It is interesting to note Charles Moore’s piece in this Saturday’s Telegraph (03/10/09) where he discusses David Cameron’s ‘pointlessness’. However much a soft-boiled egg Cameron may seem to some at the moment, there is no doubt that the fortitude of Cameron will show over the next decade. His biographers Francis Elliott and James Hanning noted a school contemporary of Cameron’s describing him ‘as the hardest of all’ in the class. This was not a reflection of outward demeanour or crass physical power, but an intimation of a rather more subtle strength. This is force of will and determination, coupled with self-belief. These are qualities so evidently lacking in our current Prime Minister, which the electorate can sense under Brown’s skin.
Whilst Brown let Blair and Mandelson trample all over him in the 1994 Labour Leadership bid, Cameron’s boldness took him to the top of his Party at the age of just 39 years. Politicians can be crudely divided into soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs. Heath was inextricably the soft-boiled egg; self-involved, self-pitying and sybaritic. Another Conservative Politician of similar age, and perhaps greater standing, Enoch Powell was off the hard-boiled type. Powell’s resilience to Europe, brought visible the soft-egg characteristics of Heath. Whilst Powell espoused the laissez-faire economics of the future during the economic turbulence of the 1970s, Heath, for all his skills, locked himself in Downing Street drowning out the discontents with heavy chords from his piano. In the end the piano was far harder to remove from number 10, than the former Prime Minister himself.
Thatcher was different. She was a hard-boiled egg that got so hard that it turned from dairy product to product of metallurgy. She became the ultimate hard-boiled egg. She was more Churchillian than Churchill because she was less self-involved. There is no doubt that the lack of this characteristic makes one more of the hard-boiled specimen. The nature of politics dictates this. If one looks closely at Cameron and Brown, sybarticism is extra-ordinarily deficient in Cameron. In Brown it is on its face. Perhaps, this is what is giving Cameron the edge at present. Of course only time will tell what type of egg David Cameron really is, however Charles Moore is being rather quick to judge. He would not have done so with the dessert wine of Lord Pearson that he was imbuing during his discussion of ‘pointlessness’. Neither should he do so for David Cameron.
The advantages of being a so called member of the ‘political class’, as Moore puts Cameron, disproportionately outweigh the negatives. Some voters are even intuitively drawn towards political elites. It is this very gravity that some members of UKIP seek for from the election of Lord Pearson. Pearson carries weight because he is balanced and not drawn to unnecessary introspection. This much I have learnt from the short-period I have known him.
In the end ‘pointlessness’ will be seen for the incongruent adjective it is, when in front of the name of the Tory leader. This is not necessarily when the election is won, but at present when the majority of the country now seemingly are behind Cameron. Further, no politician, in a representative democracy, is truly pointless. At the very least they reflect an important choice of some voter.
Copyright APG Pandya
Copyright The Birkenhead Society
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Wednesday, 2 September 2009
Al Megrahi-The Fallacy of Devolution
The Prime Minister has been rightfully shot at for the farce surrounding the deportation of Al-Megrahi, but little focus has been made thus far on the systemic failure that caused it. Devolution is the key reason that a convicted terrorist is now on the loose. To devolve national security matters to a regional electoral body with limited decision-making capacity is a error waiting to turn into catastrophe. Decisions such as this do not just affect everyone in the British Isles, the nature of threat of Islamic extremism is such that they affect everyone in the civilised world. This is why they require a full debate and discussion at Westminster so that our own territorial security is preserved.
Devolution was always a bad idea, there was nothing wrong with national representation as far as consensus in political decision-making was concerned. It was brought in by wishful Labour sentiment, that wanted to see further fragmentation of the British Isles and erosion of our extra-ordinary common history since the Act of Union in 1707. It was only a matter of time before blind regionalism of the SNP was seen for the fallacy that it is, and Alex Salmond’s ridiculously flawed political judgment surfaced. Once you fragment law and policy making power, territorial integrity weakens. The formation, for example, of England from the 9th to 11th Centuries from weak fiefdoms was done on the fundamental and important premise of territorial security; I.E. to protect us from invaders.
