baldysblog.co.uk

Posts Tagged ‘Politics’

There was an Editorial in the Independent today, the aim of which was to “warn” the Conservatives in particular against cuts that cost Government jobs in economically depressed areas. This is all rather odd and a bit mixed up considering the “Indy” is no supporter of the Tories at any time !

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-two-nations-once-more-2066181.html

However this is rather an odd article in another way because it fails to tackle the problems head on and instead ‘paddles’ in the shallows rather than applying any serious thinking to examining the core issues that lie behind this.

Read the rest of this entry »

My politics are right of centre which makes me a Tory I suppose. I detested Blair and New Labour for what they did to this Country and it’s economy through wilful stupidity. If I had been a Labour supporter, I would detest both Blair and Brown for their childish fratricidal ‘hollowing out’ of the Party so that today there is not one plausible candidate standing for the Party Leadership, just a bunch of talentless Muppets.

But all that said, let us not be curmudgeonly concerning Blair’s donation to the British Legion. You may speculate all you like as to his motivations but one must be fair to the man because he is effectively, if the figures are to be believed, giving away between a quarter to a third of his potential wealth.

One also has to realise that the “Blair Brand” is a depreciating asset so that it will become ever harder for him to earn money in the future as he has done since leaving Office. The further a person gets away from their time in power, not only are they quickly forgotten abroad as their co-stars of the period also leave the stage but once his memoirs are published, that is likely the end of Blair’s gravy train too and I am sure that both he and his wife are aware of this.

By and large, I have always been of the view that it makes sense to replace the Trident Missile Submarines when required which is, I understand, in about 20 years time however and such is the gestation period of these things, we must start now. True, given the parlous state of the UK Finances, better not to have to find the estimated £20 billion cost but…

It should be the purpose of any personal blog to explore and consider ‘ideas’ that are outside of the mainstream or at the very least, “question” the current perceived wisdom. Wednesday bought the following: “The government should scale back the UK’s Trident nuclear deterrent to save money, a think tank has said. The Royal United Services Institute urged ministers to consider dropping the requirement of always having a nuclear submarine on patrol at sea.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10784192

This has prompted a number of thoughts…

Read the rest of this entry »

There was a piece in today’s Independent by Dominic Lawson in which he stated that “Our Banks are doing a good job”.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-our-banks-are-doing-a-good-job-2041713.html

In fact and whilst not a fashionable view, I suspect that he is right and to a large extent, they are rather caught between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea whatever they do over the next few years and in this, are in a similar position to Members of Parliament.

Read the rest of this entry »

I suspect that the “Media Honeymoon” over the Coalition Government will soon come to an end as the reporting over these past few days seems to signal. Though not, I might add because serious questions are being raised by Government policies, it is not the way the British Media works.

The problem for media people is that they are reactive to events not proactive. “No news”, or even worse, “Good news” is bad for business, there is just no ‘story’ to chase so in the end these “media children” will… Well we all know what the Devil does in making work for idle hands… so, the media will get restless and like children on a journey, keep asking“Are we there yet ?”

Read the rest of this entry »

Last Saturday, I attended the Fairford “Air Tattoo” and what a splendid event it was with hours of continuous flying marred only by taking an hour and a half, to get out of the car park after the ‘show’ and despite delaying departure for a couple of hours after flying ceased still, there you go…!

However and in the run up to Farnborough and defence spending reviews, a number of ‘issues’ have come increasingly into focus via the Media and especially a ‘bete-noir’ of mine, the willingness of Governments to spend on high cost capital projects whilst ignoring the ‘military realities’ of the PBI – Poor Bloody Infantry. A very interesting article in the Telegraph, is worth reading: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamescorum/100047944/americas-armed-forces-are-at-breaking-point-its-time-for-a-republican-fightback/

But I want to both use that whilst taking the ‘concept’ further…

Read the rest of this entry »

Of all the former Labour Ministers, John Hutton was one of the better ones and at least as Defence Minister, looked like he cared. His very public resignation had a degree of ‘principle’ to it and the ever craven David Miliband would have done well to have followed him and set off a change of Labour Leadership before the General Election.

The Labour Party has very little ‘talent’ available as the current Leadership Election demonstrates only too clearly (a bit like a Muppet Show), they really couldn’t afford to lose people like Hutton who stood down at the last election.

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a rather good article by Matthew Parris in today’s Times called: “Cameron’s hand is strong and he’ll play it well” worth a read although some of the readers comments are very odd as the Times practises quite annal censorship of those so, who knows http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/matthew_parris/article7120060.ece

The Independents lead Editorial was rather pathetic: “A result that confirms our electoral system is broken”: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-a-result-that-confirms-our-electoral-system-is-broken-1968245.html

Read the rest of this entry »

We have really been in “Election Mode” since the start of the year and I’m afraid that I am still of the opinion that if Brown had cared a fig for this Country, he would have called this last Autumn even though he would have lost then as he will today. The delay has placed us in both deeper and more dangerous waters, a new Government will have to follow Ireland’s lead to avoid Greece’s Fate.

Of course the other issue concerns just what the British Electorate decide, I suspect already have decided and whether we get a majority Tory Government or a Hung Parliament with another election within the year. I will be particularly interested in just how accurate the Polls have been of whether people have lied to them deliberately, we shall know all by tomorrow !

Although I do like the Independent newspaper, by and large, they do have a tendency to write hair brained Editorials from time to time, a bit like they have some ‘Nutter’ locked in a broom cupboard who they let out once in a while while the rest of them go down the Pub, it is really quite odd.

I suppose it could be someone who forgets to take their medication from time to time but never-the-less, today they managed another one. This time it was to attack Cameron over the “Broken Society” theme: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-david-camerons-cynical-moral-panic-1956107.html

Read the rest of this entry »