Imagine the situation reversed

Can you imagine the outcry if employers deliberately targeted union activists and their families during an industrial dispute? Imagine that they sent 'heavies' to union leaders homes and tried to humiliate them in front of their families.That wanted posters with pictures of the union reps were posted through doors and were seen by the union reps kids.
Yet Unite the union has representatives who believe they have the right to do such a thing to management...
Mail.

The full extent of the Unite union’s campaign of bullying and intimidation against senior managers during the bitter Grangemouth oil refinery dispute is revealed today.
In a disturbing echo of the union militancy of the 1970s and 80s, Unite leaders deployed a dirty tricks squad to personally target and humiliate executives of the Ineos chemical company and their families.
The sinister unit – known as the ‘Leverage team’ – sent mobs of protesters to the homes of senior figures in the firm.
One director last night said he had feared for the safety of his wife and his two young children after 30 Unite protesters descended on his drive during the school holidays.
Police were called after the group approached his neighbours, telling them he was ‘evil’ in an apparent attempt to coerce him into giving in to their demands.
The daughter of another company boss had ‘Wanted’ posters denouncing her father posted through her front door hundreds of miles away in Hampshire.
The union agreed to call off the Leverage team only as part of the settlement of the dispute.
Yesterday, an unrepentant Unite spokesman said such activities were ‘legitimate in the context of an industrial dispute’, adding that ‘bad employers should have nowhere to hide’.

Yes, to the left this is a legitimate form of protest, similar to the Union of All Fascists (UAF) tactics against the EDL and other patriot groups and  used by various other leftard fanatics who see nothing wrong with violence and intimidation unless of course it's aimed at them.
The Union reps see nothing wrong with targeting individuals in ther disputes, yet would scream to high bloody heaven if management did the same to them.
Hypocrisy and the left are of course close bedfellows, the left has a history of doing and siding with all sorts of odious regimes and fanatics and frequently justifies violence by claiming that its all for the people, despite the fact that the left do not and never have really represented the people, merely themselves. Even at the beginning of WW2 the left because Hitler was at the time allied with Stalin tried to disrupt the war effort. Despite the known evils of the Soviet Union leftist after leftist visited and praised the peoples paradise of the Communist Block, even today the hypocrites still praise Cuba despite its locking up of dissenters.
It's about time that those on the left were viewed pretty much in the same way that Nazi's are, certainly the death toll in their regimes dwarfs that of the Nazis. Even the epithet 'fascist' a favourite of the left merely describes another authoritarian leftist system of government.
The union activists who did this thing should have been arrested under the 1994 public order act, that they weren't will merely give them the green light to attempt to intimidate by threatening families again.
But such is the left...

Oh good grief

Tragedies happen, life goes on, a simple maxim to help deal with the occasional knocks life throws you. At one time in the past our kids were brought up and schooled in a competitive atmosphere, it helped us all learn to deal with both success and failure. These days though a new ethos has caught on aided and encouraged by the leftard thinking that goes in schools and colleges it's the all must have prizes and all must be winners meme that gives kids a cozy upbringing in the education system and leaves them systematically unable to cope with real life...
Telegraph.

A coroner has criticised top football clubs for the “cruel” practice of ditching young players, after an aspiring footballer killed himself as he battled with depression after being dropped from a Premier League club.
Josh Lyons spent three years as a young teenager trying out for a place at Tottenham Hotspur when he was ditched by the club at 16. He played for other teams but struggled with depression and killed himself earlier this year at the age of 26.
Dr Karen Henderson, the assistant deputy coroner for West Sussex, criticised clubs that “build up the hopes” of young players only to drop them, and called for more support for aspiring footballers.
“It was that pivotal point that crushed a young man's life and all the dreams that go with it,” she said.
"That one moment I find was the single most important factor that led to the events that ended on the train tracks.

Whilst what the young man did was tragic for friends and family, I simply cannot accept the coroners statement that Premiership clubs have a duty to somehow keep going with players who are clearly not going to make the grade. Josh sadly wasn't good enough and if he'd been schooled in the atmosphere of hard knocks that my generation got used too in schools he'd have probably developed the necessary defence mechanisms to cope with failure, God alone knows I had enough knocks and setbacks to cope with, though admittedly I was not that talented at sports.
Schools and indeed parents today rarely if ever teach their kids about dealing with failure, it simply didn't happen. Look at the banshee wails when the government made examination marking a bit harder after so many successive years of kids getting better results yet an ever higher turnout of illiterates was recorded. Kids and parents have become unused to failure, not because they are cleverer or better, but simply because a system was set in place to prevent failure being acknowledged or learned about.
As it is, kids reach adulthood or get into an adult environment and discover a whole new ball game where failure to perform to a certain standard has very direct results and if they haven't learned to cope with failure, well sometimes the result is tragic.
What happened to Josh is awful, but the blame does not lie with the football club, it lies with those who did not teach him to deal with failure.

People will sign anything.

Female Genital Mutilation is a barbarous act, it's not circumcision (something I'm ambivalent about) the clue is in the word 'mutilation' by which the clitoris of a young girl is removed to stop her enjoying sex and hence less likely to want another man. Whilst the practice is often carried out by islamobarbarians, it isn't only that group which carries it out, there are African tribes of various religions involved too.
It however sadly came as no surprise to me when an anti FGM campaigner brought out a fake survey for people to sign and within a short time 19 out of twenty people had signed it agreeing that FGM is a good thing despite the anti-FGM campaigner mentioning the word mutilation when asking them to sign.
Mail.

A female genital mutilation (FGM) campaigner was left in tears after an experiment intended to assess the impact of political correctness on the fight against cutting saw 19 people sign a fake pro-FGM petition within 30 minutes.
Leyla Hussein, 32, who suffered female genital mutilation as a child, approached shoppers in Northampton with the petition, which argued that as FGM was part of her culture, it should be protected.
During the 30-minute experiment, 19 people signed the petition and just one refused - a result Hussein blamed on the all-pervading culture of political correctness.
According to a recent study by UNICEF, as many as 30 million girls are at risk of being subjected to FGM within the next decade, in the UK an estimated 66,000 women are believed to have undergone the process and 24,000 girls are considered at risk.

Guess how many people in the UK who have been arrested for allowing this to happen to their daughters? The answer is the same as the number of fingers on your nose.
This is a barbarous crime and yet people blithely signed a pro FGM petition because the campaigner believed that she was  not white and they didn't want to appear racist. Christ on a pogo stick have we sunk so low that people don't listen to what's being said but rather react to how people look?
This blog had long railed against political correctness, the dumbing down of education and the inherant racism of multiculturalism yet until today I hadn't realised just how far the people of this land have fallen
This is a direct result of the application of something akin to the GIGO principle of computer analysis, it stands for garbage in = garbage out (a fact used to death by the global warming cult) Goebbels called it the big lie as in tell someone loud enough and long enough that black is white, sooner or later they'll believe you and the indigenous people of the UK now appear to believe that it is racist to question what a person of another colour tells them.
It's days like this that I know we're doomed. 

