FMQs 7 October 2010

This week's First Minister's Questions is over at Munguin's Republic.  I thought the FM was in fine form.

The Afghan War - A Different Perspective

Remember the commitment UK politicians gave at the Kyoto summit, to save millions of tons of CO2? This subsequently shackled British industry and commerce to prohibitively expensive ‘alternative energy’ sources, with pay-back periods far in excess of their life expectancy.  

The illogical schemes where individuals are encouraged to set up wind turbines to generate minute and intermittent quantities of power, which our power-generating companies are forced to buy at 3 x the cost they can reliably produce themselves. The objective being for those individuals to make enormous profits  save a few kg of CO2 per week.

Well here’s a suggestion that SR’s readers may wish our government to consider:

Withdraw from Afghanistan. Immediately.

The CO2 savings will be enormous. 

Thousands of troops, contractors and equipment constantly flown forwards and backwards nearly halfway across the world.

Millions of miles driven unnecessarily across inhospitable country where a vehicle’s mpg plummets to single figures. This is not just a single vehicle – to get one person from A to B usually involves a whole convoy.

Then, there’s all the CO2 generated, manufacturing the equipment that’s air freighted to the country. Most then has to be written off, because many of the locals simply blow it up. 

Probably though, the greatest production of CO2 is caused by all the bombs & bullets used. CO2 produced from the manufacture of millions of rounds of ammunition, and thousands of tons of ordnance. 

Added to which, is all that CO2 released from the propellants & explosives themselves, at detonation.  Consider for example, the simple nitroglycerin reaction C3H5(NO3)3 → 3CO2 + 2.5H2O + 1.5N2 + 0.25O2; or, for PETN  the reaction equation is C(CH2ONO2)4 → 2CO + 4H2O + 3CO2 + 2N2. 

Huge amounts of CO2 are also produced from the detonation of a single thermobaric "fuel-air bomb".

Contributed by co-author Joe Public

Today's Non-Story

Quite a handsome looking building isn't it?  This former police station, in Leytonstone, east London, is a listed building which has been boarded up for three years.  It is now on the market for £800,000 and the estate agents expect it to sell for more than £1 million.  The deadline for sealed bids is tomorrow.

However, now the sale can't go ahead.  About 20 unemployed squatters and their dogs have moved into the derelict three-storey building last week and changed the locks.  They told local shopkeepers they plan to start up a community centre and provide shelter for the homeless.

A cafe owner is furious at the waste of police funds.  He said: "The police moved to a new station, which is rented, in the town centre.  Every day they are losing money on this.  It is ridiculous."

Will anyone be held responsible for allowing a building to sit empty for three years?  Surely the police, of all people, should have been alert to the possibility of squatters. Then again, it's not their own money they're losing, so what does it matter.

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Cameron's Disrespect Agenda

In his conference speech, David Cameron said the decision to release the only man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing "undermined" the UK's global standing.  It was "wrong" and "nothing like that must ever happen again" he insisted.

The release of al-Megrahi has nothing whatsoever to do with David Cameron or the Westminster  Government.  The matter was dealt with by Scots law which is completely outwith Westminster control.

Of course Mr Cameron was playing to the gallery.  A gallery probably minus two tories.  One, the tory candidate for Glasgow Maryhill and Springburn, Ivor Tiefenbrun, resigned after it was reported he accused the Scots of "being so thick for hating Margaret Thatcher".  The second, the candidate for Clydesdale, Colin McGavigan, posted on Twitter 'kids in care: why do the carers look like the great unwashed?  They're supposed to be carers not warders.'  The comments were made in response to a BBC documentary broadcast on Tuesday night, focusing on children in care.

Has Mr McGavigan resigned?  No.  The Scottish tories are set to allow him to continue as the party's Clydesdale candidate on the grounds that they believe he has no case to answer.

The fashion seems to be for Scots-bashing at the moment, but that doesn't concern me in the least.  What does concern me is Cameron's lack of knowledge concerning the al-Megrahi release. He could do worse than read this.

