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Archive for September 2006

Thai government overthrown

September 20, 2006 wonkotsane General No comments

The Thai government has been overthrown in a military coup.

The coup, headed up by General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, has pledged its loyalty to the King of Thailand citing poor leadership by the current Prime Minister as the reason for the coup.

General Sonthi was accused in April of human rights violations. He is said to have operated “black lists” containing the names of Thai citizens who were considered persona non gratis, sometimes for personal or political reasons. The Asian Human Rights Commission described the black lists as “death lists”.

The General was given executive powers to deal with seperatists operating in the south of the country where the aforementioned human rights violations are supposed to have occured and he promised not to get involved in the politicis of the country.

The military have taken over military buildings and the naitonal media and have suspended the constitution and judiciary. Thailand is now entirely under military rule.

Interestingly, although Thailand is a Bhuddist country, General Sonthi is a muslim. Could this be the next state to fall to Islam?

Single Parents should be paid to stay at home

September 19, 2006 wonkotsane Scotland One comment

But only in North Britain of course and only as long as the English taxpayer is ~~willing~~ forced to pay for it.

The Childrens Commissioner for North Britain says that it will help improve parenting skills and relationships if single parents are paid to stay at home to look after their own kids. There doesn’t seem to be any mention of families with two parents being supported to stay at home to look after their kids but then that wouldn’t pander to the victim culture where kids from single parent families are almost talked into having problems by lefty liberals.

The Childrens Commissioner doesn’t suggest how North Britain would actually pay for this either. There is already an £11.3bn a year defecit in the amount of tax they pay north of the border and how much they get back out of the Treasury which is plugged with English money. Such a huge financial burden would require serious cutbacks in public services if the English taxpayer isn’t to be lumbered with yet more demands for extra money while services are cut back here.

Witaj? Telford

September 19, 2006 wonkotsane Federal Europe, Labour 3 comments

Telford & Wrekin Council have produced a welcome pack in Polish and Slovakian for new immigrants into the borough who can’t speak English.

A couple of issues with this. Firstly, they can’t speak English so why are they here? Secondly, if they can’t speak English they probably won’t have a job or will be on a very low income. If they’re unemployed or on a low income they will get benefits. If they get benefits they probably won’t have to pay council tax. So why is it a good use of council taxpayers money to create these welcome packs for unemployable economic migrants who take more fromt he local economy than they contribute to it?

Here’s why:

Cllr Ian Baker, Cabinet Member for Community Services, said: “In Telford and Wrekin we benefit from having a rich and diverse community. There are people from many different backgrounds and cultures in the borough and we embrace all those cultures and communities wholeheartedly.

“This work shows how dedicated we are to ensuring people feel as welcome as possible here.”

You’d never have guessed they were a wishy washy multi-culti immigrant hugging Labour council would you?

Who’s footing the police bill?

September 19, 2006 wonkotsane Labour, Police State 2 comments

The Labour Party conference is imminent and delegates are being security checked before they get their pass.

Who will be paying for these few thousand police checks and for the massive police presence at the conference? I’m guessing it won’t be the Labour Party.

Another little tidying up exercise

September 18, 2006 wonkotsane Police State One comment

John Reid, the North British Home Secretary of England, has announced new plans to stop people from getting off convictions on technicalities.

He is referring to things such as the police failing to read a suspects rights correctly or police using out-of-date warrants to search properties. There is, of course, a lot of money to be made from getting people off offences on technicalities – a lot of footballers and celebrities would have been banned from driving long ago if it weren’t for these technicalities.

This is being sold as another one of those tidying up exercises like the Legal and Legislative Reform Bill (aka the Abolition of Parliament Act) and the EU Constitution but there’s an important principle at point here. If a person hasn’t been read their rights correctly then due process hasn’t been followed and, according to the law, that person can’t be charged. Similarly, if a person gets off on a technicality then that is because, under that technical point of law, the person hasn’t committed an offence or can’t be punished.

