Thursday May 5, 2016, the electorate in some parts of the UK goes to the polls for local and Police Commissioner elections. That is some people will go to the polls but many more will not bother. Talk to people as you go about your daily business and you may be told, "I will not vote because”:
The public performances of certain politicians and so much negative news of sleaze and corruption has done its work. The majority of people in the UK could not care less who is governing the country and especially their local city hall. In some cases it is not so much that they don't care who but that they view all our politicians in the same light. Personally this blogger always votes, be it sometimes simply for the lesser of the evils, and here is why. Politics concerns us all. It affects our Internet freedoms or lack of them. It decides whether or not the country will go to war. It manages the UK economy which if mismanaged can cost us all an arm and leg due to high energy costs, fuel and grocery prices, rents and local public service funding or lack of it. It sets the level of taxation and what benefits revenue may or may not provide. It affects us ALL. And never underestimate the importance of local elections. If you are jaded or worn down with cynicism you may believe that politicians will simply feather their own nests and you will struggle no matter who we elect. That is not true though. It is however one reason why we have a widely hated Tory government with a small majority in the Commons running the country and some would say running the country into the ground. Some politicians will always have more of a tendency to help those in need than others. Right now it is important to send a message to our politicians that we have had enough of their nonsense. It is time for them to behave like statesmen and women rather than squabbling schoolchildren. This blogger also holds the probably outdated view that as a woman people fought for her to have the right to vote. It was not given to women as a right but rather fought for. But look back even further and that is true for working class men also. Perhaps the single most important reason to vote now though is to send the Tory party a message; a message that we the people have had enough of the false flag of austerity to pay the deficit down. How you vote locally will affect local services but also send Westminster a message; if enough people bother to vote that could be a message of no confidence. Another reason to vote also has to be to stop an extremist party gaining a foothold in the UK. Apathy may be rife in the UK but not amongst those who support any extremist party. Fringe parties can all too soon become accepted mainstream political parties. When the going gets tough such people tend to increase their popularity. They offer what they think the people want to hear. By the time you realise how bad they are, it is too late. Voting has never been easier than it is in the UK right now. Most polling stations are situated close to where you live. Postal voting is another option readily available. Monday April 18 is the cut-off date for registering to vote in the May elections; you have until June 7 to register if you want to vote in the June EU referendum. Remember you have to be in it to win it. The effort will be minimal but believe it or not some will simply not vote, "because it was raining" Make sure you use your vote and use it wisely. The Week
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Op-ed: David Davis, Conservative MP, told Andrew Marr Sunday that he believes UK PM David Cameron can continue in his role if the country votes to leave the European Union in June 2016. Just who is he trying to kid? Cameron has already hedged his bets by telling reporters last year he would step down from his role sometime before the next election scheduled for 2020. That means that if or should that be when he leaves office he can say it was by choice. But less than a year into the first Tory government for years Cameron's position is tainted and far from secure ahead of the EU referendum. Saturday an estimated 150,000 people took to the streets of London with core demands but one united voice to say #CameronMustGo. In other parts of the country including Leeds and Liverpool protesters also took to the streets. For every person out there protesting there was at least one more unable to attend but with them in spirit. BBC News opted for a news blackout on Saturday when it came to the protests reinforcing a view held by many that as an independent of government news service it is no longer fit for purpose. Later in the day BBC News posted a nod to the protests but decided it was not newsworthy come their main evening TV news at 10pm. Obviously BBC News producers thought the country would be more interested in William and Kate sitting outside the Taj Mahal in India; that choice of report either highlights a BBC in the pocket of the establishment or out of touch with many British people. [Keep BBC independent of Government] [Commons votes to reject panama papers inquiry] This week John Whittingdale Tory Culture and Media Secretary survived a scandal but his position is tarnished to say the least. He may be a single man but the fact that the MSM opted to ignore a story regarding him and a prostitute dominatrix for weeks has a nasty smell to it. Sunday the Whittingdale scandal continues with new allegations; this time with reports by a porn star that he shared government papers and sent her a picture from Chequers. Why expose Whittingdale now? Could that be part of the in / out EU referendum fight? The