Not that Nick Wood

ID cars & Meg Hillier

2009-12-17T06:33:00.000-08:00

I can add nothing to Guido’s post on Meg Hillier's failure to have her ID card to hand at a promotion of ID cards, but tee hee anyway. ID cards are one of the most, if not THE most Stalinist idea this scum we call a government has ever come up with. May all its proponents rot in hell for eternity.

Global Warming

2009-12-14T05:25:00.000-08:00

So the Great Global Warming lie begins to unravel. On one level I feel vindicated on being a climate change sceptic, but on another there are plenty of other good reasons why all countries should avoid pollution, protect the environment and use energy as efficiently as possible. The AGW debate may be about to enter another chapter before it is proved or disproved (I don’t know the answer and am ready to be convinced) but curtailing waste should remain a compelling ambition. My main hope is that discussions around such policies can begin to take place in a measured and level headed atmosphere with the costs and benefits being properly assessed rather than in the rabid “do it now or we’re all going to die and if you don’t believe me you’re a silly” environment it does at present.

The Final Frontier

2009-12-08T04:53:00.000-08:00

So the final frontier has opened (again, the Russians opened it a few years ago). For a measly £130k you will soon be able to travel to just outside the earth’s atmosphere viewing the planet in all its glory while simultaneously annoying the green lobby and discovering if it is possible to eat rubber chicken in a weightless environment. I would start saving now but sadly some mad idiot in central government has saddled me with over £40k of debt just so he can pretend he’s saved the world and thereby get re-elected. He now pretends that all will be rosy in a couple of month’s time (it won’t be) while simultaneously taxing me and my bosses so highly that they’re considering jacking it in and retiring to another country. I’m considering moving to another country too, one with more freedoms and a better economic outlook. Now where’s that Zimbabwe tourist leaflet? Or maybe I can book a one way ticket to space for £65k?

2009-12-07T06:10:00.000-08:00

AAAArrrgggghhhh.
Well haven’t posted for some time, mainly due to domestic situations (divorce etc) but finally my patience has snapped and I feel the need to vent spleen in typing.
What the f**k is happening to this country. The Dear Leader seems intent on destroying what is left of our economy by burying it even further in debt and somehow he’s making gains in the opinion polls. His band of fellow cretins increasingly propose partisan or just plain stupid policy in the vain hope that it’ll distract the public from the fact that the government is a disaster – the tragic thing is it seems to be working. WAKE UP BRITAIN.
Advice for DC et al:
1) Don’t pussy foot around regarding spending cuts; the public need to know that things are going to be rough while the economy is sorted out so best get them used to the idea now.
2) There are no services that can’t be cut. Rather than protect the NHS protect defence spending.
3) Don’t get caught up in Brown’s “dividing lines”. They’re there, but most people will be on your side of them. Accept them and proudly show which side you’re on.
4) Forget about Scotland – once you’ve established English votes for English matters that problem will go away. Also promise to reform the Barnett Formula, that’ll be popular, in England anyway.
5) Brown is scared of confrontation (bullies usually are) so confront him at every opportunity. Make plain to the people the lies he tells. Ask the speaker why the PM hasn’t answered a question if he obfuscates.

There, that’ll do for now.

Off to see some lawyers!

Tax free allowances

2008-05-28T01:01:00.000-07:00

Just been thinking about the idea of MP’s getting a £23k tax free expense allowance. What an excellent idea. The company I work for could adopt a similar system. Indeed all companies could, thereby reducing internal administration (no receipts required) and making the company more competitive by reducing the employers NI currently paid on salaries. Also, since the allowance would be tax free there could be a cut in those salaries. (Admittedly there would be no increased competiveness against other UK companies if all adopted this system, but there would still be a gain against foreign competitors.)

I know, I’ll drop the treasury an e-mail asking how such a scheme can be set up. I wonder what the response will be.

Update

I’ve sent the below to the Treasury and No 10 Downing St.

