ID Card Legislation

ID Card Bill clears the House of Commons.

The ID Card Bill has, in an amended form, has cleared the entire procedure and gone to the House of Lords, where we hope, their lordships will examine it a little more carefully than our elected representatives have done.

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The final vote after the Third Reading was: 224 for with 64 against. Sharp-eyed readers will have noted that adds up to 288 votes. This means that 368 MPs could not be bothered to vote one way or another on something as profoundly serious as the introduction of an ID card in the United Kingdom.They were about to rise for their half-term hols but that is not precisely an excuse. Unless, of course, they are hoping that the House of Lords and the tight legislative timetable caused by the forthcoming elections will save them from their own ignominy.

Extracted from: http://eureferendum.blogspot.com

Allergies Vaccine

Many millions of People ( including the editor of this Blog) could be freed from the misery of allergies following ground-breaking research by Scottish scientists.

The Aberdeen based researchers have developed a vaccine that for potentially life threatening conditions ranging from asthma to nut allergy and including hayfever and foil alergy and many other allergies that cause misery to large numbers of people in the western World.

Dr Mark Vickers and his team at the Aberdeen University's Institute of Medical Science have discovered a way of fooling the body's immune system into ignoring particles that can cause allergies.

The break through is a significant step forward in medical science and will provide a meaningful improvement to people with intolerance to allergens such as nuts, pollen and wheat.

One can only hope that the EU Commission do not legislate to prevent this cure being made available which clearly is going to be good for my fellow hayfevor sufferers. I jest not neither do I promote a myth.

The Guinness advertising slogan ''Guinness is good for you'' is about to be outlawed in a regulation currently going through the 'system' in the European Parliament. What is the connection, well I am reliably informed that the 'Guinness Research Foundation' was a principle sponsor of the research program at Aberdeen University.

As one researcher, microbiologist and 'senior' eurosceptic will confirm there is no known cure to the allergy that infects so many 'eurofiles' other than a regular dose of understanding.

Of Sage and Armadillos

Labour's six pledges, announced at The Sage conference centre, in Gateshead this week-end are designed to promote a ''feel good factor''.

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The Sage known locally as 'The armadillo' because of the distinctive shape of the building - in contrast to the performance of Labour's senior politicians who all performed very predictably this week-end.

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There were no specifics and no detail. No numbers of Police to be recruited and no details of how hospital waiting lists are to be cut.

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The Election co-ordinator, North East MP Alan Milburn, denied that the pledges were vague pointing out to Chris Lloyd the political edited of The Northern Echo that each pledge was backed up a set of concrete commitments drawn from departmental five -year plans.

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What is both interesting and inevitable is that the issue of EU membership, or any obvious reference has been airbrushed out off the agenda.

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The theme to Labour's campaign is in effect that people will all feel better with another four years under a Labour government.

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Mr Blair may well not as he repeated many times at the 'Spring conference' be ''taking victory for granted'', however what the PM can take for granted that the Conservative Leader is short on quality advise. Saturday's documentary on Michael Howard provided ample evidence of the fundermental flaw in the Tory campaign; a lack of fresh ideas.

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Police were left looking very red faced when a 'Fathers 4 Justice' campaigner broke through the vast Police security cordon and climbed onto the top of the Tyne Bridge. For pure cheek the 'Fathers 4 Justice' deserve the prize of the soudbite of the week-end their spokesman said:

'' The Police spent £3m on security and it took a man in a £30 fancy dress costume to breach it''.

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Oh well, it can only get better - simply because it can not possibly get much worse.

Prize Quote Competition

The first correct answer posted on the comments page will win a book by the author.

Who wrote:

''The nice thing about quotes is that they give us a nodding acquaintance with the originator which is often socialy impressive.''

Competition closes when the correct answer is posted. The Judge is the editor of this Blog whos decision is final, so there !

Congratulations And All That

This Blog offers congratulations on the forthcomming nuptials of H.R.H. Charles, The Prince of Wales and Mrs Camilla Parker Bowles.

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The only regret of the editor of Very British Subjects is the dominance of irritating soap opera comments in the majority of the British and indeed also the international press since the announcement from Clarence House on Thursday dominated the press when other more serious issues were a foot!

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Whilst the EU Constitutional Treaty Bill was granted a second reading in The House of Commons the majority of hacks, some of whom should know better, were commenting on a non existant 'crisis' brought about by a Royal Wedding in April.

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If, however, there is to be sensible debate on who is to be our future head of State I will introduce, for I hope a quality discussion, a return to the system of an elected head of state elected that is from a candidate list drawn from the ruling Royal Family. This was the system before the invasion (thats the Norman in 1066) it was very successful and could sit easerly within the Parliamentary democracy still operating (just about) in the UK.

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The ancient assembly was called a 'Moot' ( from which a moot point is derived) and those that could cast a vote were called Jarl's ( early Earls). The anglo-saxon (unelected) assembly's decision was confirmed by public acclimation at a Coronation (i) - which remains a fundermental element in the crowning of British monarchs to this day.

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This perhaps, very British of compromises, would introduce an element of democracy into the selection of our Head of State without any of the unpopular and more extreme elements of republicanism.

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So, dear reader, if, you are still with me, if there is to be a sensible debate on the future of the monarchy in our septered isle - let it contain 'moot points' and a debate on a return to anglo-saxon traditions blended with ancient British systems rather than those corrupted by French (sorry Norman and Bretton) occupying forces in the eleventh centry.

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As Mr. Read (ii) often said , discuss quietly.

Note:

i) At the Corination of William I - The Conquerer - on Christmas day 1066 in Westminster Abbey the people were enthusiastic about the Norman Duke being crowned King of England, principally on practical grounds since the English Army had been desimated near Hastings a few months previously and further resistance against what was then the effective military force in western Europe would have been ill advised.