Freedom of choice

Every year at this time I choose to wear a poppy to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, willingly or not. This is my choice, I do it to honour the fallen and those who live with the consequences of serving their country in the armed services. As for those who choose not to wear a poppy or even wear a white one, that is there choice too, so long as it's an informed choice and not something else...
Telegraph.

A female vicar has sparked fury by refusing to wear a poppy when she conducts this year's remembrance service because the symbol 'advocates war'.
American-born Reverend Patricia Jackson announced the controversial decision at a meeting of the clergy.
The vicar, who calls herself Rev PJ, told local councillors it was her "democratic right" not to wear the poppy when she conducts the service at Hadley Methodist Church in Telford, Shropshire on November 10.
She refused to give a reason for her decision but a spokesperson at the Telford circuit said it was because Rev Jackson is in favour of peace.
A church spokesman said: "Reverend Jackson is happy to wear a white poppy but doesn't want to wear a red one because she feels it advocates war which is something she does not believe in.

I foresee a vicar in a world of trouble soon, however that's her choice. However i do believe the idiot woman is misinformed as to the red poppy's significance as it does not commemorate war, does not glorify war nor does it advocate militarism. It reminds us of sacrifice and those who fell as well as those who served. There is precious little glory in war as any conversation with soldiers, sailors or airmen will tell you. Nor does the horror of seeing your friends killed or maimed give them anything other than grief.
As for the white poppy, well it was used by the Women's Cooperative back in 1933 as a symbol to end all wars, six years later the UK was fighting for its life agains the Nazi's, there was the horror of the concentration camps and the systematic murder of foreign nationals on their own soil by the Einsatzgruppen der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD. The white poppy to me symbolises the peace at any price mindset of the hard of thinking aka the left who are happy to disarm civilisation, though no one else. These were the same people who wanted to ban the bomb (only for the UK) spied upon their own citizens and raved about the socialist paradises across the iron curtain and who still bitterly regret the people there throwing off the yoke of the communists.
The white poppy to me does not symbolise peace, but surrender, this is my view and one which I hold too which is why I will never wear one and do not care for those who do. However this is their choice as it is the vicars choice.
That said, why the hell is she still doing the remembrance service for the fallen if she chooses not to honour their memory?

Never seen a tax hike they didn't like.

The Lib Dem leftard wannabees have just announced that they favour tax rises to line their pockets pay for green idiocy that seems to resonate with a certain leftist mentality in our country, after all, greens are not nicknamed watermelons for nothing.
Telegraph.

The Chief Secretary to the Treasury confirmed that the government is considering making the warm homes discount, which gives millions of poor households energy discounts, part of the general taxation system.
The move would leave a £1 billion tax black-hole which will need to be funded by raising taxes.
However, he said that the Liberal Democrats will block any attempts to lift green taxes relating to subsidies for renewable energy subsidies.
Green taxes currently add £112 to a typical household bill. However, the Conservatives have warned that the bill could rise to £194 by 2020.
Mr Alexander said: "What we're doing at the moment is looking at every aspect of what contributes to people's energy bills to make sure people aren't paying a penny more than they need to. Our commitment to green energy is vitally important and its not something that we as Liberal Democrats will compromise on.

Green energy being monstrously expensive, highly subsidised and doesn't work when the wind stops blowing or blows too hard and in the case of solar energy doesn't work at night. Not to mention having to shell out for a complete backup system of traditional generators to supply said energy when it's actually needed and the green lunacy doesn't.  Essentially the Lib Dems have a tax cheat (home flipping during the expenses scandal) telling us that we will have to pay more for something that doesn't work too well on a matter of principle despite that principle being utter tosh.
Now whilst I do not doubt that some Tories are just as in love with tax hikes as Labour and the Lib Dems, generally other than their ministers milking the public with their directorships of bird mincing companies the average Tory MP is coming to the conclusion that the vast majority of the general public know that its a scam and that the game is more or less up.
I'm quite looking forward to the Lib Dems getting a massive political kicking in the next general election and I believe articles like this can only help them achieve it.
I just hope not to be disappointed.

Parental responsibility

The Mail is off on another of its paedogeddon rants this morning with a warning about Argos and Tesco selling pad style computers to anyone with the cash to buy one.
Mail. (usual caveats)

Newly-released tablet computers from Tesco and Argos could put children at risk of stumbling across porn because they do not come fitted with filters, an expert warned last night.
Tesco has brought out a cheap device called a Hudl, while Argos has introduced MyTablet which is aimed specifically at ‘tweenies’ aged from eight to 13.
Both are expected to be bought by hundreds of thousands of parents for their children at Christmas.

Amazingly enough the Mail doesn't appear to consider that the tablets actually do come with filters, they just need to be switched on. Nor do they appear to believe that it's the job of a parent to monitor what their kids get up to online. The Mail also appear to have missed a massive target in that Apple products don't have preset filters either, but then again I suspect that the Mail is simply obsessed with scare stories as kids rarely stumble upon porn, they actively go looking for it...
Actually a quick check soon tells you that few if any computers are sold with preset filters, the manufacturers seem to believe that if you want to filter something then that's the job of the person who buys it. After all, why make a product that is going to irritate an adult, they tend to be the ones buying the things?
What it boils down to is that paranoid parents will set up the things to filter stuff they don't want their kids seeing (the kids will soon figure out ways around this if so inclined) and those who don't will keep a check on what their kids are up too by occasionally glancing over their shoulders. For those who do neither, well caveat emptor...
If people (or kids) want to look at porn, they'll find a way, filters or not, all parents can do is protect their kids and allow them to be kids for as long as possible. Yet it has to be pointed out that ignorance is not bliss either, education and guidance from good parenting is the key, trying to stop it by blocking it never works because sooner or later they will see it or figure out ways to see it. If they have good guidelines they'll usually end up good people, if not, then a filter won't help.

You think?

Apparently the police are becoming concerned that sections of society no longer trust them, though heaven knows why (sarcasm) But now it appears that even the middle class no longer trust them and this appears to have hit a nerve somewhere in the politically correct mendacious higher ranks.
Telegraph.