BBC, British Broadcasting Corporation is or should that be was a fine independent institution funded by the government and British licence fee payers and it was a world class service. Op-ed: As a lifelong admirer of the 'Beast of Bolsover' aka Labour MP Dennis Skinner I am not surprised that our friends across the Pond are just waking up to this phenomenal politician and campaigner. Dennis like Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn is well-known for sticking to his guns. He may have had plenty of politicians who have not liked him down the years but I doubt there are many people who do not admire him. When he called UK PM Dodgy Dave in the Commons this week he knew exactly what he was doing. For many people across the UK Cameron will always be Dodgy Dave. That phrase has been a popular hashtag in tweets on social media attacking Cameron for some time. Perhaps it was Mr Skinner who coined the phrase as he has certainly used it in the Commons previously and been ejected for doing so. But in 2016 politics it appears to be OK for Tory Ministers to catcall Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn by shouting 'Who are ya' at the Labour leader as they mouthy overgrown children fall about in hoots of laughter. 'Shut up a ya face' is it seems was an acceptable shout as Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell addressed the house. It was also OK for Cameron aka Dodgy Dave to call Mr Skinner Jurassic at one time. But it is good to know that HoC hypocrisy has gone viral globally. It is obvious who will come up smelling of roses. Our American friends will like the fact an 84-year-old politician, a former miner from a coal mining community, called Cameron out and was ejected like a naughty child. Other countries offer their elder generations and politicians respect unlike here in the UK. Here are just a few of Mr Skinners' best quotes: On the Tory Party: He said "Half the Tory members opposite are crooks" and was told to withdraw the remark. He did and replaced it with "OK, half the Tory members aren’t crooks." To Roy Jenkins, leader, Who Pronounced His Rs as Ws: Roy said "I leave this party without rancour" to which Dennis replied "I thought you were taking Marquand with you." On Tory Chancellor George Osborne: Is my right hon. friend aware that in the 1970s and a lot of the 1980s, we would have thanked our lucky stars in the coalfield areas for growth of 1.75 per cent? The only thing growing then were the lines of coke in front of boy George and the rest of them. On Calling an MP "A Pompous Sod": Speaker: You had better withdraw that. Skinner: I withdraw the word pompous. Speaker: That’s not the word I’m looking for. Skinner: I can’t withdraw both. This got him thrown out of the Parliamentary session. Related: Happy birthday Dennis Skinner political hero and funny man Cameron ageist toward Dennis Skinner what about toward the Queen Double standards and high flying Commons hypocrisy Theresa May to heed Battle of Orgreave campaigners Op-ed: Westminster parliament finally got back to work Monday after a long Easter break. High on the agenda was the fall out of the panama leaks scandal. It was a damage limitations exercise for PM Cameron, his Chancellor and most of his MPs. As slippery as an eel Cameron slithered on and off the hook a few times but his reputation is forever tarnished and he has lost the trust of many people around the UK. Many like me never had any trust in 'Call Me Dave' in the first place. The Commons debate was a mixture of many things with double standards and hypocrisy riding the crest of a wave. Veteran Labour politician Dennis Skinner was thrown out of the chamber for calling a spade a spade or rather PM David Cameron Dodgy Dave. Skinner's 'red card' highlighted Commons' hypocrisy when the PM is allowed to disrespect Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn by telling him by proxy to do up his shirt, put on a tie and sing the national anthem and simply attracts hoots of laughter. That incident was reported by the Guardian as follows "Dave let rip: “I know what my mother would say. I think she’d look across the dispatch box and she’d say: ‘Put on a proper suit, do up your tie and sing the national anthem’” in a piece that was aptly titled "David Cameron lets his mask slip with 'do up your tie' jibe at Corbyn." When a Tory backbencher and his pals looking and sounding for all the world as if they are in a drunken football thugs stupor attacked Mr Corbyn with 'Who are ya Corbyn' they were allowed to continue. We reported at the time "It is sickening to read in the Independent that Tory backbenches opted to try once again to drown out the words of the leader of the Labour Party, the official political opposition in the Commons but this time they overstepped the public school bully boy mark. Chanting 'who are ya' as Mr Corbyn began to speak shows the Tories in all their despicable glory. A bunch of hoodlums who do not respect democracy or our parliament. Neither do they respect the electorate many of whom will have tuned in." House speaker John Bercow, Conservative, was the speaker of the day on both of those occasions but he failed to hold Cameron or his MPs to account. Perhaps calling Cameron Dodgy Dave was a step too far and not really funny as it had more than a ring of truth to it. It certainly hit the mark for many people as Dodgy Dave has become a well-known description of Cameron over the last few years. Either way Mr Skinner, 84, left the chamber like a naughty schoolboy after Bercow spoke to him as we would address a three-year-old child. Dennis Skinner is a giant of