Civil servants paid thousands to open one letter a week

Turns out the Scotland Office gets paid a lot of money but actually does very little. It would be the Scotland Office soaking up the dosh, or am I being cynical?

The government department is housed in the tres opulent Dover House (pictured) and receives a £6 million budget from the public coffers every year even though it's role has shrunk considerably since the botched devolution of power to Home Nations. Apart from England.

Incredibly, 20 staff are employed to deal with mail in spite of the department receiving only 1252 letters for 2006/2007. This equates to each member of staff "dealing" with one letter a week. Does this include junk mail?

In total, the 50 staff racked up hotel expenses of £75,000 because they have to travel between London and Edinburgh as well as £8,000 in hiring plants.

See the full article in the Sunday Mail HERE

Wendy can't hold onto her aides

Wendy Alexander, the leader of the Scottish Labour party, has had to let go of another spin doctor aide because he made a four letter slur on the First Minister, Alex Salmond.

The incident happend during the Politician of the Year awards ceremony at the Prestonfield House Hotel in Edinburgh when Matthew Marr shouted "c***" to Alex Salmond as he collected his award for Politican of the Year. Can Labour no longer afford decent spinmen??

In addition, he was reportedly rude to SNP felmale MSPs and to cloakroom staff at the £100-ahead event.

Marr was brought in in September 2007 after his predeccessor, Brian Lironi, quit after a matter of weeks. Nothing personal, Wendy.

Marr issued an apology to everyone involved and tendered his resignation to Wendy Alexander who accepted. No, Wendy, those employed by Labour who have made mistakes are supposed to hang on - it's official party policy.

BBC story HERE

Huhne/Clegg get their handbags out...

Those who thought Lib Dem MPs possessed a civil and calm disposition, it would appear, are totally wrong.

Watch it HERE

Clegg and Huhne appeared on the Today programme which was proving to be as naff as their Question Time "clash" UNTIL (drum roll) John Sopell pulled out a document from Huhne's office entitled "Calamity Clegg". It listed, in some detail, the failings of his opponent and his inability to make his position clear on key policy issues.

Clegg was very upset at this and flustered his way through a defence as the two men scrapped (verbal scrapping that is, not physical, disappointingly). Huhne claimed he knew nothing of the document. Pull the other one Huhne - it's got bells on!

Blair rubs salt in Miliband/Broon wound

Westminster was a buzz last night as details of some comments made by the former PM regarding Miliband began to circulate.

Read the Telegraph article HERE

In a visit to Miliband's South Shields constituency, Bliar praised the teenager-cum-foreign-secretary who he once described as "his Wayne Rooney" and refused to say directly whether he was his preferred heir, insisting that "it's down to David to decide that, not me". We all knew what Blair's plan A was.

Bliars comments come at a sensitive time for the Brown-Miliband duet as only last week, No. 10 forced through changes to the Foreign Secretary's EU speech. The last minute alterations were not well received and David was apparently furious with Downing Street saying aides close to Brown had been "crudely briefing" against him in a "disloyal manner".

No doubt Brown will be pissed off with Bliar although the official line is that he is "entirely relaxed about it". Brown, relaxed?!

Des Browne tries to defend govts army record

Des Browne in today's Sunday Telegraph goes on the offensive and defends the governments record on the armed services saying,

"But the truth is that we strive constantly to ensure that the Armed Forces have the best possible package of care."

It would seem, Des, that few people agree with you, least of all Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the British Army, whom the same paper is reporting today as saying that morale among British soldiers is poor and they feel "devalued, angry and suffering from Iraq fatigue".

The latest attack on the government's abysmal record on defence comes after a summer of discontent when Des Browne failed to stop personnel selling their stories after a kidnapping and in August the Royal British Legion said that the military covenant, and agreement between the government and the armed forces, was not being upheld.

On top of this - only a few weeks ago - the Prime Minister failed to mention to any meaningful extent the Iraq/Afghan war in his party conference speech.

Des, the Labour government's record speaks for itself.

Labour slide further down in polls...

A poll for the Sunday Times sees Labour losing support from the electorate and the difference since the previous YouGov poll indicates that the support lost from Labour has been gained by the Lib Dems.

Political Betting points out Labour has seen a swing of 17 points in the space of seven weeks - from an 11% lead to trailing by 6%. It would appear that the polls are almost as quick to turn around as Labour policy decisions (CGT, IHT, ETC, ETC).

A month ago, 59% of people thought he was doing a good job compared with 29%who thought he was doing badly. Now only 33% feel he is doing a good job while those who think he is doing badly has climed to 43%. Let's hope that big tent can hold up under the weight of all those statistics. No doubt Brown's "moral compass" will see him through the rough times.

