Suing the FSB

By Peter Troy
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I have always been very frank about my view of the UK's largest business organisation, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) of which I am a member. For many years I was both a recruitment manager and activist for the organisation. I was and remain firmly committed to the founding principles of the now 220,000 member strong organisation.

Two weeks ago I felt that had no alternative other than to issue a claim in my local County Court for £4714.50 against the FSB, an action I took after careful consideration not least because I believe that my suing could be seriously and perhaps deliberately misunderstood.

The FSB has now confirmed that it intends to defend my action. The long and sorry tale that has led to this state of affairs started back in May 2006 when the FSB North East Regional Committee passed a motion proposed by the Regional Secretary Pamela Wright and seconded by her husband (now the National Chairman) John Wright to send me to Coventry, to use a trade union term. (John Wright was for many years a NALGO branch secretary and also an NEC member) . My 'offence' was to ask too many questions concerning the policy stance of the FSB in the North East over a period of some 14 months.

My questions were centered of the issue of how dangerously close I felt the FSB had become to close to the regional government agencies in the North East of England and that I was firmly of the belief that that the North Eastern organisation of the FSB needed to be far more rigorous in its lobbying activities in key issues with elected politicians. The Policy Unit of the FSB in the NE of England despite promises failed, in my considered opinion in 2006 to undertake any meaningful lobbying of NE local and national politicians on key issues. This dispute was a long time coming since for some time I had argued that the North East of England's policy team of the FSB was dominated by Labour Party supporters to the detriment of the Federation's A-political stance.

At a committee meeting The North East Regional Committee voted to ignore any further questions or queries from me and even when told later by the National Secretary of the FSB that they could not take that action they refused to apologize. My subsequent complaint against certain (most) members of the regional committee was the subject of an internal hearing before the FSB's Disputes and Disciplinary Committee (D&DC) on 26 June last year. My complaint was upheld in a detailed judgment dated 14 August 2007 which required the respondents to my complaint to apologize to me or face suspension from office for a period of time. Curiously the D&DC also imposed a sanction which was to expel me from the FSB; despite the fact that no complaint or indeed counter complaint was ever made against me. All the respondents to my complaint, bar one, apologized to me in writing as instructed.

I wrote to the Hon. National Secretary of the FSB, David Dexter on 30 August and again later in September to protest at the absurdity of the situation. Clearly it is very wrong that when a member complains about the wrongful actions of others and when that complaint is upheld he is thrown out of the organisation without the due process of a proper complaint and in blatant disregard for the principles of natural justice. The response of the FSB to my protests was to instruct solicitors who demanded that I summit an appeal based upon a point or points of law. Well I had no problem doing that and neither did my legal team but what should have been seen by the Directors of the Federation as an obvious breach of natural justice and their own rules became an expensive legal tangle requiring me to obtain detailed legal advice and action from specialist Lawyers.

Following a learned legal submission from my Barrister the Appeal Committee of the FSB confirmed, unanimously, that the D&DC of the FSB had acted in error and was in clear breach of its own rules in attempting to impose the sanction to expel me from an organisation that for many years I had been a very active and supportive member of.

As I state in my claim to the court: '' Had I not sought appropriate professional legal advice I would have been unfairly expelled from the organisation by order of the D&DC {of the FSB} who had fundamentally ignored the rules and procedures of the organisation and also of natural justice.

Given that the Federation had clearly breached its own rules and the terms of the arrangements of the organization's complaints procedures my Solicitor was firmly of the view that it was quite unreasonable of the Federation of Small Businesses to reject my claim for costs because as the Federation's Solicitors wrote: '' it is not in the rules to pay costs in the event of a successful claim''. Well my point is that it is not right for the Federation to rely upon the very same rules that it sought to ride rough shod over. This sorry tale is not a situation where I sought to appeal the decision to expel me simply because I disagreed with the decision itself. Neither is it a situation where I felt the decision had been reached by adhering to the principles of the FSB and natural justice. It was only when confronted with the work undertaken by my legal team that Appeals Committee accepted that I had been wronged, but reused to pay my legal costs to wright that wrong.

So there we have it I was first sent to Coventry by the FSB in the North East for asking too many questions that they did not like, then threatened with expulsion after complaining about the actions of certain activists and finally left out of pocked to the tune of over £4,700 defending my right to be a member in which I was at one time a high profile activist (enter Peter Troy FSB into Google Search). The important point of principle is that as the Federation of Small Businesses is so seriously out of order in their attempt to expel me (now by their own admission) they should of course, pay my legal costs.

After all of the above am I still a supporter of the FSB? Indeed I am, provided the well resourced organisation fights (I mean truly fights and not placates) the most anti small businesses government that has ever ruled this country. By that I do not mean our government in Westminster (though its track record in helping small businesses is mostly hype) I am of course referring to our true supreme government based quite firmly in all its huge glory (and vast cost) in Brussels. Further more the package of FSB member benefits represents excellent value to the small business operator particularly in the current claimant of huge over regulation that acts without doubt as a significant barrier (erected mostly by the EU) to business growth.

However further evidence, if it is needed, that the FSB do not like to be told that they are placating our political masters in Brussels against the wishes of the majority of their members is best provided in the sorry tale of injustice above. The case continues.

More Great Deception

Our dear Government will later this week announce that legislation will be introduced to Parliament shortly to remove the restrictions on flag flying that have been in force since 1924. The new laws will allow public buildings to erect flagpoles and fly national flags including the cross of St George, the Saltire of Scotland and the Red Dragon of Wales every day. At present flags from Public Buildings is restricted to 18 days a year which of course includes the Queens official birthday.

The rule - which has actually been widely flouted for some time - only allows the Union Flag to be flown at half mast on the order of Her Majesty is soon to be relaxed to allow the Union and National Flags to be flown at half mask to mark the death of a significant person in the community without royal permission.

Regrettably the government is also expected to scrap rules which state that the Union Flag must take precedence over all national flags. At the present time the flag of St George must not be flown in a superior position to a the Union Flag and may only at present be flown on government buildings with two flagpoles. This change will be yet an other blow it an already fragile Union of the 'United Kingdom'.

As for the regulations concerning the flying of the ring of yellow stars on a blue background which is the flag of our true government, the European Union (EU) there remains some confusion. Since the EU, the supreme law maker of our land (Section 2:2 of the European Communities Act 1972) then clearly the 'ring of barbed wire' as it is often referred to on this blog should be given precedence since that is the by whom we are governed, Her Majesties Subjects in the UK are ruled by the EU.

Whilst it may well appear good as the Sunday Telegraph front page headline put it yesterday to think that '' Britain's free at last to fly the flag'' the reality is that particularly following the ratification into UK law of the Lisbon Reform Treaty with the EU - in effect a new constitution for the EU and importantly also for the UK the people of the UK will be further unfree free, in that they are governed by an unaccountable government based in Brussels (yes indeed there is a EU Parliament, hence the term unaccountable).

