Yes, you read that correctly, the Credit Crunch does have an upside. The shortage of dosh is forcing the government to back down down from its ambitious spending plans and in particular, it desire to create yet another database to monitor all our emails, phone calls and faxes, This is allegedly because its not popular but in fact, its more likely to be because it can no longer afford it. Even the most optimistic forecasts, are saying we are now in such deep financial doo doo that we cannot hope to clear it till at least 2032 and that is thought to be ambitious by those who study these things. That of course assumes that nothing else goes wrong with our economy such as another oil price hike, (an unheard of possibility) or maybe even a pandemic flu virus ?
In The Independent today they are also splashing a scoop (although even the Mail seems to be speculating about it as well ) about the Gov pulling out of the entire ID cards and data base fiasco. Well in view of the fact that I and everyone with even a moderate handful of braincells can tell you that ID Cards dont prevent fraud or terrorism and cost a bloody fortune then this could be the first good and practical idea that this government has had for a very long time. My Doctor is far from impressed by the proposed, Medical database and even my american friends are amazed at the audacity of a Government that wants to take the finger prints of schoolkids and even put fluoride in the primary school milk without anyones wish or permission. As my friend from Austin, Texas put it. "In some ways, Britain is even further down the road to fascism than the USA." But following the money as our cousins across the pond say, all this could now be in jeopardy. I remember when millions of £.s was a lot of money but over the 8Os it became Billions that was the impressive word, now its Trillions and somehow, (maybe i have just got a bit blasee about it) even Trillions doesnt seem to impress. Maybe its because Trillions of Debt doesnt seem to have the gloss that a similar figure in black would have.
We should all hope now that that the ISPs such as BT, Virgin, et al will tell the government that they dont want to do Phone and Email snooping on their behalf and why dont you just bugger off. Well, the way poor old Gordy is going on, he may soon have to do just that. Clearly Tony Bliar, did prepare a Toxic cocktail for Gordon to drink and in no way could it be described as the elixir of life but possibly the opposite.
Personally, I am hoping that another toxic cocktail (fluoridated water) will also be abandoned, for like ID cards its a great deal of money to spend on something that just doesn't work and is very unpopular and even dangerous. I dont distrust Brown the way I did Blair and hes probably a sincere man but it would seem that the pundits are right and Brown was not the financial wiz at the treasury that he was reckoned to be and as he stumbles from one blunder to the next either with policies or strategies, he's not really up to it as Prime Minister. When he listens and confers with his colleagues its not to bad but when he cuts loose on You Tube he not only makes a bit of fool of himself but also infuriates those who are supposed to be his boys and girls.
Obviously Brown is not responsible for the world wide financial collapse, he would need to be a genius to achieve that but we do seem to be in a bigger mess than any other European country and our particular balls up does seem to closely resemble that of the USA. This is what you get when you hold on to the coat tails of W Bush and allow anything so long as it fills the gap and looks profitable whether political or monetary and, lets face it, hanging on to Tonys' coat tails was as close as you get to holding on to Bush without an actual three point landing.
We are now approaching the County and more importantly, the European Elections. The word on the street is that the Labour vote is going to hit the wall and little wonder with the reputation they have aquired on democratic issues, or at least the lack of them. The Tories are sure to take advantage of this and who can blame them. The most worrying thing though is that someone like Nick Griffen, a BNP candidate might gain a seat which will alarm many. As a believer in democracy, i still believe that PR is a better voting system than firs to the trough or whatever they currently call our system. True occasionally parties like the BNP can get seats but its important that our system actually reflects the realist out there. And anyway, most of the BNP councillors i have seen soon either resign or get kicked out when the electorate see how incompetent they really are and return to the main party fold. If Brown wants to win some votes then dumping wastefull ID and Fluoridation schemes and actually listening to people, Obama style might help him avoid total collapse.
In The Independent today they are also splashing a scoop (although even the Mail seems to be speculating about it as well ) about the Gov pulling out of the entire ID cards and data base fiasco. Well in view of the fact that I and everyone with even a moderate handful of braincells can tell you that ID Cards dont prevent fraud or terrorism and cost a bloody fortune then this could be the first good and practical idea that this government has had for a very long time. My Doctor is far from impressed by the proposed, Medical database and even my american friends are amazed at the audacity of a Government that wants to take the finger prints of schoolkids and even put fluoride in the primary school milk without anyones wish or permission. As my friend from Austin, Texas put it. "In some ways, Britain is even further down the road to fascism than the USA." But following the money as our cousins across the pond say, all this could now be in jeopardy. I remember when millions of £.s was a lot of money but over the 8Os it became Billions that was the impressive word, now its Trillions and somehow, (maybe i have just got a bit blasee about it) even Trillions doesnt seem to impress. Maybe its because Trillions of Debt doesnt seem to have the gloss that a similar figure in black would have.
We should all hope now that that the ISPs such as BT, Virgin, et al will tell the government that they dont want to do Phone and Email snooping on their behalf and why dont you just bugger off. Well, the way poor old Gordy is going on, he may soon have to do just that. Clearly Tony Bliar, did prepare a Toxic cocktail for Gordon to drink and in no way could it be described as the elixir of life but possibly the opposite.
Personally, I am hoping that another toxic cocktail (fluoridated water) will also be abandoned, for like ID cards its a great deal of money to spend on something that just doesn't work and is very unpopular and even dangerous. I dont distrust Brown the way I did Blair and hes probably a sincere man but it would seem that the pundits are right and Brown was not the financial wiz at the treasury that he was reckoned to be and as he stumbles from one blunder to the next either with policies or strategies, he's not really up to it as Prime Minister. When he listens and confers with his colleagues its not to bad but when he cuts loose on You Tube he not only makes a bit of fool of himself but also infuriates those who are supposed to be his boys and girls.
Obviously Brown is not responsible for the world wide financial collapse, he would need to be a genius to achieve that but we do seem to be in a bigger mess than any other European country and our particular balls up does seem to closely resemble that of the USA. This is what you get when you hold on to the coat tails of W Bush and allow anything so long as it fills the gap and looks profitable whether political or monetary and, lets face it, hanging on to Tonys' coat tails was as close as you get to holding on to Bush without an actual three point landing.
We are now approaching the County and more importantly, the European Elections. The word on the street is that the Labour vote is going to hit the wall and little wonder with the reputation they have aquired on democratic issues, or at least the lack of them. The Tories are sure to take advantage of this and who can blame them. The most worrying thing though is that someone like Nick Griffen, a BNP candidate might gain a seat which will alarm many. As a believer in democracy, i still believe that PR is a better voting system than firs to the trough or whatever they currently call our system. True occasionally parties like the BNP can get seats but its important that our system actually reflects the realist out there. And anyway, most of the BNP councillors i have seen soon either resign or get kicked out when the electorate see how incompetent they really are and return to the main party fold. If Brown wants to win some votes then dumping wastefull ID and Fluoridation schemes and actually listening to people, Obama style might help him avoid total collapse.
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