OneGuyFromBarlick

I've been thinking the same thing P and this was conformed when the French Charge d'affaire ststed categorically that the subject never arose in their conversation. What particularly saddened me was that Milliband piled in milking it for all he was worth because of course it plays well for Labour in Scotland. Mark Steele jokingly said yesterday in The News Quiz that it was the Blairite advisers torpedoing Ed. Someone in the strategy meeting must have voted to do it placing more value on the shock/distraction value than any consequences down the line when an enquiry rubbishes it.
I said months ago that this campaign would get dirty.
Private Eye is worth a good look at this week. Grant Shapps and his housing claims are shot down in flames using the evidence of his own committee. MD in Medicine Balls quotes devastating figures for NHS since 2010 that clearly demonstrate how it is being squeezed and the results. He draws particular attention to the rising tide of expenditure on Dementia. The prospects for those younger than me are bleak....
On the question of SNP being on the left. No party is as simple as that but I think that as a general statement it is broadly accurate. However, there is an element in the party who would like to see Cameron in again because their long term aim of Scottish Independence would be better served by fighting the Tories than getting into bed with Labour.

A commentator (Telegraph correspondent) said last night on Sky, that since the Cabinet Secretary had instigated a 'leak enquiry' then there must have been a leak, since such people were very careful in their choice of words. I note that they haven't shown the actual correspondence yet, just 'reported' it.

Nicola Sturgeon says the matter is finished, because both parties have denied using the words quoted. yeah - right.

Please God let it all go away - I don't think I can stand another three weeks of this nonsense.
I don't know what I'll do if is indecisive, and we have to do it all again in the Autumn. Why do we need such a long campaign period? Perhaps once, but not in the age of 24 hour news, and instant electronic communications.

We gradually move into US style politics where, due to the fixed four year term, campaigning for the next election starts as soon as the current one is decided. A retrograde step.....

They've been busy over the weekend haven't they.... See THIS for the result of Danny Alexander having a furtle through his 'black book', We are told that politicians keep notes of these things. I know it panxders to my prejudices but it has a ring of truth.
In another REPORT we are told that Tony Blair has started electioneering for Milliband. I can't help wondering how useful this is....
Hilary Clinton is expected to confirm her candidacy for the Democrat Presidential nomination inside 'the next two weeks. It's re;ported that her team have been warned to be ready to get into gear. The first woman president of the US?
There are vague mutterings of trouble within the Tory party as they try to finalise their manifesto, at the moment they don't have one. All we have at the moment is aspirations, not firm commitment to clear policies. (Apart from Cameron only serving one more term.....)

I don't normally have any time at all for Blair but must admit that his speech at Sedgefield on the dangers of even contemplating a referendum on EU membership very persuasive.
Trying to be objective, it appears to me that the Tory campaign is not going well. Optimistic messages are being immediately rebutted using official statistics and facts. On the same day Cameron promises to spend 'as much as is needed' on the NHS we have the news that waiting times are the worst for ten years. When asked how the 'economic revival' is benefiting the majority of low or non earners, all the Tory spokes persons immediately change the subject.
The SNP are playing well and UKIP appear to be subdued. The possible permutations for the May result are changing rapidly..... Labour's big problem is Scotland and could be their undoing. Exciting times!

‘…..official statistics and facts..’

And we can add to that ‘personal experience’. The lady who intervened in the debate last week, heckling the PM, did so when he paid tribute to our armed forces (which admittedly all politicians tend to do). This was the last straw for her. She knew from her work with charities and the like in Manchester that the lot of far too many of our service personnel once they leave the service is addiction and mental health problems, destitution and prison. And quite frankly, wearing a poppy once a year or getting all dewy-eyed over a sea of poppies at the Tower, or paying them clichéd platitudes is no substitute at all in the face of this. She also made the point in the interviews she gave after (amazing what an outburst on live TV can do, tho’ I imagine the Daily Mail is as I write trying to get as much dirt on her as they can, charmers that they are there) that folk need to seek out the facts more. And I couldn’t agree more. Welfare is a good place to start as I was reminded of reading an article the other day.

