Dog Insurance Is Practical!

Well done again, Matt.

Beware of the Dog Law

I have not been doing due diligence with the blogs lately, partly due to workload but mainly because of sheer exasperation at the level to which Labour continues to descend in its long, agonising (for Britain) stagger into opposition, so it's quite likely someone else has already made these fairly obvious observations about Alan Johnson's barking plans to introduce draconian new doggy laws.

If a former postman becomes Home Secretary, especially a Labour Home Secretary, should anyone then be surprised if his first really big idea about improving law and order is to launch a vicious attack on the liberty of dogs (and, by implication, of course, the liberty of dog-owners)?

The psychological trauma of all those fearfully fearsome Yorkshire Terriers snapping at the letterbox just at the moment of delivery must stay with these poor brave souls for life. Johnson clearly lives in fear at the very sight of even the most cuddly canine.

If these new proposals weren't so bad - and absolutely chilling in their scope - this would be bloody hilarious. As usual, though, however noble the cause to rid the country of dangerous dog owners might be, this legislation is as sinister as it will be totally ineffectual.

How many times do these idiots need it to be explained to them? The vast majority of people - in this case dog-lovers - who will obey the law to the letter are not the problem and never have been. The people who don't are and always have been. And that will not change. The bad owners, who turn dogs into monsters with their (the owners' not the dogs') mindless, feral brutality, will not care one iota about this Johnson person's pathetic Postman Protection Scheme. But only the innocent will be punished - threefold. First, with yet another new tax, which will rise every year; second, with yet another Labour assault on privacy and liberty; and third, with the consequent - and inevitable, given Labour's appalling record on this - abuse of these new "laws" that will follow.

Disproportionate, inaccurate, dishonest and dangerous. Sort of sums this fascist regime up quite neatly. Surely, they won't be missed. When they are politically buried, I trust this diabololical new Labour bill will be buried with them.

The Perfect Protest

This is how to make a point in public!

Hat tip to Guthrum and, as he says, watch and applaud.





Good fun. But with sinister undertones - everywhere.

Why Labour Must Be Defeated

Superb, important post from Sharpe's Opinion which spells out some reasons why it is vital that Labour are defeated at the next election. It's not an advert for the Tories and rightly so. That would diminish the force of its argument.

WTF.

DISCLAIMER: I don’t swear. I don’t rant. That’s my thing. Other bloggers, they rant. I don’t. I don’t write as an outlet for my rage, I just do it because I enjoy it. I keep my cool and try to write calm and collected opinion pieces. So the title of this post, and the rant which follows, I hope shows just how furious I am right now.

Deep in the ancient annals of political blogging history – last May, I think it was – I wrote a post about the BNP which started with what I thought was quite a funny joke:

I know they’re racists. I know they’re fascists and totalitarians. I know they’re liars and frauds. I know they’re criminals. Enough about New Labour, though, I’d like to know what exactly is so scary about the BNP?

I was, of course, lightly mocking the growing number of superficial similarities between Labour policies and BNP ones. “British Jobs For British Workers” being a classic example – a BNP slogan which Gordon Brown took as his own. The Labour Party and the BNP share ideas on a fair range of areas, in fact, particularly their generally redistributive economic stance. It’s oft-noted by better political commenters than I that the BNP tend to do well in strongly Labour areas.

It used to be something we all poked fun at, and pointed out to Labour supporters to get them all irritated. Gradually, though, the joke started to wear thin. Now it’s past its breaking point.

The thing is, what was ‘British Jobs For British Workers’ has now degenerated into the Dickensian idea, also a BNP policy, of sending teenage mothers to ‘poorhouses‘. And to add mocking insult to grievous bodily harm, this bright spark idea is going to be compulsory, according to Ed Balls, not optional as Brown and his media lobby would have us believe.

Seriously. Putting teenage mothers into care for re-education. Is that what we’ve come to? Is that the Britain we live in?

No, it turns out, it’s worse than that. That was yesterday’s news and, whilst anger me it did I have relaxed about it a little bit now¹.