The latest encouragement by the UK government to fly the flag is in reality a part of the 35 year great deception of the British people, it is a facade. Unlike our cousins across the pond who can fly the Stars and Stripes in meaningful statement of their self determination we in the UK fly the Union Flag as a member state (one of 27) of the EU with increasingly less autonomy in key areas than any one of the 50 States in the US.

The Gurkers and EU Law

By Dr Richard North

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"There are times when the routine irritation we all feel with the idiocies that take place daily in government is supplanted by splenetic anger caused by something truly outlandish."So writes Philip Johnston in The Daily Telegraph, one of many to add his voice to the growing campaign for equal treatment for Gurkhas.

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The particular grievance is that, while Gurkhas who retired from the Army after 1997 may be granted indefinite leave to enter the UK and can then apply to become UK citizens, those who retired before the cut-off date have no such rights.

The technical difference is that, prior to 1997, the Brigade of Gurkhas was based in Hong Kong while, after that – with the return of the colony to the Chinese – the Brigade has been based in the UK.This may seem only a technical difference, but technicalities are everything – when it comes to EU law. And there, the huge but ever-present elephant slumbers on in the corner of the room, ignored by all and sundry.

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However, the admission of third-country nationals to the UK and the rules for citizenship are set out not in UK law but by the EU, specifically Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003, "concerning the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents".Within the framework of reference of this EU law, Ghurkas who were based on Britain – i.e., post 1997 – conform with the entry requirements set out. Those who were engaged prior to that do not. It really is as simple as that.

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It is all very well for Philip Johnston thus to write, "It is time to honour our debt to the Gurkhas," but – in the eyes of our government - we have a greater "loyalty" to the European Union, and an absolute obligation to obey EU law.How interesting it is therefore that the front runner in the campaign to afford "equal rights" to the Gurkhas is former commission official and MEP Nick Clegg, temporarily leader of the Lib-Dims. Yet he, like the others – had they been bothered to find out – should know that our provincial government, in framing the rules, is bound by the provisions of the EU law, and has no room for manoeuvre.

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Nor should the fact that the EU increasingly governs our immigration law come as any surprise. Since Maastricht – under the Justice and Home Affairs chapter – immigration policy has become a competence of the EU and, progressively, the EU is working towards a Common Immigration Policy, defining the rules under which third country nationals may enter.The details of the elements for a common EU immigration policy were EU set out at the October 1999 European Council in Tampere (Finland) and confirmed in 2004. We – or, in this instance, the Gurkhas – are now paying the price.

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Furthermore, as long as we are members of the European Union, this is how it must be. Third country nationals who become British citizens also acquire rights as "EU citizens", set out in the infamous Directive 2004/38/EC. These include the rights to bring in their spouses, parents, parents-in-law and children, all of whom then acquire citizenship rights.

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So it is that the EU must set the rules, which define not only entry to the UK but to the whole of "fortress Europe", and the UK has no choice but to obey.

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What we have here, therefore, is another example of the infantile refusal of the "chattering classes" to acknowledge and accept that, in many respects, we are no longer an independent nation and that our rules are set by our supreme government in Brussels.

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How much easier it is to wax splenetic at the injustice of it all and to pontificate endlessly about what the government should or should not do, rather that grow up and accept the reality of what we have become - an offshore province of the European Union.

The Easter Sunday Quote

''The Bible tells us to love our neighbours and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people. ''

G K Chesterton

Absurd

A convited paedophile who has lived in Australia for 56 years is deported to the UK, despite having emigrated from the UK at the age of five. He never applied for Australian citizenship, but he has no immediate social or family support network in the UK. On the other hand, the Court of Appeal in the UK has decided that a 38-year-old Italian, repeat offender who lives in Newport, Gwent, cannot be deported back to Italy. See all the absurd details on the excellent EU Referendum blogsite.

Lack of Debate

On 5 March MPs rejected a referendum on the re-named EU Constitution the Lisbon (or Reform Treaty). A Conservative Party amendment for a referendum was defeated by a majority of 63 votes - 311 votes to 248.

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A second referendum amendment, put down by rebel Labour MPs, was defeated by a majority of 64 votes.

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The way that this treaty has been forced through Parliament lacks all legitimacy. Government promises of a public vote, of 'line-by-line scrutiny' and then of plentiful time to debate the treaty have all been broken. Large swathes of vital powers the treaty gifts to remote EU institutions - such as in defence, borders, future treaty revision and voting weights - have been blocked from Parliamentary debate.

The verdict of the cross-party House of Commons European Scrutiny Committee that the Treaty is "substantially equivalent" to the EU Constitution has also been completely ignored by the Government and large numbers of MPs.

Most serious of all, various polls show that the Government has utterly failed to convince the public that the Lisbon Treaty is not the EU Constitution re-named, yet have still refused to honour their clear manifesto promise of a public vote.

How individual MPs voted can now be seen on the ReferendumList website. Essentially, the bulk of the Conservatives were supported by 29 Labour MPs, 15 Liberal Democrats, the Scottish and Welsh nationalist parties and some independents. But this was not enough to overcome the Government's majority.

Not Safe for Saftey Partnership

Evidence, if it is still required, that Speed Cameras (roadside robotic tax collectors) are really all about fund raising and not road safety can be found on the front page of The Sunday Telegraph today.

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A short piece by Richard Gray reports that so called road safety cameras on the M275 near Portsmouth are pointed only towards the three three slower lanes and not, importantly, towards the fast lane of the motorway. Apparently the Hampshire Road Safety Partnership, which installed the cameras in the interests of road safety of course, have confirmed that in the interests of safety it is not possible to place the cameras in a position where they are likely to be most effective at recording excessively speeding motorists. Yet an other piece of very British crass stupidity in the name of safety!

Tibet - One Reason To Boycott the Olympic Games

There are many reasons why this blog will, along with others be totaly boycotting the forthcoming Olympic Games in China. One such reason is the abuse of the peoples of Tibet over the past 55 years, little of the historical detail of the horrendous detail of China's dreadful occupation of Tibet is being discussed in the mainline media.

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The Leaders of the EU member states have recently been going through the motions on the Chinese action in Tibet, asking for "restraint" on the part of the Chinese authorities and for "for human rights to be respected". However, the EU's Slovenian presidency has not yet agreed on a joint declaration with members – but it very little matters if they do. Fine words butter no parsnips, as they say, and if you want a real indicator of what the people of Tibet mean to EU members, look to the Booker column today in The Sunday Telegraph.