Complete individual representation in political process is always done at a trade-off for the security of larger consensus. It is inherent in this correct approach that regional and local needs are inevitably diluted. Because security is the primary reason for the state (I wont bother citing Hobbes here), it justifies a compulsory enervation into the ideal of absolute and perfect representation. Devolution, leading to the opposite concept, is thus inherently flawed. Thus supporters of extremism are not laughing just at the weakness shown to violent intimidation of this decision has demonstrated by us, but also the weakening of our Union. Once the foundations of the latter are weakened to a sufficient degree, the terrorists have won a far greater threat than just blowing up an airline.
APG Pandya
Copyright Birkenhead Society.
Devolution was always a bad idea, there was nothing wrong with national representation as far as consensus in political decision-making was concerned. It was brought in by wishful Labour sentiment, that wanted to see further fragmentation of the British Isles and erosion of our extra-ordinary common history since the Act of Union in 1707. It was only a matter of time before blind regionalism of the SNP was seen for the fallacy that it is, and Alex Salmond’s ridiculously flawed political judgment surfaced. Once you fragment law and policy making power, territorial integrity weakens. The formation, for example, of England from the 9th to 11th Centuries from weak fiefdoms was done on the fundamental and important premise of territorial security; I.E. to protect us from invaders.
Complete individual representation in political process is always done at a trade-off for the security of larger consensus. It is inherent in this correct approach that regional and local needs are inevitably diluted. Because security is the primary reason for the state (I wont bother citing Hobbes here), it justifies a compulsory enervation into the ideal of absolute and perfect representation. Devolution, leading to the opposite concept, is thus inherently flawed. Thus supporters of extremism are not laughing just at the weakness shown to violent intimidation of this decision has demonstrated by us, but also the weakening of our Union. Once the foundations of the latter are weakened to a sufficient degree, the terrorists have won a far greater threat than just blowing up an airline.
APG Pandya
Copyright Birkenhead Society.
Tuesday, 4 August 2009
Churchill -a voice from the past.
I was called in my dreams,
by a nation asleep.
Whose times had gone hard, troubled
and bad.
Whose liberties and reasons, had
been stifled by quarrel and vice,
whose lands were at risk from
the storms of the night.
In my youth my vigour,
led to courage and endeavour.
To fights unexpected, I drew my breath
both in the house and abroad,
Later my soldiers and navy were glorious and
unbowed.
I defeated a dictator, liberated the world,
fought for Empire and your freedom.
My passion, my fervour gave rouse,
to feelings of greatness, in a nation cast down.
I did this for freedom inherent in our way of life,
for the victory of reason
over self-interest, complacency and apathy
to fight.
Do as I do, stay awake and fight; don't stand for the erosion
of freedom; and liberty
will be yours, a treasured right.
APG Pandya Copyright 2009
The Birkenhead Society Copyright 2009
No reproduction in part or whole without permission
by a nation asleep.
Whose times had gone hard, troubled
and bad.
Whose liberties and reasons, had
been stifled by quarrel and vice,
whose lands were at risk from
the storms of the night.
In my youth my vigour,
led to courage and endeavour.
To fights unexpected, I drew my breath
both in the house and abroad,
Later my soldiers and navy were glorious and
unbowed.
I defeated a dictator, liberated the world,
fought for Empire and your freedom.
My passion, my fervour gave rouse,
to feelings of greatness, in a nation cast down.
I did this for freedom inherent in our way of life,
for the victory of reason
over self-interest, complacency and apathy
to fight.
Do as I do, stay awake and fight; don't stand for the erosion
of freedom; and liberty
will be yours, a treasured right.
APG Pandya Copyright 2009
The Birkenhead Society Copyright 2009
No reproduction in part or whole without permission
Monday, 6 July 2009
Is a multi-dimensional approach to knife-crime needed?
