Posts Tagged ‘Nick Clegg’
STOP THIEF! £2 Million Banker Robber.
Highwayman Hester
RBS, 83% owned by you and me, lost £1.13 billion last year. Stephen Hester is getting a £2 million bonus – all in shares – with his salary frozen at a paltry £1.2 million.
It’s an inside job. Cameron, Dr Cable and the poodle all have their hand in this. A stitch up.
I wonder what BBC DG Mark Thompson’s bonus will be this year and how easily Uncle Rupert will subvert his way into total British media domination?
This is the oligarchy, cooking its books, flexing its muscles at your and my expense.
Barclays Pays £113 Million Tax, £2800 Million Bonuses
Seeker After Truth
Congratulations to Labour MP Chuka Umunna, who has exposed the truth about the organised crime syndicate known as Barclays Bank. See here for the full story.
Far from contributing to the British economy, in 2009 the bosses of this criminal gang paid themselves nearly 25 times as much as they paid in tax on their ill gotten gains.
Barclays Boss = Liar & Cheat
Nothing better illustrates the deception, fraud and misrepresentation that this den of thieves has perpertrated on the British people. It also highlights the weakness and compromise of Dr Vince Cable, once held up as the champion of the people, now revealed as weak, ineffectual and useless in the face of Barclays’ corrupting influence. As for Cameron, his poodle and all the other cowardly members of our once honourable House of Commons, they are all two-faced, impotent and in shameful, sycophantic awe of the vast piles of shekels that the banker robbers accumulate.
Obama And The Poodle Share A Problem
Top Rated Questions For The President
I believe there was a “Your Freedom” type online initiative by Obama, even before he took office. The highest rating idea was that inconvenient question of legalising marijuana. So many people in America seem to be concerned about it, however hard the righteous and religious try to persuade them otherwise. Why won’t America think as it is told to?
Then back in the heady summer of 2010, when coalition seemed hip and LibDem was cool, Dave’s poodle came unstuck with the same problem. He said he’d “repeal unjust and illiberal laws” but he didn’t mean cannabis. That was the top suggestion on his website too. No, no, no – such nonsense won’t be considered. Let’s hush it up, forget it happened. What? Your freedom? Whose freedom?
Now Obama is there again. His online town hall meeting on YouTube tomorrow night is dominated by calls to legalise the weed. It happens every time. YouTube cooperates of course and last time deemed such ideas “inappropriate”. By the time you read this you will probably know the latest excuse.
See here for the latest update on the top questions for the President.
Obama and the poodle. Two of the same. Both once claimed more liberal attitudes. Indeed, both have inhaled. What useless, insincere, inadequate, weak and pathetic politicians we end up with.
Both of them are out of time.
LibDem Conmen Should Be Expelled From Parliament
Liars, Conmen And Cheats
I support the tuition fee proposals. They seem very fair to me and I can’t see that any prospective student can have any complaint about the terms offered.
However, if you’re an MP and before the election you signed a pledge to vote against any increase in tuition fees then you have no choice. It doesn’t matter if you’re a minister or if the economic situation is worse than you thought it was. This is black and white. It’s clear cut. There can be no argument. If you break your signed commitment then you have to go.
If you seek to evade your commitment or fudge the issue then you compound your crime. And I see no reason why it should not be a crime. In civil law it is a clear breach of contract but it is much more serious than that. It is obtaining a seat in parliament on false pretences. It wasn’t a vague promise made in the heat of the election campaign. It was a written agreement.
Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and all their cronies who have broken their word should be frogmarched out of parliament and charged with criminal deception. They should all go to jail. Not for a long time. Six months will do but each and every one of them is a proven liar, conman and cheat. They have no honour.
Unless parliament takes this action to preserve its integrity, then its reputation will sink even lower. It sets the most appalling example to the country and any MP who allows this scandal to persist without action is an accessory after the fact.
Shame on you, you weak and pathetic cowards. You disgrace yourselves and our country.
UK Drug Strategy 2010 – A Plan To Fail
Mother Knows Best
Gone are the days when central Government tells communities and the public what to do.