In the English traditional manner the people 'acclaimed' William as King by shouting support at the apointed time in the ceremony, the occupying Norman soldiers took the shout as a threat (from contempory accounts it was deafening) and promptly burnt the nearby wooden buildings to the ground and massacered many loyal subjects, in order to 'subdue the rebellion'. Public enquries had not yet been invented but had one been granted the outcome would have been put down to a misunderstanding in communications from which 'lessons had been learnt'. Sometimes one simply can't win.

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ii) Mr John Read was my Latin and History Master at my Prep School, Manor House, Hanwell London W7 in the 1960's. Mr Read could not of been any thing other that a Prep School Master, a classic Mr Chips - his teachings remain frimly implanted in my mind. My early History mentor sadly died in July 1970 a few weeks after the election of the Heath government, at Mr Read's funeral I commented to my former headmaster ''well Sir, at least he saw a return of a Conservative Government.''

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I, of course never heard an expleaitve uttered from this most gentlemen of gentlemen but had he lived to have witnessed the passing into law of the most treasonable act of deception, The Eropean Communities Act of 1972 I suspect I would have heard some very anglo-saxon terms prefixinng 'discuss, quietly'. Indeed !

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Peter Troy, Editor of 'Very British Subjects'.

Imperial - Better by Miles

We have noticed an alarming increase in the number of metric road signs erected by local authorites accross HM's Realm in recent years. This is merication by stelth; not only is it underhand and unsafe it is also illegal.

The 1994 regulations, that govern road distance signs, are indeed current and clear - they specifically state that the only units to be used in signs indicating distances on roads to which the public have access are miles, yards, feet and inches.

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This blog will eagerly take up any illegal metric sign (literaly if needed) that are reported to us.

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Disclaimer:

This blog is an action blog, boldly to go where no other blog has been before in defence of very British Subjects, from all geograpical locations, ethnic groups and all socia-economic clasification (what ever that means). We are unashamed suporters of the UK's Condtitutional Monarchy. We defend absolutly the right to fee speech (including erofiles and republicans). We have a positive policy on infinatives which we never knowingly split. - Ed.

The Sunday Quote

''As far as I can see you have used every cliché except 'God is Love' and 'please adjust your dress before leaving'. ''

Churchill on a long winded report from Eden reported, in 'Life' 9 December 1940.

One could make the same comments on Tony Blair's 'Six Pledges' announced for the General Election at The Sage Gateshead on Friday. Ed.

Six Vague Pledges

Prime Minister Tony Blair has laid his cards on the table, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, by unveiling Labour's six pledges for a general election. The six 'pledges' have been attacked in the North East Press for being too ''vague''.

The Labour Party spring conference is bring held at The Sage in Gatshead - a modern conference centre attended by some 3,000 delegates.

This blog will take a close look at Lobour's pledges over the next few says, particularly the Government's ID Cards legislation.

Bookmakers Wiliam Hill anouced today that they have stopped taking bets on the result of a 5 May election commenting that it is a certainty that Labour will win. My requast to lay a bet on the outcome of the EU Constitutional referendum was declined since the 'book' was not yet open.

More during the week-end ....................... Ed.

Swan Song or Dead Duck

by Dr Richard North


He must be quackers, but what do you expect of Denis MacShame who, hot foot from the Commons where he has been debating the European Union Bill, arrived in Swansea yesterday to unveil Britain's EU presidency logo.

And what is it to be? An animated flock of swans flying in a V-shape formation on an EU's blue background with the words "UK Presidency of the EU 2005" in yellow.

Costing £10,000 to design, by the summer it will adorn everything from stationery, paper weights, ties, cuff links and umbrellas and should become synonymous with the UK presidency.Said the egregious MacShame, "The design concept is swans in flight. They fly in a beautiful V-formation but they always change their leader, and that is very like Europe," adding that the image of the swans, and the team work and leadership it represented, was a metaphor which set out the UK vision for Europe.

How prescient was Keats, observing how "oft have you seen a swan superbly frowning", and frowning they must be at their images to be used for such a tawdry purpose.And while we're into metaphors, MacShame had better hope there is no wandering Parsifal abroad, "with bows and arrows fashioned with his own hands", to shoot at the flocks of birds.

Otherwise, the logo will be a dead duck, symbolising the swan song of the project.And is it relevant, we wonder, to recall that, in Wagner's opera, Parsifal was a German?

The Voice of North

Dr North on Radio 4 this morning.

Why we must say no.

Richard North said:

The case for the "no" sideThis constitutional treaty is part of an ongoing process – it is just one more step in a project aimed at creating a government of Europe, devised by the political élites, without the informed assent of their peoples.

Completion will mean the end of us as a self-governing country. Britain will be relegated to the status of a county council, subordinate to a central government in Brussels.

That is the danger. It we allow this treaty through, there will be another one behind, and another – as many as it takes to get to the destination. Insiders are already saying they want another treaty within a few years. The last commission even produced a detailed report on what it should contain.We have seen this before. And each time a new treaty is agreed, this nation loses more power.

We lose 63 vetoes in this treaty, bringing the total to 200 so far. How many more next time?This referendum, therefore, is the opportunity – perhaps the last opportunity – to stop the process before it is too late. But that won’t mean we leave the EU – far from it. It will simply mean that we have stopped the express train of European integration. It will give us, the people of Europe, time to work out what we really want.

So, unless you want to be on board a runaway train, set to smash into the buffers, now is the time to pull the communication cord. That is why we must say “no” to the constitution.

For a transcript of the relevant parts of the broadcast see: http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/

The Last Deep Mine

Ellington colliery, the last deep mine in the north-east is to close with the loss of more than 300 jobs. This is embarrassing for at least three of the regions MP's Blair, Milburn and Byers - remember him.

When Stephen Byers was a minister at the Department of Trade and Industry he negotiated an expensive funding package to keep the mine going and miners were assured of many more years of work as Ellington had a steady contract to provide coal to the near by Alca aluminium works.

The abrupt decision by UK Coal to shut the colliery has been blamed on ''serious flooding, which local workers claim has been halted and that the pit is very workable.

