Vote for Scottish (& English) Independence.

Copy of a letter sent to newspapers last week, which suprisingly they ignored .... The British Prime Minister called on the British people to have a voice in the Scottish Independence debate and to ask the Scots to stay in the UK. I profoundly disagree: indeed I would very much urge the Scots to take this opportunity for freedom and vote for independence. For the same reason, I would ask the same for the people of Northumbria, the right for a vote for independence for the citizens of the North East and Yorkshire. Independence would mean the rejection of a modern British state which allows all the money and power to be retained in London and the South East, at the expense of Scotland and the North East of England alike. It is no coincidence that David Cameron has decided to rap himself in the Union Flag not in Scotland, but in his heartland in London. His cynical abuse of the Olympic ideal to expound his jingoism cannot mask the reality of the modern British state as a slave to multinational conglomerates, who have their British bases in London. The British Parliament is full of yes men in thrall to the London money markets, who profit at the expense of us taxpayers. UK policy since Thatcher has been to destroy manufacturing industry, mainly based in the North and pass everything to the multinational service companies based overseas and in London. Take for instance the £1bn contract awarded to Bombadier for London Cross Rail trains. (At a time when London is still refusing to upgrade the A1 north of Newcastle). Hailed as a great success for British manufacturing, this is, in fact a Canadian assembly plant in Derby, mainly putting together foreign components, which is the only survivor of train manufacturing in this country. Why? Because the Tory Government of the 1990s forced all the British train makers out of business by refusing to order any rolling stock for British trains for three years before privatisation. Both Tory and Labour are united in their cynical jingoism, with the support given by Labour MP Tessa Jowell to Cameron's use of the Olympic park because it reminded people "how it felt to be British". These are the same Labour & Tory MPs that voted for the war in Iraq: how did it feel to be British then? It is this selfish ideology of the monied classes that has destroyed jobs in Yorkshire and the North East. So I say to the people of Scotland, think with your heart as well as your head and seize this opportunity to break away from this southern elite and take power back into your own hands. Do not give in to the blackmail from the Westminster club of Tories, Labour & Lib Dems over a pound they do not own. And what is good for Scotland is also good for Yorkshire and the North East. After all, Yorkshire alone has a population greater than that of Scotland. Why should only the Scots have a right to a Parliament of its own? The UK is neither a democracy (with minority parties in power) nor does it have a divine right to exist. Power should lie with people and all people should have the right to decide their own fate, not to be dictated to by a little man wrapping himself in a Union Flag.