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On the country's northern edge, Christopher Booker writes, six months of snow and record low temperatures have created a catastrophe in the Chinese province of Chingai. According to China's official news agency, 500,000 animals have died and three million people face starvation. When a similar if much smaller crisis 10 years ago hit Ladakh, in northern Kashmir, thousands of lives were saved by the expert intervention of a British charity, ApTibet, working with the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Relief Committee.

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No charity would be better placed to save lives in Chingai than ApTibet, of which the Dalai Lama is the patron. It has carried out more than 150 aid projects in India and Tibet, funded by many well-known trusts and individual donors, more than 50 of them co-financed by the European Commission (EC).But this is no longer possible.

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Two years ago, after China and Europe became "strategic partners" under an agreement signed by Tony Blair, the EU's acting president, in December 2005, the Commission suspended ApTibet's operations because of its link to the Dalai Lama. Since then, it has done all it can to close the charity down, such as demanding repayment of €451,000 (£340,000) it had given ApTibet for a project in Chingai which it had approved, inspected and signed off as satisfactory.

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The European Coommision has become so ruthless in its desire to appease its "strategic partner" that it is now threatening to recoup a further £1.5 million from the charity. It is also demanding legal costs of £75,000 for a court case brought by ApTibet's trustees in fighting for the charity's survival.Doubtless in Beijing, the EU's "strategic partners" are happy. Meanwhile, its troops are again shooting at Tibetans in the streets of Lhasa, while to the north, three million people are starving, without any hope of assistance from the outside world.

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If Mr Blair hopes to become President of Europe (unlikely though that might be), we should be aware what sort of government he aspires to preside over, concludes Booker. One thing for sure, Blair knows already.

The Sunday Quote

''Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity.''

Lord Acton (1834-1902)

Who is in Charge?

As the credit crisis engulfed the 85-year-old Bear Stearns investment bank and the US Federal Reserve with JP Morgan Chase combined to provide emergency finance, there are very real fears of an economic meltdown engulfing the global financial system. Unfounded or not, we would still like to think that there is someone in charge on this side of the pond a matter which is examined on EU Referendum

Car Wars

The anti-car war continues unabated. We are greatful to The Tax Payers Alliance have produced this handy database which allows you to check how Alistair Darling's new Budget changes the tax you will have to pay on your car. It lists every model of car currently on sale in the UK and thousands that have been on sale in recent years, and has already attracted thousands of users.

As well as the application for individuals, though, "What's My Car Tax?" reveals some shocking facts about the Budget as a whole. Whilst Alistair Darling dressed the changes up as a green measure to hit extravagant cars, it will actually increase the tax on 88% of available car models in the UK - including large numbers of modest family cars.

What's more, the increase in tax on various vehicles is, to say the very least, surprising. The notoriously un-green US produced Hummer incurs a rise of 14%, whereas the humble Nissan Micra will rise up to 24%. That's hardly a downsizing message.

The media have given a lot of prominence to the study, including the main front page story in the Telegraph, whose Leader attributed the report to the "ever-vigilant TaxPayers' Alliance". Particularly recomended is: A new Chancellor, and a new stealth tax.

An Other Boring Budget

The budget hasn't been a politically engaging event for some time now. We know we're going to get screwed. All that matters is how and how much. But even that isn't a concern at this stage. Her Majestie's lackluster Government have just about sussed that they've pushed their luck and shouldn't push it any further if they wish to keep the public disengaged from politics.

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Many commontators half expecting a raft of more green taxes but they aren't that stupid. They know it's not washing with us. We even knew that expensive 4x4's would get a hit, but who among us buys them new anyway? Everybody was expecting fags 'n' booze to go up and no-one is the least bit concerned. We will adapt as we always have.

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In this respect successive UK governments can be compaired to first world war generals persisting in sending troops over the top in the certain knowledge they will be slaughtered in the first ten seconds. Just because it didn't work the first hundred times, doesn't deter them from doing it again and again.

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There is of course no sign of action on the emerging economic crisis because announcing solutions means admitting there's a problem. Meanwhile the rest of the western world is preparing for a long and frightening battle with the bailiffs. It seems that our politicians have have learned much from their masters in Brussels. Keep it just boring enough to ensure no-one in their right mind pays any attention.

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In fact the only thing remarkable about the theatre production of the Chancellor's budget statement was the sheer contempt Labour backbenchers showed for the proceedings. Nothing new there.

The Sunday Quote

''Laws and institutions are constantly tending to gravitate. Like old clocks, they must be occasionally cleansed and wound up and set to true time.''

Henry Ward Beecher 1813 - 87. Life Thoughts (1858)

A Question of Costs

Click the image to enlarge

On Monday on this blog I will detail - now that the matter is in the public domain - why I have this week issued a County Court Claim for a speciefied amount on the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), an action that I have undertaken reluctantly. I am a supporter of the business organisation that fights for the needs of the UK's smaller business community. As an activist with the FSB for ten years I was keen that the organisation acted effectively for its members. In recent years I asked senior officials some penetrating questions since I was concerened about the direction that the FSB was taking on key policy issues both in the North East and Nationally.

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The responce of the FSB was first to ''send me to Coventry'' and later in clear breach of the FSB's own rules it was ordered that I should be expelled.

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I fought back and I remain a member of the FSB following a long legal battle which involved an appeal to a sub-committee of the Federation's Board; yet despite confirmation of a fundemental contempt for their own rules and indeed, natural justice, the FSB refuse to pay my considerable legal costs of some £4,600, so it's off to court !

That Treaty Again

This discussion of what the future of the Constitutional Reform Lisbon Treaty is likely to be in the House of Lords is by Lord Willoughby de Broke, who is now a member of UKIP. It is an updated version of an article in the current edition of eurofacts. See the piece posted on EU Referendum.

The Sunday Quote

''Politics is the art of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.''

John Kenneth Galbraith OC (1908-2006) was an influential Canadian-American economist. He was a Keynesian and an institutionalist, a leading proponent of 20th-century American liberalism and progressivism. His books on economic topics were bestsellers in the 1950s and 1960s.

A Very British Protest

Perhaps the polite, well behaved EU referendum lobbyists should have spurned their well-ordered queues, ignored their MPs and climbed to the roof of the parliament and unfurled their banners demanding a referendum. In terms of publicity, they would have gained a great deal more. For a brief period, the "climate change protesters" Dr North at his best on EU Referendum.

Christopher Booker - The Sunday Telegraph 24 Feb 2008

EU Parliament votes not to take any notice of the people's wishes

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There were surreal scenes in Strasbourg last Wednesday as the European Parliament prepared to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by a huge majority. (It says something for the reverence in which we hold that parliament that not a singleBritish national newspaper bothered to report the fact.)

