Hoisted by his own petard

It is not without a frisson of schadenfreude that I read of Ken Livingstone whinging and whining at being suspended by an unelected group of busybodies for his offensive comments to a Jewish reporter.

Of course it is wrong that the wishes of millions of electors can be overturned by this organisation! But who is responsible for them and their ilk? – why people like “cuddly” Ken and who are usually in the forefront of politically correct lunacy.

How hilarious that instead of a punishing a right wing politician for expressing valid concerns about religious extremism, their first high profile case was against the sort of politician who was responsible for bringing them into existence.

Maybe the scales will lift from Ken’s eyes and we will see him writing articles for the “Campaign Against Political Correctness” website which does an excellent job highlighting the increasingly bizarre world in which we live.

If Prince Charles had any influence whatsoever over Government policy there would have been no ban on fox hunting.

Much is being made of the treatment meted out by British squaddies to some rioting Iraqis. What I find far more sickening than the video are the howls of hypocritical anger coming from those who ordered these men into Iraq in the first place.

Army infantry units are generally made up of tough lads often from what are now called “deprived areas.” When confronted with a baying mob throwing petrol bombs does anyone really suppose that they are going to retaliate by waving copies of The Guardian around?

I am not making a defence but merely pointing out that if we had wanted to avoid situations like this we should not have gone to Iraq in the first place.

Waste and incompetence in the MOD

Buried deep in a report which itself was tucked away in the House of Commons library was a report on sums of money which the MOD have had to write off in the past year.

The total amount came to an eye watering £320 millions pounds – ie nearly a third of a billion.

This is money which could have been used to improve the pay of infantry soldiers or ensure that they are given the correct kit when being sent off to dangerous places like Iraq or Afghanistan.

Below I have listed just a few of the write offs and the reasons given.

• Two Warrior vehicles involved in a collision during a training exercise – cost £500,000

• Fire on an AS90 (self-propelled artillery gun) – cost £1,942,000

• Communication equipment on a remote site was stolen in 2001-2002 – cost £382,000

• Incomplete documentation on ammunitions movements in Afghanistan – cost £241,000

• Change in supplier for BOWMAN battlefield communications system – cost £51,000,000 written off.

• Withdrawal from Multi Role Armoured Vehicle Programme – total cost £56,910,000 written off.

• Cancellation of a “classified project” as a “saving measure” – cost £1,791,000

• Defective GPS chips in guided missiles – cost £1,763,000

• Food having to be scrapped due to cancellation of Marines’ deployment to Norway – cost £144,000

• Re-negotiation of NIMROD contract – cost 74,880,000 constructive loss

• Cancellation of training project for High G Force Centrifuge – cost £14,383,000

• Cancellation of Harrier Bombing System – loss of £12,896,000

• Scrapping of 45 “faulty” Lynx Metal Rotor Blades, which were found not to have been faulty after all. – cost £153,000

• Chinook Helicopters written down because they do not meet operational requirements – cost £205,000,000

• “Impairment” of an official building - £65,000,000

• Creating a new roof for RNAS Yeovilton because the one that had just been built impaired the pilots view of the runway! - £584,000

We pay our Defence Ministers and their civil servants very good salaries, give them a budget of £30 billion and charge them with responsibility for the nations defences. With this sorry record of incompetence I would not put them in charge of a fairground shooting gallery.

Nothing to do with me guv!

These were not quite the Home Secretary’s words when he made a statement about the lack of police action over the calls by some Muslims on the streets of London to murder Europeans. However this is what his statement amounted to.

The man charged with ensuring our safety simply told us it was a matter for the police and failed to point out that he is responsible for their actions.

The police have recently been able to arrest or detain elderly Christians protesting about homosexuality, a solitary anti war demonstrator, and an elderly gentlemen who had dared to heckle Jack Straw, yet they were seemingly powerless in the face of real incitements to kill.

I don’t blame the officers in the ground who were doubtless obeying orders from above. It is the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Sir Ian Blair and his nominal boss Charles Clarke who should explain why they now appear to exempt some groups from upholding the laws of the land.

Not for nothing is Sir Ian known as PC Blair – although the letters stand for “Politically Correct” rather than denoting an ability to walk the streets of London arresting criminals.

apologies and hypocrisy

Sorry - no blogs for a while, Government of Wales legislation and impending arrival of baby no.2 have eaten into my time.

I cannot resist the temptation to comment on the current rows about free speech viz a viz the cartoons which have offended the Muslim World.

Having now found them online I suggest that they are not in the least bit amusing and certain to cause offense - rather like "Jerry Springer the Opera."

Government Minister Jack Straw has praised the British media for not reproducing the cartoons but where was he when Christianity was being mocked?

Anti-Christian bias runs through many Government Departments. The Home Office spent £15,000 celebrating Eid and Divali and not a penny celebrating Christmas, meanwhile officials from the Department of Transport abandoned their desks to mark Chinese New Year and to go to an Asian Mela but Christmas was ignored.