Faust & the Liberal Democrats

It is a long time since I wrote a blog. But the situation in this country has got so dire, I feel I must speak out once again. Take for instance the sad decline of the Liberal Democrats. As an ex-member of the Liberal Party, I remember fondly the earnest debates we had on nuclear disarmament, on climate change and global warming, on protecting a free health service and education system. Mighty debates that emphasised the quality of life, not its price. Contrast and compare the Liberal Democrats of today. Not one principle seems to be worthy of defence. On the contrary, Lib Dems appear to be falling over themselves in their eagerness to abandon whatever principles they may have once claimed in their manifesto. It started with the now infamous betrayal by Liberal Democrat MPs of their signed election pledge not to put up student tuition fees, indeed their solemn pledge to abandon tuition fees all together. After all what do student tuition fees achieve? The money still has to be found, but instead of straight forward government taxation, we now have a whole industry of get rich quick wide boys, saddling the next generation with a lifetime of debt that in many cases will never be paid off. It reminds me of the American folk song “Sixteen Tons” with the famous line, “another day older and deeper in debt”. Like the US coal industry of the 1930s, the conservative establishment, including now apparently, the Liberal Democrats, want to ensure the youth of Britain remain as wage slaves from the moment they enter the “Labour market”. Vince Cable says as much in his infamous U-turn speech of 15th July 2010 in Westminster, where he tries to justify the Lib Dem betrayal of their election promises. He said (& I quote) “You can’t measure in cash returns alone the transformation of the life opportunities of a working class child through a university education that raises their sights - and those of their children. Nonetheless, when students are faced with a bill, even one delayed, they will look to an economic return.” https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-new-era-for-universities"> As I said saddling the next generation with a lifetime of debt, so that they have no option but to become wage slaves, lackeys of the conservative establishment. And the Neo-Cons have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Unlike the generation who went to university at the same time as Vince Cable who looked out on the world and protested about injustice, such as in the Vietnam war; the modern student has to spend her or his time dealing with a cash flow crisis from the day they get accepted into university, forcing the focus inward to their own survival, instead of outward and the survival of our society. For make no bones about it, our society is fighting for survival against the onslaught of corrupt politicians, elected on false promises and led it seems by the former champions of individual liberty, the Liberal Democrats. Where were their principles when they agreed to abandon their decades old commitment to a fair electoral system (Single Transferable Vote or STV), which would have meant a parliament which represented the whole of society , not just the largest minority? Instead they were persuaded to put forward the discredited alternate vote system and then failed to campaign for even this change, apart from a few weeks of lack lustre debate. Where were Lib Dem principles when the Tories dropped the bombshell of wholesale privatisation of the NHS, a policy not even in the Conservative manifesto? Which has led to a system which has quadrupled the cost of administering the NHS, including an accountant for every clinical commissioning group, so that were previously there was just one Finance Director for the Primary Care Trust, there are now sixteen FDs, one for each of the CCGs. (Such is the shortage of Health Service accountants, they are also some of the highest paid in the country). Where were Lib Dem policies of local democracy, when schools are converted into Academies and taken out of Local Government control and put into the hands of big business? Where was the Lib Dem opposition to penalising disabled people and the less well off in society, when the Tories introduced their ridiculous bedroom tax? A policy akin to the 18th century window tax, when people bricked up their windows to avoid paying the tax. Today, we have legal battles to convert bedrooms into wheel chair storage areas or any other designation that is not a bedroom. Where were Liberal Democrat principles when usury loan companies like Wonga, charging exorbitant interest charges are allowed to prosper on the back of the poor, a situation in part created by the withdrawal of benefits and of this coalition’s tacit support for on-line betting? Where were Liberal Democrat principles and good sense when The Tories continued the discredited Private Finance Initiatives so favoured by Labour, which increased the costs of hospitals five fold and made even more profits for the discredited banks? Where were Liberal Democrat principles when the Bankers continued amassing their riches and to get off scot free from their theft of billions of pounds from the British taxpayer, after they were bailed out by dim witted politicians from all three Westminster parties? How many bankers have gone to jail so far? None and none will, even after this Coalition Government, (including the Liberal Democrats) quietly flog off the nationalised banks back to the bankers at a fraction of the cost it took to bail them out in the first place. The millions lost on the sale of Northern Rock to Virgin Money will be chicken feed in comparison. Nuclear power, nuclear weapons, fracking, the high speed rail link: the list of betrayed principles by the Lib Dems goes on and on, culminating this week with the indecent haste to flog off Royal Mail; despite the opposition of two thirds of the British public (as shown in a recent YouGov poll). The inevitable abandonment of universal postal services, with deliveries to thousands of rural locations being cut and higher than inflation price rises have elicited not a squeak of protest from the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow. Once Liberals were proud protesters, shouting loud and long about injustice. Now the only protest we hear is the rather feeble complaints of former Liberal Democrat minister, Sarah Teather MP, who has decided not to stand at the next general election rather than stand up to her party leadership. Clearly the only goal the Liberal Democrat parliamentary party now has is to remain in Government. It probably does not matter whether it is in coalition with the Tories or Labour, these two parties’ policies being so indistinguishable and the willingness of the Liberal Democrats to abandon their principles so blatant, that it is the only real goal left for all the Westminster Parties. So sadly, the Liberal Democrats have at last joined the establishment, making the Faustian bargain and paying the price of their very soul.