Burnout!

Evening, all.

Have been in town for the past couple of hours to get some birthday cards for friends that I am seeing later this evening. Still suffering from the cold that I have had for the past few days, though I get the sense that it has not had the intensity that previous bouts have had.

The weather down here has been miserable as my body and I do question whether the amount of exercise I have been doing these past few months has caused this cold. Perhaps the warnings that my body have been giving me recently should have been heeded by myself and I should have cut the level of exercise that I was doing.

Perhaps then I would not be suffering like I am!

Rob :(

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Shadow Minister Arrested For Doing His Job...

Morning,

Just when you thought the world could not get more and more nutty, we have the unedifying picture of the Shadow Immigration Minister, Damian Green being arrested on Counter-Terrorism charges. The media have used the term "conspiracy to cause misconduct in public office".

You would have thought that the likes of Blair and Goldsmith would have been arrested for their part in taking us into an illegal war in Iraq, but I have not heard any news on that...

It is thought the arrest was centred on four Home Office documents allegedly obtained by the Conservatives, including a sensitive memorandum on likely crime rises during the economic downturn.

You would have thought that, that sort of information was in the public interest.

Speaking outside the House of Commons in the early hours of Friday morning, Mr Green said: "I was astonished to have spent more than nine hours today under arrest for doing my job.

"I emphatically deny I have done anything wrong.

"I have many times made public information that the Government wanted to keep secret - information that the public has a right to know.

"In a democracy, opposition politicians have a duty to hold the Government to account. I was elected to the House of Commons precisely to do that and I certainly intend to continue doing so."

In a democracy, absolutely Damien. Problem is, is Britain a democracy any more?

Guido makes some very interesting analogies between Chairman Brown and the leader of the most corrupt regime in the world. As a libertarian, if on the left compared to Guido's instinctive right-wing thoughts, I can not help but feel rather more insecure this morning, than I did yesterday...

Questions need to be asked, who sanctioned this arrest. Ian Blair's last day as commissioner of the Met is today, perhaps this is a parting shot to the Tories. Apparently the Home Secretary was not aware of such an arrest happening.

Considering that it is a matter of recourse for any arrest of an MP to be immediately reported to the Home Secretary, I think we can safely assume that, that is a load of bullshit.

Or perhaps it is that there are reports that there are British involvement in the Terror Attacks in Mumbai...

A Pictures Tells A Thousand Words...

Cold-Blooded Murder...

Morning, all.

As you are no doubt aware, the people behind such atrocities such as 9/11, 11/3 and 7/7 have it seemed decided to launch another act of cold-blooded murder...

Surely, it is a matter of time until Bin Laden's luck runs out.

He's just pissed off 1.5 billion people...

Inevitable, Wasn't It!

Afternoon,

Started my holiday today and my first cold of the winter duly arrives.

Not happy at all, supposed to be going out at the weekend for some friends birthdays...

Not great!


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Old Labour Resurrected?

Evening from my warm bed. It seems that New Labour is dead following
relevations that Commissar Darling is considering the once astonishing
scenario of breaking the key plank of the NuLab project of not
increasing the top level of tax. It is to be announced tomorrow that
they are going to possibly introduce a 45% tax came for those lucky
people who are picking up £150,000 per year. Seems like 25 years of
hard graft from Mandelson, Blair and Brown are at stake. Naturally,
the hardliner in me is over the moon with this news, but the main
block vote that helped us into power, Middle England could and
probably crumble into the arms of the Tories. It is all up for
grabs.....

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Sleepy Sunday

Afternoon from the train heading back into Folkestone. I have spent
the morning in Ashford trying to look for any bargains in the early
sales that have sprung up across the country. Though you would not
have known it as it was extremely quiet everywhere. The Chancellor
has said that he is going to try and kick start the Economy by
reducing taxes on his pre-budget report which gets announced in little
over 24 hours from now. The papers say that he could cut VAT by 2.5%
pretty much immediately. But what hard-working families need is money
in their pocket and not empty gestures like those mentioned in the
media. If you are going to do something then reduce the tax burden on
us by reintroducing the 10p tax rate. That is the sort of thinking
that needs to be undertaken. Think of us and not the Fucking Bankers.

