Only the Ignorati will be impressed

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"Gordon Brown borrowed us into this mess, and now he would like to borrow us out of it. We now know what he means by PSBR (Public Sector Borrowing Requirement). It is the Price of Subsidising Brown's Re-election.

."That is from Bruce Anderson in The Independent responding to Darling's pre-budget report, they don't get much more left wing than The Independent. Yet, this paper gives a right-wing commentator house room when he writes, "Brown is not after economic recovery, he's after votes."The trouble is, Brown may get them.

Mr Darling in his speech yesterday said, "Inflation is forecast to come down sharply, reaching half of one percent by the end of next year." He adds: "Lower commodity prices and lower interest rates, which boost incomes and help business profits, together with the fiscal reaction across the world, will also help."Add to that the cut in VAT, the increase in pensions, Christmas bonus and pension credit, the increase in child benefits, an increase in the child element of the child tax credit and our Mr Darling claims to be helping 15 million people. Taking into account the drop in inflation, those people will be winners and by the time of the 2010 general election they will feel marginally better off.

While others chase the "yoof" vote, as a rule of thumb, pensioners are five times more likely to vote than people of the age 25 and under, giving Brown a tactical advantage, while he passes some of the costs of his bonanza on to people who would not vote for him anyway, or simply will not be voting. By the time his target voters go to the polls, Brown's "luck" may have held out and, despite the prognostications of today, he could pull off an historic fourth term for Labour.

The trouble is that the political commentators are too clever by half. Much of the detail of this pre-budget speech is highly technical and will wash over most people who will neither understand it nor care. And nor have they noticed that Darling, undoubtedly with the approval of Brown, is gradually adding to the burden of "green" taxes.Most, for instance, will have missed his reference to including aviation in the ETS from 2012 yet that will pull him in possibly £400 million a year and rising, without a single voice in protest from the political classes. Add to that an increasing amount from the energy companies though the existing ETS auctions and, before too long he is looking and extra billion a year flowing into his coffers, going up as the years pass.

Another little twist to the speech is his commitment to extend the renewables obligation for an additional 10 years to 2037. That will guarantee a source of income for wind farms and the like at no cost to the exchequer, but will add significantly to electricity costs as more renewables come on line, that this might eventually cost £6 billion a year, but not just yet, allowing Darling to claim, that he is supporting the green agenda, without people noticing the cost.

Combine that with a Conservative front bench which no longer seems to be able to talk in coherent sentences and relies on an ever-increasing diet of pre-cooked sound-bites and the electoral game seems far from over.

The only question is, given all the pain that Darling seems to be storing up for after the election, who would want to be in office after 2010?

But then it is difficult to fathom what politicians think – if indeed they do that, in the end, may be Brown's most effective ally. The ignorati far outnumber the chatterati.

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The Sunday Quote

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For everything there is a season,

And a time for every matter under heaven:

time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down, and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to seek, and a time to lose;

A time to keep, and a time to throw away;

A time to tear, and a time to sew;

A time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love, and a time to hate,

A time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

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Fishing

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In the wake of last week's report on a "new" Tory policy on fishing, Christopher Booker has this week in The Sunday Telegraph taken a wider look at discarding in his column.

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The issues are personalised around Mick Mahon, a Newlyn fisherman who has done much to bring to light the criminal madness of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy. After 25 years of living with the lunacy of the policy, Mick has had enough and has decided he will discard no more. Instead, he is "waiving the rules" and landing all the fish he catches. He gives them away to the Fishermens' mission for charity.

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This has so bemused the local fisheries inspector, whose officious zeal has made him the most unpopular man in Newlyn, that his only response do far has been to threaten the mission with prosecution for accepting Mick's charitable gifts.

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Of course, if every fisherman in the country did likewise, and was prepared to stand up to the tide of regulation that is progressively destroying the industry, then at least we would have a fighting chance. But, over the years, most fishermen - and especially their representatives - have sought accommodations with our government, in the hope that they could continue to make a living.

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The Sunday Quote

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''There is one just one rule for politicians all over the world. Don't say in power what you say in opposition. If you do, you'll only have to carry out what the other fellows have found impossible.''

John Galsworthy, Maid in Waiting, 1931.
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This Is Not Time For Tea

By Dr Richard North

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To the disgust of some of the commentators on the Tory Diary blog – but applauded by others – Robert Winnett sketches out the timeline on "How the Conservatives lose the next election".

