250,000 hits

The latest posting in the sordid story of ''Green Helmet'' and ''White Tea Shirt'' can be read on Dr North's latest posting on:

http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/

The issue has attracted over 250,000 hits in the past three days.

The end of week quote

A small article that was sent by email to the blog yesterday from the Summer Campaign Edition of Resistance is today's end of week quote.

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''Kenith Clarke MP wants Scots MPs not to be able to vote on English matters, but he is happy for MEPs of 25 nationalities to shape the laws of England and the rest of the UK.''

The Hospital that was too efficient

From the Eastern Daily Press comes the story of the Hospital in East Anglia that has been penalised for working too fast.
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Ipswich Hospital which lost nearly £2.5m worth of funding by treating patients too quickly insisted yesterday it was working hard to ensure the mistake is not repeated.
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Well now, we cant have patients upsetting the NHS's quality management systems, what ever next.

The Hospital is apparently more than £16m in the red, had accidentally breached an agreement with a funding body which was designed to ensure that patients were treated in turn and had similar waits.

A hospital senior administrator described the episode as a "local glitch" and said it had no significant implications for hospitals nationally or for NHS funding; so that's ok then !

It was explained that the government wants patients to wait no longer than six months before seeing a hospital consultant. However Ipswich Hospital and the East Suffolk Primary Care Trusts (ESPCT) - which provide funds for treatment - agreed that patients should wait at least four months.

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A spokeswoman said the arrangement was thought to be the best way to ensurethat no one jumped queues and that everyone was waiting a similar length oftime. But during the past two years hospital doctors had treated a number of patientsinside four months in breach of the agreement and the trusts refused topay. Clearly a bad move.

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The news comes just days after reports that Norfolk's biggest hospital is being pressed by health trusts to increase its waiting times for surgery tosave money.

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The county's cash-strapped primary care trusts have asked the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to increase the time patients wait foroperations. It means hundreds of patients requiring operations such as hipand knee replacements, reckon-structure plastic surgery and urology surgerywill have to wait longer for treatment.

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In response to the latest funding issue, a spokeswoman for Ipswich Hospital said: "We made the agreement on the waiting times since it was thought to be the best way of ensuring that patients were seen on a first come, first served basis and that waiting times were equalised. In a number of cases we had breached the agreement - for understandable reasons, because we had sparecapacity - and as a result we treated patients too quickly. The trust srefused to pay, as they were entitled to.''

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The spokeswoman (clearly an administrator of the highest quality) added:''We are working hard to ensure that the mistake will not be made again.'' Well after all we can not have sick people being attended to early, that would never do it would upset the system.

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One could not make any of this nonsense up, it simply does not sound credible. However sadly it is all true. This story is just one example of how our once great nation is now run - by armies of robotic unthinking corporate system controlled automatons.

The worry of Iraq

A memo written by Britain's outgoing ambassador in Baghdad, William Patey, has warned that civil war is a more likely outcome in Iraq than democracy. "The prospect of a low intensity civil war and a de facto division of Iraq is probably more likely at this stage than a successful and substantial transition to a stable democracy," said the memo, which was leaked to the BBC yesterday.

That apart, whatever opinion one might have of the US/UK intervention in Iraq, no one can be under any illusions that there is nothing better that the Bush administration and the British Labour government would like than to be able to pull its troops out of the country, leaving behind it peace, democracy and stability.When push comes to shove, there is only one thing stopping that – groups of evil men intent on murder and mayhem, directed at furthering their own partisan causes. Make no bones about it – no one forces these men to murder. If the murdering stopped, peace and reconstruction would follow. However, quite clearly that is not going to happen in the short term.

The present situation in Iraq is indeed very grim. Leaving matters as they are now is not an option, there are only two realistic choices for 'Alliance' forces both politically and militarily. To leave soon or to stay, probably for ten years or more until political stability has been achieved. To do the latter will require a long term commitment. Regrettably this blog is of the view that the latter option- an issue that we will argue in a posting in the next few days- is the better option in view of all the current circumstances.

