Thatcher's First Term Began Thirty Years Ago! That's Not AT ALL Remarkable...

I am so bored with the likes of the BBC and just about everybody else wittering on about Margaret Thatcher coming to power in 1979.

I mean PURLEASE! What was so remarkable? The only remarkable thing I can recall was the fact that she was a woman, Britain's first female PM. Labour and Tories were in and out like fiddlers' elbows in those days.

It was Thatcher's alliance with Reagan (elected in 1980), the Falklands (1982) and two subsequent re-elections that made her truly memorable. This attitude that 1979 was such a watershed is entirely inaccurate.

History is being rewritten.

And the changeable, turbulent years of Thatcher's reign dim beside the absurd assertion that a Conservative hegemony until 1990 was assured in 1979.

BBC Anti-English Bruce Robinson Article Altered - But It's Still Anti-English!

The BBC British History on-line article about the Great Fire Of London has been altered after complaints -

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

"Of the period" has been inserted after "familar English trait". But this is still wrong to my mind, still anti-English. Did Bruce Robinson have a Tardis so that he could nip back and do an Esther Rantzen-style vox pop? And even if paranoid xenophobia was rife, surely it was not confined to the English alone in the world?

The article's better. But still not right.

BBC Decides That Bruce Robinson Is Fine - The English Do Have Paranoid Xenophobia - Absolutely, Without A Shadow Of A Doubt!

All of us that have ever complained to the BBC recognise the pro-forma, with a few relevant points inserted just to show our pathetic protestations have been read, that the BBC sends out when rejecting complaints. And the Cross Of St George forum reports that this is just how they are treating the complaints about their designation of the English as paranoid xenophobics.

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

(click on red text for BBC British History article by Bruce Robinson)

So this trait is always around, but rife at certain times.

And it's peculiar to the English.

Can you imagine the BBC referring to the Scots, Welsh or Irish in such a way? Or indeed anybody else?

The BBC are once more treating the English - and England - with contempt, and attempting to incite hatred of anybody professing to be English.

Gordon Brown - Stamping Out England: The British Language

‘So should there be a citizenship test that is stronger for people who want to be part of this country? Should the rules that we apply for citizenship take more aspects of British culture, British history, [the English] language into account?’

That's Gordon Brown, banging onto Matthew d’Ancona, editor of The Spectator on his pet theme of "Britishness". To Matthew d'Ancona, the West Lothian Question, the Barnett Formula, Brown's unaccountability to the English on a vast range of issues, don't seem to exist. But then Matthew is a confirmed Brit, dedicated to ignoring anything that may stand in the way.

Like equality.

However, Mr d'Ancona does step in and insert [the English] into Gordon's blethering about "Britishness". The squared brackets indicate that "the English" is a writer's insert. So what Gordon Brown actually said was:

‘What are the responsibilities of citizenship in the modern world?’ he asks. ‘So should there be a citizenship test that is stronger for people who want to be part of this country? Should the rules that we apply for citizenship take more aspects of British culture, British history, language into account?'

The British language? Gordon's determination to stamp out England and Englishness is becoming plainer by the day.

And once again Gordon refers to Britain as a country. It is not, it is a so-called union of countries - England, Scotland and Wales, as the devious Prime Minister knows very well indeed.

March 1989 To March 2009 - 20 Years Since The Invention Of The World Wide Web

An historic document.

It's twenty years since Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web at CERN, in Switzerland.

Well done that man!

The genesis of Mr Berners-Lee's Web idea can be traced back to June to December 1980, when he built ENQUIRE, his first computer program for storing information, whilst working as consultant software engineer at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland.

He left CERN, returned in 1984, and in 1989 invented the World Wide Web.

He wrote the first web browser in 1990 and soon many of us who had eyed the rise of home computing in the '80s with unease, were happily surfing the Web.

From 1989 invention to today - a world unimaginable without the Web.

Pretty amazing, isn't it?

Adrian Sanders (Lib Dems) and Ken Purchase (Labour), Glib, Smart-Mouthed Hatred Of England

Marsha Singh has tabled an Early Day Motion to make St George's Day a public holiday.

