Calling Football Fans

Tarquin, my Co-Author on Football Banter has set up a mini-league via the Premier League's official Fantasy Football Site. We are looking for anyone who wants to enter a team and join our mini-league.

It's free to enter, all of the details of how to enter the Football Banter League is HERE.

If you fancy pitting your wits against us, get over there now and have a read!

Who Would You Want To See As UK Nomination For President Of EU?

I am still not happy with the stitch up that has and is taking place over the Lisbon Constitutional Treaty and I hope the Irish, The Polish and/or the Czechs can save us from a federalised Europe. However, given that discussions (if not the decision itself) have taken place in earnest to whom the EU President will be I am not happy that the UK Government are set to put Tony Blair forward without any public debate.

So, last week I put up a piece outlining who could be put forward from the UK as potential candidates from across the parties, a few independents and even a blogger who has expressed an interest in the role.

Despite the EU and the UK Government not allowing you a say, you can now have a say here on this blog... Please vote using the poll on the right of the blog, but if you want to elaborate or debate please feel free in the comments section of this post.

100% Of People Want A Reduction In Public Spending

100% of respondents to my poll said that they want reductions to public spending.

No poll I have ever put up, even ones which have questioned Gordon Brown's leadership, has ever returned a 100% answer, but then again it is a simple reflection of peoples opinions to a crazy level of spending.

City Of London Regulations

Everyone knows that the bankers in the City of London are not half as bright as they think they are, but even they should sense danger over plans to hand control of our financial services sector over to the EU; There has only been muted protests, I wonder why this can be?

Sure, much of the city now looks to UK PLC for their pay cheques and gold plated bonus payments, but is that really it... is there no one at any of the banks that is prepared to speak out against the moves? As much as the FSA is a complete shambles, opposition cannot be that strong to it that the EU looks the preferred method, can it?

I distrust the EU greatly and I do not see that there have been tangible from anything that they have taken control of so I do not see the benefit. By handing control over regulation will be moulded to suit the French and German models which despite my sparse economic qualifications still seem incompatible with how things work now in London.

But that is not the point, this is…

Did you vote to instruct our Government of the United Kingdom to hand over controls from within our democratic reach over to the policy shop in Brussels?

No, neither did I.

So why the hell do we let Gordon Brown get away with crap like this?

Labour is morally bankrupt, that much we already know, but with the real prospect of financial bankruptcy because of the massive shortfalls in the public purse, why are these controls being handed away over the Treasury’s biggest source of income? It can only be because decisions are now being made so far away from you and me, the ordinary person and voter that our concerns are no longer even in a token sense allowed to matter.

Political evolution is failing us. More and more I sense the need for revolution to restore power into the hands of the people.

Daniel1979 Says...

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you!

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

Daniel Hannan publishes an amusing email sent to him.

The London Evening Standard had a story about a house for sale that could not be sold, even when a free Ferrari was offered as well.

Rab C. Nesbitt thinks the English should grow a pair of balls in a thought provoking piece.

Dizzy finds and publishes an interesting Early Day Motion.

And Finally, Charlie Elphicke on Conservative Homes Centre-right blog opens the debate on what a Conservative Government would do about traffic jams and congestion.

Enjoy!

I Have Decided To Take A Holiday..

Now see here, I have decided that I am going to take the month of August off of work; basically, I work quite long hours during the rest of the year and I have to travel quite a bit so I am quite tired. I know you have paid a lot of money in taxes to buy me a second home, furnish it, keep an office, hire staff, pay for a few luxuries, not forgetting a generous salary; however, like I said, I am a bit tired so I am going got do it anyway. I work on your behalf in a stressful environment and everyone I work with deserves the same.

Don’t be surprised, I am allowed 85 days off, People think thats unfair but it is not... I am just taking August - as in September I have decided that I shall do some work nearer home…Nobody ever thinks to mention that I work in September! I expect a hysterical response from the masses because they are too thick to understand that I really am working hard. If you get upset reading this then you may well be hysterical or thick, or both.

Also, I normally take August off, or I have for the last four years since I have been in this job; usually I “phone in” a couple of times each day,… so technically even though I am at home, on a beach or in a bar you really should recognise that this is a sacrifice I make for you. But this year, I feel I deserve a break so I am going off for a month and I am not going to phone in, I will be incommunicado.

I really don’t see why anybody could be upset in the slightest.

Nb. I am not really… but I have paraphrased someone who is. See Here.