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Dressed in yellow chicken suits, three protestors against the refusal of EU governments to allow referendums on the treaty were chased round the corridors and up and down the staircases of the futuristic building by 15 burly securitymen trying to arrest them. When Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party and one of the 50 MEPs ofdifferent parties who have been leading the pro-referendum campaign, wassummoned to this fracas, he was interviewed by a television crew.Pointing out that no officials had intervened last month when the parliament wasinvaded by anti-GM Greens dressed as bananas, he asked why it was onlypro-democracy protestors who had to be silenced?At the end of the interview, Anne-Margrete Wachmeister, head of the parliament'saudio-visual unit, gave orders that Mr Farage' s comments must not be broadcast.Overhearing this, Shirin Wheeler, presenter of the World Service's Recordprogramme (and daughter of the distinguished BBC correspondent Charles Wheeler)intervened to say that, unless this order was withdrawn, the BBC would withdraw its parliamentary coverage from both Strasbourg and Brussels. The officialbacked down. Meanwhile in the chamber itself the battle continued.

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When it was proposed that the parliament "would respect the result of the Irish referendum", the only one to be allowed on the treaty, only 129 MEPs (including one Tory, Nirj Deva)supported it, while 499 (including four Tories) voted that the wishes of theIrish people should not be respected. But what if they vote in favour of thetreaty? It is good to know that our democracy is in such reliable hands.

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This Wednesday there will be a mass lobby of MPs at the House of Commons organised by the all-party "I Want A Referendum" campaign. At 2pm I will be at the Central Hall, opposite Parliament, to kick off an afternoon of speeches in support of the campaign, which is also this month staging 10 constituency-wide referendums involving half a million voters. I hope to see a good many Sunday Telegraph readers there.

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Don't mention the £43 billion

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A shock-horror report in last week's Sunday Times, based on the latest annual "barometer" from the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), showed that the cost of new regulations to UK businesses, according to Government figures, had soared last year by a record £10 billion.Their total cost since 1998 is a staggering £66 billion. All this, according tothe article, could be blamed on the Labour Government.

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Nowhere did it mention the EU. But a look at the BCC's press release shows that the origin of these regulations were clearly apportioned between the EU and our own Government. And by far the most costly examples, such as the regulations on working time (£16 billion),vehicle emissions (£9 billion) and data protection (£7 billion), all originated from Brussels. Of the top 10, eight were based on EU directives and the remaining two both hada strong EU dimension. These 10 alone imposed a total cost of £43 billion.

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In other words the suffocating cost of these laws can hardly be blamed just on Messrs Blair and Brown. They emanated from what is now in most respects the true government of our country. One can understand why politicians are so anxious to hide this. But why should journalists be quite so ready to follow suit?

The Sunday Quote

"In every generation there has to be some fool who will speak the truth as he sees it."

Boris Pasternak Author (1890 - 1960)

Petrol Prices

From today's Northern Echo, click to enlarge

The issues raised in the piece were 'aired' in a piece posted last week. Vehicle fuel in the UK reamains the most expensive in the Western World. Why ? Clearly it is time for the price of vehicle fuel to be the subject of a public watch dog. The British motorist - particularly thoes that are high milage drivers have recenly seen a huge jump in the price of their unavoidable overhead. Hardest hit are the nations small businesses. Perhaps the Federation of Small Businesses will lobby our political masters on the issue?

The Sunday Quote

Law -" Laws are like spiders' webs which, if anything small falls into them they ensnare it, but large things break through and escape."

Solon, quoted in Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers by Diogenes Laertius, c AD 225

Of Fat Minutes and Fat Government

Since one has been talking about Fat Minutes all week (see the Warriors button on the right) One felt it was in keeping to link this rather neat piece from The Tax Payers Alliance Web site - Put Fat Government on a diet to make the cake grow.

The End of Week Quote

From The Daily Telegraph, 15 Feb 2008.

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Sir,

The Govoner of the Bank of England is warning us that inflation might reach three percent. Could he tell us which food and fuel both vehicle and domestic, supplies he uses ? Not to mention which tax regime to which he is subject. I for one, would like to enjoy such low costs.

Robert Fletcher

Broadstone, Dorset.

A Right Royal Political Move

"In a clear political move," writes The Daily Mail when HRH Prince Charles addressed the EU parliament telling MEPs they needed to show a more "determined" leadership on global warming. To an invited audience – where no questions were permitted – he declared, "The doomsday clock of climate change is ticking ever faster towards midnight. Dr North's take on the issue is posted on EU Referendum.

The Windbusters

Last Sunday Christopher Booker reminded us in his Sunday Telegraph column of the great wind scam. A bonanza enjoyed by the developers of wind turbines thanks to the hidden subsidy we all give them through our electricity bills. Under the Government's Renewable Obligation, they receive twice as much for such electricity as the owners of conventional power stations: a 100 per cent top up which makes our wind energy the most heavenly subsidized commodity in British history.

As Mr Booker points out the math's behind the logic of the Giant windmills is faulty considering that they can only produce 27 per cent of capicy due to the wind only blowing in sufficient force at that per centage of the time. To meet the EU target of 38 per cent of of electricity Britain will in fact need 21,000 turbines by 2020. Which will require the building of two giant wind turbines per day over the next 12 years.The British Wind Energy Association the wind energy's lobby group recons that we only need 8,000 of the giant windmills both on and off shore. Apparently they have not allowed for the fact that the wind does not blow hard enough all the time!

So as our nations green and pleasant land is blotted by these giant sops to the Green movement we the consumer (and tax payer) have to continue to subsidize this crazy project. There has to be a better way ....................

Editor's Note. The above image is simulated. The Lancaster Bomber did not really drop a bomb on a very green and environmentally friendly giant wind turbine and no wild rabbits were harmed (or even frightened) in the production of this posting.

The Publicist

Fat Minutes, BNI Referrals, Media Training calls from journalists with note pads and microphones have all conspired to prevent frequent blogging. Fans and detractors alike are invited to view my updated business website to view what I have been up to in recent months on the old publicity front. Regular viewers need not worry there are some Troyesque postings in the making. Click Peter Troy -The Publicist on: www.the-publicist.co.uk/

Our God and our Wright

''I think that a lot of employment law acts against job creation in this sector [small businesses] I know many small businesses who would like to to employ someone but darn't''. You are often confronted with huge documents of regulations. Yet if 4.5 million businesses employed one extra person, it would have a phenomenal impact, he says. 'We should be more like America, where businesses employing up to five people are exempt from a lot of the legislation' ''

The quote is from John Wright, Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) from an interview in the 'in house' magazine 'Voice' published and dispatched to the expanding number of Federation members (currently 210,000 ) this week.

Mr Wright is right in highlighting the burdensome effect of employment laws. Indeed he should know all about the effects of the massive volume of employment law which has impacted on businesses since for many years (going back to when he was a Trade Union activist with NALGO) Chairman Wright has sat on many employment tribunals in his native northeast of England.