As for the UK's global standing: the al-Megrahi issue fades into insignificance when Westminster leaders have taken us into two unnecessary wars, reduced education to a farcical level, (the ex blogger 'To Miss With Love'), and allowed banks to run riot with our savings - just a few of the actions which certainly do affect the UK's global standing.

Those Were the Days

A wee break from politics, when life was simple and children were well educated regardless of their parents circumstances.

Postcards From the Future

Postcards from the Future

Today the Telegraph is promoting illustrators' images of how London could be affected by climate change.  (The images are not downloadable, hence the link).

Hasn't it occurred to any of these experts that this could the be result of building on a flood plain?

More propaganda.

Revolving Fashion

The bowler hat is back in fashion.  The newspapers are calling it 'quintessentially British' but I would argue the bowler is very much a fashion icon of the English.

It wasn't until I visited England I ever saw one because most Scotsmen wore a soft hat when I was young, then they disappeared from the well-dressed Scotsman's wardrobe.

Their sudden comeback has nothing to do with Austin Reed stocking them again for the first time in 12 years to celebrate the company's 110th anniversary of course.

I rather like the bowler-hatted look but it had to be accompanied by the perfectly rolled umbrella and leather briefcase. If you'd like to have a try of the red one it's a snip, from Christys' London Hat company, at £263.00.  The grey soft wool hat is a bargain at £30 from here.

Quite fancy the red one myself.  They were all the rage for women back in the late 60s/early 70s, mainly because they seemed to suit all face shapes.

Labour Pleads for Tax Increases

What is Iain Gray up to now?  He's claiming that the current council tax freeze - which has saved the average householder £200 - is 'unsustainable' and he wants local authorities to be able to hike bills to maintain frontline services.

Although the SNP discarded their Local Income Tax plans in 2009, John Swinney has ensured the council tax freeze has continued for the past 3 years and hopes it will for 2011.

Iain Gray professes: " Many people feel continuing the freeze at the expense of education services is not a price worth paying".  Where are these people Mr Gray?  Roll them out, let's have a look at who they are.

Is this Iain Gray's attempt to publicise the fact that Labour now have a working group looking at council tax which he expects to back some form of property-based tax or is it an attempt by Labour to discover just how stupid their supporters really are?

Nobody, if given a choice, would vote for an increase in taxes.  Scottish labour don't quite understand that.

Mr Gray ought to be spending more time sorting out the labour councillors at South Lanarkshire Council.  They want rid of senior staff and don't seem to have read their own rule book.   

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Eco Driver

Dizzy had an interesting post yesterday explaining about the Government's transparency regarding energy use at various premises.

Following 3 of his links to Department for Transport, DFID and The Home Office an interesting fact is the variation in Gas Prices - the DoT claim they pay 1.5p/kWh; DFID claim they pay 1.4 p/kWh; yet the Home Office state they pay 4p/kWh, 2.8 times the DFID price.

The first two gas prices seem very low. Although I wonder if those two lower prices include the "Climate Change Levy", which at 0.15 p/kWh, its omission would not account for the difference. CCL is the tax consumers have to pay on top of their fuel cost.

Because they're all 'Government' departments, they should in theory be on the same negotiated multi-premises Gas Supply Agreement, which would apply a uniform (or near-uniform) p/kWh for all premises.  

So it seems transparency makes cock-ups (or misinformation) and poor-negotiating visible to all.

contributed by Joe Public

'Coolest Environmental Advertising'

They do like advertisements which threaten children in horrible ways don't they?  They think it's cool.  I think it's chilling.  They call this poster the 'Coolest Environmental Advertising'.

This is a poster used by ACT-Responsible at an exhibition in Cannes in 2009.  These people will stop at nothing for their cause.  Do they honestly think using children in this way encourages adults to consider their views?  The only views I consider is how dangerous these people are to the future of society.

Thanks to Edward for bringing this to my attention.

Has George Osborne Gone Far Enough?

Now we know.  The coalition government is going to stop child benefit for any family in which one parent is a higher rate tax payer.  That means that a family with one parent earning £44,000 or more will be worse off by £1.055.60 a year for their first child and £696.80 for others, (£20.30 and £13.40 respectively a week).

