This Phrase Is Driving Me Nuts

There’s one thing in particular during this General Election campaign that’s driving me up the wall. It’s not Dave’s inability to grab victory from the jaws of, err….victory. It’s not the new fascination with Nick Clegg, grating and highly dangerous though that is. It’s not even the lack of a candidate in my constituency who appears to understand that our freedoms and liberties are being driven away at breakneck speed and that need to be defended for all they are worth. No, what’s really boiling my urine, as our Humble Devil used to say, is one, simple phrase….

“Taking £ 6 billion out of the economy”.

Every time Dave mentions the Tory policy not to increase National Insurance (and that’s what we’re talking about, don’t forget…no one’s arguing about a tax cut) the Scottish Stalinist or one of his obnoxious henchmen come up with this utterly preposterous argument that Dave is advacating….

“Taking £ 6 billion out of the economy”.

Pardon ? The first time I head it I nearly crashed the car (no change there, then).

My God. Does it not say everything about the arrogance of a socialist government that they seriously believe, and have the brass neck to argue, that if you prevent a tax increase, that is it to say, if you prevent money moving from individuals and companies to the State, you are thereby “taking money out of the economy”.

How does that work, exactly ? How, in God’s name, can you be taking money out of the economy if you leave it in people’s pockets and companies’ bank accounts ? It’s there, ready to be spent, indeed being spent, by people on everyday necessities or the occasional luxury, or by companies taking on staff or investing in the future. How more in the economy could it possibly be ?

Labour think that money is only in the economy if the government spends it. Only government spending counts. And only government spending can get us out of the mess we’re in.

Wrong. On every count. The private sector creates jobs and wealth far more efficiently and cheaply than the government could ever dream of. More government spending just means more government debt. And it’s government spending and debt that got us into this almighty hole in the first place. This Labour government has done what every previous Labour government has done: they have run out of our money.

The Scottish Stalinist used this infernal, ridiculous phrase again in this week’s TV debate, and will doubtless use it again next week. Will someone please tell Dave to point out that he is talking total, absolute, 100 per cent twaddle.

Jason McCartney Responds

Last week I penned (keyboarded ?) an open letter to my local prospective Conservative Party candidate about the destruction of our liberties by ZaNu Labour.

I look to the Conservatives for a coherent, planned and co-ordinated set of measures to restore habeas corpus and the right to trial by jury, protect free speech, prevent us being watched at every turn and basically ensure we are treated as if we lived in something other than a Communist dictatorship. I find it deeply depressing that no such vision appears to exist within Camp Dave, but I thought I'd write to the bloke who could be my next MP to see what he thinks.

Earlier this week I had a reply. What follows is a slightly abridged version of what he wrote. Initially I was going to leave the first paragraph out but then decided to include it because it was a nice touch and showed that he'd taken the trouble to visit the blog.

Gosh, where do I start. Firstly thanks for getting in touch but I do have to ask, politely of course, where have you been the past few years? Maybe following AFC Wimbledon's glorious charge up the non league pyramid - the Blue Square Premier beckons. Your boys have been getting some great crowds. I remember the old Dons winning 4-0 in an FA Cup tie at Huddersfield in the late 1990s, I think Efan Ekoku scored a couple. I guess we may well be united in hoping Huddersfield Town take all 3 points at the MK Dons tomorrow night?

Back to the last couple of years. I'll make an early party political point but one which I'm very proud of. It's been the Conservatives under successive Shadow Home Secretaries (Davis, Grieve and now Grayling) who have stood up for liberty and freedom for law abiding citizens.

We fought tooth and nail against Gordon Brown's draconian extension of 42 days detention which was more about trying to make the opposition appear to be soft on terrorism rather than tackling it effectively.

We've been opposing the most intrusive and potentially costly ID card system in the world. You and I will end up being fined for losing our cards or leaving them at home whilst the organised criminals and terrorists forge and steal false identities. Would you trust this government with your AFC Wimbledon membership number let alone your DNA or biometric data?