In the wake of Plebgate Irene Curtis, the president of the Superintendents Association, admits that people from all walks of life, not just the working classes, mistrust the police
It is not just the working classes who fear the police, they are mistrusted by people from all walks of life, the president of the Superintendents Association has said. Irene Curtis, Chief Superintendent of Lancashire police and a former Head of Professional Standards at the force, has admitted that officers have a long way to go to rebuilding the relationship with the community that is essential for the survival of the force. Discussing whether the Plebgate affair had damage the police’s reputation, Mrs Curtis told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I think that there are people from all classes that have a mistrust of the police for all sorts of reasons, usually as a result of interaction with police.” Shaun Bailey, community worker and former government adviser, had argues that some good could come from the Andrew Mitchell affair as he is a “very senior member of our society”. It proven to sections of society that never deals officers that is possible for the police to be "lying" and therefore could increase the pressure on them to “tidy up their game”, he argued.

Having watched members of the EDL arrested, transported and then de-arrested for simply having a drink in a pub on Remembrance Day it's easy to see from my lowly point of view why the police aren't trusted by anyone. To put it simply the police have been infiltrated by the likes of Common Purpose and now have an agenda as advanced by their private company which runs them aka ACPO. The political correctness, the diversity drives which sidelined able officers due to their (white) skin colour, the pandering to the religion of hate, lies, obfuscation, innate anti-white racism when dealing with groups with legitimate concerns. All have led to various parts of the community as a whole to view the police as the enemy, not their protectors. The forces around the country used to be proud of what they termed as policing by consent and are now realising that by their own actions and the morons running them from the top that, that consent is being withdrawn. ales keep emerging of the police simply not doing what is considered their job, it took them twenty minutes to approach the butchers of Lee Rigby despite said butchers being confronted by 'endangered' members of the public. They lied about 'pleb' comments to get at the government. They arrest the then leader of the EDL for leaping a barrier to get at a man burning a poppy on Remembrance day.
Can they rebuild the trust? I doubt it, not without shedding all the diversity/multiculturalism/political correctness that infests the upper ranks and dribbles downwards. They need to police by consent, pandering to minorities is not policing by consent, lying is not policing by consent, arresting people for taking pictures of railway stations is not policing by consent, arresting people who are upholding the right to protest is not policing by consent, nor is ignoring counterprotestors violent conduct.
The police have fallen far from the ideals which set them up, it will be a generation at least before any trust can be rebuilt, assuming they can even put things right.

For once I'm with the BBC on this...

I rarely agree with what the BBC allegedly puts out as news and opinion, they claim to be impartial, although the evidence gathered by such sites as Biased BBC clearly shows that they are anything but. Generally the BBC see themselves as impartial as they get equal complaints from both left and right or what the BBC consider to be 'right' if we're trying to be accurate. The evidence though tells us that left wingers such as the Labour Party get a far easier ride with the BBC and when reporting certain news stories the BBC will always slant them from a left wing viewpoint which is why they never report accurately on stories about muslims, Israel, the EDL or indeed the Tory party.
Still, when it came to the royal christening, the BBC appears to have got it right... admittedly from my jaundiced viewpoint.
Telegraph.

The BBC has been criticised for its coverage of the Royal christening after relegating Prince George’s baptism to an “and finally” segment.
The Corporation’s flagship news shows both made Prince George’s christening the last item on their programmes.
BBC 1’s 6pm and 10pm news programmes devoted two minutes each to the event at the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace.
A segment about the spread of false widow spiders was given greater prominence on one of the BBC programmes.
“I was appalled,” said Andrew Rosindell, the Tory MP for Romford. “The BBC is the national broadcaster.
“An event such as that should have been given greater prominence. People will be very surprised to see that it was an ‘and finally’ item bearing in mind that it is a slot usually reserved for non-serious items.”

Well to me it was an 'and finally' article and pretty much non-serious either, my interest in the royals begins and ends with how much money they bring into the country via trade and tourism, not their soap opera lives. It was a Wednesday and it was obviously a slow news day hence the inclusion of the christening I presume, otherwise why bother other than to pander to the diminishing royalist watchers.
As you can gather I've little time for most of the royals, I respect the Queen, like the Duke of Edinburgh's talent for speaking what's exactly on his mind and grudgingly respect Harry for at least sticking with the Army, although how much in danger he really was in is anyone's guess.
As for the rest, sorry not much time at all for them, not saying some don't do a good job, but if they do, it's not newsworthy or of interest to me.
So the BBC sticking the story right on the end of the news was fine by me, I don't watch it anyway and at least with my radio at work I can tune out the inanity of the presenters when they go a-gushing about trivia, which is essentially what most news about the royals is...

Don't panic, don't panic!

The dark side of the political spectrum aka the Lib Dems have told the news media that Cameron is panicking over energy prices. Which might be true, he is a politician after all and power is the drug of choice for him. It does however strike me that he's panicking for the right reasons in that energy prices look like being his downfall and he really needed to realise that green taxation in particular was a millstone around his neck that he didn't really need.
BBC.

The Liberal Democrats have accused David Cameron of making a "panicky U-turn" after he announced a review of green energy taxes.
The prime minister said household bills were at "unacceptable levels" and promised to "roll back" regulations introduced by Labour.
But a senior Lib Dem source said Mr Cameron had got "cold feet" on environmental policy promises.
Labour also criticised the PM, but he promised to help cut people's bills.
Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith said Mr Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband were "Muppets" in their attitude to energy policy.
Cameron said, said the government's focus was on dealing with the aspects of energy bills it could control. Green taxes, he said, accounted for £112 of the average annual dual fuel bill and should be reduced.

Oh a dastardly attack by Cameron on something invented for something which doesn't really exist other than in the minds of enviroloonies and greedy on the make politicians. I mean how dare he remove a massive barrier in the path of people who don't wish to freeze to death in their homes because energy companies have to increase their prices within their own and the governments greed?
For a lot of our elderly it's become a choice between heating your home or eating, indeed almost 9,000 winter related deaths in the UK happen because of the fact that our old simply cannot stay warm enough due to government interference in their bills. Sure it's not the only cause, but it is a major factor, something the government and the enviroloonies refuse to even admit is directly due to their meddling.
Green taxes kill our elderly and sick, they've pushed ordinary families into what is described as fuel poverty. Cameron may be panicking, but at least he's panicking in the right direction...

So not the EDL then?

Not that I'm expecting anything like a retraction or an apology from the various leftard commentators who were determined that the one man race attacks in the UK which left a muslim grandfather dead were anything other than by the EDL, despite most so called attacks being eventually traced to other immigrants or indeed muslims themselves despite the lies put out by Tell MAMA etc.
Mail.

A Ukrainian white supremacist murdered a Muslim pensioner and bombed three mosques as he waged a one-man race war in Britain.
Just five days after arriving in the country, Pavlo Lapshyn, 25, killed Mohammed Saleem by stabbing him three times from behind as the 82-year-old made his way home from evening prayers.
The ‘evil and calculating’ PhD student – who once posed with the British Ambassador when he was awarded the chance to work in Britain – also ordered bomb-making materials online as he plotted mass murder in a series of mosque attacks.