A Couple Of Problem Solvers

I know I have seen this before elsewhere, but I cannot remember where. It arrived on email today, so I thought I would pop it up on the blog.

Nigel Farage - Don't Turn EU Into USSR

The EU affords an armed uniformed ceremony for the trooping of the EU flag at the opening of Parliament before the EU Parliament sings an ode to joy, the official anthem of the EU. The flag and anthem were once dropped from the EU Constitution to appease the French & Dutch, and then were simply introduced by another means. Was this what the Labour Party promised you?

The UK must leave the EU; furthermore it is about time the whole of the UK started talking about whether we should continue as the UK or if we should now devolve back to our component nations.

The tools of the state and the EU have grown and have been twisted to ensure that total control is held by a select elite... You and I can never be a part of it in any way that will make the lives of the people that work hard, pay taxes and wish to live in peace and raise a family any better.

The people of England, the people of the UK and the people of Europe all deserve, and can do much better.

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

Richard on The Defence of the Realm Blog writes about the trouble with armoured vehicles.

The All Seeing Eye with more on the story that is still unanswered and has not gone away.

Doctor Bloggs (Dr Liz Miller) has a message for Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer on the latest Swine Influenza developments.

C Hogan-Taylor looks a little closer at whether the situation in Iran is bringing about the first new media revolution.

And finally, Jacqui Smith admits to Iain Dale that she was not qualified and not up to the job as Home Secretary (But wants her Cabinet Job Back)

Enjoy!

A Handwritten Photocopied Note..

This was being passed around where my wife was working last week.

Mr Cadbury Met
Miss Rowntree in a
Room on Quality Street.
It was after eight,
He turned out the
Light for a bit of
Black Magic.
Then he slipped his hand
Into her snickers and
Showed her his Curly Wurly
Not keen to have any
Jelly Babies she let
Him have her up the
Chocolate Truffle. She
Screamed with Turkish
Delight as he took
Out his fun sized
Mars Bar. He felt a bit
Crunchie and she wanted
Some Time Out but he
Did a twirl and came
In a very Milky Way!

Say It Isn't So!!

On Friday night at 11:59pm I looked into my own reflection in the side of my wife's jewellery box and watched as I turned 30, I have been drunk pretty much since then.

30 has for a long time been a milestone in which I had hope to have completed certain aims in my life, some I have and some I have not. However there are some things which I never thought or planned to have done and achieved.

On balance I am happy with my lot, and I am blessed with a loving family am still head-over-heels in love with my wife; but I am going to re-assess my goals. Suddenly time seems to be of a premium and I need to be bolder in my aims to achieve the levels of success that I had wanted to.

Just thought I would share that with you all.

Random Thoughts #1

Whatever happened to Germaline?

It just disappeared!

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

We start with the good news... The All Seeing Eye is back!

Behind Blue Eyes is having a personal revolution, and wants to share some thoughts.

Ed West had a piece on how car clamping is an infringement of our Human Rights.

The Sun Says The EU Treaty [Lisbon] is not legal and says judges are urging Parliament to restore to our Parliament the same powers as Germany has.

Fraser Nelson says Brown hit the roof when his own short-fallings as Chancellor are highlighted as dangers to the rest of the world in the latest IMF report.

And Finally, if you have not already signed it, you may be interested in this petition.

Enjoy!

Accepting Nominations

Ok, so I put a random thought on the blog, it festered and now I feel compelled to take it further.

We don't have a say, we don't have a vote and most of us don't want the role. But, if we did and it was for national debate, who exactly would the UK put up for the role of President of the EU?

Not being a Parliamentary poll, we would need to put up an individual on behalf of the whole nation. The number of people with the requisite experience and appeal is indeed limited. Here are a few thoughts, please add have a think and add yours to the comments... once we have a shortlist maybe it will warrant a poll of it's own.

Labour: Tony Blair. As much as I dread the idea, he is Labour #1 and only credible candidate. Once made a remark about preferring to nail his boy bits to a train rather than being President - now that would get people out of their cars, if only for a day. Ken Livingstone may want to offer an alternative vision and is popular on the left from his time on the GLC and as London Mayor. Mandelson would love it, but no one outside of politics likes him.

Conservative: I am struggling to name a credible candidate. Sir John Major? He has the experience, but may be too EUrophile for Conservative voters [in this non-existent poll]. Daniel Hannan would be a popular candidate but would be blocked at every turn by the EU itself.

Liberal: Paddy Ashdown has been strutting around the global scene for the last decade and has connections world wide and is respected in many quarters. Won Tory votes in South of England so can cross UK political divide. Charlie Kennedy would be the fun candidate.