"I understand that there is a proposal that MP’s be given a tax free allowance of £23,000 per annum and that no receipts would be required to justify expenditure to this limit. The company for which I work is interested in setting up a similar scheme. Please could you send me details of how such a scheme would operate. Obviously given the principle of equality under the law such a scheme cannot be restricted to MP's alone."

God seems to approve

2008-05-07T06:17:00.000-07:00

Ever since the results of the Mayoral election were announced London has been enjoying decent, sunny even hot weather. Coincidence? I think not. Surely it's God's way of demonstrating his approval.
How good will the weather be if Cameron gets in?

Oh well, must go and buy some shorts!

I was wrong - Hurrah

2008-05-06T03:24:00.000-07:00

I was wrong, Boris did get the mayoralty, and by a comfortable margin.
I'm delighted for him and for London.

Can Boris do it?

2008-05-01T01:32:00.001-07:00

The opinion polls, well YouGov at least, seem to have Boris ahead by 6%. Other polls seem to show Livingstone ahead. So which is correct?
Watching TV last night I was struck by how little enthusiasm there is for Livingstone amongst his supporters. Most seemed to think that he had been in power for long enough. Contrary wise there is great enthusiasm for Boris.
This suggests that there may well be differential turnout between supporters of the two candidates, with supporters of Boris anxious to vote and supporters of Livingstone more inclined to abstain. So, on the face of it, Boris should win.

Nevertheless, my gut feel is that Boris won’t win. I suspect the Labour machine will drag its members kicking and screaming to the polling booths where they will dutifully hold their noses and vote for the evil that is Livingstone.

Meanwhile the Tory vote – based principally in the “doughnut” around central London will be lower than hoped as the daily commute, showers and the general hassle of getting around will combine to deter many Boris supporters.

No-one will be more delighted than me if I’m wrong.

Well off to vote now – for Boris and the forces of light (of course).

UPDATE
It seems William Hill have noticed a surge in betting on Boris - he's now 2/7 with Satan at 5/2.

EU gravy train continues - now it's a secret

2008-04-23T04:38:00.000-07:00

So MEPs have decided that a report on how they are defrauding the people who pay them should remain secret. It beggars belief that any politician could behave with such arrogance and contempt for their electorate. I used to be a supporter of the EU, time has changed that and now with this latest example of EU theft of citizens money I have, belatedly many will say, come to the conclusion that the UK should pull out of what appears to be a sinister and corrupt organisation.

I sent the below to the EU via their website. Should they deign to respond I’ll post their reply.

Please can you explain why the European Parliament has decided to keep secret details of the fraud being perpetrated upon citizens of the European Union by MEP’s misusing their staff wage allowance? Can you further explain why anyone should have any faith whatsoever in the European Parliament if it’s members are prepared to cover up, and by so doing condone, such fraud. If MEP’s are not totally transparent about their wages and expenses this sets the tone for the whole EU. If MEP’s are not prepared to answer to the people who are paying for their luxurious lifestyle where is the accountability? To respond that they are answerable at elections is insufficient – they MUST be accountable at all times. By behaving as they do they will have undermined still further the esteem with which MEP’s and the European project are held, showing themselves to be selfish, self serving, arrogant and contemptuous of their electorate. They have added considerable weight to the argument that Britain would be far far far better off without the corrupt and dishonest organization that is the European Union.

Also, on this St George’s day it transpires that the EU have renamed the English Channel as The Channel Sea. Are they actively trying to get Britain to pull out of the EU? They’re going the right way about it.

UPDATE

They replied, albeit a non reply, stating that they were unauthorised to answer the questions (slighty odd for the Division for Correspondence with Citizens but there you go). They pointed me to a press officer so I've asked the same question of him.

