The United Kingdom is dead, killed by the government.

The recent report by the Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan into State collusion with loyalist paramilitary death squads should render the UK/Britain unworkable.

Why? Because this report demonstrates that the UK government has a Saddam Hussein style fondness for crushing dissent, and by using the ultimate sanction - murder. On the basis of one informant alone there are definite links to 10 murders. And strong pointers to 5 more. And that's not counting the other crimes included in the report : Armed robbery, bombings (that's right folks, terrorism) and numerous other activities. The police were also involved in the systematic, procedural destruction of evidence, meaning the true scale of the collusion will never be known.

When a government is involved in killing it's own subjects, it renders itself obsolete. It gives itself pariah status and can never again be relied on unless the entire apparatus of government is dismantled and started afresh. This can only happen with the breakup of the "United" Kingdom. Only the repeal of the Act of Settlement (1701) and Acts of Union (1707) and the return of independent governance to Scotland (and possibly the birth of a new nation state in Northern Ireland?) will begin to heal these sores.

I also hold out the forlorn hope that the question of prosecution (on war crimes charges?) would be pursued. Starting with Mrs Thatcher and finishing with arch hawk Blair. Justice is justice and must be seen to be served equally amongst our society.

Why you might ask do I want prosecutions at the top end? Because the government is, ultimately, responsible for the police services and provision of such. The government isn't just the nominal head of the police, but is responsible for the laws that are policed and indeed the employment of each and every police officer. We should remember that the buck stops with them. The UK government knew for years that the RUC/PNSI was corrupt yet did nothing. In fact, by the government allowing the police service to continue unaltered it actually gave tacit approval to them. Years of intransigence and failure to act on the problem we all knew existed cost people their lives. And allowed the police service to continue as a force for evil, killing the tax payers that funded them.

The US Senate committee have asked the UK to to host a full independent inquiry into the murder of Pat Finucane. That should set the cat amongst the pigeons - Although the US are hardly a paragon of virtue on the subject of human rights.

Maybe it's not so much of a worry though - if we continue our slide into totalitarian rule, our right to dissent will be removed anyway and state sponsored killing will become the norm throughout the "UK".

A portent from 1989

I don't update this page as often as I'd like. I've been very busy lately meaning I've shown it less attention than it's due, and moreover I've neglected the people who have been good enough to post comments. I'll try and do better. In the interim, here's some food for thought. In 1989 a film called Terminal City Ricochet was released. The soundtrack contained a song by Keith LeBlanc and Jello Biafra. The lyrics make interesting, and frightening reading. I think we'll all be able to recognise that the UK has came to resemble the society the song refers too. The words are supposed to be those of a radio broadcast announcement. Here it is :

A Message From Our Sponsor

We Interupt This Program With A Special Bulletin ...
This territory is now under Martial Law ...
All Constitutional rights have been suspended ...
Stay in your homes ...
Do not attempt to contact loved ones, insurance agents, or attorneys ...
Shut Up! ...
Do not attempt to think or depression may occur ...
Stay in your homes! ...
Curfew is at 7 p.m. sharp, after work ...

Anyone caught outside the gates of their subdivision zones after curfew will be shot ...
Remain calm! ...
Do not panic! ...
Your Neighbourhood Watch officer will be by to collect urine samples in the morning ...
Anyone interfering with the collection of urine samples will be Shot!

Houses will be inspected for trace elements at noon ...
Anyone failing to display the mandatory, black velvet, Mexican-style painting of President Quayle on their living room wall ...
will be Shot!

Under provisions of Zero Tolerance and the Child Protection and Obscenity Enforcement Act all property and life savings of suspected drug users and distributors of pornography will be seized and sold, prior to trial ...
Cameras and surveillance equipment will be placed on all lamp posts and street lights ...
Anyone who fails to attend prescribed worship services on Sunday will be promptly arrested and dispatched to a re-education resort ...
Stay in your homes! ...
Remain calm! ...
The number 1 enemy of progress is questions! ...
National security is more important than individual rights! ...
Sports broadcasts will proceed as scheduled ...
No more than 2 people may gather anywhere without permission ...
Use only the drugs prescribed by your boss or your supervisor ...
Shut up! ...
Be Happy! ...
Obey all orders without question!

SHUT UP! ...
Consume! ...
The comfort you've demanded is now mandatory! ...
At last, everything is done for you!

The end of the world as we know it.

Today the government announced plans to fit every home in the UK with cameras and microphones so that behaviour within the family home can be "effectively policed". A secondary plank to this legislation will be the automatic issuing of ASBO's to any family or individual that social services deems to be abnormal.

Sounds far fetched doesn't it? Except we're not that far away from it. The UK's Information commissioner, Richard Thomas has warned that we are "Sleepwalking into a surviellance society". He also said he did not want to sound "paranoid" but pointed to General Franco's Spain and Communist Eastern Europe as examples of what can happen when a government gets too powerful and has too much information on its citizens.

