The recent publication of the wikileaks has highlighted the continuing old habits of the once communist world. Google was allegedly cyberattacked on the orders of a chinese leader because of a bad review, and Russia was described as a near mafia run state. Now for the first time since Nazi Germany a Nobel Peace Prize Winner is prevented from claiming their peace prize. Russia is named in the assasination of a dissent on the streets of London using a radioactive assasination weapon which saw radiation contaminating the UK Capital City. China's embracing of western values following the opening to west in 1976 left the Communist Party intact and the supression of human rights ongoing. China is now a major economic, political and miltary power. US & European Policy makers are today slipping into the same convienient double think which plagued the British in the 1930's in their disasterous appeasement of Nazi Germany. Surely Hitler could see the benefits of peace and prosperity as against war. Surely China will change? We offered up Hong Kong in 1997. Sat on our hands about Tibet since 1950. We have kept quiet about China's sponsorship of the genocidal regimes in Pol Pot's Cambodia and North Korea.
For a moment in 2000 it looked like the Bush Administration would stand up to China over the Hainan Incident and then happened 9/11.
For the last 10 years we have all focussed on the proxy issues whilst Russia and China have got away with murder (litterally!)
Winston Churchill described an appeaser as someone who feeds a crocodile in the hope they will be last meal.
The West ought to start asking who in the world shares our values, just as the ancient romans - where is the enemy?
Could we win a war against China and Russia if they combined to challenge the West. It is clear that ten years on - the challenge is coming , time to end the appeasement and face it down, while we still can.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Save money - Move the Capital from London
London is one of the most expensive cities in the developed world. The British crown owns hundreds of billions of the most valued real estate in the developed world and chooses to use this sometimes valuable, expensive and unsuitable property to carry out government. The hundreds of thousands of government paid employees are almost twice as expensive as their counterparts in other parts of the UK. Whilst parts of the UK such as the North East, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Yorkshire are heavily dependent on government employment, the cost of those employees are a fraction of the expensive equivilents in London. Rather than sacking government workers outrside London, we should sell the Trillion Dollar property portfolio, relocate the jobs to areas of deprivation and lost cost. There are many brilliant counter locations for the UK Capital City in the 21st Century - Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Leicester to name a few.
Time to turn Westminster into a tourist theme park and move the expense of government elsewhere. We could save the taxpayer a fortune and perhaps have some of things we want like full employment, free education and proper pensions.
Time to turn Westminster into a tourist theme park and move the expense of government elsewhere. We could save the taxpayer a fortune and perhaps have some of things we want like full employment, free education and proper pensions.
Time to end the Liberal Dole Office
With unemployment edging forwards, it is time to call a halt to waste of money which resides in the dole office. The Job Centre structure is essentially unchanged from the Labour Exchanges set up by the Asquith Liberal Government of 1904-15. These are sole destroying places, which sap the human spirit to the very marrow. Those who work there, are kept locked away from the general public, protected by an army of security guards. Those employers like myself, foolish enough to walk through the doors of this employment limbo thinking of recruiting are quickly ignored. The army of unemployed and some unemployable are left to rot.
Then where should the unemployed go to find work. The answer is simple - the workplace. All of the Job Centres should be closed immediately. Each UK Company should be allocated 1 unemployed person on secondment per 10 employees on the payroll. Then the unemployed are paid their benefits via the company payroll and get this provided they turn out for work at 9am as required in any normal job. No more humilation of the dole, no more day time TV and lie ins.
No longer the stigma of being unemployed, and useful on the job workplace training. This army of undervalued people can held businesses to create wealth and in time permanent employment for all. The saving of the wasted effort of the Job Centres can be used to help those who really need it.
Then where should the unemployed go to find work. The answer is simple - the workplace. All of the Job Centres should be closed immediately. Each UK Company should be allocated 1 unemployed person on secondment per 10 employees on the payroll. Then the unemployed are paid their benefits via the company payroll and get this provided they turn out for work at 9am as required in any normal job. No more humilation of the dole, no more day time TV and lie ins.
No longer the stigma of being unemployed, and useful on the job workplace training. This army of undervalued people can held businesses to create wealth and in time permanent employment for all. The saving of the wasted effort of the Job Centres can be used to help those who really need it.
The Future of the Coalition
May 2010 London
Liberals and conservatives come together to form a coalition in the national interest. A government with a strong majority to promote a strong economy with fairness as a core value. Back in May 1940 under the leadership of ex-Liberal Winston Churchill - Liberals last sat in the Cabinet working to national victory against Nazi Germany. This was a difficult choice for many Liberal Democrats especially for anti-tories like me who would rather have a formed a progressive rainbow coalition of the centre left. Yet the irresponsible Labour government who had squandered the money, allowed the bankers carte blanche and basically lost the plot couldn't wait to get out of power. Whilst Gordon Brown clung on, hoping for a realignment of politics in his direction, the revolving door of politics swung the other way. Now six months on, the feared "Greek or Irish" financial meltdown has been so far averted. Cuts have made the Liberal Democrats highly unpopular, especially the cuts like student fees which the Liberals opposed and had staged their credibility on. A bitter pill to swallow. The Liberal Democrat human shields, held political hostage by the Conservatives will stay so for the duration - at least five years. Yet Labour's partisan politicking will backfire in the long term, after this unexpectedly competent coalition experiment starts to tackle some of the long term thorny issues which have resisted the attempts of 40 years of single party remedy.
Just like the second world war coalition - a long haul, a bitter struggle but ultimate victory in the end.
Liberals and conservatives come together to form a coalition in the national interest. A government with a strong majority to promote a strong economy with fairness as a core value. Back in May 1940 under the leadership of ex-Liberal Winston Churchill - Liberals last sat in the Cabinet working to national victory against Nazi Germany. This was a difficult choice for many Liberal Democrats especially for anti-tories like me who would rather have a formed a progressive rainbow coalition of the centre left. Yet the irresponsible Labour government who had squandered the money, allowed the bankers carte blanche and basically lost the plot couldn't wait to get out of power. Whilst Gordon Brown clung on, hoping for a realignment of politics in his direction, the revolving door of politics swung the other way. Now six months on, the feared "Greek or Irish" financial meltdown has been so far averted. Cuts have made the Liberal Democrats highly unpopular, especially the cuts like student fees which the Liberals opposed and had staged their credibility on. A bitter pill to swallow. The Liberal Democrat human shields, held political hostage by the Conservatives will stay so for the duration - at least five years. Yet Labour's partisan politicking will backfire in the long term, after this unexpectedly competent coalition experiment starts to tackle some of the long term thorny issues which have resisted the attempts of 40 years of single party remedy.
Just like the second world war coalition - a long haul, a bitter struggle but ultimate victory in the end.
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