Archive for March 2009

Environment Agency wants compulsary water meters

The Environment Agency plans to force water companies to spend money on installing water meters in every home in England and Wales to try and force people to use less water.

Their crackpot team of fake scientists have a bullshit theory that global warming will result in up to 80% less water in rivers by 2050 and the planet is going to be simultaneously engulfed by rising sea levels and turned into a vast desert by global warming.

Instead of forcing water companies to spend millions on useless water meters, make them spend the money on repairing leaks. Severn Trent loses over half a million litres of water a year through leaky pipes alone and that’s only one water company. There’s not much point putting a water meter in every home to try and force people to use less if you’re going to allow the water companies to piss millions of gallons into the street.

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Another fake prediction from Peston

The BBC’s financial fraud, Robert Peston, has “predicted” that the Dunfermline Building Society could be bought by the Nationwide.  Like most of Peston’s “predictions”, it’s already old news by the time he makes his pronouncement.

Dunfermline/Nationwide Link

It was surprising that the Treasury didn’t bail out the Dunfermline because most of its branches are in El Gordo’s constituency.  Not so surprising is the fact that the Treasury is going to take on £1bn of toxic assets, allowing the new owner to take on the profitable part of the business.

The Chairman of the Dunfermline is having a whinge about the Treasury not doing more to keep the building society independent.  The SNP, desperate not to lose another one of “oor banks” (yes I know it’s a building society, not a bank), has offered financial aid to the Dunfermline but the Treasury has apparently blocked the offer.

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Jacqui Smith puts porn on expenses

Draper Does DallasThe Home secretary, Jacqui Smith, has been caught claiming expenses for her husbands porn.

She says that she accidently claimed for her Sky TV bill – complete with porn – along with her internet connection.

Her husband, Richard Timney, has apologised for embarassing his wife.  I can’t blame the poor bloke to be honest, imagine being married to that sour faced fascist bitch?

I wonder what mucky films they watch in the Timney-Smith household.  Debbie Draper Does Dallas?  Alice Alistair in Underpants?  Suggestions in the comments …

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Bloggers4UKIP: Tory’s #1 donor defects to UKIP

Stuart Wheeler, the multi-millionaire who has donated millions to the Tories, has defected to UKIP.

When David Camoron reappointed arch-eurofederalist Ken Clarke to his shadow cabinet, he managed to not only irritate vast swathes of the Tory membership but also Stuart Wheeler, their biggest donor.

Wheeler warned Camoron that he wasn’t happy and they needed to buck up on their eurosceptic credentials or he was walking.

According to Wheeler, Camoron had a meeting with 70 Tory MPs and told them the European Empire isn’t an issue and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Wheeler has defected to UKIP and written a cheque for £100k to the party.

Wheeler said:

The public know that the EU is incompetent, ineffective, hidebound and riven with fraud but the current political class in Westminster don’t want to talk about it. I believe that millions of people want a say on the matter, and by voting UKIP they can be heard.

The LibLabCon have telling the media at every opportunity that UKIP has collapsed and that the party is going nowhere. One thing you can be sure of is that self-made millionaires don’t get to be millionaires by backing losers.

Update:
Iain Dale isn’t bovvered. Honest. Face? Bovvered? Stuart Wheeler has “committed an act of gross disloyalty” apparently. But not Camoron when he knowingly appointed Ken Clarke in the knowledge that it would mean losing their biggest donor.

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Priorities?

Lib Dem MP, Evan Harris, has introduced a private members bill to alter the succession to the Crown and to lift the ban on heirs to the throne marrying catholics.

Aside from the fact that there are far more important things to worry about, is it really a constructive use of very expensive parliamentary time to debate a law that won’t realistically prevent discrimination against any living person?

The first female heir to the throne who has been bumped down the list who would make any significant gain is Princess Anne at number 10, behind Prince Charles, Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince Andrew, Princess Beatrice, Princess Euginie, Prince Edward, Prince James and Princess Louise.  If the laws of succession were changed and she was bumped up the list, she would end up in 4th.  The chances of Princess Anne, who is already 59 years old, becoming Queen is pretty slim.  Princess Beatrice and Princess Euginie would drop down a place and Princess Louise would stay in 9th.

So, there’s little point changing the laws of succession for females when nobody will benefit.  But what of the other “discrimination” – that of banning Catholics or spouses of Catholics from the throne?