Ken Purchase, Wolverhampton, Labour, and Adrian Sanders, (Torbay) Lib Dems, then leapt in with two daft amendments, which make plain their smug hatred of England.

These MPs are rotten to the pips. Health apartheid? Who gives a damn? The West Lothian Question? Ditto. The Barnett Formula? You guessed it. What the hell are their constituents doing electing these people who wilfully work against their best interests and pour scorn on their country?

Adrian Sanders is probably the most pathetic of the two (it's very close run) as he comes up with an alternative bank holiday to "benefit the UK tourist industry" - obviously unaware that Scotland and Wales are far better provided for, having retained their own tourist boards and representation through the "British" site whilst England, once again, is the poor relation.

When it comes to sneering, smug and out of touch people, not fulfilling the roles expected of them, Adrian Sanders and Ken Purchase are difficult to beat. But then I suspect that they are very typical indeed.

Toque has the whole story here - and remains far calmer and more eloquent than myself!

"Being British" - Gordon Brown At It Again!

Here's Gordon Brown pursuing his Britishness agenda again - this time in relation to the recession. He never misses an opportunity, does he?

From The Guardian:

Without a clear sense of national identity, "we give ourselves a false sense of who we are", said the PM. "We define ourselves by race or ethnicity – which would be a disaster for a country that has many people with different backgrounds as part of it. Or we just describe ourselves in terms of unchanging institutions, which would mean that we were frozen in the past."

Um, actually Gordon signed the Scottish Claim Of Right in 1989 - a pledge to put the people of his native Scotland first in all he did.

So, why is simply being "British" not good enough for himself and his own people, the Scots? Why did he pledge to put the Scots above the rest of the British? Also, "British" means, basically, English, Scottish or Welsh. It is a synthetic nationality born in the days of Empire.

I can't help wondering why Gordon Brown describes Britain as a "country" - it is not, it is a (so-called) union of countries, England, Scotland and Wales.

And English, Scottish and Welsh are nationalities - not races - so inclusive civic identities in each of those countries would not see people fragmenting into "race or ethnicity".

Gordon Brown is a Prime Minister without a mandate, representing a constituency in Scotland, which has its own parliament. This means that around 75% of the legislation his government passes does not affect his own constituents. Mr Brown is such a liar and twister. He fair takes my breath away.

The forthcoming BBC Radio 4 documentary on Britishness by the editor of the Spectator, Matthew d'Ancona, sounds like more New Labour propaganda, especially designed to keep the people of England under-funded - and under the Scotsman's thumb.

Daniel Hannan and Nigel Farrage Tell It Like It Is. Gordon Brown Grins.

Daniel Hannan tells Gordon Brown a few home truths at the European Parliament.



Nigel Farrage follows it up. No mandate dictator Gordon Brown is amused.

Jacqui Smith - Very Devious...

Jacqui Smith, old Hitler in Knickers herself, is at it again: not content with an illegal DNA Database and CCTV everywhere, etc, she now proposes training people, like shopping centre managers, to inform on "suspicious" types.

Shopping centre and store managers will be among 60,000 British workers trained for action on a new frontline against terror.

The workers' army is at the centrepiece of a new government anti-terror strategy unveiled today by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, who said police, security and intelligence agencies could not be “solely” relied upon to tackle the threat.

The strategy will involve enlising the "widest range" of people and making other citizens more vigilant about the threat of an attack, Ms Smith said in a round of broadcast interviews this morning. It could also see official funding withdrawn from organisations that flirt with extremism, even if they remain within the letter of the law.

Jacqui Smith plays on the terrorism threat, plays on fear, to enslave us. I know I'm out of step with the vast majority of people on this subject - but you see, I'm not keen on EastEnders, reality TV shows and the latest "It" people. And I can't stand Big Brother.

Bruce Robinson Of The BBC - The English Are Paranoid Xenophobics

The BBC likes to slur the English. It calls us racist, narrow-minded, snobbish, yobbish - you name it, if something slurs the English, the BBC loves it.

Recently, we've heard the BBC's anti-English hatred on the Welsh-produced Dr Who and we've heard it on BBC Radio One's The Surgery. I'm sure there are many other examples. But the CEP Media Watch has come up with a staggering example.