Shocking eh? Not even British and an immigrant to boot, guess the leftards will just have to go looking for something else to try and pin on the EDL despite all the other things eventually turning out to be either themselves or muslims.
The mosque attack after the butchery of Lee Rigby that had the words EDL spray painted outside... went very quiet on that one, mostly because it's being investigated as an insurance fraud.
The islamic school fire... went very quiet on that one after arrests were made, couldn't possibly be because the arrests were of pupils there now could it?
All the accusations by the pro islamic Tell Mama group that were held up as an example of an extremist reaction which were debunked by Andrew Gilligan... all fallen by the wayside.
Not that you'll convince a leftard or other that the EDL aren't dangerous extremists despite the alarming lack of evidence that they are no such thing. They know and if they keep digging they'll find the evidence... or make it up as they go along which is actually par for the course.
A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on is a well known saying. Something our politicians, media and the insane left practice daily as people usually read the headlines and never the retraction.
Then they wonder why tensions keep increasing...

So why not tow them away?

Political correctness, diversity, multiculturalism, health and safety gone mad... all phrases which can be used to describe the madness that the UK is slipping into courtesy of the EU, leftards and enviroloonies. Common sense appears to be not so common any more as witness the incident at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, South Wales.
Express.

HUNDREDS of NHS workers were blocked from parking at their hospital after French travellers set up camp in the staff car park.
Surgeons, doctors and nurses were turned away after 14 caravans moved onto the staff-designated car park at the Royal Gwent Hospital in Newport, South Wales.
Hospital spokesman Julian Hayman said the 300-space car park would be closed to staff for three days after the travellers told them they will "move on shortly".
Mr Hayman said medical staff would need to make alternative arrangements for parking until the caravans moved on.
More than 3,400 staff work at the Royal Gwent, which has 750 beds and serves a population of more than 600,000.
"I hope they realise what a nuisance they are causing to the staff and move on soon." Newport City Council said the creation of permanent sites for gypsies and travellers in the region went out to consultation last month as part of their local development plan.

"I hope they realise what a nuisance they are causing to the staff and move on soon." Ye gods what a mealy mouthed politically correct inoffensive statement. I suspect a lot of the staff are wondering why a local towing agency accompanied by the police or a big forklift wasn't on hand to simply remove the buggers post haste from the site. After all, it's the hospitals gaff, it ought to be their rules.
However as we all know, the rights of criminals and trespassers far outweighs those of the native indigenous people and they can get away with stuff that would have the rest of us banged up before our feet even touched the ground. Never let it be said that 'police shortages' have ever stopped a fourteen man raid on an ordinary citizen... unless they are of course black, muslim, traveller, not English, male or generally anyone who pays taxes depending on your position in the league table of special interest groups where certain minorities trump all.
No, what happens is the local/national authorities let them get away with it and will even defend them if heaven forfend the locals get agitated.
Then they wonder why what they call racism is on the rise and why no one will elect them any more.
Truly we are doomed...

That's not the only reason...

It's one of those articles which makes you shake your head and wonder if the minister involved has a clue about what the public actually think, or rather that he's putting a spin on things to try and explain to himself the whys and wherefores of a situation.
Telegraph.

Energy Minister Greg Barker has said on-shore wind farms have turned public opinion against renewable energy.
The rush to develop on-shore wind farms is “over” and has damaged the renewable energy agenda, the Energy and Climate Change Minister said. Mr Barker promised that future wind farms would be developed off-shore, the Mail on Sunday reported. “We put certain projects in the wrong place,” he said. “Some planners have been too insensitive to the impact on the landscape and it has turned public opinion against the wider renewable agenda. “We are very clear about the need to limit the impact on the countryside and landscape. It is quite clear the expansion of the on-shore wind rush is over.”

Yes they're unsightly, however most people who don't live beside one hate them too and there are many reasons other than their sheer ugliness. There's the cost, something that ministers and politicians of both sides realise is concerning the public. There's the environmental damage that mounting a turbine on a massive concrete plinth causes, not just the size of the thing. There's the fact that even the most 'in use' turbine is only active about 20% of the time and generates electricity at five times the cost of a standard gas powered generator which works all the time. They kill birds, are difficult and expensive to maintain and essentially are a massive drain on the taxpayer by green taxes.
But no, the minister thinks people have turned against them  because they put some in the wrong place. Whilst I'm sure that turned some people who have to live next to them against them, I'm pretty sure that the other reasons I mentioned are the primary source of rejection... that and the fact that most people have come around to the idea that global warming and renewable energy is a scam of the highest order and being used by politicians to enrich themselves and enviroloonies to wreck western civilisation.
Deluding yourself that your beliefs are the correct ones despite mounting public opposition is the remit of the politician, making excuses in the form of a mealy mouthed apology is another.
Telling the truth as ever seems to be beyond them....

Step 1) leave the EU?

Silly puff piece in the telegraph that completely ignores the elephant in the room... namely the EU.
Telegraph.

Osborne: Britain must up its game to compete in global economy Britain has lost its sense of ambition and optimism and has allowed “the bits that were great” to wither, George Osborne has said as he called on the country to “up our game”
The Chancellor said Britain had become “defeatist” and had to improve in the face of the economic challenge posed by the “staggering” rise of China. He criticised Ed Miliband for dismissing China as a “sweatshop” economy, and said that Britain had to change its attitudes to the communist state. In an interview with The Daily Telegraph as he prepared to leave China after a five-day tour, Mr Osborne also disclosed that he is poised to break up the Royal Bank of Scotland in order to separate an estimated £50-60 billion in “bad” assets from the bank in order to help it return to the private sector.

The biggest problem the UK has in competing within a global market is the trade cartel that is the EU. The UK has to make products that comply to a whole raft of EU regulations and not tailored to the market we sell too. Trade is of course a two way street and the EU puts price tarrifs on various goods sold to us from abroad to protect its own internal market. The Common Agricultural Policy being a festering boil on the EU which prevents cheaper food from abroad being imported and keeps African farmers poor as they cannot get foreign currency as they can't sell to Europe.
So the first step to upping our game must be to leave the EU? Surely?
Not that the Telegraph mentions this anywhere, not that Osborne mentions it. Yet the answer to upping our game is to remove the deadening hand of the EU on our trade and industry.
It would also solve the immigration problem with the Roma and others that people have a problem with too.

You pay peanuts, you get...

Care home workers apparently, though I have to admit I do know of some care workers in old peoples homes who are absolute gems so this isn't an attempt to tar them all with the same brush.
Telegraph.