Ellington has joined the growing list of pit closures. Coal mining is now an industry of the past and Labour's none to distant promises of ''investment in clean coal technology'' has been spun into the history books and replaced with service industries.

One such example of a replacement employer is the leading law firm Plowden which specialises in personal injury and employment law. The firm has relocated its team of 22 barristers and 12 administrative staff from London to the north-east. The reason for the move 'up North' is the is an explosion of litigation for industrial diseases suffered by ex-miners in the region.

It is a funny old world.

A Lesson in History

The Conservative Party Shadow Education Secretary Tim Collins recently called for compulsory history lessons for children upto the age of 16.

This blog agrees. Unless childeren are taught history they will never know what the Tory party was.

Many teachers may not want however to include ancient history, arguing that it has no relevance to childern's lives today !

Businesses Reject The Constitution

The UK business community remains concerned about the effects of the EU Constitution if it were to be ratified by the British people in a referendum expected to be held next year.

Alan Jones the Press Association (PA) Industrial Correspondent reports on the Scotsman web site yesterday that Business Chiefs are still sceptical over the EU constitution.

Most business leaders remain sceptical about the EU Constitution with fewer than one in three prepared to sign up, a new report published yesterday confirmed. The Institute of Directors said a survey of 1,000 of its members revealed that only 25% knew how they would be voting.Director general Miles Templeman said: "The Government faces a major challenge if it is to convince businesses they would be better off with an EU Constitution."

The PA does not report that the country's largest business organisation The Federation of Small Businesses (185.000 members) at its annual conference last year voted by over 80 per cent not recommend ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. Last Autumn the Federation's ruling body agreed, with only two abstentions, to adopt as policy rejection of the EU Constitution. Red tape from Brussels appeared to be a major reason for business scepticism, with almost nine out of 10 of those surveyed expecting regulation to increase under the new Constitution.

What businesses leaders are increasingly being made aware of is that rather than reducing the current burden of detailed regulations and directives emanating from Brussels this burden is likely to increase with the wider powers that could be granted to the EU Commission under the constitution treaty.

As any business practitioner will confirm it is not only the number of regulations that is the problem but the difficulty of amending such regulations when circumstances change. There is no point in lobbying MEPs - they can ask the EU Commission for permission to introduce new or amending legislation but the EU Parliament (really no more than an assembly) can not act through its own initiative. One might just as well 'ask the man in the moon'.

The Cabinet Office based Better Regulation Task Force made much of its 'success' in proposing in the original draft of the constitution (article 1-35) that a 'sunset clause' which would enable regulations to laps after a certain period of time and only be expended after reconsideration. Good news indeed.

However, the 'Sunset clause' was removed from the draft and does not appear in the final Treaty agreed by Mr Blair on 29 October 05. The reason for the removal was on the grounds that the clause ' would be a source of uncertainty and a problem for legal security.'

No wonder British businesses have concern about the centralising approach of the EU Constitution and the obvious likelihood of no let up in the regulatory burden.


More on the EU Constitution later

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With thanks to The British Management Data Foundation and The Press Association

Shrove Tuesday

Hundreds of people today took to the streets in the old market town of Sedfefield, close to where I live, for the annual Shrove Tuesday ball game.

The 1,000 year-old tradition is a quaint old village passtime that is a part of the local heritage.

Clearly the local Police were concerned at possible breaches of the peace. I have not seen as many Police Officers in the town since President Bush called in for lunch in the autumn of 2003.

My observation was of a larege group of yobs well tanked up with larger fighting over a football on the green. Perhaps that was also the sceen 1,000 years ago minus that is the men and women in fluoresent jackets, which look so dammed silly.

Up Front Levy

Many of us who live in the counnry will forget the ghastly images of wasre and distruction of the Foot and Mouth desease of four years ago. Dor many businesses the crises is still a reality.

Investigations are still under way into invoices submitted by 57 contractors employed by the Government during the 2001 foot-and-mouth epidemic, a report has revealed.The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs challenged bills totalling £700m submitted by 130 contractors after the outbreak.

The department is complaining of irregularities including excessive charges for plant and labour, use of sub-standard materials and shredding of vital documents.

Settlements have been reached with 73 contractors, with savings to Defra totalling £40m.

But the remaining bills - together worth £260m - are still under investigation, with a number of contractors facing court action and Defra hopeful of clawing back a further £17m at least, according to the report by Whitehall spending watchdog the National Audit Office.

The foot-and-mouth outbreak cost the UK a total of more than £3bn, and the Government came under fire for providing excessive compensation to farmers for the culling of six million animals.

The European Commission last year rejected a Defra claim for £960m compensation for the cull, agreeing to pay only £350m because it believed that farmers had been given payouts worth two to three times the true value of their slaughtered livestock.

Defra is currently considering the introduction of a levy to ensure that industry shoulders a proportion of the cost of any future animal disease epidemic.

As always, we pay for the failure of politicians and civil servants - but not normally up front.

What is it about Kilroy?

by Dr. Helen Szamuely

The man excites the most extraordinary passions and I cannot quite understand why.

When one looks at the ridiculously personalized attacks in the media one is lost in admiration: how can one man get so many talentless hacks quite so excited?When Robert Kilroy-Silk first announced that he was joining UKIP and standing for the European Parliament, a perfectly sensible friend said to me that it is a bad idea as the British people do not really take to people like him.

Excuse me, I pointed out, but he has run an exceedingly popular TV programme for 17 years. If that is a sign of unpopularity and the British people not liking him then I am the Queen of Sheba. (No comments please about that – I am not.)Is it the fact that the man is successful? There are plenty of successful people around, though not necessarily in politics or, for that matter, journalism. Is it that he refuses to play up to the prevailing trend and never puts on a “cheeky-chappie” persona? Could be.