Britain has 20% of the worlds total CCTV cameras! 20%! That's one camera for every 14 people. Add to this the camera monitoring number plates, the shop checkouts that monitor your spending and you can see we are indeed not far off from the camera's in the home eventuality. Orwells 1984 has never been a more serious threat/reality. And it's something we must fight. We must have freedom, not the illusion of freedom.

The Police have asked the government to make flag burning illegal. For what? Don't we have enough laws? Enough rules and regulations? Can't people see that the more you lock people down the more they kick back? Have we learned nothing in the last 20 years when society has been all but destroyed and people can live their lives and simple black and white?

More insidious still was the small print - that Police want to make it illegal to cover your face during a march/protest/whatever.

Why is this worrying? Put simply, the most basic foundation of our legal system - innocent until proven guilty, will be removed. This will be replaced with the assumption that you are about to commit an offence and you will be treated as such. The balance of power will have shifted from us electing the government with the police here to protect and serve our rights, tot he government controlling us and the police ensuring our compliance with government diktats.

We are reaching a turning point. Which way will you turn?

The fallacy of capitalism

Indulge yourself in any discussion with a proponent of free market economics and capitalism and invariably the argument will come to this - you will be asked "OK, you're an idealist, socialism and communism doesn't work. Show me a country where socialism has succeeded". The the capitalist then sits back as you try to justify various political failures (Cuba excepted, which is a decent and workable example).

Ultimately however, the argument is a flawed one. And for two reasons. Firstly, the judgement criteria. Capitalism judges success by material gains and market economics ("look at inflation!" for instance). If you don't value market economics, how can they be a negative factor? I don't mean by this that a country can ignore "the economy", morethat we have to accept that the current thinking on economies is entirely free market oriented and as such solcialism can never succeed. The economy is a structure invented by mankind to support money, itself a false construct. When systems are set up the invariably favour a certain method. Our economic thinking is based not on trade and shared wealth, it's rather based with making profit, with exploitation. Rather, it would be more appropriate to ask questions like "What system values humans more?", "What system represents the people", "What system values mankind and the environment more than profit".

The second plank of this is more simplistic. My answer to the question is this "Show me a capitalist system that has worked!". Loaded questions work both ways, and my criteria is somewhat different to that of the capitalist. Do we value people in this country? In the US? When hurricane Katrina hit the US, why were the poor hardest hit? Why in this country are people less important than corporations? Why can human lives be wrecked when profitable companies decide that money is is more important than workforce? If these are signs of a successful society and political system then it's not one I wish to be associated with.

Unless I'm very much mistaken we are at the vanguard of wastefulness and greed. We are abusing the earth as a matter of course, we abuse animals, torture them before killing them in any inhumane way we like to maximise throughput, we abuse our fellow humans in the name of profit. Is this really what we regard as success?

When politicians promise the earth

You can guarantee they are pandering to your greed, not the greater good.

David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative and Unionist party (the Tories to you and I) has promised increased spending on public services and tax cuts! Sounds good, eh? until you examine the small print. The weasel words sound great but the substance is somewhat flawed. Take in less but spend more? It doesn't work. He talks about "sharing the wealth" - If he was sincere he would address the fact that now less than 7% of the population control over 84% of the wealth. He would be talking of tax increases on the most wealthy and tax relief for the poorest.

If he believed in sharing the wealth...truly believed it he would dismantle the current state structures, would impose a maximum wage and would bring many privatised services back under the control of the state. After all, how does Centrica making a profit help share the wealth between state and citizens? How does Thames water making massive profits whilst leaking away a third of our water and making massive redundancies share the wealth? Our employment laws enslave our workers. Our pensions impoverish them and our laws imprison them.

On the bright side, it's not difficult to see through Camerons prostituting himself for votes. His policies change with the weather, constantly shifting in a never ending quest to attract voters. If the Labour party weren't so institutionaly corrupt it would actually be funny. Look out any day now for the bold David to promise "each and every voter in the country one million dollars" if the Tories are elected. It's the level of desperation they are reaching. He's becoming a caricature - like Doctor Evil in Austin Powers, a guy who has utterly lost the plot in a quest for power and the more he wants power the more ridiculous he becomes.

If you want to examine further just exactly how hypocritical both of our main parties are, examine their environmental policies. You'll hear phrases like "tax motorists", "carbon trading" and a whole host of buzz words. Look more closely - what cars do David Cameron, Tony Blair, Prescott etc drive? Do they drive cars that reflect the fact there are typically only two people in them? Or even big cars with low emissions? Hybrids perhaps? Nope! Take a look for your self. You'll find that "wealth sharing" actually meants nothing more "What's yours is mine, and what's mine is mine" One rule for you, one for them. Democracy? Equality? Liberty? Only if you're in government, royalty or super rich.

Reducing congestion in the Big Brother state

The UK Government continues its march toward totalitarianism.

A newly leaked report shows the Labour Government are considering a new "variable road pricing" scheme. What's wrong with that, I hear you ask? Well, the scheme involves fitting every car with a GPS module so our every movement is tracked. The idea being that we would receive a bill at the end of each month.