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Aches and Pains!

We are currently outside the Ice Bowl here in Gillingham, after a
somewhat bumpy night on the rink! Luckily, no bones have been broken
and I'll be able to go to the gym in the morning with no problems to
be concerned about. Apart from a fucked up body!

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...And now for something very different....

Evening from the warm confines of a coach heading up to Gillingham to
go Ice Skating. I haven't been skating for about 18 months, when the
council got a temporary down the harbour in Folkestone. Before then,
I used to go to the ice rink in Ryde on the Island whilst at school on
a regular basis. It promises to be a great night! Hopefully all
bones will remain in one piece come the end of the night...

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This ever deepening scandal...

Morning. I see after months of silence the leader of Haringey has
apologised for his council lack of coherent action during the Baby P
case. No amount of apologies will be enough. People need to pay with
their jobs. But they will not. Naturally.

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Tax Giveaway?

Oh yes please!

Chairman Brown knows that this would be a sure-fire vote winner for Labour, which is fantastic!

The Tories are in a fucking corner of their own making!

Rob :)

Quickly...

Evening from the streets of Folkestone. Right now I am trying to find
somewhere to get something to eat after the first part of tonight's
entertainment. I have been at an event related to work, in Westgate.
Now am waiting for the others to get back from there before indulging
in Indigo!

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Beyond Contempt

For all the failings that he had, and let us be fair he had some pretty bad ones, Tony Blair had a way of capturing the mood of a country and as such, he was able to eloquently speak on such subjects delicately. The most discussed issue this morning in offices and workplaces across the country is not the unemployment figures; it is how could the savage beating to death of a seventeen-month old baby happen in the same borough as the equally sadistic death of Victoria Climbié.

This afternoon at Prime Minister's questions, Chairman Brown showed how retarded he truly is. He is inept in sensing the popular mood. Asked a straightforward question about the death of Baby P he went into a pitifully prepared response full of bureaucratic bullshit. His tone was truly off key and made shoddier when he made a cheap partisan accusation. Obviously, something is wrong in the Haringey Children's Services department in spite of the Victoria Climbié inquiry.

The thought of Haringey's own Children Director doing her own inquiry is unbelievable. There is only one thing she should be doing.

Resign and it can be argued that she should not be the only one to fall on her sword.

The list of people responsible for this murder could be argued to go to the very top. It is a Labour Authority after all, and Nu Labour has had a reputation of awarding people of failing authorities with comfortable jobs. One such person is Margaret Hodge, who was leader of Islington Council. Whilst at the helm, in 1985, Demetrious Panton complained about abuse that he had suffered while in the council's care in the 70s and 80s. He did not receive an official reply until 1989, in which the council denied responsibility.

In 2003, following Hodge's appointment as Minister for Children, Demetrious Panton went public with his allegation that he was abused in Islington Council care and had repeatedly raised this issue with no effect. He holds Margaret Hodge ultimately responsible for the abuse that he suffered. Following a media campaign conducted by several national newspapers calling for her to resign from her new post, she responded to Panton by letter, in which she referred to him as 'extremely disturbed'.

Panton then passed the letter to the press, which planned to publish it, only to be judicially restrained from doing so at the instruction of Hodge. The letter was eventually published, mainly because the blocking of the letter was seen as disproportionate. Hodge was forced to publicly apologize and offered to contribute to a charity of the man's choosing as recompense.

As the MP for Haringey, Lynne Featherstone has said this evening 'what society allows a BBC presenter to resign for some hoax call, and yet someone in authority is not held to account for the brutal death of someone in their area,'

Exactly, my point in one. On a separate point, it has to be fair that the way that the local MP has dealt with this has been exemplary in these shocking circumstances.