Though being more like America (Mr Wright means the USA) is most defiantly not on the agenda of our actual government now based in Brussels. Such a concept is not an acceptable part of the ethos of the all embracing European Union (EU). It is of course in the complex and often bewildering institutions of the EU that the UK's employment laws (and all other significant laws) originate which since 1974 British governments have dutifully implemented onto the UK's statute book.

A glance at (http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/progress/index_en.htm) the EU's web site which describes the EU’s new employment and social solidarity programme (titled PROGRESS) will confirm that the Mediterranean will freeze over before our political and bureaucratic masters in the EU (they are but one) will allow small businesses any significant (and probably none at all) concession on the ever increasing volume of EU employment regulations which, as John Wright points out, are hampering growth of small businesses in the UK.

Whilst our cousins in the USA can trust in God (and self government) we in the UK have no choice (because our Parliament so wills it) other than to trust in the EU (without the advantage of self government), a point that Mr Wright of the FSB does not mention in his interview.

Cruel Fuel

Last November the price or petrol and diesel crossed the £1 per litre mark when the cost of oil spiked at $100 per barrel and is currently averaging, for petrol, a huge 103 pence per litre across the country at petrol stations.

Since the price hike of last autumn the recent 12 per cent slide in the price of crude oil has been matched only by a measly 1.8 per cent price reduction at the pumps.

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Whilst HM Treasury continues to regard vehicle fuel as a cash cow - taxing the over regulated motorist with ever increasing excess (in keeping with the small businesses community, which is tough if you are both a small business and a high mileage motorist) there is little chance that our political masters will see fit to appoint an oil price regulator or indeed focus the Office of Fair Trade on the issue.

As the Editor of this blog has tirelessly pointed out over the past 8 years British motorists are (unwittingly, mostly) paying about 74 per cent of the cost of filling up their tanks in tax. For every £40 of fuel close on £30 is tax - a combination of VAT and Duty. Few realise that VAT is levied on both the Duty as well as the retail price of the fuel - a tax on a tax in fact. Imagine the protests if British motorists saw the price of the fuel displayed on the pump as £5.20 and then a tax man demanding a further £14.80 at the till, that is what in effect happens every hour of every day this over taxed nation of ours.

Since British supermarkets account for 25 per cent of UK petrol fuel sales; Her Majesty's taxperson (with the authority of the EU) taking a huge share there is little hope of real financial relief for the UK motorist. This despite a huge world surplus of crude oil (US gasoline inventory) since apparently the economic laws of supply and demand do not apply to International Petro Chemical companies.

So there we have it (again), the choice for those of a campaigning nature is simple either another Very British Revolt (the title of the Channel 5 documentry on the Peoples Fuel Lobby in 2000) or we protest by cycling not motoring.

Patientline's Prognosis

The Board of Patientline, now well recognized as the most despised private company in Britain, were compelled under company law last month to gather their shareholders to an embarrassing meeting at the troubled hospital telecoms group's headquarters in Slough.

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The situation is that the company is seriously failing and in the process is continuing to add considerable stress in some 70 hospitals across the country. Following an article in Yours magazine at the end of last year the editor of this blog receives regular calls from relatives of mostly elderly patients accross the country concerning the frustrations and cost caused by Patientline's operational failures.

The painful decline of Patientline following well spun support from Tony Blair's 'Patient Power' programme during the height of the 2001 telecoms bubble is well documented both on this blog and in the MSM. Once Patientline was a stock market darling, as shares soared to more than 200p but they have since fallen by more than 99% and are currently only worth around half of one penny. The long term omens were never good: Patientline floated in March 2001 at 175p, just as the dotcom bubble burst. With dealers' screens around the world turning red the shares closed down 8½p on the first day of trading.

Patientline had promised to revolutionise hospital wards. Its system - the first of which was installed in Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, in 1995 - not only allowed patients to talk to relatives and watch TV, it also promised to allow staff to read electronic notes at a patient's bedside and enable patients to order food. Derek Lewis, the ambitious chief executive of Patientline, claimed the system would save lives. The technology, however, was not cheap and the company's directors showed little understanding how to control the monster they had created.

The cost of installing terminals was substantial, at around an estimated £1,400 a bed, the quality of equipment was poor and the ability to provide an acceptable level of service proved beyond capabilities of the company's senior management.

Patientline footed the bill for installing over 72,000 terminals across the UK in return for an exclusive 15-year contract with NHS trusts. The huge investment - it has run up losses of £100m since floating in March 2001 - has never paid off. Principally because as we have stated many times on this blog Patientline failed to understand the needs of its patients and constantly over charged for a unreliable TV and telecom services.

The company tried to recover its investment by a crazy attempt to raise call charges by 160pc which sparked a political outcry and it was forced to back down; following huge publicity on the operational short comings of Patientline (which this blog took an active part in exposing).

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A damming decision by Ofcom that an overlong recorded message (which callers had no option but to pay for) played to callers to patients informing them of the maximum potential cost of their calls caused further damage to Patientline's thin credibility.

The loss making group currently has around £90m of debt, which continues to rise as revenues continue to fall and Patientline's auditors have raised "significant doubts" over the its ability to continue as a going concern. Despite which Patientline continues to advertise for new staff (operational staff turnover is massive) and at least 30 per cent of its hospital ward bedside units are now in some way faulty at any one time.

The prognosis for Patientline's shareholders doesn't look good and petitions signed by distressed patients and their relatives continues to arrive in Very British Subjects Royal Mail mail delivery. It really is time now for political intervention, this company must be forced to cease trading it is simply causing to much distress to sick people which will only get worse as it festers in its self created corporate decay.

The Sunday Quote

''As the French say, there are three sexes - men, women and clergymen.''

Sydney Simith 1771 - 1845 (Lady Holland Memoir)

This Turbulent Priest

There is no avoiding variants in the UK press this week of Henry II’s alleged comment, which sent the four knights on their deadly mission to Canterbury in December 1170.

The Editor of this blog (not in fashion with most chroniclers of English History) has some sympathy for king Henry when he apparantly snapped in a fit of pique: '' will no one rid me of this turbulent priest'' or something roughly equivalent in medieval French. Thus it was that four knights at his Norman court took his words at face value and travelled across to England to assassinate the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas A' Becket.
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Henry II is without doubt one of the great kings of England. He laid down the basic principles of our legal system establishing the principles of trial by jury and many other cornerstones of English law which were later to be enshrined in Magna Carter of 1215. Henry's principle political opponent was Becket who led the objection to the legal reforms because it weakened the power of the Catholic Church. Up to that time Church-law controlled from the Vatican in Europe dominated without challenge all legal proceedings (such as they were ). Thus in somewhat general terms one can well understand Henry II's frustration since interference from Europe in our nation's governance is nothing new.