Residents were left thirsty and malnourished and staff falsified medical records at Orchid View care home in West Sussex
Nineteen elderly patients died amid "institutionalised abuse" at a care home where residents were left thirsty and malnourished and staff falsified medical records, a coroner has ruled. In five cases, the neglect suffered by residents at Orchid View care home in Copthorne, West Sussex, was deemed to have contributed directly to their deaths. Lawyers representing the families of residents said evidence uncovered during the inquest "showed signs of profits being out before the well being of residents". They also claimed that the Care Quality Commission had questions to answer over why it gave Orchid View a "good" rating in 2010, and why no steps were taken to intervene after serious failings were identified by a second inspection four months before its closure in October 2011. The home, which was operated by the Southern Cross group, has since reopened under a new name and management.

I've always believed that one of the measures of a civilisation in the modern world is how we treat our elderly, our infirm and our disabled and frankly it does appear that the UK is slipping into a form of barbarism where the elderly are farmed off to the cheapest institutions to care for them rather than families taking care of their own as happened in the past. Not that society makes it easy for the looking after of such, the push towards both adults in a family to have jobs has not made care of the older folks an easy task rather than only one breadwinner as was the norm in the past. The consumer society does have a lot to answer for, though that certainly does not excuse the actions of the staff at the care home.
Neither I or Lady QM have had to place any of our parents in care for which we are truly grateful, nor am I criticising those who do. But if you have no choice then it really does look like a case of caveat emptor with many of those involved in the systematic abuse still working in the industry as no charges have ever been brought to staff or management.
It does appear the UK is slipping slowly into barbarism bit by bit as money is placed before decent care and compassion.

This shouldn't be our problem.

A woman with nine children who is getting £38,000 a year in benefits is demanding a bigger council house. Now granted she and her partner work part time, but, it really ought not to be the problem of a council or the taxpayer if she can't keep her legs closed.
Express.

A MOTHER-of-nine who pockets £38,000 a year in handouts is demanding a bigger council house – after accusing benefit slobs of giving big families a “bad name”.
Cheryl Prudham and ­husband Robert rake in the equivalent of an £80,000 salary, of which 70 per cent comes from benefits and tax credits and the rest from their part-time work.
But despite pocketing the huge sum the couple claim it’s “cruel” to keep them “like animals” in their three-bedroom property.
Mrs Prudham, 31, whose children are aged between nine months and 13 years, said: “I see other people in the paper and it makes me sick. They shouldn’t just get a new home handed to them on a plate.
“It gives people with big families a bad name. I don’t want people to judge us because we have so many children.”
The part-time carer, who works 20 hours a week, added: “If I sat on my a*** I would understand people would have something to say.
“You wouldn’t keep animals in the confined space we live in. It’s cruel and I don’t think we’re getting the help we’re entitled to.”
She added: “I know it’s possible to have two houses knocked through into one big house because I’ve read they do that for people.
“Even an extra bedroom would make the world of difference.”

It should also be noted that the woman's children come from three different partners too...
Now I do admire the fact that they have part time jobs, but raking in £80k in kind from the various benefits they qualify for does seem a tad excessive, particularly as the choice of having children was hers. After all, her body, her rules as the feminists constantly tell us males when we question what women do.
Personally I'm of the opinion that you should only have kids if you can afford them and whilst I'm sympathetic to the government assisting with the first two to encourage a stable population, after that it ought to be your problem, not the states. Not that I blame them for taking everything that they can get, perhaps in a similar position we all would. However it is the fault of the state which allows this to happen in the first place by not capping benefits above a certain level
Personally I believe that the benefit system as a whole ought to simply be a short term safety net for the healthy at least, for the elderly and the disabled alone it ought to be a means of comfort for them. All others... if you want a family of nine, you'd better be able to pay for them, it's not my job as a taxpayer and it shouldn't be the states either.

Parish Notice

No blogging today or until Thursday I have a funeral to attend and grief to deal with.
Thank you for your support during what has been a most difficult time for me.

The racist EDL?

It's been a week of controversy for the EDL something I've kept out of as like many I had no clues as to what's going on, merely hearsay. As it is, many of the higher leadership resigned and came out with a series of disjointed statements as to why, some of which were to to with being pushed, nazi's and racists, something which was a mystery to the vast rank and file of the EDL 'membership' who simply didn't have a clue as to what was being said or indeed why.
Mail.

Tommy Robinson, who dramatically quit the English Defence League this week, has vowed to help police tackle racism within the organsation and has apologised for causing fear among British Muslims.
Mr Robinson, 30, said he would work with police to help them investigate racism in the organisation - known for its thuggish street protests and extremist followers.
Mr Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also said he was sorry for creating a 'us and them' culture and for causing fear among British Muslims.

Racism huh?

As you can see from the video, the EDL do not have a colour bar... it's just never mentioned or seen in the media.
As for the thuggish street protests, well anyone who is educated enough to study or watch the EDL will know exactly where the thuggish behaviour comes from, and it isn't the EDL. The arrest records of leftards and muslim extremists at EDL demo's dwarfs that of EDL members and the size of the EDL demonstrators usually outnumbers those of their opponents.
As for the 'us and them' culture, well that's actually more of a muslim thing as they define anyone as either muslim or not in their so called holy book. We wanted them to integrate, they said fine so long as you convert...
As for fear, well it wasn't the EDL setting off bombs in London, burning poppies, spitting at returning troops, butchering soldiers in the street, demanding the death of anyone who left islam or insulted their paedo prophet.
As for helping the Quilliam organisation... well you'd struggle to find a more hated bunch in the islamic community, possibly the Ahmadi sect, but they're pretty likeable muslims who have renounced the violent parts of the quran and aren't regarded by the rest of the barbarians as muslim at all... something of a badge of honour from my strictly jaundiced point of view.
I suspect and this is my own personal view, that a few years down the line some government papers will be released showing the real reasons the leadership left and it won't make for pretty reading...

But that's what they want? Isn't it?

The efforts of the government to rake in cash to fund their various junkets and scams grows apace. New laws, new penalties, new tariffs etc. all going to line their pockets at various stages without thought to the future of the country, simply the future of those raking in the cash.
Telegraph.

Britain's manufacturing revival is being hampered by a raft of UK-specific green taxes, steel giant Tata has said, as it called for the Government to do more to create a "level playing field" with the rest of Europe.
Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, said on Friday that while abandoning green policies would be "short-sighted and foolish", protecting energy-intensive industries was a priority. "My particular concern is to make sure that the chemical and steel industries for example are not disadvantaged by very high energy prices, and we introduce schemes to make sure they're compensated and properly offset," he told BBC Radio 4.
But Tata, which employs 18,500 people in the UK, warned that an array of green levies, including the so-called carbon price floor - charged on fossil fuels used in power generation - was putting the company at a competitive disadvantage.
The second part of a £250m Government compensation package to protect companies from the unilateral tax, introduced last April, is currently awaiting approval from Brussels.
"While we welcome the Government's compensation package ... there are still tens of millions of pounds of other UK only green taxes hitting us today," a spokesman said.