This isn’t somebody escaping the law, it is the law.

Death to the Pope

September 18, 2006 wonkotsane Terrorism 2 comments

Yesterday I suggested that the only way the pope can satisfy some of the muslims burning churches and protesting because he offended their religion of peace and tolerance.

Today the Daily Mail reports that Anjem Choudary, a muslim extremist that the British government allows to stay in the UK, has called for the execution of the pope for insulting Islam and issued a warning to anyone else who might consider criticising his religion of peace and tolerance.

Choudary helped organise the protests in London which were choreographed to co-incide with similar protests around the world against the cartoons of mohammed that were published in a Danish newspaper. The protests were, you may recall, organised several months after the cartoons had been published and were clearly very carefully planned to present a unified image of Islamic rage and a reminder of exactly how easy it is to incite millions of muslims to terrorism and murder.

The police naturally did nothing about Choudary’s incitement to murder, a criminal offence carrying a sentence of life imprisonment because they didn’t have any complaints. I’ll remember that argument if ever I get caught speeding or jumping a red light – nobody complained so I shouldn’t be prosecuted.

This terrorist turd shouldn’t be allowed his liberty, let alone the right to preach his criminal hatred on the streets in this country. He should be deported to an Islamic country of his choice where he can sample the delights of a state under Sharia law. He certainly won’t be taking to the streets criticising the government of any Islamic country because he’s likely to find himself on the receiving end of some very holy justice.

Careful, you might fall over

September 18, 2006 wonkotsane Lib Dems No comments

Sir Minge Campbell, the geriatric North British leader of the Lib Dums, has announced his latest lefty-liberal policy.

Not to be outdone by Dangerous McDave and his band of Lefty Conservatives with their all-women shortlists, Sir Minge has announced that local Lib Dum Associations that “positively” discriminate against white English men to field minority and/or women candidates will be given extra money from party funds.

If he leans any further to the left he’s going to fall over and at his age he’s likely to break his hip.

Muslim Tolerance

September 17, 2006 wonkotsane Terrorism 5 comments

I try to avoid talking about muslims and Islam too much because a) I’m not interested in religion and b) threads about muslims tend to attract hordes of knuckle-draggers in the comments (the only comment I’ve every had to moderate on my blog was in a thread about muslims).

However, I’ve got to talk about the last few days. A couple of days ago the pope made a speech and in it he quoted an emperor from about 700 years ago who criticised the teachings of Mohammed when he said that Islam should be spread by the sword. The quote pointed out that this is not about tolerance and that is correct – spreading a religion by the sword and showing no mercy to the infidels unless they repent and pay a ransom is not tolerant, it is barbaric.

The pope has apologised. He claims that he didn’t intend it to be offensive. It’s clearly going to offend muslims because they won’t accept and percieved criticism of their religion and if he really thought that it wouldn’t offend them then he is far too naive to hold the office he does. However, he has apologised for offending them and they should accept this.

They myth of a tolerant and respectful muslim religion is exposed by the reaction of muslims all round the world to the pope’s gaffe. When muslims blow up buildings and kill hundreds of people muslim “leaders” around the world explain that it’s all the fault of the west with our society of decedance and capitalism and we have only ourselves to blame. When a Danish newspaper prints cartoons of Mohammed, muslims around the world take part in violent protests inciting murder and terrorism. When the pope quotes somebody from hundreds of years ago and offends muslims, they go on the rampage all over the world protesting, burning churches and apparently shooting dead a nun while “British” muslim “leaders” tell us that it’s all our fault and that an apology isn’t enough.

When you offend Islam there is, unfortunately, only one way to satisfy those that bay for your blood and that is to give it to them. Islam demands death to those who insult this religion of peace and tolerance.

Taking Power Lords Reform Competition

September 17, 2006 wonkotsane Police State 2 comments

Taking Power are running a competition to find the best suggestion for Lords Reform.

I will, of course, be sending in the suggestions that I wrote in the BlogWar I did a while back with Gavin Ayling.