Serious benefits can be gained from a broad approach to knife-crime, that deals not only with deterring putative offenders, but also one that changes the culture of conduct amongst young-people. Knife crime is a serious issue harming a significant portion of society. Hackney in London, for example, has more than one knife crime incident per day. There is much that can be done for those who are likely to be knife-crime offenders. Many of them do not even know that it is illegal to carry a knife, hence the Government’s change of law will have limited deterrence impact in the short-term. To change this a simple remedy of out-reaching this information into schools, youth organisations, young-offenders and school absconder units with a message of illegality can go someway. The other method, through videos and small-talks, is education in these units of the harmful effects of knife-crime on families to young-people. This would, hopefully, bring about a culture change of young-people, including instances where they might ostracise others who are willing to carry knives.
One of the key reasons why young people are susceptible to carrying knives is due to fear of being bullied and intimidated. Thus removing the fear, and the bullying and aggressive behaviour towards one another is key in solving this problem. The message of harm and illegality, as described above, needs to be put in with a message that demonstrates that bullying is cowardice, and that it is only carried out by those who are fearful. This may cause some young people to ostracise bullies and minimise gang groupings that are likely to offend. Further, by reducing the fear of being picked on it will disincentivise those who feel like picking up a knife to defend themselves.
For those who are ostracised from out-reaching programmes to deal with knife crime, specialist group out-reaching may be needed. This may link into other crime prevention programmes in youth criminal justice policy. For example, New Labour t introduced the social assistance category called NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Part of the reason for doing this is to analyse in-group those that are disaffected so as to minimise long term reliance on social benefits, and to assist them in returning to the mainstream of society (See the Labour Government’s flawed 2001 White Paper on Transforming Youth Work). Identifying young people who are socially disaffected, such as some of the NEETS, is the first step in preventing them falling into the criminal justice system. By then doing the secondary analysis of factors that are likely to create NEETS categorisation, or those socially disaffected, and eliminating the causes of those NEETS and absconders who are likely to turn into offenders can be minimised. Even if this is possible, it will not enervate wholly the numbers of youth offenders, but it may however reduce numbers. Some of the factors that go into NEETS categorisation will range from the following, either cumulatively or individually. They demonstrate some of the difficult, though manageable causes of youth disaffection and offending:
(i) Single parent family background without adequate support.
(ii) Unemployment history amongst parents.
(iii) Lack of higher education amongst parent(s)
(iv) Being brought up in social housing
(v)Lack of family or schooling based awareness on the importance of education to employability
(vi) Being brought up in particular areas where opportunities are less with a lack of incentive to travel for and search for labour.
(vii) Lack of appreciation of benefits of employment to social choice and lifestyle. Several disaffected youths have never seen an employed environment or ever noted the capital benefits of labour.
(viii) School truancy.
(ix) Lack of assistance in destitute or violent homes and family background.
As a general proposition, it reduces cost to national revenue in the long-run to remove those going through the criminal justice system and place them on the labour-market. This further increases their chances of benefiting society (assuming that necessarily skills can be transferred). Thus it is worth investigating the above factors as part of a number of chronic causes of crime and treating them one by one, as far as possible. Many of the above criteria are related to two key issues: (i) understanding the benefits of socially acceptable behaviour and; (ii) understanding the benefits of education. Due to lack of external factors, such as schools and families, educating and training these ‘benefits’ to the disaffected there is little culture change in conduct or approach to life. Thus the reason not use a knife on a victim is never fully appreciated.
Copyright APG Pandya
The Birkenhead Society
One of the key reasons why young people are susceptible to carrying knives is due to fear of being bullied and intimidated. Thus removing the fear, and the bullying and aggressive behaviour towards one another is key in solving this problem. The message of harm and illegality, as described above, needs to be put in with a message that demonstrates that bullying is cowardice, and that it is only carried out by those who are fearful. This may cause some young people to ostracise bullies and minimise gang groupings that are likely to offend. Further, by reducing the fear of being picked on it will disincentivise those who feel like picking up a knife to defend themselves.
