The present government. By vocation...

Below are the current UK cabinet members listed against their "employment" before they were elected to parliament.



Prime minister – Gordon Brown: Professional student. Lecturer. 3 years at Scottish Television.

Home secretary - Jacqui Smith: Teacher

Foreign secretary - David Miliband: Voluntary sector bureaucrat. Labour policy wonk.

Chancellor of the Exchequer - Alistair Darling: Lawyer

Justice secretary and Lord Chancellor - Jack Straw: Lawyer (3 years), Inner London Education Authority. Labour policy wonk.

Health secretary - Alan Johnson: Postman. Trades unionist.

Defence secretary - Des Browne: Lawyer.

Secretary for business, enterprise and regulatory reform - John Hutton: College lecturer.

Secretary for children, schools and families - Ed Balls: 4 years as leader writer for Financial Times. Labour policy wonk.

Secretary for innovation, universities and skills - John Denham: Quangos and charities.

Environment secretary - Hilary Benn: Trades unionist. Councillor.

International development secretary - Douglas Alexander: Professional student. Policy wonk. Lawyer.

Work and pensions secretary - Peter Hain: Trades unionist. “Anti” campaigner.

Transport secretary - Ruth Kelly: Guardian journalist. Labour policy wonk.

Secretary for communities and local government - Hazel Blears: Public sector lawyer. Trades unionist.

Culture, media and sport secretary - James Purnell: Labour policy wonk. BBC.

Northern Ireland secretary - Shaun Woodward: Lobbyist. BBC. Tory turncoat.

Chief whip - Geoff Hoon: Labourer. Lawyer. Lecturer.

Secretary for the cabinet office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster - Ed Miliband: Labour policy wonk.

Chief secretary to the Treasury - Andy Burnham: Labour policy wonk. Trades unionist.



Not an engineer or farmer or businessman between them. Geoff Hoon laboured at a furniture factory for a year and Brown the Clown was a journo for Jock TV for three years. One or two more had short stints as journos. Outside of Law, very little private sector experience at all. We are governed by policy wonks and trades unionists with little or no experience of the real world.

Any refutations gratefully received (Wiki was used extensively in compiling the above). I might do a similar list of the shadow cabinet....if I can be bothered. I'd be interested to know how many of our 650 MPs are lawyers

Headache for Labour in Glasgow East....

Here are two of the candidates who are contesting Glasgow East next week;

CURRAN, Frances
Party Name: Scottish Socialist Party
Candidate Address: Flat 3/2, 12 Crow Road, Glasgow G11 7RT

CURRAN, Margaret
Party Name: Scottish Labour Party
Candidate Address: 75 Langside Drive, Glasgow G43 2ST

http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/YourCouncil/Elections_Voting/GlasgowEast_ByElection_2008/NoticeofPoll/

Now, cast your minds back to the Scottish election last year, where the poor, drunken Scots couldn't work out the "complicated election ballots". Now look at the similarity between the two candidates above. Both have the same surname. Both have "Scottish" and "Party" in the title of their respective parties. The only difference being "Labour" and "Socialist" and they both mean the same thing - "handout".

So, there's a contest between the Scottish Handout Party and the Scottish Handout Party and their candidates; Wee Hen Curran and Wee Hen Curran. And that's before we consider the third Scottish Handout Party - the Scottish National Party.

Polling stations will be open from 11.00am to 11.00pm. I shouldn't imagine they'll see much action before 2pm on account of most of Glasgow East's electors not being, ahem..."early risers". I would imagine that most electors will call in, after having had "the hair of the dog" in some dreadful, grey, box-shaped, pebble-dashed pub, with formica tables and a plywood bar-top upon which stand a depressing array of gas-charged taps advertising Messers McEwans' and Tenants' various carbonated piss.

What a headache for Labour's planners! It conjures up an image of Labour's proposed army of canvassers going from door to door, armed with graphic signs with which to persuade voters;

"Mr McAlchy?"

"Aye...whose fukkin' askin'?"

"Mr McAlchy, I'm from the Labour Party in London and we're here to make sure you continue to recieve money without having to work for it"

"Oooah.....fuken magic! Weer issit, then...thish moneh??"

"Mr McAlchy, first you have to do something for us"

"Errr wadu ye mean...."do sommin" "

"We need you to tick a box on a piece of paper"

"Soonds easy enough!...gimme the paper, cos ah wunt money fur som swally, y'ken"

Canvasser reaches into pocket and produces long plastic-coated sign depicting three symbols, from left to right; a tick, a red rose and a twenty pound note.

"Mr McAlchy, if you put one of these next to the box with one of these in it, then you'll continue to get these"

"Aye, OK....gimme it..."

"No, no, Mr. McAlchy, you have to do this next Thursday at the Polling Station....on the day of the election.....err, next week??"

"Yah fuken Inlish BASTAD ye!!!! Weers ma fucken moneh ye cunt ye???!!"

........sound of clenched fist on cheek, followed by groaning and sirens.

Your humble toad told you so much......

"The radical extension of maternity leave and parents’ rights is sabotaging women’s careers, according to the head of the new equalities watchdog.

Nicola Brewer said that it was an inconvenient truth that giving women a year off work after the birth of each child - soon to be paid throughout - was making employers think twice before offering a job or promotion. "

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article4327438.ece

Give the woman a Nobel Prize. It will be interesting to see how the idiots of "New Labour" respond to this, especially the goon Harman. My guess is more legislation.