I really have nothing better to do with my time

September 17, 2006 wonkotsane General 4 comments

They say two things in life are certian – death and taxes. They are, of course, wrong. There are three things in life that are certain – death, taxes and having to reinstall Windows at least once or twice a year.

The first one I don’t plan on experimenting with quite yet, the second one is the bain of my life (but keeps me in a job) and the third one … well, it’s been a good six months since I last had to install Windows on my desktop so it’s that time again.

With the usual lack of foresight I butchered the Windows installation on my desktop to make it smaller and faster which involved, amongst other things, ditching wireless support. Which was fine until I bought a laptop. Now I have a wireless hub and the desktop refuses point blank to do anything other than get an IP adress off it.

So, I’ve blown the dust off the Windows installation disc and with a bit of luck I’ll have a lovely fresh copy of Windows on it that actually works in about half an hour and after another couple of hours downloading critical updates and patches it should be safe to use without the widow of the Nigerian oil minister (not to self: don’t join the Nigerian civil service) hijacking it to send 3 million emails to specially selected people asking them to help her smuggle $8.5m out of the country.

New Tory Logo’s

September 17, 2006 wonkotsane Tories One comment

The Tories have ditched their old copy of the BT logo in favour of an infant’s drawing of what is apparently an oak tree.

The cost of the logo – £40,000 – has raised a few eyebrows but they aren’t the only things the logo’s are raising. There are three versions of the logo – a North British, West British and British version. There’s no room for England in British politics, not even for Call me McDave‘s Tories who are unelectable outside of England.

As Iain Dale points out, it tilts slightly to the right. A nice touch if it was intentional but it would surely be more appropriate if it was a bit more pointed at the top so it was “tilted” permanently to the motherland?

I’m in a book!

September 16, 2006 wonkotsane General 4 comments

Many thanks to Iain Dale for putting Wonko’s World at #47 in the list of top 100 non-aligned political blogs in his new book.

I must say, I am honoured and a bit bewildered to be included in a list that includes the likes of Guido, the CEP, Devil’s Kitchen, Tim Worstall, Tom Griffin and many other top-notch bloggers (a number of Witanagemot bloggers have made it onto the list too). The URL in the book points to my old blog but I’m sure people will find their way over here if they decide to take a look.

Typical, none of my Skye or MSN contacts are online and I want to gloat.

Shropshire Star: Change to voting will not affect the nation

September 16, 2006 wonkotsane Letters No comments

Change to voting will not affect the nation

Gordon Brown kicked off his leadership campaign with a speech on Britishness in Scotland, the least British part of the UK.

In his speech he said: “The SNP want Scotland separate from the UK and want to force Scotland to choose between Scotland and Britain”.

On the Tories he said: “The Conservatives want English votes for English laws and want the English to choose between England and Britain”.

On the former he is correct and I personally wish the SNP the best of luck. The sooner England loses the financial, social and political liability that is Scotland the better. We could spend the £11.3bn annual subsidy on cancer treatments in England instead.

On the latter, however, he is way off the mark. The Tories are merely trying to find a way of stopping MPs elected in Scotland – such as Gordon Brown – from voting on matters that only affect England. As Gordon Brown can do next to nothing that affects his own constituency in Scotland, banning him from interfering in English affairs would leave him with next to nothing to do.

English votes on English legislation is a fatally flawed idea but at least the Tories are recognising that there is a problem.

Contrary to Gordon Brown and Labour’s assertions, banning MPs not elected in England from voting on English legislation or even establishing an English Parliament, will not lead to the break-up of the union. Giving Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland their own devolved governments hasn’t lead to the break-up of the UK so there is little reason to believe that merely evening the political inbalance in England would.

Stuart Parr
Telford

New Labour Logo

September 16, 2006 wonkotsane Funny, Labour 2 comments

Dark Heretic suggests a new Labour logo …

Remember that £5m grant to the “City Region”?