Balls up at No. 10

The Guardian has a good article today.

It comments on the recent evidence that Brown has returned to a "bunker" mentality at No. 10 and seeks advice from those within an anointed clique: Balls, Ed Miliband, Douglas Alexander.

Others are starting to feel excluded as Brown's clunking fist comes down on his advisers and ministers. Lord West changed his tune quicker than the bed sheets in a brothel over his security report and rumour has it that David Miliband was furious with Downing Street over the way they handled the changes to his speech.

This is quoted from the piece and illustrates the disconnection on key policy areas within the "big tent":

"The Miliband speech episode nevertheless speaks loudly about the present dismayed state of the Labour government. In the first place - not to be overlooked in favour of the sweatier dramas between individuals, to which we will come in a moment - it testifies to a major disjunction over a very important area of foreign policy between Downing Street and the lead department. Brown and Miliband both made big speeches about foreign policy this week. Brown's said almost nothing about Europe. It was a disappointing combination of standard lines on current issues along with some vacuous generalities. Miliband's said almost nothing about any issue other than Europe. It was ambitious but it rang hollow because everyone, including the foreign secretary, now suspects Brown is not interested in foreign or defence policy and is hostile to Europe."

*gets popcorn*

Paying twice for education, education, education

Yesterday the government announced a scheme which allows for 7.5m places on courses to improve standards in the three Rs.

This is typical of a Brown government which fails to address problems at the source. Instead of introducing a voucher scheme, market mechanisms and more power to parents the tax payer has to fork out again to educate people.

Who's to say it'll work this time? We are, in effect, paying twice for education and it sucks.

Happy Diwali from Brown

Found this little gem for you delectation on t'internet. I can't take Gordon Brown seriously anyway but that flowery accessory around his neck I cracked up.

I personally disagree with the whole "multicultural" thing we have going on in Britain. Not because I am xenophobic, far from it. Simply because I think by allowing people to opt out of a shared culture we alienate communities and divide our population.

That doesn't mean to say that people with different cultures should abandon them, it just means they should integrate their values and beliefs with a common national identity. All nations need shared values to which the people can subscribe and rally behind, something around which we can unite.

Bit of a stunt from the Prime Minister on this occasion I think. You should wake up and smell the roses, Gordon. They're hanging around your neck!

Time for televised debates

Sen. Clinton takes a hit from Sen. Edwards in this clip from a televised Democrat debate. During her rebuttal, Sen. Clinton accuses him of "mud slinging".

Personally, I would love to see such televised debates in Britain. Unscripted, impromptu and unrehearsed engagement with other politicians and the electorate would add fire to the weary belly of the general election. It has the added advantage that people may actually be bothered to vote.

Politicians always seem to be ranting about "connecting to the electorate". The answer is staring them in the face. But, of course, the truth is the vast majority couldn't give a fiddlers fart about us proles which is why they only play lip service to meaningful acknowledgment of our opinions.

Brown's "Big Conversation"? Let's not kid ourselves! No one with Brown's addiction to obsessive micromanagement would ever take heed of what those on the front line are saying! In the past, Brown has said that televised debates aren't required as we have PMQs which is like ordering Bollinger only to get Tizer - they just aren't the same.

Tories plan to open new grammar school

The Conservative controlled county council of Buckinghamshire want to open a new grammar school in their area owing to the creation of 20,000 new homes in the Aylesbury area. They have said that some secondary schools and a grammar school may be required to serve the local population.

If plans go ahead, it would be the first grammar school to be opened in 50 years.

They face a difficult time because in 1998 Labour introduced legislation which allowed parents to decide, via a ballot, whether to get rid of a local grammar school. The process does not allow the reverse and prevents the creation of grammar schools.

Looks like this issue will come back to haunt Cameron.

BBC fake crying babies in report

The BBC (Brown Broadcasting Corporation) has gone got itself into another faking scandal. This time it's not children, in the case of Blue Peter, it's babies.

It was revealed last night that the BBC had added a sound track of babies gurgling to a report for Newsnight, even though the babies were intubated and being ventilated.

A Russian moth gave birth to quintuplets last Saturday and although reports for other news channels had a voice over, the BBC report was the only one found to have added the sound of babies "crying".

Commenting on the matter, a BBC spokesman admitted, “We received the film without sound and on reflection, we should have kept it that way.”

Times story HERE
Telegraph story HERE

Immigration

The Ministry of Truth Home Office has released more immigration statistics. You would think after the recent debacle they would just be tempted to keep their mouths shut but no.

Basically, more people than ever before are coming to the country and more people than ever before are leaving it. according to the figures, 590,000 long term immigrants settled in the UK and 400,000 left!