Libdems and The Lisbon Treaty

2008-03-05T01:48:00.000-08:00

So the Libdems have been instructed to abstain in the vote on a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty. I saw Nick Clegg trying to justify this stance on Newsnight and boy did he fail bigtime.
Looks like my jibe about the Libdems electing another interim leader wasn’t that far off the mark.
The question now is how many of the Libdem MP’s will rebel against this stupid instruction and vote with the Tories and the Labour rebels. Let’s hope it’s enough to force Labour to honour its manifesto promise.

Are smokers the new Jews?

2008-02-20T04:07:00.000-08:00

OK I’m feeling persecuted. I smoke and I drive a large engined car. Satan has issued a diabolical decree that such cars should pay £6,500.00 pa to use the roads their RFL and fuel tax have already paid for, while another Nazi has suggested that smokers should obtain a licence.

Several things occur to me.

1) If required to get a licence I shall immediately source all my tobacco on the black market where such a licence won’t be required. It’ll also be cheaper for me.
2) Is this just the start of more Stalinist initiatives – will licenses be required to buy booze shortly.
3) How long before I’m required to wear a fetching yellow star before being invited to a smoker’s camp for concentration purposes.
4) I could get a smaller engined car, but the carbon footprint of a new car far exceeds the emissions I will make using the existing one – so how “green” is Satan’s new scheme.
5) Can I emigrate to another freer country where the state doesn’t think it has the right to stick its nose into every corner of your life and then tax it – Zimbabwe for example.

Please God, if you’re listening (and aren’t too pissed of with us coz of the Arch Bish Of C) let this government fall, Satan be taken back to hell and the people of this country stop sleepwalking into a police state.

Proof positive that The Archbishop should resign

2008-02-11T05:02:00.000-08:00

Gordon Brown reckons he's a man of "great integrity".

Nuff said

Oh, and he still hasn't resigned! What on earth is keeping him?

Sharia and the Archbishop

2008-02-11T03:08:00.001-08:00

A few days have passed since the Arch Bish of C outraged the country with his poorly thought through comments on the adoption of Sharia law. Despite two e-mails from me he hasn’t resigned yet.

He should. He has shown himself to be inadequate at his primary role, protecting the Established Church of England.

If people want to settle disputes outside of the law they are free so to do. They can settle disputes by playing scissors, paper, stone for all I care, but they must accept that such settlements have no meaning within the law. If Muslims wish to settle dispute using Sharia that’s up to them, but if they do so in the UK they must accept that either party will still have recourse to the LAW if they disagree with the Sharia result. There can be no variation to the principle that there is one rule of law for all in this country.

The Arch Bish doesn’t seem to understand this bit.

Backtracking madly it seems the Arch Bish is now saying that he only wanted to stimulate debate etc etc. He just doesn’t get it does he? There’s nothing to debate. There can only be one law.

Lastly beware the PC brigade talking through their arses about the UK being a secular state. NO IT ISN’T. The UK may be a secular society, but, due to the combined role of Her Maj as Head of State and Head of the C of E the UK is a Protestant Christian state.

Perhaps he’ll resign before I finish posting this. Live in hope.

Archbishop Surrenders

2008-02-07T07:30:00.000-08:00

I’ve heard that the Archbishop of Canterbury has suggested that the UK adopt parts of Sharia law so that “Muslims should not have to choose between the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty”.

Yes they should, its part of the price for living in a country – you live by the laws of the land.

I am disgusted that any Englishman or representative of the C of E could even consider the adoption of alien laws in some attempt to assuage a foreign culture.

By suggesting that parts of Sharia law should be adopted the Archbishop is betraying his church and more worryingly his country. If people want to live under Sharia law there are plenty of countries which have it. It is not wanted here. If people want to live here they should do so under OUR laws; it is not for us to adopt alien laws to please newcomers, newcomers need to obey and respect our laws. Rarely has a pronouncement by a bishop made me so angry. He should resign henceforth; he has shown that he is no protector of either the church and its values or the values of the British people as a whole.

Result

2008-01-29T05:30:00.000-08:00

The Conservatives have withdrawn the whip from Derek Conway.
Well done Dave, you've shown your worth.

Is Dave dithering?