Because of the anomalies involved there has been much talk about 'loss of income' and the effect this will have upon the Iain Duncan Smith agenda of helping families.

Can child benefit be considered a 'loss of income'?

The Family Allowance was introduced in 1945 and was fully replaced by Child Benefit in 1979. Initially there was no allowance for the first child and it was only given to the second and subsequent children.  As we know this has been amended over the years and of 15 countries studied, the UK is unique in paying a premium for the first child.  Four of the countries, including the USA, do not have universal Child Benefit although the USA provides comparatively high levels of assistance to low income families.  Norway, on the other hand, represents the reverse of this position with high levels of support and low levels of means-tested support.

Just over half (55%) of children eligible are first children for whom the higher benefit is paid and the government is paying benefit for 12.7 million children. (1996 figures).
The whole idea of George Osborne's new policy is to save money.  Wouldn't it have been fairer to abolish the higher payment for the first child and slightly raise the payment for all children?

To exclude those who earn over £44,000 creates many anomalies as other commentators have stated today.

Let us remember Beveridge's arguments in favour of family allowances.  They are just as relevant today in many ways as they were in 1945, although I'm sure Beveridge never dreamt that the UK would be paying for the children of other EU countries - most of whom have never set foot in Britain - if a parent decides to come here.

It is unreasonable to seek to guarantee a subsistence level income during periods of

unemployment or disability without also ensuring sufficient income during periods of

earning. In spite of wage increases, unemployment, disability and large families were

the main indicators of poverty, the last of these because wages do not reflect the size

of an earner’s family.

It is dangerous to allow benefit during unemployment or disability to exceed earnings

during work. The gap between income during earning and during interruption of

earning cannot be kept large for people with large families “except either by making

their benefit in unemployment and disability inadequate, or by giving allowances for

children in time of earning and non-earning alike.”

Children’s allowances can help to restore the birth rate and act as a signal of the

national interest in children. “Children’s allowances should be regarded both as a

help to parents in meeting their responsibilities, and as an acceptance of new

responsibilities by the community.” 

Norman Wisdom 1915 - 2010

Norman Wisdom has died in a nursing home on the Isle of Man.

Long ago I was an extra in a film with him. His part involved pushing me out of the way as I descended from a plane at what was then Speke airport.  Thinking back to these couple of days, I'm sure us 'passengers' alighted from that plane around 4,000 times - or maybe it was just 40.  After each 'take' he would come and ask if we were all right and hoped he hadn't shoved me too hard.  The film wasn't a hit - probably because he was too well known by then for his comedy and his part as the straight man in a light-hearted comedy didn't gel with the British public.

He stayed locally during the filming with his family and his children were a delight.  The wee lad always sported a bow tie while his daughter wore the prettiest velvet frocks.  She was so proud of them and told anyone who would listen that they'd come 'all the way from New York'.

Norman, (as he insisted on being called), had impeccable manners and great respect for his fellow man. He treated everyone equally.  I remember him saying to someone, "Please call me Norman, I'm just an ordinary bloke." He was wrong.  He was extraordinary and the pleasure he brought to millions will never be forgotten by my generation.

RIP Norman and thank you for some wonderful memories.

An Unwelcome Visitor to the Tory Conference?

The US and UK have issued terrorist alerts for their citizens.  Then days ago the Home Office announced that the security threat level from dissident republicans had been increased to 'substantial' after a new risk assessment was received from M15.  The Prime Minister is understood to be "quite concerned" about the possible risk of a terrorist attack in Birmingham during the four day Tory conference which began in Birmingham today.

Yet Martin McGuinness is heading to the Conservative Party Conference for the first time - increasing the security headache for police who fear a dissident IRA attack.  Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister is scheduled to speak at a fringe event in Birmingham on Tuesday.

It's common knowledge Martin McGuinness held a senior rank in the Provisionals when the organisation bombed the 1984 Conservative Party conference in Brighton killing 5 people and injuring scores of delegates in the Grand Hotel.

First Minister Peter Robinson, the SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie and former Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey are also scheduled to speak at the fringe event.