Rt. Hon. Theresa May, MP, Home Secretary, December 2010
A slim volume of treacle-like and turgid social worker-speak shot through with a few strands of sharp hypocrisy. See here.
A disappointment? Not really, it’s pretty much what I expected – an authoritarian, moralistic smokescreen behind which the government will do what it wants with no regard whatsoever for the views or the welfare of the people. It stinks.
It claims to be radical in that it turns away from reducing the harms caused by drugs and instead aims to force abstinence. In other words, do as we say or suffer the consequences. It is, in fact, a medieval solution to a 21st century problem. It seems that the British government no longer cares about the harm caused by drugs. All it cares about is that you STOP! This is the ultimate exposition of Nancy Reagan’s discredited “Just Say No” campaign because it really is “just” say “no” – no other option exists. This from a government that advocates giving people methadone to “treat” cannabis use. Can you believe it? That isn’t medieval. It’s prehistoric – or perhaps better described as mid 20th century, a sort of Dr Mengele method.
I give Ms May credit for one thing. She mentions alcohol alongside drugs in the first sentence of her foreword. That is progress but from then on there is little of any value. Nothing that you couldn’t have copied from any out of date A level textbook on social work.
The laughable assertion quoted above that the government doesn’t tell us what to do is just absurd. Never has there been a more hard line approach to the drugs issue. See Edwin Stratton’s article in The Guardian here which reveals just how draconian, anti-civil liberties and severe this government is.
In the penultimate paragraph of her foreword, Ms May acknowledges that there were calls during consultation on the strategy for “liberalisation and decriminalisation”. She dismisses these as not “the answer” but fails entirely to consider the enormous harm caused and crime created by existing policies. I will be making Freedom Of Information requests to determine just how much notice was taken of the consultation.
There is a complete failure to understand or consider the harms of prohibition. Britain now stands as one of the most backward and restrictive countries in the world when it comes to drug policy. We now rub shoulders with those countries that execute people for drug possession. There is no civilised country in the world with a more repressive drugs policy than Britain.
Broken Britain
Emphasis is given to the introduction of elected Police and Crime Commissioners. I support this move. Hopefully, these elected officials, being closer to reality and not ensconsed in Whitehall’s ivory towers, will mitigate some of the damage that this strategy could cause. They will have the impossible job of trying to implement these ideas and will surely give Ms May and her protege James “Broken Britain” Brokenshire some lessons in reality and common sense.
The statistics and figures quoted in the strategy are manifest nonsense. Apparently the economic and social costs of Class A drug use are £15.4 billion per annum while the equivalent figure for alcohol is £18 – 25 billion. Supposedly the total illicit drug market in Britain is worth just £4 – 6 billion per annum while the market for alcohol is £30 billion. There are just 320,000 heroin and/or crack cocaine users but tens of million that use alcohol. These figures just don’t add up. Maybe that’s part of the reason this strategy is so badly conceived and directed.
It’s only part of the reason though. The main problem is that the government’s approach is based on prejudice and an arrogant, moralistic, proselytising stance. See David Nutt’s article here on what the government would do if a completely safe alternative to ecstasy was developed. Prohibition is immoral and evil in itself. When will our politicians wake up to what most of the rest of Europe and the USA already knows?
Powerful Medicine. Gentle Pleasure.
Cannabis, the most widely used illegal drug by a factor of at least 10 barely gets a mention except in passing. This, in itself, exposes the inane content of this strategy. The government apparently intends to deal with cannabis in exactly the same way as it deals with heroin and crack. The medicinal use of cannabis, now a burgeoning industry and source of hope to people all over Europe and America isn’t even mentioned. The crass stupidity of this strategy is almost beyond belief.
So the battle lines are drawn. Every other civilised country in the world is coming to terms with the fact that the war on drugs is unwinnable, even lost. Theresa May, like some mad first world war general, is blowing her whistle and urging on millions more to go over the top into certain death, or at least misery and degradation. Her slightly fey, sweet boy, Colonel Jimmy is hiding behind her, determined to gain credit for something but definitely not doing anything worthwhile, “Crikey! Not me. I’m staying safe.”