The nub of the problem is that the lunatic politicians, few who have ever run a business themselves or even had a real job in the real world don't understand how a business needs as much cashflow around it rather than having it siphoned off for something that everyone save a few enviroloons knows is an utter scam for a failed theory.
So not only did the UK government hit companies like Tata with the EU scam, they also threw in a few unilateral ones of their own to fill their coffers. Yet it's noticeable that India and China have no problems with building high carbon power plants and steel plants and it's only the moronic politicians in the UK who continue to operate their enriching scams.
I suspect it's a case of making hay whilst the sun shines for them, at least until sommething new comes along to fleece the public.

Hypocrisy

Picking on the climate change industry is always a target rich subject equivalent to grenading fish in a barrel. After all, if you want hypocrisy of telling us to do one thing whilst they do another, then you only have to look at government environmentalism.
Telegraph.

The Whitehall department and its subsidiaries tasked with fighting climate change spent more than £300,000 flying civil servants and ministers around the UK last year, new figures have found.
Ed Davey's Department for Energy and Climate Change spent £148,000 on 668 internal flights, while public bodies attached to it cost the taxpayer another £163,000 on more than 1,000 domestic flights. The new figures were criticised by Green MP Caroline Lucas, who said she found it hard to believe civil servants and ministers could not have taken more eco-friendly trains on some of the journeys.

That would be the same Caroline Lucas arrested and charged for an offence committed at an anti-fracking demo at an oil drilling rig... clearly not the brightest bulb in the box.
As for the getting a train bit, hasn't she heard of Skype, same for the civil servants and ministers? You'd think a temple to the god of global warming would be setting an example of not sinning (for their values of sinning) Then again this is government we're talking about and spunking taxpayers money up the wall is second nature to them along with lying about climate change and hypocrisy.
No, as ever government exists to fund government and we the taxpayer have simply to cough up for their largesse. Heaven forfend that they actually do something useful (does committing suicide count as useful for the government?) it's all spend spend spend and hell breaking loose before the more useless sectors get it in the eye, much easier to sack soldiers...

Rough justice

I'm sure the judge had his reasons, I'm sure the authorities have theirs, but unless there's something I'm missing here and let's face it, it is possible, but I don't understand this case at all...
Mail.

A stalker who has terrorised a young woman for two years has been freed from court and allowed to live next door to her.
Darren Blee, 22, plagued Pippa Dowson by following her day and night, hiding in bushes and jumping out in front of cars she was in.
Blee, who lives with his parents, admitted an ‘unhealthy fixation’ with the 20 year-old and told police he could not stop himself from following her.
He pleaded guilty to stalking but was given a suspended sentence and left to return to his home in Truro, Cornwall.

The Mail is its usual hysterical self, but what Blee got up too would be terrifying for pretty much anyone, particularly as he had a restraining order against himself for his stalking. You would think though that perhaps, just perhaps the judge might have instructed that he no longer be allowed to live next door to the woman? Or even in the same country? Sure he doesn't appear to be psychotic (yet) but we've seen what happens when care in the community goes terribly wrong far too many times, and no, lessons bloody well aren't being learned!
Sooner or later there will be a survey which will show that people are losing respect for and confidence in the law. There will be a lot of hand-wringing and questions asked by politicians, but in the end it will be down to cases like this, the two tiered nature of the legal system itself which has set itself against the indigenous population and politicians themselves who constantly meddle in peoples lives when there's no need too.
I keep hoping that one day those in power over us will come to their senses before the inevitable civil war.
It's still looking like a very vain hope.

Misdirection

Apparently the BBC gives far too much weight to climate sceptics, which I suspect will come as a big surprise to climate sceptics. Though I do suspect the minister in question means that the BBC mention them at all rather than sticking to the green religion.
Telegraph.

Greg Barker, the climate change minister, has criticised the BBC's coverage of climate change claiming it gives undue weight to the opinions of sceptics.
Mr Barker told MPs that the BBC is too concerned with including the counter-opinions of sceptics, creating the false impression that scientists are not in general agreement about the problem. It means that the corporation is stuck in a "groundhog day" of debating the basic facts about climate change while other broadcasters have accepted the science and moved on to discussing what should be done about it, he said. Treating mainstream and sceptical views with equal weight is "doing the public a disservice by treating them as equal, which is not the case," he claimed. The Tory minister also claimed that certain elements of the press give undue weight to sceptical research which has not been peer-reviewed, particularly some Sunday newspapers which he said present comment as science.

It's the old 'science is settled' argument again, when it very clearly is not.
You can almost smell the desperation of the warmist cult as every prediction they have made has had to be downgraded or simply just changed to suit a new set of data that keeps foundering on the fact that the planet is entering a cooling cycle. The latest claims that the oceans are absorbing all the heat is total bollocks too, heat rises and despite the bleating of the warmists, Arctic ice is increasing and all attempts to canoe across it have failed.
No, the reason the media are up in arms over climate change is that the climate isn't changing in the way that was predicted. The more your predictions fail, the closer the scrutiny becomes. With the warmist cult though denial, lies and deliberate manipulation of data to fix a result have been the norm in their attempts to force us down an unnecessary path to line the pockets of the government via a carbon tax and the associated wind farm scams whose directorships are filled with senior ministers and civil servants.
There are lies, damned lies and climate change statistics from the warmists and they are clearly getting very desperate indeed if they are attacking one of their temples in the global warming loving BBC.

Bye Dad

The trip I made on Saturday to say goodbye was well timed, it was my Dad's last lucid day. He passed away yesterday in the arms of my Mum something I believe in the end was a mercy.
He never made the headlines. He never sought fame.
His only pride other than believing he was punching well above his weight in landing my Mum as his wife was his children and eventually his grand-children and great grand-children.
He was a good man, much loved and his only fault... if indeed it was a fault would be to burst out in song at the top of his voice in Tesco's to a song over their tannoy and embarrass the hell out of whoever was with him.
The world for me is a little darker today because part of the light in it has dimmed.
Goodbye Dad, you're in a much better place now.

The last form of slavery in the UK

Slavery was abolished in the UK in 1812 after a long fight by abolitionists figureheaded and led by William Wilberforce. It happened at a time when Britain was fighting for its life against the Napoleonic Empire and was enforced by the British Navy. There were other amendments and laws passed in later years as the public realised that the enslavement of others elsewhere was a true crime against humanity. Still the practice went on in some (notably islamic) countries where Africans were sold by their own to Arab traders in a similar manner to how they were sold to Europeans previously... something those who go on about slavery and demanding an apology seem to always omit.
Yet in the UK today there's a form of slavery still ongoing, it's child brides and the perpetrators are still as ever muslims...
ITV.