For those who are ostracised from out-reaching programmes to deal with knife crime, specialist group out-reaching may be needed. This may link into other crime prevention programmes in youth criminal justice policy. For example, New Labour t introduced the social assistance category called NEETS (Not in Education, Employment or Training). Part of the reason for doing this is to analyse in-group those that are disaffected so as to minimise long term reliance on social benefits, and to assist them in returning to the mainstream of society (See the Labour Government’s flawed 2001 White Paper on Transforming Youth Work). Identifying young people who are socially disaffected, such as some of the NEETS, is the first step in preventing them falling into the criminal justice system. By then doing the secondary analysis of factors that are likely to create NEETS categorisation, or those socially disaffected, and eliminating the causes of those NEETS and absconders who are likely to turn into offenders can be minimised. Even if this is possible, it will not enervate wholly the numbers of youth offenders, but it may however reduce numbers. Some of the factors that go into NEETS categorisation will range from the following, either cumulatively or individually. They demonstrate some of the difficult, though manageable causes of youth disaffection and offending:
(i) Single parent family background without adequate support.
(ii) Unemployment history amongst parents.
(iii) Lack of higher education amongst parent(s)
(iv) Being brought up in social housing
(v)Lack of family or schooling based awareness on the importance of education to employability
(vi) Being brought up in particular areas where opportunities are less with a lack of incentive to travel for and search for labour.
(vii) Lack of appreciation of benefits of employment to social choice and lifestyle. Several disaffected youths have never seen an employed environment or ever noted the capital benefits of labour.
(viii) School truancy.
(ix) Lack of assistance in destitute or violent homes and family background.
As a general proposition, it reduces cost to national revenue in the long-run to remove those going through the criminal justice system and place them on the labour-market. This further increases their chances of benefiting society (assuming that necessarily skills can be transferred). Thus it is worth investigating the above factors as part of a number of chronic causes of crime and treating them one by one, as far as possible. Many of the above criteria are related to two key issues: (i) understanding the benefits of socially acceptable behaviour and; (ii) understanding the benefits of education. Due to lack of external factors, such as schools and families, educating and training these ‘benefits’ to the disaffected there is little culture change in conduct or approach to life. Thus the reason not use a knife on a victim is never fully appreciated.
Copyright APG Pandya
The Birkenhead Society
Sunday, 21 June 2009
Mock the BNP? – No it’s time to really look close at the issues.
It’s a shame that Nick Griffin got pelted with eggs after his Party won two seats in the European Elections. In a civilised society even the most impalatable of subject matter needs to be discussed and reasoned out. Despite much ill-logic in Griffin’s views, what needs to be determined is why people voted for him. Are they just racist? Or is there something important in the discontent that went to his favour in the European Elections? The answer may be a hybrid of the two, but the latter can be weeded out by the main political parties, particularly by the up and coming Conservatives. The Conservatives can show, as they have done in the past, that patriotism does not have to harbour prejudice. Further that true patriotism could not involve the ostracisation of any British person, and would seek to harmonise all our differences of race or religion for the service of the national interest.
With New Labour’s drive for multi-culturalism and irreverent equating of cultures, in the last twelve years we British have lost sight of who we were. Flag waving was done by a frightened few, and to speak of the greatness of the British Empire was to revive the ghosts of an abhorrent past. Why? This was despite the fact so many races and nationalities fought for the Empire in two world wars. Coupled with Islamic extremism in the UK, and the recent corruption scandal the more visceral voter would have felt his or her anger drawing him to cross the BNP box. But all these things can be remedied by a cultural resurgence drawn on by the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Conservative Party can not only make flag-waving occur with pride, but also with an inimitable British disdain, richly deserved, that we are better than anyone else in the world. Only the briefest look at history is needed to support this.
However, this will not wholly subjugate the BNP vote. Only a formidable curtailment of immigration itself can do that. To realise the depth of this issue and concerns regarding it, and to air those impalatable views is a challenge yet to be met by any leader of a major political party. The BNP voters fears, based on cultural unedification, are also based on loss of job opportunity and weakening of social benefit and public service resources. This is because the BNP despite all its pretensions to the right, and such opportunistic portrayal by Labour politicians, is a left-wing organisation. Let me say that again: the BNP are left wing- they are socialists like the NAZIs. They believe in the abolition of the Monarchy and despite their tactical portrayal of soldiers being harassed by some moslems at home- do not believe it is appropriate for British soldiers to be in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such sentiments, in my view, betray the history of these Isles and the extraordinary ability of its armed-forces. In terms of geo-political strategy they also miss the real-politik, but the BNP does not campaign on or realise the subtleties of what an effective foreign policy involves.
