Is Jacqui Smith the least convincing Home Secretary in memory? OK, so she has only part of the responsibility of her predecessors in the role, but she seems to lack the necessary gravitas for what has always been one of the senior roles in government. Her performance on today’s Andrew Marr show was nervous, inconsistent and totally lacking in substance. A sad state of affairs…
The bishop of Rochester has caused quite a stir with his comments on no-go areas being created by muslim extremism (link). This has predictably caused outrage with his remarks being condemned by many muslim groups and some liberals. But is he right? The answer to this is surely yes. There are areas of the country where there is hostility to those of different ethnicity or faith. Is this restricted to muslim extremism? Probably not, but it is more visible now than at any time in the past and appears to be becoming more prevalent as extremism increases amongst the radicalise muslim community. It’s an issue he’s right to raise.
Gordon Brown is seeking to get the new year off to a flying start as he seeks to banish the memories of the disastrous last few months. To do this he’s engaging in a flurry of activity, putting himself about the media, and announcing a whole raft of initiatives. So far so good.
But where’s the substance? He’s talking the talk but failing to walk the walk. There are plenty of announcements, and discussions of a grand vision, but nothing seems to actually get done. What we need is action not rhetoric, and there Brown continues to fail.
Some predictions for the year ahead:
Gordon Brown will continue to be plagued with accusations of incompetance and sleaze, however the run of total disasters that characterised the latter part of 2007 will ease off giving him some respite.
The UK government will continue its attempts to destroy civil liberties with a succession of increasingly draconian measures and new laws. Any new terrorist incident will be used to drive the legislation through on the grounds that to oppose it would be soft on terrorism.
Hilary Clinton will edge out Barack Obama for the Democratic nomintaion for the US presidency. She’ll win a closer than expected election, but will become deeply unpopular very quickly.
The situation in the middle east will continue to deteriorate as radical groups take advantage of the US election campaign.
The devolved governmets in Scotland and Wales will continue to move away from the mainstream UK political scene and there will be increased calls for full independence in Scotland and for greater parliamentary powers in Wales.
House prices will crash and as a result the economy will slide as consumer spending will no longer be able to sustain it.
Gordon Brown’s behaviour this week took his standing to a new low. Whatever your opinion of the Euro treaty, if you’re committing to it then it behoves you to show up on time and take apart in the ceremony. To be as late as Gordon Brown, and then to leave early was nothing short of rude and small minded. Another example of his unsuitability for office.
The last few days have seen more and more senior people in the Labour party admit to receiving donations that broke the rules governing such donations. Yet there’s been a distinct lack of resignations. There’s very much a “one law for us, one law for everyone else” mentality being displayed. Time and time again the corrupt politicians at the heart of the Labour party have got away with it, and this seems to have fostered a culture of believing that they are above the law.
They must be held to account! Where the law has been broken (and remember, Gordon Brown himself admitted that this had been the case) then suitable legal action must be taken. Let’s send a message to the politicians. You are accountable!
So, the government is making another of it’s periodic attempts to raise the time that suspects can be held without charge (link). At the current 28 days it is already the longest period in any comparable country. Of course the government argues that it will only apply to terrorist suspects, but as events have shown the police are only too happy to invoke anti-terrorism legislation for unrelated matters.
It is nothing less that a fundamental attack on our civil liberties that is unsupported by any real need.
Well, it’s all kicking off in Sudan at the moment. Not only was Gillian Gibbons found guilty of inciting religious hatred for allowing her pupils to name the teddy bear Muhammed, but mobs have taken to the street protesting at the ‘leniency’ of the sentence (only 15 days in jail followed by deportation).
Unbelievable!
That any person could believe that naming the teddy bear Muhammed was an incitement to hatred is bad enough. That the police and the courts could agree is astounding, and for the mob to be mobilised over such an issue just takes it to new levels of idiocy. Welcome to the wonderful world of sharia law…
It seems pretty clear that there’s a political subtext to this, with the Sudanese government sending a message to the west about their comments on the situation in Darfur. And how will the UK government respond? Probably pretty spinelessly if their track record is anything to go by. They’ll probably make ‘representations’ to the Sudanese government and maybe have a few harsh words for their ambassador whilst waiting for the situation to go away. Meanwhile the damage done to the reputations of Sudan and to Islam is considerable, all thanks to the actions of a handful of unrepresentative fanatics…
A very quick comment on Geoff Hoon’s round of TV appearance this morning as he was questioned about the current donations scandal. It was a masterclass in evasiveness and failure to answer the questions or discuss the issues. He even tried to give the impression that it was really a minor matter, a storm in a teacup.
No Geoff, it is a serious matter. The law has been broken and once again the Labour party is trying to cover it up. They got away with the cash for honours scandal, will they now get away with this one as well?
Why is there only going to be an internal inquiry into the latest Labour party corruption scandal? Gordon Brown himself has admitted that the donations were unlawful so shouldn’t the police be involved? To select a former Labour official to head up an enquiry shows that another whitewash is on the cards. So much for Gordon’s new era of openess…