Friday 13 May 2011

RANDOM THOUGHTS-----TWO DAYS OLD (Well, I didn't want to waste it)



Mr Cameron is desperate to get troops home from Afghanistan, as I am sure most of us are.

However, it is rather worrying that he is telling military chiefs that he wants the drawdown to being almost immediately, despite their worries that the whole mission could be put at risk if too many troops are withdrawn too quickly.

However, although the military chiefs were only happy for 200 to leave, Mr Cameron has insisted that 450 be ready to go. According to the Telegraph, he will clear the final numbers with President Obama when he makes a state visit to England next month. In any case, the paper reports Mr Cameron wants all troops home by 2014, in time for the next election, a surprising admission for a Tory leaning newspaper.


Elsewhere in the Telegraph, I was bemused to read that Mrs Parker Bowles professed staunch support for the freedom of the press at all levels of British society. I had to blink and pinch myself when I read that, as I reminded myself that parliament recently passed a law removing her “husband”, his son and his mother from any FoI requests, even if they are in the public interest. So clearly what she means when she says ‘freedom of the press for everyone at all levels of British society’ is ‘freedom of the press for everyone at all levels of British society (except her “husband’s”)’.

She also talked of Willie’s and Kate’s wedding saying that she was sure it made everyone feel proud to be British. Well, call me strange if you will, but I’m wondering how, in all seriousness, two people who are youngish, and probably fond of each other (“in love, whatever that means”) getting married can make us proud to be British. I mean people may love the romanticism of a wedding, the spectacle of a golden coach and crowns and all that fairy tale stuff, and some people clearly made a lot of money out of it (mainly in China), but why would that make you proud?

I wondered too, if by Mrs P-B’s logic, the divorces of Margaret, Charlie, Andy, Anne, and Katherine (of Kent), made people ashamed to be British, or did they, by some strange quirk, make us proud too?

What nonsense people talk!


David Cameron had been hoping that David Laws would soon be back in government. Mr Laws who was Chief Secretary to the Treasury for 17 short days before he was found to have been fiddling expenses, and was perhaps at the point where he could do a Peter Mandelson and return from the naughty step, put the Dark Lord to shame, by falling foul of the authorities BEFORE returning to a position of responsibility. He has been suspended from the Commons for 7 days and will have to pay back tens of thousands of pounds stolen from the taxpayer.

But it has to be said that the matters leading to this are the same ones that cost him his Cabinet post 11 months ago. The breaches were investigated, initially by the police, but then passed to John Lyon, the standards commissioner, for an investigation which has thrown up the extent of Mr Law’s illegal claims.

Poor Mr Cameron; he has very little real talent at his finger tips and Mr Laws is reputed to be very clever... Clever enough to avoid the fate of poor wee Jim Devine, although clearly not clever enough to avoid this ignominy!




34 comments:

  1. LOL Conan....he isn't, but he's probably the only 'law' that hasn't been. He broke a few himself... but because they like him, he'll be OK.

    They probably think that we are perfectly happy now that a few stupid scapegoats have been thrown to the wolves.

    Still waiting to find out what they are going to do with the Uddin female and all the other chiseling gits from their lardarses house..

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  2. To be fair, Cameron set this date before the last GE - so this isn't about party advantage. It is about finally drawing a line and saying "this is the date, this is the cut off". We cannot have an open-ended commitment in Afghanistan.

    I'm pleased Cameron is also maintaining a this key election pledge. He stood on a platform last GE saying this was his date. Good to see him holding to it.

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  3. p.s. I'd like to see David Laws back in cabinet myself. Maybe he could replace Vince Cable? He deserves the sack, him and Huhne.

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  4. How's your friend George Dean? Steal 40 grand and get 7 days suspension after paying it back, criminal.

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  5. tris

    Cameron is not 'Poor' thats for sure we will be thanks to him(and deano)
    As for laws surprised deano would ask for the return of an MP who will later end up in HMP prison for fraud still it shows deano's idea of
    morality.

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  6. I had a vague notion that Doctor Foxy told us all some time ago that British troops would stay in Afghanistan until the job was done, even if they stayed after the US pulled its troops out. Of course we all fell about laughing at that. What a remarkable turn of events that now Britain is involved in another war it’s not winning the jobs done in Afghanistan and they can begin to pull out (with permission from the US of course).