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Separately, The Sunday Telegraph lead editorial declares, "The Tories should be as angry as the rest of us", pointing out in lucid terms quite why that should be. It then remarks that "the place where there is a dearth of the splenetic anger felt by the rest of us is on the front bench of the Conservative Party."Behind the posturing and preening of the Tory front bench, there is manifestly lacking that outrage at the appalling mismanagement of the current government, which means that the Tory leaders fail entirely to transmit to the nation sense of conviction or seriousness.

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In September, just before the Conservative Party conference and after a series of carefully crafted posts not least this one, I called for a clear statement of policy on energy - an absolutely vital need if we are to stop the lights going out.Of course, we did not get that statement – nor even a proper speech on energy – at the conference. Instead, as we later discover, we instead got the Friends of the Earth.

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As with energy, so it is with defence, we get the same lack of coherence. Instead of an energentic and principled attack on the government, we see the Tory opposition staring at an open goal and then sauntering off to the pavilion for a cup of tea, leaving the balls unattended.

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In this context, please spare the time to have a look at this piece. It tells the horrifying and desperately sad tale of Sergeant Hickey, which cannot help but move you. Tears do not come easily to me but, after a long interview last night with Sgt Hickey's mother, Pauline (on which this account - heavily revised from the original - is partially based), I struggled with this one and still do.

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Of course, it goes without saying that one harbours a deep, unremitting anger at the government for sending gallant soldiers like Sgt Hickey into the battlefield (and that it was) so unprepared that their horrible deaths were all but inevitable. But, if you can spare a little bit more time to read this, you will see that the failures and dereliction were not entirely on the side of the government. We convey in this piece a stark illustration of how the opposition too failed to do its job.

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I do not accept – as some argue on the Tory front bench - that oppositions are powerless, or that they cannot control or dictate the political agenda. Careful, research-driven, forensic opposition always yields results – that is how Thatcher won her first election. But this is something the Conservatives, under the tutelage of David Cameron, have forgotten how to do.

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Thus, I agree with the thrust of The Sunday Telegraph pieces this morning. As long as this is the prevailing image of the Tory front bench, then the paper has it right. The Tories are on their way to a defeat at the next election. That will be a catastrophe for them but, as it stands, a Tory victory would be an even bigger catastrophe for the country than a continued Labour administration. And that, dear reader, the tragedy of our times. All that is on offer from our political classes is a choice of catastrophes.

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Welcome to Very British Subjects

Left Peter Troy, Editor.

The Eleventh hour

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The hour cometh (11o'c on the 11 th Day of the 11 th month) and some of us were silent for the two minutes. Others, of course, will be silent for eternity, and it was those we remembered, those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and those who did their duty to their country and have passed away with the passage of time. We salute them all.

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But fine words and moving ceremonies are more for us than they are for the dead. Those who serve our country and those who in the near future and beyond are put in harms way, like some of their comrades before them, some will not survive the experience. That is the way of war. It is unutterably sad, but that has been the way of things since the dawn of time. But some of those, in the past, should not have died.

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Their fall arose, albeit though the direction action of our enemies, but compounded by the stupidity, ignorance, laziness or even the corruption of men and women whose duty it was to care for them and minimise the risks. They should be remembered especially.The purpose of so doing is to remind ourselves that, even in war, terrible though it is, death is not always inevitable. Even the arena of battle life should be treasured and respected.

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Remembering those who have fallen, and who should have walked away alive, we remind ourselves that it is our duty – collectively as is the case in a democracy – to do our best to ensure that those who do serve now and in the future are not put needlessly at risk.We owe that to those whom we and who then serve, and die.

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For those who say that today is not a day for politics, the answer is yes it is, ever more so. Politics is important; it is politics that sends young men and women to their deaths. It is politics which protects them and brings them back safe. That is the real stuff of politics – not the prattling in the chamber of theatres that has become the House of Commons which is now over reported in our mainline media.

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The reality of life and death is not some abstract issue for us to watch on the television from the comfort of our living rooms, but something which – even in our small ways – we have the power to affect.

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So, while we remember the dead, we must also remember the living and those about to die. We owe them that.

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The Sunday Quote

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Above: PC Jennifer Troy (centre) Marching to the War Memorial in the City of Leicester for the City's Annual Service of Remembrance today.

''As far as the Armistice itself was concerned, it was a kind of anticlimax. We were too far gone, too exahausted really to enjoy it. All we wanted to do was go back to our billets, there was no cheering, no singing. That day we had no alcohol at all. We simply celebrated the Armistice in silence and thankfulness that it was all over. I believe that happened quite a lot in France. It was such a sense of anticlimax. We were drained of all emotion. That's what it amounted to.''