This could be a deeply depressing day but at least now we know where we stand. David Cameron and Nick Clegg have completely turned around on the progressive and liberal ideas they have advocated in the past. Nothing is a better indicator of the integrity and intelligence of a government than its drug policy. Britain is shamed by this effort which will inevitably cause more harm, cost more money and ruin more lives.
Broken Promises. Broken Britain. Brokenshire.
Mad? Bad? Or both?
The most important principle espoused by David Cameron and Nick Clegg in the election campaign was fairness. They promised us that their government would be fair and by extension that the policies it pursued would be based on facts and evidence, not on prejudice, misinformation or distortion by vested interests.
This promise is broken and in the most crass, blatant and disgraceful fashion by the attempt to remove scientists from the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD). Never has a more corrupt intent been revealed by a British government. Never has a minister, James Brokenshire, demonstrated his intent to misinform, deceive and lie more clearly. Dr Evan Harris, the former LibDem shadow science and health minister, explains the intricacies of this attempt to subvert the law here.
The Misuse Of Drugs Act 1971 was progressive legislation in that it created the ACMD and required government to seek its expert scientific advice before criminalising the use of drugs. Because, increasingly, the government does not like the ACMD’s advice, it is now seeking to remove the Act’s requirement that there must be scientists on the council. Is it possible to conceive of a more ridiculous or corrupt idea?
In fact, the government takes no notice of the ACMD anyway. When ministers wanted to ban mephedrone earlier in the year they ordered the council to provide the advice that they wanted and banned it despite there being almost no evidence at all. More members of the ACMD then resigned and the Home Office is now trying to recruit replacements. That may be the truth of what is happening here. The government simply can’t find scientists prepared to sit on the council. I wonder why?
James Brokenshire says: “Scientific advice is absolutely critical to the government’s approach to drugs and any suggestion that we are moving away from it is absolutely not true.
This is simply a bald faced lie and self-evidently so. If scientific advice is critical, why does he wish to remove the obligation to have it available?
James Brokenshire regularly speaks untruths or dissembles on behalf of the government. The facts prove that beyond doubt and his reputation is well established. For instance, the Home Office claims that there are no medicinal benefits in herbal cannabis and that this is based on advice from the ACMD. No such advice has ever been given. Furthermore, Professor Les Iversen, present chair of the ACMD is also a founder council member of the British Medicinal Cannabis Register (BMCR) and next week lectures on the subject “Bringing Cannabis Back into the Medicine Cabinet”
James Brokenshire is in the vanguard of this contemptible and corrupt behaviour. He may be put forward as cannon fodder by more senior ministers because the nonsense he speaks and the positions he takes are so manifestly ridiculous. When the truth is out and his shame is revealed he will easily be dismissed by Theresa May. If, as Minister for Crime Prevention, he had any real interest in preventing crime he would be resisiting this attempt to subvert the law.
European Parliament – Public Hearing On Cannabis Regulation
The European Coalition for Just and Effective Drug Policies (ENCOD) has organised a public hearing on cannabis regulation at the European Parliament on 8th December 2010. See here for full details.
In March 2009, the European Commission published the “Report on Global Illicit Drug Markets 1998 – 2007” . This concludes that current policies of prohibition are failing in their main objective to reduce the demand and supply of illicit drugs. Current policies may also be a crucial factor in generating and increasing harm to individual drug users, their direct surroundings and society at large.
According to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) in its 2010 annual report, Europe faces new challenges posed by changes in drug supply and use. The report also highlights the increased usage of cocaine, heroin and of a record number of new synthetic drugs.
ENCOD says that prohibitionist policies have failed to tackle the issues of drugs and drug use effectively and it is time to investigate alternative approaches. European authorities must produce a thorough impact assessment of the costs of the current policy of prohibition and the economic benefits of decriminalisation and, as a start, the regulation of the cannabis market.