But let me return to immigration. It was practice for people in this country, to come down to London and the South to work from the North. This is now affected by the extension of our borders through the EU. In London the quickest jobs now go to EU immigrants, and non-discrimination laws prevent preference for domestic workers. I for one, would advocate preference. It would bring the challenge of motivating our own people and providing them with opportunities back into the political arena, where it belongs. It would minimise foreign dependency on workers and thus give us a bargaining foreign policy advantage. It would also preserve our own culture, and the culture of the so-called British working man (the disaffected Labour voter likely to vote BNP). It would cut costs for the state by not having to institutionalise assimilation processes for mere work-force availability. It would also increase movement and capital throughout the United Kingdom, and regionalise and not centralise industry and service. All these things are linked, and the concatenations are not always appreciated by policy makers.
There is no reason for people to vote BNP on these lines, if major parties can whip up protectionist policies with respect to the labour market. Nick Griffin is forever playing the sympathy card- note what he says after the egg pelting on Parliament- ‘the police were ordered to do nothing’. It’s as if there’s a conspiracy against his party, against the putative truths that it represents. His arguments are filled with lack of logic and sentiment. When asked why his was an all white party, he simply refers to the existence of the Black Police Federation with simultaneous banning of BNP police officers. Is the existence of the two measures not somehow linked? Further his cited police scenario is one of political and not racial discrimination. However, the number of votes he gained at the European Elections should not be ignored. At the very least a brief analysis should be attempted as to why this is so.
Harsher measures should not be shied away from, therein lies the true art of statecraft. Here’s one suggestion, and the question that follows it is why is this so controversial? Should it be?: Immigration without imposition of British culture should not be allowed. Otherwise we fear losing toleration, a cornerstone of British political culture. Toleration is alien to many alien cultures and this should not be forgotten. It is incompatible, for example, with the singularity of radical Islam.
APG Pandya
Copyright Birkenhead Society.
With New Labour’s drive for multi-culturalism and irreverent equating of cultures, in the last twelve years we British have lost sight of who we were. Flag waving was done by a frightened few, and to speak of the greatness of the British Empire was to revive the ghosts of an abhorrent past. Why? This was despite the fact so many races and nationalities fought for the Empire in two world wars. Coupled with Islamic extremism in the UK, and the recent corruption scandal the more visceral voter would have felt his or her anger drawing him to cross the BNP box. But all these things can be remedied by a cultural resurgence drawn on by the Conservative and Unionist Party. The Conservative Party can not only make flag-waving occur with pride, but also with an inimitable British disdain, richly deserved, that we are better than anyone else in the world. Only the briefest look at history is needed to support this.
However, this will not wholly subjugate the BNP vote. Only a formidable curtailment of immigration itself can do that. To realise the depth of this issue and concerns regarding it, and to air those impalatable views is a challenge yet to be met by any leader of a major political party. The BNP voters fears, based on cultural unedification, are also based on loss of job opportunity and weakening of social benefit and public service resources. This is because the BNP despite all its pretensions to the right, and such opportunistic portrayal by Labour politicians, is a left-wing organisation. Let me say that again: the BNP are left wing- they are socialists like the NAZIs. They believe in the abolition of the Monarchy and despite their tactical portrayal of soldiers being harassed by some moslems at home- do not believe it is appropriate for British soldiers to be in Iraq and Afghanistan. Such sentiments, in my view, betray the history of these Isles and the extraordinary ability of its armed-forces. In terms of geo-political strategy they also miss the real-politik, but the BNP does not campaign on or realise the subtleties of what an effective foreign policy involves.