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Corporal Clifford Lane

1st Battalion, Herfordshire Regiment.

The Imperial War Museum Sound Archive, recorded in 1972.

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A Very British Issue

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One of the mysteries of our time, Booker writes, is the perennial reluctance of so many politicians and journalists to explain how much of the mess we are making of the business of government in this country derives from the avalanche of new laws, policies and decisions pouring out of our hidden government in Brussels.

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Everywhere we look, businesses (particularly small businesses) and other organisations are struggling in the miasma of confusion this creates, where it is no longer clear who is responsible for the laws they must obey, or what those laws are or are meant to say.

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The stories, in the press, speak for themselves, all pointing to one thing – that government is now so diffuse and complex that no one really understands it, or even knows where the centres of power lie.The problems go far beyond "Europe". The European Union, as much as anything, has become a portal for a proto world government in all but name.
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Since the system of EU Government has become so utterly obscure and Byzantine in its complexity, it has the hacks and the chatterati diving for cover, seeking refuge in their individual comfort zones as they seek to avoid the reality of the mess modern government has become. Clearly the top and bottom of this is situation is accountability.

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Government of a modern nation is a very complex affair – we have to work with other nations, agreements have to be made and deals struck. Much of the internal administration of the nation has to be delegated, left to the ranks on anonymous officials who exercise power in a myriad of ways.

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What matters is that, when things go wrong, someone must be accountable and be brought to account. The mechanisms must then exist to remedy matters and, as far is possible, to undo any wrongs. This is traditionally the role of Parliament, and the threat of it exercising is power is both the safety valve and the ultimate deterrent.

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The fact is though, it no longer works. There is no single place where the buck stops. The buck stops nowhere. Because everybody is responsible, nobody is responsible, leaving Parliament an idle, empty talking shop, full of vain, posturing idiots who fill their time with prattle and useless gestures.

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On a day when a great newspaper offers a diet of fantasy politics, he points to the miasma that fogs our society. We are lost in that fog, leaving us leaderless and confused. And that is the way it will stay, unless or until we demand that Parliament re-asserts its authority in our name, the name of the British people.

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The Sunday Quote

''Where there is great power there is great responsibility .... where there is no power there can, I think, be no responsibility.''

The Rt. Hon Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill KG OM TD CH FRS - 28 Feb 1906

From The Square

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.... Or perhaps more accurately from The Editor's Telegraph.

The Booker column today has a heart-warming tale; It describes how a couple, Graham and Sara Blackmore who ran a small skip hire company in Cardiff, had been turned over by officials from the Environment Agency and finally, having had their "day in court", had come away found innocent of all charges.

The story speaks for itself and is well worth reading on the link provided. But, what does not come over from this tale on its own – but will be apparent to regular Booker column readers – is one essential feature that makes it news. That "news" is the very fact that, despite being "framed" by the Environment Agency with a series of malicious, trumped-up charges, the couple were actually found "not guilty" in a court of law. This is not always the case and in a distressing number of instances, innocents are found guilty of "administrative" offences by courts which too often support "their officers" – the officials – right or wrong. I recall many such situations in my 10 years as an activist with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

A particular case is that of Janet Devers, featured heavily in The Sunday Telegraph today the week before the last the hapless lady was found guilty by Hackney magistrates for offences under the Trades Description Act.Apart from the issues involved – the sale of goods measured using the Imperial system – a review of the evidence demonstrates that the trading standards officer did not prove his case. There were major technical flaws in his evidence, in key areas he was shown to be lying and evidence was given from a number of witnesses that events the TSO claimed to have happened – which were essential to secure a conviction – simply did not take place.

On those grounds alone - without considering the general merits of the issue - the case should have been dismissed. But the Magistrates chose to believe the version of events offered by the officer – even though, under cross-examination, he had admitted they were not true – and convicted Janet. She is now to appeal; as one who has won more than one appeal against the injustice of lower courts as well in other cases of over over inflated small minded egos have needed to be brought bang to right, I wish Janet every success.

Yesterday we must note with concern that The Daily Telegraph was headlining – front page in the print copy – the "victory" by the metric martyrs. It is not a victory; far from it (Anyway the Metric Martyrs title is a misnomer, they should be the Imperial Martyrs but that is an other issue).

The EU regulations have not been changed and until they are nothing has changed. All that is being proposed – and then only in the next few months – is that UK local authority "guidelines" on prosecution are to be changed.What can so easily be changed administratively can, in a few years time – when everybody has forgotten the "victory" and moved on – can be changed back again; even then, this is just a "guideline" which, can be ignored anyway. It has no legal effect what so ever.