a man in all but stature. He has served his constituency well over many years and has humble roots in a coal mining community and as a former coal miner. If you want a glimpse into this man who still refuses to cosy up to the establishment and British royals check out his book "Sailing close to the wind." This is not the first time Mr Skinner has called Cameron Dodgy Dave to his face. In July 2015, during a heated Common's Exchange, as Skinner tried to discuss the closure of Doncaster's Hatfield Colliery, one of Britain's three remaining deep coal mines Mr. Skinner shouted "No wonder they call him Dodgy Dave... A man who went to Eton.." The rest of the MP's pronouncements were drowned out by jeers as Speaker John Bercow tried desperately to restore order reports the Daily Mirror. "It's very good to see the Labour party in full voice cheering on Jurassic Park," joked David Cameron. "I would stick to the movie." So it is OK for Cameron to respond to a jibe with an ageist comment? Monday one low-life MP stood out and that was Tory Sir Alan Duncan. His assessment of low achievers as judged by a lack of wealth really says it all about the British Tory party. If you are working or middle class and fall for the hype shame on you. Monday and into Tuesday #lowachievers and #DodgyDave trended on Twitter and social media as people vented their fury. Has Cameron and his government reached their 'let them eat cake' moment yet or have they raced past it? Saturday a long planned national protest in London will go ahead; it will be supported by last weekend's 'resign Cameron' protesters and more. Alan Duncan high achiever:- Alan Duncan claimed thousands for gardening Alan Duncan links to Libya oil cell William Hague's clumsy friend Alan Duncan Related reading: Happy birthday Dennis Skinner political hero and funny man Theresa May to heed Battle of Orgreave campaigners
Op-ed: If British PM David Cameron thought he had pulled a rabbit out of the hat last weekend when he published a summary of his tax affairs he is mistaken. At best he pulled out a poor imitation of his tax affairs. Following revelations that Cameron's father ran an off shore tax haven Cameron has experienced a bumpy week. A series of lies, half-truths and misleading information did nothing to satisfy his critics. Monday Cameron will address the Commons. If Cameron runs true to form it will be a well-crafted speech spinning information to within an inch of its very being. It will be high on dodgy figures and attacks across the Commons aimed at the Labour party but low on accountability and transparency. News Sunday that "HMRC chief was partner at law firm that acted for Cameron offshore fund" has left people wondering just how far the old boy network reaches. The well-funded Tory propaganda machine will have been working overtime to find any vague or real dodgy looking dealings that have roots in the Labour Party. Cameron will however find it difficult to find financial sleaze attached to Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn. Cameron may try to attack other political parties and their leaders but he may not. It is Labour that the Tories view as a real threat to their crippling policies and government. But when all is said and done Cameron is the Prime Minister of the UK and should be above suspicion. Tory bully boys will be out on force to bray like donkeys in support of Cameron. Every trick in the book will be used to try to undermine Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Sadly the Tories are predictable. But in the end further revelations that Cameron's mother gifted Dave and Sam Cam £200k in the hope that she lives more than seven years and so he pays no inheritance tax simply highlights we are far from 'all in this together'. Similarly Samantha Cameron has been attacked for allowing the taxpayer to pick up a £53,000 bill for her fashion adviser. Some in the media may have tried to defend Sam Cam but when her husband is part of a government trying to slash £30 a week from people with disabilities, money which in some cases is used to help them dress, she becomes fair game. The Tory government has stripped away Social Security trying to rebrand it as some sort of welfare hand out but it is not. We and our parents have paid for a range of benefits. If there is not enough money in the treasury to cover costs whose fault is that? The apple is not falling far from the tree on that question. Perhaps if money invested in off shore tax havens was actually putting some money into the treasury there would be money for all. But after all that is not the Tory way. Check back later after Cameron talks the talk. You may also like: The 1% hide their money offshore – then use it to corrupt our democracy Bungling tax boss slammed for 45-minute waiting times on HMRC phone lines George Osborne family business' £6m offshore deal Op-ed: A furious debate about what if anything UK PM David Cameron has done wrong is dividing opinion. It is fair to say the divide is fairly politically split. The Tory faithful are by and large, at least publicly, showing their support for the PM, calling those asking him to resign anything from a rabble to misinformed. Their argument is that Cameron has done nothing wrong; that the system may or may not be flawed but that seems to depend whether you are talking to a person who is gaining under the current system or not. Now Tories are in damage limitations mode and clutching eagerly at each and every straw anything goes. The latest is calling attacks on Cameron a smear campaign. To Labour supporters such as this writer that is both ironic and rich. It