Anyway Dr Helen Szamuely who is is Head of Research at the Bruges Group, co-author of the hugely successful EU Referendum blog and author of Conservative History blog as well as editor of the Conservative History Journal, co-author with Bill Jamieson of A 'Coming Home' or Poisoned Chalice? and with Dennis O'Keeffe of Samizdat, writes an excellent piece following the recent comments by the present Archbishop of Canterbury.

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Dr Szamuely writes: Sadly, the story has become too big for us to ignore and it does fit in with one of our usual themes – the need for a British identity to be defined. There has been a great deal written about Dr William's lecture and interview on Radio 4 both in the MSM and on the blogosphere. A lot of it is quite good, a lot of it uninteresting and predictable, a good deal very silly. The full piece is posted on EU Referendum.

A Euro Free Zone

Thank God (and the late Sir James Goldsmith) that Britain is not in the Euro. Had we been inside the eurozone since Blair tried to slide us in the 1990s, our rates of interest would have been so low that the UK property boom would have been as barmy as Ireland's. As it is people complain that the young cannot afford to get on the property ladder. Inside the Euro, the problem would have become far worse with average price houses valued at GBP 160,000, possibly as much as doubling, making most owners of middle class houses into GBP-equivalent millionaires. Read more on by our fellow blogger which is posted on The Tap Blog

Fresh IRA Offensive

Police officers, soldiers and the British mainland are being targeted by the 'Real IRA' as the terrorist bring their internal reorganisation to a close and prepare a fresh terrorist offensive. The reports over the last two days in the Sunday Tribune and Belfast Telegraph - ignored as usual by the BBC - quote Real IRA 'Army Council' The full story is posted by a fellow blogger on The Waendel Journal

The Brigadier

As promised posted above is the Obituary of Brigadier Terrance Michael Troy CBE (1922-2007) which was written by Alasdair Crosby and published in the Jersey Evening Post last December. The article can be enlarged by clicking on the image.

The Brigadier was well known to many hundreds of people from all walks of life both in his native Jersey and across the world not only for his distinguished Army career but also for his many sterling works of public service. Last week I was honoured to receive a hand written note from Baron Healey (Rt Hon Dennis Healey, formerly Secretary of State of Defence) to who's office my Uncle was posted in the late 1960's at the Ministry of Defence prior to his appointment as Senior British Officer at CENTO in Turkey in 1973. The note offered Barron Healey's condolences adding ''he was a great man''. Indeed he was and thus is deeply missed.

For the benefit of future generations Terry Troy has left behind extensive memoirs, documents and photographs covering his eventful life, with the help of various members of my family it is my intention to edit and then publish these items for the benefit of others who have an interest in 20th century history. A living memorial in keeping with my Uncle's character, life and many achievements will be announced by the late Brigadier's family shortly.

Peter Troy
County Durham

Welcome to

Very British Subjects

Editor Peter Troy

Welcome to Very British Subjects

Editor Peter Troy

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Comming soon on this Blog:

Cash and PIN

Travels with Gertie

A Very British Retail Chain

The cost of Regulation increases

Of Summons and Small Businesses

Global Freezing

The polar bears make another appearance today, this time in The Sunday Telegraph, as Christopher Booker notes that "Arctic ice isn't vanishing after all". He also observes that, while there was some coverage of the chaos caused in central and southern China by their heaviest snowfalls for decades, little attention was paid to the snow that last week carpeted Jerusalem.

There Is But One Issue

Yesterday's Telegraph leader remarked that, "There should have been only one story in Parliament this week: the ratification of the European Constitution, now called the Lisbon Treaty." So the British newspapers are focused on the issue of the dreaded treaty? Errr well no, they are not. A scan of today's newspapers and the best on offer relating to the EU is a story in The Sunday Times about how Geoff Hoon, the government chief whip, last week carpeted Gisela Stuart, Frank Field and Kate Hoey over their support for the "I Want a Referendum" campaign. Quite simply the key issue of the moment in British Politics is the Lisbon Treaty.

Whilst it is quite clear clear that our Prime Minister is not going to allow a referendum on this key issue because he knows he will lose the argument if it is put to the people that is no reason why we should all just except this without a murmur. This Blog along with may others will murmur, comment , argue, protest, lobby and demonstrate. We are after all very British -it's what we do!

Reporting Crime

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has recently launched a twelve month campaign encouraging businesses to report all crime to the police every time one occurs no matter how minor.

Currently only 1 in 8 incidents are reported and crimes targeted against businesses make up one fifth of all recorded crime. Whilst Chief Constables and Politicians (there is increasingly little difference these days between the two) are keen to inform us that crime is in total on the decrease and how wonderful our Police Service is at clearing up crime. The reality for most smaller businesses is quite the opposite; crime against small business is simply not a key performance indicator in the present day Police Service (remember when our boys and girls were a Force?).

The fact is that most small business despite the government's best efforts in the past 20 years to tax and regulated them out of existence are the engine room of the British economy (very much like the hard done by commercial motorist). The essential truth is that most owner managers simply do not report crime because there is quite simply no point, a serious point that the Police at all ranks across Britain appear to be quite oblivious to. Visit the campaign website here , the situation is so bad that it can only get better.

One can only hope that the Voice of Small Businesses, the FSB, also actions a campaigning website demanding a referendum on the Lisbon ('Reform') Treaty (in accordance with its members wishes) before it is too late and small businesses go the way of the Dodo.

The Sunday Quote

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch

if you can fill the unforgiving minute

with sixty seconds worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and every thing thats in it.......

Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936) 'If ' -Published 1910.

The Purple Scorpion Stings Again

As the Major government was drawing to its close, Cecil Parkinson appeared on Question Time. He cited a statistic as showing the government's good economic performance and drew jeers from the audience. "But it's true!", he protested, missing the point. You could almost feel through the screen the audience's refusal to believe anything the government was going to tell them. Read all the piece on the very excellent blog The Purple Scorpion

The Saturday Post

Small Businesses Demand Referendum

Well now, we are pleased to report that Members of The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) overwhelmingly (90%) voted ‘yes’ on whether there should be a referendum on the new so called 'EU Reform Treaty'. In a snap poll held on the organisation’s website, the FSB, which is the UK's biggest member based business organisation with over 210,000 members, asked members the following question: ‘Do you believe that the UK Government should hold a referendum to find out the views of the UK electorate on the EU’s Reform Treaty?’ The result was an emphatic yes (2492 voted yes whilst only 280 said no).

Clearly the online vote is a reflection on the frustration that owner managers have for the cost and interference in the process of business as a result of the UK's continued membership of the European Union. A matter that this blog will never tire of commenting on. The FSB's press release which was not picked upon by the nations media quoted John Walker the FSB's Policy Chairman thus: “This poll clearly shows that small businesses are worried about the new EU Reform Treaty and believe they should have a say on whether it is implemented. The Government should stick to its promise of holding a referendum on the proposals. The packaging may have changed but the provisions are almost identical .