Well, the ban on catholics sitting on the throne is there for a very good reason.  The monarch owes their alliegence only to their country and their subjects, not to the Pope.  The monarch is also Supreme Governor of the Church of England and Defender of the Faith.  How can a catholic become king or queen and take the oath to defend the established church if they belong to a different church?

A BBC poll apparently showed that 89% of people thought women should have equal rights of succession but how many of those people realised that it wouldn’t make any difference to anyone currently alive and that it would have the net effect of pushing two women further back down the line?  The poll also apparently showed that 81% of people thought that the ban on marrying catholics should be lifted but how many of them realised that it would mean the king or queen would no longer be head of the Anglican Church?
We are in the midst of a recession, we are worst placed of any developed nation to ride out the storm, unemployment has reached 2 million and banks and big businesses are collapsing left right and centre.  How can any MP think that such a pointless and futile exercise is important?

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Daily Mail: God save our national anthem from politically correct meddlers

The Daily Mail has an article from British nationalist Robert Hardman, on why England shouldn’t have its own national anthem or parliament and should continue as the last colony of the British Empire.

I didn’t think it was possible for a professional journalist to write such a long article and manage to miss the point entirely.  His argument against and English Parliament is the usual “we don’t want more politicians” – as we’ve said many times, an English Parliament doesn’t have to mean more politicians, just different politicians as three quarters of the British government will no longer be needed.  And even if it did mean more politicians (like it did when the Scots and Welsh got their government) then isn’t it up to the English whether they wish to pay for them or not?  Hardman says “we” don’t want more politicians but who is the “we” that he is speaking for?  His fellow British nationalists?  The Daily Mail?  The people at his golf club?  He doesn’t speak for me or the majority of CEP members and supporters who would gladly pay the cost of extra politicians if it meant that we got our Parliament.

His argument against an English national anthem is that God Save the Queen is the British national anthem and … well, there isn’t really an argument.  He says God Save the Queen is good enough and that we shouldn’t change it because other people (the Scots and Welsh often complain that the English use the British anthem, even though they don’t want to use it themselves) don’t like it.  He doesn’t mention that fact that there’s a lot of us that don’t like it – I personally can’t stand listening to the British national anthem being played before English sporting events and have to turn the channel over or at least mute the TV to avoid being thrown into a rant.

Hardman goes on to say that if, heaven forbid, the English might be allowed to express their identity through a national anthem of their own, Jerusalem wouldn’t be suitable because it’s not inclusive and multi-cultural enough as a Christian poem set to war music.  Jerusalam, of course, tops every poll on an English national anthem and the fact that it is a Christian poem (and a satire that appears to have been lost on Hardman) is irrelevant on account of England being a Christian country whose society is built on Christian values.

There is a poll with the article asking whether England should have its own national anthem currently showing 40% ifor “Yes” and 60% for “No, God Save the Queen is best”.  CEP members have reported mysterious problems with the poll telling them they’ve already voted when they haven’t but it’s important that as many people as possible persevere and vote for an English national anthem – the British nationalists are very well organised and will have been spamming the poll all day yesterday.

Tesco sells something English!

Spotted in Tesco the other day …

English Honey at Tesco

Sadly, this was the only shelf with anything on it marked as English.  Plenty of Scottish products side-by-side with “British” alternatives but Mrs Sane wouldn’t let me take any more pictures.

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Anyone but Murray

Andy “Anyone but England” Murray lost again last night against Nadal.  Shame.

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Policeman sacked by kangaroo court

A copper from Merseyside has been sacked after his name turned up on the BNP membership list that was leaked in November.

Even though the BNP, odious as it is, is a legal political party, police officers aren’t allowed to be members.  The reason the police give is that being a member of the BNP means an officer isn’t going to treat ethnic minorities the same as white people, even if said officer has already gone through the extensive psycho-analysis to make sure they’re a good little prole.

PC Steve Bettley was suspended when the membership list was leaked last year despite denying that he was a BNP member.  He has now been sacked after an investigation during which the Black Police Association were fully consulted.  A spokesman for Merseyside Black Police Association said he was “satisfied that Pc Stephen Bettley was either a member or supportive of the aims and objectives of the BNP and therefore commend the inevitable decision made by Merseyside Police to dismiss him from service”.

So he got a fair hearing then.

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England 26 – 12 Scotland

The cheese eating surrender monkeys last week and the sweaty socks this week.  We might not have won the Six Nations but we battered both the auld enemies and that’s good enough for me.

