The New Last Post

Hello

Long-time no blog....  For those of you who have left me on their feeds and blogrolls, I just thought I would add one last post as this one concerns the blog.

I have published a sort of "best of" collection of posts which has been possible thanks to Amazon rolling extending their kindle market by opening a UK store.  The book is quite literally a collection of posts from over the twenty months this blog was up and running; it will not be to every one's interest but if it is to yours please check it out on Amazon or click on the widget.



eBooks have overtaken their paper equivalents in terms of sales from the Amazon US store and I is my guess that the same is going to happen here and that ebooks are about to take off.  This is going to allow independent author a direct and simple route to market, so people like myself can have a crack at putting some work out there. 


Personally speaking, since May when I packed the blog in things have been going well.  It was a big change to routine to not be posting regularly but despite the urges to get blogging I have found new motivation to pursue other things.  The main project is a work of fiction that I am very excited about and I hope to also publish in a few months time when it is completed.  I have also been reading a lot which has helped me to refocus a little about where things are going wrong in the UK and I feel this reading will be influential to me if and when I get back to occasional postings elsewhere.

I hope you're all well; I have been looking in around the blogosphere and many of my favourites seems to have had a similar line of thinking and have since the election finished blogging also which is of course a shame, but I am happy to see many other favourites still going strong.

That's All Folks!

This is not so much a goodbye as it is more an au revoir as this is intended to be the last post here and I am taking a self-imposed blogging break. Governmentitus (fka: Daniel1979 Blog) will no longer be updated. 

I got into blogs and blogging when my interest in politics had led me into the habit of reading the papers online and being active in the commenting of those, and from there I found the MSM blogs and in time from there I discovered some of the more well known blogs who sit independent from the major publications. My interest in politics seems to have grown proportionately with my dismay at the way things work in this country. I loathe(d) the Labour Government and I despise the EU even more. The more I look at life and how things don’t work properly the more I have found about Labour and the EU that I don’t like. The Newspaper forums and then the blog comments allowed me an outlet both to vent, but also to mull over my own beliefs and the opportunity to occasionally pontificate.

After a time it was not enough to simply answer the points of others and I became frustrated not just at the points being made, but in the very manner in which it was being put across. I was no longer content in providing my points in response to others and answering their questions I now wanted to put my points across and ask my own questions. So I took my time and gave it some thought and after my wedding in 2008 I went on the internet to see if it was possible to start my own blog, and crikey it was easy! There I was, with a blog, and completely shocked that I had not until then realised that there were literally hundreds, if not thousands who have done the same thing.

It did not take too long before an important realisation dawned, I had come to this blog thing a few years too late to be ground breaking in any way, there were and are already loads and loads of blogs and bloggers out there saying what I am thinking, usually in a more informative and/or entertaining way. It also became immediately apparent that if I actually wanted anyone to read my scribblings, I was very much going to have to be updating the blog regularly to keep people coming back for frequently updated content. When time did not allow me to post for a few days my small readership frequently becomes a lot smaller. Away from the blog I am blessed to have managed to keep my full time job and to have found a loving wife.  These two worlds do not sit next to each other easily and I have had to make a few sacrifices, and take a few risks to keep things going.

And so, at the end of 2009 having blogged for a year I took a look back and decided yhen that I cannot warrant the time and effort for me to try to keep this blog running. The truth of the matter is, it is becoming harder and harder to justify to myself that it is OK to spend time writing or researching posts at the cost of not spending time with my beautiful and wonderful wife. It has been a risk pushing out those lunch breaks or sneaking online during the work day for the benefit of the blog. I need my job to pay me money and being with my wife is without question the best thing that ever has or ever will happen to me. At that point I decided that after the General Election would probably be the right time for me to pack things in here, and decided to keep that in mind.

At that point of reflection in late 2009 that I told my wife what I was thinking of doing and she, as always said she would be supportive and encouraging of my decision no matter what I chose to do. However, it was in March when I told her that my mind was made up and that I was going to put this to bed that she turned to me and with a tear in her eye said ‘thank you for doing this, I want my husband back.’ And in that moment I knew I had definitely and unequivocally made the correct decision and that I would not change my mind. 

And so, I hope that you too dear reader will also understand.

