Politics Needs to Wake Up and Admit they Have FAILED

I think I speak for a lot of people when I say we're a little fed up of the politicians using these riots as an excuse to score points off each other. The Conservatives try to make every attempt that Labour makes at explaining the root cause of the riots as a condoning of the riots. I'm thinking in particular of Diane Abbot's comments being chopped up to make it look as if she did exactly that, which she very clearly didn't - and they refused to apologise to her for it. Ken Livingstone, former Mayor of London, appears to be the only person who knows how and why the riots kicked off. He rightly called Boris Johnson out about his flip-flopping; Johnson agreed to the cuts in police, and has only changed his mind with the benefit of hindsight. Livingstone would never have done that.

David Cameron as can be expected seems more interested in spouting out meaningless rhetoric. He calls for firmer penalties for breaking the law, he calls for harsher police tactics and has even called in a US ‘supercop’ who - no offence to my American friends - does NOT reflect the needs of the British public diddly-squwit. Moreover the US police force are not really the ideal people to be asking on riot control, and while I have never liked to defend the British police, I can understand out police's frustration at Cameron's pointless and potentially harmful actions statements about their inability to handle the situation. It was them who ultimately put down the riots, not him. Even if they were slow to react to the situation, the best response Cameron can expect from his empty statements about the police are "pot. kettle. black."

Where was he and the rest of the cabinet when these riots were going on? On holiday! While London was literally burning, he was playing his fiddle on a beach in Italy. Many of us haven't been able to afford a holiday in years. But I don't envy them because I'm happy to go without a holiday to pay for other things I need and if I were to choose a holiday, it would be to visit my family in Scotland or Lancashire, not a fancy villa in Italy. It's the fact that Cameron, nor the rest of the cabinet, chose to come back until it became so serious that to have no come came would have been more damaging to THEM rather than us. The damage has already been done TO US.

Ed Miliband has been shaky at best. His initially reaction was to do as Cameron did and parrot the horror and disgust that all of us had. He managed to do it with a considerably greater level-headedness and calmness than Cameron did, not appears to be trying to mimic the public reaction in a bid to make us feel as if he is "one of us", but his words were ultimately as meaningless. After all who here ever denied that a lack of responsibility was what drove the rioters to commit their crimes? It was basically stating the bleeding obvious and any moron who believes what they read in the Daily Mail could have said the same thing.

In his defence Miliband, unlike Cameron, has moved on from this point and is trying now to bring us the question of what led to these riots happening. Is it to do with the cuts? Is it to do with the lack of services and welfare for young people now the coalition government have cut them to save money? Is it due to a lack of responsibility in the upper classes amongst the politicians and the bankers, who likewise gambled people's money and stole from the public purse for their own greed? Is it due to the fact that the under-class have been neglected and ignore for the past 30 years since Thatcher closed down the factories? How many of these factors have led to the production of careless, disenchanted young people who have no respect for society or law?

At least these are the questions you feel that Ed Miliband wants to ask but feel he can't at the risk of offending the middle-classes or walking into a trap by the Conservatives that any attempt to find reasons for why the riots started equals condoning the riots. Yet no one ever denied that smashing up shops was wrong - and Miliband, and the Labour MPs of affected areas, and the rest of the Labour Party need to point that out. There is no doubt that criminal activity was the primary concern of some of the rioters. The riots that took place in Manchester is particular seemed to be motivated by just that. But the initial riots in London started when a peaceful protest over the shooting of a man named Mark Duggen in Tottenham got out of hand. There is no doubt in my mind that class struggle and anger at the current government's actions at least partly contributed to the riots. Even if they didn't, the issue has risen now and will not go away no matter how many times David Cameron appeals to mindless rhetoric about tougher crime. Ed Miliband needs to embrace the question of the link between lack of opportunities and crime, and show more clearly that he is willing to address it.

Ed Miliband said there needed to be an inquiry, and their does. It is the only language that politicians seem to understand. He said he would start it if Cameron didn't - so get starting Miliband because Cameron is no closer to moving away from his rants about lawlessness and punishing the people who rioted by taking away their council houses, which is a frankly counterproductive action to take to keep people off crime. Ed Miliband needs to call on the support of the working class and under classes who did not riot. They need help organisations protesting peacefully against government sanctions that Labour have gone on record as condemning, such as the harshness of the government cuts. They need to rally these people who feel that they have previously been abandoned by all governments and made it clear that they are the party willing to work on improving society on all levels.