Is it that he knows his own worth? Well yes, that is a heinous crime in the British media, unless you happen to be a film actor (of either sex) who comes back from Hollywood, tail between legs, to explain that he or she could not cope with tinseltown’s ethos. (More like they didn’t want you, the reader longs to shout, but this rubbish does get written up solemnly.)Or perhaps it is the insouciance with which he stands up and rubbishes the entire media-political establishment, a view with which many people out in the big bad world are in sympathy– something that denizens of that world cannot admit to.Coupled with that is the man’s palpable contempt for the hacks. He, let us recall, was a reasonably successful politician who got out because the Labour Party was being taken over by the Militant Tendency, while many of his colleagues knuckled under.

He became a very successful media personality, journalist and businessman, who was dropped by the BBC because of his opinions. His former colleagues, though, knuckle under. When Kilroy rubbishes the journos before him, he makes it clear that he knows what they are up to as he is one of them himself.

Unspoken behind that comment, pronounced with Mack the Knife-type geniality is another one: but I am successful and you are not or you would not be here.Much of this was obvious at that famous launch that everyone has an opinion about.

As I watched the third party launch of my life in politics, I could not help noting the differences.The biggest of these was the presence of representatives of all the biggies in the media. The place was packed with journalists, photographers, cameramen. Alan Sked, who was rather good with the media could not have managed anything like that.

The post-Sked leadership of UKIP mostly receive publicity when they put their foot in it (vide Godfrey Bloom), with the exception of Nigel Farage and his entirely admirable attack on the new Commissioners’ probity. (Even he managed to get things wrong and has not been capable of moving on to another subject.)

But Kilroy did it.

The launch of his party was covered by every newspaper, every agency, every TV channel. And they hated it. The man was attacking politicians and their lies but all his listeners knew that the media has been complicit in those lies.

The journos had come to the launch to write two stories: one was about Kilroy’s tan, the other about Kilroy getting tough on immigration, that is, somehow, necessarily a racist policy.I shall not comment on the tan – I know nothing about it.

But I did think it was a bit silly to keep harping on about immigration as if it was still a taboo subject. Somebody asked Kilroy whether he could compare himself with Enoch Powell and whether he thought Powell had been a racist.One longed to go up to the little chap or chapess and say: “Powell died some years ago. Get over it.” Kilroy did not put it quite like that but informed the questioner that Veritas intended to look forward and not back. He wondered whether he was going to be compared to Genghis Khan. (Actually, that would not be a bad thing. The man was an extremely successful military and political leader.)

Andrew Gimson of the Daily Telegraph thought the comparison with Powell was perfectly reasonable since both men were talking about immigration. Mr Gimson should get out more.

An awful lot of people are talking about immigration.The subject has become a big topic across the whole of Europe. Politicians in the Netherlands, to mention one country, are grappling with the subject and I doubt that any of them have even heard of Enoch Powell.

Then there was Colm Toîbin of the Times who asked if Kilroy had spoken the truth in his entire career. Coming from a journalist that is quite an interesting question. No, he was told, as a Labour spokesman, Kilroy had had to defend all sorts of daft things, like unilateral disarmament.

Where does all this knock-about stuff leave Veritas?

Its political future is hard to predict, since much depends on circumstances the party and its leader have no control over. For example, what the Conservative Party will do or say in the election campaign.It is, however, undeniably true that the proportion of people in this country who bother to vote is going down.

The reason is clearly not that electors can no longer manage to work out where the polling station is but that they do not think it is worth their while to put a cross on that piece of paper. Much of that stems from a confused and imprecise but, nevertheless, accurate understanding that the people we elect are not the ones who legislate.

The gap between the people and the political elite in this country has not been this wide for a very long time and there probably is place for another party somewhere in there.

The question is what is the party stands for. The notion that you can campaign on something called British values is silly. What are they? Fox-hunting? Fish and chips? Going to bingo? Getting drunk on Fridays and Saturdays? Tending to your garden? Doing DIY? Warm beer and bad food? Ice-cold lager and somewhat better food? Who knows.

The main problem, it seems to me, is the basic notion of “listening to the people”. Of course, politicians ought to have some idea of what it is people want, but forming policies on that basis and nothing else gives you a bar-room manifesto.

Some basic political ideas must be present as well. In fact, that is the problem with the main parties as far as most voters are concerned – they have no ideas and no convictions.If Veritas is to survive and thrive, it must come up with a notion of what sort of country it would like to see.

Yes, we want to get out of the euro-mess. But what do we do afterwards?Without imitating or stealing their clothes, Veritas could look at the newly announced Conservative fisheries policy, that tries to answer that very question.

Then do what the Tories seem unable to do and look at other topics in the same way. Perhaps, a good starting point would be that we want to see a free people in a free country; a people who are self-reliant in a country that takes its place proudly in the world.

Of course, one has to accept that the journos will not write about it. But we, in the blogosphere, shall.

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Dr. Helen Szamuely is the co editor of 'EU Referendum' http://eureferendum.blogspot.co

Veritas

Veritas uncovered.

What motivates Robert Killroy-Silks sycophants ?

http://veritasuncovered.blogspot.com/

Up up and a whale

In a speech to assembled guests in a packed hall in Airbus's headquarters in Toulouse, southwest France, the German Chancellor Gerhart Schroeder said (in German) ''Good old Europe has made this possible''.

The German Head of Government was referring to the A 380 'European' aircraft - the worlds largest.

Well half the aircraft parts, by value, are built by US companies. British engines get the A380 into the air, British wings keep it there and British landing gear will bring it back to earth.

The illuminating description from the normally precise Nick Heigham of BBC News 24 is perhaps more amusing and perhaps equally as worrying as the comment from the German Chancellor. Higham said the new aircraft was rather large and used a graphic to make his point: '' This is a blue whale. It is half the length of the A 380 but it carries no passengers.''

I see, not so much a white elephant but a blue whale. I had better stop now I am in danger of mixing a metaphor or two.

With thanks to: The Times 18 Jan, Deutsche Press-Agenture 18 Jan, US Today and Private Eye 4 Feb.

The Sunday Quote

'' A liberal is a person too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel.''