This is not the first time that FSB members have spoken out on the EU. In 2001 (by 66 per cent) and 1975 (52 per cent) branch delegates voted to call upon the Government to take the UK out of the EU. The FSB who states they are the Voice of Small Businesses on both occasions only whispered silently the wishes of their members in the Westminster village, well as one FSB official said in response to an enquiry as to how the successful motion at conference would be implemented, '' we don't won't to disturb the politicians it could effect our negotiating position on other issues''. The response from this blogger, expletives removed was nothing. That same blogger now waits with considerable interest to find out what pressure the large small businesses organization's leaders will put on our politicians on behalf of their over regulated and over taxed members in response to the recent on line poll.

There is of course every reason why the FSB should be annoyed at Gordon Brown reneging on his promise to hold a referendum on this important treaty. Their concerns should be as vehemently communicated (if not more so) to Number 10 as the the concerns were to Number 11 Downing Street when Alistair Darling announced plans that would devastate small business owners and their investors, in his first pre-budget report in October last year by a huge increase in Capital Gains Tax (CGT). The effect of the latest EU treaty on business, particularly small enterprises, will be considerably more costly than Darling's attempted tax hike.

The clear message from the Editor of this blog to the FSB (as a member) is rather than supporting the EU's various regional initiatives and ''exploring European policy with regard to growth'' (FSB North East Web site) it is hoped that the Federation's well resourced lobbying activities in keeping with the stated wishes of its membership will vehemently demand a referendum on the reform (Lisbon) treaty.

If the needs of small businesses are to be protected and promoted then a full and proper debate on the impositions imposed on business life in a post reform Treaty UK must be held. That debate can only properly occur if there is a referendum.

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Peter Troy - Blogger

The Sunday Quote

Those whose who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.

Plato

Note: Plato (424BC-347BC) was a Clasical Greek philosoper. Together with his teacher, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the philosophical foundations of what is now refered to a Western Culture. Plato was also a mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world.Plato's brilliance as a writer and thinker can be witnessed by reading his Socratic dialogues. The dialogues have since Plato's time been used to teach a range of subjects, mostly including philosophy, logic, rhetoric, mathematics, and other subjects about which he wrote.

More Cost of EU Membership

Given the huge costs imposed on this nation from the raft of EU environmental laws, it is utterly bizarre that so many people should applaud the EU's intervention in this field. But, if anyone was in any doubt about the malign influence of the EU, all they need to do is read today's Booker column, headed "EU plans to see our economy blown away".

Moggie Applauded

Over on EU Referendum William Rees-Mogg is applauded for stating the referendum issue has been and undemocratic betrayal, which indeed it is. Shame on the Prime Minister and all those that support his non-referendum stance!

The Sunday Quote

"Okay, you've convinced me. Now go out there and bring pressure on me."

US President Franklin D. Roosevelt (In response to a business delegation).

Bribed by the Myth of ''European Money''

Back in May 2002 I delivered a speech at a packed rally in the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, in the wake of a successful motion (proposed by myself and Colin Stratton) at the Federation of Small Business (FSB) annual conference calling on the organisation to demand a withdrawal from the European Union (EU). I thundered to the enthusiastic UKIP and other eurosceptic supporters that the Business community was waking up to the immense negative effect of the EU as more and more regulation and unaccountable ''governance'' impacts upon UK businesses.

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Clearly I was somewhat over optimistic (to use a very British understatement) in my claims - despite the situation becoming much worse since - that business people are awake to the realities of the EU, principally I firmly believe this is because small businesses remain bribed by the myth of so called ''European Money''.

This week, almost unnoticed to either the business community or for that matter anyone else, the House of Commons voted to hugely increase the amount Britain pays to the EU - not that MPs in reality had any choice.

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According to government figures, the amounts are huge. In 2007, the gross contribution before abatement was £14.2 billion with an abatement of £3.9 billion. For 2008, the figure is £14.6 billion with a projected abatement of £4.6 to 4.7 billion. The year 2009 will cost us £13.7 billion with an abatement of £4.8 to 4.9 billion, in 2010 it is £14.4 with a £3.8 to 3.9 abatement, and for 2011-13, the range is £14.1 to 14.5 billion with projected abatements of £3.5 to 4.1 billion. In round billions from now to 2010 the EU costs us an average of £10 billion a year in hard payments and much much more in compliance costs.

Perhaps these figures will be taken in to account when government and regional agencies glibly refer to ''European Money''. The UK currently receives back two thirds of the hard money we pay to the EU, so by any definition it is not ''European Money'' but British Tax payers money returned back to us (very) conditionally from the EU coffers in Brussels.

Next week hopefully with attention from the media the ratification process of the so called EU Reform Treaty starts in Westminster. The Treaty when ratified will in simple terms 'deliver' more 'Europe'. Encouraging signs of media attention to come can be found in today's Sunday Telegraph, together with a piece in the The Sunday Times with the headline "Ministers mask effect of EU treaty", reporting that, "The significance of the new EU treaty has been deliberately downplayed by the government, according to a damning report by MPs published today." Matthew d'Ancona in his column in the Telegraph then gives us a long dissertation about how David Cameron has a "cunning plan" to deal with the treaty, but doesn't want to tell us what it is.

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As we have posted before, alone amongst the business organisations it is only the FSB who have asked their members their views on the importantance or otherwise of demanding a public Referendum on the Treaty prior to ratification. All the other major business organisations the CBI, BCC and the IoD appear to be of the view that the issue should be left to ''the politicians''. Well for forty years the issue has been left to our so called political elite; one has only to look at the great deception that has resulted. I earnestly believe that I am not being over optimistic in believing that the members of the FSB will respond to the on line survey and insist that their organisation join the demand for a referendum.

Meanwhile, such is the effect of the bribery of the non corporate British Business community that ever increasing vast sums of ''European Money'' is paying for huge amounts of negative interference of the process of business which no amount of consultation or so called lobbying in either Westminster or Brussels can meaningfully positively influence.

The End of Week Quote

'It is difficult to believe how far the EU has infiltrated our "civil society" until you see the evidence for yourself. So deep is the rot though that, whenever an organisation stands up in support of the EU, you can bet that, somewhere – and not very deep down - EU money is talking.''

Dr Richard North - in his recent the story posted on EU Referendum.

The March of the Euro

On the ball as he so often is, England Expects is retailing speculation from Brussels-based EU Reporter that Gordon Brown is engaged in some dirty dealings, preparatory to bringing the UK into the euro. This is not entirely unrelated to a report in today's Times which tells us that an informal meeting convened by Brown, between himself and the French and German leaders ... read on at EU referendum ... EU Referendum.

The Sunday Quote

''Ninty persent of the politicians give the other ten per cent a bad reputation.''

Henry Kissinger.