I wrote this comment on the Labour Party Facebook feed when Ed Miliband made his statement about responsibility:

If I were to recommend anything to Ed and the Labour Party, it would be for them to come out and confess that the under-class of British society has been ignored by them (and that their conditions have been worsened more than ever under the current government) - and this lack of opportunity, of purpose and of pride has led to development of emotionally crippled young people who lack the respect for society that most people have... because society has abandoned them and so they take pleasure in smashing up society.

Yes, yes - there is no excuse for criminality but happy people don't riot. These people take pleasure out of criminality because they have nothing else and putting them in prison is nothing more than an occupational hazard. It is time the government tackled poverty in this country and created more jobs for these young people; skilled, unskilled and professional jobs for ALL the classes, so we do not create another generation of young people with a weak work ethic. And I say that as a young person myself, fearing the prospect of not being able to find work once I leave university... imagine what it’s like for teenagers from poor families who barely got their GCSEs. Where are the jobs for them?

An attitude of conservativism, to simply lock up these people and then forget about them, will not help society overall. Those in power need to look at the lives these people lead and ask themselves "what has gone wrong and how do we fix it?"

I still think that argument is true. These poverty issues have been hoodwinked for too long and people from more privileged backgrounds have taken advantage of the majority for a long time while completely blocking out even the existence of Britain's underclass. I agree that crime should pay - but there is no denying that this type of disorder has been going on in poorer communities and ignored by the ruling elite for too long. Moreover the middle classes have not helped as there seems to be this assumption amongst some people that once you earn more than the average person does (about £20,000 a year) you are no longer of the same thinking as you were when you only earned £15,000 a year and therefore have more to gain by voting Conservative at the next election. In reality most floating voters like these, and member of the working class who also vote Conservative, are really voting for policies like anti-immigration and anti-EU than anything else, in which case most of them would probably vote UKIP under any other voting system than first-past-the-post. In some cases people just vote for the Conservative Party because people feel that Labour has "had their turn" and now it’s their turn.

It is understandable why the social question has come up following the riots. When the lower classes are caught between the whims of the centre-left Labour movement that spends money to increase services and the centre-right who cut services to save money, it is understandable also that ordinary people have grown to resent government as a whole regardless of who they are or what they do.

These riots should serve as a wake-up call to everyone that we need to look at our society and wonder why it has come to be that children think it is fun to smash up shops. Don’t be lazy and say ‘Blame the parents!’ because odds are on these parents are just as down and out and disenchanted as their kids are. Where do you think these kids got it from? And it is wrong to stereotype the whole class. When I say these riots need to make people think about where most of these kids come from, I’m talking about learning from it to try and prevent these kids from doing it again. You can’t expect to treat them rough now and think they will learn from their mistakes. David Cameron’s meaningless, empty words do nothing to help society – and will help people even less if his council house, benefits and harsher sanctions ideas (which he appears to have dreamed up as a result of looking at one of those annoying e-petitions).

Take away people’s homes and livelihood but don’t look into the problem that festers underneath it all – you are going to generate more crime than you already have. It will generate more distrust and hatred of the police, and the fear of them will lead to people reaffirming the rule that ‘you don’t grass.’

But this is all meaningless at the end of the day. Eventually people will forget about this and become angry at something else. David Cameron will decide another policy is his top priority and nothing will change – unless someone else in a high authority forces the changes to be made.

Government Cuts Jobs But Force People into Unpaid Positions?

10,000 People in Britain Go Mental (Question of the Death Penalty)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14400246

This is disgusting. I agree that MPs shouldn't ignore important e-petitions about relevant issues that concern people - but bringing back the death penalty is nothing short of barbaric and pointless, not least because we already got rid of it in the 60s. The people who believe it is a good idea and that it will deflect people from committing crimes only have to look at death row in America to know that's not true. There is just as much crime in countries that have the death penalty than there is countries that don't.