Robert Frost (1874-1963)

More on ID Cards

Labour MP Ann Cryer has has a sudden change of mind on Identity Cards.

On 28 November the MP signed an early-day motion submitted by Austin Mitchell MP calling on the Government to ''reconsider its proposals for national identity cards'' and regretting ''the Government's efforts to stampede support by using fears of terrorism and asylum seekers''.

Astonishingly, however, by the very next day Ann had changed her mind.

She solemnly told the Commons that once illegal immigrants had arrived ''ID Cards will control what they are able to do and enable them to be arrested and deported.''

Indeed, of course they will !

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Politics Matters

Spike Milligan once said when asked for a comment on politics: ''One day the don't knows will get in, and then were will we be''.

Political issues matter, apathy especially for people in business is not an option. Quite simply, if business people do not take an interest in political issues then politics will soon take an interest in them. To pretend otherwise is to deny the facts of life.

Not all of what is printed in newspapers or reported on television and the radio will actually impact for good or bad on people. There is a need to distinguish between the soap opera aspects of politics, purely party political issues and the business relevant issues. It is clearly one of the functions of pressure groups and indeed webbloggs to fully explain the effects of proposed government policy on the process of peoples lives. To know an issue is to understand an issue.

To be a ''don't know'' is not a luxury anyone, particularly those in business, can afford.

It has been my view that for some time the true government of this country these days resides in Brussels. It is for this reason that I indend to propose a motion at the forthcomming Federation of Small Business (FSB) confrence, expressing concern that the EU Commission is by definition of its remit unable to oblige the Federation and adopt a policy of deregulation.

One need only look back a few years to the Foot and Mouth Crisis to find an illustration of how politicians (or rather the failure of politicians) threatened the very existence of many businesses. The disaster and particularly the financial and human cost is well documented as well as being a very painful memory to many of our members.

At the time of the epidemic I was instrumental in persuading the FSB to adopt a policy of demanding a public inquiry in to the causes, management and effects of the crisis. The government ignored the demand and produced three tame reports which is, in my view, reason enough for strong and effective non governmental pressure groups to exist !

The political process (and politicians) will interfere as much or as little as we, the voters, will allow them. All regulations are born from the political process. The politicians we elect are, or should be, accountable for the cost of the regulatory burden, the more regulations the greater the cost. Last year the Institute of Directors and the Better Regulation Task Force separately estimated that the cost to businesses of complying with the vast volume of rules and red tape was 12.5 per cent of the nations GDP. That is an amazing 1,000 billion pounds, each year.

Now if that is not something to talk to politicians about I don't know what is !

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Peter Troy was a Branch Chairman of the FSB from December1999 - February 2005.

In March 2002 Peter drove through a motion at the Federations Annual Confrence calling for the FSB to demand that HMG repeal 'The European Communities Act 1972 (and all subsequent Acts)'. The consequence of which would be withdrawl of the UK from the European Union.

The motion was accepted by the representitives of the UK's 3 million small business community by a majority of 2:1.

Owed from Foot and Mouth

A businessman says he is still owed £500,000 by the government for removing and burying carcasses after the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Robert Pugh, from Shropshire, left his business selling agricultural machinery to help organise equipment and labour for a cull at 40 sites in the county.He says that after four years the government is still querying the bill.The outbreak, which began in 2001, led to the slaughter of 6.5m animals andruined many farms and rural businesses.

It is estimated to have cost the UK up to £8bn.Organised burningMr Pugh's claims follow the National Audit Office's report into the outbreakwhich revealed that some of the contractors who helped in the clean-up operationare still owed money.His company organised the burning and burial of dead sheep and cattle acrossmuch of Shropshire.

Mr Pugh told BBC News said: "It was absolutely, incredibly badly run."The opportunities to exploit it were there and we didn't and that's what reallyhurts.

"We viewed ourselves as heroes at the time because everything they asked us todo, we did and at the end of the day when it was done, this is the situation wehave found ourselves in."£1.1bn compensation

His wife Caroline added: "Hundreds of tonnes of timber and coal had to beordered and supplied."A huge amount of equipment went into helping it all go together - we're talkingof hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of disinfectant."The National Audit Office says farmers received more than £1.1 bn incompensation for animals that were slaughtered for disease control purposes and some £200m for animals slaughtered for welfare reasons.But figures from the European Union show the British government paid out toomuch compensation after the crisis. Lawyers and forensic accountants are nowchecking the details of each bill.

The National Audit Office says overpayment was due to the sheer volume of caseswhich put compensation schemes under enormous pressure and led to costs beinghigher.

Story from BBC NEWS:

The Question of ID Cards

Who said

'' .. And instead of wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on compulsory ID cards as the Tory Right demand, let that money provide thousands of extra police officers on the beat in our local communities."

Answer: Tony Blair at the Labour Party Conference, 3 October 1995.

Mr Blair's comment came some ten years after he insisted in his election address that remaining in what was then the Common Market was bad for British Jobs.

It would appear that Mr Blair has a serious change of mind every ten years, mind you, his next door neighbour would argue that the PM's U turns more frequent than that.

EU Constitution

It appears that there is going to be an early debate on the EU constitution in parliament after all.

Stung, we are told by The Financial Times, by opposition accusations that he wants to bury the debate, he has decided that the ratification Bill will get its second reading on 9 February. In fact, Straw has been attracting as much criticism from his own side, for the low key approach to the constitution, and it has clearly been getting to him.His decision risks exposing divisions within the Labour party on the EU, only weeks before the start of a probable general election campaign.

The FT estimates that up to 50 backbenchers, mainly traditionalists from the left of the party, might be opposed to the Bill.However, the government will be imposing a three-line whip on its backbenchers, so the prospect of a revolt is very slim, especially this close to an election.

Possibly, only a dozen or so will break ranks and walk through the "no" lobby.Despite this, the Bill is still unlikely to become law until well after the election, as there are no plans to hold the time-consuming committee stage as more urgent Bills are competing for space for time. The Bill would, therefore, have to be reintroduced after the election, when the new government takes office.

