Some Thoughts…

Afternoon,

I have been watching the BBC coverage of the 1979 General Election, which happened some 30 years ago this past weekend, and it is interesting to see that although perceptions are nowadays that Thatcher won by a country mile in the end, and that it was never in doubt, looking back on the coverage now, there was a time just a week or so before the actual vote that Labour was in fact ahead in the polls for a very short period of time, before Thatcher won.  So even now, a good year or so before the country goes to the polls, there is always the possibility that Chairman Brown could get back into power for Labour’s Fourth Term, however unlikely it seems today!

The first signs of discontent within the cabinet however will make grim reading for the Prime Minister – although it came from an unlikely source.  Hazel Blears has always come across to me as someone who although popular with the Labour grassroots, is someone who the general population would like to punch her face in, with her holier than thou thoughts.

Do as I say, not as I do…

In this instance however, it has to be said that she is utterly spot on in her analysis on Chairman Brown.  The way that he went on YouTube and smiled whilst talking in regards of MPs expenses was absolutely hideous in its approach and pretty much gave Mr. Cameron an open goal to shoot in, which he has duly done so. Seriously, this is one area that you really would have expected Labour to be good at, considering they have recently employed the same people behind the phenomenal Obama internet campaign, which preceded his landslide presidential victory…

This afternoon, Harriet Harman has denied reports in today’s Telegraph that she would fight in any Leadership contest if or when Chairman Brown decided to leave office – going so far as going on the BBC (on a bank holiday!) to say that in any case she would not fight in any leadership contest. Yeah right!

The government seems to be doing a bloody good job in giving away the coming election to the Tories without the Tories really needing to work hard for the victory.  Charles Clarke’s demand that Ed Balls be sacked following the smear scandal that Guido Fawkes instigated is probably the first shot fired in the potentially conflict between Blairites and Brownites that has been brewing for the past two years ever since Tony Blair was ousted by Chairman Brown – it seems that revenge is best served cold…

Finally, I went on BBC Radio this morning as part of a phone-in regarding the suggestion of an Illegal Immigrants Amnesty.  Many thousands of people are demonstrating in solidarity with those people who arrive in this country for a better future.

Here are some brutal facts that the media don’t tell you, which I said in my comments on FiveLive.

• There are between 310,000 and 570,000 illegal immigrants in the UK, according to Home Office estimates
• If allowed to live legally, they would pay more than £1bn in tax each year
• Deporting them would cost £4.7bn and leave acute shortages of cleaners, care workers and hotel staff if allowed to stay, the net benefit of nearly £6bn would pay for 300 new schools, 12 district hospitals or 200,000 new nurses
• Nearly 50% of foreign-born immigrants leave Britain within five years
• Migrants fill 90% of low-paid jobs in London and account for 29% of the capital's workforce. London is the UK's fastest-growing region
• Legal migrants comprise 8.7% of the population, but contribute 10.2% of all taxes. Each immigrant pays an average of £7,203 in tax, compared with £6,861 for non-migrant workers
• There were 25,715 people claiming asylum last year. If allowed to work, they would generate £123m for the Treasury

In this financially barren times for this country, it is not in anyone interests for us to be clamping down on immigrants.  In fact, with British people being very choosy with the jobs that they are willing to do – the immigrant population of Britain are doing a service for this country, certain not a disservice.

And one more thing.  This idea is in the pipeline in the United States, where President Obama has stated this as policy.

Over to you, Labour…