British Hypocrisy

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Devolution, LibLabCon

The NHS in Scotland is run, quite rightly, by the Scots. The NHS in Wales likewise, is run by the Welsh. The NHS in England is run by…..the British.

Because of the peculiar setup of Westminster and the poorly thought-out effects of devolution, MPs from wherever they come from, are able to interfere with England-only institutions and to represent English public services. Let's say for example, Labour wins the next general election. It is possible that the party could choose a Scottish MP to run English education, or a Welsh MP to run NHS England. If these departmental ministers do a poor job can we sack them by voting them out? No. That responsibility lies with the respective voters of Scotland and Wales, who are totally unaffected by their actions.

In effect, there remains the possibility of having unaccountable ministers running English public services. I object to this most strongly and believe the British government needs to create an organisation to manage English public services which should be run by accountable politicians. Such an organisation should be called an English parliament. There is a similar type of organisation in Scotland. It's called the Scottish parliament and exists to manage the affairs of the Scottish people.

Democracy? What an interesting concept. Unfortunately, such a concept is alien to the LibLabCon that runs Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the same LibLabCon that loves to spout democracy to the rest of the world but fails to practice it in its own back yard. Think of the conflicts and wars in recent years in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria, where the British have got involved militarily trying to assert its brand of democracy on the inhabitants of those countries. The British should mind their own business and tackle the democratic deficit at home.

Still, what else can you expect from British hypocrites?

Happy St George’s Day

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St. George's Day

I'd like to wish readers of this blog a happy St George's Day and hope you can celebrate the day in style!

Best wishes.

Android or iOS?

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Android, iOS

Just recently I treated myself to a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 from which I’m writing this article. I’ve got an iPad and an iPhone but I thought I’d see what all the hype was with Android.

Have to say, I was surprised at how different the two systems are. For a start,  Android allows lots of options for customization while Apple is fairly restrictive. iOS is very easy to set up and use, but if you’re someone who likes to play around with operating systems then Android is for you.

I’ve started to get into the possibilities of what Android can do and enjoying the learning curve. I feel I’ve gone as far as I can with Apple and finding it a little bit too restrictive for my tastes. That’s not to say I don’t rate Apple products because I do. I think the iPad and iPhone are exceptionally good bits of kit, but the ‘closed shop’ approach of iOS will eventually lead to problems for Apple.

My iPad is first generation and my iPhone contract is due for renewal next year. The question is, do I stick with tried and trusted, but mundane iOS, or do I continue my journey in the Android world?

I’d value any pros and cons comments.

What the Tories really stand for

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Politics, Tories

With the row within the Tory ranks over gay marriage threatening to get out of control, it's time to take a look at what the Tory government really stand for. I don't mean all Tories, because there are some good ones out there. I mean Cameron's inner circle.

For a start, they've got this obsession with remaining in the EU. While Cameron has said there will be an in/out referendum somewhere around 2017, he has pledged to fight to remain in it. We can't be absolutely sure he will hold one because we've already seen him break a promise over the Lisbon Treaty, which earned him the nickname 'Cast Iron Dave'.

Then there was this idea of cutting taxes for the rich which we were told would boost the economy. Sadly, there is not a shred of evidence to support this. The rich are getting richer while the poor, well, it's the same old story.

Cameron, along with William Hague, seems to love throwing his weight around the world. Afghanistan is still ongoing, and we've seen incursions into Libya, threats against Syria, involvement in Algeria, and now in Mali. War seems to be important to the Tory hierarchy yet it slashed Britain's military with incompetence and savagery.

Cameron says education is important, yet found it acceptable to treble university tuition fees for English students. And while on the subject of the English, he also promised to address the West Lothian Question. That hasn't happened and of course never will.

All in all, David Cameron and his clique have disgraced the Tory party, and it's difficult to see how it'll ever recover from the damage this man has inflicted on it. If the Tories had any sense, they'd get rid of him as soon as, otherwise they can expect to spend many years in the wilderness.

Jessop’s the latest casualty

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Jessops

Jessop's, the photography retail chain, has announced the closure of all 187 of its stores with the loss of 1370 jobs. The chain is the latest of a number of retailers that have closed their doors since the beginning of the financial crisis. Already we've seen the disappearance of Comet, Woolworth, Peacock's, and JJB Sports, among many. The question is: where does it end?

The first thing to consider is what's caused some of these chains to vanish from our high streets. I think a lot of it is the squeeze on the spending power of Joe Public. Many have maxed out on their credit cards and are desperately trying to pay back their heavy borrowing. This of course limits their disposable income and in turn has a knock-on effect for the retail industry. The rising cost of living doesn't help either, what with energy costs taking up more and more of our income. The Internet is a major rival to our high street stores as many of us change our sources of supply. I feel desperately sorry for all these people losing their jobs. I really hope they can all find something soon.

Will Jessop's the last chain to disappear? Doubtful. My money is on HMV or WH Smith to be the next to go. Why? HMV is taking a real hammering from online companies and people are buying music in a different way these days. WH Smith stopped selling music a while ago, but their problems will come from shrinking books sales, thanks to book ereaders and books on sale at major supermarkets, and increased competition from stationers. Have you noticed how many book shops have gone from our high streets in recent years?

Still, let's hope I'm wrong and these two chains can ride out the storm. I would hate to see more of our retailers disappear. Napolean once called us a nation of shopkeepers. Sadly, they're a disappearing breed.

Carers UK – Nonsense

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Carers UK

Just recently, I've been having a debate with Carers UK. This is an organisation that one would think operates UK-wide as their title suggests, but there's more to it than one at first suspects.

I asked them what work they did and they told me they covered all four home nations and referred me to their websites in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. I asked them why no Carers England and they said they covered England too, but their organisational structure is designed to mirror the UK and Scottish parliaments, and the Welsh and Northern Irish assemblies. I then asked them why there is no Carers London because London has an assembly, and surprise surprise, they didn't reply.

Which all goes to prove once again there are numerous organisations that refuse to recognise England as a nation and continue to lump England into the UK while granting nation status to the other countries of the union through their organisational structure. Carers UK is yet another one. It might do good work, but it is playing politics too.

Personally, I'll be glad to see the back of this union and for England to finally have institutions of her own, managed of course by an English parliament.