An unnamed "senior Labour official", putting the best gloss on the decision, called the second reading "a useful event". He denied seeking to hide the issue. "The more national debate there is," he said, "the more exposed the fanciful arguments of the 'no' campaign and the Conservative party. "One suspects, though, that there will be a great deal of heat but very little light.

Dr Richard North http://eureferendum.blogspot.com

Letter to The Journal

Sir,

The assistance that the countries and people devastated by the Tsunami now need is the encouragement to recover, using their own resources.

Clearly, what the West needs to now do, is to help that process by removing those appalling trade barriers that prevent development and deny the people of South-East Asia proper money for their work.

Thailand, for example was last month told by the European Union in Brussels to buy six Airbus aircraft if it wanted to escape EU duties of 12 percent on its prawns. Thailand which is the world's largest prawn exporter, had reluctantly agreed to the deal - just before the disaster struck. The Thai Government protested that the prawn tariff it faced was three times the 4 percent imposed on neighbouring Malaysia. The United States also imposes similar tariff penalties on Thailand.

The long term answer to sustainable post disaster recovery and future prosperity is trade as well as aid.

Corporate Language

Using the language of the corporate executive !


First, I think we need to hit the ground running, keep our eye on the ball, and make sure that we are singing off the same song sheet.

At the end of the day it is not a level playing field and the goal posts may move; if they do, someone else may have to pick it up and run with it. We therefore must have a golf bag of options hot-to-trot from the word ‘go’ so we can square the circle.

It is your train set but we cannot afford to leave it on the back burner; we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire, right now.

I don’t want to re-invent the wheel but we must get right into the weeds on this one. If push comes to shove, we may have to up stumps and then we’ll be in a whole new ball game.

There is light at the end of the tunnel and I think we have a winner here. If it gets blown out the water, however, I will be throwing it back. So get your feet into my in-tray and give me chapter and verse as to how you see things panning out. As long as our ducks are in a row I think the ball will stay in play and we can come up smelling of roses.

It is imperative we nail our colours very firmly to the mast and look at the big picture. We’ve got to march to the beat of the drum. We are on a sticky wicket, we’ll need to play with a-straight-bat.

I don’t want to rock the boat or teach anyone to suck eggs. We must keep this firmly in our sight picture or it will fall between the cracks.

Have a nice day.

Impact assessments, of the higest quality.

Latest of the long line of critics, the government’s own "red-tape czar" is calling on the EU to improve its business regulation or face long-term economic decline.

This was from David Arculus, the chairman of the Better Regulation Task Force, speaking at a conference organised by the Institute for Economic Affairs in London.

He later added that the new EU commission represented "the best chance of change that Europe has ever had".

He then declared that the policies that the government had pursued to lower the burden on business should be spread across the EU. To achieve this Mr Arculus suggested that more bureaucrats might need to be hired, to carry out "high-quality impact assessments" on all EU proposals.

New EU legislation should be easier to amend and there should be mandatory consideration of alternatives to legislation, he said.He then called for an independent organisation to monitor and audit red tape and said: "There need to be sufficient commission civil servants (sic) to carry out these functions and to progress the simplification agenda."Asked what would happen if red tape continued to grow, Mr Arculus said: "I think the consequences for Europe are extremely serious."

Europe’s economy could decline to half the size of the US over the next 20 years if the tide of regulation was not stemmed, he said.Regulation is clearly primarily not a matter of procedures but of attitude and culture.

Would not less regulations be better for businesses and consumers - or is that too simple ?

A Quote

''Historians will one day look back and think it is a curious folly that just as the Soviet Union was forced to recognise reality by disposing power to its separate states and by limiting the powers of its central government, some people in Europe were trying to create a new artificial state by taking powers from national states and concentrating them at the centre''.

The Rt. Hon. Baroness Thatcher - Speech 1994.


An example EU of centralist control is 'The Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe'.

I opened a debate recently at Edinburgh University with the comments:

'' The EU Constitution is not like any previous TU Treaty. It is the blue print not of a Supranational Europe, nor even of a Federal States of Europe but of a Centralised State of Europe.'' ( 'Sovereignty' December 2004)

Reflections of a Campaign, by Peter Troy

At the UKIP Scotland AGM I was asked by a member what I enjoyed most about the Euro Election campaign in the summer. The answer I gave was the same as when I was asked by voters which part of Scotland I was standing in; ''all of it''.

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The majority of callers to the Scottish Campaign Headquarters in Lockerby were asking ''who is our candidate in this area?''. The campaign team explained that the EU classified Scotland as a EU Region and thus all of Scotland had seven Candidates from each party that would be elected on a Proportional Representation System. The explanation to supporters of the mathematical computations avoided a detailed explanation of the complex PR system used by the EU Parliament ( first devised during the French revolution) - 120,000 votes would send a UKIP MEP to the European Parliament with a mandate to leave the EU as soon as possible.

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Starting from a base of some 12,000 votes at the 1999 European and the 2003 Scottish Parliament elections the target of 120,000 votes needed to guarantee a seat appeared to be a formidable target.

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Keep smiling, was the positive motto of election agent and (now UKIP Party Chairman in Scotland) Peter Neilson. To Peter failure was not an option. His attitude together with that of UKIP Scottish Secretary (now UKIP Scottish National Organiser) George Cormack's determined and detailed campaigning were the inspiration of the daily expanding team.

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Whenever or wherever we went campaigning in Scotland the campaign team attracted new members. The professional input from our press man Clive Page was a vital ingredient. I don't think I have properly thanked Clive for scaring me so much and often in so many television and radio studios across Scotland.

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The strap line of the campaign in Scotland was well receiced in the Scottish National press: '' Scotland is a country in the UK it is not a region of the EU''If pressed as to my favourite moment, it would have to be the conversation with the Salvation Army soldier selling copies of War Cry in the centre of Perth on the very hot Saturday afternoon before the election. Having used the comparison that the Salvation Army willingly extracts donations from drinkers in Pubs to save the soles to that of UKIP repatriating UK tax payers money from the EU to save our nation I felt obliged to purchase a copy of the Army's periodical.