There will be little in the way of a welcome for Mr McGuinness I suspect but why did the Tories invite him?  He refuses to take his seat in the House of Commons although he claims relevant expenses. That is the place in which debate should take place. There will be many questioning this decision, particularly when the memories of Brighton are only 26 years old - only a generation. Let us not forget the violence in Northern Ireland continues today.

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What Unionists Want to Ignore

Former Chief Economist of the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz, talking about North Sea oil.  A must watch.

Thanks to Scotland Unspun

Scotland's Clubbers

Back in March I wrote that John Swinney had won the power to carry out further pruning of quangos without the need for primary legislation.  As yet I haven't heard of any being dissolved although a few have amalgamated; reducing the number but not necessarily the cost.

John Swinney called for 'maximum value for taxpayers' money' yet public sector bodies are spending hundreds of thousands of pounds every year on becoming members of institutes, societies and networking organisations.

The second largest 'clubber' is Scottish Enterprise which as spent £869,062 on joining organisations since 2007.  Its senior managers spent £81,049 to join the Corporate Leadership Council, £69,443 to CBI Scotland and £1750 to the free-market David Hume Institute.  Another £107,000 was found for the Scottish Council for Development and Industry and £3870 spent joining the Nuclear Industry Association in the last two years, despite the Scottish government's anti-nuclear stance.

SEPA sent £646 on a corporate membership for its chief executive at 29 - a private members' club in Glasgow.  "Although SEPA no longer pays for a corporate membership of 29, its use provides a venue in the heart of the city of Glasgow where we can meet to discuss things such as environmental priorities and opportunities from the green economy," said a spokesperson. SEPA has offices in East Kilbride, Glasgow, Balloch and Ayr.  Surely they could accommodate those who want to have meetings in the west.

The largest 'clubber' is Scottish Water.  Our very own utility spent around £1 million in three years on corporate memberships.  These included £15,321 to the Freight Transport Association, £6969 to Oxera Water, £33,097 to WRAS Ltd (why that is needed baffles me), £24,000 went in fees to SCDI, £30,000 to the Institute of Customer Service and £1250 to Scottish Business in the Community.

The total cost of Scottish Natural Heritage's membership of 90 organisations is not declared.  Grampian Fire and Rescue paid £4500 to join gay rights group Stonewall.

Derek Brownlee, Scottish Tories’ finance spokesman, said: “There is no case for spending money on joining a private members’ club. Unless an organisation directly relates to the functions of a public body, I don’t think corporate memberships are a good idea.”

I'd go even further and say no quango or public organisation should be spending taxpayers' money on corporate or private memberships. If advice is required formally request a quotation and pay the bill.  Let's put an end to these old-boys networks.

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A Woman of Substance

She was the first solicitor to be Scotland's Lord Advocate, the first to serve in cabinets of different political parties and the first woman to become Scotland's most senior law officer.  She is Elish Angiolini.

This week Ms Angiolini announced she is to stand down next May after serving a five-year tenure.  The decision of Jack McConnell to appoint here provoked outrage in some corners of the Faculty of Advocates because she was female, a Catholic and, worst of all, a solicitor.  When the SNP won the 2007 election Alex Salmond decided to retain her because he recognised her talent.

What she brought to the position was not just a superb mind, but a full appreciation of the real world to which the law must be applied.  It was her reappraisal of how the law deals with sex crime which will stick in my mind. Her commitment to seeing women being treated equally by the courts and in the judiciary will be a lasting legacy of her role as Lord Advocate.

She will certainly be a hard act to follow.

Afghanistan

A soldier has been killed in an explosion in the Nahr-e-Saraj area of Helmand Province, Afghanistan.  He was from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles and was killed in an explosion while on patrol yesterday afternoon.

His death brings the total number of UK service personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 339.

Spare a thought for the families and friends of these 339 of our armed forces.  They have to live wondering if their loved ones' deaths were in vain.  Ed Miliband has made it clear that those killed in Iraq - both civilian and military - were wasted lives.  Will the same be said of Afghanistan in another 20 years?

'No Pressure' - Radical Muslim Parody Version

This is possibly the first parody of many. The makers of this 10:10 video fully deserve condemnation.