We welcome CCTV in strategically placed crime hot spots but not to the extent that there's now a CCTV camera for every 14 citizens in the UK. I studied Orwell's 1984 for O level back in 1984 and Big Brother is well and truly watching now and not the Channel 4 variety.

We have been opposing proposals for council paid snoopers to spy on our lifestyles, the rubbish in our wheelie bins and which school catchment area we're in. We have been gobsmacked by a governing party that lays out the red carpet for the premier of China allowing foreign security thugs to stifle lawful protest on our streets.

We have spoken up for freedom of speech whilst Labour strongmen throw out pensioners who dare to voice concerns at their party conference whilst the likes of Abu Hamza are left to incite violence and hatred.

Much of this occupies precious police time at a time when some crime, not all before Jacqui gets on the phone from her main home wherever that may be, is going up. Year on year in January, robberies involving knives or sharp instruments increased by 18%, domestic burglaries rose 4% and police-recorded drug offences increased by 9%. That's before we even talk about the 70 young people murdered violently on our streets last year.

Many surveys recently show that the number one issue for law abiding folk is the recession and it's consequences but our ability to prosper and enjoy what I hope will be a Conservative led recovery will only be viable if we have our individual freedoms.

I hope that answers some of your questions,

King regards,
Jason

So, what did I think ? Well firstly and most crucially we've since agreed that the 4-0 Wimbledon win simply didn't happen - he must be confusing us with somebody else.

I'm not sure it would be fair to describe it entirely as a typical politician's response; I think it's a little too human for that. But, and it's a big "but", there is a great deal of what I believe really hacks off the public about politicians in here; namely an attempt to rip the opposition apart and very little about what his own party would do. This is in part symptomatic of the politicians' tendency to think that the quickest route to a vote is a negative one but also, it seems to me, a sign of a wider malaise in the Conservative Party when it comes to fighting for our freedom.

It's easy to fight when you're in Opposition; you just stand up and say "We don't agree". It's when you're in government, when you've got to put what you believe in to practice, when BBC News interviews every State-employed, Nanny-loving do-gooder it can lay its hands on, and when you've actually got something to lose, that the real passion and drive is needed. That's when you're tested to the limit. Many fail at that point, and I worry that Dave will fail there too.

I challenged Jason McCartney to say what the Conservatives would do - how they would find and stay on the long and demanding road back to freedom ? But his reply lacks that vision. Reasonable, you might say, for someone who has never even been an MP ? Perhaps, but if the Conservatives cared anything like as much as we need them to care about restoring our liberties, I'd have expected them to furnish their candidates with some sort of plan, a roadmap, which they could use to reassure us. Something, anything, that says how they're planning to reverse these years of socialism.

He seems like a nice guy. I'm sure he'd try and help me out with a constituency problem. He may make a very good MP. But is he, and is his party, capable of delivering on what we need most; the greatest sustained period of personal liberation this country has ever seen ?

Sadly, I doubt it.

An Open Letter To A Conservative Candidate

The following is the text of a letter I have sent to Jason McCartney, propsective Conservative candidate for the Colne Valley, where the Womble currently resides. I strongly suspect it's a waste of time because I think the Conservative Party is finished as a fighting-for-freedom force, but I enjoyed writing it and you never know.

I fully confess to having nicked the idea following correspondence with the excellent Dick Puddlecote.

Dear Jason

I wonder if you can help me. I am trying to work out where (if anywhere) to place my support at the next General Election. As a resident of Netherton, I am a Colne Valley constituent.

Let me set out my stall. One matter, and one only, transcends all others in my opinion. It is not the economy. It is not the National Health Service, education or, for that matter, this government’s ludicrous obsession with poking its nose into the affairs of other countries like Iraq or Afghanistan. It is the issue that describes our very existence; that of individual freedom.