September 16, 2006 wonkotsane Regions No comments

On August 5th the Shropshire Star reported that the West Midlands City Region (as it was known then) had been granted £5m from central government to tackle poverty and unemployment.

Like a lot of people, I thought it a bit strange that central government could award such a vast sum of money to an organisation that doesn’t yet exist and with no guarantees that the organisation that finally comes into being will actually be fit for the purpose.

I can reveal that the £5m was not, contrary to press releases that asserted as such, awarded to the “City Region”. The grant was, in fact, made to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), a part of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

So who has been telling porkies? I hope to find out very shortly. In the meantime, here is the email conversation that uncovered this blatant piece of untrue propaganda.

Gerry,

I am writing to you as I am extremely concerned about a report in the Shropshire Star on August 5th regarding the Birmingham, Coventry and Black County City Region and you are, I am told by your colleagues, one of only two people in the council who are familiar with the City Region.

The report said that the City Region has been granted £5m from central government to boost unemployment and tackle poverty across the “region”.

The reason I am concerned is that the City Region doesn’t exist yet and you have told me that it won’t exist until early next year when the proposals will be finalised and made public. I don’t claim to be an expert in banking, financial or company law but I have worked in the finance sector and picked up enough basic knowledge to know that you cannot give money to a company or organisation that doesn’t exist – especially not £5m of public money! I was wondering if you could tell me who has accepted this £5m on behalf of the non-existent City Region and what is being done with it. I assume that the money is being held in escrow by a competent authority with a view to handing over the capital sum with interest to the City Region if and when it comes into being? I believe this is the norm in cases such as this. Is there perhaps a legal entity already set up that will be incorporated as the City Region in future that has the authority to act as if it were the City Region?

The other thing that concerns me is that this central government department has granted the money to the City Region despite not knowing whether the final organisation will actually be fit for the purpose to which this money has been allocated. As you assured me there is no firm proposal for the City Region when I asked for a copy of the proposals, it is impossible to tell whether the final organisation will actually be suitable for tackling poverty and unemployment throughout the whole “region” or whether that money would be better spent by elected councils who know their own town/city.

Could you please advise who this central government department is so that I can ask them about it too?

Thank you in advance,

Stuart Parr aka wonkotsane

Stuart,

I attach a press statement from the regional LSC. This was the statement that the Shropshire Star used as a basis for the report to which your email refers. I would also refer you to the Department for Work & Pensions’ press release on the same subject:

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/mediacentre/pressreleases/2006/jul/fmc080-270706.asp.

Finally, you might try ‘googleing’ ‘dwp city strategy’ or ‘dwp city strategies’ for more comprehensive information.

I would confirm that no firm decisions have been taken about how the city region will operate or the nature of its responsibilities. However, the partnership will continue to operate in a transparent manner, issuing press statements as ideas are firmed up. We hope to be able to consult on these emerging ideas towards the end of the year.

Gerry Dawson

Head of Regeneration & Economic Development Borough of Telford & Wrekin

Thank you Gerry. So the money has not actually been given to the City Region, it’s been given to the local authorities that want to be in the city region?

Stuart.

The City Strategy is complex. I would refer you to the comprehensive information that is available on the net and to which I have pointed you.

This should answer all of your legitimate questions.

Gerry Dawson

Gerry,

I’ve followed that link for the DWP and read the press release. I’ve read as much about the City Region on the internet as I can find and I still don’t understand where this money went. It hasn’t gone to the City Region because it doesn’t exist so who did it go to? Has it been shared between the local authorities or is it being jointly administered or am I missing something here?

Stuart

Stuart,

The LSC is the Accountable Body. This means that money will be directed through it.

May I respectfully suggest that you direct any further questions on this issue either to the LSC or DWP, via the web sites I have indicated.

Many thanks.

Gerry Dawson

Gerry,

I will gladly speak to the LSC if it is they that have received the money.

Can you just confirm that the £5m was given to the LSC and not the “City Region”?

Stuart

Stuart,

My last email made this abundantly clear.