    As for Laws, I heard he was clever as well although I have not seen much sign of it. If he wanted to keep his sexuality a secret he went about it in a strange way. I don’t think there is a single small rodent in these isles that does not know he is gay. Clearly stealing money to bung to his boyfriend from the public purse and telling a whole pile of lies about it was not the smartest way to keep a secret. He is not short of a bob or two personally, I understand, so why not just use his own money to pay off the significant other. Or if he absolutely must get on the band wagon of chicanery (like all the others) why not claim to live in his aunt’s cupboard? Also not very clever is the ludicrous excuse that he could have pinched a whole lot more if he had used public money to buy himself a house. Is that the kind of logic you need as the chief secretary of the English treasury?

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  7. So let me get this straight.
    Laws said his boyfriend was his landlord and gave him £40K of our money. He did this because he wanted to protect the fact that he was gay. So even though he was a liberal he didn't want people to know he was gay.
    Ok then if we accept that he was just a 'lodger' for the sake of his convoluted reasons then why did he also claim thousands in repair and maintenance of this rented property ?
    Surely if you rent a property it's the landlords responsibility for the upkeep of the boiler, plumbing etc
    The fact that the coalition ( and Dean) want this character back in the cabinet tells us everything we need to know about these people.
    Oh and St Vince of Cable said on QT the other night that it was essential that the Lib Dems got Laws back into 'public life' as soon as possible. I thought Laws was an MP. Isn't that public life ?

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  8. Seems like Camers has been enjoying Matron's spotted dick and bread and butter puddings a tad much, wot?

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  9. The trouble, Dean, is that he may have done that, but then Basil Brush said that we would stay to the end, which was a strange thing to say, because who is going to define that there has been an end... Is it when Afghanistan is functioning like a state? When there is no chance that the Taliban will return? When there is no Al Qaeda left in the country?

    I’d say it’s unlikely that the e4nd will come any time soon, probably not in your life time, and certainly not in Mr Fox’s.

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  10. laws, by all accounts, is clever, and god knows we need some clever. But his judgement is deeply flawed.

    I'm totally unconvinced that there is any difference beween what he did and what Devine did.

    Cable and Huhne should of course be sacked; on that at least we can agree.

    They both also have extrememly flawed judgement; Cable can't keep his silly mouth closed and can't resist bragging about his power to pretty young girls and Huhne is a two faced turncoat who would do anything for power including lie through his teeth.

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  11. CH:

    I wonder how many of us "hard pressed, british families, up and down the land" could get away with stealing £40,000 with a seven day suspension.

    Indeed some of the lesser MPs couldn't get away with it.

    PS: It's cruel to taunt Dean about his close relationship with Mr ffoulkes.

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  12. Niko: Hows the bar doing?

    You have to keep your eyes peeled for nut job Bulgarians, btw. We don't want any of your new staff attacked!

    Laws won't end up in HMP. He's part of the right set; the millionaire MPs. And he's needed, unlike the idiot fallguys who ended up doing stir to appease "ordinary people's" anger.

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  13. As you say Munguin. Mixed messages from Fox and Flashman.

    You make some good points about how unclever he was over the matter of the money. I understand that Aunts' cupboards are exceedingly good places to live, far better than hotel cupboards, especially when there are other people living in them: Mr Paul, or Sisters' attics, as there is no room for the patio heater or home cinema and stash of porno films: Jackie Smith, or indeed cousins' boyfriends' that you've never met houses: Mr Taylor, or come to that wives' aunts country places that you've never been to, Viscount Falkland.

    Actually I've a small cupboard in my own humble abode, which for £40,000 I will happily rent out to an honourable or right honourable member...or for that matter a noble one.

    Application by email to above address!!

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  14. Ah Hugh, I think that you have to accept that Liberal Democrats aren't what they used to be.

    Instead of being on the left, they are now on the right, with all the attendant issues.

    They don't have a problem with reducing payments to pensioners; they are happy to have nuclear weapons; they like nuclear power for heating and powering homes; they have gone soft on green issues; they like the idea of charging people for education; they want the health service to be a de facto private concern...etc, etc

    So it shouldn't come as any surprise to you to know that they are deeply ashamed of being gay.

    So ashamed that to hide it they go to all manner of lengths including renting rooms and then paying for their upkeep. (I wonder if Jackie Smith did that; and we should look to find if the noble Viscount mentioned above ever had his wife's aunt's wisteria cleared from the chimneys.)

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  15. Erm yes Snooty, your nobleness, erm probably.

    Actually, he is a chubby wee thing isn't he. I expect it was because up at Oxford (note the "up") his main activity, whilst others were rowing or playing rugby or lacrosse or polo, was stuffing his face with good grub and getting himself ripped on posh booze and the most exercise he got was throwing chairs through windows...