2008-01-29T03:43:00.000-08:00

Here is a wonderful opportunity for Dave to show his mettle. If he withdraws the whip from Conway he establishes clear blue water between his party’s attitude towards sleaze and that of Nulab. Why does he hesitate? After all, the whip can be restored if Conway is exonerated.

Come on Dave, show us, and the country at large, that the Conservatives won’t tolerate even the suggestion of sleaze.

Despatches last night

2008-01-22T04:09:00.000-08:00

Was at 8.00 pm not 9.00, but I still watched it.

No killer blow sadly. The most damning charge was that Satan used taxpayers’ funds for party purposes; but this is not a charge that will resonate with most people. For the rest Ken’ll be able to shrug the charges off.

Damn, I really wanted to see the man squirm, however I suspect he’ll have woken this morning feeling relieved.

One bright note however is that the programme may have raised the perception of sleaze in the public’s mind. If the programme convinces 10% more people to vote for Boris, or discourages 10% of people from voting for Satan that’ll be enough to get Boris the job.

I really hope so anyway.

Despatches to reveal the truth about Satan?

2008-01-21T08:06:00.000-08:00

9.00 pm Channel 4 tonight - Despatches, compulsory (and arguably compulsive) viewing for anyone who gives a fig about London. If the pre broadcast hype is to be believed Satan will be exposed as a drunk, a bully and a supporter of a secretive Trotskyite cabal who seek to establish the Soviet city state of London, using taxpayers’ money to fund their evil plans.

I intend to watch and will cheer every time Satan is shown to be abusing his powers, misusing taxpayers funds etc etc.

It’s not that I hate Satan; it’s just that he’s an anti-Semitic misogynist who hates personal choice and who operates according to the politics of envy so beloved of his scummy party. May he return to hell shortly to stay there forever.

OK I lied; I hate him.

Long live Boris.

Ken tells (more) porkies

2008-01-17T04:22:00.000-08:00

Well done to Andrew Gilligan and Ross Lydall for again exposing Satan (aka Ken L) as a liar. According to The Standard a committee of MP’s, Labour, Lib- Dem and Tory have said he has “mislead the public” regarding the enquiry into the money his mates were given by the LDA.

Ms Featherstone (Lib-Dem) said: "Ken has no shame. It is almost as if if he shouts loud enough he makes what he is saying true, but the evidence shows that what the Mayor has said is not true."

Now let’s hope that the whole affair is exposed in the rest of the MSM so that finally London will be rid of this oppressive evil regime.

Hain apologists

2008-01-15T01:58:00.000-08:00

Newsnight last night. Some Labour apologist (Lucas?) appeared and tried to defend the indefensible. Part of his defence was to claim that 3 helicopter trips made by Cameron, all duly declared in at least one of the two places it should be (members interests and electoral commission – I forget which) was just as bad as Hain’s undeclared receipt of £103k.

Sorry, am I missing something. Cameron declares the trips at the time to the authority he believes needs to know, while Hain “forgets” to declare to any official body an amount equal to 125% of the amount he did declare.

So, in his mind, declaring funds (or benefits) on time to the authorities equates to keeping secret donations received until you’re forced to reveal them. Well, it’s an interesting take on honesty, one well in tune with Labour thinking. After all laws (note 45 Govt) don’t really need to be applied to Nulab and its cronies

He also claimed that Hain had volunteered the information. Here he’s on stronger ground given that he’s probably using voluntary in the same sense that it’s used for ID card purposes i.e. you have no choice it’s mandatory.

Newlabourspeak has begun. Voluntary means compulsory, honesty means dishonesty; let’s just hope that “the Prime Minister’s full support” means what I think it means.

HAIN - Brown says his fate is not in my hands

2008-01-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

Well yes it is actually. You are Prime Minister after all, and last time I checked the PM can decide who is and isn’t in his Cabinet.

That said what is all the debate about. He broke the law therefore he should resign, failing which he should be sacked. What’s to talk about?

