Corruption must be weeded out

Corruption destroys nations. It has clearly destroyed the state of Illinois. There the Governor was actually selling a seat in the United States Senate to the highest bidder. Truly shocking. Makes you glad you're British eh? Nothing like that could ever happen here. No, we choose our members of the Upper House through entirely incorruptible means.

The French have overtaken our economy.

Where is our fighting spirit? What happened to us? Something must be done! Give me Depressions, Hyperinflations, Booms, Busts or 98% tax rates just don't let the French stay ahead.

John Major was not as bad as all that

I am about to offer a controversial opinion. That John Major really wasn't that much of a failure as Prime Minister. 

It cannot be said that he didn't achieve much. He pushed the Maastricht treaty through parliament, had gravitas and led Britain through a severe downturn and towards the 15 years of heavy growth that followed. He made significant progress in Northern Ireland and stood on his principles in many cases. 

Obviously the downside is that he lied to people in the 1992 election campaign (he knew he would have to raise taxes). He was incapable of making a decision and nearly led the Conservative party to its death. But he won the largest number of votes in modern times (in 1992) and was a brilliantly popular constituency MP. Of course these achievements pale when looked at in conjunction with the way his successor and predecessor radically changed Britain. But he was a nice man and gave everyone a much needed break from the mad, breakneck pace that was Thatcherism.

Full Employment at any cost?

The Yanks over the pond are getting ready to spend Billions more Dollars they don't have on bailing out the auto companies. When will this stop? If companies know they will always be bailed out by the government then there is no incentive to ensure that the books are balanced and more incentive to take more stupid risks. Ask people to do the patriotic thing and buy more cars if they want to save 2 million people's jobs but don't give the industry billions to continue losing money. Businesses (even big ones) come and go. That is the nature of the free market. Noone thinks Britain, for example, would be better off producing the same amount of coal (at a loss i might add) it did in the 1970s.

Ah you might say, what about the bank bailout? Banks are different. They are the foundation of the free market, without credit and investment the free market cannot function. It doesn't function  when all companies know that at the end of the day, no matter how badly they do, the Government will always give them a cash handout to stay afloat. There are times when saving jobs is less important than allowing more jobs to be created long term.

The BBC should stop disturbing people.

Charles Moore's column in the Spectator included the story:

 "The Revd Christopher Smith, a vicar in Beckenham, sends me a letter he has just received from TV Licensing, addressed to the ‘Managing Director’, St Michael’s Church. It states (correctly) that the church does not have a television licence, and concludes (falsely) that it is acting ‘against the law’ since ‘businesses’ too must have licences."

Sometimes I wonder why these people seem to have absolutely no intelligence. 15 years ago my mother was nearly arrested because she refused to pay for a colour tv license (she only owned a black and white). The BBC always refuse to see reason. The people who harrass innocent Britons like this should lose their jobs now and quickly. The BBC could save a lot of money from not writing letters to innocents.

Much has happened

Much has happened in the week I was away. The Mumbai attacks reminded us all how quickly normality can be shed for terror. I have no doubt that those responsible should be hunted down and brought to justice. A British Parliamentrian was arrested for serving the public interest. I supported 42 days, I don't support a police state and that is what this appeared to be. And a Swedish MEP who was simply following his conscience was unable to move sects to the ED within the broader EPP-ED pact in the European Parliament. I don't understand, can Euro politicians not see that it is things like this that are the reason the EU is held in such low esteem? The EU should cherish and care about democracy from the local to EU level.

New Labour is dead, Long live Brown's Labour!

New Labour is dead. It won power by promising to never raise the rate of income tax. Its last central tenet is now gone since the banks were nationalised (although i confess that was necessary to avoid a Depression).  Now i suspect, Brown is going to discover a radical streak. Expect more and more 'old labour' policies over the coming months. It may actually make him popular, you never know.

The devil's in the small print

I apologise-was out of contact for a few days and must now catch up on the world.

The Devil's in the small print. On the face of it a 45% tax rate for those earning more than 150000 pounds a year (the bankers that got us into the mess people say) look relatively fair if it were to be temporary. The problem is that it is a clear act of class war by Labour. The amount raised is a miniscule 2 bn, wiped out by the cost of a 2.5% cut in VAT. The devil is in the small print, there is a national insurance rise for those earning over 40K. It's ridiculous, as Iain Martin says, Labour is punishing aspiration. 

Huge numbers of not very rich people fall into that bracket. They already pay 40% and now there is an even higher national insurance contribution. These are people who scrimp and save to pay massive mortgages for humble houses. Who have several hour long daily commutes because they want to live near a decent school. They are the powerhouse of what is left of Britain's economy. Why cant Labour just identify 30 billion pounds of cuts and use the money to borrow less and raise the tax threshold to take the poorest (who suffer most from recessions) out of the tax threshold, rather than taxing moderately well off and hardworking people so you can cut taxes on Nintendo Wiis and Harrods goods by 2.5%.

