and the government who saw the selling off of the vacated airwaves as another money making scam to foist onto us.
I think DAB should be read as Don't Anyone Buy!

Mandy our very own EU Quisling?

I always thought that the Prince of Darkness's return to UK politics was a strange move, it was like the boss of BT with the pay and perks deciding he was going to pack it all in to work as a shelf stacker in Netto because he wanted to be near his mate Gordong, it just did not add up.
Now I am beginning to believe the conspiracy theories going about that really Mandy has only come back on Tony Wots His Name's urging to make sure the Lisbon Constitution gets thru Parliament. Which in turn would help TWHN's ambitions to get the EU presidency.
Having read William Rees-Mogg piece over at TimesOnLine I am becoming more and more convinced Mandy is selling us the British public out, and is prepared to ruin the Labour party for his true masters in Strasbourg.

Father's Day - I hope you had a good one!

Just got back home from a very pleasant Father's Day out with my two daughters and grandson. It started at 4am this morning when my grandson who was staying over with me decided that it was a good time to get up to greet this special day.
Then whilst we were playing in the park at 7am my eldest rang up to wish me a happy Father's Day and to invite me to lunch. This proved to be beef medallions with cauliflower cheese, green beans, roast spuds and of course Yorkshire pud!
We all then went out for a walk around Ponty race course, calling in at a local hostelry for some liquid refreshments, and for once I didn't have to put my hand in my pocket. Although knowing my two I will pay for it in the long run.
After saying good bye to them all I arrived home to find someone had sneaked in and done all my ironing! All rounded off by a very entertaining episode of Last of the Summer Wine.
Well I hope you all had an enjoyable day regardless of if you are a father or not.

OGUL's big brownie splitting the Balls?

The Spectator's Fraser Nelson, who helped uncover OGUL's big brownie over "NuLabor investments v Tory cuts", reports on tensions inside the Cabinet over this.
As Mr. Nelson reports Blinky is so much OGUL's toady that he will willingly push his Master's BIG LIE with-out so much as blinking about the deceit behind it. Whereas Mrs. Balls was one of those questioning OGUL's strategy over this.
So is the ball bag about to split?

Songs of Praise, but not as we know it Jim!

The blatant bias towards NuLabor from the Beeb has now hit a new low with reports that OGUL is to appear on Songs of Praise next month.
OGUL will be appearing in a special edition focusing on courage, is someone at the Beeb extracting the urine over this?
This from the Fifeshire Feartie who has not even shown he has enough personal courage to attend a single returning fallen heroes body from any of the two wars he was involved in starting, let alone contaminating such a godly programme with his deceitfulness.

"I'll take you down with me!"

The Observer tells us this morning that Tony Whats His Name was instrumental in getting OGUL to announce the Iraq war inquiry would be held in private scared that he might actually have to tell the truth under oath.
What the feck is going on here?
Has TWHN really left No. 10, or is he running it by remote control?
With the history of feuding between TWHN & OGUL I would have expected OGUL to use the Iraq inquiry to shaft TWHN. So good old Tony must have some real dirt on OGUL to be able to get him to make the sort of announcement he did!
Evidence of who was the fourth homosexual in TWHN's first Cabinet perhaps?

Remploy, a stain on this Labour Government.

Deborah Orr over on the Indy highlights the scandal of a Labour Government rewarding the bosses of Remploy with nice fat juicy bonuses whilst closing down more Remploy factories.
Anyone with a bit of common sense and modicum of financial understanding would know that the Remploy factories would never be a massively profitable operation. However they would give the employees, the disabled and disadvantaged members of our workforce, a sense of purpose and pride in their being in work.
Something no accountant could put onto any spreadsheet or business plan to justify the extra cost of keeping these workers in employment. Yet I would have thought it was a founding principle of the Labour Party to help workers regardless of their disabilities.
The most shameful Labour Government we have ever had? I leave you to make up your own minds.

Lindsey to be OGUL's Orgreave?

Not many people noted that Thursday was the 25th anniversary of the industrial action at Orgreave coking plant in South Yorkshire during the Miner's Strike.
Seen as a major political and ideological victory for Margaret Thatcher, then PM and leader of the Conservative Party, it was seen as the defining moment in British industrial relations whilst the miners defeat significantly weakened the British trades union movement.
Although Mrs. Dale seems to think it was her contribution to the abolition of the Dock Labour Scheme in 1989 that played a more significant part in smashing the unions in this country under Maggie than the earlier Miner's Strike!
Whichever event you use as a baseline the one constant was Maggie's involvement in both actions, probably the strongest PM we have had since Winston Churchill, instead of the Fifeshire Feartie we now have at the helm.
So it is very much tongue in cheek I suggest the escalating strike at Lindsey might be OGUL's Orgreave - I hope it's his grave instead!

7/7 - Now Andy Hayman calls for a public inquiry!

Well it is good to see my old sparing partner Andy Hayman, former A/C Specialist Operations at the Met, is calling for a public inquiry into the London bombings on July 7th 2005.
Finally seen the light!
Or is this another example of how weak this government is perceived to be that even former members of the Establishment who have an axe to grind with NuLabor are prepared to come out into the open now?
Although I do hope Mr. Hayman's call for a public inquiry are based upon a real desire for the truth, also that we might finally see some movement on this.