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I explained my motives to the immaculately uniformed gentleman and as we swapped UKIP literature with that of the Salvation Army he confirmed to me that ''the only way to effect change was from within''.

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The reassurance was comforting.The evening of Sunday 13 June was a nerve racking experience. The previous week's two opinion polls had pronounced that UKIP would achieve over 12% of the vote which would take the second Scottish MEP seat off the Conservatives.I was actually asking, could we actually win a seat in the EU Parliament in what the EU disparagingly calls the Scottish Region, should I start to pack ?

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Alas the 4-5 percent error referred to in the polls small print was more accurate than the much published predicted result. As the gloriously sunny Edinburgh evening drew to a close it was clear that I would not be joining my 12 colleagues from other EU regions of the UK in the celebratory photo call on college green in Westminster the following day.

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My disappointment at not being elected was tempered by three positive factors. UKIP was now firmly on the political map of Scotland. The party had dramatically increased its membership as well as its credibility in Scotland, my Doctor was relived that my cholesterol levels would not suffer as a result of being on the gravy train and thirdly I had a exciting time electioneering with some truly wonderful people - all true Patriots.

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As an other Doctor and well known political analyst, wrote on his web site, www.eureferendum.blogspot.com as the final results were announced on Monday 14 June, ''Peter will be bakc- he is both persistent and a tad dyslexic''.

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Peter Troy, the editor of this blog was the Lead Candidate for UKIP Scotland in the EU Elections.

Funded by who .......?

The EU budget plans for 2007 - 20013

Key Facts:

UK pays in £ 12bn per year aprox, this will rise.

UK gets out (popularly called European Money) £ 8.7 bn fixed.

Cost of compliance with EU structures £ 10 bn

Cost of EU regulaions to UK business £ 1000 bn


The EU partly funded by British Tax payers !

The Committee on Regional Development in Brussels. This committee is responsible for disbursing the largesse of the EU to the huge number of regions governed from Brussels, and for which the taxpayer pays, of course. At this week’s meeting, the Committee was discussing the budget for the period 2007-2013, when a total of £235 billion is due to be dispensed.

Pass on the detail - counter the propaganda of 'European money' .

The Sunday Quote

'' Hypocrisy is the most difficult and nerve-racking vice that any man can pursue; it needs an unceasing vigilance and a rare detachment of spirit. It cannot like adultery or gluttony, be practised at spare moments; it is a whole-time job.''

Cakes and Ale (1930) William Somerset Maugham

Victory Flogging

Very British Subjects

New Monthly Competion.

Each month this blog will award a free dinner to the reader who posts the most politicaly incorrect statement from a UK newspaper. The dinner, with the editor and the most politicaly incorrect political journalist or politican of the moment.

As an example of the statard of quote we are expecting I site the wondefully politicaly incorrect comments from an assistant in the souvenier shop of HMS Victory.

'' In my view this woman from the council should be taken aboard the Victory and flogged for talking claptrap like that ''

The 'clap trap' was to issist that the aim of the celebrations in Portsmouth to mark the 200 th anniversary of Lord Nelson's triumph and heroic death at the Battle of Trafalgar was not to celebrate his Victory over the French. The woman from the Lib Dem Portsmouth Council said that the city was anxious to avoid ''rubbing French noses in defeat''

Clearly a silly comment - The French are well used to defeats they have had many generations of practice. Ed.

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With thanks to Jonathan Oliver from The Mail on Sunday - 24 October 2004

Of Mandelson, Brown and Prescott

Peter Mandelson smiled and said it was a pertinent yet politically orientated question.

Clearly it was so politically orientated that the former Hartlepool MP and newly appointed UK's Commissioner to the EU, replied but did not directly answer my question; indeed a complement. The Rt. Hon. Peter Mandelson is a shrewd political operator, an important political figure who has been appointed by the new EU President as the EUs all powerful Trade Commissioner and as such is a part of the process of government of this country.

Many feel that it is reassuring to know that the North East of England will have its adopted son in a position of influence at the 'heart of Europe' giving a boost to Chancellor Gordon Brown's message of much needed Economic regeneration for the North East. Peter Mandelson has on more than one occasion been reported as saying he will be keen to continue to support the North East.

Reassuring as Mr Mendelson's offers of ongoing help for the North East may be the truth is, as I suggested to Commissioner Mandelson, he is in fact unable to serve two masters. The oath that he will swear at the European Court of Justice on 1 November is to '' perform my duties in complete independence,in the general interest of EU Community neither to seek nor to take instructions from any Government .......'' Hence my politically orientated question as to how he could promote North East issues when he will swear an oath not to do so ?

Some fellow activists of this blog editor in the Federation of Small Businesses query whether political issues are indeed business issues. I argue that political matters effect the process of business and are thus relevant to those in businesses. Politics is about ideas, ideas are needed to develop society. A healthy economy is vital so that businesses can flourish. In order to flourish society needs to be lead, leaders need ideas. Ideas is what politics is about which unless I am missing the point, questions about ideas need to be put to the increasing number of politicos that seek the attentions of business organisations.

Mindful of this I was very keen to be being able to put a double whammy of a question to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Chancellor when they addressed a meeting of business people in Newcastle I held my hand up at the start of the question and reply session. At the end of the session my arm ached with anticipation. The meeting Chairman did not call me to pose my question. Perhaps it was feared that I would take advantage of the presence of the two senior politicians to ask another politically orientated question. Perhaps some of my colleagues sitting cheek by jowl with me that morning were relieved; after all it would never do to discuss politics would it ?

Specifically I was intending to ask Messers Brown and Prescott what is the key difference between devolution and regionalisation. The answer is important since the former is what the Scots voted for and have, also what the Southern Irish were granted after the First World War. Regionalisation in the UK was rejected by Branch Delegates at the annual Federation of Small Businesses Conference in March by over 80%. A recent survey revealed a similar percentage rejection by business in the North East.