Here's the BBC's Bruce Robinson, writing about The Great Fire Of London on BBC British History:

With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife.

Yoiks - so paranoid xenophobia is a familiar English trait?

Why? When? After all, England has seen many waves of immigrants. Why are WE in particular regarded as being paranoid xenophobics by the BBC? Sure, there are some problems, but there are in Scotland and Wales, too. In fact, in most places.

I've written to hate-filled old Auntie:

I was shocked at this comment on the BBC's "London's Burning: The Great Fire" article by Bruce Robinson:

"With the country also at war with the French and Dutch, paranoid xenophobia - a familiar English trait - was rife."

At times of war, paranoid xenophobia is, regrettably, often rife - and this is not confined to the English. I find this article offensive in the extreme, it is at the very least an example of anti-English bigotry and one unlikely to endear English people to the readers of the article.

I request that this comment is removed. I cannot imagine that this would have been written about the Scots or Welsh, although the BBC has often had cause to report outbreaks of xenophobia in those nations - including racist attacks on the English.

The BBC is gaining a reputation for anti-English bigotry, and now seems to be attempting to inflame public opinion against the English. I am very concerned.

The BBC truly defies belief at times.

Education For Simon Walters, Daily Mail Writer: Tony Blair Is SCOTTISH Not English...

The recent story in the Daily Mail about the Labour party bod who said "I don't speak Glaswegian" and was accused of racism, was laugheable.

Being half-Scot myself, I'm often hard put to it to understand my Glaswegian relatives. English speaking Welsh folk are perfectly clear to me, as are most English accents, but give me broad Norfolk and I'm lost.

But the Daily Mail article writer, Simon Walters, seems to want to use the article to soap box a little and a peculiar anti-English chip on the shoulder, a desire to malign and stereotype, creeps in:

"It is not the first time a prominent English figure has been accused of racism against another part of Britain. Tony Blair faced a police investigation after allegedly bawling ‘******* Welsh’ when Labour did badly in an election there."

Um, Tony Blair is SCOTTISH, born and bred in Scotland, and of mixed parentage. Here's Tony talking about his grandfather:

"If we were naughty," he said recently, "he'd come after us with that stick and say, 'Ah'll gie ye a richt skelpin.'"

Despite Tony's own attempts to blur his origins for political purposes at times, the fact remains that he was born in Scotland and that makes him Scottish. Unless, of course, his background doesn't stand up to ethnic purity tests in the eyes of Simon Walters? But then, surely, Scottish is a nationality, not a race? Any other assertion is racist.

But what really sticks in the crop about Simon Walters is the fact that he can write a load of inaccurate nonsense, but true examples of racism in the UK - including the Barnett Formula and West Lothian Question, both levelled against the English, don't seem to exist to him.

Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

Whilst we know that SOME North Sea Oil and Gas is English, does the majority belong to Scotland should it go independent?

Found on-line...

"Is North Sea Oil Owned By The Shetland Isles?

To answer this question you need to do some research into the history of Udal Law in Shetland. The Shetland and Orkney Udal Law group (SOUL) can be found on the Internet and highlights the main points of the argument.

Basically, although Shetland and Orkney are acknowledged as being under Scottish rule since the annexation, the annexation was not entirely legal. Shetland and Orkney were pledged as part of a dowry payment in 1468/9 with the understanding that sovereignty would not be handed over and the islands would be redeemed at a later date when the money could be raised.

The Scottish Crown was fly - even though the Danish/Norwegian Crown made several attempts to regain control of Shetland and Orkney, the Scottish Crown refused. Shetland was increasingly brought under Scottish rule and the issue of sovereignty was never fully addressed.

Under Udal law, outright ownership of land included the seabed - so if Shetland is still legally Scandinavian and Udal law has never been completely replaced, then the seabed around Shetland belongs to Shetland and not to Scotland.

North sea oil around the Shetland basin therefore belongs to Shetland and the Scottish Crown is well aware of this. To openly address the issue of Shetland's sovereignty is thus to make this public knowledge...and the British parliament wouldn't want that...now would they?"

Fascinating!

Clive Anderson And Alfie...