Government spending on welfare goes on pensions, tax credits, and benefits for the unemployed, the disabled and other groups. People were asked a number of questions on how much money went to particular groups.

So folk were asked how much of the welfare budget went to the unemployed? The average response was this was 34p in every £1 spent on welfare. The true figure from the Government’s own statistics is actually about 2p in the pound.

How many people claim monies fraudulently? The average response was about 22% of people, or 1 in 5. The true figure is much less than 1%, or about 1 in 200.

How much goes to immigrants who have arrived in the last 10 years? The average response was about 22p in every £1 in welfare spending goes to immigrants. The true figure is actually about 3p in the pound

Of every 100 people who claim jobseekers allowance in a year, how many are still claiming a year later? Folk thought almost 40%. The true figure is 10% and this falls markedly with additional time to the extent that the numbers on a ‘life on benefits’ is vanishingly small (I mean here the anecdotal 'scrounger'. I am excluding here those who are disabled and so will not work, though I do appreciate there are those who think the stroke victim will speak again or the amputee’s legs will grow back or that British corporatism is so benevolent it will employ these folk at the drop of a hat, as well as the bipolar and so on….).

Now, no one should claim anything fraudulently in my book nor receive monies without making the effort to improve their lot if capable and so on. But the impression that this is somehow an enormous chunk of the welfare bill is wrongly held. The vast majority of the welfare bill goes to pensioners and folk in work who can’t put a roof over their head or otherwise make ends meet on their wages. Very, very little goes to immigrants, fraudsters and dossers.

So it’s difficult to see how anyone can make any significant savings on welfare unless you give the pensioners a good kicking, the working poor a good kicking, or the genuinely disabled and sick a good kicking (admittedly, this latter group have been given a good kicking by the current Government). Or if you are not too keen on that, put younger workers on notice that they will work until they are 70, and then 75 in time, which is not too hard a sell to the young as they tend to be supportive of pensions. It’s the money their gran and grandpa get you see. Oh, and bring in a living wage while you’re at it.

In the absence of that, you can ask Mr Stephenson when he comes a knocking how he’s going to find the £12B from the welfare bill. And the other parties too, just for balance.

Richard Broughton

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Stanley wrote:I don't normally have any time at all for Blair but must admit that his speech at Sedgefield on the dangers of even contemplating a referendum on EU membership very persuasive.

Tony Blair: "Public can't be trusted to make 'sensible choice' on EU."

JEAN MONET Founder of the European Union at the League of Nations 30th April 1952:
"European nations should be guided towards the 'super state' without the people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose but will eventually, irreversibly, lead to complete federation."


The current un-elected President Jean-Claude Juncker in a debate in 2011 responding to a conference-goer's suggestion to increase the openness of the strategy, stated "That it was quite normal to lie to the people of Europe."

" folk need to seek out the facts more" Exactly Richard, and your post is a wonderful example of what the electorate should really be told. Thank you.
P, Another window on reality. Thank you as well.
I am reminded of what was a widely held view in the 19th C that it was a mistake to educate the 'poor' too well. All that was needed was for them yo be numerate and literate so they could function as cogs in the great industrial machine. Never voiced, this is still the implicit assumption behind the terrible inequalities in our education system.



Add to this cancer the modern trend to discount life experience when selecting parliamentary candidates and you have a toxic mix which produces a skewed representation. Only very occasionally does a 'normal' person rise through the ranks to the highest office. On a closely related matter.... Did you hear the man on Today on Tuesday who said he never voted and that all political processes should be replaced by a computer into which data was fed and answers produced? Ask yourself how anyone could arrive at that position? I rest my case on education....
A splendid set of posts.....