But let me return to immigration. It was practice for people in this country, to come down to London and the South to work from the North. This is now affected by the extension of our borders through the EU. In London the quickest jobs now go to EU immigrants, and non-discrimination laws prevent preference for domestic workers. I for one, would advocate preference. It would bring the challenge of motivating our own people and providing them with opportunities back into the political arena, where it belongs. It would minimise foreign dependency on workers and thus give us a bargaining foreign policy advantage. It would also preserve our own culture, and the culture of the so-called British working man (the disaffected Labour voter likely to vote BNP). It would cut costs for the state by not having to institutionalise assimilation processes for mere work-force availability. It would also increase movement and capital throughout the United Kingdom, and regionalise and not centralise industry and service. All these things are linked, and the concatenations are not always appreciated by policy makers.
There is no reason for people to vote BNP on these lines, if major parties can whip up protectionist policies with respect to the labour market. Nick Griffin is forever playing the sympathy card- note what he says after the egg pelting on Parliament- ‘the police were ordered to do nothing’. It’s as if there’s a conspiracy against his party, against the putative truths that it represents. His arguments are filled with lack of logic and sentiment. When asked why his was an all white party, he simply refers to the existence of the Black Police Federation with simultaneous banning of BNP police officers. Is the existence of the two measures not somehow linked? Further his cited police scenario is one of political and not racial discrimination. However, the number of votes he gained at the European Elections should not be ignored. At the very least a brief analysis should be attempted as to why this is so.
Harsher measures should not be shied away from, therein lies the true art of statecraft. Here’s one suggestion, and the question that follows it is why is this so controversial? Should it be?: Immigration without imposition of British culture should not be allowed. Otherwise we fear losing toleration, a cornerstone of British political culture. Toleration is alien to many alien cultures and this should not be forgotten. It is incompatible, for example, with the singularity of radical Islam.
APG Pandya
Copyright Birkenhead Society.
Friday, 22 May 2009
Expenses Scandal- The Politicians merely represent a morally bankrupt society.
Don’t wholly blame the politicians for the expenses scandal. A scandal that has destroyed the legitimacy of Parliament. The scandal that has fuelled the ever-growing political apathy amongst the people. The behaviour of these MPs merely reflects a morally bankrupt society. A society, which has perverted toleration to a degree that sources of value such as church, and family have been gradually eroded to make way for libertarianism and its related character flaw, extravagance. A society that has allowed religions that value an education based on racial discrimination and the imprisonment of women to be funded by the state. A society that has no moral voice, no clear moral philosophy of what is right and wrong and hence whose politicians have no clear yardsticks for accountability.
The joys of wealth and materialism is what we are all told to aim for, and few of us, including many of the journalists putatively outraged, have the moral integrity to challenge the values of our society. Self-fulfilment at the cost of ethics is the new code of aspiration for Britain. Educational certificates from GCSE’s to Degrees are watered down to be turned into simple permits, to be obtained for the sake of gaining access to the economy rather than to serve intellectual fulfillment. Hence many young people will merely enter the world with a weakened and dubious sense of scrutiny and an enervated ability to question. Community concerns are now useful in forming pithy sayings to create image, yet we live in a world where politicians work in Westminster only miles from abhorrent teenage drunkenness in Soho. No one is willing or able to yell at these people wasting their lives on cans of larger. In today's Britain the next door neighbor is too afraid to take the parents of the misbehaving youth to account. There is too much fear of censure, or at worse legal action. In this way community responsibility for each other is eroded and carelessness about our people and country ensues. Apathy is quick to follow, first of local society, and then of the nation. Politics, too self-absorbed in contenting itself rather than realising its responsibility, allows this illness to increase weakening a once proud nation. It is that apathy that distances the electorate from those who govern, and weakens electoral accountability of Governmental action. For this, echoing the words of Cassius: 'the fault is in ourselves'. That is of the people and not of their servants in Parliament.
