Personal Blogs

you are of course absolutely correct. There must an immediate inquiry into these events. Have the police been compromised as many of us think. Have government ministers been compromised, as many of us think. Have members of the royal family been compromised as many of us think. Who knows what, when did they know it, what questions were not asked which should have been. Colonel Gaddafi now meets Brown, it is a question for the Scottish courts, nothing to do with me I'm only the Prime Minister, elected in Scotland, by Scottish voters, prisoners are nothing to do with me. Sorry click, just heard it on the news. So now the PM meets with people who have the blood of innocents on his hand, a former terror state, and so it ends.

Today five coffins are being brought back from Afghanistan, because in twenty years time some Taliban leader will be in Downing Street as the Head of a country, a corrupt country, and flags will be flown, bugles sounded, and wreaths laid. What exactly is the point Brown, tell us, because what are you going to do when parliament is on holiday, an extended holiday. Every wednesday before PMQs you or your replacement whilst you are away, reads out the names of the dead, what arrangements have you made. Can we put in place something to stop your charade, if you really cared Brown you would bring the troops home now. 

don't politicians just love police inquiries, cash for honours, MG Rover, loans to political parties, I wonder if the police could hold an inquiry into weapons of mass destruction, you see what happened in Iraq, if people can remember Iraq, was that soldiers have killed other human beings based on a lie. A woman has recently been convicted because she acted as a honey trap, she led a person into a cul-de-sac and he was then murdered.

Surely it is the same with regard to any politician who says 'we are going to war because there are weapons of mass destruction and these are a threat to you' only there weren't any. Same with the argument for war against Afghanistan, we are asking you to kill these people because if you don't kill them then they will be on our streets killing innocent women and children. I am such a simple soul, I suppose there is a difference only I don't see it.

we all know that companies are doing everything they can to reduce wage costs. So what is going to happen in the next parliament, the DWP want to break the link with pensions to the RPI and link it to! Wages. So just at the time when many of us expect prices to start rising faster than wages they break the link to prices and link it to wages. You really can't make it up. Please give publicity to this proposed change. Remember, the effect of retirement on your income, it is hugely reduced, as are the average pay levels.

brilliant interview on the Today programme. Can't wait for your 'show' this lunchtime and tonight. Andrew you are shocked, I am appalled, I have been shocked for an awful long time, as many will have guessed from my comments over the last few years on various blogs. There must be no cover-up in the White House, for people to say that they did not know is not good enough, they should have known, they should have asked questions. If they did not ask questions then there is a deriliction of duty. Nobody is above the law, time for a new blog Andrew, it is time to clean out the stables, there is too much manure, the smell is turning into a stench. It is the big stink on the Thames. It is time for an election, democracy as we know it is under threat, and I am not exagerating, I thought we lived in a representative elected democracy, with a free press. I think that the Iraq war and Afghanistan are our Vietnam, our Nurembourg, the ends justify the means, we followed orders, we did not know what was being done in our name.

maybe there ought to be a QUANGO that can look into what has been going on in the press. I listened to the Johnson interview on the Today programme this morning and was frankly appalled at his approach.

During the Watergate affair the comment from Nixon was 'there must be no cover-up in the White House'. I think there is a cover-up going on. With the complicity of the courts if my understanding is correct. This is a disgrace, somebody must say enough is enough.

A very close family member of mine has an injunction aginst him preventing him from speaking in public about the war in Iraq, on the grounds that he was in breach of contract, not that he broke the Official Secrets Act, or that he threatened National Security. This country is now in an appalling state, we are all guilty, but most of all those who knew what was going on and have remained silent.

This is a country which has gone down the route of the ends justify the means, and as Jack Hawkins says in that great war film 'The Cruel Sea' 'it's the war, the bloody war'. 

no doubt Brown really is upset again. You see there is a very important meeting taking place in Italy, I think it is the G8. Now this clashes with PMQs, so guess what, Brown will not be able to be in parliament today to answer questions, no he is away, again. The man just has no shame, on the day that Ainsworth is going to talk about Afhanistan where is Brwon, somewhere else. On the day that Darling is going to refer to the banking crisis, where is Brown, away. On the day after Davis's comments about torture, where is Brwon, away. It is another away day for Brown, why not make it a permanent away day, call an election.

the big news item has surely to be the comments made in parliament by David Davis last night, comments made under parliamentary privilige to protect him and his sources from being charged under the Official Secrets Act. There are very many brave and principled people in this country who have either remained silent or have been silenced over the issues of all forms of rendition and all forms of torture, or enhanced interrogation technoques if that is the form of words the guilty want to hide behind.

In February Hutton admitted in parliament that some previous statements made by his predecessors were, in fact, incorrect. I believe that the media has not investigated the comments made by Hutton to the extent which they should have been. I believe that injunctions have been used to prevent publication under the guise of national security, I think it is more likely that it would be national shame.