Meanwhile in the 'real' world, the claims on the job applications get more and more surreal. It's like walking through Stockport market 50 years ago and listening to the barkers advertising their competing wares. But less informative or trustworthy....
Later.... I am listening to the arguments about Trident. In view of the generally acknowledged deficiency in defence spending, which is rapidly deteriorating, plus my visceral hatred of the whole concept behind atomic weapons, I oppose the Tory proposal to build four new missile carrying submarines. In my view this is more about 'keeping our place at the top table' than any serious defence arguments.

‘’….un-elected President Jean-Claude Juncker..’’

Very misleading. Mr Juncker is the Head of the Commission, which is the administrative arm of the EU in the same way that the Civil Service is this country’s administrative arm. Are you suggesting that the Head of the Civil Service here should be elected? Irrespective of this, if we want to consider democratic legitimacy Mr Juncker was appointed by the European Council, the Heads of Government of all Members States who are all elected politicians, as well as the European Parliament, who too are all elected politicians. Mr Juncker is a centre-right political figure, befitting the current make-up of the European Parliament and elected Governments across Europe and so reflecting the democratic will of the people of Europe through their national and European elections. He therefore has arguably more ‘democratic legitimacy’ than any leader this country has ever had, given that currently only the people of Witney and Doncaster and those eligible to under whatever arrangements the Tory/Lab parties have for electing their leaders, will decide on our next PM.

This is pretty vital stuff. There is not one binding decision taken at the European level by any unelected official. They are taken by the elected Parliament, the elected European Council and the elected Council of Ministers (who are the elected Ministers from each country for each Commission portfolio).

I actually think Mr Blair is right in his quote above, with the proviso that we add the word ‘currently’.

Richard Broughton

Bruff, thanks for the clarification of welfare spending and also about Juncker. It's very helpful to have it in concise understandable language, leavened by a touch of humour.

Stanley, regarding "the man on Today on Tuesday who said he never voted and that all political processes should be replaced by a computer into which data was fed and answers produced". Did you note his Somerset accent and the fact that he's from Bridgwater, an old sea port whose inhabitants have a sense of fun, love eating & drinking and have a big carnival every year? They'll grab the opportunity to corner a TV reporter and spin him a line for a laugh, especially if he comes from London. People in other parts of the country are always `sending up' the Somerset accent but the locals here know how to get their own back!

Appointed, rather than elected, as are the leading members of the Communist Party in China with no input from the general public. Great stuff this communism. Actually, I do think it is a far better system than the UK one. Great stuff that the EU have never balanced their books or had the accounts signed off by the audit bodies. I wouldn't trust them to look after my bicycle. As for the cost, just doesn't bear thinking about.

‘’..the EU have never balanced their books or had the accounts signed off by the audit bodies.’’

The former Comptroller and Auditor General Sir John Bourn is on record as saying that if he ever had to sign off on the UK Government’s accounts in the manner we expect the EU auditors to do, he would be unable to do so. I might also note that one of the main reasons the EU auditors have not signed off the accounts is the inability of National Governments to account for the EU money reimbursed to them. That is, a major problem lies with National Governments (and that includes the UK) and not with the EU and its institutions.

Yes, the Commission President is appointed, as the Head of the UK’s Civil Service is appointed. Given both can no more decide any Government’s policies than you or I, I struggle to see what democratic deficit is remedied should they in future be elected. Every single person in this country should know that the European Commission cannot force a national Government to do anything. It’s simply wrong to bang on about ‘unelected bureaucrats’ in Brussels ‘telling us what to do’. Every single European Directive that ‘tells us what to do’ has been agreed by the democratically elected European Parliament and Council of Ministers.

As to cost, the UK’s net contribution to the EU is about 0.6% of GDP at £11/12B, or about £170 per head, or 3 quid a week. It’s a personal view whether that net cost doesn’t bear thinking about.

Richard Broughton

Barlick will be featured on Northwest Tonight this evening (6.30pm - 7.00pm). Roger Johnson and camera crew were in town the other day on the Town Square interviewing folk for questions for the election candidates I think. I was out of town at the time but that's what I have picked up on the local Facebook sites. Might be worth a watch.