On the 4th November if the latest MORI Poll is correct the people of the North East well reject the option of an Elected Regional Assembly by a margin of at least 7 %. That rejection will also be a rejection of the Governments regionalisation in England. Now that will be a real nightmare for the Deputy Prime Minister.

A word of caution before anyone considers a celebration or perhaps a wake, MORI Polls can be wrong. If MORI was correct in June this Blog editor would now be an MEP !

The Sunday Quote

''There are no true friends in Politics. We are all sharks circling and waiting for traces of blood to appear in the water.''

Alan Clarke (1928 -1999).

Out with VAT in with LST

The most common objection to the proposal to abolish VAT and introduce a Local Sales Tax ( L S T ) is that most people, quite understandably, do not trust local councils with efficiently raising, and spending a local tax.

The present situation is that local authorities throughout the UK raise about 24% of what they spend through business rates and council tax. The remaining 76 % is given to them by central government. This is currently totals £ 66 billion a year.

VAT raises about £64 billion a year.

Replacing VAT with a Local Sales Tax would amount to a dramatic true devolution of power and accountability to local councils and /or Elected Regional Assemblies.

Central Government would no longer have to raise the £ 64 billion of VAT revenue and then allocate the £ 66 billion in central subsidy to local or regional governments.

One of the most complicated, bureaucratic and burdensome of taxes -VAT - can be abolished and replaced with a simpler Local Sales Tax. The £64,000,000,000 that is collected and then redistributed to local authorities to spend would stop.

Under the proposed new system the local authority's money would be collected locally, by local officials answerable to local councillors who would be responsible to their voters. Much more transparent. So if and when they make a mess of managing it they can be held to accountable by the voters.

Making local government 100 % self-financing would ensure greater local accountability.

Under this change business rates would be scrapped, a clear advantage for small businesses.

Local Authorities would not have freedom to spend as they wanted to since statutory obligations and constrains would, as now, be imposed.


A local sales tax would be too costly and complex to collect ?

No ! A local sales Tax would actually be a lot simpler than the present VAT system.

Whilst VAT is added on (and reclaimed) at each stage of the supply chain a Local Sales Tax would be payable only at the final retail point. There would be none of the complex calculation of VAT liabilities and the form filling needed to reclaim VAT from the government.

A criticism of a local sales tax is that it could be unfair and inflexible. A change in the Local Tax rate say in County Durham of 1 % could make a large difference to peoples shopping bills compared to people say in Northumberland or Tees Valley ( wherever that is). That criticism is fair comment, but has advantages. In the United States, changes of just a fraction of a percent on local tax rates often lead to very heated debate. This of course makes people aware of how a local authority is spending local tax payers money.

So out would go the complex VAT system, as would business rates. Government would no longer have to transfer billions of pounds around the country. If (or perhaps when) local authorities 'balls up' they can pay the price of failure at the ballot box. Better I argue than the present system of VAT.


OK What about the EU ?

As every one knows, or ought to know, VAT replaced the existing UK Purchase Tax regime in 1973, when the UK joined the European Union (then the European Economic Community). The UK's VAT regime is governed by the EU's 6th EC Directive. VAT is important to the EU since 40% of the EU's 'resource funding' is derived from VAT -type taxes within the EU.

Thus to abolish VAT and introduce LPT will require substantial revisions to both the 6th Directive as well as changes to the current EU funding arrangements. Since the Directive is currently subject to review and has been for over 10 years that is not really an option.There must be a better way.

Perhaps that better way is the amicable divorce from the EU I have referred to before. At the same time we can repatriate the UK fishing and agricultural industries.

Better start planning now !

A case for Jim Hacker

New legislation could lead to the destruction of government records - the opposite of what is intended, presumably.

The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) which comes into force on 1 January 2005 will make it an offence to destroy records once a formal request has been made to see them. However there is nothing to stop officials from destroying records being destroyed prior to a request being made.

The FIOA allows the public to request information from more than 100,000 public authorities, subject to exemptions such as national security. The law will be retrospective, so unless an exemption applies, the current 30-year rule lapses and researchers will be able to ask for documents on events from any time up to the present day. This will in practice mean that civil and public servants will be encouraged to destroy 'unwanted' records. This has been confirmed by a comment from a Mr.Richard Smith the FOIA Compliance Officer at the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister who commented ''Initiatives are coming down to us to whittle away our records, throw away anything not being used and to properly file those records decide not to keep.''

The Campaign for the Freedom of Information is concerned that information could be destroyed in anticipation of the Act coming into force.

Howard Davis from the National Archives said in an article in the BBC History Magazine (October edition) '' there has been a noticeable increase in the use of disposable schedules ''.

Public authorities apparently have ''folder controllers'' who weed out records before passing them on to a departmental records manager, though this process is generally informal so there is no auditable record of distraction.

All of this is clearly a case for the Department of Administrative Affairs !

Comments welcome.

The Sunday Quote

'' The Labour Party is going around stirring up apathy ''

The late Lord (William) Whitelaw, commenting in The Observer 1 May 1983.


The comment could well apply to 'Labour North' who are currently making desperate attempts (and desperate mistakes) to interest North East voters in the referendum on the Elected Regional Assembly.

When Chris Williamson, former agent in the Euro Elections, received a telephone call from Labours North East call centre a few days ago the canvasser asked whether she would be voting for the 'Yes' campaign. When told that in the event of a 'No' vote that the current unelected assembly would carry on acting as a democracy by-pass to Brussels, the caller was apparently flummoxed. Clearly Mrs Williamson's knowledgeable response was not anticipated and thus not built into the 'response script'.

Perhaps Gordon Brown will be better prepared to field questions from the NE business community following his presentation to delegates at the Labour Party organised and funded event on Tuesday morning ! I will let you all know. Perhaps unlike his former colleague and adversary, Peter Mandleson, he will actually answer the carefully crafted questions that at least one representative will put to him.