As for the perpetrators, I have thought long and hard on this one, as I have done after Soham and Sarah Payne and the many other shocking and disgusting acts of criminality by this country's lowlife. The hangman's noose is the first thing which comes to mind, when it comes to these sort of cases, however as an advocate for the abolition of the death penalty, I am very wary of going down that dark route for a number of reasons.

Something is for sure, something must happen.

Rob :(

The Thought Police…

Evening all,

Sorry about the lack of posting these past few days, however I have heard some disturbing reports from friends online who have been told that they are no longer allowed to discuss their work outside of work, or more specifically, social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo, as well as blogging sites such as here.

Capitalism and Corporations run your life, even when you're not at work. Fascism by the back door.

Of course the term 'Thought Police' came from George Orwell's 1984 (thinkpol, in Newspeak) and it was the Thought Police, who had William and Julia (the two main characters in the seminal book, arrested). It was the job of the Thought Police to expose and reprimand thoughtcrime and thought-criminals.

This was by means of psychology and that all-pervading scrutiny from telescreens to find and eradicate members of the social order who were competent of the mere consideration of challenging ruling power. The government attempts to control not only the speech and actions, but also the thoughts of its subjects, labeling unapproved opinion with the term thoughtcrime, or, in Newspeak, crimethink.

It also had much to do with Orwell's own "power of facing unpleasant facts", as he called it, and his readiness to condemn popular ideas, which brought him into conflict with others and their "smelly little orthodoxies". Although Orwell described himself as a democratic socialist, many other socialists thought that his criticism of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin damaged the socialist cause, which up to a point it did. However, those views had to be said for Socialism to become more and more mainstream, which is where it is right now, either through Christian Democratic Parties, such as the CDU in Germany and Labour in the UK.

It can be argued that the Home Secretary is damaging Socialism in its present form, certainly in the UK, with her near on obsessive passion for the introduction of ID Cards, which become mandatory for non-UK nationals within the coming few weeks.

And make no mistake we will be forced to apply for one of them eventually, by book or by crook, Chairman Brown and Commisar Smith will not be denied. They say that it will be protect our liberty against terrorists.

What, like they did in Madrid? No, did not think so…

I don't see Socialists in France, Italy, Germany or Spain demanding tighter laws on our freedom – but then they are not held by the balls by our friends from across the ocean.

And as usual, the government is misdirecting the argument. It says it will not be storing the content of your phone or internet use, as if that makes it all right. It is proposing to record — for life — the particulars of everyone you call or write to and what websites you visit.

Monitoring your communications is more intrusive than probing your home. It should only ever be done under warrant, with good reason. The general expediency of the Home Office is a very bad reason indeed.

Especially in light of the continuing loss of Data from certain government offices…

Do you want the state (and anyone who can gain access to the system) to have a record of your religious and political beliefs, your sexual interests and relationships, your financial and medical worries — "just in case" they ever become of interest to the authorities? Were an individual to spy on you like this, it would be called stalking. It is a crime.

You would not tolerate someone creeping into your home at any time, night and day, to go through you and your family's private things. You should not put up with this.

This could really become Chairman Brown's Poll Tax. I thought the Labour Party would have known better than copy Thatcher…

Oops.

Rob :)

You can get a a hi-res photo of the Freedom. Not Fear mosaic here

So What Are We Fighting For Now?

Afternoon,

Today, the country stopped at 11am, to spend a moment to reflect on those who have lost their lives in conflict in the past 90 years or so. On Tuesday, it is 90 years to the day that the armistice agreement was signed by the Allies and the Germans at Compiègne. However, what is it now that we are fighting for. Are the core objectives the same as they were all those years back or has the waters muddied, to the point that the conflicts of today, dilute the effect and influence that the Great War and World War II continues to have on the nation's psyche.

Could it be that with nearly everyone who fought on the fields of the Somme, Ypres and Gallipoli having passed on, is it time to start thinking what Remembrance Sunday should stand for in the future, and whether it is going to have the same symbolism as it has done before now. Especially at this moment in time, when a large proportion of the population of this country are against the continuing war in Iraq, and the continuous resentment in the World against the West continuing pursuit of Imperialistic goals in the former Raj.