My readership has been fantastic; you have always supported me and prompted me. I have never had a single problem with trolls or terribly abusive behaviour and it has been a real and delightful pleasure to have put this blog together and to have shared it with the world. But, alas it would seem that only a small pocket of the world has agreed sufficiently or found regular entertainment here. That has always been enough for me and I have found the whole exercise as therapeutic as I have found it rewarding; but it is now time for me to look to other things.

Looking back at what I am proud of, I think I made some good points and some good arguments before other people even considered them. I am proud that I rallied against the Lisbon treaty and have spent at least a part of my life helping people see that the UK is not the free country it claims to be. I am proud that I helped further the EU-Sceptic argument, I am proud that I added my voice to those who denounce the BBC, I am proud that being sceptical of the Global Warming movement is no longer something that cannot be spoken about openly, I am proud that I have made some effort in my life to defend the notion of free speech and I am proud that along the way I have been in touch with, and occasionally met up with other champions of the same spirit.

There was also a moment I shall remember fondly for the rest of my life when my jaw hit the floor after I took a peak at the Total Politics Centre-Right bloggers poll and found that despite my thinking that I would not really figure I was absolutely astonished to find I had made the top 50. I resolved then to try harder and do better for this year, but alas, that will not now be the case now.

So, what now for me?

The blog will remain but and just will not be updated. Looking through the archive I think there were a few good posts that went largely unread except by a small handful of people and just knowing it is still out there on the Internet is preferential to me that for it to disappear and also helps me to rationalise that the time spent writing them was worthwhile. The comment moderation will go on in a few days time.

I will almost certainly return to blogging in the future but it will be on a much reduced basis and elsewhere, probably on the Voice of the Resistance blog, or maybe as a guest elsewhere if I can find a new home. At least there I can just post and then go back to the rest of my day. At the very least I will pop along to my favourite blogs (of which there are many!) and try to be a bit more active in the comments elsewhere.

Away from the heady world of blogging I have an absolute mountain of books crying out to be read which I am going to start to work my way through, and I am going to grow up a little bit on the health side which is perhaps overdue. I am going to take a good long look at how I earn my living because god knows I did not grow up wanting to prepare maintenance renewals on software – though the real problem there was more that I have never known what I want to do with my life. One of my few evolved aims is to get myself published on paper somewhere and somehow. I think that I can finally put to bed the notion that I have some great work of fiction in me, because I have given myself long enough for some of those half decent ideas to ferment in the brain and these have ended up nowhere. I may really test myself and start putting down my own particular views and ideas and see if I can go Print on Demand and publish some thoughts and ideas. On that score, I only need about a dozen devotees to take my ideas seriously enough to know there will be hope for them in the future, even if that time line is a rather drawn out one. Again I suspect the therapeutic benefits of doing this will be the most rewarding aspect. 

But mostly seeing as I am the happiest man in the world, I would like to make sure I give more time to ensuring that my wife can be as happy as I can possibly make her.

Politically I really want to see someone fill the new void of British politics, because I not only sense the opportunity but feel a little disenfranchised. If someone comes up with a sensible and decent alternative then I am interested and would want to support those efforts.  I said the other day that there is a vacuum and an opportunity and I have already sensed from elsewhere there is talk of the same.

I don’t want to lose touch with the few of you I did make contact with, so please keep hold of my email address like almost everyone else I am on Facebook.

I hope that those of you who have been visitors have found something that you have wanted to here and that those of you who are bloggers go on and continue to fight the good fight. There is much wrong with the UK today and we are marching in the wrong direction; the road map is not a good one.

The blogosphere is still in reality in its embryo phase, there is so much more that will be achieved by blogs and bloggers. One day people will look back and see how crucially important the impending explosion of these blogs will have been in defending and expanding the rights of the people.  It can be hard work and it can be lonely, but I bet I am not the only blogger who looks back and knows that on the whole it was worth every minute of it.



Take care everybody and thanks for being a part of this experience with me. 

Phrase Of The Week

From me of all people.

"Conditional Optimism"

That was all.

Where To Go Now?

Well it’s all over and done with and we are stuck with a hung Parliament. It seems the only way to break the deadlock is to win the Lib Dems over with a promise to change the voting system to one that will almost always ensure a coalition is needed. The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are similar enough that they could probably find enough common ground to govern for a time.