I watched it. The Labour candidate said local employers were paying immigrants £3 to £3.50 an hour, and depriving local people of jobs. Can that be so? It's illegal isn't it? I trust he has reported them. They had a sort of ballot amongst the passers by, but didn't disclose the result. I wonder why. The Square looked well.

PS just checked the betting. Tory is favourite at 9/4 on with Labour at 13/8.

Lovely informative posts. I particularly like Richard's explanation of the fact that auditors have problems with EU accounts. Put that way it is perfectly understandable. Now why has nobody ever put that point of view to me before?
I see the sense in China's comment about Communism. I remember that when I first became aware it existed (many many years ago) the thing that struck me was the similarity with the basic tenets of Christianity! Our system is archaic, riddled with privilege and spurious 'tradition'. We have a noble tradition of efforts to change things, the Levellers, the Chartists and certain aspects of the early Liberal and Labour movements but we have never managed to get the necessary momentum. As things stand, the only realistic prospect of change is the breakdown of the existing system. At the moment there is a glimmer of hope that this may be coming closer but if it does there could be a rough ride before we reach a stable system again.
I am depressed at the moment by the wheeling out of all the old arguments about the need for a nuclear deterrent. Shades of Dr. Strangelove and small boys looking for a bigger stick. Has everyone forgotten about 'Mutually Assured Destruction? We spend hundreds of billions on trophy weapons and at the same time neglect the really efficient option, the maintenance of a well trained and equipped standing army with proper care for veterans. I repeat my contention that this is more to do with 'our place at the top table' than any serious assessment of the modern world situation. High time we moved out of the 19th century on all fronts!
One last comment. Fallon's attack on Milliband was the worst sort of personalised negative campaigning. He should be ashamed of himself. It damaged any serious debate on the subject.
Later... I have just read my BET and it's interesting to note that on the increasingly Stephenson-hostile letters page there are two small token pro-Stephenson letters tucked in at the end.... Odds of 9-4 on his re-election may not be as accurate a reflection as they sound.... Hopeful of Barlick!

Bruff wrote:Every single person in this country should know that the European Commission cannot force a national Government to do anything.

Possibly the reason they believe the Commission does have that power is the way in which our national institutions tell us it is so. Having struggled with planning permission some years ago and being caught out by bat legislation, and hearing from others about their experiences with similar regulations, we are told by the planners that they are forced into their decisions by, for example, English Nature and English Heritage. When you contact those institutions they tell you that it's due to `EU legislation'.

Tripps wrote:PS just checked the betting. Tory is favourite at 9/4 on with Labour at 13/8.

Are those the names of political parties or of horses?

‘they tell you that it's due to `EU legislation'’’

Yes, it probably is. But that Legislation has been agreed by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. On the latter, I imagine on bats these are the Environment Ministers of all Member States. Once these bodies have agreed the European Directive, National Governments enact into domestic legislation through their Parliaments. The Commission simply acts as our Civil Service does, doing the drafting and the facilitating and so on. It is elected politicians who make the final decisions.

Richard Broughton

The Liberals are proposing loans to younger people to assist in paying their deposit on a private rental. Loan. Only very intelligent people could have thought up a scheme as stupid as this. Clearly they have no idea what goes on in the real world. In modern jargon. a cultural disconnect. The thinking is that things will just continue as they are but assisted by a government loan. In reality it will open the door for fraud on a massive scale. In a limited property market the asking deposit will rise. People who could have managed by themselves will ask for assistance. Unscrupulous landlords will claim that moving tenants will lose their deposit. Tenants will feel no great urgency in claiming back someone else’s money. Tenants will disappear, that is if they ever existed in the first place. A backlog of claims and counter claims will take years to sort out. After a few years it will require a new IT system of such a complexity that will cost more millions than it would to build houses and give them away. In short it has all the makings of a complete disaster. Nick Clegg should know better.

Why aren't we running the country? Answers on one side of a postcard please.....

Stanley wrote:Why aren't we running the country? Answers on one side of a postcard please.....