was not so very long ago a smug faced David Cameron used a dodgy Labour list to ridicule Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn in the Commons. That list may have been a fictitious piece of Conservative nonsense or even supplied by a Labour political lightweight and backstabber but either way it lowered the tone. It was a cheap political shot and Cameron cannot bleat when we respond in kind. But either way we note the gloves are off and the Tories do not like it. They have played with fire and tried to damage the reputation of Mr Corbyn; they even attacked Ed Miliband and his father as they tried to win the 2015 General Election. Nothing was off limits. So are you persuaded that somehow publishing the panama data leaks is disrespectful to David Cameron's late father? If Cameron had come clean Sunday night when the story broke many people would still have been angry. It is the fact that Cameron preaches we are all in this together as paltry benefits for people with disabilities are slashed and even mobility allowances removed. As he tells us all it is because the country has such a huge deficit and it is all the Labour party's fault. But of course if money was invested in the UK rather than off shore tax havens perhaps the country would not be in such a financial mess. He is the King of Hypocrisy even telling us all to take a vacation in the UK to help flood hit areas of the country then dashing off to Lanzarote for his Easter break. The fact that Cameron lied over and over again this week has permanently damaged his reputation. He has lied and vague arguments from others that it is a private family matter and that he did want to drag his late father into the debate are simply nonsense. £31,500 from his Dad's shares was such a drop in the Cameron's financial ocean Dave was able to casually dismiss and forget it. Last week's leaks may just be a drop in that same ocean but hey could almost be a false flag with Cameron collateral damage. Certainly the elite will be happy to see the government of Iceland fall as that country has successfully jailed corrupt bankers. With other off shore tax havens still holding so many secrets there is still a lot of the proverbial to hit the fan. Will we ever get to the real truth of this story or not? By Saturday night Cameron has vowed to publish his tax returns for the last six years. But surely that is after the event in every sense of the word? Feel free to have your say in the comments section below but please no url links and keep it friendly. Mossack Fonseca director Ramon Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing. He said the firm had suffered a hack on its database and described the leak as "an international campaign against privacy", according to Reuters. All of those implicated in the ICIJ Panama Papers report have been afforded the opportunity to respond: Visit the ICIJ website to read the responses. Op-ed: As Del Boy David Cameron ducks and dives his way around the panama papers data leak can we really believe a word he or his ministers say? A day ago, as the PM of Iceland was forced to resign after been caught up in the off shore tax haven scandal, Number 10 said there was nothing to say and Mr Cameron's father's off shore tax haven links were a private family matter. It was a case of 'move along now nothing here to see'. But it did not take long for that statement to be superseded. And Wednesday on it goes. The latest from the BBC is "Downing Street has been forced to further clarify David Cameron's financial affairs after questions about his family's tax arrangements. No 10 said there were "no offshore trusts or funds" that the prime minister or his immediate family would benefit from "in future"" but is that an adequate response? [Thursday edit -More taxing questions for the PM: How Cameron's father stashed a fortune in Jersey that Dave could inherit from his mother Daily Mail] Many people are asking about the past and Labour say questions still remain and want him to publish his tax returns. 21st Century western citizens are told to suck up austerity measures and slashed budgets to help pay off some vague national debts and deficits while the rich appear to have stashed their wealth away from the taxman or woman. This tax limitation has a negative knock on effect on those same debts and budgets. Cameron may have some of the mainstream media running scared of the Tories but the Conservatives are finding it difficult to make people move on and ignore revelations. And when you have Chancellor George Osborne cutting short interviews when tax avoidance is mentioned people smell a rat or two. Again it is the Telegraph reporting this time "George Osborne terminates BBC interview when asked twice if he benefits from offshore funds." But then George has also been under the Telegraph microscope in the past - Chancellor George Osborne reportedly "sold his constituency home, which has been part-funded by his MP’s expenses claims, for an estimated £400,000 profit" was also a Telegraph report. The MP Expense scandal Previously various MPs have been shown to abuse the political expenses system available for them. Following explosive revelations in the Telegraph a couple of years ago a handful of MPs were jailed after losing court cases. Most as I seem to remember where Labour MPs but fiddling expenses was a cross-party phenomenon. So MP expenses were overhauled and they were awarded hefty salary increases which allegedly would prevent further fiddles; that assumption of course works on the premise that the fiddles were legal within a flawed system and maybe even that some