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Israeli soldiers admit to murder and terrorism

When the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) invaded Gaza, there were countless reports of human rights abuses and what could only be described as cold-blooded murder perpetrated by the IDF.

Israel Gun FlagOf course, the appeasers defended Israeli terrorism as they always do, claiming that Israel was acting in self-defence and that the Palestinians were lying about the attrocities carried out by the IDF.  Regular readers of this blog will no doubt recall the many comments from appeasers (mostly Americans and Tories) trying to defend Israeli terrorism.  But now we have it from the horse mouth that the IDF murdered Palestinian civillians and committed acts of terrorism.

An Israeli military college has published Israeli soldiers’ accounts of the invasion in which they describe the murder of civillians and how “the climate in general [was that] lives of Palestinians are much, much less important than the lives of our soldiers”.  Soldiers also said that Rabbi’s gave out pamphlets talking about the invasion in religious terms, giving them the feeling that it was a religious war.

The final Israeli death count came to 13, three of which were civillians and 2 were soldiers that blew themselves up loading their gun.  The Palestinian death count was about 1,300 of which 440 were children and 110 were women.

So, Israeli soldiers are admitting to murder and terrorism.  How are the appeasers going to spin this in Israel’s favour?

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Amnesty International tells NI to take Guantanamo prisoners

Amnesty International has told the Northern Irish First Minister and Deputy First Minister that they should follow the leader of the Irish Republic and consider taking released prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.

The Northern Irish government doesn’t have the power to make this kind of decision, it’s a reserved matter.  Amnesty International should shut the fuck up and stop trying to promote its republican agenda in Northern Ireland.

If they’re looking for human rights abuses they could start a bit closer to home and looks at the English people dying of cancer because they can’t have the same medical treatments the Scots get on the NHS and where English people are told it is offensive or racist to fly their national flag.

Human rights aren’t just about not being locked up for disagreeing with the government or not being tortured or murdered – the right to self determination and the right to display cultural and national symbols are also in the United Nations Convention on Human Rights.

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Europe Family Link – fake charity collection

Had a leaflet this morning from a fake charity called Europe Family Link asking for clothes.

This is an unusual one because it’s linked to a real charity but EFL isn’t a charity despite the leaflet implying that it is.

Northamptonshire Trading Standards complained last year about the leaflet to the Advertising Standards Agency. The ASA upheld the complaint and told EFL to remove the phrases “Europe Family Links is a UK registered non-profit organisation” and “Charity begins at home” and the reference to their Companies House registration number from their leaflet but they’re still there.

I’ve reported it to Trading Standards this morning but there will unfortunately be people taken in by the fake charity leaflet. If you have clothes to donate to charity, either take them to a proper charity shop or check if your council gives clothes put out with your recycling to charity.

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St Georges Day in Telford

UKIP Telford & Wrekin Branch

Celebrating St Georges Day

on the evening of the 23rd April

at

The Telford White House Hotel
Watling Street
Wellington
Telford
TF1 2NJ

Tickets £12.50 each

Arrival 7.00 – 7.15 Meal 7.30pm

Ends around 10.30pm

Brass Band

Meal
Fish & Chips and Mushy Peas
Apple Pie

This is the time to sing along let your hair down and have fun.

More importantly Fly the Flag

Please forward a cheque payable:

UKIP Telford & Wrekin
c/o Holly Cottage
30 The Fields
Kynnersley
Telford
Shropshire
TF6 6ED

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Heat stroke in March!

I’m sure the global warming propagandists will love to learn that I got a dose of heat stroke on Sunday.  Yes, heat stroke in England in March.

I spent most of Sunday in the garden putting up a fence around the patio to stop the hound of the wonkovilles from getting into the garden, had nothing to eat and only a small bottle of coke to drink.  All was fine until I came in from the sun and sat down with a bottle of Stella to watch England demolish France.  My head felt like it was on fire and I spent 20 minutes with my head under a cold shower before it started to subside.

Anyway, to cut a short story even shorter, I’ve had a migraine for 3 days and had to take two days off work.  Which everyone thought was most amusing.  Bastards!

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Shropshire man falls foul of the Nationality Lottery

A Shropshire man has fallen foul of the nationality lottery after Telford & Wrekin NHS Trust refused to treat him with Lucentis to try and save his sight.

Allan Farley has punctate inner choroidopathy and two consultants have told him that Lucentis will help to save the sight in his right eye. He is already blind in his left.