Ainsworth is today on the media saying that we are in Afghanistan to keep the terrorists off our streets, and that we are being succesful in that mission, where is his evidence. We have just gone through the fourth anniversary of the July bombings in London, we have had the death of Mr de Menezes, the death of Mr Tomlinson, the death of Dr Kelly, we have had government ministers misleading the House of Commons, either by accident, ommission, or because they have not been told the truth. This is a shameful government, we invaded Afghanistan forst in 2001, we took our eyes off the ball, and now we and the Americans are using a scorched earth policy to clear the Taliban. We have lost the war, that is why Brown has not sent reinforcements, military history will always tell you not to reinforce defeat, we have been defeated, Brown knows it, some of us in the real world know, when will the government admit it, not yet, but they will soon. Just like we were defeated in Iraq.

I am getting very angry Andrew, and it is because we have been told over the week-end about yet more deaths in Afghanistan, soldiers not only being killed but also we do not know of the injuries, and the deaths of the locals. Soldiers being returned home, in their coffins, and yet at this very moment Bob Ainsworth at last announces an inquiry into the deaths in Iraq of locals who had also allegedly been tortured.

Surely this should be part of the inquiry that Brown announced only a couple of weeks ago. I suppose the inquiry will not look into tyhese deaths because they form part of another inquiry. You talk about QUANGOs, quite rightly but this is yet another good day to bury bad news. Surely nobody could possibly be critical of our soldiers when the body of the most senior officer killed since the Falklands is returned for burial.

Any soldier who was in the original Aghan occupation in 2001 will tell you that it was because of the Iraq war that we took our eye off the ball. This all comes from Iraq, all the problems, Afghanistan would not be the problem it is today if it were not for Iraq. In the meantime I thought that Hutton's performance on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday was an absolute disgrace, he ought to be ashamed of himself. I think he has cut and run, and I don't know how he can look in the mirror in the morning. You would never believe that Brown had made this man responsible for Defence. Well that is what I think anyway.

I hope that this is of interest to you and your commenteers but I have just received my first Claim Form for Winter Fuel Payment and there is a from attached which lists the exceptions.

Now this I find interesting because apparently I will not be eligible for payment if, in the qualifying week:

you are living in a care home, an independent hospital or (now wait for it) Ilford Park Polish Resttlement Home (and have been for the preceding 12 weeks or more).

Now what on earth has happened so that the residents of Ilford Park Polish Resettlement Home are not entitled to payment. Why them, what sort of system is it that has to identify them specifically as not having eligibility.

When I started to work in the City Capital Gains Tax was brought in, I wish I had kept the original leaflet I received to enable to calculate CGT for our investors. I think I could now fill a wall with books on Capital Gains Tax, just abolish it, make all gains subject to income tax, CGT was for a time when there was massive inflation, that is why all the allowances had to be brought in, so with deflation and the abolition of boom and bust, we surely should abolish Capital Gains Tax, that is unless some people think there will be a return of rapant inflation, I for one do. Why do you think government bonds are exempt from CGT, yes because you you will possibly buy a Gilt in the Market and pay GBP130 for GBP100 nominal of stock, and guess what? The government guarantees to repay on redemption GBP100, without fail, except in War Loan that is.

However, as usual I have digressed, so why Ilford Park Polish Resettlement Home, anybody help.

there is now breaking news that ten Talibhan have been killed as a result of a 'Drone' attack in Pakistan. Many others have been injured. How dare the Americans effectively invade another foreign sovereign state without going through the UN. There was no action taken against Turkey when they sent forces into Iraq to take on 'terrorists'. The whole area is now completely out of control.

Pakistan has nuclear weapons, there is still the danger that the government will be overthrown because Pakistan is effectively under American control, they are funding the army in that country, and the country is now in a situation of civil war. Obama currently has support for his actions, but not for much longer, he is having to follow the orders from the army, he has the best of intentions but this is going to turn into a disaster. I have to say Andrew that some will accuse those of us who write these words as not being experts, what do you know, you are a defeatist, to these people I would say no, some of us are old enough to have seen it all before, the USSR was broken in Afghanistan, it will happen to us as well.

Others say I talk with the benefit of hindsight, to these I say that just read Kipling, what on earth is a eighteen year old doing on the front. Have we come to this. 

listened to Adonis on the Radio 4 news at One. He was asked why wait a year, there was mumbling, there was sounds in the back-ground, then I am sorry I can't hear you clearly you are breaking up, now he wasn't talking about Brown he was talking about the line, Martha then asked again 'why wait a year over the franchise' can you hear me, yes I can hear you now, only you are breaking up again, I am sorry says Martha, we will have to end the interview.

Absolutely brilliant, I used to do that at school when the teacher used to ask me a question, then I would say sorry sir, didn't hear you, and whilst he was asking the question again, the question which I had actually heard, I was scanning my book for the answer. Griffin come to the front, six strokes with the strap, and don't try that one again. Yes sir!