In an age of sound-bites, where form over substance erodes accountability in politics it is not surprising that so many MPs thought they could get away with it for so long. People at large were too apathetic, too self-contented to question those in charge, the manner in which they Governed. Foolishly, after two centuries of difficult campaigning for the voting franchise, the British electorate left Governing to the Government. The popular substance-less politics has finally had its day of judgment. Though, let us not forget they were voted for. It is the peoples role to be dynamic to provide an alternative, whether by individuals coming forward as candidates or to form new parties in the absence of alternatives. That would be a sign of a people who are aware that the true responsibility of Government lies with them. The indictment of the people is clear. The politicians in the modern age only reflect the values of those who choose them. It is hard to imagine a 19th Century moral reformer such as William Wilberforce MP having a place in the Parliament of today. Both spin and sound-bite, the hall-marks of modern politics, have no time for difficult moral argument and ethical discourse. Wilberforce would not make entertaining news coverage or assist the sale of newspapers.
The MPs reflect so many of society, and the Labour Government. The Government and so many spent beyond their means in extravagance, taking a joy-ride on the economic good-times without any regard as to importance of national responsibility and impact. It’s as if the MPs were so spoilt in their upbringing that they had never learnt to say ‘no’. We now need to turn and take a deep look at ourselves, and our Parliament, and ask ourselves what we, as people, really stand for. Therein lies the first step to any hope of accountability.
APG Pandya
Chairman
Birkenhead Society.
(Copyright Birkenhead Society 2009)
The joys of wealth and materialism is what we are all told to aim for, and few of us, including many of the journalists putatively outraged, have the moral integrity to challenge the values of our society. Self-fulfilment at the cost of ethics is the new code of aspiration for Britain. Educational certificates from GCSE’s to Degrees are watered down to be turned into simple permits, to be obtained for the sake of gaining access to the economy rather than to serve intellectual fulfillment. Hence many young people will merely enter the world with a weakened and dubious sense of scrutiny and an enervated ability to question. Community concerns are now useful in forming pithy sayings to create image, yet we live in a world where politicians work in Westminster only miles from abhorrent teenage drunkenness in Soho. No one is willing or able to yell at these people wasting their lives on cans of larger. In today's Britain the next door neighbor is too afraid to take the parents of the misbehaving youth to account. There is too much fear of censure, or at worse legal action. In this way community responsibility for each other is eroded and carelessness about our people and country ensues. Apathy is quick to follow, first of local society, and then of the nation. Politics, too self-absorbed in contenting itself rather than realising its responsibility, allows this illness to increase weakening a once proud nation. It is that apathy that distances the electorate from those who govern, and weakens electoral accountability of Governmental action. For this, echoing the words of Cassius: 'the fault is in ourselves'. That is of the people and not of their servants in Parliament.
In an age of sound-bites, where form over substance erodes accountability in politics it is not surprising that so many MPs thought they could get away with it for so long. People at large were too apathetic, too self-contented to question those in charge, the manner in which they Governed. Foolishly, after two centuries of difficult campaigning for the voting franchise, the British electorate left Governing to the Government. The popular substance-less politics has finally had its day of judgment. Though, let us not forget they were voted for. It is the peoples role to be dynamic to provide an alternative, whether by individuals coming forward as candidates or to form new parties in the absence of alternatives. That would be a sign of a people who are aware that the true responsibility of Government lies with them. The indictment of the people is clear. The politicians in the modern age only reflect the values of those who choose them. It is hard to imagine a 19th Century moral reformer such as William Wilberforce MP having a place in the Parliament of today. Both spin and sound-bite, the hall-marks of modern politics, have no time for difficult moral argument and ethical discourse. Wilberforce would not make entertaining news coverage or assist the sale of newspapers.
The MPs reflect so many of society, and the Labour Government. The Government and so many spent beyond their means in extravagance, taking a joy-ride on the economic good-times without any regard as to importance of national responsibility and impact. It’s as if the MPs were so spoilt in their upbringing that they had never learnt to say ‘no’. We now need to turn and take a deep look at ourselves, and our Parliament, and ask ourselves what we, as people, really stand for. Therein lies the first step to any hope of accountability.
APG Pandya
Chairman
Birkenhead Society.
(Copyright Birkenhead Society 2009)
Thursday, 23 April 2009
The Economy: Is New Labour now beyond redemption?
