Longrider

Big Blunkett has grand plans for more anti terror laws in the event of a New Labour election victory next year. Well, given the state of the opposition, that’s pretty much a certainty. So, what are we faced with?

Civil orders will be imposed on people suspected of "acts preparatory to terrorism". Whatever the hell that is. So, if the security forces think you might be about to commit a terrorist offence, they’ll tell you what you can or cannot do. And if you breach it, they’ll lock you up.

Not to mention, wire tapping and trial without juries.

Remind me please, this is a liberal democracy isn’t it? And just what is it we are supposed to be fighting terrorism to protect? Oh, yes, our freedom. The very freedoms Blunkett wants to destroy in order to protect our freedoms. Remind me again, someone….I think I’m going mad.
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Since losing Penfold last week, there have been goings on going on in the feline world that engulfs most of our home lives. Penfold was without doubt the old patriarch and was respected by all of the clan. His departure seems to have left a void that is not easy to fill. Tuthmose is our young Tom cat. At just over two years old, he is in his prime. For the past six months or so, he’s been an occasional visitor while he stamps out his patch. There is a common not far from where we live and it is a straight line through the neighbours’ gardens to get to it. There, amongst the brambles and bracken, he prowls and hunts. Since last week, however, he has become a homebody. Is it to stamp his claim on the clan, or is it just because it’s a little colder outside?

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There’s a little story that’s been bubbling away on the periphery of the news over that past couple of days and Charles Clarke, our Education Secretary has picked up on it. Today, on the BBC, he accuses the Prince of Wales of being out of step with the modern world.

Now the cynic in me is tempted to come out with a facetious remark such as "Well, there’s a newsflash." But I won’t…

You see, there’s an underlying irony here and it’s worth considering for a moment. It seems that one of Prince Charles’ erstwhile members of staff, a Miss Elaine Day, suggested changes in the household promotion policy. This was rejected by the Prince in a memo in which he criticized the learning culture in schools that encourages ambition beyond capability. Whether that is actually true or not, I really cannot say - I left school some 30 years ago and things have changed since then. But from someone who achieved his position through accident of birth rather than hard work, ability and application this is a bit rich. To compound matters, the Windsor family are not exactly the sharpest tools in the box. No, this is someone with an Edwardian mentality trying to impose his outdated ideas onto the proles who really should know their station in life.

Yup, it really is about time we had a head of state decided upon ability not DNA.
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Cats are funny creatures. Our kitten, Ahmose, (although she is a small cat now) collects leaves. Off she goes to the lilac tree at the bottom of the garden, shins up to the top, knocks a few leaves off then shins back down again. She will then collect the leaves and bring them indoors and deposit them in the dining room. I’ve heard of cats collecting things, but this is the first time I’ve witnessed it. Still, I suppose it’s an improvement on her previous collection fetish - earthworms….

This makes me want to laugh or weep in equal measures….

Big Blunkett is telling us that the private sector loyalty cards (that I despise and will not use) should be subject to more checks. This from the man who wants to tag us all and indulge in state wide surveillance.

He tells us that:

"It is a really good opportunity now to start debating what is know about us, by whom, who supervises and oversees it and how we can get a grip on it," I have a simple answer to that - my private life is none of his damn business and I intend to keep it that way.

He summed up with this little gem:

The scheme would be worthwhile if it reinforced identity and citizenship, he said. If not, he would "be remembered as one of the biggest political failures that Britain has ever produced".

One can but hope.
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Philip Johnson comments today on among other things, IDs for horses. His list of prohibitions makes depressing reading. He points out that:

"…the basis of English liberty is the rule of law, under which everything is allowed unless specifically prohibited. According to A V Dicey, the 19th-century constitutionalist, this was one of the features that distinguished England from its continental counterparts, where people were subject to the exercise of arbitrary power and were proscribed from actions that were not specifically authorised."

This seems to be a principle that is being rapidly forgotten in our over-regulated world. The populace, like bleating sheep, clamour in their droves for their lives to be increasingly regulated for their own good, of course. What the terminally stupid cannot see is that it diminishes them and their self determination. One day, someone who clamoured with the rest of the proles for the government to "do something" will find that the something done, diminishes their freedom to do what they have been taking for granted all these years (and what harm does it do anyway?) - and wasn’t that a nasty surprise?

When will Britain wake up from its self-induced coma and realise that the old principles were right? When it is too late, perhaps?
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Sue Mott takes the anti-Olympic bid folk to task. In her rant in the Telegraph, she rails against those Londoners who object to increased council taxes to pay for this unnecessary junket. Oh, dear, that makes me a member of the "carping, miserable bunch" that are the anti-Olympic bidders. Actually, we’re not. And why do sports fans presume that those of us who don’t like it are miserable? Having this sporting event thrust upon us whether we like it or not is an act of supreme arrogance. And to expect people who wish to have nothing to do with it foot the bill is compounding that arrogance. If I was a Londoner, I would object…vigorously. We pay enough taxes as it is.

Ms Mott chooses to fuddle the figures by claiming that the increased council tax is merely 38p per week. In doing so, she is trying to belittle the overall cost of £1.6bn that council tax payers will have to cough up whether they like it or not. Ah, but it’s all in the name of sport and that’s good for us. Oh, well, that’s okay, then.
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This is worryingly accurate….

Okay, so it’s a bit silly - but it’s fun.
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Smoking could be banned in cafés, restaurants and pubs in England within a few years if the government gets its way. And, it probably will - as it has the weight of public opinion on its side.

Putting my cards on the proverbial table here; I am not a smoker and I have never smoked, not even a surreptitious puff as a rebellious teenager. I deplore smoking and dislike the smell of tobacco smoke. But, and it’s a big but, I deplore the idea of banning it even more that the activity itself.

If the government decides that banning smoking in pubs is a good idea, what health risking activities will it decide to ban next? For our own good of course, because we are all too stupid to make informed choices of our own. I ride a motorcycle. This is an activity which, according to RoSPA figures carries around 10 times more risk than driving a car or van. Well, that must make me a potential burden on the NHS. I must be stopped from doing it for my own good. Then whom shall the nanny state target? Skiers? Balloonists? canoeists? What about hang gliders and sky divers? Bloody irresponsible risk-takers, they are.

After 18 years of Tory rule I was desperate for a government that exercised a social conscience. I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who cautioned that we should beware of getting what we want - well, my wish came horribly true.
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The announcement of Colin Powell’s resignation comes as no real surprise. A cautious moderate man, he always seemed a little out of step with the Bush government. I liked him. I wonder if he will be the Republican candidate in 2008? They could do a lot worse.
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