Victor Hamilton
It has been calculated that cannabis regulation would save billions in law enforcement costs, foster harm reduction, weaken the illegal cartels, and provide the opportunity to generate considerable income from taxes. The examples of California, Spain, The Netherlands and Portugal lead the way.
Victor Hamilton, the well known cannabis campaigner and former Legalise Cannabis Alliance (LCA) parliamentary candidate, liaises as a UK representative with ENCOD. He has submitted the following letter to ENCOD in advance of the public hearing on the current state of cannabis in Britain.
Dear Joep,
Thank you for the invitation to attend the hearing on 8th December 2010. I am afraid that both my health and the expense involved prevent me from attending.However, as you know, ending the prohibition of cannabis and encouraging more and better use of the plant in all its forms is my main concern. Cannabis offers many benefits medicinally, recreationally, spiritually and, as hemp, in ecologically sound fuel, construction materials, paper and plastics alternatives. Prohibition of cannabis is a far greater crime than any perpetrated by those who use it. It is a scandal and a sad litany of wasted opportunity and resources.
In the UK, based on research I have done and confirmed by the Independent Drug Monitoring Unit (IDMU), a legalise, regulate and tax regime could produce between £4 – 6 billion pa in new tax revenue.
For the benefit of the hearing, please allow me to update you on the present situation in Britain.
Calls For Decriminalisation
There have been calls for a relaxation of cannabis laws from a number of sources: The Bar Council, the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians, The Lancet, Professor Roger Pertwee, Professor David Nutt and the Association of Chief Police Officers. The new coalition government’s “Your Freedom” website was swamped with calls for legalisation.
Reaction To Propositon 19
The cannabis community was eager with anticipation for the Proposition 19 vote in California, despite a dearth of media attention. Even the BBC, obliged under its charter to provide balanced coverage, found very little time for an issue that affects at least six million Britons. Strangely, the best of the lot was The Daily Telegraph, formerly known as the most conservative paper, it told us more about what was happening than any of the others.
The result was a disappointment and reminded us how our own campaigning has suffered from internal divisions and a lack of focus. Nevertheless. legalisation seems inevitable in the US, even if only at state level, within the next few years.
Formation of British Medicinal Cannabis Register
This exciting initiative to create a database of medicinal users in Britain was announced only in November. I was honoured to be invited to sit on the BMCR council as a medicinal user representative. Other members of the council include very eminent individuals such as Baroness Meacher, the MP Paul Flynn, Matthew Atha of IDMU and Dr Malcolm Vandenburg, the pre-eminent expert witness on drugs.
The real coup though was the announcement of Professor Leslie Iversen as a council member. Professor Iversen is the government’s chief scientific advisor on drugs. Yes that’s the British government which continues to state that cannabis has “no medicinal benefits”.
Subversion of Schengen Agreement
Several British medicinal users travelled to Holland for prescriptions from a doctor believing that their medicine was then protected by the Schengen Agreement. At first the Home Office agreed but then changed its position to say that British residents are not covered. The ridiculous situation now is that any non-UK resident can bring prescribed medicinal cannabis into Britain and use it without restriction. A UK resident cannot.
Increasing Evidence Of Medicinal Benefits
There is a never ending flow of information from all around the world on the extraordinary power of cannabis as a medicine. Facebook groups, blogs and organisations such as the LCA and UKCIA keep spreading the news. Particularly strong evidence has been revealed for cannabinoids as a treatment for Alzheimer’s, head, neck, breast and prostate cancer, fibromyalgia, ADHD and migraine. The mainstream media seem only interested in scandal and scare stories. They publish news about vastly expensive new pharmaceutical products but not about cannabis cures.
Confusion At The Home Office
Understandably, the British government’s position looks increasingly absurd. The Home Office veers between describing cannabis as very harmful, harmful, dangerous, extremely dangerous and changes its story every time it is challenged.
Approval of Sativex
Sativex won welcome approval from the medicines regulator as a treatment for spasticity in MS. Despite the fact that Sativex is nothing more than a tincture of herbal cannabis, the government now maintains that “cannabis has no medicinal benefits in herbal form”. Sativex is approximately eight times the cost of herbal medicinal cannabis and many health authorities are refusing to fund it.