A controversial form of terminology?

Probably, but a large part of the globe sees the continuing conflict in the Middle East and Afghanistan as just that – Britain thinking that she still has her empire and she can use the Middle East as her own personal playground. Of course, we have been here before, and it does seem that we are making the same mistakes as we did back then.

Of course, the last invading army to try it on in Afghanistan was the Soviets in the 1980s and before those us in the 19^th Century. Both invading armies lost, badly. In the case of the British, when they did try to retreat down the Khyber Pass, they were well and truly routed. Moreover, here in lies the fault. It is not the politicians who are laying their lives on the floor for supposed freedom; it is the foot soldiers that are first on the ground and the ones in the line of fire.

That is something that Messrs Brown, Cameron and Clegg would do well to remember.

It does not help having just invaded Afghanistan some eighteen months before, that the current, lame-duck president decided to get all ambitious and create his own caliphate in the Middle East by finishing off some unfinished business in Iraq, with his Defence Secretary old business chum.

Yet it is going to be the President-Elect's job to tidy the shit up from eight years of absolute madness from not just the Bush Administration, but from its poodle in ol' Blighty. Something that might take far, far longer to clean up.

Rob :(

Remember Them...

At 11am today, a nation comes together.

UK or US?

Evening,

A Quick post to pose a very interesting question?

In light of comments made by the leader of the Equality commission, Trevor Phillips, alleging that someone such as Barack Obama would find it a lot more difficult to succeed in the UK, than he has in the United States, is this the case?

Sir Trevor's argument is that the 'system' is biased against change, something which I find extraordinary, considering the changes that have been made in the past decade, such as hereditary peers and the modernisation of the House of Lords as a case in point.

Surely, the system is not against someone from a non-indigenous background, that would be totally unacceptable. But the fact that Sir Trevor has raised this issue in the very week of Senator Obama's elevation to President-Elect must cause real concern for modernisers such as Harriet Harman amongst others. In fact he believed the Conservatives had performed better than Labour in increasing the number of black and Asian parliamentary candidates.

"[The Conservatives] are less democratic. They are happier to impose candidates on the local parties."

Be interesting to see whether this issue is raised in the coming days...

Breaking News: Three people convicted of their part in the Bali Bombings, some six years ago have been executed according to the BBC. Imam Samudra, Amrozi Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) were shot dead on the island prison of Nusakambangan at 0015 (1715 GMT Saturday), officials said.

Security forces are on alert across the country amid fears of reprisal attacks.

When will we fucking learn? This is what the zealots want.

Lunacy of the Madhouse

Afternoon,

I see the government has decided to use the Obama-Mania sweeping the world to bury some bad news – though somewhat unsuccessfully. You would have thought that following the Government's somewhat stunning victory at the Glenrothes by-election on Thursday, they would have tried to consolidate by trying to keep their nose clear from any controversial proposals.

Don't be silly, this is Nu Labour we're talking about now!

The Home Secretary, Commissar Jacqui Smith has said that 'people tell me that they can't wait to get their ID cards,'

One part of that is true...

If you don't arrange or make an appointment to get your fingerprints and biometrics done, you'll get find a cool £150. Persist and it goes up to a whopping £1000.

That same day, the home secretary was invited to the Social Market Foundation to do a speech, where the glass that she was drinking from was 'taken' by a sympathizer of NO2ID campaign.

The offending glass has according to NO2ID, been going through a methodological process at an undisclosed location (love when people say that!).

From what NO2ID says, this will not just get the home secretary's fingerprints, but it will allow them to create a plastic foil stamp that will allow anyone, yes ANYONE to leave her fingerprints behind say at a crime scene, for example. Last March, German hackers cloned the German Interior Minister's fingerprints using these precise methods.

This is yet another example of this government not listening to the people and listening to the doom-mongers such as those at Wapping. We all know that Blair's policy initiatives originated from the Scum's columns, with its dumb readership. That is not an initiative, that is just pandering to the retarded and insane. Of course, when you have the likes of Kelvin Mackenzie and Jon Gaunt amongst your columnists, they are seen as the height of cerebral thinking in that shit-covered place.