Religious leaders appeared willing to agree to perform underage marriages at some mosques across the UK, an ITV investigation has discovered.
Two undercover reporters called 56 mosques for Exposure to ask whether they would perform the marriage of a 14-year-old girl.
Two-thirds of those contacted refused to perform the marriage, and many of them made clear they found the request abhorrent. But 18 of the respondents spoken to agreed.
An undercover reporter called the Al Quba Mosque and Shahporan Islamic centre, in Manchester, posing as a single mother who wanted to have an Islamic marriage, known as a nikah, for her 14-year-old daughter.
The Imam at this mainstream mosque, with a congregation of one thousand, told her "that's not going to be a problem".

'Not going to be a problem' despite it being against the laws of this (and many other) lands, but for a muslim our laws simply don't apply and as their paedo prophet was quite happy marrying a six year old and deflowering her at nine, then that's good enough for a muslim male...
Whilst Christians and Buddhists along with other religions can look to their founder as being a true holy man and worthy of emulation, muslims frankly have a major problem with their founder being not the sort most people who know the historical Mohammed would wish to emulate in a thousand years. Well other than someone who has a natural bent towards murder, theft, delusions of holiness, paedophilia, misogyny, adultery, slavery etc. to name but a few of Mohammed's vices.
This is at part the reason why muslims are so defensive due to a severe lack of knowledge about their beliefs, they are told very little about the dark side of their so called prophet... whom I don't believe prophesied anything.
When confronted with the facts most of them believe you're lying and those that know and still carry on well what the imam said is the direct result of Mohammed's crimes against humanity.
Yet again and again we are told islam is a religion of peace (it isn't) that it's tolerant (it isn't) that it's the fastest growing religion (not true either)
Our politicians have allowed a dangerous creed to take root in our midst, one that does not respect our laws and traditions and who sees anyone not a muslim male as an inferior.
One day there will come a reckoning with islam, I just hope for our sakes it's not too late and civilisation wins.

Sooner might be better

One of the biggest problems David Cameron faces over his beloved EU is that a growing majority of people don't share his views on it... that we'd be better off in. In essence that's why he promised a delayed referendum on it, knowing full well that he could change his mind after an election, plus give the EU some time to bribe or influence the outcome of such a delayed response.
BBC.

A leading Conservative backbench MP has said he will try to force the government to hold an early vote on whether Britain should leave the EU.
Adam Afriyie said voters were "not convinced" by the prime minister's promise to put the issue to an "in or out" referendum in 2017 - after the next general election.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said he would push for a vote next October.
Mr Afriyie - who has denied newspaper claims he is being groomed to replace party leader David Cameron - said he would table an amendment to the European Union (Referendum) Bill on Monday.
"Only by setting an early date can we kick-start EU renegotiation talks and give the British people what they so clearly want - a say on our country's future with Europe," he wrote.
"The fact is, the British people are not convinced there will be a referendum at all if we wait until after the next general election. So many things can change.

Actually, oddly enough I'm pretty sure we will be offered a referendum, however, I suspect it will be couched in such terms to either confuse or confound those who want to leave. It would also be on top of a massive EUphile bribes and media campaign to convince us to stay.
Cameron's reaction was typical, if the motion was tabled he threatened to take his marbles and leave remove his promise of a referendum. He's far more concerned at keeping the status quo rather than actually dealing with a problem that's tearing his party apart both at grass-roots level as well as at the Parliamentary one.
What's really needed is simply a Parliamentary decision via a free vote to leave and use the corresponding section in the Lisbon Treaty to do so... that would be the treaty we were promised a referendum on by Cameron, but later refused as Gordon brown snuck in the back entrance to sign it. However as it is we'll get the usual squeals from the EUphiles about it being 'economic suicide' (it isn't) How much the EU does for us (well that's true they've certainly 'done' for us in the past) whilst not being able to give any real hard examples. Plus we'll get the usual Barroso/Rumpy Pumpy pronouncements driving a bigger wedge between what the politicians want and what the public actually want which is a free trade zone vs closer political union.
The biggest danger of demanding a referendum is that we'll get one. The biggest problem after that is that we know if we get one then the fix is in.

Parish Notice.

There will be no blogging today as I'm heading back to the North-East with a heavy heart to say goodbye to my Dad. Eighteen months ago he was diagnosed with bone cancer and was told all they could do was slow it down, not stop it. Just last week he was admitted to hospital to try and give him another bout of chemo, but he started having stomach pains and they were unable to dose him up. The pains have grown worse and he is starting to lose the final battle.
Our politics are polar opposites as he's a great believer in socialism and the welfare state, though has little time for socialists or the Labour Party. He believes that those who have should help those who haven't, so long as those who haven't use the help to get past their troubles. He has no time for those who see benefit dependency as a lifestyle choice, he was getting paid for moderating exam results only last year at the age of 75.
I can't say enough how proud I am of my Dad, when I measure myself against him I always come up short, though he was (and is) proud of me for no reason I can see.
So today I say goodbye, I don't shed tears easily, but I suspect today they'll flow easily.

It's Labour, it's what they do...

Labour always like to position themselves as the guardians of the NHS despite having done more than any party to wreck the thing from within by increasing the bureaucracy ahead of actually healing and fixing people. They claim that the NHS is one of the wonders of the world, yet no one else has copied its design, they've all opted for better when they have a health service for all. Still, such is the political hot potato of a failing service, that i for one will not be surprised if Labour deliberately tried to squelch a report on failing hospitals during their tenure of office.
Telegraph.

The Cabinet Secretary has been asked to investigate whether Labour put “undue political pressure” on civil servants to “cover up” appalling standards of care at failing hospitals.
Stephen Metcalfe, a Tory MP, has written to Sir Jeremy Heywood to ask whether any breaches of the Civil Service Code took place in the run up to the General Election.
Internal emails show that in November 2009 Labour tried to stop the NHS watchdog from informing the public about failings at Basildon University Hospital, where patients were dying needlessly on filthy wards.
The dossier of emails, released under Freedom of Information, state that Andy Burnham, the then Health Secretary, was “furious” when “graphic details” of the care failings became public.
Separate emails suggest that Mike O'Brien, the former Labour minister of state for health, told the NHS watchdog that "anything you do is political" in the run up to the General Election.
Executives at the watchdog decided that "given the political environment" a report into standards of care across the country should be "largely positive".

In other words Labour decided that public didn't need to know that the NHS was failing under their watch. They tried to influence the results of a general election by putting pressure on civil servants to hide the facts... not that they'll have tried too hard with the Marxist CPSA, the unions pay-rolling Labour after all and none to willing to losing access to the money tree.
If this had been the Tories, the BBC, the Unions and the Labour Party would have been screaming to high heaven about it, as it is, Labour are in denial mode and the BBC and others are doing their best to deflect criticism away from this choice morsel of socialism in action.
There are still some out there who believe Labour are looking out for the welfare of the UK. The facts when checked show this is anything but the case, Labour as most political parties do, look after themselves.