Because today we learn (and can we please get this to a wider audience) that somebody in New Labour’s government thinks they can determine somebody’s nationality using their DNA. That out there somewhere there are people with Kenyan DNA and Somali DNA.

Seriously.

I mean, can we take a moment to step back and discuss this a bit further, because I really hate false accusations of racism. It drives me round the bend when people use the word ‘racism’ as an argument ender, or worse as a straw man. That no politician can talk about immigration or multiculturalism without being bombarded with accusations of trying ‘to keep the darkies out’. I don’t care whether you agree with them or not – let them make their argument and challenge it on its own merits, not using some racism straw man. I can’t tell you how much it irritates me.

But this is something different. Because hidden behind the ‘DNA tests for asylum seekers’ story is somebody with a deep-seated misunderstanding of the concept of nationality, and of genetics, and of race. This is somebody who believes that a persons ‘Kenyanness’ is measurable, quantifiable, testable, based on their DNA. Does this same person believe that you can measure ‘Britishness’ by genetics? That there exists some model British DNA, distinct from the DNA of the French, or of the Pakistanis or the Irish or the Germans?

That, in essence, we are all different species to each other, and can be distinguished as such.

I’ve been racking my brains, but I can’t think of any other way to interpret this, or any other logical conclusion to the line of thinking which attempts to separate peoples’ nationalities based on their DNA. Either this is the way they think, and they are indescribably racist, or it isn’t and… Well, what? What else could it possibly be? Presumably, this isn’t a single person making this policy, either, but a committee. Presumably there is an entire working group at the UK Border Agency devoted to solving this ‘Kenyan problem’ and who probably don’t even realise that their natural impulses are walking them straight into Godwin’s nightmare.

And where’s the defence? Where’s the person willing to put forward the Labour Party’s side of this? These measures were announced near enough in silence. It’s almost like the Home Office are embarrassed about this, which I’d believe if I thought they were capable of feeling such human emotions as embarrassment. The only reaction I’ve seen from anyone so far is the one which adorns the top of this post – three simple letters that say all that’s needed.

The dying days of this Labour government are galling enough for those of us who see socialism as an inherently bad thing, who disagree that putting people in boxes will help them understand each other, who don’t think that state intervention in markets makes markets work more effectively, and who don’t think fairness means what Gordon Brown thinks it means. If it’s bad enough for us, how bad must it be for those disillusioned folk who voted for Tony Blair in 2005 and got this?

How bad must it be for those people who had faith in the Labour Party to help the needy and cure the sick. How bad must it be for the honest people who voted for Labour because they thought the Tories were the ‘nasty’ ones? How sick would it make you feel to know that you supported a moderate, centrist Government who promised you front line services, and you ended up with this.

This is a democracy, and we have a choice. Consider it your civic duty to remove your Labour MP from office. From this day forward I advocate voting for anyone who stands a chance of ensuring Labour cannot win another term.

Please. Please God.

Anyone. But. Labour.

NO2ID Update

For those of you who aren't yet part of the fight against the most chilling assault on our freedoms in the history of our country, here's the latest news. Please click on the link in the sidebar of this blog to find out where to join the struggle to stop the forces of socialism's relentless, all-out attack on our definitive liberties. This Labour government must be removed for so many reasons, but this one is the most urgent of them all.

++ NO2ID Supporters' Newsletter No. 131 - 10th September 2009 ++

*Contacting us:* Call or email the office - 020-7793-4005 or
(office@no2id.net). Please do not reply to this email. (The from address
is not a working email address)

+ MANCHESTER ALERT - DON'T BE A GUINEA PIG +
The Home Secretary's summer re-launch of ID cards targeted Manchester as
a "beacon area" for the roll-out of the first cards. Having backed down
from a fight with airport workers and pilots threatening industrial
action over compulsory ID registration, the Home Office is now trying to
solicit volunteers.
Of course, people don't always read the small print - so we need to
ensure that any 'volunteers' realise that registering for a card means
being tagged and tracked for the rest of their lives. And paying for the
privilege of being Whitehall's guinea pigs.

The fewer that sign up, the easier it should be to scrap the whole scheme.