The past eleven years have seen the most systematic and extensive advance of the power of the State this country has ever seen. We have witnessed the extension of imprisonment without trial - the government would love to have extended the allowable period to 42 days, and was only thwarted by the House of Lords; the fundamental right of trial by jury has been taken away in some cases, and such right will doubtless be further corroded should this government remain in office; we are faced with a government seemingly hell bent on implementing identity cards for every citizen and desperately fighting to retain the DNA details of entirely innocent people; restrictions on freedom of expression (witness the nurse suspended from her job for offering to pray for a patient and people being denied entry to the UK on the grounds of their beliefs) are being imposed at every opportunity; an Opposition spokesman arrested for speaking the truth; a stated desire to be able to track every mobile phone call, every email, every internet enquiry; dark threats to curb the increasingly troublesome blogosphere; growing restrictions on the right of individuals to take photographs in public places.

Since 1997 the balance between State and individual has changed fundamentally. We are being watched as never before: there are four million CCTV cameras in this country - one couple even suffered the indignity of having one installed in their own bedroom; ten people who walked up Whitehall in face masks were stopped by the Police; innocent children in rough areas are rounded up by the Police and sent home, or into the possession of Social Services. Meanwhile we are also being micro-managed as never before: quite apart from the seemingly relentless march of Health and Safety nonsense which threatens to denude us all of almost any personal responsibility whatsoever, State interference extends its tentacles almost daily, from Food Police in Herefordshire to councils who ban couples fostering children because the husband smacked a child once, the State is consistently imposing its nit-picking, draconian, authoritarian values on a nation that was once, but is no longer free.

At the local level the power of the Police is affecting innocent people in frightening ways. Only this week we read a story of a Huddersfield man whose garage was broken into – and inadequately repaired – by the Police, who, entirely in error, suspected him of growing cannabis, a conclusion they had reached because they had been monitoring the distribution of heat within his property from a Police helicopter. No apology was forthcoming, and he was forced to journey to the Police Station himself in order to do so much as to enforce a process of compensation to pay for the repair.

I consider myself, by nature, to be sympathetic to the Conservative cause. I am a staunch free-marketeer. I am a patriot (all be it one who believes that England should assert her sovereignty and free herself from the manacles of both the United Kingdom and the EU), I despise socialism and all it stands for. But now, of all times, I look to the Conservatives and I search for an appetite to dismantle the Statist structures that Blair and Brown have installed since 1997; and I do not see it.

To even begin reversing the juggernaut of the expansion of State power will take a super-human effort. Vested interests are everywhere. All manner of government departments benefit from the increasing power and influence of the State. The Police, local councils and Social Services groups can all boast increased staffing and budgets as a result of New Labour’s assault on freedom. The Health and Safety Executive, most solicitors and education services have recession-beating reasons to take on more staff. Anyone who tries to roll back the frontiers of the State has a colossal battle on their hands. It cannot be done in a day, a year or even a decade. But it can be started, by any government which has the will to do it and the belief that it must be done.

When, in the mid-seventies, Margaret Thatcher took control of the Conservative Party, she saw an economy in ruins through decades of increasing State intervention. For years before gaining office, she surrounded herself with those whom she trusted, plotting and planning what had to be done. Together they researched, debated and prepared Britain’s march from economic tyranny; perhaps the greatest Escape Committee in peacetime history. Now we look once more to the Conservatives to fight for our freedom. The question I find myself asking is: have they got what it takes ?

David Davies raised the standard in the wake of the government’s attempts to impose 42 days interment without trial upon the British people; few Conservatives rallied to his cause. I remain highly sceptical that the libertarian elements within his party have sufficient numbers, influence or stomach to win the gargantuan battle that lies ahead; but I would vote for someone who was, at least willing to try, not least of all because there is so little on offer by way of alternative.

So, on which side of the debate do you fall ? Do you share my concern that our basic freedoms are threatened as never before ? And, if you do, do you have the passion to fight for them with every ounce of energy ? Or, do you believe that there is, in fact little or nothing to worry about, or that the State is right in its endless advance ?

Yours sincerely,


xxxxx xxxxx

I'll post the reply on here (assuming I get one and he gives me permission to do so),

Bang On The Money

I'm finding myself increasingly turned off by party political campaigns and adverts, but I have to say that this, from Dave's Conservatives, strikes a cord.

Video from the same campaign here.

What We Need Is Leadership & Courage

There's a great article by Simon Heffer in the Daily Telegraph arguing the case for some radicalism in Conservative party economic policy.