Their gaff their rules.

Yes its muslims... again.
I'm of the opinion that your employer decides just what goes on in his premises. Dress code, health and safety basically what you can and can't do, so long as its within the law. But as we all know, islam and muslims have their own interpretations of just what they can and can't do and aren't afraid to get litigious about it.
Mail.

Two Muslim Tesco workers have won a discrimination case against the supermarket after bosses kept their prayer room locked.
Abdirisak Aden and Mahamed Hasan, both aged 27, were among a number of devout Muslim employees who had lobbied for a prayer room since 2006.
In 2008 managers agreed to set aside a security office at the distribution depot in Crick, Northamptonshire, as a prayer room for Muslims.
But in 2012 bosses set new restrictions on the use of the room which included keeping it locked when it was not in use.
Muslim workers were forced to tell managers when they were going to pray and had to ask for the key and fill in their names in a book every time they entered the room.
They also claimed they were forbidden to worship in groups and were only allowed to pray one at a time.

Is it just me, if you're praying, then you aren't working, if you aren't working, then you don't get paid? It's not like it's a call of nature now is it?
Express.

TWO teenage Muslim pupils have been banned from lessons after refusing to shave off their beards for school.
The school says the 14 year olds are breaching its dress code and has placed the boys in isolation, sparking a row with their parents.
The boys’ families claim they are suffering discrimination because beards are a symbol of faith and their religion forbids them to shave.
However, the Mount Carmel Roman Catholic High School in Accrington, Lancashire, has conducted it own research which concludes the boys are not required by the Koran to wear beards, and it is merely their choice.

Pretty much a case of the muslims not knowing the quran which doesn't mention beards or shaving and more a cultural desire to emulate the murderous, misogynistic, bigamistic, paedophilic, murderous warlord founder of the islamic cult.
Now as far as I'm concerned (though not the judge) Tesco's have set aside a room for muslims to pray, most other groups would either do it outside of work or as they are working. They won't allow groups, after all who wants he workforce knocking off in bunches to chat to their sky fairy? They're supposed to be working after all and if they can't cope without knocking their heads on a mat for part of the day alone then perhaps they ought to go somewhere else.
As for the boys, well the school has its dress code and religion ought not to trump the code, I doubt anyone else would try this tack except of course muslims. It's the same with the veil and the desire to knock off and pray. If you want to do that in your own house or on the street (so long as you don't block the traffic) then fine, but you don't get to say so in my place or in anyone else's place who says you can't.
Same with the schoolgirls mother who was going on about her daughter not being allowed to wear a 'Help for heroes' bracelet in school. It's a good cause, but it's against the rules.
Live with it, because using the law to enforce your rules is storing up a lot of trouble for yourself in the future.

Can't do the time?

Then don't do the crime.
I'm sure the watermelons and their supporters in the enviroloony movement believe as the leftards do that they ought to be immune to prosecution for crimes that they would happily see others arrested for. Same with journalists too, after all breaking the law to get a 'scoop' is not entirely unknown in the UK either. Still, in other countries, the rules are applied a little more rigorously and some enviroloonies and journalists have discovered that their pastime of irritating the rest of us over protests about Russian oil platforms has landed them facing charges in a Russian court for piracy.
Telegraph.

A British journalist is among several UK nationals facing up to 15 years in Russian prisons after being formally charged with piracy in what Greenpeace has described as the greatest threat it has faced since the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior.
Former Times journalist Kieron Bryan, who was working as a freelance videographer on the environmental group’s vessel Arctic Sunrise when it was boarded by Russian coastguards last month, was one of the first to be formally charged by a court in the Arctic port of Murmansk today. Greenpeace activists Philip Ball, Alexandra Harris, and Anthony Perret, were also charged with the same offence later in the day. Mr Bryan’s brother Russell pleaded for his release, telling Sky News: “Kieron is calm and sensible but at the moment he is in a situation which he has no control over. “None of us here has any control over it either and we’re very scared and deeply worried. We just want him home.”

Perhaps Mr Bryan should have thought about this before he put his prejudices before his common sense, after all, what's the difference between what Greenpeace were up too and say a Somali pirate? Both board vessels illegally and both are a bloody nuisance on the high seas. If anything a Somali pirate is more honest as he's just trying to enrich himself by his own criminality, whereas Greenpeace enrich themselves by the headlines they produce.
It's a pity that the fracking enviroloony idiots in the UK who think nothing of breaking the law cannot be dealt with in the same was as Greenpeace, where breaking the law in the name of their faux religion might be coming to an end... in Russia at least.

Or you could just have policies people will vote for...

It's always nice to see the Tories with their knickers in a twist over Ukip, it's not like they can see a way clear to adopt Ukip policies on the EU and so are forced into warnings that a vote for Ukip is a sure way to let the Marxist Millipede into Downing Street.
Mail.

Boris Johnson warned Tory supporters to end their flirtation with the UK Independence Party last night or watch Ed Miliband ‘sleepwalk’ into Downing Street.
Dismissing calls from some ministers for the Tories to ignore Nigel Farage’s party, the London Mayor told David Cameron he must tackle them head on – or risk defeat.
In a bid to burnish his credentials as the saviour of his party, Mr Johnson said he would ‘do my best to be useful’ in helping to win the general election.
Mr Johnson added: ‘Don’t vote for Ukip because we will see this country sleepwalk into a Labour government.’
The mayor’s decision to help Mr Cameron rather than cause trouble as he has at past conferences is a measure of the concern in Tory high command at the way Ukip is peeling away the votes of traditional Tories.

Well, it does strike me that Boris could ensure that a Conservative government is actually led by a Conservative rather than a pale pink wannabe. Cameron's track record has basically alienated the grass roots of the party, the ones who were prepared to go out and canvas votes in all weathers as they believed in traditional Conservative values. In of course steps Cameron who promotes  parachuting his favourites into candidate lists and taking away power from the local branches and consolidating it in Central Office and then wonders why all the locals have decided for a party that actually represents what they are thinking.
If the Tories want to stop Ukip, then they need policies that will cause Ukip to be irrelevant. As it is, with cast iron Cameron in charge they can't as his love affair with leftist liberalism and the EU make it impossible to put clear blue water between the Tories and the Labour parties, although to give him credit Marxist Millipede is doing his best to put clear red water between him and the country in an attempt to keep the unions (though no one else) happy.
Warnings about Ukip will no longer work, people want change and are prepared to vote Ukip in protest, or because they actually represent in some ways the way they think, that's not just Tory voters, but Labour ones as well.
As for Millipede getting into power, well he just might, but it will be because the Tories abandoned their followers, not vice versa.