I hope that FPTP can be preserved for the Commons, but there needs to be an urgent review of the constituency sizes and perhaps even boundaries which have benefitted Labour so greatly. This is not this first election in recent history where Labour has benefitted from the status quo. Cameron has got about the same share of the vote as Blair in 2005 and has fallen short in term seats; all parties and candidates should be on a level playing field; the electoral commission has some questions to answer on why it has not moved to take more corrective action.  We only need to look to this election where the third party is now dictating to the winner about what they want for there to be a functioning government to get a sense of how all future governments under PR would be formed.

For Cameron perhaps a wholly elected Lords using PR will allow him to seal the deal with the Lib Dems?

I am left wondering where I personally should go now? As regulars will know I am one of those disgruntled Tories who no longer wishes to support them because of the direction Mr Cameron is taking them. My objection is mostly on the Conservative position on continued membership of the EU. I do not believe the UK is benefitting from membership, in my heart I loathe the fact that 85% of our laws are made in a fashion I believe to be undemocratic. Furthermore I am tired of more and more powers being handed over.

I describe the EU as undemocratic but the truth is it is more anti-democratic in nature. One only has to look at how the EU is set up to be undemocratic despite the presence of a “parliament” which is unable to propose or initiate laws; it is a facade conceived so as to give the appearance of a democratic centre. The ruthless pursuit of it’s agenda and it’s willingness to break it’s own laws when it suits the Euro project makes the EU project a dangerous one for freedom loving democrats like myself. It is a totalitarian construct. It has achieved, or is still working to achieve every single aim it has set out for; you cannot defeat the will of the EU ruling classes; rare defeats in the past has been temporary as the EU ALWAYS eventually gets it way.

So which party does somebody of a right wing political agenda but it dead set in the idea that we must no longer participate in the EU but leave amicably but with great expedience? Well realistically the Conservatives are not an option. David Cameron will never give us a referendum on the EU, and he will likely re-ratify the Lisbon Treaty this year; he see’s Britain’s future in the EU but like all the others will not give that direction the democratic legitimacy and extend to us the voters a referendum. Had David Cameron not gone back on his Lisbon Referendum pledge last year he would likely have a majority today. A commenter on the DT Site has helpfully compiled this list showing what Dr North would describe as the UKIP effect. That is, these are the seats the Conservatives lost, where the UKIP vote is greater than the Tory losing margin.

Telford
Somerton and Frome
Plymouth Moor View
Morley & Outward
Newcastle-Under-Lyme
Bolton West
Great Grimsby
Walsall North
Walsall South
Southampton Itchen
Dorset Mid & Poole North
Wirral South
Solihull
Wells (LD gain from Con)
St Austell & Newquay
Derby North
Middlesbrough South & Cleveland East
St Ives
Dudley North

( Note: Most of this post was written yesterday, Dr North today lists 41 seats where the anti-EU vote cost the Tories )

I was one of those voices on the internet that warned that that the UKIP vote would in some seats cost the Conservatives; and it has done more it has denied them an Parliamentary majority. UKIP stood down in seats where the incumbent candidates were sufficiently vocal about the need for an EU referendum; I believe that with a commitment to a referendum on EU membership UKIP would have stood down in many more seats. When most Conservatives when polled tend to agree to either a referendum on membership or a degree of return of powers (unclear how that would happen) why have Cameron, Clarke and Osborne denied us this option?

So, I voted UKIP, but it would seem that I am one of only 3% or so that did. I have no regrets as I voted with my conscience and on the issues that I most care about; UKIP was the only option for me; in this election at least.

However, it is a little disappointing that UKIP were fairly disorganised in some areas; it seems there is little central help and candidates were left to fend for themselves – or at least that would be my assessment. Financially this is a big commitment to take on for UKIP candidates, if it were me I simply could not afford to stand. Despite some good policies and a compelling line that the three big parties are conspiring not to discuss openly how bad our debt crisis really is, it was clear that UKIP are really still a single issue party and that if only the blue team would accept that UKIP are right about EU membership they and the Tories could go back down the pub and get along together again. UKIP would probably disband if the EU membership question was finally settled. The entire UKIP campaign really came down to Buckingham with Nigel Farage being their star performer on TV not really coming close in the end to unseating the Speaker.