The Right isn't losing the battle over the custody of Political Language - because it's not even fighting that battle. How anyone can refer to this ridiculous legislation as a "right" is beyond me. It is a government enforced employment perk and I wouldn't be surprised if it emanated from the Castle of Lies over in Brussels.

Sooner or later we will hear of people naturally extolling their advantages on their CVs as employing Victims gets more hazardous;

"I have three grown-up children and have no wish to have any more...." Trans: "I won't pick your pocket whilst sat at home looking after my baby"

"My wife Mary....." Trans: "I'm not queer...."

"My family have lived in the area for 150 years...." Trans: "I'm white..."


Cue legislation forcing employers alert the authorities over "illegal CVs"

The emperors' clothes

Apparently there are no limits to what the EU achieves. For instance, it is only the existence of the EU which has prevented a war between its members since 1945.

I'm not kidding either;

http://europa.eu/abc/index_en.htm

Look at the scrolling "Did you know that..." section on the left of the page.

I witnessed a debate (Question Time or something like it) where that egregious cow Shirley Williams made that same ludicrous claim, without being challenged. I've lost count of the times I've heard clear falsehoods about the EU's achievements go completely unchallenged on R4 interviews and debates.

There is something worrying about the way in which europhiles go unchecked in making fantastic claims about the EU's achievements. It is worrying because in the event that we ever leave this corrupt and deceitful club, those same people will enjoy having the same platform to make false claims about pitfalls of non-membership.

In this scenario, I envisage claims that every major transport accident, economic downturn, cattle infection or flood, would have been averted had we only remained in the EU.

And just wait and see what happens if Britain's most accomplished liar becomes the first "King of Europe". There will be no end to the bullshit.

This is what happens when you create a victim-culture..

"A Christian registrar who was harassed and discriminated against after she refused to carry out same-sex civil partnership ceremonies has won a key legal battle.

Lillian Ladele, 47, said that she was treated like a pariah by colleagues at Islington council in North London after she said that she could not carry out the ceremonies as a matter of religious conscience. "

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article4312447.ece

Once you go down the road of converting half of society into Victims, these exquisite conflicts are bound to happen. The example above is more a source of mirth than angst. It will have been an undoubted asset for the claimant in this case, to be black woman.

The social engineers who have been busy "correcting" our society to match their sixth-former worldview for the last 30 years, seem blind to the unintended effects that their "rights" create. One such effect is to turn the recipients of special rights into an employment risk.

Which small employer (in their right mind) would take on a girl who is likely to spend months on end sat at home before and after giving birth, all the while drawing a wage for which she does zero work? The legislation that gives mothers employment "rights" - in the overall scheme of things - favours older women. Parallels can be drawn for gays, blacks, disabled etc etc.

The public sector will increasingly be a Victims' refuge. Although, if the likes of Harriet Harman get their way, the State will be on the interview panels in the private sector too. For the Harriets, the medicine is always the same: more invasive, nannying legislation to correct society."Minority rights" create far more problems than they solve and I challenge anyone to sensibly argue against the striking down of nearly all minority rights legislation being a positive measure for everyone.

Why won't people do as I say?

I am always very wary of campaigns against companies like Tesco and MacDonalds. There is an inherent motive of envy and a tendency to vilify the successful, amongst "virtuous" people like HFW.

Having enjoyed his TV series, I bought his book. In the introduction, he says we should change the way we look at food. We should move our perspective on food "a little bit to the Left", advises Hugh. After my initial disappointment that he should use food for politics and out of context too, I then thought that perhaps Hugh could broadcast his next food odyssey from N. Korea or Cuba. Hmmm......rice avec potato et eau.

Nearly all "wailing campaigns" against large corporations ignore the fact that they got where they are because people have effectively endorsed them through personal choice. The avalanche of food programmes and books that have been produced all have one common theme; buy quality organic food. It is inconceivable that anyone could have escaped this advice, given the airtime and print volume that's carried it over the last 30 years. Yet people still buy carrots and potatoes in tins, not because they're cheaper that way, but because they are too lazy to prepare the vegetables themselves.

In the same way that the egregious Morgan Spurlock conducted an entire documentary on the basis that the individual has no personal responsibility whatsoever, Hugh is targetting Tesco, because the public won't listen to him and choose instead to continue endorsing Tesco - a form of democracy that Hugh doesn't like. How very socialist.

Alcohol is not the problem...

....it's the low-life you put the alcohol in.

Restricting the sale of alcohol in supermarkets to those over 21, is just another example of the government failing to grasp the nettle and tackle the real (and difficult) problem. Papering over the cracks, as it were. And it also gives out the subliminal message that the individual is not to blame, but the alcohol is.

And there lies the problem - a lack of personal responsibility. If you get drunk and you know that causing trouble will land you a custodial sentence, no matter what sob-story you give the magistrate, then you are much more likely to take responsibility for your behaviour. However, this would involve building more prisons, courts, police stations and recruiting all the people to run them. The type of people who run Britain's government, are the same people who say things like "what kind of society locks up its people?", whilst wringing their hands in the comfort of some cosy London bistro. A stroll around Leeds city centre in the early hours of Saturday night, would soon disabuse them about what sort of society doesn't lock up it's people.


I have heard senior police officers state categorically that alcohol is to blame for inner city fighting on Friday and Saturday nights. Well, every now and then, events come up which have the secondary effect of producing a huge social experiment. Such an event was last Autumn's Rugby World Cup. 200,000 English fans out of a total of 1.8 million fans overall, descended on France and drank the place dry over a space of six weeks. Where was the fighting?



Good natured drinkers enjoy England success in Paris and help to explode the myth that alcohol is to blame for violence.