Geldof gets chummy with Cameron

Christmas has come late for the Conservatives. David Cameron has presented the Tory party some gift-wrapped PR news - Bob Geldof has joined the party as their new consultant on global poverty.

Although Geldof is to remain party-neutral this can’t help but attract new younger voters at the next general election. Obviously Cameron knew this!

This must be a blow for Geldof’s old chums Blair and Brown. Once hailed as the ‘Lennon and McCartney’ of politics by U2’s Bono they seem to be becoming a comedy duo we have all heard enough of.

Tony Blair - Loser?

Tony Blair must be more careful – he keeps losing things. From recently ‘losing’ £7billion in Europe to losing authority over his party during his embarrassing terror law defeat. Of course Blair struggles through this losing streak by becoming more draconian in his leadership style. He re-confirmed this today at Prime Minister’s Question Time (although he used the term ‘enabling people’).

Surely Blair needs to start listening to elected MPs and not his private buddies (also called advisors) when making policy. Otherwise the electorate will have to change their minds and press the Eject button on Labour’s soundtrack. Of course the alternative is to become increasingly oppressed under the thumb of Blairite philosophies…

‘Catch your death’ at the NHS

Stories of dirty hospitals litter newspaper headlines fairly regularly. But now the NHS has come under fire for the overuse of antibiotics which affects the body’s own immune system and its ability to tackle the infection ‘C.difficile’. But are we are all guilty of medicine overuse?

The average Mr Office worker who catches a bug will undoubtedly overdose on various drugs so he can play ‘hero’ and still make it to work. Whilst this is annoying (as we all share it) maybe the longer term affect on future generations is unknown. Perhaps our liberal usage of drugs inhibits our own bodies to deal with those bug(gers) longer term?

If Mr Office worker is ill he should just stay at home…

Police should use the Force

Labour seem to be interfering with everything at the moment. Maybe they don’t have enough to do? They’ve moved their dim spotlight on the Police.

Merging the police forces seems an expensive and fairly worthless exercise. Of course the government knows this which is why they’re offering the forces slush money to take up on the idea early.

Maybe there are deeper reasons for the government’s stance on this one. Perhaps having less forces will be easier when it comes to privatisation?

Google gets frisky with AOL

News is that Google might gobble up a piece of AOL pie. In some ways AOL and Google seem at opposite ends of the Internet world.

On one hand you have Google – a minimally styled, fast searching, well liked search engine. No bandwidth-sucking adverts.

On the other hand you have AOL – slow connection, slows down your computer, nearly impossible to remove, dodgy marketing. With plenty of adverts.

They say opposites attract but this is ridiculous…

Cameron sharking Lib Dems

The cheeky Tories are getting quite tactical under fresh management. They’ve set up a new website (libdems4cameron.com) to poach away fledging Liberal Democrat (LD) supporters. It’s quite a cunning plan – was this another trick from up David Davis’s sleeve?

LD supporters all over the country are now deleting their Internet Explorer history in an attempt to clear their minds of the guilt they feel; Trying to subdue interest in a political party that has the potential of actually getting into government is probably quite difficult for them.

Kennedy’s bad week just got worst.

£700m Bridge for Scotland

Scotland wants another crossing over the Firth of Forth (apparently the current bridge is getting rather busy). Friends of the Earth Scotland are naturally kicking up a fuss about environmental issues (see here). But more importantly who will pay for this new landmark?

No doubt Scotland will want the funds from the tired English taxpayer. Why can’t the Scottish pay for it themselves? They went on for years about getting some independence and their own parliament. Yet a part of my income tax still goes up north in supporting the chilly isles.

If they want to be so independent maybe they should spend £700 million on rebuilding Hadrian’s Wall…

Liberal Democrats job up for grabs

Charles Kennedy needs to get to grip with news that support is failing among his own flock. Realistically Kennedy will never be leader of the opposition let alone prime minister. Who wants a ginger Scott running the country? Surely Liberal Democrats (LDs) are panicking now – they thought they had a shot at being the opposition but David Cameron has changed all that.

If LDs are serious about being in government they need to follow the recent Conservative route of re-branding their party. Most importantly they need a dynamic young leader (not a manager) who isn’t ginger.

The Positive Iraqis

Iraqi opinion is positive according to the news here. But is the UK public tired of hearing about Iraq? If you watch the news for a few weeks you can’t help getting fatigued by the ongoing predicament. Sometimes it all seems their fault -why can’t they just stop the suicide bombings and give democracy a chance?

But is there such a thing as an Islamic democratic state? Or is this just Islamic rule by proxy? On the other hand does a Christian state actually exist? You might give the UK as an example. But what Christian based law in the UK there was is becoming ever diluted under multiculturalism, political correctness and especially the influences of Islam.

Apart from choosing government, part of true democracy is having the individual choice of choosing your religion. Realistically its doubtful Iraq will ever have this - at least not for a very long time. Could you imagine seeing lots of Methodist churches in Baghdad?

Ticket prices step over the line

Travelling by train in the UK is so expensive – why is this? Now ticket prices are set to increase by up to 9% (see here). How does this promote using Public Transport (PT) instead of using my car?

The nation is supposed to be increasingly utilising public transport and leaving the polluting 5-wheeled box at home. But what’s the point in using PT if it’s so expensive in the first place? Gordon Brown doesn’t actually want us to use PT too much as he’d obviously lose too much loot in petrol levy.