SNP: Alex Salmond. Is a good public speaker and made the SNP strong in Scotland again. Has the experience of being First Minister of Scotland and an MP.
update 17-Jul-09 08:44 Scunnert suggests Nicola Sturgeon as an alternative SNP candidate.

UKIP: Nigel Farage. Anti EU, Conservative in nature. Would reverse EU direction on further integration and would probably work the position of President out of existence. But like Mr Hannan would be roadblocked - still my preferred candidate.

Respect: George Galloway. Crazier things have happened, but not too many.

BNP: Nick Griffin. Says the BNP want to return powers to the UK, but many politicians have taken this line on the way to Brussels, before changing their tune when they get on the gravy train, I suspect the BNP will be no different... oh yeah, he is also a Fascist.

Greens: I don't know any, but feel free to nominate

Independents: Richard Branson, Robert Kilroy-Silk, Sir Paul Judge and Sir Alex Ferguson could all put together a campaign.

Come on, have your say!

Nigel Farage On Vaclav Klaus

Forget Blair, the UK nomination should be for Mr Farage. He is not everybody's cup of tea but I would certainly feel the UK's needs would be put before that of the EU.

Now that would be interesting, I wonder who the UK would select if a nationwide poll was held? It definitely would not be a Labour Candidate that much is sure.




Here is Mr Farage's latest speech in the EU Parliament, which certainly got to Mr Barosso as is seen at the end. I credit England Expects where I just watched this.

Tony Blair - President Of The EU?

This is a completely unbearable thought, but looks to be the pet subject of the day tomorrow.

If you agree, and dread the idea of President Blair, go sign the petition: http://stopblair.eu/

If you don't agree, sit on you hands. The elite in Brussels have already lined it up, there is not even the need for an election.

Public Chose Cuts When Faced With Dividing Line

A poll from the Guardian and ICM that will be published tomorrow shows that the Conservatives are winning the argument with the Public for spending cuts.

In total, 64% think the government should cut spending against 28% who want more increases. The numbers get more interesting when you look at voting intentions as 55% of people likely to vote Labour and 57% who are likely to back the Liberal Democrats would like to see reductions in state spending. Amongst likely Conservative voters the number rises to 73%.

It is a damning indictment of the Governments spending strategies as the public feel the pinch in the height of this recession and look feel the Government has spent too much and are worried that the Government seems to want to spend even more.

It is a personal slap in the face for Gordon Brown, both as it means the public reject the former Iron-Chancellors assessment for the best course of recovery; but also because it shows that Gordon Brown’s efforts to set this as the dividing line will backfire when it becomes the cornerstone for all national debate.

Overall voting intentions show the Conservatives on 41%, Labour on 27% and the Liberal Democrats on 20% which puts the polls back roughly where they were before the EU Election got rolling.

I have introduced a poll to the blog, what do you think should happen to public spending, vote using the poll on the right of the blog, but feel free to elaborate in the comments field.

118800 Update

Last week I posted a piece about the new mobile directory that was to be launched on 118800, I had received word both of the directory’s existence and of a way to opt my number out from the 15m that are stored.

Today I see on their website that this service is suspended, and it looks like it may be suspended indefinitely. Apparently there was a very large take up of the opt-out service in recent weeks, as emails warning of it circulated around the Internet.

I understand that Privacy concerns were met during the inception of this directory, but I have to say I would not want my phone number on it. Anyone I want to have my mobile number already has it, and I do not give it out to companies. People of a like mind to me will probably not be too upset to see this development.

I am wondering if perhaps directories have had their day. Instead of companies collating lists of phone numbers and distributing them, surely in the age of the Internet it would now be more sensible if people opted into phone directories. Anyone who wants their landlines and/or mobile numbers listed can go the relevant page or phone the relevant number…. Everyone else could be left out. Some people do want to be a part of the phone book; I have never once seen any benefit for it. Not sure what the consensus would be here, perhaps I am in the minority.

The Starchild Is Born

I was not in the mood for blogging at the weekend, which allowed me some time for a few drinks, to visit my in-laws and also, as an unplanned treat I caught on the Sci-Fi Channel, V the mini-series, a Sci-Fi treat from my childhood.

I know not everyone is a Sci-Fi fan, but everyone should watch a particular scene from this fantastic series at least once - the birth of the Star-Child... remember this was from around 1984.

Go to 3:19 in and enjoy!

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

A Tory writes to Fraser Nelson and suggests he stick to the facts on assisted suicide.