It is now very obvious that no one in either Whitehall or Washington properly considered the long term effects following the downfall of Sadam. Now that is something to worry about.

The threat to life and liberty

THE official terror threat to Britain was made public for the first time this week when a severe alert was published on a government website.

The current severe threat level means that a terror attack on the country is highly likely, according to the new website, which explains the role of the intelligence community. Ministers have simplified the official threat system from seven levels to five after criticism that the old method did not provide reassurance.

The new levels are: low, moderate, substantial, severe and critical. The system merges previous categories of severe general and severe defined into a single severe grade. It also omits the previous lowest category, which was negligible.

The new intelligence webpage at www.mi5.gov.uk has histories of the security and intelligence agencies MI5 (Security Services) and MI6 (Secret Intellegence Services) the GCHQ (Government Communication HQ- the government listening post, the Defence Intelligence Staff and the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre.

The explains the role of ministers, how the agencies are accountable and how intelligence records are released by the National Archive. It also provides links to key legislation.

The cross-party Intelligence and Security Committee called for a more transparent warning system in a report on the 7 July bombings in London last year. The committee highlighted that the threat level had been reduced from severe general to substantial before the London attacks.

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What is also neeed is an honest aproach by the Police on the 'streets' with the enforcement of powers under anti-terorism laws. If the first casualty of war is truth the second must not be missuse of anti-terrorism laws of which regretably there are far too many examples in the past year.

The cost of regulation to businesses

In a posting on Tuesday this blog referred, controversialy to a report issued last week on the cost to business of major regulations introduced since 1998. The total has risen amazingly to a massive £50 billion, according to a detailed analysis and figures released last week by the well established and infuential British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).

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The 'Burdens Barometer', the independent calculation of the costs to business based on the Government’s own figures, reports that the total cost has risen from £39 billion in 2005 to over £50 billion in 2006. The BCC’s ‘Burdens Barometer’, is independently compiled by experts from the London and Manchester Business Schools.

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It is an accepted fact that British businesses are fed up with paying for Government regulation. Businesses must be free to compete in the global economy. As well as the increasing cost, businesses are having to divert valuable time from running their businesses to dealing with more and more paperwork.

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The British Chambers of Commerce ‘Burdens Barometer’ is extracted from the BCC’s database of over 1,400 Regulatory Impact Assessments produced by Government departments that evaluate the risks, costs and benefits of any new regulatory proposal that has an impact on business. The ‘Burdens Barometer’ tracks the cumulative cost of 69 major regulations introduced since 1998, which have annual costs to business of over £15m per year. Additional regulations introduced in 2004/5 have added to the burden from previous regulations, pushing the total increase in business costs this year up from a potential £47 billion to £50 billion.

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Now it does not take someone with an MBA to work out that the World's fastest growing economy, China does not have the burden of fast growing regulatory costs. It therefore obviously follows that British goods and services are at an ever increasing international price disadvantage because of the burden of business regulation. No prizes for guessing the source of most of the regulation.

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Small businesses are of course more effected by regulatory costs than larger businesses since they are less able to absorb the costs; yet as we commented on Tuesday the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is not obviously banging on the door of government in protest. Perhaps their methodology is more subtle, perhaps we need to be told exactly what the voce of small businesses is saying and to whom.

The Crown and the Commonwealth

'' The Queen, The Realms and Europe'' is the subject of a major confrence on 27-29 October at Imperial College, Kingston, London.

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The event is being organised by The Australian Monarchist League and will be chaired by Philip Benwell who commented that, '' The Crown of the United Kingdom has a responsibility beyond the shores of Great Britain to the other fifteen Commonwealth Realms and particularly to the English Speaking Nations of Australia, Canada and New Zealand and that any decision made by the British Parliament, especialy with regard to its submergence in the EU , which may influence the status of The Queen and The Crown could have an effect upon the Constitutions of these Realms.''