Ms Goldie Changes Tack

The Scottish Tories are reported as being set to do a major policy U-turn and go into the Scottish election offering to form a coalition to get into government at Holyrood.

By the sound of it any party will do as long as the prize is power.

"That is the way we are thinking," one senior Tory said yesterday. "With the party in a coalition at Westminster, we would look daft ruling out coalitions here. In 2007 it was difficult to see us as a realistic coalition party. But nothing is ruled out now. The question is whether we coalesce with Labour or the SNP.

"A coalition with Labour would be extremely difficult, given the situation at Westminster. The SNP is difficult because of the constitutional issue. But if the constitutional issue could be parked and you ask 'are there areas of common ground?' The answer is yes. It would be difficult but possible. It is not inconceivable." 

The question is would the SNP be interested in entering into a coalition with the Tories?  Unless they agree to support the cause of independence I doubt if there is the slightest chance, which would leave them having to join with Labour should they not win outright.  Would the SNP consider 'parking' the constitutional issue?  That would upset many of their supporters including this one.

Who would have believed that the Tories would tout their shortcomings around Holyrood in a desperate bid for power.  Many of their supporters will be thinking they've lost any dignity they've had since 1999 and I know some who wish they would disband and regroup as a Scottish party without any connection to their present masters in London.

Power creates strange bedfellows.  Kenny Farquharson adds his pennyworth here.

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Scottish Journalism and SNP Bias

Isn't it strange how two newspapers can report so diversely on one subject.  Yesterday there was a stooshie in the Scottish media about a Glasgow granny being evicted from her home as it stands in the way of the plans to make the site the athletes' village for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow City Council has offered Mrs Jaconelli £30,000 under a compulsory purchase order and she isn't happy.  Yesterday the First Minister became involved and he appeared to back the council's bid to evict Mrs Jaconelli and today the Scottish Express continue the attack on the FM claiming his stay in a 5 star hotel at India's Commonwealth Games is "unnecessary and completely excessive".  How they make that claim, when the cost of the Scottish government's official visit to Delhi has not yet been calculated, is bad journalism.

Glasgow is to host the 2014 Games.  Who do critics such as the well-by-his-sell-by-date George Foulkes think should represent Scotland in Delhi?  Perhaps George fancied a little trip himself, but I doubt if he would consider travelling economy class - the manner in which Shona Robison and some advisors flew on Thursday.

The saga continues today with the Herald doing a fine piece of investigative journalism.  It would appear Mrs Jaconelli has been offered several homes since 2002 and refused them all.  Furthermore, it's revealed that her lawyer is asking the council for a massive £380,000 on his client's behalf, £300,000 for the value of the land being acquired by the authority and a further £80,000 for the inconvenience.

As one local resident said: "Sympathy for the Jaconellis' situation would evaporate once the amount of money the family is looking for is known.

"It's a sad story, but 11 years ago, long before this Commonwealth Games business, a dozen other people took around £30,000 being offered and ran, including one family selling their flat in the block for £11,000."  Mrs Jaconelli and her family are the only residents living in the housing block.

She said: "My solicitor put in for that figure.  He wanted me to get a decent settlement.  I haven't known what the figure is.  You'll need to ask him".

There we have it.  The Scottish press desperate to tarnish the SNP government and the First Minister, yet with a little digging it appears the leadership of the SNP group within Glasgow City Council has done everything within their power to rehouse Mrs Jaconelli.  We now also know our political representatives used economy class to fly to India and Alex Salmond - being perhaps the best ambassador Scotland has had in many a year - wants to stay in a 5 star hotel in Delhi good luck to him.  I wouldn't stay in anything less than 4 star myself in a country which doesn't have the highest hygiene standards.

Three newspapers, two very different reports on the same story.  The SNP-bashing will only worsen the nearer we drift towards May next year.

The Waning Wind

The Department of Energy and Climate Change said this week that lower than expected wind speeds and rainfall had led to a 12% fall in renewable electricity generated between April and June compared to the same period in 2009.  This is the second fall in renewable energy production this year and follows a smaller but still notable decline between January and March, again compared to last year.