The key to all this though is the Rt Hon John Denham, the Innovation Secretary, he apparently issued guidelines that prevent local authorities in the UK taking traders to court. He is cited as saying: "It is hard to see how it is in the public interest, or in the interests of consumers, to prosecute small traders who have committed what are essentially minor offences."But who is Mr Denham's boss? None other than the Prince of Darkness himself, Peter Mandelson now Lord Foy - the master of spin.

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I have had more than one conversation over recent years with his (now) Lordship. There is no doubt whatsoever about his intentions on full European integration which includes metrication (presumably he has now or for the time being at least , dropped the 'Stalinist' regionalization plans so favored by his fellow New Labour lovies!)

Small businesses in our once great nation have much to concern themselves about at this time, not least the ripple effects of incompetent senior bankers across the globe (with the notable exception the ''the worlds local bank'' the HSBC) officials and bueaucrats driven into action by EU regulations that quite simply do not have public support (or indeed logic). The FSB as the UK's biggest business organisation, is also, according to its web site '' the leading voice of small businesses at the heart of the European Union'' (EU).

Through their dedicated (small) office in Brussels, and their EU team, they no doubt try to ensure the voice of very British entrepreneurs is heard but it is clearly impossible (when one understands what is actually happening with the implementation of so much EU regulation) to make any difference what so ever.

Thus this is how we are now governed in the UK and many of us are getting fed up with it. One wonders what the Federation of Small Businesses can actually do other than support members to the hilt when ''the Inspectors call''. No wonder as I am fond of repeating FSB representative members have twice voted (1995 and 2001) to demand a withdrawal from the EU.

So there we have it, I feel a letter to Colin Stratton (FSB NE Regional Chairman) coming on or perhaps (or indeed both) a visit to the North East Regional AGM on the evening of the 6 November to (the now very referbished ) Grand Hotel in Hartlepool, I know they will be pleased to see me I am after all a member; I was once very active in the FSB, the largest business organisation in the Realm.

Peter Troy
8&9 The Square
Sedgefield.

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The Sunday Quote

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''We must be clear about this it does mean, if this is the idea, the end of Britain as an independent European state … it means the end of a thousand years of history. You may say, "let it end". But my goodness, it is a decision that needs a little care and thought.''


Rt Hon Hugh Gatiskell (1906-1963) leader of the Labour Party from 1955 until his death in office in 1963.

In October 1962 Hugh Gaitskell electrified the Labour Party conference with his 105 minute speech, wholly dedicated to the Common Market, he delivered the singular and now oft-quoted passage that has proved to be horribly prescient.

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Time for Tea

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(Flash back, Tea time with Troy on board HMS Trincomalee, 20th September 2005.Graphics courtesy of Radio Hartlepool).

What is happening in this country and indeed the world with regard to the banking crises is so enormous that it is almost too scary to think about. That is, of course, why so many people do not think about it.

That phenomenon is a variation of this, a very natural human reaction to something which is just beyond the capability of most people to deal with.In fact, it is more akin to the reaction of the archetypal housewife on being told that World War II had broken out, busying herself making a pot of tea. At times like this, we all retreat into our comfort zones, close our minds to the impending disaster and hope for the best. But disaster there will be – we are already in the opening phases, and "making a pot of tea" is not going to solve it. But this is not a "sky falling in" type of disaster. That is the wrong analogy.

This is more like the "Temple of Doom" movie. We are trapped in a room, with the ceiling – complete with wicked spikes - getting lower and lower, threatening to crush us all. But every now and again, the ceiling judders to a halt in its downwards path. We breathe a sigh of relief, and hope it is all over. Then it lurches into action and the nightmare continues. One of those "lurches" happened this week, with the stock exchanges plummeting worldwide and the FTSE falling three percent on Thursday, driven by "fears of a recession".

Not only are we reaching into the depths of banking theory which, frankly, very few people (particularly senior bankers) understand we have the overlay of highly complex regulatory systems, framed at national, regional and global levels, together with national and international politics and, of course, the drama of the events themselves.

One yearns for some wise soul to reach out and explain it all, in very simple terms, telling us what to look for, what matters, what is fluff, and to where all this is leading. That, of course, is the stuff of dreams – of child-like fantasies. In truth, there is not one problem but many, all interwoven, and the complexities of modern politics, played out on an international tableau, are such that they defeat even the most experienced commentator.