Alfie has been in touch with TV and radio personality Clive Anderson about a disparaging and inaccurate remark he made about Englishness on the Loose Ends show:

When on Loose Ends Sarah Miles raised the question of Englishness, somewhat tangentially to the main thrust of our conversation, I attempted an off-the-cuff and, I hope, amusing explanation as to why England or Englishness might be unpopular.

If I had specified 200 years of imperialism I think your point, as far is it goes, would have been a fair one, as perhaps I would have been confusing England and Britain (or the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , or in later years the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland)– an error that almost everyone risks falling into from time to time – but one which I would have wanted to avoid in the context of the conversation we were having, however light-hearted.

In fact according to the BBC transcript of the programme I said

I think it’s a few hundred years of imperialism that have made England very unpopular.

This is vaguer, but I think more apt. In any event , I had in mind not just the years of the British Empire but also the centuries before that in which English kings, queens and state attempted, with some success, to acquire dominion over the rest of the British Isles and elsewhere. All in all I think there is a perception that Britain, and particularly England, has over long periods of history sought to rule parts of the world beyond its borders. While there is much to be proud of in England’s history it is perhaps understandable that this has provoked a certain amount of resentment in Scotland, Wales, Ireland and overseas.

"Amusing"? "Off-the-cuff"? Surely his remark was simply a typical example of the determination of a certain type of person to make the people of England feel guilty? To make us shoulder the blame for all that is now perceived as "wrong" in the British Isle historically? It's a familiar ploy, but not amusing or "off the cuff". I've read such nonsense at least a thousand times over the years.

Clive Anderson is a fine example of what is wrong in England today. There he sits, on his tumpty, loads of dosh, unaffected by health apartheid and the Barnett Formula, convinced that the people of England deserve the West Lothian Question and that the English alone in the British Isle have been aggressive. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - not so.

Nonsense.

And as for imperialism... didn't Scotland bankrupt itself during a colonial venture BEFORE the Act of Union?

Mr Anderson, it seems, belongs in the same bed as Jack Straw. What he says sounds priggish, ill-informed, bigotedly anti-English and hopelessly 1990s.

And, in view of the Barnett Formula, health apartheid and the West Lothian Question, very uncaring indeed.

Mind you, this is the man who even upset the 60s/70s/80s pop group The Bee Gees. Judging by his latest ill-informed outburst, he's enough to make anybody shriek.

UK Government Fails England AGAIN! Please Sign The British Heart Foundation Petition

The British Heart Foundation website brings interesting news. The UK Government has yet to commit to a new plan for tackling heart and circulatory conditions in England over the next decade. Typical, eh?

More here. Please read the info and then sign the petition.

Jacqui Smith: Violence Against Women Is Unacceptable, But Who Gives A Stuff About Men? I Know, Let's Have ANOTHER Database!

I thought this Government was supposed to look after ALL our interests? Not so.

Earlier, Ms Smith told the meeting violence against women was unacceptable whatever the circumstances.

But violence against men is perfectly acceptable, eh, Jacqui Smith? Years ago, I knew a poor guy who was regularly beaten by his wife. On one occasion, she actually broke his nose with an unplugged iron. He daren't protest, daren't go to the police for fear of ridicule, daren't do anything. He experienced years of misery. But that doesn't matter, eh, Ms Smith? He's a minority (but don't you usually make a particular point of looking after minorities?), and he's male. The scumbag!

And now old Hitler in knickers wants to introduce another database to combat the problem! Oh, Jacqui, you controlling, sexist, power mad person, you!

Jack Straw - Mr Anti-English/Anti-England: England Needs Watching Because The English Are So Violent...

Jack Straw, via Toque:

"Is big brother watching you? Are you – innocent and law-abiding – kept awake at night for fear that your door will be kicked in by agents of the state?"

Yes, if a good friend of this blog, a care worker in his early forties, with no police record, arrested on the piffling accusation of one other person, without witnesses, treated like a criminal at Parkside Police Station, Cambridge, released without charge, but now on the DNA Database for life (and, we suppose beyond) is anything to go by.

Jack Straw hates the English. He hates England. Remember this, from the BBC?

Home Secretary Jack Straw says the English had used their "propensity to violence to subjugate Ireland, Wales and Scotland" on the Radio 4 programme Brits.

