clawsfour

Can Saints learn to love the Sinners?

The current plight of Portsmouth Football club is not something that any football fan would be happy about. Although it is tempting for Saints fans given the lack of sympathy from Pompey when we were days from liquidation in the summer of 2009.

I'm not a great fan of the hatred that some football fans exhibit toward each other. I want to see Pompey survive so that the mighty Saints can thrash them on the football pitch. I have always refused to sing the crude anthem about "shooting the Pompey scum" because football should be about entertainment rather than murder. And anyhow we have perfectly acceptable, family friendly song about sparrows with cow sized arses which can shit on the Pompey bastards below. Below.

However, the situation is there. Pompey may be going bust. And we Saints fans have to accept that in a mature and responsible way. Fortunately the very source of the doom of Portsmouth FC may be the saviour of the Saints fan's morale compass.

The Revenue. Her Majesty's Inspector of Taxes. They have served the winding up order on Portsmouth FC. And there is the solution. For Portsmouth. And more importantly for Saints fans everywhere.

When you can't pay your taxes, there is occasionally the opportunity to gift your possessions in lieu of the tax. We often here of works or art being gifted to the nation as payment of taxes. So why not the whole club in this case?

Portsmouth FC could become the first nationalised football club. The whole of its assets - ground, players, the whole lot - could be gifted to the nation to pay its tax bill. And who better to manage the club for the nation but the National Trust.

And this is where it gets better and better for Saints fans. Fratton Park would have to be preserved as it now is. Obviously opening once a week during the season. There could be tours - coaches by arrangement, and let's face it, Pompey having a coach would need some arranging.

Of course, there would be some benefit for Pompey fans too. No National Trust property would be without a decent cafe, so that would be a nice change. 

But there is a serious side to this too. Football is in a complete financial mess and it will probably need a big club to go out out of business to make people really take notice  of what is going on. Whether Pompey is big enough - if they do go bust - to make people care time will tell. Personally I hope they survive.

On the other hand, I hope that Harry Redknap, who has ruined every club he has been involved with, gets everything he deserves.

iPhone for Labour

There I was browsing the Apple App store wondering what to treat meself with for Xmas and - bugger me - Bloggers for Labour have put up an apps.

OK I know there are plenty of ways to read blogs in my iPhone and Labour Blogs in particular. But having forked out £2.99 for the anyone-but-Labour Guardian feed, it's nice to see a stylish Labour feed for diddly-squat.

Go check it out.

Climate change deniers, creationists, and Conservatives

This is the opening video from the UN climate conference in Copenhagen.

Interesting to see the number of right wing deniers of climate change theory (are there any left wing deniers?) already on YouTube complaining about state control and tax rises arising from the climate change hoax. I wonder to what extent there is a correlation between climate change deniers and creationists? 

Of course, there is no reason that a creationists shouldn't accept that the impact of people on climate change is a reality. Apart from the fact that they are A: bonkers and B: ....oh, no need for the B:

Hopefully there will be sufficient progress in Copenhagen to ensure that climate change remains top of the agenda for our politicians (of course in the UK, that also means returning a Labour Government next year). A big worry will remain, acording to the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) study is that the carbon parts per million target will be agreed at too high a level to prevent the acidification of our oceans.

Coral bleaching, on top of damage through fishing and pollution, could lead to the loss of 60 per cent of coral reefs within the next 20 years according to the study leader Pavan Sukhdev.

The Conservative Party under Cameron have set out time and again that they are opposed to targets and opposed to legislative intervention to reduce the impact of our industrial society on the future climate. as a recent example, Cameron wants TVs to switch off (rather than have a standby mode) but only if it is in the interests of the profits of his friends rather than the interests of the planet.

It is already difficult to identify clear blue water between Cameron, creationists and climate change deniers at the moment. And if Cameron gets elected it will become increasingly difficult to identify clear blue water.

The biggest wins are against the odds...

Labour is always fighting against the odds. Even when we've had a substantial commons majority, the fourth estate, the Lords, Uncle Tom Cobley have lined up to make change in favour of the ordinary decent hard-working individuals and families of the UK a fight against the odds.