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Well we on this blog would concur with that view. The Confrence will study the EU treaties and the various laws enacted over the past 32 years in the UK which have impacted on the freedom of the British and also potentially upon the nations of the Commonwealth.

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Full details of the confrence are available from secretary@monarchist.org.au. Sounds great fun !

More EU fudge

Now is the time, surely, for the European Union (EU) to display the effectiveness of its much heralded influence and to speak with one voice in the devastating crises of the Lebanon/ Israeli war and show that it has a strong presence on the international scene. But of course there can not be a common European foreign policy since there is no pan-European common consensus of opinion.

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The presidency of the European Union currently rests with Finland at the moment (and I bet they wish it didn’t). Thus, it fell to Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, pictured left, to chair the emergency session and to come up with some pointless draft statements which call for an immediate cease-fire. However, Britain, Germany and the Czech Republic have promptly rejected it, announcing that they, too, would like to see a cease-fire but do not want a definite timeframe.

It seems that EU officials are about to put pressure on Israel, otherwise its credibility will be in question (don’t snigger, please) to have a cease-fire and then get involved in a long-term political solution. Or so EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner told Reuters.

OK - but then what then ? How is the EU going to ensure that the cease-fire is maintained and that Hezbollah is disarmed? Are they going to send in troops to maintain peace on the border? Are they going to sit back and say, well, it will all turn out all right at the end and wring their hands when it does not?

Thus the desired united EU stand is as elusive and as impossible as ever; quelle suprise.

Sir Ming is Ming

The late, lamented satirical blog Ming's Dynasty, formed in the aftermath of the LibDem leadership election earlier this year, would have had a field day with the current goings-on in the LibDem party.

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Welsh Assembly Member Peter Black kicked it all off last week with a well-argued piece on his blog saying that Sir Ming Campbell needed to shape up by the time of September's party conference - or ship out.

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Then the News of the World claimed that Charles Kennedy (now off the booze) planned to challenge Ming in an audacious bid to regain the party leadership, leading to a spate of denial stories in last weeks national papers.

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Meanwhile, over at Conservative Home, (a curious little site) they are once again talking up the leadership chances of their favourite LibDem Nick Clegg - the one they hope will split his party.

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To make matters worse (or at least more fun), LibDem blogger Jonathan Calder has written a piece in The Guardian which, while attempting to defend Ming, actually serves to highlight his real problem. In his piece, Jonathan argues that Lib Dem image-makers should stop trying to turn Ming into something he isn't and just "let Ming be Ming."

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The problem is in fact diametrically the opposite - not that Sir Ming isn't being allowed to be Ming, but that Ming is in fact Ming.

The latest on ''Green Helmet''

There is a good summing up of the state of play on the news/propaganda front in the Middle East on Frontpagemag.com.
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The Jerusalem Post also takes up the cudgels. Have a good look at the photograph in the piece. You will see more of that in on www.eureferendum.com .

Businesses banging on the door

The famous front door of number 10 Downing Street.

As any succesful business person will confirm targeted activity is essential for success.

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The Federation of Small Businesses, The British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) are interested in over regulation as they jolly well ought to be, since new regulations have cost British Business £50bn since 1998 and about half of the business regulations in the UK originate from the EU which in effect means that in reality most business regulation are imposed upon British business people with only the opportunity for token prior consultation.

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The government now wants businesses to provide it with examples of over-regulation. The BCC asks in a letter published in the Financial Times yesterday, 'why should they?' Quoting the BCC's 2006 Burdens Barometer which includes detailed costings for specific burdens and also pointed out that government departments aren't following the rules when they introduce new regulations anyway.

Additionally the CBI has just produced a report citing examples of private contractors using local people to help improve local services, and saying that more effort should be put into publicising ways to give local people more control of services with less regulatory barriers?