Where are the Navy and SAS?

An Indian Navy ship this week blew a Somali pirate ship out of the water. This is wonderful news. Where however, is the British navy? This is our job, we should be sending the fleet to destroy pirate ships and protect trade vessels through the time tested convoy system. There are also British Subjects being held hostage by these pirates. Where is the SAS when you need them? It cant be that difficult to land a helicopter on an oil tanker.

Lobby Passes

The issue of lobby passes for bloggers has come up. I believe that some blogs, like 

Coffee House or Guido Fawkes should be allowed to have lobby passes to report from inside parliament, it might be a useful insight, there must, however, be a limit, perhaps 3, on the number of blog lobby passes. Many bloggers would probably refuse a lobby pass but i think that in terms of opening up parliament, bloggers with lobby passes would be able to provide a more gossipy, sometimes more interesting insight into parliament than newsprint and tv lobby correspondents. 

BNP members should be hounded

Everyone must have read about the BNP member's list leak. There has been a raft of quotes from people on the list saying how they worried for their jobs but were not racist. You should have thought about that before you joined a well known racist organisation I say. Why shouldn't you be exposed for the dangerous little inner skinheads that you are? I am happy to freely admit that I am from the John Hutton brand of politics. Lose your job for being a BNP member? You will get another...Then you might notice they haven't all been stolen by pakis as you think!

Guardian Adverts

Interesting point being chatted about on many blogs (and an interesting video on the daily telegraph website of Rod Liddle and Simon Heffer) is Boris Johnson's (although they don't always give him the credit for pointing this out) pointing out that the government spends vast amounts advertising for bureaucrats in the Guardian, diversity officers that sort of thing. Sounds outrageous and like many other bloggers I hope it is soon stopped.

Freeze spending but dont cut it and it should be enough.

Just came through on the wires that David Cameron says the Tories are no longer going to match Labour's public spending plans. This is good news to all who care about the budget deficit. It indicates that spending freezes and cuts in all non-key institutions may be brought about under a Tory administration. Obviously I am opposed to any reduction in the quality of service provided by Transport, Health, Education etc (we should be helping people at least the same in a downturn) but there are serious efficiencies to be made which can start with targets for the reduction of spending. Then heath managers will look to cut the number of unnecessary consultant and councillors may look closely at the taxi bills run up by social services.

The only problem with this announcement is that those on the Tory right who favour unfunded tax cuts may smell blood and demand immediate pledges on tax with no references to how to fund them. Here 'Boy George' (as Peter Hain referred to him yesterday) must stand his ground with his admirable policy of no unfunded tax cuts.

Stirrings over the weekend

This blog caused quite a stir on internet blogsites a couple of days ago.http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/robert_winnett/blog/2008/11/14/how_the_conservatives_lose_the_next_election

King Charles III it should be

Prince Charles turned 60 last week amidst much speculation over whether he would ever actually be King. A poll in 2005 suggested that many thought he should renounce his claim to the throne in favour of William.

This would be a deep mistake.

What is the point of having a monarchy if it is not hereditary? If only those popular with the whim of the youth of today are the only ones to rise to throne. What is the point? If that is the case then let us just abolish the monarchy altogether.

I am not serious, the monarchy should stay (I will doubtless explain reasons why in a later blogpost, today let me keep to the issue of the day). But it would be a precursor to the abolishment of that noble institution, an institution which does so much work, charitable and political, that attracts so much tourism. How can we deny a man the throne on accounts that he is older than his son? King Charles III should one day sit on that throne in Westminster Abbey and have the crown put on his head. King William V will just have to wait his turn......

Osborne and Cameron face a choice

Osborne and Cameron face a choice. If Osborne were to go it would be better for the country, the next Tory Chancellor would be a heavyweight such as Ken Clarke or William Hague. His departure, however, would be a disaster for the Tory Party and would seriously cause a crisis of confidence in the Leader of the Opposition. Osborne is out of touch, he made a serious error of judgement and should probably have resigned straight away to limit the damage of yachtgate. As it is he should stay and prove himself over the next few months, announcing changes to tax policy etc and correctly challenging the Pre-Budget report.

Osborne has not made himself popular, he does not want unfunded tax cuts. There is, however, no reason that there should not be funded tax cuts.  Prove yourself George, pledge to get rid of waste and pork barrelling. Identify the useless services you would cut (such as the regional development agencies or a freeze on new spending for holyrood). "Share the proceeds of spending cuts" between a moderate tax cut for the lower paid and reducing the deficit. You may not become popular with your party once more but you can still be popular with future generations.

De Spencer

This is my first blog post. De Spencer blog is an analysis of British politics with a free market fiscal conservative and yet socially liberal bent. I intend to post once a day on a current political issue.