Guardian - Health Warning!

Just like our government insists on there being health warnings on our cigarette packets there should be a health warning about the Guardian today; it carries an interview with OGUL, which I'm not going to even bother to read as I do not want to be sick, nor sent my blood pressure higher than it already is!
Instead I had a quick look at what Seumas Milne had to say over it, as I thought OGUL does not come out of it as a man with principles that he is prepared to stand up for, more likely a self-serving, popularity seeking, amoral party freak who should never have been allowed to get into No. 11 Downing Street let alone follow that by getting the key to the door at No. 10.
So if you do have a strong stomach do read the Guardian's interview, otherwise steer clear for your health's sake.

OGUL & McBride, the siamese lying twins joined at the hips.

Peter Hoskin over on the Coffee House blog alerts us that OGUL's Smear-Master-in-chief, the poisonous toady Damian McBride, is still in touch with his Lordship, despite OGUL telling the House of Commons that he was not.
It would appear that our PM is more happy lying than ever admitting the truth, his father must be crying up at that manse in the sky every time his son opens his mouth.
What sort of example is he setting his children, let alone the rest of the country, and do you think Sarah makes him wash his mouth out with salt water before he is allowed near her every day?

PS
It would appear I am not the only blogger who thinks OGUL is a lying amoral scum, TheFatBigot Opines about it much better than I could, so do have a read of his post.

Purging the Iraqi poison.

Steve Richards over at the Indy misses the central point when he dismisses the need for an open inquiry into the Iraq war, whilst still having a go at OGUL's weakness in government.
I was in South Africa when they had the Truth and Reconciliation hearings going, whilst there were horror stories coming out from both sides, it was fascinating to see the effects this was having on the public at large.
You could actually feel the healing effect this was having bringing it all out into the open. Also I think the election of Nelson Mandela, with his vision of hope for the country, helped speed this process up.
So the Iraq inquiry needs to be our own Truth and Reconciliation moment, anything less will leave this poison festering in our democracy, when for once the establishment proves to us it is not frightened by the truth being told in public.

Half baked NuLabor?

As Libby Purves observes in her column at the TimesOnLine NuLabor's attempts at reforming the House of Lords has been half baked to say the least. Now with OGUL deciding to by-pass us the electorate and just appoint his lackeys to the upper House it is almost bordering on criminality.
However Ms. Purves's view of NuLabor policy in the upper House can be extended to virtually their whole reign over us. Most of their legislation has been knee jerked onto the statute book and only then do we see the flaws in these new laws.
Policy making has been done on the back of a fag packet to accommodate the previous day's headlines. I'm afraid historians will look back on NuLabor's time in office as the most half baked we have ever had!

The Grimsby pickle man.

I always thought Austin Mitchell was a light weight person when he was a reporter on one of the local news programmes up here, so I did not have much hope for his constituents in Grimsby when he became their local MP.
Following him in the TimesOnLine he has remained his usual flippant self, more a clown always playing to the crowd than a serious MP. His latest offering on his part in the MPs expenses scandal shows he still thinks he knows best, and still fails to understand the disgust not only his constituents but the public at large feel towards MPs.
It's no good protesting you've paid the money back, it should never have been taken from our pockets in the first place Mr. Mitchell! I hope the good people of Grimsby decide you need more time to enjoy your pickles washed down with whiskey behind your security blinds the sooner the better.

The chipmunk lives to be squashed another day.

So Hazel Blears survived a bid to have her de-selected as NuLabor trougher for Salford last night. Now the good voters of Salford will have to do what the local NuLabor party failed to do, by throwing the flipping trougher out at the next general election.
As the Beeb notes not all those who turned up at the meeting were eligible to vote. I wonder if the results would have been different if it was one member one vote?

Brown outs this summer?

From the oil refinery site that took OGUL's "British Jobs 4 British Workers" boast to it's heart we now have an escalating dispute over job loses there, which has led to about 900 workers being sacked.
How soon will it be before this spreads to other sites around the country? Although I have yet to see evidence of sympathy coming from fellow workers, but as we saw over the "British Jobs 4 British Workers" strike most of the secondary action was at power plants around the country.
So if we do see strikes affecting electricity generation stations will we also see electricity rationing in the form of brown outs?

Update

Well it appears that things are spreading with secondary action kicking off at a number of sites around the country. Personally my sympathies are with the strikers, not because a French company Total is involved, but because I think it does boil down to the bosses trying to screw the good old British worker and taking advantage of the recession.
Gregor Gall writes about it over on CIF at the Guardian; whilst one of the commentators, robbinghood, makes some very valid points which are well worth reading.

OGUL's electoral reforms and Legal Aid?