There have been some great trials in the history of mankind. Nuremberg was one, set-up to determine the guilt of various Nazis. Another has been going on for the last 12 years. This was whether the Labour Party is capable of running an economy and not destroying it. In essence, whether the Labour Party could ever credibly be a party of Government. Initially it managed to hoodwink the public, remarkably, for three successive general elections. However, as the final curtain calls, in this great trial it has inextricably failed. Miserably. It spent with no caution. Its expenditure had no control or accountability. Whilst millions were pumped into public services, there was no account of whether expenditure was used efficiently or viable over the long run. Whilst continuing to spend for public services, it lost billions of pounds to the service industry in order to forge ineffectual public-private partnerships. It pretended to have it all under control by creating fake fiscal institutions like the FSA with no teeth. It made the Bank of England independent, but did not assess its lending through the Treasury.
More shockingly, now, as the country continues to spiral into debt, its extravagant spending reaches new unlimited bounds. With an IMF bailout looming, the Labour party has a secret plan to buy votes irrespective of damage caused to the nation. Highlights include £500M set aside towards environmental policies, part of which will be used to create wind-farms. Millions of pounds will be spent on giving motorists money to buy new cars. Vat will rise, causing a fluctuating tariff that will lend towards consumer uncertainty.
Despite thousands of people losing their jobs, these are the Labour Government’s priorities. Are these the signs of Government that is not only completely incompetent, but in fact going mad? The worst part of this is the immoral introduction of a 50% tax bracket, to continuously feed the extravagance. A failing public-sector, which is relied upon by many that cannot, for whatever reason, endeavour to take self-responsibility for their own health or the schooling of their children, is to be assisted in its destruction by financial assistance. Those most needing public sector support will inevitably, due to inefficiencies encouraged by extravagant funding, get the worst services. The Labour Government has failed to realise that funding without accountability leads to waste. The public debt now is the worst in British history since the establishment of the Bank of England over three hundred years ago. The economy will take decades to repair, and a balanced budget or surplus are not unlikely to come about within the next decade. Billions spent to create and expanded public sector will go to waste as the income will no longer be present to support the projects the Government created. Like the ones at Nuremberg, the current indictment, is one that will not be forgotten. The Labour Government has proved, without doubt, that it cannot run a modern economy. It will be dangerously negligent, destructive, and doing the UK enormous disservice for anyone to vote Labour in next years General Election.
APG Pandya
Copyright
Birkenhead Society
More shockingly, now, as the country continues to spiral into debt, its extravagant spending reaches new unlimited bounds. With an IMF bailout looming, the Labour party has a secret plan to buy votes irrespective of damage caused to the nation. Highlights include £500M set aside towards environmental policies, part of which will be used to create wind-farms. Millions of pounds will be spent on giving motorists money to buy new cars. Vat will rise, causing a fluctuating tariff that will lend towards consumer uncertainty.
Despite thousands of people losing their jobs, these are the Labour Government’s priorities. Are these the signs of Government that is not only completely incompetent, but in fact going mad? The worst part of this is the immoral introduction of a 50% tax bracket, to continuously feed the extravagance. A failing public-sector, which is relied upon by many that cannot, for whatever reason, endeavour to take self-responsibility for their own health or the schooling of their children, is to be assisted in its destruction by financial assistance. Those most needing public sector support will inevitably, due to inefficiencies encouraged by extravagant funding, get the worst services. The Labour Government has failed to realise that funding without accountability leads to waste. The public debt now is the worst in British history since the establishment of the Bank of England over three hundred years ago. The economy will take decades to repair, and a balanced budget or surplus are not unlikely to come about within the next decade. Billions spent to create and expanded public sector will go to waste as the income will no longer be present to support the projects the Government created. Like the ones at Nuremberg, the current indictment, is one that will not be forgotten. The Labour Government has proved, without doubt, that it cannot run a modern economy. It will be dangerously negligent, destructive, and doing the UK enormous disservice for anyone to vote Labour in next years General Election.
APG Pandya
Copyright
Birkenhead Society
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