But the NHS Trust, acting on guidelines issued by the increasingly inaccurately named National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE), have refused to fund a course of Lucentis. Honestly, someone really should complain to Trading Standards – they are neither “national” nor “nice”.

Two years worth of Lucentis will cost about £18k, pocket money compared to the cost of paying benefits and providing services to a blind man and his family for the next 50 or 60 years. If you’ll excuse the pun, the decision is more than a little short sighted.

Mr Farley says he’s being refused Lucentis because of the cost. Yes, it’s an expensive drug and the NHS Trust probably doesn’t have £18k stuffed down the back of the Chief Exec’s sofa to pay for it but finding the money for the drug is a secondary issue and the NHS Trust does have the money if it wants to spend it.

The real reason why Mr Farley is being refused Lucentis is because he lives in England. If he lived in Scotland he would have been treated by now and the sight of his left eye might have been saved. The Scottish Medical Consortium – the equivalent body to NICE north of the border – allows Lucentis to be provided on the NHS in Scotland, along with a host of other drugs such as cancer and alzheimers treatments that are unavailable to English people.

Shropshire MPs complaining about unfair treatment of the English

The following story graced the front page of Wednesday night’s Shropshire Star:

MP’s bid for equal rights at factories

Workers at a Japanese car part factory in Shropshire are not receiving the same state aid in the current economic climate as their Welsh counterparts, an MP has claimed.

Shimizu UK has operations in Hortonwood, Telford, and Welshpool.

However, while its Welsh staff receive taxpayer-funded subsidies for their earnings and efforts to boost their skills – those at the English site do not.

Mark Pritchard, The Wrekin MP, whose constituency includes Hortonwood, today demanded a fair deal and similar assistance for his constituents as well.

The Tory MP raised the issue with Welsh Secretary Paul Murphy in the Commons.

He said: “The Secretary of State will know that Shimizu – a fone Japanese company – has a factory in Welshpool and also in Hortonwood in my constituency.

“But the difference is, on the Welsh side of the border they receive taxpayer subsidies for wages and training.

“That is good news obviously for people in jobs in Wales, but what about the people of Shropshire and my constituentsm who would like to see a similar subsidy from the regional develpment agency?”

Mr Murphy said there were “plenty” of schemes to turn to for assistance, including Train 2 Gain.

He said: “There are plenty of schemes – it is important that you make your constituents aware of them.”

The irony is, the Conservatives today announced that they will abolish all the regional quangos if they win the next election, including the regional development agencies.

Today I wrote the following to the four Conservative MP’s in Shropshire (there’s no point writing to the Labour MP, David Wright, any more as he rarely replies and when he does it’s usually spin or he answers a question you haven’t asked) as follows:

Dear MP,

Yesterday, Mark Pritchard had the following exchange with the British Secretary for State for Wales:

Mark Pritchard: What discussions he has had with ministerial colleagues and the Welsh Assembly Government on schemes to assist businesses in Wales during the economic downturn. [261330]

The Secretary of State for Wales (Mr. Paul Murphy): I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer that I gave the hon. Member for Ceredigion (Mark Williams).

Mark Pritchard: I am delighted to have given the Secretary of State more time to think about his answer. He knows that Shimizu, a fine Japanese company, has factories in Welshpool and in Hortonwood in my constituency. The difference is that, on the Welsh side of the border, it receives taxpayer subsidies for wages and training. That is good news; we want people in jobs in Wales, but what about the people of Shropshire and my constituents, who would like a similar subsidy from the regional development agency?

Mr. Murphy: As the hon. Gentleman knows, one great benefit of devolution is that we can have several schemes to help businesses in Wales that might not be available in England. However, there are also effective schemes across the border in England, such as Train to Gain, the help that the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform gives small and medium-sized enterprises, and the Department for Work and Pensions schemes. There are plenty of schemes—it is important that the hon. Gentleman makes his constituents aware of them.

This raises an important point and one that is going to get more focus, especially as the economic situation worsens.

Last week Daniel was quoted quite justifiably complaining about the £2m per year cost of treating Welsh patients at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Co-incidentally, I received a letter from the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital that same week confirming that the new kidney cancer wonder drug that the Welsh government have approved for NHS use could be given to a Welsh patient in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital whilst an English patient would be refused it. Is this another benefit of devolution? It is for the Welsh.

As the economy gets worse, the Scottish and Welsh governments are spending more of their subsidy on propping up their businesses. There is no equivalent focus on English businesses from the British government, the focus is on UK-wide measures.