Lord Elvis (on TVOTR blog) questions whether Gordon Brown would dare to attempt to delay the election past the 5 year allowed term for Parliament’s sitting.

My Doubts blog brands the UN a disgrace.

Oliver has the horrific story of two police dogs dying when their handlers left then in a van in the heat outside a Nottinghamshire police station.

And finally, the Daily Mail says the UK Government is going to spend £1m in renovating a Nigerian Prison so as to allow Nigerian prisoners convicted of crimes in the UK to be deported to Nigeria.

Enjoy!

The Phantom Street Light Caller-Inner

This is one of those many things that has been rattling around in the ol’ noggin for some time but I have never quite known how to write about it. I thought I would give it a go tonight.

A friend of mine works for one of the Oxford Councils, they have been there and worked in the Street Lighting department for about 9 or 10 years now.

When he started it was very much an office junior role, answering the phones, taking messages, and making tea. He told me in his first few weeks about a curious thing. Overnight when the office is closed there is an answer-phone service, where outside of business hours people could let them know if a street light was out. Very soon he realised that there was a consistent voice on the recordings, and three, four and sometimes five times a week the same person was leaving messages about broken street lights in and around the county.

The people on the office who had been there some time had already noticed this, and were not surprised when my friend mentioned this and he quickly became familiar with a number of calls and messages that had made in that past that had stuck in people’s minds.

Anyway, it sticks in my mind and whenever I meet up with this friend and we go through the motion of catching up and asking about work, family etc I always feel compelled to ask if this guy has been phoning in still; which by the way he still is.

From the moment I first heard about it all those years’ back it got me thinking, and all these years on I still think about who this person might be, but more interestingly why he calls in, in the manner and frequency that he does. The thing is, he never calls during the day, he has never once left a name or a contact number or mentioned any other details other than where a particular street light needs repairing. He is 100% reliable in his reports.

Is this perhaps a man so public spirited that whenever he goes anywhere he makes note of things to highlight to the council? What would possess a person to so regimentally call in on such an issue? Perhaps it is the memory of some tragedy that could have been averted had a street light not been broken? And if it is public spirit, why street lights, why not go hunting for criminals or injured people? Is it just street lights, perhaps he reports broken street signs, graffiti, and pot-holes. No other department of the council seems to have such a persistent and reliable source.

He covers a wide area of the county, so it is speculated (within the Street Lighting team) that perhaps he is a taxi or an ambulance driver, who upon their nightly duties simply makes a note of lights he notices to be broken and calls them in… given the wide areas he takes to, if he is driving around vast distance looking for one or two broken bulbs, he can’t be on a commission, because the petrol wouldn’t cover it.

I am not sure what the people in the street lighting department would do if he stopped phoning in, but I know they would genuinely be disappointed. This man in a weird, unsexy and much pigeonholed manner is something of a legend to the boys in that office.

This story will not grab everyone’s imagination, and if it does it will not set it a light; but for a few of you, it will fester and reappear at odd moments and generate bizarre thoughts and theories. You can thank me later on that score.

Clearly I do not know why a person would do this, but it is to the benefit of the people of the county he reports these, and that they are able to be fixed in a timely manner. Because he leaves overnight messages and has never spoken to anyone directly at the council, nobody has in over a decade of such kind spirit had the chance to say thank you to him. Reward is obviously not a motive for this man, but I can’t help thinking sometimes that some kind of recognition is deserved.

Public Service Information

From Mid-July there will be a mobile phone directory at 118 800 which aims to list every active UK mobile number in the country. This information will be held in the normal manner of a 118 directory service and will also contain the numbers for minors and the elderly. The database is largely unfiltered and obviously there will be companies interested in purchasing call lists that will be available – as such very soon you, and/or your friends and loved ones could well be subject to unsolicited and unwanted marketing calls.

The database is said to have over 15m numbers collected from market research firms, online businesses (collected from websites where people did not exclude their number from being passed along by ticking the privacy box) and also from brokerage firms who buy and sell personal data, such as telephone numbers. The information on this database has been purchased in a manner which has satisfied the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which investigates allegations of breaches into the Data Protection Act.

If this does not sound like something you would like your number(s) to be a part of, [and I include myself in that] then you can go ex-directory before the launch of this service by following a few simple steps… I have done this myself today and it takes less than 2 minutes. You need to have the mobile to hand that you wish to go ex-directory on. It is free and you do not need to enter any personal details other than the phone number you wish to be excluded from the database.