The viral campaign to launch Labour's latest Party Political Broadcast has also picked up on the theme of one person's struggle to get their message across.

And I'm more than happy to share the sentiment. And share the video. Lest we forget.

A massive win...

..for Gordon Brown. And Willie Bain, Labour's excellant local candidate in the Glasgow North East election.
There was understandable caution throughout election day from the Labour Party still scarred from losing the neighbouring seat in Glasgow East little over a year ago. But as the votes from the first ballot box tumbled on to the tables at the Scottish Exhibition Centre the scale of Labour's victory and Alex Salmond's humiliation was there for all to see.
The turnout was a tad disappointing, but to achieve a thumping 8,000 majority on a low turn out was a tribute to Labour's campaign.
To believe everything you read in the Daily Record or the Sun this is a party staring down the barrel of certain defeat in the general election. But the truth was somewhat different here. This was a party confident in its message, with an outstanding professional organisation, and a huge team of volunteers.
From Gordon Brown to the person who delivered a handful of leaflets, this was a well directed and well organised campaign. It showed that when Labour works hard with a clear message it wins.
And as for the general election? Well, as Willie Bain said, "Bring it on."

Cameron's poverty of thought

It's not often I post stuff direct from the Labour Party, but the message I just received from General Secretary Ray Collins did remind me of some of the Garbage coming out of the Tory Conference last week. So I couldn't resist sharing.

David Cameron clearly thinks that if he shouts loud enough about Labour, no one will ask him about his own policies for the poorest in Britain. 

 It’s pretty amazing stuff from a man who wants to give £200,000 to those set to inherit millions while cutting tax credits and child trusts funds of ordinary families. 

 And now David Cameron’s attacks on Labour have been taken apart by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies, stating that "direct tax and benefit changes made by the previous Conservative governments acted to increase income inequality, whereas those made by since 1997-98 have benefited the poor by more than the rich". 

We need your help. 

The long campaign for the General Election has started. If we are to take the Tories on, call them on their nonsense, and convince people to vote Labour we need every single one of our members and supporters to help in any way they can.

And this is the video that prompted the email.

And, for completeness, the Labour Party would like you to "Donate £10 to help us campaign – every penny you give us will be used for campaigning".

Polluting the freedom of the press

Well, extraordinarily Carter-Ruck has obtained an injunction preventing the reporting of a parliamentary question (and the answer to it) due to be asked this coming Thursday.

Fortunately, the injunction doesn't appear to extend to the Mother of Parliaments itself, and the order book still shows this question to be asked by Paul Farrelly MP.

Paul Farrelly (Newcastle-under-Lyme):

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of legislation to protect (a) whistleblowers and (b) press freedom following the injunctions obtained in the High Court by (i) Barclays and Freshfields solicitors on 19 March 2009 on the publication of internal Barclays reports documenting alleged tax avoidance schemes and (ii) Trafigura and Carter-Ruck solicitors on 11 September 2009 on the publication of the Minton report on the alleged dumping of toxic waste in the Ivory Coast, commissioned by Trafigura.

Now, I don't pretend to have any great knowledge of the issue - the dumping of toxic waste - other than by following bits and pieces of it in the media. I will be making greater efforts now, however, following the intervention of Carter-Fuck and trust the question itself (and the answer) will be broadcast in the usual way on the parliamentary channel. 

In the meantime, for those who have not seen it elsewhere, the Minton Report referred to in the question can be found here here. 

And the Guardian has a link to "internal emails from Trafigura operatives around the world". 

These apparently give a

Blow-by-blow account of the oil trading firm's decision to buy gasoline from the Mexican state refinery PMI via a US oil terminal at Brownsville, and then process it at sea on a chartered tanker, the Probo Koala, using caustic washing.

Finally, they show the traders trying to get rid of the resulting toxic waste first at the tank terminal La Skhirra in Tunisia; then at Amsterdam; then at Lagos; then the Ivory Coast; and subsequently in Norway.