Remarking on the death of Alan Walters (economics adviser to Margaret Thatcher and guru of monetary policy) Heffer laments the lack of a modern-day equivalent within the Cameron team, and he puts a compelling case for appointing one. Cameron, he claims, surrounds himself with the soft options of yes-men and cosy consensus, and is doing so at precisely the time that leadership and courage are most needed.

Whilst praising Monday’s announcement to abolish taxes on savings for those on the standard tax rate, Heffer says it is hugely inadequate and a mere pinprick in the policies of ever-expanding spend and tax which Gordon Brown has inflicted on us. What is needed is spending cuts and the accompanying reduction in taxes for both people and companies.

The problem is that this would take guts. The counter-argument, that at times like this the government should be increasing spending to boost investment, is seductive to many; utterly fallacious, but seductive nonetheless. Heffer argues that the electorate blames the government for the recession, is “appalled” by the debt mountain and “infuriated” by the fact that the private sector is bearing the brunt of it all. I’m not so sure about that, and to do the right thing now risks playing a less popular tune. But the key is that it IS the right thing to do - to cut government spending and start handing the money back to whom it belongs.

Throughout the late ‘seventies Margaret Thatcher repeatedly locked herself away with the likes of Walters, Keith Joseph and Nick Ridley. Together they hatched the ideas of the New Right through which budgets were eventually balanced and long-held, long-in-the-tooth State interventionist doctrines were swept away. Heffer is dead right when he says that right now we need a similar “moment of courage”. I would love to think that in twenty years time we will look back, and see this as the point at which David Cameron embraced the principles of lion-hearted leadership and started to develop the economic revolution we need so much. But I just cannot see it happening.

Heffer’s article is here.

Three Promises Dave Should Make

Before I went away to see the family and the Boys in Blue (they won 3-0), the Wilted Rose asked what New Year's resolutions the Shadow Cabinet should make. I have three ideas.

1) To get onto the front foot on the economic crisis. Cameron and Osborne have been found wanting since September and it's allowed Brown to look (to some people, at least) as if he knows what he's doing. He's come up with some "initiatives" such as the ruinous fiscal stimulus and the equally crazy mortgage bail-out and, with the help of the Mandelsson / Campbell spinning machine, he's couched these as crafted measures which suggested he knows how to beat the recession. Which he doesn't, because he can't.
The Conservatives, for their part, have been seen (fairly in some ways) as carping from the sidelines and failing to come up with an alternative strategy. Cameron's analysis of why we're in this mess and how Brown is only making it worse will, I'm sure, prove correct in the medium term. But he has to offer a narrative for how we move forward. There are signs, today, that he's grasped this at last, with the tremendous pledge to abolish tax on savings for basic rate tax-payers; if he'd have done it for everyone it would have been even better. Taxing the interest on people's savings is one of the most immoral, insidious, indefensible taxes on earth and it would be wonderful to see the back of it. We need more announcements like this over the coming weeks, backing up with a well-constructed strategy, which we haven't yet seen.

2) To launch a wholesale attack on the erosion of our freedoms that has taken place over the last ten years, including the abolition of habeous corpus, the right to trial by jury and the freedom to demonstrate peacefully. The Conservatives say, David Davies style, that they abhor the whole ethos which has created 3,000-plus new criminal offences since 1997, but they are short on policy which actually supports that view. They need to thump the table and say "This must stop". And they need to keep saying it, even after they've all been arrested.

3) To promise a wholesale reversal of the utterly insane Health & Safety and litigation cultures which have been sweeping across our beleaguered nation - in fairness since well before 1997. We cannot go on insisting on CRB checks for all and sundry, having to fill in risk assessments before throwing a snowball (no, really), or having coaches risk being sued because little Johnny hurt his leg playing football. The amount of work ahead for any freedom-loving government here is phenomenal, and would take years, but the Conservatives need something that sets the tone. the abolition of the Health and Safety Executive would be a great start.

Anyone else got any more suggestions ?

Is Dave Waking Up At Last ?

David Cameron has abandoned his pledge to match the government's spending commitments into 2011.

Thank God for that.