In my opinion, I hope UKIP do a little bit of soul searching and maybe take a look at a few things. There is a very real vacuum now on the right of the modern Conservative Party. And though the formula has clearly worked for them in terms of the EU elections, the UKIP formula does not work for UK elections; and a bigger presence in Westminster is exactly what they need to achieve their ultimate aim. I must also declare that I think their £ sign logo makes their literature and sites look dated, and reinforces the idea that they are a single issue party.

I want a party to fill this vacuum and I want that party to be able to win seats in Westminster. If UKIP in their hearts only see themselves as existing until the Conservatives change their point of view then I say we need another party in that void to cater for disenchanted Tories. If UKIP can recognise that for some they now represent more than they initially set themselves up to deliver and recognise that some minor tweaks would help sell them as an alternative to the conservatives on so much more than just Europe then I really truly believe that there is success to be had, and many, many more votes to be won.

Where exactly is my party of the right? In the next five years which party is going to raise the debate and fight for an end to the BBC tax? How about cutting welfare and socialist payments which create dependency and arguing that work should always be more rewarding than welfare? Who will speak out against the encroachment upon our civil liberties? Who on the right is advocating personal tax cuts for the coping classes? Who is going to cut through the bureaucracy and health and safety regulations which are stiffling small business start ups? Who is advocating Parliamentary oversight of judges? Where is the opposition to the new Supreme Court for the UK which cannot rule on devolved matters? Where on the right is advocating more Private Schools and Grammar schools which would allow more kids to get a better standard of education? Who is pointing out how illiberal it is to be a member of the CAP or to tell people how many hours they may work in a week? Who on the right dare question if we should continue as the United Kingdom or separate back to the component nations? Who is going to cut the cost and reach of the state? Who is arguing to an end to QUANGO’s and a minister in Parliament responsible for every penny that is spent of taxpayer’s money? I want a party who agree that life in prison means life in prison for people who commit the most vicious and serious of crimes.

The next few days it will be interesting and I will cheer from the very moment Gordon Brown is finally dragged out of Downing Street. However I am completely disenfranchised now by the major parties and struggling to find a political home and I don’t think I am alone. So what are we going to do?

Unwell

Will be back when I am better

The NHS Language Barrier

Have you ever been to see a doctor when feeling unwell who had little or no comprehension of the English Language? I have, and though fair to say I do not enjoy visiting doctors or feeling unwell, mine were not experiences which endeared the NHS to me.

One such time with a twisted ankle I hobbled in on crutches which I had been loaned from a hospital visit a few days earlier and with my injured leg raised, slightly extended and in the absense of a shoe visibly wrapped; the doctor "read" my notes whilst I stood (not being sure if I should sit in the chair or climb aboard the examination table), the Doctor then stood behind me and lifed my shirt from my trousers.... He could not read English and had wrongly assumed from my limp that I had a back problem - at least that was the nature of the misunderstanding as I read it and I am sticking to that. An angry exchange followed, and I left as promptly as my crutches and good leg would carry me. I tried to warn (in a civil tone) the handful of people who remained in the waiting room that stood between myself and the outer world that the doctor did not seem to understand English, and failed in a visual diagnosis that I had a bad leg.  They looked on with the same vacant glare that is nationally recognised of a UK GP's waiting room where we preparing to take leave of our senses, go into a trance and "make do" with the service we are to receive.

Luckily for me, no harm done, I went to the chemist and simply purchased some pain-killers which I assumed would have been the end result if my trip to the doctors surgery had of been resulted in me leaving with a prescription. That was my first and last experience of that particular GP surgery.  This particular experience was the first of a few, because as we all know the NHS is staffed with a number of people in different positions from around the world with varying comprehensions of English. It is our own fault that we do not have enough home-grown, English Speaking front-line staff, but if we weren't poaching them from abroad we would on the current size of the NHS have a massive shortfall.

However, this experience has always left me cautious to the potential pitfalls of Doctors and Nurses who quite frankly can't communicate and as such are a danger to all of us, be it a through Nurses not being able to read and understand a medical chart, or through the inability of a Doctor to understand a patient describing potentially life threatening symptoms. There are other dangers of course when you set of down the road of setting out why it is dangerous not having a satisfactory level of communication between patients and NHS staff, and of course between two or more members of NHS staff.