Joined up Government

2008-01-14T04:16:00.000-08:00

So Labour has suggested that the voting age be lowered from 18 to encourage participation on politics.

They also propose increasing the age at which you leave education to 18.

So what they’re saying is that these teenagers are fully competent, capable people who are sufficiently mature to take decisions on who should run the country, but who are incapable and insufficiently mature to decide when they should leave school, or indeed, smoke.

So are they adults or not? Come on Comrades decide one way or the other.

Commie shits.

Footling point

2007-12-31T02:14:00.000-08:00

How do I change the time setting on this damn thing? It’s 10.15 in the morning, not 01.44? (or whatever time the blog deems this was posted at).

New Years Eve

2007-12-31T01:39:00.000-08:00

Another year ends, another begins. Time for reflection on ones personal achievements in the year nearly past.
Um
Well
Er.
OK enough of that.

Overall a good year for the Tories. Nu-Lab dumped the leader who’d taken them through three election victories and replaced him with a psychopath control freak whose abundant weaknesses are becoming increasingly apparent (shrewd move comrades). Call me Dave has managed to hold the party together while increasing its appeal to the broader public. LibDems continue to elect caretaker leaders.

Overall a bad year for liberty. The Stalinist tendency of NuLab continues to reduce our civil liberties (why do so few people realise just how close to a police state this country has become) using the Magna Carter as toilet paper. Satan continues to persecute motorists in London, seemingly with impunity. Nanny wants us all to suffer restrictions on drinking (and possibly higher prices) because a few idiots get drunk, fight and throw up in the high streets (which has never ever ever happened in the past of course, all those cartoons about gin sodden London in the (?) 18th Century were lies.
WTF. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? I watched Police Camera Road Rage Wars (or something) where two policemen staked out a car because they’d been told that a banned driver might be using his car. OK he was (though how many days stakeout weren’t shown because he didn’t on those days wasn’t revealed), but is this efficient use of police time? If a banned driver is caught in the normal course of events by all means throw the book at him. Put him away for 5 or 10 years just for driving while banned, more if he’s caused an accident and even more if he’s injured someone. If he killed someone make it a life sentence, but don’t waste police time by watching him to see if he might commit a crime. There are enough genuine crimes going unsolved as it is.

Then ID cards; despite proving to everyone’s satisfaction that the government is incapable of keeping secret data secret NuLab continues down this path of folly. What glee will be experienced by the first criminal to crack that particular database, or more likely the first one to find it on a bus next to an M15 dossier marked “Top Secret”? I asked the Home office (e-mail) what extra benefits I would get from having an ID card, unsurprisingly their response failed to provide any.
Anyway, why should I have to “prove” who I am? I know who I am and if some govt orc wants evidence he can fucking well look for it himself. This is all about making life easy for civil servants and the police, not about enhancing the lives and freedoms of Her Majesty’s subjects.

Right, having worked myself into a lather time to lie down in a darkened room with a cool moist towel over my forehead.

Happy New Year.

Benazir Bhutto

2007-12-27T06:30:00.000-08:00

Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide attack. A bad day for freedom.

The sales or the office - no contest

2007-12-27T05:53:00.000-08:00

Thursday 27/12. The high streets are full of bargains (at least according to the adverts and the news) so the pressure for a shopping trip has become inescapable. What fun, hours of traipsing round shops I don’t want to go into saying “yes that’s really nice”, “no, you don’t look fat in that” and “yes that’s a really good price” (for something you don’t want / need).
Cunning plan, drop everyone off a Knightsbridge then into the office for a couple of hours of solitaire, writing this post, seeing if anything’s happened on Guido and Iain Dale (it hasn’t), then collect the exhausted masses and back home for turkey and (rather nice) ham.