With a sharp drop in output from nuclear power stations as well, greenhouse gas emissions from each unit of electricity generated will inevitably have risen, at a time when the UK has pledged to cut such pollution and is pressing other countries to do the same.

Speculation is mounting that the government is considering cutting the feed-in tariff subsidy for small scale renewable equipment and 69 industry figures and other experts have sent an open letter to the government warning such a move would 'shatter' confidence and put future investment in 'mortal peril'.

A spokesman from RenewableUK, the industry lobby group, said: "Clearly we need to deploy more renewable devices if we expect to get more in the energy mix.  Hydro and wind power will vary from year to year, as do other technologies, but we know that they can and do contribute significant amounts of electricity."

They really don't have a clue do they, yet I (and you) will continue to pay subsidies to those folk who have installed a couple of solar panels on their roofs, or a windmill in their back garden, after having been taken in by the propaganda.

source
photo: offshore windfarm near Prestatyn, north Wales

Choosing My Religion

Thanks to Aangirfan

Britain's CCTV Policy

Earlier today, I was about to write about the pathetic 'apology' given by a certain Chief Constable on television last night, when I noticed a fellow blogger had voiced my thoughts and with some accuracy.

This country is divided: I don't care who denies it because I know it to be true - and it will become more so when our security forces (police service) continue given precedence to minority cultures without protest from the majority.  It would appear Muslims are exempt from CCTV and the majority of the country are not.  Isn't that against my human rights?  Why should I be watched yet not listened to when I object?

The UK is a laughing stock.

Double Standards

It's of no interest to me who Ed Miliband lives with in the posh part of London.  But, (yes you knew there would be a but), what does show his character is the fact he was 'too busy' to sign his name on his son's birth certificate.  For a man who is ambitious enough to want to lead this country, that is an appalling lack of judgement.

For some years I've been interested in ancestry.  Hanging around graveyards in pouring rain (it always seems to rain) is a hobby and an intriguing one.  Information I gather is shared with others and we've helped out people from all over the world because we've been able to discover burial places and the odd home or place of business of their ancestors.  Owing to the internet it's so much easier for those wishing to trace their family roots to find the relevant documents to get them started - birth, marriage and death certificates.

Ed Miliband does his family no favours with his casual attitude to his son's existence.  These days more people have no desire to marry and decide to have their children without the official record of their relationship.  Many other birth certificates don't have the father's name recorded.  I know the upset this causes because a member of my own family was born illegitimate in the 1930s and his father's name isn't recorded on his birth certificate and of course there is no marriage certificate.  The fact we can progress no further in the search is sad.

Another small point is that Ed Miliband voted strongly in favour of gay marriages and civil partnerships.  A strange decision from someone who doesn't appear to favour hetrosexual marriage isn't it.

'No Pressure' - Sickening Climate and Carbon Reduction Video

My loyal reader Edward Spalton sent me this and at first I thought it was a horrible joke. It appears not. This is what they say about it on YouTube.

http://www.1010global.org/no-pressure


Whippersnapping climate campaign 10:10 teams up with legendary comic screenwriter Richard Curtis – you know, Blackadder, Four Weddings, Notting Hill, co-founded Comic Relief – and Age of Stupid director Franny Armstrong to proudly present their explosive new mini-movie “No Pressure”. The film stars X-Files’ Gillian Anderson, together with Spurs players past and present – including Peter Crouch, Ledley King and David Ginola – with music donated by Radiohead. Shot on 35mm by a 40-strong professional film crew led by director Dougal Wilson, “No Pressure” celebrates everybody who is actively tackling climate change… by blowing up those are aren’t.




They are so proud of this disgusting video that they made the following 'behind the scenes' one.  One young lad says, "I'm very happy to get blown up to save the world".  Our children are being indoctrinated with violence to suit the climate change agenda.  We really must stop this now so please circulate these videos if you can and show others the mentality of these fanatics.





Thanks to Watts Up With That


Update:  10:10 have taken the video down. 'Sorry we've taken this video down for now.  More info coming very soon'.  I've found another copy so thanks to Oh What Now!