1. Go to this link http://www.118800.co.uk/removeme/remove-me.html

2. Click “Home”, then “Ex-Directory”

3. Enter your mobile number and the security words that appear on screen

4. This will take you to a new page where you need to enter a 5 digit code – this will be text to you a few moments after entering that page

That’s it, you should be done.

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

Ranting Stan with his thought on how the left admit they have failed on Education.

Dizzy is backing calls to get rid of Early Day Motions in Parliament.

SNP Tactical Voting takes issues at a speech given by the Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

The Adam Smith Institute Blog echoes a call from Sir John Major to slash the budget by a third.

Ill and ancient with a cool illustration about what extraterrestrial civilisations would be watching if receiving our TV signals (depending on their proximity to earth).

And finally, Cat from Brits at their Best attended a Tea Party in Hillsboro, Washington State.

Enjoy!

Did CNN Capture Michael Jacksons Ghost On Film?

Go to 8:20 of this Larry King show and look down the corridor....




Spooky eh?

Idiot Of The Year

Close the nominations for The Idiot Of The Year, the clear winner will be Bernie Ecclestone, for THIS.

Happy Independence Day

I wanted to say happy 4^th July to my readers from across the pond today and hope that they are enjoying their BBQ’s and fireworks.

There are a number of countries that take one day a year and remember their Independence from the United Kingdom but not so many are so well known and understood. So, for those who have not read it and for those who might want a reminder today, here is a recreation of possibly the most important and probably the most well known document ever written.

The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Voices Of The Resistance

Lord Elvis of Paisley set up The Voice Of The Resistance Blog last week, where I shall be contributing and occasionally cross-posting.

Thus far, myself and LE included there are 17 contributors, so please bookmark and stop by, it is an effort to generate greater focus on the terrible Labour government and an effort to spread their exit from power using our combined voices.

Here are our other contributors, who if you have not visited before are all worth a read. (In no Particular Order):

Goodnight Vienna

Cato

Henry North London

The Ranting Penguin

Northwester

Ted Foan

Marksany

Richard Dale

John Ward

Jess The Dog

Steve Green

Tory Totty

Techno Mystic

Barking Spider

Stop Common Purpose

Old Macdonald Had A Farm...

E I E I Ohhhhhhh

Originates from Coffee House

Recommended Reading

Here is my latest recommended reading list.

Please note, I do not necessarily agree with these posts and articles, however I found them sufficiently interesting to warrant a recommendation:

Bloggers4UKIP are celebrating the fact that rude shaped vegetables can again be sold in shops.

Fraser Nelson digs deep into Gordon Browns big spending lie.

EUReferendum Blog looks a little closer at Catalonia and the EU's regional policy.

Tory Politico has absolute proof that Gordon has no mates... (well, just 1 mate).

And finally, Iain Dale offers a sneak preview of next weeks PMQ's.

Enjoy!

June's Top Referrals

Here, with a big THANK YOU are my Top Twenty referrals for June, the number in Brackets indicates positions moved in relation to last months top 20.

1. (+5) Cato Says – 44 hits

2. (new) Letters from A Tory – 41 hits

3. (+4) Daily Referendum – 40 hits

4. (-3) SNP Tactical Voting – 36 hits

5. (+13) Unenlightened Commentary – 34 hits

6. (+2) 10 Downing Street by Lord Elvis – 33 hits

=7. (+5) John Ward – 29 hits

=7. (+1) Events Dear Boy, Events – 29 hits

=9. (+4) Ian Dales Diary -25 hits

=9. (New) Danny1979 Twitter feed – 25 hits

=11. (-6) Scunnert Nation, =11. (-7) Subrosa, 13. (-10)Britishblogs.co.uk , 14. (-6) Torybear, 15. (+2) EUReferendum Blog, 16. (-4)Behind Blue Eyes, =17. Centurean2 (+1), =17. (New) Football Banter, =17. (+3) Defence of the Realm, 20. (New) David Forward.

The Stats were way down in June compared to May, but that was to be expected as I have been blogging a lot less so I am not too disappointed.

Thanks to everybody who has linked here and to all who visit. I really appreciate that you take the time to read what I have written about, and if I did not receive such warm reactions it would not be nearly half as much fun!

Here’s 5 posts that were well received, (just in case you missed them in June)
1. Ireland and the Second Referendum

2. Not a trace of red

3. A look inside Cheryl Gillan MPs’ expenses – Part 1

4. Chicken Soup for the Devil, A Tory & The King

5. Should we look to have an elected upper house – Part 1