Hain the Vane

The vain in Hain is quite a pain - an excellent comment from a fellow blogger. The Department of Work & Pensions (DWP) seems to be morphing into the Department of Weak Protestations. The Conservatives' proposal to force people who have claimed unemployment benefit for more than two years to do some community work has an 82% approval rating in a Telegraph poll today. Read all about it on The Purple Scorpion

The Sunday Quote

''Oblivion - The state or condition in which the wicked cease from struggling and the dreary are at rest. Fame's eternal dumping ground. Cold storage for high hopes. A place where ambitious authors meet their works without pride and their betters without envy. A dormitory without an alarm clock.''

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Ambrose Bierce, US Writer and Journalist 1842 - 1914

The Booker Column -Important

Christoper Booker, in today’s column, writes about the Lisbon or as it is otherwise known The EU Reform Treaty. It is a vital issue since if this treaty comes into being this year quite simply the UK will truly cease to be self governing. We will be a part of a Federal State called Europe if not in name but in actuality. It is that simple - if readers are still in any doubt that this could soon be the case - especially Business leaders - they need urgently to seek the facts.

The cost of the Global Warming Fantasy.

Consumers of electricity - all of us thats – who are now having to dig deeper to pay their electricity bills will mostly be unaware that, in addition to the swingeing increases announced yesterday, they are paying an increasing premium through their bills for the global warming fantasy. Dr North explains on EU Referendum.

Education, Education, Education

The words of a Policeman. Reproduced from The Policemans Blog http://coppersblog.blogspot.com/

J Edgar Hoover Was Half Right

I had the misfortune to attend one of our less academic local schools a week or so back. I won't bore you with the details, save to say that, while it wasn't the crime of the century, it had left a young girl quite distressed; on balance, I suppose, it was worth attending, though in my day it would have resulted in six of the best from the headmaster and no 'outside agency' would have been required. (My day is only 20 years ago, but it increasingly seems to have been in another era altogether, and possibly in another country).

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Teachers (honest ones), parents (intelligent ones) and police officers now know that a significant minority of the schools in our cities offer almost nothing in the way of education.

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In the worst 10 per cent, it's far more serious than a simple lack of schooling: drugs are openly sold and consumed, pupils are often drunk and/or pregnant, hardcore pornography is widely available and eagerly swapped, casual sexual assaults and threats of serious violence are commonplace and there is very little, if anything, that the teaching staff can do about any of it. It's heartbreaking, actually.I looked around. All I could see were lost souls destined for the scrapheap. At 13 years of age, they had literally no hope of ever achieving anything in their lives, without the intervention of a lottery win or some other piece of outstanding good fortune.

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I thought about my own grandfather. He was one of seven, and grew up in a slum dwelling with an outside standpipe for water. In his 90s now, he still reads avidly, lobs bits and pieces of Shakespeare about and can talk you through you Partition, the
Beatles and the Falklands with equal clarity.
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I saw a young lad I vaguely knew. His hair had been shaved at the back into an approximation of the letters 'MUFC' and he had a gold stud in one ear. ''What's happening in Afghanistan at the mo, mate?'' I said, conversationally. ''You what?'' he said. ''Afwhat?''

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I happen to know that this lad's father is doing time for murder, and that his mother is an alcoholic and occasional prostitute. I hate to sound like a bleeding heart, but is it his fault he doesn't know what's happening around him? Is it the teachers' faults they can't educate him? What is going on in this country?

J Edgar Hoover was half right when he said, 'The cure for crime is not the electric chair, but the high chair.

The Purple Scorpion stikes again

Why trust governments with big questions when they can't get smaller things right? If somebody wanted to replace the 46 fire control centres in England with nine regional sites, at a cost to taxpayers of £100m, with the first one due to open in autumn 2006, you'd maybe accept a little slippage. See the piece posted on the very excellent: The Purple Scorpion

A Quote for the New Year

''Democracy is a devise that insures we shall be governed no better than we deserve''

George Bernard Shaw

A very truly democratic New Year to all our readers throughout the free (and not so free) world. Peter Troy, Editor.

A Gentle Flat Bottom

.... and other predictions

So it is, yet again, a New Year - having stated only yesterday that we won't do a piece on predictions for 2008 here it is.

Without doubt the main political focus in 2008 (in the UK) will be the economy with a continuing down turn and with a gentle flat bottoming out mid year; only a small growth in UK economic activity by the end of the year.

After eight years of above-inflation public spending increases and a massive growth in the public sector and indeed far too much 'public sector thinking' in the UK economy - tough times are on the way for the non essential parts of the public sector (about time too) both in Westminster and particularly in the North East of England. All of which is for the good of the economy in the long run, a significant decline of Public Sector influence (or interference) will of course encourage entrepreneurial thinking - which is all very good of course.

By mid year there will be extra pressure on Gordon Brown, who has probably passed the point of no return in terms of popularity. There will be significant rebellions from Labour backbenchers over such issues as the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge as well as political pressure caused by announcements a real reductions in government spending on sensitive areas such as health, education and social benefits.

The continuing call for a referendum on the so called EU Reform Treaty (maybe even by the huge small business community) will increase in the run up to May when a debate on the issue will be before Parliament. All of which will diminish the Prime Minister’s standing and add to his woes.

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Our real government based in Brussels, the EU, will continue to pump out large amounts of directives and regulations and general interference which will impact on all of us. Most of the British public will continue to be unaware of the slow burn effect on the British way of life because the media will continue not tell them where most of our laws now come from and to a large part the great British Public cant be bothered to work it out for them selves.

British Small Businesses will continue to be disadvantaged in favour of huge businesses which nothing short of an organized meaningful protest will prevent.

As we have predicted in The Journal recently there will certainly be no general election in 2008.

The scandal surrounding Labour’s donations will resurface in a big way, almost certainly with criminal charges. Peter Hain’s “administrative error” in failing to register at least two donations to his deputy leadership campaign will come back to haunt him.

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China is set to become the Economic super star performer of the year, our only hope must be that this is reflected in a significant improvement in human rights. Well Chinese's pigs might yet fly!

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As the year progresses attention on the American presidential election, which takes place in November. With a weak set of potential Republican opponents, and with her own campaign well funded, Hillary Clinton has the best chance a woman has ever had of making it to the White House - though Mrs. Clinton has little in common with the Very British Baroness Thatcher. Whatever the outcome the US election it is important for the Western World - this blog will be there in the US in 2008 reporting on key events.

At the end of this year the British politician who purports to be the leader of HM Opposition in Parliament will say in the media ''there has to be a better way'' and that ''it can only get better''.

So there we have it - all mostly quite predidicable.

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There is of course the unexpected - which is when life does get exciting. Whatever happens VBS with a lot of help from our friends will be here on the blogosphere. A happy (blogging) new year.

A Chinese pig in flight