The Bank of England has magicked a few billion pounds out of thin air and used it to buy assets off British banks so that they will have enough capital to start lending again. The Royal Bank of Scotland has pledged £1.7bn to start offering mortgages – but only in Scotland. RBS is a Scottish bank first and foremost, they’re only British when they need rescuing from bankruptcy. The same applies to HBOS – both RBS and HBOS pledged to sacrifice jobs in England to save them in Scotland.

I’m afraid the regional development agencies (which David Cameron says he will abolish) just won’t cut it when it comes to addressing the democratic deficit in England or providing support to the English economy. An unelected regional quango with a few million pounds of funding pales in comparison to the national governments of Scotland and Wales with multi-billion pound budgets, the ability to pass its own legislation and directly elected politicians elected to represent the interests of the people that elected them.

What England needs and what England wants is an English government with English politicians elected by English people to represent English interests. We don’t need a Prime Minister and Chancellor elected in Scotland, unaccountable to English voters and having signed the Scottish Claim of Right, pledging to put the interests of Scotland first and foremost in all their acts and deliberations. We don’t need MPs elected in Scotland, unaccountable to English voters, casting the deciding votes on devolved subjects such as university top-up fees, foundation hospitals and the new runway at Heathrow.

Before you give the usual speech about how we’re stronger together than apart and our shared values, ask yourself what the union is doing for your constituents right now. Billions of pounds is being spent on Scotland and Wales at the expense of England. Legislation that only affects England is being passed by Scottish MPs that have no right to vote on the same matters in their own constituencies. Scottish and Welsh businesses are not only benefitting from the British government’s UK-wide efforts to combat the recession but they are also benefitting from their own government’s efforts. You are already seeing – and questioning – the benefits to Scottish and Welsh people from having their own devolved governments. Why would you want to deny those same benefits to your own constituents?

The case for an English Parliament is growing stronger as every day goes by and support for it is increasing year on year. It is no longer a subject for academics and political anoraks, it is a mainstream subject talked about in pubs, workplaces and schools. Are you going to stand on the Welsh border like a modern-day Canute and demand that the tide of change turns back or are you going to accept that things are going to change whether you want them to or not? England is being failed and you can do something about it – support the Campaign for an English Parliament while there is still an England to support.

I would welcome the opportunity to meet with you personally and discuss this further.

Stuart Parr

When I got home tonight and picked up the paper, Daniel Kawczynski was on the front page again, this time in a similar vein to Mark Pritchard last night. How am I supposed to keep up!

Pleading for the future

Fifteen firms appeal to MP for help to survive

Up to 15 Shrewsbury businesses have approached their MP in a desperate bit to avoid folding because of problems with their banks, it has been claimed.

Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he had faced the “extraordinary” situation of being asked by companies to pleasd with bank bosses to allow mre time for payments to be made and stave off unreasonable demands.

He said that Wrekin was not the only company to have faced sever pressure from the banks and has called for the government to do more to help firms in trouble.

“I am currently involved in negotiation with banks with regard to 15 Shrewsbury firms who are having difficultues with their banks,” he added.

“These companies have asked me personally to get involved and I am writing to banks and arranging for Shrwsbury businesses to meet with their bank managers.

“It is quite an extraordinary situation when local firms are asking for the suppor of their MP to stop them going to the wall.”

The Tory MP said that since the recession took hol, he has been approached by an increasing number of businesses who are suffering because of a decline in demand whilst struggling to access credit.

A Meet the Buyer event is being held for businesses in the construction industry, which will take place on March 27 at the Shirehall.

The Chamber of Commerce will offer a presentation and short interview slots explaining how contracting and procurement services are arranged by Shropshire Council.

The reference to “Wrekin” is Wrekin Construction, a local construction company that has just gone bust with the loss of around 1,100 direct and indirect jobs. Despite having £40m of orders on its books for this year and enough money coming to them to pay their £2.8m overdraft off by the end of the week, the Royal Bank of Scotland refused to give them a few days extra to pay it. The Department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform – an English department of the British government – will now have to pay £5m in redundancy payments because the company is in administration. Yet in the same week, RBS pledges to spend £1.7bn on loaning new mortgages in Scotland – as is usually the case: Scottish first, British second.

RBS to start lending again .. but only in Scotland

Good news!  The Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it is going to use £1.7bn of the magic money the Bank of England invented to issue new mortgages.  But only in Scotland.