Enjoy the remainder of your weekend.

Gerry Dawson

Hain’s nose put out

September 15, 2006 wonkotsane Anglophobia, England, Labour, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales 3 comments

Peter Hain, Northern Ireland and Welsh Secretary and prize bigot, has got his knickers in a twist over Tory plans to stop MP’s that don’t represent English cosntituencies from interfering in English-only legislation.

The bigot supports the Labour Stazi policy of anti-English apartheid and minority rule and sees no problem with him being able to vote on matters entirely restricted to England when he can’t vote on those same matters in his own constituency.

Hain is a firm believer in devolution … but only for Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. He thinks that the Tories policy of English Votes on English Matters (EVoEM) will break up the union … but stopping English MP’s from voting on devolved matters in the rest of the UK won’t. He also thinks that stopping MP’s not elected in England from voting on English-only matters will create second-class British MP’s … but stopping English MP’s from doing the reverse hasn’t. He believes it is his “right” to vote on English-only legislation … but not to vote on devolved matters outside of England.

The only thing consistent about the bigot‘s arguments is that they are consistently inconsistent.

Vote Whoring

September 15, 2006 wonkotsane Labour, Police State No comments

It’s seems today is destined to be a day for vote-whoring. While McDave up in North Britain telling them that the English are ignorant and the cause of all their problems including, but not limited to, STD’s, obesity, infant mortality and the price of battered mars bars, the Labour Stazi has been electioneering with English hospitals.

Hazel Blears and Patricia Hewitt, the Labour Stazi Chairman and Health Secretary respectively, arranged a series of meetings with Labour Stazi officials to discuss hospitals closures and “reconfigurations”. The meetings were provided with “heat maps” showing Labour marginal seats so that NHS cuts could be arranged in seats they don’t stand a chance of winning whilst avoiding marginal seats where bugering up their local health service could jeapordise their seats.

One word – malfeasance.

Hard Rock Café finds England

September 15, 2006 wonkotsane England No comments

Hard Rock Café have corrected their website so that it now correctly lists English cafés.

New Child Seat Law

September 15, 2006 wonkotsane Federal Europe, Police State 2 comments

A new law comes into effect on Monday passed by the British government on the instructions of the European Federation in EU Directive 2003/20/EC. The law will make it an offence to have a child in your car without a car seat.

There are exceptions – if it’s an emergency, if a third seat won’t fit in the middle of the back seat or if you’re in a taxi. It will also only apply to children under 11 years of age or 4’6″.

The European Federation says that the ruling has been made to reduce the number of child injuries in car accidents because if a child is sitting in a child seat or on a booster cushion the seatbelt will be in a safer position on the childs body if there were a crash and that would reduce the risk of damaging organs.

Now, I’m all for improving safety, especially where children are involved. However, I see a problem with this argument and it’s a pretty major flaw. I don’t know if there’s is that much genetic difference between English kids and kids from the continent but, you see, English kids grow as they get older. That means that the seatbelt will be in a different place on the childs body throught the 11 years the child will be required to sit in the seat. I am therefore at a complete loss as to which part of the childs body is “safer”.

That’s right Dave, it’s all our fault

September 15, 2006 wonkotsane Anglophobia, Scotland, Tories 5 comments

I can’t be doing with politicians that say one thing in North Britain and one thing down here. It really, really pisses me off. If the North Britons are going to get all upset if you don’t tell them they’re all direct decendents of Jesus, deserve the nobel peace prize for services to anglophobia and generally the cream of society then don’t even bother talking to them – they’re a dead loss.

David Cameron has told a conference in North Britain that English ignorance of North Britons and North Britain is one of the biggest threats to the union. Racial hatred of the English which is reaching epidemic proportions north of the border, it would seem, is conducive to stronger union in Cameron’s mind.

I think David Cameron may have just lost the Tories the next election. If Labour stays in power because of his ineptitude, ignorance and vote-whoring I will personally track him down and ram a full set of bagpipes up his arse.

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