I had been mulling over doing a post on the TimesOnline's piece about NuLabor forcing the reverse auction procedure onto the Legal Aid programme all day yesterday.
Not because I am concerned about the diminishing Legal Aid funds in this country, with the affect it will have on the less fortunate members of our society. By the way can anyone tell me if this will only apply south of the border? As I'm just worried it's another example of the Fifeshire Feartie stuffing us English - again!
Nor was it because the reverse auction, where the winner is the one tending the lowest not the highest bid, has already had a bad effect on end-of-life and dementia care for the elderly in London where the NHS has already used this shady practice.
There was something else nagging me about it ...
Then I got it just as I was woken up by that bloody magpie that seems to have swallowed an alarm clock and always lets rip near my bedroom window at 5am!
It's like OGUL's investments that he keeps on about where really the lying, two faced son of the manse means the exact opposite. I can see it now in relation to his announcement on wanting to make changes to the electoral system.
A reverse first past the post system where the party polling the least votes gets elected. Having read the chicken entrails OGUL knows that where NuLabor are headed under his stewardship. Also it would really wrong foot David Cameron!

Pot, kettle and the colour black.

The saying "it's like the pot calling the kettle black" immediately sprang to mind when I read that Lord Butler, of the whitewash 2004 WMD inquiry, is calling for a more open/public inquiry into the Iraq war than the brownwashing one OGUL announced.
Even Lord Hutton who led the walk-in-the-woods Dr. Kelly inquiry has joined in with a call for more openness.
On another level it does show how much contempt OGUL is now held in, if even these two "establishment" figures question his announcements.

It started in America.

It would appear that even our cousins across the pond have wised up to the fact that OGUL was a crap chancellor, and he was responsible for the financial troubles we now find ourselves in.
The Wall Street Journal's Opinion Journal rather firmly pins the tail on our economic donkey of an ex-chancellor regarding his part in the recession hitting us now. So the truth is out across the pond, let us hope that it spreads to the voting public here in the UK.
The WSJ also reports how OGUL's financial feck-up is affecting some of our Olympic hopefuls in the run up to the 2012. Although I'm sure if challenged upon this OGUL would tell us "investment" in our Olympic team is being increased year on year under his government!

Sprouts off the menu on HMS Bulwark.

The Daily T reports this morning that Captain Keble, RN commander of the assault ship HMS Bulwark has banned Bruxelle sprouts from the ship's menu, believing them to be "the devil's vegetable".
I would not agree with Commander Keble on this as I love sprouts but they must be cooked properly, just on the soft side of crisp, with scraps of cooked smoked bacon mixed in with them.
Off course being on watch afterwards can be an airy experience!

Et tu Ed?

Whilst I can understand General Sir Richard Dannatt, the army chief at the top of our general staff, being concerned that OGUL's secret Iraq inquiry will not clear the poison from our democracy. Also that it was amazing a man in his position and with his experiences was not even consulted by OGUL about this inquiry.
What really surprises me is seeing Blinky Balls apparently speaking out against his Master's voice by saying he would prefer a more open inquiry. Also he seems to be distancing himself from some of the decisions atken at the time.
Has Blinky finally realized that being linked so closely with OGUL is a political death sentence. and is he now beginning to position himself for after the general election?

Blair tortured over policy.

It would appear that Tony Wots His Name allowed our secret services a moral "get out of jail free" card with regard to the torture of terrorist detainees held by other country's counter-terrorist forces.
The Guardian reveals a letter linked to No. 10 when TWHN was in power that stating whilst our MI5 & MI6 officers must not torture themselves they were to turn a blind eye if those they were being questioned were being tortured.
So once again TWHN is revealed as being a lying, two faced NuLabor toad and the sooner he is put on trial to face war crimes charges the better.
I wonder if now that OGUL has announced his behind closed doors/blinkered Iraq inquiry we will see a drip drip of embarrassing titbits for NuLabor over Iraq?
Well we are back home again now, so hopefully blogging will be back to normal.

Same old Fifeshire Feartie brownwashing the Iraq inquiry.

Well my prayers were not answered, I even ended up with a touch of sun stroke on the top of my head where the old hair is getting a bit thin, but managed to get everything done in the garden for my mother.
So the Fifeshire Feartie never changes it's spots, we had all sorts of promises about turning over a new leaf, more openness in government. Then he goes and spoils it all by showing his old self, announcing the Iraq war inquiry will be in private.
This is going to re-ignite a lot of the anger felt over the original decision to go into Iraq. One wonders who advised OGUL on this decision, but knowing OGUL I think it's another of his petty party political decisions.
One I hope he will come to regret.

Blogging

Blogging will be a bit light today and the next couple days till I get back oop north - got a jobs list as long as your arm from my mother, with most of them in the garden.
Hope it rains, or at least just here!

Global cooling?

The Daily T this morning carries an editorial warning us that global cooling might affect this year's crop yields with the knock on effect of rising food prices once again.
It would also appear the low activity of sun spots might have some affect on the abnormal weather conditions being seen all around the globe.
However what I like about the Telegraph's editoral is the punch line concerning the EU -
"And the EU, we must always remember, is now our government – the one most of us didn't vote for last week."
A nice little dig at our main political parties not giving us a chance to comment on the EU Constitution, sorry I meant "treaty".