Thank you Richard for enlightening me. £11-12 billion isn't to be sniffed at, and £3 a week per capita probably works out at about £10 a week per taxpayer. I'd be happy to get that amount off my tax bill. I agree with Stanley, do we need to spend money in this way? We had trade agreements with Europe before we joined EU and there were those existing members who didn't want UK on board.

On the whole I favour the concept of European Union, based on the evidence. I have read the history of the internal continental wars, know that we have always relied on trade with the continent and recognise that today the EU is the third largest market after China and India and per head of population is wealthier than either of those. I also grew up in the middle of the greatest European war ever known. The specious political arguments deployed for short term advantage that pass for 'debate' on the subject anger me. What we need is more evidence we can trust like the explanation Bruff gave us on the audit. When Blair deployed his arguments last week eh was basing them solely on trade, he is no historian! Nevertheless his general thrust was right and that's why I supported it.
We are looking at the same mix of lies and opportunism in the election 'debate', more a bidding war actually. We are in fantasy land now as we are promised more and more goodies in the form of 'promises'. As my father used to say, "Speculate in one had and expectorate in the other and see which fills first". A crude analogy but effective..... Remember it when the dust settles after the horse-trading to come.

Hilary Clinton declares her candidature for President. I wish her well. The Republican negative attacks have already started, she is scaring them to death!
On the face of it The Tory election campaign ought to be on a roll with encouraging economic figures, the stock market high and the pound doing well against the Euro but despite this my impression is that the campaign is in disarray. Of course this could be wishful thinking but they seem to be doing more reacting and rebuttal than positive campaigning. The financials are tricky, they all start from a very low base, things like vehicle sales are always bad to interpret as many are replacements that can't be put off any longer. There are still massive and well understood structural problems. I think one of their problems is that they can't decide who the biggest threat is. The SNP looms larger in their fear list than Labour at the moment and yet the more they attack them the more they help Labour's cause as they could be the biggest losers in any shift of power in Scotland. Fascinating stuff!

Stanley wrote:Hilary Clinton declares her candidature for President. I wish her well. The Republican negative attacks have already started, she is scaring them to death!

During the discussion about her on the Today programme they mentioned the threat to her from the Republican supporters "the Pope brothers". This name meant nothing to me so I searched the Web and found that it refers to Claude Pope and, especially, Art Pope who have an enormous war chest at their disposal. Funny how we so often find powerful brothers with too much money...think Barclays, Tchenguiz. More on Art Pope here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope
and in this 2011 new Yorker article:
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/ ... e-for-sale

I didn't know about the Pope Brothers but it doesn't surprise me. There are some very powerful interests who lobby incessantly to improve their position. Think National Rifle Association. Many years ago in the days of snailmail they boasted they had a system that could send a letter automatically to everyone on their mailing list. Just think what they are capable of now with virtually unlimited funding and modern electronic communications....
It doesn't get much more surreal than THIS. A Polish prince, fed up with UKIP slurs on Polish workers clogging the roads up has challenged Farage to a duel with swords in Hyde Park..... Nigel says he hasn't got a sword but wouldn't accept the challenge anyway.... Nobody saw that one coming!
On the local front, we got another message from Stephenson.... 'Barlick Matters', it must be costing someone a bomb, wonder who it could be..... I see he is claiming the credit for what looks like a solution to the closing of the treatment centre at the Park Road surgery. From previous experience I will take this claim with a pinch of snuff as I suspect others were actually the driving force.
The Liberal El Cheapo flyer arrived and surprise surprise it seems that the driving force behind the moving of the treatment room to the Rainhall Centre was Team Barnoldswick! (I've only just read it). Well done and yes, I will be voting for Richard Milner at the council elections. Local politics should not be on party lines but on who the real forces for change are in the town.

While we're getting excited about the election we miss what's going on elsewhere. We shouldn't forget the race for nuclear supremacy between India, Pakistan and China. Pakistan is rapidly increasing its nuclear weapon capability and is buying eight submarines from China.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-32289368