Europe Minister: Not Read European Treaty

The minister for Europe... has not read the Lisbon Treaty on the future of Europe. We are supposed to be reassured that she has, however, read briefing notes on the Treaty . Not much of a reassurance is it? It's like taking exam questions on a novel, only having read the crib book. You'll be caught out in the end, and she has...

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/parliament/2009/03/european-minister-caroline-flint-admits-she-has-not-read-lisbon-treaty.html

Facebook – No Friend in Gordon Brown.

The Labour government is ready to take our details from Facebook, with the BBC reporting that it is “part of a plan to store details of all phone calls, e-mails and websites visited on a central database”

Of course, governments should be able to carry out covert surveillance on people who are suspected of serious crimes. Governments must not be allowed to consider every person a suspect...

And we all know how useless the government is when it comes to protecting our privacy.

I am on Facebook… where Gordon is no friend of mine.

16 Air Assault Brigade briefing in Cambridge

There was a post operational presentation by 16 Air Assault Brigade at Homerton College as part of the Army's mission to reach out directly to explain its tasks and achievements in Afghanistan.

The Brigade, which takes its name from 1st and 6th Airborne Divisions that fought in the Second World War, has returned from its second stint in the country.

The service in Afghanistan - in combat and in providing the support for the Afghan police, army and civil authorities - was distinguished by professionalism and a pride in the work that was being done.

William Hague has promised that Afghanistan and Pakistan will be the “single most urgent focus” of a Conservative Government’s foreign policy. The Shadow Foreign Secretary stressed, “Failure there would leave the world, ourselves included, much more open to terrorist attack.”

25th March 2009

BBC Must Share in the Slowdown.

The BBC’s poll-tax on tellies should be frozen this year.

For the first time ever, the BBC’s licence fee money this year could be £1 billion more than the advertising-funded TV stations put together. Like many deals, or the congestion charge bid, the licence fee rises were negotiated before Gordon Brown's boom turned to bust. Times have changed.

We should keep that £1 billion in the real economy, where it is needed. Unlike the 2.5% reduction in VAT, where the ‘savings’ can only be really made if you still have a lot of money to spend on VAT-able goods, freezing the licence fee is a measure that will have a greater, direct impact on the less well off.

The BBC has many virtues. It is time to add 'thrift' to them.

Best Criteria for University Entrance: Individual Merit.

The Cambridge News reports that for Cambridge University, “The standard offer for a successful applicant will go up from three A grades to two As and one A*, after the new top grade, designed to help universities to select the best students, is introduced in 2010….” This change was attacked by the Cambridgeshire branch of the National Union of Teachers.

Conservative Parliamentary spokesman, Richard Normington, said, “Students must be treated on their own individual merits. Educational excellence is the best way to decide who to admit to university.”

Richard added, “Cambridgeshire’s NUT branch is wrong to crticise this move. Random targets, social engineering waffle, or quotas for the favoured of the politically correct will not enhance academic quality or the long-term status of Cambridge as an international seat of learning.”

17th March 2009

City's Liberals: Losing their Temper and the Plot

The decision to back the congestion charge by Cambridge Liberal Democrats was accompanied by a claim from their transport spokesman about Conservatives, who oppose the charge, telling ‘gross untruths’ (Cambridge News, 7^th March).

This follows the Lib Dem councillor who was condemned for blocking an ambulance on a 999 call, breaching the councillors' code of conduct, and dragged by the Standards Board to apologise, calling Conservatives the ‘nasty’ party.

City Council Loses nearly £10 million but earns praise?

From today's Cambridge News, "Cambridge City Council won top marks for sound financial management and value for money - despite investing £9 million in Icelandic banks and a potential loss of £618,000 on Cambridge Folk Festival ticket sales."

"If this is sound management, be very afraid," commented Richard Normington. "Perhaps they were comparing the city's leadership to the Treasury under Gordon Brown?" he asked.

9th March 2009

Robert Bolt on Civil Liberties

This exchange should be on the headed paper of every civil servant in the Ministry of Justice [itself an Orwellian sounding institution].

Roper: So now you'd give the Devil benefit of law!
More: Yes. What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?
Roper: I'd cut down every law in England to do that!
More: Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned round on you — where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country's planted thick with laws from coast to coast — man's laws, not God's — and if you cut them down — and you're just the man to do it — d'you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I'd give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety's sake.

Robert Bolt : "A Man for All Seasons"

Labour's Mugabe Tendency...

It might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it's not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that's where the Government steps in." Harriet Harman.

"It may be necessary to use methods other than constitutional ones."
Robert Mugabe.

Britain Deserves Better.

Read the full blog on http://broganblog.dailymail.co.uk/2009/03/has-harriet-been-in-zimbabwe.html