(Click on red text for more).

The comment shows more than anything Jack Straw's contempt and hatred for England and the English. The fact that he sometimes attempts to muddy the waters by describing himself as "English" is simply a ploy. Jack Straw is British. Nationality is largely a state of mind in the UK and he is British. An English-hating, deceitful, slime-ball Brit at that.

But it seems that Mr Straw thinks the Police State, the loss of individual freedoms in England, is justified. Accept he will never admit there is a Police State. According to him, crime is falling.

Obviously making Orwell's 1984 reality and keeping the people of England, with their "propensity to violence" (the entire English population, according to Straw in his BBC quote) in a Police State, and then denying there is one, is justified.

Harriet Harman - WOMEN'S Minister - Highly Sexist?

Harriet Harman is Minister for Women and spends a great deal of time pontificating on "unfairnesses" to the female gender and how wonderful and put-upon she and her gender are.

Now, as this is a non-sexist society, may I ask where is her opposite number, the Minister for Men, to pontificate on "unfairnesses" to the male gender (like International Women's Day) and how wonderful and put-upon he and the male gender are?

Knowledge Of The Barnett Formula Did Not Reach Public Domain Until July 1980!

Early knowledge of the Barnett formula stems from a public session on 7 July 1980, atwhich George Younger MP, then Secretary of State for Scotland, gave evidence to theCommittee chaired by Donald Dewar MP3. Some of the durability of the Barnett formula maybe attributable to information about its existence having reached the public domain in thisway. This knowledge allowed the Scottish Affairs Committee to regularly ask the Secretaryof State for Scotland whether that year’s public expenditure changes had been settled bymeans of the Barnett formula. Defence of the formula, against what was suspected to be theTreasury’s desire to change it, became one of the key tasks of the Secretary of State forScotland4. Although reliable information about the formula’s operation was slow to reach thepublic domain, there was clearly a substantial amount of newspaper briefing

Click on the red text for more on the "origins and role of the Barnett Formula". The what?! You know, that little formula whose creator, Lord Joel Barnett, has declared unfair to England. You know, that little formula which discriminates against all citizens of England, creating a so-called "Celtic" elite in Scotland and Wales. You know, that little formula which decrees that they can have and you cannot.

The Labour Party, The Conservative Party, The Liberal Democrats, The British National Party - Racists All

We all remember the referendum in the North East of England which voted 78% against regionalisation. Sadly, the rest of us weren't given a say and New Labour continued the break-up of England regardless. Gordon Brown's last act as Chancellor was to swipe £2bn from the English NHS:

From the Financial Times:

However, Mr Brown avoided equivalent cuts to the Scottish and Welsh NHS budgets even though the funding formula for the UK nations suggests they should have shared the pain. That decision leaves him open to criticism that he favoured patients in his home country

Gordon Brown's first act as Prime Minister without a mandate was to create regional ministers in England, and now regional select committees. But those given a say in the North East said a resounding NO to regionalisation. That doesn't matter. The people of England are not allowed to live in a democracy.

Now, the Lib Dumbs are screeching over Labour "unfairness" in the composition of the new Regional Select Committees. Note, NOT over the fact that the people of England don't WANT regions. The Lib Dumbs go even further, stating that their article here "refers to UK" - which it doesn't. Scotland and Wales have their own national governing bodies. The article refers to ENGLAND.

So, lower public spending in England - via the Barnett Formula, health apartheid, the West Lothian Question... and MPs of all parties remain quite unconcerned about the people of England. Keep 'em quite. Put in more CCTV. Keep the DNA Database. Tell 'em it's to combat terrorism. Fool the people. Crush the people.

As charges of racism can brought on grounds of nationality/country of origin, it seems that the major UK political parties - New Labour, the Tories, the Lib Dumbs, and the BNP are ALL guilty of racism.

Now, isn't that a spooky factoid?

The Mandelson Green Custard Incident - Smells Like 1980s Spirit!

The Daily Mirror, 1984.

Ooh, the Peter Mandelson green custard incident brought back fabulous memories of the 1980s and Margaret Thatcher's "go to work with an egg" days.