I don't believe that any human action justifies the taking of even the most disgusting of human beings. It is better to make them suffer with life then end with death. Anyone would tell you that child killers and molesters are considered the lowest of the low even amongst other criminals. Men who have murdered their wives, girlfriends or just random adults take the moral high ground and make those who harm children felt like the dirt most people would agree they are. By executing them they escape living a long and miserable life in prison.

But that is an argument that ALL anti-capital punishment believers argue.

The reason I oppose it is simply because the outcry against it in this country back in the 1960s when it was outlawed. Roy Jenkins oversaw its final end, but many other people who had campaigned to end the death penalty in the UK for decades before it finally ended. It was decided that the practise was barbaric, and it is. I don't see why organised murder is any better than disorganised murder. Seeing as the only practical application the death penalty has is to free up prison space, you could do that by giving people who commit more petty crimes lighter sentences. I know that's an unpopular thought with a lot of people - but frankly nicking a couple of packets of pasta from ASDA isn't really a crime at all when you consider 1.) How rich these supermarkets are and 2.) That crimes like this make up the majority of crimes committed in the UK, and yet we indulge the rich companies by allowing them to seek the harshest penalty.

Surely it's the government's fault if things have got so desperate people have taken to being kleptomaniacs in order to get by. Punishment should fit the crime - and so when such a person is caught but never spends time in prison, I seriously couldn't care less.

Back to the death penalty, I think it would be idiotic and naive of the government to indulge such an argument when people, in general, are collectively as thick as two planks of wood. It makes no difference to the British people whatsoever whether there is capital punishment or not, so why waste money and time debating a non-issue that was cleaned up years ago. I'm one of those people who doesn't even thik terrorists should be executed if they are caught in the practise of committing a crime, not just because given they set bombs the idea of dying doesn't bother them (At least, that's the case with the Al-Qaeeda terrorist, the RIRA terrorists are just backwards thinking twats who think it's a good idea to kick up a fuss in Northern Ireland by shooting people and doesn't do a thing to promote republicanism) and also because executing people is the practise of these people, and therefore we should hold ourselves above it. They want to be with God so much, they can bloody well wait until He kills them. I don't see why we should give any man or woman who commits an unthinkable crime the penalty of death.

I also don't see why the government should consider such a backwards thinking policy that doesn't help anyone. People argue that it helps the victims families by giving justice - but to execute someone for killing someone else dates back to a very old fashioned 'eye for an eye' way of thinking. That's not justice, that's revenge. Justice should come with the proving and convicting of the person who commits the crime. The acting of executing someone is just worthless revenge. It benefits no one. I don't believe that executing someone for a crime would make the victims or their families feel any better about what happened. Killing them doesn't altar things.

The bottom line is that I disagree with capital punishment, and I believe so on grounds of having actually read the history of it and thought about it. Most people who sign these petitions haven't thought about it, they just think its a good idea. Bring it back and almost immediately you would have people take the streets demanding it be reversed. We went through the argument on capital pubishment, and decided to outlaw it. The country is no worse off without it and would not be better off with it.

Like I said, you, me and individual people are intelligent creatures. People, however, are stupid, thick and make more noise than sense. I despise this government we currently have with every fibre of my being as we have some how ended up with a party committed to destroying the lives of the oridinary people. If this vote went through, I fear it would be because the Tories wanted to vote for something they *think* the public want - not what's good for them. A popularity boost is all they care about, yet they only conceed on things that won't effect them or go against their Tory beliefs (which is to cut things that people actually do need - like a functioning NHS and jobs).

Interesting that only the Tory newspapers seem to have given this argument the time of day. Probably because only Conservatives vote for it. However I feel that capital punishment is not the business of the people. I'm sorry, I just don't. It is the business of the controlling elite and they should no better than jabbering voice boxes who support anything that seems like a good idea without actually understanding it.

It's just a worthless issue that doesn't help anyone nor does it benefit society in any real way. It doesn't.

Probably the best argument against this whole this is that people - like the ordinary people who don't care most of the time - would almost certainly vote against the reintroduction of the death penalty. Like I already said, it seems ironic that only the right-wing papers masterbated over this entire story. The Daily Fail most of all. Idiotic twats.