The case in the public eye today relates to Dr Daniel Ubani who administered a lethal dose of a drug (Diamorphine) to a pensioner resulting in his death during his very first out-of-hours surgery. Dr Ubani's poor grasp of English is at the root of the case, and he had already been turned down for work by one NHS trust because of it. The Health Select Committee has reported in the wake of this case:

"If the General Medical Council had been able to carry out language and competence checks on EEA (European Economic Area) doctors wishing to practise as GPs, lives might have been saved. As a matter of extreme urgency, the Government should press for change to the relevant EU Directive to enable the GMC to test the clinical competence of doctors and to undertake systematic testing of language skills."

That's right, we are testing Doctors and Nurse's who come from abroad to work here for their grasp of English, but not if they come from other EEA countries because EU Law forbids it on the grounds that it inhibits free movement of people across the EU. What's more, people are dying as a result.

To me, it simply beggars belief that we allow people to work in the NHS who cannot write perscriptions in English, or potentially understand such simple phrases as "nil by mouth". You do not need me to rant about the insanity of it, it is clear. What's more, in my company we routinely test UK based EEA staff for their grasp of French and German when they are dealing with customers based in France and Germany; to not do so would be disastrous for our revenue.

So why no public outrage when it comes to our beloved NHS and people winding up dead?

What this case does highlight is how subservient the UK to the EU, and more importantly by our own initiative. Do you think that the French allow Doctors to work who can't adequately speak French?  Of course not!

The General Medical Council has addressed this particular concern with Health Secretary Andy "Lashes" Burnham to request an end to the ban on language tests. Mr Burnham's response was to point out that the ban stems from an EU Directive and has primacy in our law, and as such there is absolutely nothing at all the Government of the UK can, or will do about it - to do so would result in the UK being fined by the EU.

Understand? We can't test Doctors and Nurses travelling here from other countries in the EEA/EU for their comprehension of English even though it is resulting in the deaths of patients because the EU says so, and to go ahead and do it was to risk getting fined... even though this particular law is flouted in other EU countries, such as France. Andy Burnham additionally points out that the EU directive cannot be reviewed until 2012.

The Government and the Opposition Parties cannot do a thing about this issue, so they just will not talk about it. That, right there is our modern politics. We are supine to the real government in Brussels and as I said the other day, the reason all of the parties (or collectively, "the Westminster Party") seem the same these days is because they are; they are governing in the wastelands that the EU has left for them or just not got around to yet, which is not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.

There will rightly be much talk during this General Election about the NHS but you will not get a policy or a commitment from any of the main parties on the issue if testing NHS Staff to ensure an adequate level of English because they know that they can't do a damned thing about it; not that they want you to know this of course, these kinds of issues might have people questioning whether in that case we should be in the EU at all, and that is an issue they definitely do not want to talk about between now and election night.

I'm Back

I am sorry that I have been away for so long, my Internet problems were resolved last Thursday after a complete wipe and re-imaging of the laptop and then we had Easter and I just wanted to keep offline and my head out of politics for over the weekend.

Normal posting will resume today for the duration of the election campaign.

Update

I still am having problems getting on-line, and so I am having to borrow my wife's laptop in those few moments when a lull in her Facebook activities allows.  I am hoping to post tomorrow on this new EU treaty business.  In the meantime, here is a cute looking dog.

And that I am afraid is about all for today.

If You loved Me You Would X

In the lead up to the election I have been getting a lot of new traffic, and I just wanted to gently prod those visiting on the ways you can get your regular Governmentitus updates.

1. Bookmark me.  Simples.

2. Blogger.  Add my url to the "blogs I am following" function on your blogger dashboard.

3.  Governmentitus Facebook group.  I have recently set this up.  If you follow this facebook group which I will drop my links in for back to the blog; but you can also drop your own bloglinks or if you prefer newslinks in.  The Group is there for members to share favourite posts and is there to highlight how sick we are of our Government.  The more that follow the better the group will be.  There is also the discussion and video functions.

4. Networked Blogs.  The preferred tool for bloggers on Facebook. 

5. Get a daily email.  Just pop your email address into the field in my right hand side bar and Feedburner will do the rest.