To cut a long story short - The government plans to monitor your every move!
Every car journey will be logged, viewed and stored. There will be no escape - except for criminals. That's right, criminals will subvert the system, whilst you and I, ordinary law abiding citizens will be studied. Of course the Government will say there will be checks and balances. That the information will be used only for billing purposes. For how long? The scope for abuse is terrifying.

The congestion charge cameras in London are regularly switched to form a network of "total coverage" CCTV monitors. If you take part in a protest march, it's likely your image will be scrutinized by the security services in this country, and possibly by those in other countries also.

Why should we be worried? If you're not breaking the law you have nothing to fear, right? Wrong. There was a news report today outlining that musicians, lawyers and politicians have all had phone conversations monitored. None of these people were guilty of any offence. Likewise, with this monitoring scheme, everyone should fear its misuse. History has shown that when governments get the opportunity to abuse power they invariably do. It's not unique to this government, but the new powers very well may be. We are witnessing the end of democracy. The government no longer represent the people, the powerbase is shifting. The people now serve the government.

We are moving into a time where our every movement will be monitored.

If the government were serious about reducing congestion and pollution, and not using this as a subterfuge to introduce a guilty until proven innocent system I have a number of suggestions.

1. Get a public transport system implemented! The deregulated transport services don't serve the people, they serve the shareholders. Train services say if lines get more busy a "congestion charge" will be introduced. The government needs to make public transport attractive. The easiest way of doing this is to subsidise the services. Make the cheap! The bigest ever rise in public transport usage was in the 1980's in London when the City council introduced massive subsidies. People flocked to the services as the were very cheap, relatively reliable and a viable alternative to the car. It became more attractive to use the bus and train! No more cutbacks. No more cancelled services. Give the bus run back to schools, give the bus routes to the people. Give the right prices and everyone will use them.

2. Introduce a fairer road tax system that doesn't penalise the poorest much more then the wealthy. Licence 4x4 vehicles (typically the worst pollution offenders) in the same way as red diesel! That is, for legitimate agricultural/business use. If someone has a need they can use. If there is no need? Tax them to the heavens. Likewise with huge inefficient "luxury" cars. If you pollute, you pay. Promote cleaner burning more efficient cars by reducing the tax burden.

3. Move heavy vehicles off the road. Transport more freight by rail. The rail network is perfect for freight movement.

4. Start licencing more electric trains, moving away from diesel locomotives. The government have not funded the conversion of one single rail track to electricity since coming into power. Good environmental credentials, huh?

5. Stop scaring parents with stories of child abductions. Why else do you think so many parents drive their kids to school now? It's because years of media stories have broken the nerve of parents. Children don't get abducted very often, in fact a child is more likely to contract HIV than be abducted!

6. End company car schemes. Stop incentivising car journeys and making cars status symbols. They are not symbols of achievement, they are transport.

Will any of the above happen? Yes. The GPS system will happen unless we stop it. unless we take power back and deliver this government a bloody nose at the ballot box. The GPS system will be the most complex of all the suggestions, the most intrusive, the most dangerous. But it will happen. Why?

The Government has an end game of monitoring our every move. If they can make corporate friends like Capita or Jarvis multi millions at the same time, what's not to like?

You have been warned

.

If political parties can't manage their own finances...

...Why do we entrust them with the nations?

The Labour Party are £27m in debt. The Tories are reported to be in similar trouble. And these are the parties that have shaped the political landscape of this country over the past 30 years.

Lets think about that for a second. Is it really a surprise that the NHS is struggling? Is it really a surprise that pension funds are are poorly administered? When a political party cannot run its own finances in a prudent and sustainable way, why should we expect them to run the Country in a more efficient manner?

I used to wonder why the Government had sold our interests out to corporations. I used to wonder why they so abused the democratic process, clearly acting against the people who gave them the mandate to govern. In fact the answer is obvious. Money. These parties prostitute themselves to further their own existance. Large corporate donors act as a prosthesis, providing funding for the parties to continue their spendthrift ways without ever having to worry about operating within a budget or balancing the books. Like the spoilt child, The Labour Party and The Conservative Party have never been told no.

To cover for the negligence and lack of care in the administration of Government funds, who will be expected to pay? You and I. We're being asked for more and more and less and less. Every year the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The burdens on the rich fall whilst the general populace have to sacrifice more of their disposable income. Remember the good old days? Before student loans? Before tuition fees? Health care will be next.

I don't mind higher taxes. In fact, when you think of it rationaly, higher taxes are a situation where everyone can be a winner. But we, the people, can only win when the Government acts in our interests. I have no interest in paying more taxes to help Rupert Murdoch or Tesco.

The aim of this blog is to highlight some of the glaring problems in our society. And hopefully to encourage any readers to do something about it.

We have the solution! There are better political parties out there - The SNP, the SSP (although the recent in fighting does them few favours), the Green party and the Liberal Democrats. I'm not a fan of all of these parties, but they are all a step up from the moral bankruptcy of the two main parties.