Thursday, October 20, 2011

Dale Farm

Fascists take over Basildon


There are some notable flaws in the English character. For one thing, all Englishmen love a “fiddle”. If they can see a way to make a few bucks without the tax-man knowing, they are definitely up for it. Every time. Fiddling the system is a “victim-less crime” and the English view it as almost a national past-time.


Perversely, they are not so eager to view anyone else's fiddle as victim-less. The papers are usually full of stories about how someone has diddled the authorities and got caught. They receive no sympathy. So, cheating the government whey you do it is good, when someone else does it - it's bad.


Odd.


So, we come to the Dale Farm saga. (Google it to get the details – it's too tedious to recount) The very odd thing about Dale Farm is that it is a victim-less “crime” - yet seemingly the whole nation is united in condemning the travellers who have (horror of horrors) simply fallen foul of the draconian planning process.


The sanctimonious rabble who keep banging on about the law is the law are not only hypocrites (witness the penchant MP's have for fiddling their expenses) but also fascists worthy of a place in the Adolf Hitler Movement for the Elimination of Gypsies and Other Undesirables, and we know where that leads.


Before you conclude that I'm exaggerating or have lost my marbles, let us examine the facts.


Time to check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Farm


It should not take too long to realise that the travellers have made a lot of mistakes, yet that pales in comparison to the gormless idiots who are currently running Basildon Council. What is clear is that the idea that Dale Farm is or ever was green belt land is ridiculous. It used to be a scrap yard!


The only reason this has become an issue is because the people who live near the site don't like it. They have hi-jacked Basildon Council and put a bunch of little Adolfs in control whose only mandate is to shift some of the travellers no matter what, no matter how costly and no matter if common sense has to be sacrificed on the altar of bigotry.


And when they have finished, what will have been accomplished? The original site, which does have planning permission will remain. The hard standing and fences on the “illegal” bit will stay. Some of the caravans and structures on the “illegal” bit will also stay. Some of the travellers will have to leave, but the local councils will not provide suitable sites for them to go to.


Result? More agro in more places.


The government should have told Basildon to grant planning permission retrospectively to the site. It's done all the time!


End of problem and 18 million pounds saved.


The rate-payers of Basildon are getting just what they deserve, The travellers are not.

Friday, October 07, 2011

The Better Angels of Our Nature

Lincoln compromised?


Abraham Lincoln appealed to the better angels of our nature - attempting to persuade the South not to secede from the Union. It was in vain; though, perhaps even Lincoln could not foresee the four year nightmare that ensued.


Lincoln's response was, eventually, to free the slaves and seek to form that “more perfect union” as promised in the Preamble to the Constitution. Had he lived he may have succeeded. Without him, we got a century of discrimination and Jim Crow.


When we seek to imbue foreigners, other races, other religions and other creeds with demonic attributes, we are guilty of that most obvious of sins – the sin of self-righteousness.


Which brings me neatly to the UK Border Agency – an institution which would not have been out of place set up during the Spanish Inquisition or purposed by the state legislature of post-bellum Alabama.


A brief Wikipedia:


The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is the border control body of the United Kingdom (UK) government and part of the Home Office. It was formed on 1 April 2008 by a merger of the Border and Immigration Agency (BIA), UK visas and the Detection functions of HM Revenue and Customs. The decision to create a single border control organisation was taken following a Cabinet Office report.[1] The agency is divided into three broad command structures, each under the management of a senior director:


* external controls including visa issue in overseas posts

* borders, including passport and customs controls

* internal immigration controls including asylum, management of applications for further stay and enforcement.


Its head office is 2 Marsham Street, London. In 2011, the Chief Executive is Rob Whiteman.


The agency has come under formal criticism from the Parliamentary Ombudsman for consistently poor service, a backlog of hundreds of thousands of cases, and a large and increasing number of complaints.[2] In the first nine months of 2009-10, 97% of investigations reported by the Ombudsman resulted in a complaint against the agency being upheld.[3]


Whilst it is popular to blame the Border Agency for all sorts of problems it is important to remember that it is an organ of the government to whom all cock-ups are to be ultimately attributed.


Therein lies the real problem. The government is obsessed with and committed to pandering to the worst angels of our nature – not the best. Grab a Tory from the conference with any force, shake it and out will fall a True Blue Little Englander filled with True Brit. In other words, a bigoted fascist is semi-disguise.


Why should this be so? Simple, most Tories realise that the great British public are revolutionary fascists at heart and are petrified that they will desert en masse to the National Front. So, they ritually abuse immigration and wreak havoc with any rational discussion of the question.


Meanwhile, the neo-fascist voters are massaged with unattainable goals and half-truths in order to convince them that something is being done. Simples.


Without the better angles of our nature we are left to the sins of our fathers. Lincoln knew this and knew that the only sensible course was to confront ignorance and prejudice head on.


Would that the Tories had the same type of leader.


If wishes were horses ….