MP’s seem to be voting themselves an above inflation paydeal – nice trick that, wish I could do the same. Shame about the police rise. Why isn’t MP’s pay set by an independent body? One of Gordon’s “citizens juries” perhaps. I sent 10 Downing St an e-mail stating that I’d like to be on one of these juries and asked that the application process be explained to me. No reply – I wonder why not. Surely these independent, representative, and totally non political juries aren’t appointed from the perceived great and good? Oh, they are.

Another day closer to Satan’s new improved anti choice (ie anti car) scheme. Please God, take him away.

Christmas Break

2007-12-20T06:59:00.000-08:00

Locked the keys in my car this morning while scraping frost off the window screen. Doh. Happily that very, very nice AA man arrived within 30 mins and 10 seconds later the car was unlocked. Gosh these things are easy to break into once you know how.

Drove into the great city listening to Nick Ferrari interviewing Satan (Ken Livingstone is the name he uses on earth at the moment, Satan, not Nick Ferrari). When quizzed on the £2½ million of taxpayers’ money his mates had frittered away Satan gave remarkably calm and reasoned answers without actually promising to do anything about it. That’s so typical of Labour; either

1) it’s not my fault it was [name an official usually junior] (used by all of them)
2) I wasn’t there (Gordon)
3) what’s important now is [insert spurious statement] (a labour favourite – anything rather than address the issue)
4) It’s the tories wot dun it (has crept back into usage as labours incompetence becomes increasingly apparent)
5) The Tories are just as bad (but they’re not and even if they were that’s not the point).

Anyway, must go and do that last minute X-mas shopping.

Wishing everyone (anyone?) who reads this a Merry Christmas

Office party

2007-12-13T03:28:00.000-08:00

Office party last night. Pleasant enough Portuguese restaurant allegedly frequented by the special one, though he wasn’t there yesterday. Food OK. Fizz, wine and calvados (a personal weakness) plentiful. The firm had booked a caricaturist – a sad reminder of how far from one’s mental image one has become over the years. Where did that fat bald bloke in the mirror come from?

The bash finished about 12.30, despite the best efforts of some of us to continue elsewhere the critical mass was missing so instead a short weave through the drunken crowds back to the flat.

Woke to discover that Comrade Brown will be signing the EU Constitution after all, just not with any cameras to catch the event. Wasn’t there some promise at the last election of a referendum on this? I know I’m hungover but I’m sure there was. Also didn’t some-one say something like “this is a matter of trust between me and the electorate”?

Can’t the Comrades keep any promises?

God, roll on the revolution (or at least the election)

2007-12-12T07:50:00.000-08:00

Well, having discovered that I actually have a reader I'll post again.
Today I had the misfortune to bring a car into central London. WTF are Thieves for Livingstone (TFL) doing to our city. My journey time has increased by 15 minutes, entirely due to man made congestion. Why is TFL increasing congestion when they promised to reduce it? Why does TFL design roads so as to increase pollution (by slowing traffic to a crawl)? One way to get into their thick heads that slower traffic means more polution would be to calculate the increased carbon emmissions caused by their "road improvements" and make them pay for it personally.
Sadly it'll never happen.
For God' sake Boris - WIN.

Introducing myself

2007-08-30T05:23:00.001-07:00

Hello,
Firstly let me make plain that I’m not the Nick Wood who periodically appears on Newsnight and other programmes as a Conservative spokesman; instead I’m a rather less well connected Nick Wood who just happens to agree with the rising tide of people who think its time to ditch the Labour government and replace it with the Conservatives. Actually that’s a bit disingenuous as I’m a Tory party member.

The similarity in names however has proved amusing at times however as for a while Iain Dale kept inviting me to appear on 18 Doughty St – somehow I resisted the temptation to turn up and make a complete tit of myself.

Thanks to the 6 people who tried to view my profile (which I haven’t worked out how to set up yet – how thick am I?). Once its set up you’ll see that my primary interest is posting on other people’s blogs as, though interested in the democratic change of government, I have no exclusive sources of information to share with anyone, but hell, I’ll put in my twopennyworth on any topic if it interests me.

Who knows I may post again.