NO2ID is launching a rolling campaign to alert and inform the people of
Manchester and - as the National Identity Scheme's net widens - the
North West, starting with a day of action on Saturday 10th October.
NO2ID groups and supporters from around the UK will be heading to
selected locations in Greater Manchester to hold street stalls, leaflet
and spread the word.

The following Saturday, 17th October, we shall be running more street
stalls in central Manchester and holding a public meeting at the Friends
Meeting House in Mount Street. Further activities and events will be
announced in due course.

If you or your organisation would like to get involved in either of
these events or the ongoing campaign, please contact
manchester@no2id.net. And if you would like to start your own local
group to help spread the word across the North West, please contact
local.groups@no2id.net.

*+ Making the case against the ID scheme +

*Many people tell us they would like to tackle that minority of friends.
neighbours and work colleagues who still think that 'ID cards' are a
pretty good idea, but need a little help feeling confident of their
ground to do so. NO2ID has plenty of stock of our 24 page practical
booklet on How to Win the argument against the ID scheme. If you would
like a free copy, either for yourself or to pass on to someone else,
then just write and ask to NO2ID, Box 412, 19/21 Crawford St, LONDON W1H
1PJ or email office@no2id.net. (Don't forget to tell us the postal
address to send it to.)

We did not vote for this. We don't have to let it happen to us.
We can stop it, but only if we're truly united.

Ustinov

5:40, roughly, is the point we should all try to take (shouldn't we?).

NO2ID: Victory Reports Premature

For those of you who aren't members of NO2ID but loathe the concept of these invidious instruments of State surveillance as much as I do, the latest newsletter of that peerless campaign group should be of some interest. Reports that ID cards have been killed-off are inaccurate. The government's assault on British liberty continues unabated.

+ IMPORTANT NEWS +

** The ID scheme has NOT been shelved, cancelled, or even significantly changed **

Once more government spin has triumphed and much of the media has got it wrong. The new Home Secretary Alan Johnson has not made any significant changes to the scheme. Compulsion by stealth is still the order of the day, just as it always was. Someone joining the ID scheme 'voluntarily' will still be placing control of their identity in the hands of the IPS for life.

The Home Office line remains the same. No compulsion (as the Home Office defines it) was going to be applied until almost everyone had 'volunteered' and then it was only a matter of rounding up a minority of resisters and marginalised people.

The Home Office's idea of "voluntary" is not the same as yours and mine. Since 2004 the scheme was (and it still is) to proceed by "designating" one-by-one under the Identity Cards Act 2006 other documents issued by official bodies -- in the first place passports.

Once a document has been designated, you won't be able to apply for one without also applying to be entered, for life, on the national identity register. If you don't agree to be registered it won't be that you are refused (say) a passport; you'd have voluntarily decided not to apply. There's no compulsion to have a passport. It is useful for travelling. But you aren't compelled to travel.

Or (say) to drive. Or to work as a security guard. Or with children. Or in healthcare. To get parole from prison. To practice as a lawyer. ... Any official licence, registration certificate or permit can be designated, and -- in the home office's skewed logic -- handing control of your identity to the Home Office's Identity and Passport Service will still be entirely voluntary.

That they were due for a confrontation with the airside worker's unions over designating new passes at Manchester and City Airports is an illustration of just how voluntary "voluntary" really is. But the fact they have now ducked that fight for political convenience suggests saying no does work - if you say it loudly enough.

--- It is still not too late for MPs to derail the scheme by repudiating the regulations due to be debated next week and detailed in the last newsletter. Only one of those statutory instruments has been dropped.

If you have not done so already, please contact your MP: http://www.writetothem.com (NO2ID's lobbying guide, written for us by the former assistant of a very distinguished retired minister, is brusque but absolutely to the point: http://www.no2id.net/downloads/print/NO2ID-HowtoLobby.pdf )

Peers will also have a vote on this; so if you happen to know one (or be one), then it would be a good idea to alert friends in the Lords now that the matter is soon to come up.

The fight to halt the accelerating erosion of our rights to privacy and democratic freedoms by our government of corrupt, utterly dishonest, quasi-Soviet Statists is very much alive.

Click on the widget to join: