Two News Stories Of Interest

Firstly, the latest season of Big Brother is getting some good write ups. I have to agree this has been a much better start than last years boring season and a couple of others were pretty dire. Let's hope it stays interesting.

Secondly, and more importantly, David Davis has resigned from the Shadow Cabinet and as a MP. What makes this announcement even more interesting is he has done so, supposedly, over the issue of civil liberties and the 42 day detention scenario.

I say supposedly, because I remain cynical of Tory politicians. But I hope I'm wrong and wish him very well indeed if he really is taking a moral stand.

My political outlook has changed completely as of yesterday. I was a Lib Dem who was willing to give the Brown Government the benefit of the doubt over most issues. I was hoping the 42 day detention bill would be thrown out of the Commons, and I was praying this would lead to some serious changes in the outlook of the Cabinet.

As of today, I'm now a Lib Dem who is not going to give tacit support to the Brown Government. I am going to try to go up to Henley and do some leafletting for the Lub Dems if I can and I'm willing to face the prospect of a Tory Government after the next election if it means reversals to various draconian pieces of legislation Blair and Brown have brought in.

Of course I doubt the Tories would want to remove the legislation. It's the kind of thing that's right up their street, and I suspect their opposition is more politically motivated than based on any sort of support of freedom. But one can dream!

Let's hope the Lib Dems take Henley but give a clear run for David Davis in Haltemprice and Howden (as long as he agrees to getting little support from the Conservative Party).

Yes guys, that's right... you just heard me offering some kinder words than usually about the Tories. You know Labour has gotten itself into trouble when I'm starting to warm to the Tories.

**LATER**

Oh my, the Labour party supporters surely can't dig themselves any deeper? Oh yes they can.

This has been a quite extraordinary day. We began with it [42 days] apparently being a problem for Gordon Brown... Before we know it we have Tory division and confusion... David Davis sounded slightly unhinged.

Way to not score political points there.

Can The Tories Not Talk Responsibly About Immigration?

Sometimes I really do wonder. As someone who has concerns about the growth in population of this country, I am concerned about immigration. I think there should be a reasonable debate about the implications of our growing population, within which immigration should also be looked at.

But the Tories... Jesus. They can't seem to think about immigration responsibly. They seem consumed by the racism of certain parts of our population. Just take a look at the latest from a Tory candidate, Nigel Hastilow, who says Enoch Powell was right!

Mr Powell spoke of "rivers of blood", something which I don't think has come to pass and I don't think will come to pass. Mr Hastilow seems not to like "foreigners". I hate this kind of stuff. It belittles a real problem, both for our country and for those seeking refuge from abroad here.

Scaremongering and pandering to the lowest common denominators in the electorate is what this is. But then... we shouldn't expect anything else from the Tories.

See Enoch Powell for more on this evil man. He wanted to bar Commonwealth immigration... and if there's anyone with rights to come to our country it was our Commonwealth friends.

I think it's time for everyone in London to read Jae's Guide To Using A Train

Awww... David Cameron has given a very worthy speech filled with lovely platitudes about politics that you can believe in. Then he goes on about the usual Tory policies. I mean... where are the politics I can believe in? Where's the high ideals? No where... we have weak, old, piecemeal policies. It's hardly a Tory revolution. And some of the passages are laughable...

"One of the aspirations people still have and rightly so is the aspiration to own a flat and a home of their own and all of us... all of the shadow cabinet here they could tell the same story... of young people who come to our surgeries, they show you their salary, they talk about local house prices and they just say I don't see how I can achieve that dream and George showed how we're going to cut stamp duty to show that we're on their side and we'll help mend the rungs of the housing ladder and get on their side. This is the party of aspiration and opportunity and George [Osborne] has shown us the way."

Oh big deal... how on Earth does he expect this to help??? The problems with the housing market are massive, and the changes needed to fix it are going to be painful and unpopular... Sadly David Cameron doesn't have the balls to tackle the problem. Time for a change? Yes. Time for the Tories? NEVER.

Jae Agrees With Tories

I know... shocking. But I'm not just a Tory Hater. I will admit that, once in a blue moon, I do agree with something they say.

The Tories propose ending early release for criminals. I was about to bad mouth them, asking how they were going to fund this... when I saw they also propose scrapping ID cards and the money saved would go to more prison space.

Brilliant. Sadly... the Lib Dems have been proposing scrapping ID cards for a long time. The Tory Come Latelys strike again. The Tories allowed the Labour Government to begin to erode our civil liberties after September 11th when they put on a good show of national unity instead of being a good opposition and keeping the Government under control. The Lib Dems are the only party that has consistently fought to protect our freedoms and to introduced efforts to fight crime... something the Tories obviously want to emulate... You might deceive the public, but not me.

Inheritance

The Tories have pledged to revise the inheritance tax by increasing the threshold at which you have to pay from £300 000 to £1 000 000. Same old Tories.

I believe the inheritance tax is a good thing for several reasons, and I believe it should stay at £300 000. Those reasons, which you are perfectly fine to criticise, are:

1) By ensuring that money passed from one generation to the next is taxed (thus decreased) we ensure we do not end up allowing the creation of a rich, land based class of workshy people. If parents can pass all their wealth to their children we'd end up with Lords of the manor all over ago.

2) Morally I find it repugnant that some children expect an inheritance or that some parents feel obliged to leave one. I want my parents to live their lives to the fullest and not worry about leaving anything for me or my siblings.

There are many people in my family wasting their lives doing nothing desperately waiting for their parents to die so they can inherit the riches (and squabble over them with the rest of the family in acrimonious disputes that'll probably give all that inheritance to lawyers). By being forced to pay an inheritance tax this kind of behaviour can be discouraged (but sadly not stopped).

Money is nothing but paper and metal. Use it to enjoy life, not squirrel it away and waste it on ungratful kids. Sure leave a few thousand as a nice little present but when the figure gets to £300 000 or more we are talking silly amounts of money. If I die and leave that much money in my account when there's so much good it could do in the world now, I'd feel deeply ashamed of myself as I headed to Hell.

3) The inheritance tax might make a few people think twice when buying a home, worried the price might take them over that £300 000 threshold and thus force they kids or unmarried partner to have to sell the house if they died. This is a good way of keeping the massive inflationary pressures of the housing market in check.

4) There are plenty of ways around the Inheritance Tax.

5) I don't see the point of raising the limit. Either you should have the inheritance tax as it is or axe it. What is the point of just amending it? Oh wait... it's a bloody gesture to middle class voters. One day political parties might actually introduce policies for the greater good rather than as underhand attempts to gain power.

It doesn't raise that much money for the Government (£3 Billion pounds... there are plenty of cancelled projects filled with more money wasted than the Government gains from this!) so it's not like the Government has the tax to raise funds. It's more about benign social engineering. Now sure, I hate social engineering... but hey that's pretty much the Tories raison d'etre so I don't quite understanding what their issue is...

Cameron Faces Tough Conference

After two terrible polls (here and here), David Cameron really needs to step up his game before the impatient Tories stab him in the back just like they did to Iain Duncan Smith.

The Tories might big up recent victories in local elections, but these were too small scale, and far too local, to really extrapolate any future general election results from.

And the Tories still have problems being "on message". Whilst David Cameron has called for a snap election, his leiutenants are saying Gordon Brown would be taking a foolish risk with possible electoral fraud if he called an early election. As Gordon Brown has not called a snap election (yet) does this not mean that David Cameron (and I admit Sir Ming) is the one pushing for a flawed election?

As the first policy proposals begin to seep out pre conference we can see the same old Tory policies coming up... two parents good, one parent bad (over their benefits policy, or as I like to call it "Social Engineering").

And rather than tackle the underlying problems of the housing market (too few homes, too many people, population drift from north to south, greed etc. etc.) they propose getting rid of the stamp duty for first time buyers. Yeah... that'll help. NOT. Here David Cameron is going on about his environmental credentials, yet he ignores the greatest risk to our environment in the south east... vast swathes of new homes.

The Tories are all talk and no action... let's not rock the boat by proposing real solutions to overcrowding in the south east and the environmental disaster it is creating. Instead let's tax some uncontroversial things (flights) and let the rape of our countryside continue.

Same old Tories. I never, ever, thought I'd actually say this but... William Hague is the best Tory leader since Margaret Thatcher. They were foolish to let him go.