RBS is, I imagine, keen to reassert its Scottish credentials now that the “English” government owns most of it.  How ironic that the Royal Bank of Scotland is using money from the Bank of England to finance mortgage spending exclusively in Scotland.  How wrong that the Royal Bank of Scotland is using money from the Bank of England to finance mortgage spending exclusively in Scotland.

I wonder whether the Scottish Chancellor had a hand in the decision.  Let’s find out shall we?

Subject: FOI Request
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:17:40 +0000
From: Stuart Parr
To: public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk

Hi,

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to know the following:

  1. What guidance or instructions have been given to banks in receipt of taxpayers money as to what percentage of that money should be targeted at:
    • Scotland
    • Wales
    • Northern Ireland
    • England
  2. What consideration was given to the perceived detrimental effect on the Scottish banks’ reputation from being partly or majority owned by the British government and what was the outcome of any discussions about it.
  3. What involvement has the Chancellor had in any decision to prioritise lending in Scotland?

I would like this information in an electronic format.

Climate change propagandists are getting desperate

A massive gathering of climate change propagandists in Denmark have upped the stakes in the increasingly ludicrous and alarmist game of apocalyptic predictions.
The current prediction by the propagandists is that sea levels will rise by about 2ft in the next few years but not enough people are panicking and throwing money at them to save the world so they’ve decided it’s now going to be somewhere between 3.5ft and 5ft.

The “scientist” who seems to have come up with the new prediction is Konrad Steffan.  I can’t find much about him other than the fact that he’s backed by Nasa and has made a lucrative career out of climate change, appearing in a film and a book on the subject.

Unfortunately, as money gets tighter, the propagandists are going to come up with more and more batshit scare stories to try and justify the massive grants they need to fund the expensive lifestyles to which they’ve become accustomed on our taxes.  Expect to see more of this kind of alarmist, scientifically baseless shit as time goes on.
On a related note, it was good to see Prince Charles doing his bit for the environment, flying to South America on a chartered jet and travelling by stretch limo with a 6 car motorcade to talk about climate change.  I wonder if the Brazilians will show him the cast swathes of CO2 recycling rainforest that are being cleared to grow crops for biofuels?

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Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics

The British government is seriously considering dropping the national speed limit from 60mph to 50mph.

There will be an option for local authorities to increase the speed limit on major roads back to 60mph if they can give a good enough reason to do so.  Although, as the highways departments of most local authorities seem to be filled with car-hating nazi’s, it isn’t likely to happen very often.

The state propaganda machine kicked into action as soon as the story got out, quoting statistics about deaths on country roads and blaming “speeding” motorists (which includes anyone driving anywhere near the speed limit on a country road) for the deaths.

The BBC are, of course, dutifully mis-representing the facts, telling us that the British government is planning to reduce the speed limit on rural roads.  This isn’t the case – the plan is to reduce the national speed limit on all single carriageway roads with average speed cameras to enforce the speed limit.

Jim Fitzpatrick, the British minister for Transport in England, said:

There will be some in the driving lobby who think this is a further attack and a restriction on people’s freedom. But when you compare that to the fact we are killing 3,000 people a year on our roads, it would be irresponsible not to do something about it.

And how many of those 3,000 were killed by speeding motorists?  And of those speeding motorists, how many were drink driving, using their mobile phone, playing with their car stereo, doing their make-up in the rear view mirror?  I’d be surprised if more than a quarter of those were killed because of someone speeding and no other reason but you won’t get statistics like that out of the British government because that doesn’t fit in with the evil motorists ethos.

He went on to say:

If you look at the figures on rural roads, there are disproportionately more people dying there than on any other roads. The nature of some rural roads, with dips and bends and difficult conditions, means that the 60mph limit is not enough.

So why can’t local authorities use the powers they already have to reduce the speed limit on dangerous rural roads?  The national speed limit applies to roads that don’t have a specific speed limit so if there is a dangerous road, the relevant local authority just needs to put a speed limit on it.

Fitzpatrick finishes by saying that:

I’m sure that the vast majority of motorists would support the proposals.

Well, there’s one easy way of finding out isn’t there?  Put it to a referendum, I’m sure we’d all love to tell you what we think.

One thing I’ve not been able to determine – and the British government certainly wouldn’t say in a press release – is whether this is another England-only policy being imposed on us by the British government.  Transport is devolved, after all, and most single carriageway roads aren’t trunk roads.

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