    Still, you know, that's better exercise than throwing Nokias at staff, and a deal more "us".

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  16. David Laws did not make any 'gain' from his regime of paying money to his landlord (also his lover, against Commons rules as per 2006 changes). He would have been liable to claim greater amounts if he had declared the relationship.

    Does this excuse his behaviour? No. However it can allow us to appreciate Laws motivation. I think this happens to be the key point.

    We all have things we'd like to keep hidden. God knows, it took me long enough to 'come out' to my fellow Tories. And frankly, I really doubt society is more tolerant than 13 years ago. Progress has been made, but for the great majority of people like myself - or indeed David Laws it is tough. Even more so for him, he is from a much older age group. You try being 40 something, and telling your mother and father your orientation. It is a different subject, for different age groups.

    Again - I say this not to excuse his misdemeanour, but to contextualise it. For Gods sakes, the intent was certainly not to commit criminality in order to make financial gain. That much is clear, as again he'd have made more by following the rules.

    Have none of you lot not got similar skeletons in your closets? If you lot are holier than thou, my goodness I envy you. "Whiter than white" ... where did I last here that claim?

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  17. Not like the other 300 who bought their innocence.

    Martin Rowson 2011

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  18. Dean...
    No one is concerned that he is gay. We're concerned that he was able to cover up his sexuality and claim expenses under false pretences. You must admit he'd have been sacked if he worked in the private sector and tried the same trick. He was elected as a straight guy, voted as a straight guy so had no scruples about lying to his constituents.
    Claiming that his boyfriend was his landlord should have stopped him from claiming maintenance on the property but he claimed anyway. Surely this is taking the mickey ?
    If he was really concerned about being outed as gay then why didn't he just pay all his own expenses ? He's a millionaire. Isn't it because he felt 'entitled' to fill his boots as he's more worthy than the electorate ?

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  19. Hugh,

    He did lose his job over it. He was previously in the shadow cabinet (and an excellent minister he made too).

    And forgive me, his sexuality was at the heart of this. Why? Because this explains his motivation for doing what he did. He didn't undergo this because he wanted to swindle money, but to avoid dealing with a tough part of his identity.

    You say no one was interested in his sexuality. I say to you, you have not had to come out. I does constitute a huge psychological deal.

    I wish him all the best, and hope he returns to the cabinet.

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  20. So if his partner was female he wouldn't of claimed, utter balderdash he is just using his sexual orientation as his get out of jail card.

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  21. Yeah! I wonder if Deano's support of Laws is principled or a more a case of all the Girls sticking together......

    over to Deano?

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  22. I see Fatty Camroon is at it.

    He has just announced a brave new plan to link, Iceland (the country not the frozen food shop), UK and Europe (vaguely) in a new sub sea interconnector to import electricity. The word inrterconnector implies a two way street so I wonder who will be sending electricity out of this septic isle???

    First they attack you
    then
    They ridicule you
    then
    They steal your clothes
    then
    The lift your identity and credit card details.

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  23. snooty

    And then they fecks you(well its the Old Etonian way)

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  24. lol, I am leaving this discussion till tomorrow 'cos IT IS EUROVISION! You all better have placed bets at the bookies on who would win ... I know I did ... come on Italy! (never thought I'd ever say that!!)

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  25. In quella buona fortuna di caso in Italia, Dean.

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  26. Dean, I think the sadness is that there was any need at all to be ashamed of his sexuality. That's not his fault, it's the fault of a narrow minded society. Heaven only knows what half of them do for kicks. But frankly I don't care a damn, as long as they try to run their departments, do their MP jobs and don't steal from us.

    Has he hidden behind it? I don't know. If he has he should be ashamed.

    The point is, it seems he wasn't up front at the time when he was caught out. He should have got it all out of the way at once, but the investigation showed up that he had fiddled other things, including as was said above, repairs.

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  27. Niko: That's sweet from a guy who has a picture of his long lost lover on his bar walls...

    The one....forever?

    Ring any bells Niko?

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  28. Hum Lord S...I ecpect he'll try to fiddle the meter on the electricity Scotland sells, so that he, or his wee mate Gideon, get the money.

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  29. tris

    we were never lovers (we should of been) anyway i'm sure Deano knows what i mean

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  30. God if that Eurovision doesn't end soon im gonna kill me self

    wifey supporting Blue

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  31. Niko,

    Blue? 100 points is good, it represents ten fold increase on last year (If my dyslexic mathematics works)

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  32. Azerbaijan then. So next year it's off to Baku.

    Oh well where did Blue come? Or Jedward? or France?

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