MPs were struggling financially; it takes no account of personal greed. In January we remembered Maria Miller who was embroiled in the expense scandal but never faced justice and is still an active MP. But in 2014 the "House of Commons authorities have destroyed all evidence of MPs' expenses claims prior to 2010, meaning end of official investigations into scandal" reported the Telegraph. One British politician that could be heard breathing a sigh of relief across the UK was Tory Maria Miller. We followed the Maria Miller saga as it twisted and turned before she came up smelling of roses. She quit her cabinet role of culture secretary after claiming she was forced out by Number 10 but she was never held to account or proven innocent or guilty of the dodgy expenses allegation but she remained in parliament. It illustrates how unfair and biased even political expense scandals can be. And now there is Tory Geoffrey Cox QC:
The Standards Committee found that Geoffrey Cox QC had committed a "serious" breach of rules, although it accepted he had not "intended to hide" the payments for hundreds of hours of legal work......Telegraph That Cox ruling was in early February 2016. What is a Tory apology worth? Is it worth as much as a Tory saying 'honestly'? The Torridge and West Devon MP [Geoffrey Cox] referred himself to the Parliamentary Commissioner and stepped down as a member of parliament's sleaze watchdog last October after it emerged he had repeatedly missed the 28-day deadline. Sleaze watchdog? British parliament is still in recess and there is little wonder that Cameron ignored calls for a recall due to the Tata Steel crisis; while he is away from the Commons he is left unaccountable simply drip feeding a little information to the media; information that most people do not believe. The dodgy off shore but somehow legal tax havens have other family links to the Cameron's though this time in the shape of wife Samantha Cameron. In February 2015 the Daily Mirror reported: David Cameron has come under more pressure over his wife Samantha’s family affairs after it emerged they have links to tax havens across the globe. This piece could roll on and on but we will leave it there, at least for now.
But now that we know we are being governed by crooks and liars the big question has to be - what are we going to do about it? Op-ed: Last weekend the so-called panama papers were released. A massive amount of data leaked to journalists in the mainstream media worldwide. The revelations showed a trail of money laundering and tax free off shore investments and that trail appeared to lead to many high profile figures, including some notable politicians. In the UK three former Tory MPs and six members of the House of Lords were involved though not named. Then there was UK PM David Cameron and his late father's off shore dealings. That was in many ways old news after being revealed by a C4 investigative team in early 2015. But the panama leaks led to fresh questions being asked. Downing Street seems to believe it is a private family matter for the Camerons but it is not. It raises suspicions and tarnishes the reputation of Cameron and therefore the office he holds. More than 11 million documents from Mossack Fonseca were released and some western journalists have preferred to try to implicate Russian President Vladimir Putin who is not named; however the panama papers do include the names of people close to Putin. But the scale of the leaks means that in the coming days, weeks, months and even years there may be more shocks to come. First blood is Tuesday as Icelandic PM, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, resigns. He cut short an interview at the weekend as soon as the question of the "panama papers" and his involvement was raised but it was too late to save his neck; last night huge crowds demonstrated outside the Icelandic parliament showing their displeasure by throwing eggs and calling for a snap election. What will happen to Gunnlaugsson now? Iceland has jailed bankers who were 'caught napping' during the 2008 global financial crisis. It is hard to imagine they will pat Gunnlaugsson on the back and let him walk away with his stash of cash. Gunnlaugsson and his wife had purchased an offshore company called Wintris in 2007. Gunnlaugsson never stated his interest in the company when he entered parliament in 2009, according to the BBC, one of the news organizations to examine the so-called Panama Papers. Eight months later, Gunnlaugsson sold his stake to his wife, Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir. People across Europe and further afield have been told that austerity is necessary to balance the books; they have been fed a diet of misinformation and lies. There has also been an absence of some information. Will the real truth, no matter who it touches, finally be revealed or will it be a watered down version of events? C4 in the UK were at the cutting edge of allegations in July 2015 when they also published details of another 'family affair' this time linked to George Osborne. Chancellor George Osborne's family business made £6 million in a property deal with a developer based in a tax haven, a Channel 4 News investigation has found. |
British political scene
The next General Election in the UK may not be scheduled any time soon but the British political landscape is changing. With that in mind this blog will concentrate on the political scene but with a left wing perspective. Opinion pieces and news will bring you the stories that the MSM prefer to ignore. Archives
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