To give an idea of how expensive train travel is… the cost of an Oxford to Edinburgh train ticket (one way) can be as much as £143 (taken from here). In contrast you can get a 2 night break in Barcelona for £116 from lastminute.com. That includes flights and a hotel!

Stamp Duty Raised

The price of a first class stamp is rising by 2 pence to 32 pence. There has been uproar from watchdog (or bulldog?) Postcomm that such a hike is unjust and makes sending letters pricey.

But hang on a minute... As an experiment let’s give Nigel Stapleton (chairman of Postcomm) 32 pence, a pair of blue shorts and a letter and see how far he gets delivering it.

The Royal Mail (RM) letter postal service must surely represent the lowest-priced way to get a physical document across the country. Even if RM increased the cost of a stamp to 45p surely this wouldn’t be asking too much?

We can also mostly trust RM. How about the dodgy private postal company that threw all their post in a skip? (See here).

To keep the tight bastards happy(ish) perhaps the future of mail delivery is using variable rates. Sending post from London to London at 20 pence and London to Edinburgh at 50 pence? But complicating the system will only bring in other costs. Often simplicity is the best option.

Blair & Cameron’s lunch date

Many folk were tuning in to watch Prime Ministers question time today as David Cameron came out to play. In the beginning Cameron found so much in common with Tony Blair there could have been love all around us. If Cameron practices the new ‘Compassionate Conservatism’ religion on Blair he won’t get very far – let alone convert him!

But perhaps Cameron was intentionally charming Blair to maximise the impact of the punches he subsequently threw. And did Gordon Brown look a bit troubled? Brown is already on the phone - booking lessons at the 'Roger Moore school of Charisma'…

The Young Ones

David Cameron has won a landslide victory in the leadership battle (despite devious tricks from the other camp?)

The Conservatives are actually in such a favourable position now as the media coverage on the race has done them a great PR job (something they’ve been fantasising about for ages).

Using fresh faces Cameron could actually begin a re-branding exercise to appeal to the wider electorate. Voters are curious that there may be a viable alternative to Labour without returning those old Tory weirdo’s to power (you know the ones - balding with big glasses etc). Older Conservative faces must now take the back seat.

When Blair first entered office many folk were excited with the new fresh faced PM on the scene. But with time the colour has faded away. If Cameron makes it to Downing Street will he stay clear headed and honest? Or will he become a grey lying bastard like so many others? The truth is out there…

Road tolls hit new Peaks

Unbelievably the local county council are trying to start imposing congestion charges in the beautiful Peak District (see here). After the wallowing numbers of visitors during the Foot & Mouth crisis, the local authority is now complaining they have too many visitors.

Once again we see the Mr. Wicked Car-Owner will get shafted for using his transport - even after paying ridiculous petrol and road tax. Maybe Derbyshire and Oxfordshire’s planners should get together and twin The Peaks with Oxford City. Is there anywhere worst…?

Branson-pickled NTL?

Richard Branson has the miraculous touch – ‘every little thing he does is magic’. But can he do this with NTL? The news is that NTL and Virgin may be getting into bed together. What is this about? NTL craves for that Virgin image - the NTL brand has mostly been associated with poor customer service. As for Branson – he wants another pie for his finger.

Most folk using NTL will probably have ‘enjoyed’ the experience of calling their helpdesk - parked in the abyss of their telephone system for a few hours. And then when you get through to a humanoid its some YTS lad who doesn’t have a clue. Eventually when you’ve had enough and want to close the account it takes approx 10 months, a dozen letters and ultimately threats with Ofcom and the Telecoms Ombudsman.

Hopefully this won’t backfire and the NTL ‘virus’ infect the rest of Branson’s empire.

The Future’s dark; the Future’s the EU

Blair is now giving in to Brussels and may hand a few £billion of the UK rebate back; keeping sweet the legacy of his presidency of the EU.

Whilst I’m not xenophobic, I fail to see the point of the EU sometimes. It’s the simple things - like what is the point of paying UK farmers to grow nothing - and then purchasing and paying to transport the produce the UK needs from France? Why can’t we just buy from our own farmers? And it’s those annoying French lorry drivers that are always on strike and causing extra CO2 emissions by driving over in the first place!

Dangerous times could lay ahead for Britain. As the UK becomes more Service based and we manufacture & produce less we will come to rely on our neighbours even more. What happens if things go bitter? What if there is a Euro-war? What will the government have to offer hungry UK citizens in need in times of strife? Do we still have our own farmers? – “Oh, sorry, we don’t produce food anymore – but come and stay in one of our converted barn apartments...”.

Ice axe murders melting the age issue

The imprisonment of the 2 x Anthony Walker killers is welcome news. This case highlights the wider issue of what age courts can fix the blame. The killers in this case where 17 & 20 – more than old enough to know the results of their actions. But what if they had been 15?

Children’s punishment is becoming a tricky matter. Now children wear ASBOs like medals of honour – not exactly a deterrent!

Maybe the rule should be that if you’re not acting within the law - you’re not covered by the law. Criminals that use the law to their advantage really take the piss. How about the thief that robs a house in the night – he disturbs the house owner – and gets shot by the owner (ring any bells?). Next minute the thief’s in the courts prosecuting! Such a perverse world!