New UK Drug Strategy
The government is to announce a new drugs strategy in December. There is expected to be a shift in emphasis towards healthcare interventions rather than criminal sanctions but no move away from prohibition. The more liberal views expressed by both David Cameron and Nick Clegg over the last 10 years seem to have changed now they have come to power.
Joep, I hope this is helpful and informative for the hearing and for you and your colleagues.
Victor Hamilton
The Bean Counter And The Ponce. A Pair Of Hypocrites.
There is no more integrity.
This government is even more corrupt than the last. Not just widespread financial corruption amongst MPs, now ministers have abandoned all pretence at listening or consulting. Britain has become an oligarchy and both politicians and the media are complicit.
I and many other Tories were prepared to accept and defend the financial squeeze but I can no longer support this government. I could not vote Tory again given the level of betrayal and arrogance from David Cameron. As for the LibDems, they have sacrificed their integrity completely. I see nothing unfair with the present proposals for tuition fees but deplore and condemn the LibDem’s broken promises. They are ruined. Clegg is beyond, in fact, beneath redemption.
Ministers in this government have become more remote than ever before. They sit in their feather-bedded ivory towers and just ignore correspondence. This is now par for the course in the respect and courtesy that our government pays us. One can write again and again, send email reminders and never get even an acknowledgement. This is disregard so serious that it is corruption.
Clegg’s “Your Freedom” website was canned as quickly as it started. No, no, no, that gave the people far too loud a voice.
And the press are involved too. They protect and serve only their own comfort in the politics bubble. The editors of the national newspapers follow their own agenda with no regard for their readers. Normal rules of supply and demand do not apply. They have so much power that most only know what they are given. They distort the truth as it suits them. Only what serves them gets published.
We have some recourse with the BBC. It is obliged to provide balance but the complaints system is worse than useless and the director-general receives a ludicrous bribe of £838,000 per annum.
Over just the last 12 months there have been massive demonstrations in London where tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets but we do not hear of them. It is entirely true that were it not for the violence we would never have heard of the 52,000 students that marched on Millbank earlier this month. The blood spilled and the damage caused is on the hands of the media. They are a corrupt and pernicious influence on our society. Much as I believe in smaller government, the media now have too much power. Effective regulation is needed.
The Tory promise never to allow more power to slip to Brussels has also been broken and Cameron is exposed as nothing more than a procedural clerk. All his bold, inspirational philosophy of freedom and fairness is gone. I have never seen such hostility from those who were previously firm Tory supporters.
This corrupt and self-serving government is going down the pan.
Vive Brittania, Rule La France. The End Of The United Kingdom.
Non! C’est impossible. This treaty is treason.
Ratty & Mr Toad
I don’t want the French having anything to do with the defence of my country. I’m happy to have them as allies but at arm’s length, please. They have shown all too often how ready they are to turn and run, to pursue their own obscure and strange ideas and to fail to support us. We don’t need the French and we don’t want them. David Cameron has betrayed us.
It is ridiculous. It is a shabby politician’s compromise. With a searing bolt of shining light I realise the danger of the coalition. This is a disastrous fudge by two Euro-politicians intent on a grubby deal to reinforce each other. I thought David Cameron was so much more his own man yet the longer the coalition continues I see that it promises little more than mediocrity and mutual back scratching. Nick Clegg has become a poodle. David Cameron is just a committee chairman and all politicans are now even more focused on their own personal advantage and gain than they were in the days of the expenses free for all. There is no integrity left in parliament at all.
This shameful abdication of our sovereignty is the worst of all worlds. It is politicians doing all they can to lock themselves into power with no regard or concern for the people, for our honour or our independence. It is all about politicians and nothing to do with the people.
This devious scheme has been cooked up behind closed doors without any recourse or consultation. It is undemocratic, un-British and a disgrace. I can no longer support the coalition. I cannot vote for Mr Toad. He is a liar, a cheat and a conman.
Peter Reynolds 