Perhaps the FSB is indeed also banging on the door of the Government on behalf of small businesses with documentary evidence of the over bearing cost of regulation but it is other business organisations that are getting much more national publicity than the Federation. The BCC and the CBI appear to have a strong and well focused campaigning message on the issue. Does the FSB not want to be seen as being too troublesome, or is it a case the FSB has lost the art of campaining ?

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These are questions that I would be pleased to ask the North East represent atives of the FSB but alas I am unable to do so since the Regional Committee have agreed to ignore my questions, despite the fact I am a Member. Apparently I have been 'sent to Coventry' at a 'kangaroo court' hearing in May; a sentence that was confirmed (again) in my absence, last week. Amazing.

Propaganda in Lebanon

Below is a link to the posting that yesterday attracted more than 115,000 hits.

The subject: Propanganda in Lebanon

"Green Helmet" is everywhere at Qana, rushing around pulling dead children out of the rubble, his phographs are plastered on the front page of British and the world's newspapers.
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The capion along side this distressing image tells us: ''Lebanese Red Cross and Civil Defense workers carry the body of a small child covered in dust from the rubble of his home that was hit in an Israeli missile strike in the village of Qana, east of the port city of Tyre, Lebanon, Sunday, July 30, 2006. Lebanese Red Cross officials said 56 people died in the Israeli assault on the village, including 34 children. Rescuers dug through the debris to remove dozens of bodies.'' However, serious properganda is at work here.

Please click below:

http://www.eureferendum.blogspot.com/#115429339722244068

Blair on cross-dressing

Owing to technincal difficulties it was not posible to post our end of week quote on Friday. To make up for the disapointment that our members would no doubt have experienced we post a start of the week quote:
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"The era of tribal political leadership is over in Britain with "rampant cross-dressing" on policy set to become a permanent feature of modern politics, Tony Blair told News Corp executives in conclave in the Californian resort of Pebble Beach yesterday." Read the full article from The Guardian

The Sunday Quote

''One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. ''

Plato (427-347 BC)

Compliments of Peter Troy

Regular postings will now continue

The nasty IT virus, which was probably sent by a republican (there are a few in Her Majesty's glorious Realm) has now been removed from the IT systems of the Blog's producers and what passes for a normal service will resume.

What would we do without the French ?

This is actually a genuine question. What would we do for entertainment without them?

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The question was prompted by an interesting though somewhat inadequate article in today’s International Herald Tribune, entitled “France’s Mysterious Embrace of Blogs”. The gist of it was that there are more blogs read and written in France than in Germany, Britain or, even, the United States.

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“Sixty percent of French Internet users visited a blog in May, ahead of Britain with 40 percent and little more than a third in the United States, according to Comscore, an Internet ratings service.

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Likewise, French bloggers spent more than an hour in June visiting France's top-rated blog site, far ahead of the 12 minutes spent by Americans doing the same and less than 3 minutes for Germans, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.More than three million Internet users, or more than 12 percent of those online in France, have created a blog, according a study released in June by the ratings agency Médiamétrie.”

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Anyway, nobody seems to know why the French insist on blogging but they do not seem to be creating a network of blogs or a blogosphere.

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“French blogs stands out in other measurable ways. They are noticeably longer,more critical, more negative, more egocentric and more provocative than their U.S. counterparts'' said Laurent Florès, the French-born, New York-based chief executive of CRM Metrix, a company that monitors blogs and other online conversations on behalf of companies seeking feedback on their brands.

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''Bloggers in the United States listen to each other and incorporate rival ideas in the discussion," he said. "French bloggers never compromise their opinions."

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Some of the French blogs are political, concentrating on such things as local abuses (largely financial one imagines) which bring trouble to the bloggers. Others are more personal and many of them seem to spend a great deal of time discussing “passionately” why there should be so many French blogs.

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At present there seems to be some doubt as to the effect this flowering of blogs might have on traditional French politics. Some commentators hope that they will absorb the energy that would otherwise go into rioting if not totaly revolting; others point out that last autumn’s riots were often co-ordinated through the internet.