A zero percent rise, still can't get over that one! Now Brown should come on the media and explain exactly what did he mean when he refrrred to a zero percent rise, a gem, nearly as good as picking his nose when behind Blair, or the non shaking of the policemans hand when Obama had done. You can't make this up, it's fantastic. Beyond belief, its not the bunker, its the madhouse, what is it they say, 'the lunatics have taken over the asylum'. Well that's what I think anyway, and as Descart would say 'I think therefore I am'. The body and mind have become detached in the case of certain politicians, there is a body but the

I listened with interest to Mandelson on the Radio 4 Today programme this, now do't interrupt I think that the listeners want to hear my answer not your comments, morning and thought that the admission that there will be no, Public Sector Review, no now listen this is important, will not be held before the next general election, which I think must have been held by this time next year.

I am even more convinced that there will be an October election, the Queen will never give her speech with 'my government will ...' not with this lot in place she won't. We are appaerently not to have a National Plan, we are 'Building Britain's Future', no they aren't, they are destroying everything, that's what I think anyway, sorry speculate, within the terms of my entitlement to think. There is no right to free speech, apparently there is to be the entitlement to free speech, with our entitlements goes responsibilities, no listen you're rambling and are not in the real world.

I think that it is not ministers and labour MPs who are bonkers, no it is me, I have been living for so many years in a dream world, I mean we have not been involved in a war in Iraq, which we then jointly occupied, no get it right, we will have an inquiry into the period leading up to the war, the war, and the reconstruction. Now then why the reconstruction rather than the occupation, 'Building Britain's Future' surely that is reconstruction, so we can take it that Britain has been occupied since 1997. If labour can mis-speak, then so can I.

Did we not build Iraq's future, you can see the posters, not, on the streets of Basra, 'Building Iraq's Future' labours plans for the future, their vision. Please Brown, you have no legitimacy, you are the Prime Minister in the worst parliament for hundreds of years, well that's what I think anyway, sorry speculate, because I am not an expert, sorry I don't count.

Andrew I can't wait for the big launch, only this is the Titanic, there must be an election before November, this is the labour party manifesto. It is scorched earth, it is a government in its death throes, everything was great, we are over the worst, it is the typical response of a great leader who looks from his bunker and sees desolaton all around and then has his secret weapon his V3, only nobody will fire it, if only you would let me fire it, it will win the war, we are on the verge of a great victory, you all don't see it, you lack my vision, I will lead you to the final victory...Now then the Iraq Inquiry, de Menezes, Mr Tomlinson, Iran, the war of Jenkins Ear, Murray must win Wimbledon, that is my only hope, he must win, I will be saved, if only England could win the world cup, can't we bring it forward, those conservatives, they will get the glory, I'm off to be a teacher. Mad, completely mad.

I think that we should not confuse respect for fear. Did you never get beaten with a leather strap, that was what controlled the boys in the school which I went to. Did your father never hit you, I know mine did, oh and my mother, which may explain a lot of 'stuff' I still have a problem with. Were you never kept in your place, not by love, but by fear. I lived in a place of fear all my childhood, it was a terrible place, for me it was anyway. I have lived and worked in many places throughout the world, every day still is a battle.

I hate violence, I hate control, it is a constant battle, sometimes one which I feel that I am losing and then I meet someone, and I survive, just that bit longer. My father was the illegitamite son of a farm labourers daughter, he became a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and was given the MBE by the Queen. I was proud of my father, but I did not respect him, I feared him, all my life until his death.

My father followed orders, he did what he was told, he was on HMS Dorsetshire when she sailed away after being the ship which finally sank the Bismark, he was in tears at the end of his life over the sounds and noise of the sailors who were left in the sea to die, sailors screamig for their mothers.

On armed forces day it is the day to remember the courage of those who refuse orders, who don't do as they are told, who rebel in their own ways. The government does not like 'dissing' they really don't want the truth to come out, yet it must, in public, and under oath. The guilty must go before the courts and face justice, if they don't then we are all guilty. It is totally unacceptable to say I did what I did because I was following orders, all of us, but the experts who stay silent, they are the most guilty. The teachers who hide the truth, the ones who have sold out, the ones who destroy young lives, it is the system which destroys.

I'll tell you all something. The day that the government lifts the high court injunction on my son, the injunction which prevents him from speaking in public, that is the day I might stop. What have they to fear from such a man, a man who signed to serve his Queen and country, who took the Queens shilling alright, but who said no, this is not right. A man who could have killed a fellow human being based on a lie. Now a man who refuses orders, a man who tries to tell the truth, now that is a man who I respect, and love very much. The truth is out there, all we have to do is look, as #111 says, honest debate is healthy, it can heal, but the lies, the lies must stop.

That is what is wrong with Brown, he seeks transparency, honesty and truth, and yet these are the very things which he fears the most, the Iraq inquiry must be in public, it must be on oath, the truth will hurt, but it must come out. Otherwise we are not human beings, we are loathsome creatures of the dark. We need the light, the light of justice to shine to redeem us all.