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How about tea with Troy ? It won't solve anything, but at least it'll make us all feel better.

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Peter Troy. Editor of this blog

Photographed during a recent visit to Jersey CI.

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Reaction

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The implications for the future of the banking industry of the domino effect of the great banking crises hardly bare thinking about.

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There is a mass of comment available across the UK media today and blogosphere; it is impossible not to feel a frisson of panic at the idea that not only bank machines might run out of money but also that the engine room of the British economy - that's the small business community - will soon run short of vital support from banks who could shortly be powerless to support vital lending facilities.

It has to be said that in the face of the global banking crisis the reaction of our government and that of the US could not have been more different in terms of openness.

In the US a plan was formulated in broad daylight, subjected to intensive public scrutiny and debate, put before both the US Congress and the US Senate for approval and again subject to massive debate before being approved by the democratically elected representatives of the country and put into action.

In contrast here in the UK what do we see ?

As the Banking crisis developed , our government dithered – it reacted to events rather than taking the initiative with a pro-active strategy. The main action was a series of meetings with the institutions of the European Union behind closed doors and completely misunderstood by business lobby groups and the national media.

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It is only after a closed meeting of EU finance Ministers (Ecofin) last week, we see action taken. Parliament is not consulted, there is no public debate. Both Parliament and the people are simply told what is going to happen, there is no vote, no approval just a done deal.

Therein lies the difference – on the one hand in the United States we see, with all its imperfections, a functioning democracy in action. Here in the UK by contrast, in Britain the mother country of modern democracy, we see a cabal of rulers working behind closed doors, coming out into the daylight only to inform us what they have done and how much it is going to cost us.

Thus is how we are now governed in Britain secretly, badly and from Europe.
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The Sunday Quote

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''Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies''

Thomas Jefferson (1743 - 1826) 3rd President of the US.
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Faulty Regulation

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Dr Richard North has discovered cast iron evidence that the EU commission has known for at least a year that there have been disastrous "shortcomings" in its system of financial regulation. This system include the measures for the application of the "mark to market" rules which lie at the heart of the current banking crisis. His post on EU Referendum is recomended.

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Banking Crises Update

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Gordon Brown has promised that the Government will "do what it takes" to help families deal with the effects of the global economic crisis such as rising food and energy costs.e effects of the global economic crisis such as rising food and energy. Sounds fine but the UK government is not in charge! costs.

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The Daily Telegraph running out of hyperbole proclaims that the sky is falling in the banking industry and the situation is getting even worse. Christopher Booker in The Daily Mail reckons that this crisis could not only sink the euro, but the whole of the EU as well.
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The British media haven't begun to understand what is going on Ruth Lea for example who is writing about the British government having been "dithering" - ignoring the fact that it is ''Europe '' (EU) that is in charge. With increasing clarity, it is emerging that Messers Brown and Darling were waiting for the go-ahead before acting. That is why they took no action on Monday – they could not until they had had their marching orders from their political masters in the EU. Thus, overnight on Tuesday and into the early hours of this morning was the first time they could have acted, having been given the green light at Luxembourg to break the EU rules.
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Thus is how we are now governed.

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Dithering Darling

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Today, after days of "dithering" Chancellor Alistair Darling suddenly launches "a drastic rescue of Britain's high street banks in move designed to head off a cataclysmic failure of confidence."This just happens to be a day after an emergency meeting of the finance ministers of the 27 EU member states. Is this a coincidence?

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At the (EU) Ecofin meeting yesterday, two things happened. Firstly, the ministers effectively gave the green light to member states to break the EU's own state aid rules.Secondly, they turned their faces away from initiating structural reforms to the regulatory system, which might have freed the logjam in inter-bank lending – preferring instead to make one minor and largely cosmetic change.

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Now, today, we see Mr Darling introduce a scheme designed specifically to free up inter-bank lending, including the provision of at least £200 billion to banks under the Special Liquidity Scheme and the injection of £50 billion capital into a select group of British banks - to the general approval of the Europhile Tory hierarchy. Thus we see an alternative and far more expensive plan aimed at achieving that which the EU members states collectively failed to address.

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Furthermore, it is one which, in its totality, almost certainly breaches EU state aid rules, as well as being "discriminatory" – two of the EU's mortal sins.

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Whilst this is clearly not the end of the current banking crises; it could just possibly be the begining of the end of the EU as we know it!

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The Sunday Quote

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'' Human behaviour flows from three main sources, desire, emotion and knowledge''

Plato