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In the same way it is unclear whether the cause of blogs is the fact that it is difficult to complain in France in any organized fashion or the fact that the French are encouraged to be critical and nihilistic. You pays your money and you takes your choice.

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What the article does not discuss is whether the more homogenous and tightly controlled media, both print and electronic, should be the cause of this spurt of self-publishing on the net. There is no mention, for instance, how many blogs or websites manage to break away from the French “consensus” of anti-American, anti-British, and, largely, anti-Israeli opinion. How many argue about the need to abandon the accepted model of social and economic statism? Off the top of my head I can think of two: the intermittent in posting but consistently brilliant Dissident Frogman and Liberté-Chérie. There may be others but few and far between.

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The article ends with a particularly funny comment from the Director of Web Strategy for Dominique Strauss-Kahn:

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“Griveaux, the director of Web strategy for Strauss-Kahn, reckons the popularity of blogs comes down to France being a nation where each and every citizen thinks he or she should be in charge."We had 16 presidential candidates at the last election, and we will probably have the same number next year," Griveaux said. "Every French person wants to run the country - a blog is the next best option. How reassuringly French and, if I may say so, very smug.

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So, where does all this navel gazing leave the French? After all, they can’t be doing all this just to provide us with entertainment, can they?

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Will blogging lead to a political realignment as it did, to a great extent in the United States and may yet in Britain, or will it remain another outlet for French self-analysis? Watch this space.

Break in Transmission - Sorry No Music

Owing to circumstances beyond our control (knackered PC) postings on this Blog will be erratic for the next few days.

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The standby facility, the ancient laptop has missing symbols on the keyboard the use of which requires the skills of a Second World War Enigma operater.

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Normal 'transmission' will resume as soon as possible.

The Incompetence of a flawed system

The Countess of Mar has resigned from the Immigration Appeals Tribunal in despair at what she described as the incompetence of such a flawed, overloaded system, it was reported in a number of newspapers yesterday.

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Lady Mar who is a a cross bencher and deputy speaker of the House of Lords as well as vice-president of the association representing tribunal members, claimed in a Sunday newspaper the immigration system was a farce as it failed to expelrejected asylum seekers while letting down deserving cases.

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She said those whose appeals were refused but who were not removed merely sank into oblivion. As has been much reported in the media only very few 'illegals' are actually deported.

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The Countesses resignation coincides with the publication of a damning report on immigration controls by the Home Affairs Committee in Westminster. The MPs warned the foreign prisoners fiasco was caused partly by the government's prioritising of asylum targets, resulting in it not being recognised early enough.

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Lady Mar argued the problems began when the former Tory government stopped issuing work permits and those who were previously able to work legally wereforced to reach the UK by other routes.

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She said: "I would sit and hear cases and give them my most careful and anxious scrutiny, knowing full well that even if you decided someone should not stay here they would not be sent back. The whole process is a farce and needs to be revised."If I had my way, what I would say is come to our country and you are very welcome if you find yourself a job within six weeks, if you keep our laws and don't demand health service treatment immediately, and after so many years youcan come into the system - and if you can't do that you get sent back immediately."

Indeed.

Suez

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the Suez Crisis, the picture alongside having a familiar aspect. But for the grainy black-and-white quality, it could easily represent what is happening today.

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Even the BBC today, though, acknowledges the seminal role this Crisis had in the formation of the European Union, happening as it did at a crucial time in the negotiations over the Treaty of Rome – something that is discussed in an earlier post .

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It was also, possibly, the last (and first) time in history that the French, British and Israelis co-operated in a joint venture, and without the approval of the United States. How different things are today, when the US is the staunchest ally of Israel and France one of its strongest critics.

Smile - it's Monday morning

Some more aeronautical humour.

Please click below:

http://www.horsman.co.nz/story.do?id=53