Month: January 2015

Is Wells MP Tessa Munt Stupid or Shameless? What on Earth Was She Doing On Putin’s RT?

I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised but I am. I really am.

Liberal Democrats have often seemed lacking in principle, not really knowing whether they are free-market Gladstonians like Jeremy Browne the thoughtful and intelligent MP for Taunton who is standing down at the next election; or smug, incompetent social democratic meddlers like Vince Cable who, sadly, isn’t.

As a result the archetypical LibDem has a backbone of wet cardboard and no discernible principles at all, like Simon Hughes the monumentally pointless Justice Minister.

The MP for Wells is called Tessa Munt. Tessa MuntUnlike other LibDems she does have principles. She doesn’t like pylons, for example.

She is a bit more flexible on windfarms, which she approves of in principle, although preferably not in her constituency.

She bravely stood up for sweeter mincemeat when the Government proposed to cut the minimum sugar content required under the Jam and Similar Products (England) Regulations 2003 from 60% to 50%. Continue reading “Is Wells MP Tessa Munt Stupid or Shameless? What on Earth Was She Doing On Putin’s RT?”

Was Mr Grayling’s felt penetrated or just his bitumen? What a waste of public money

In August last year Fathers For Justice campaigner Martin Matthews climbed onto the roof of Justice Secretary Chris Grayling’s house and unveiled banners in a protest against the family justice system.

He had with him a screwdriver and some screws which he used to screw fixings for his banners into Mr Grayling’s bitumen.

The police were called and Mr Matthews was arrested.

There was, however, a problem. What crime, if any, had been committed? Continue reading “Was Mr Grayling’s felt penetrated or just his bitumen? What a waste of public money”

No surrender to murder and intimidation: A Charlie Hebdo cartoon

The appalling attack on Charlie Hebdo’s Paris offices is, as almost everyone has noted, an attack on free speech and an attack on those of us who think that free speech is the most important of all our freedoms.

It is intended to intimidate people who take it for granted.

If we ever allow what we write or say to be affected by a mob, or by the threat of violence or murder we might as well stop writing and stop thinking. We will have been defeated.

It is quite absurd that even now, after ten of the editorial staff of Charlie Hebdo have been murdered and others critically wounded, most newspapers, including it seems The Guardian, are still not publishing the cartoons that led to their murder. The only explanation would seem to be cowardice.

All websites, from the largest to the smallest should now publish Charlie Hebdo cartoons.

Charlie-Hedbo

Empty Threats to Prosecute Katie Hopkins are not a threat to Western Civilisation

Bloggers usually get readers by being outraged. To suggest that something really doesn’t matter very much is the way to lose readers.

On the other hand to suggest that Western Civilisation is at stake can grab the attention.

So I ought really to be getting outraged over former Apprentice contestant and Sun columnist Katie Hopkins and either denouncing her, or the alleged threat to prosecute her, in the strongest possible terms. Continue reading “Empty Threats to Prosecute Katie Hopkins are not a threat to Western Civilisation”