Carter-Ruck seems to have kicked up a perfect storm, producing the exact opposite of his intended effect. You can follow developments at #carterruck"> and #trafigura">

BREAKING NEWS - CARTER-RUCK and TRAFIGURA cave in 

See the latest from the Guardian here. Now Carter-Ruck will say that was nothing to do with Twitter or the blogosphere. But we know the truth. Don't we.

The Conservatives won't deserve anyone's vote...

... Until its deputy chairman has reassured the public he is domiciled here and paying his taxes like everone else.

So says today's Evening Standard and if it's good enough for the right wing press (which today brings a new meaning to the free press) then it's good enough for me.

The Tories are still unable to say that there largest donor is either registered to vote or to pay tax on this country. Yet they still take his money and the Electoral Cimmission still don't call for a prosecution. Just imagine the outcry if Labour was taking cash from overseas.

Ex-Army chief 'offered Tory role'

David Cameron has apparently (to the consternation of his Tory colleagues) offered Former Army chief General Sir Richard Dannatt a job with the Tories in the House of Lords.

Cameron said:

I've spoken to him on previous occasions as well as recently about his views about how we improve our armed services... I think he's a man of great talent and ability, he's been a great public servant and I think he's got more to give.

The General has been kicking up a storm about smear tactics and has now told the Beeb the government tried to damage his reputation after "losing the argument" over tactics and ministers had resorted to "politics by smear".

Given that the government has been remarkably straightforward about the decisions it has taken about troop numbers in Afghanistan, it seems that General Dannatt (ret) is the one doing the smearing. 

Conservative Chris Grayling MP also seemed to think this is a dodgy appointment by Cameron when he said:

I hope that this isn't a political gimmick. General Dannatt's an experienced figure and should rightly be working alongside government.

Grayling has been subsequently been advised that it is Cameron who wants to keep this particular General out of retirement (more saving on the pension budget) and not Prime Minister Brown.

Chris Grayling is, of course, the Shadow Home Secretary. Number two in Cameron's kitchen. A person who should have a firm grip on what is going on. And another remarkably straightforward reason why you should never, never, vote Tory.

It's not over 'til the referee has played six minutes of injury time...

Once again everyone writes us off prematurely.

Obviously we have the age and experience. The opposition are youthful and energetic.

We have a little bit of guile. They are brash and in your face.

We shouldn't be the underdogs, but we find ourselves behind. A long way behind.

But then we get our act together. Our leader plays a blinder. We begin to draw level.

And finally we beat Torquay 5-3 on penalties in the Johnson's Paint Trophy.

Next May/June the stakes will be a little higher, but the Tories have already given us - and more importantly the public - enough ammunition to start eroding their temporary lead in the polls. And Tory lead councils up and down the land are doing their best to help, showing that when Tories say "we're all in this together" it really means that we bear the brunt of their cuts in services they never use.

The philosophy was set out by the Tory Leader of Southampton Council, Alec Samuels:

We do not in principle favour ‘free this and free that’, such as swimming or transport, school meals or computers or whatever it is.

Southern Daily Echo, 17 Oct 2008

Cllr Eddie Lister, Tory Leader of Wandsworth, says local councils should hike up the prices of local services as far as they can go:

We will look to increase charges as far as possible beyond inflation so that consumers of the services are bearing the full cost without any hidden subsidy from the taxpayer. 

It is worth taking a trial and error approach to see just what the market [I presume he means residents like you and me] will bear.”

Big Ideas, Building on Conservative Fundamentals, Localis 2008

So when George Osborne says, "we're all in it together" just think carefully about who the 'we' are. Are you part of the 'we' made up of nurses, and police and teachers and other public service workers on £18k a year or more who face a Tory pay freeze? Or are you part of the 'we' made up of the 3,000 most wealthy people in this country who will have their inheritance tax cut paid for by the pay freeze for public service workers?

And when you've thought about that for a bit, think about how many people you know who are thinking about voting Tory this time. You have around six months to make sure they know who 'we' are.