In fact, 2006 actually saw net migration fall because the numbers of those escaping Blightly were so high.

The current government is enough to make anyone leave but should Tony Blair get the EU presidency, you won't see me for dust.

Would the last person to leave Britain please turn out the lights.

Cameron plays it smart at PMQ

I thought Cameron played a very intelligent game in PMQ yesterday for two reasons. Firstly, he was clever to use all his questions (leader of the opposition is usually given 6, normally split into 2 groups of 3, but this time all 6 were on one subject) to pin down the Prime Minister and contrast the promises and rhetoric as he entered Downing Street with the reality that has now come to fruition.

When repeatedly asked by Cameron, "will the Prime Minister tell us when he found out about the Home Office mistakes," Brown avoided the question and totally skirted the issue. He did so again when Cameron asked for a second time.

The Prime Minster's ability to obfuscate and spin is nothing new but in this instance he was backed into a corner and it was obvious for all to see that the emperor was, indeed, naked.

Secondly, the tone of Cameron's attack was measured and substantiated - there were some verbal missiles to allow the back benchers to cheer as they hit their target but it seemed as though Cameron was backing off from the public school boy bully image.

This is a good thing because although it's easy to tear the government to pieces after 10 years of failure it's vital that Cameron is more than an empty bully. People don't like a bully so empty sniping and easy point scoring will win him no favours from the electorate.

That's why today's careful and measured attack which forced Brown into an awkward position will be so successful in the long term. It's clear that these two mean deeply dislike each other, if not hate. Cameron should try to overcome this and at every turn meaningfully criticise the government and offer a a credible, Conservative alternative.

NHS managers squander tax payers' cash

Those high in the ranks of the NHS have been found to be wasting hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payers money on hotel and conference bills to discuss debt management in the NHS.

The Health Inequalities Unit is apparently spending 2 nights next week in the Blackpool Hilton. The unit is organised by the Improvement Foundation which receives funding to the tune of £15m from the NHS.

Full story in the Sun HERE

Tomorrow's headlines today...

Rupert Murdoch is known for his monopolies but I doubt even he can get his hands on tomorrow's headlines today.

Premier league - British jobs for British workers?!

At a press briefing today, the PMS (Prime Minsters Spokesperson) answered questions on how the PM's quip of the month affects the Premier League, also discussed were security, e-borders, Pakistan, and the Middle East Envoy.

Here are some one the more amusing extracts for your delectation:

"Put that presumably non-EU players would have to be licensed in some way to play for the clubs, the PMS replied that they would be subject to the relevant immigration laws.

Asked if the Prime Minister thought that it was a good idea that there was a large number of foreigners in British football both from inside the EU and outside, the PMS replied that he had never heard the Prime Minister express a view on that subject."

I doubt whether Brown will ever live this down.

Whispers from the mole....

It's widely acknowledged that "The Mole" articles in "The First Post" magazine are arguably the best for imparting succulent morsels on the Brown political machine.

Their mole reports that Smith should be safe for now and that Brown in public accepts her explanation for the cock-up at the home office. Brown also wants to be see to be in charge so he, instead of Smith, will deliver the results of an analysis of the terrorist threat to the underground by Lord West. This will be combined with a review from Gus O'Donnell regarding the amalgamation of the Border and Immigration Agency, Customs and UK Visas.

She didn't look too clever during her commons statement yesterday and the incompetence of the government to actually handle numbers is becoming clearer by the day.

Turns out the EU does give a shag about our money

Hats off to Burning our Money for bringing to our attention another shining example of how the EU chooses to spend our money. Apparently this is a product of the EU's "2007 media programme" which receives funds directly from the EU and, therefore, us.

Talk about being fucked over by Europe.

(After thought: I don't advocate our money being spent in this way AT ALL, but on another note, could you ever imagine a video like this being produced with public money in, say, America? They went nuts when Janet Jackson's perfectly formed breast made an unexpected appearnce when common sense would put this down to an accident/good fortune. This easy-going, open-minded mentality, as opposed to hard-core puritanism, is one of the FEW reasons I'm glad to live in Europe)

Hazel Blears in Cameron council tax offensive

No sooner had the words left David Cameron's mouth that the Tories would set a limit for council tax, after which local councils would be obliged to poll people in order to increase, than Hazel Blears wheezed the well spun Labour counter strike.

She says:

"If David Cameron's so-called new power would have any practical effect it would be to allow council tax rises to be set above current levels of capping.

If the Tories say this is not the case, then all they are proposing is another empty PR gimmick that is simply capping by another name."

Not really surprising as merely giving local people a say in tax (never mind tax cuts!) is anathema to the New Labour mantra. Tax and spend. Tax and spend. Set target. Tax and spend.