But, Chairman Brown, for all of his flaws, and he does have several – he is Old, Traditional Labour. Yet, here he is, continuing to listen to the same cunts who Blair listen to. Surely, that is where Blair had his problems, continuing to listen to the likes Alastair Campbell and fucking Mandy the Gigolo. Why don't you go the fucking whole hog and bring back fucking Neil and Glenys Kinnock!

The problem with Gordon is that he does not trust his own instincts; he has to go back to Peter and Alastair, almost for their permission to announce some policy. We didn't elect Chairman Brown, but fuck me we certainly didn't elect these fucking two vultures, almost circling around a dead carcass, even after that unexpected by-election victory.

Winning that by-election might make Gordon go for a snap election for January or February next year. That would be a terrible mistake. The victory in Glenrothes can be seen as a defeat against the SNP government in Scotland, and not as a vote of support for Brown's economic policy. Labour did have their majority reduced by HALF; they did not gain anything at all. It is all very well; the victory going with the Media Narrative, that Gordon is the saviour of the world and we should all be grateful for that 'fact'.

Let see what happens when Labour have to defend one of their seats in England. I fear it could be an entirely different story, sadly.

Rob :)

What A Wonderful World!

Seems like the newspapers agree with me. The World is a far happier
place to be with Obama in power.

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Is It Me Or.....

Is the world a remarkably better place this afternoon, than was the
case some 24 hours ago.

The change in attitude of people is not markedly different.

Markets are still all over the place.

People are losing their jobs and yet, with Obama getting the presidency things
feel so much better! I am beginning to struggle after getting a
measly 2 hours shut-eye.

All fucking worth it, in the end.

Now comes the tricky part. Actually governing the most powerful nation on
Earth.

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Thank Fuck For That!

Just had my meeting, a lot better than I thought it would go. I'm
moving into the admin side of the company, whilst keeping my existing
wage.

To be fair, it couldn't had gone any better than that!

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Into The Storm.

Morning. After last night's late night and the subsequent early
morning, I have my all important meeting to decide my next move.

I am wanting to go in there with the impression that I know what I want.

Whether I get remotely that is another thing altogether! I'll update
as soon as the meeting finishes.

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Obama Is President!

Need I say anything else...

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Here's Hoping...

Hopefully, by time we wake up in the morning, this man will be the 44th President Of The United States Of America.

And of the Free World...

Ohio, Florida - Heading to McCain...

According to Zogby.

However, they predict Obama to still win regardless, aibeit closer than we thought earlier.

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Some news....at last!

Well I say it's news. It isn't really.

Had a phone call, within the past hour from what sounds like my new boss in waiting. He said that he is setting up a meeting either tomorrow or Thursday with myself and
HR, about my next job role, within the company.

So I hope that this mess is sorted out one way or another, rather soon.

Needs to be.

My current team is moving to their new base on the edge of Folkestone
this weekend. Why is it that companies always leave these things to
the very last minute?

Madness!

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The Big Day.

Morning,

Today over 130 million Americans are expected to vote in one
of the most defining elections in U.S history.

Here's hoping that they make the right decision and vote for Obama.

For all our sakes...

I'm going to try and stay up till the election is called. I predict
that if Obama can get Iowa and Indiana in the bag early, then it
should be over by 2am (GMT).

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Another Week Awaits.

Morning. As I get the bus into work and another week of fun begins, I
can't help but feel that our government should be doing more to help
the people of the Congo. It is all well and honourable sending
millions in aid, but how do we know that it's going to the people who
need it? We don't. I can't help but believe that the only way that
this devastating conflict can be ended sooner is if the world
intervenes, with military force. That is where the troops truly
should be. Not fighting someone private war...

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Congrats, Lewis!

Think I've just recovered from watching that. How the fuck can
emotions go up and down that quickly? Fucking immense, that.

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Thought Of The Week...

"It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself."

Ralph Waldo Emerson