PS: Just to give you an idea of how stupid it would be for the government to "bend" to the naivity of public pressure - or the empty vassels that make the most noise - take a look at this part of Charlie Brooker's 2009 Review of the year on the horrible C4 show The Execution of Gary Glitter. I always like to use Charlie Brooker's commentary on TV and issues in the news because he breaks it down without dumbing it down.

Trouble with the NHS? Tories just don't get it, do they?

Pledges of NHS waiting times in doubt.

The moral of the story? Never trust conservatives with the public sector.

My dad has been waiting for his hernia operation since the end of March. He has a blood disorder and so he needs to have blood taken out regularly in order for it to be safe to operate on him. It should have been sorted out months ago but they're still messing around as they keep pushing his operation back, which means he has to keep having blood take out to make it safer for them to operate on him. They have cancelled his operation three times now. That's just a simple hernia operation.

This whole thing has just proved that you NEED bureacracy in order to make an organisation like the NHS run smoothly. You need more managers all the time with a population growing all the time and nearly every single one of them using the NHS at some point in their life. You can't ship out duties or look for cheap deals in the NHS. That's just the Tories' brainless and uninformed tinking.

Least we don't live in America. If we did my mum would be dead and by dad would be on the way out too. At least he is on a sodding waiting list - I guess they're just treating all the more seriously ill people first. But it's just a hernia operation! It's not fair that my dad has to keep having his blood fixed over and over again. It tires him out, for Christ's sake! He's an ill man.

Cameron talks a load of crap but has yet to deliver on anything, even the polices he was supposedly passionate about. Given that his family relied on the NHS for so many years, he should be ashamed of himself. Yes, Blair was the first true 'career' politician and career PM but at least he was good at it. Cameron and Clegg have always been nothing more than Tony Blair wannabes. They are trying to become 'the next Blair' but lack the charisma and the ability to sweat out the critics of press and opposition. They care more about their non-existant image than about doing their jobs. They don't appear to care about anything and lack even the illusion of substance to make up for lack of leadership. Say what you like about Gordon Brown, he was the last true party leader. They are all faceless wonders now he's gone. They might as well be the same bloody nasty, poorly made Tony Blair clone.

At least Ed Milliband is vaguely recognisable because he's a geek. :p

1st entry

I have always been a blogger at LiveJournal but I decided I needed to start a new blog, elsewhere. In a place where no one new me and where my private ramblings that I don't mind being public can be viewed. Given that I'm quite opinionated but have two parents pushing sixty (and have long since stopped caring about things as much) I find myself ranting to a death audience. At least here I can rant to a deaf internet audience.

When starting a new blog most people just jump in and tell people about themselves, who they are and what they do. I can't be bothered to tell people about that so I will settle for just pointing you to the About Me section of the blog. If I manage to keep this thing up-to-date then I guess you'll learn more about me as a go along. If not, then you're no worse off and I haven't yet again stuck my heart and soul into a blog I may or may not be bothered with.

It takes a lot of motivation to keep a blog when your life is a mental-case.

Probably the best-ish news that has happened to me today is that my mother, who is more or less disabled being only able to walk short distances before she is tired/in pain as a result of arthritis and anemia, caused by a poorly functioning kidney, who has also been suffering from a winter bug... has started eating again. Sort of.

But I don't want to talk about my private life here. That's my business and it is damnwell staying on LiveJournal in my private journal. However if I have a political rant or an opinion on how my generation - who the press are already calling the 'lost generation' - have been pissed all over by the scum that are David Cameron and camera-shy wanker George Osbourne, they you will be the first to know.

Not to mention opinions on the weak-minded Clegg who is now about as popular as a bount of swine flu. The man who single-handedly went from hero to zero in the space of six months following his failure to stand up for his principles and the policies for which the voters put him where he is. My greatest hope, ironically although I agree with it, is that the vote on voting reform fails, the LibDems pull the plug on the coalition and Clegg disappears.

The same will doubtless happen to David Cameron, potentially one of the most unremarkable PMs this country has ever seen. He is a name who is destined to earn no more than five points on the 22nd series of 'Pointless', if the show is still going in some form. No reason why is shouldn't -- it's more popular than he is.