6.  RSS Feed.  I am not an RSS user, but if you are you too can follow Governmentitus by clicking on the icon and adding me to your feed list.

7.  Twitter.  Follow me as Danny1979 on Twitter.

Issues

Back in a few days.

Conservative Conference

I shall be enjoying a distinctly non-political weekend and celebrating the impending birthday of my Father.  Less than two years ago he had a heart attack and though he recovered and has returned to a normal life the whole thing forced me to re-evaluate my relationship with him.  So, I will by choice probably miss all of the conference, TEA Party and all subsequent commentary.  You do not need to however, and can watch the conference as it happens on the below player (should you so wish).

Watch live streaming video from conservatives at livestream.com

I will be back blogging either tomorrow night or Monday, feel free to leave any links in the comments of any posts or articles of interest.  I have my suspicions of where things will be politically come Monday, but it is these events that can encourage big swings, either positive or negative so should at the very least provoke some online comments.

Have a nice weekend!

A Year And A Bit In Blogging

Christmas is coming, and work is picking up for year end, so my opportunities to blog may become a bit limited over the next few weeks.  There are a few end of year posts I wanted to do, and this is the first.  Here, very simply is a bit of link-love to my past self over the last year and a bit... Dan's best bits so to speak (calm down ladies).

If your new to my blog, here's what has spewed forth over the past year and a bit, which will maybe give you an idea of what I am about, or, for those who visit a little more regularly provide a nice trip down memory lane.

December 2008
Should We Try Something A Little Different
National Anthems

January 2009
Worried about civil liberties in the UK? Got 6 minutes...
Is your number plate illegal?
Whatcha gonna do?

February 2009
The Home Secretary is ripping off Tax Payers
If the system is broke, why don't we fix it?
Are you an alcoholic?

March 2009
Who will pay for the EU?
Job cuts to end by Easter?
Letter to a Tory
Whips
An Invitation to Jury Team
Hannan bitch-slaps Brown in EU Parliament
Left wing PM poll closes

April 2009
Queen to step down as Monarch
G20 result - in my humble opinion
The voice of the Prime Minister
Observation
What is the greatest human invention of all time?

May 2009
Retirement age to be moved to 70?
MP's expenses, once again
Honour amongst thieves
Constitutional Mischief
Should we seperate the Executive from Parliament?

June 2009
Could Parliament vote to dissolve itself?
Should we look to have an elected upper house - part 1
Labour - wrong again
The Wet Parliament
Chicken soup for The Devil, A Tory and The King

July 2009
The phantom street light caller-inner
Did CNN capture Michael Jacksons ghost on camera?

August 2009
Female Genital Mutilation

September 2009
David Cameron speech on reducing the cost of government.
We are not paedophiles!
Did David Cameron do wrong, or did he act just like the rest of us?
The problem(s) with the Liberal Democrats
Voting = bad, terrorism = good... got that?

October 2009
An open letter to the people of Ireland
Writing strategy for Dave... Not!
Northern Ireland Assembly votes in favour of referendum on Lisbon.
On the side of Angels

November 2009
Cameron, Conservatives and The EU
David Camerons new EU policy - my verdict
Pictures from Westminster
An interesting thought
My Agenda

December 2009
Climategate: Caught green handed - Monckton report
A few receipts that stand out

My Agenda

Over on SNP Tactical Voting I left a comment on a recent piece about the death of blogging, and in reply Jeff left me a comment, part of which was to say

“…I read your blog but it's not immediately obvious which side of the many fences you come down on which could maybe count against you. It shouldn't but it could…” The full post and comments is HERE.

I don’t disagree with Jeff’s point, but it did make me pause for some thought.

When I started this blog it was after reading a number of other blogs, mostly on MSM sites and although I agreed with much of it, I found it frustrating when issues I though important went uncommented on, and on occasion when important topics were framed in a way that I felt missed the point; whether deliberate or not. It was also started with an ignorance of just how broad the Blogosphere really is. But it was started to be a place for my thoughts and ideas and that was how I wanted it to be.

My voting record and intentions are a matter of record here; I have voted Conservative in the past two General Elections, which are the only two I have been old enough to vote for. I voted Jury Team at the last EU Elections, and UKIP prior to this. With the current Conservative policies on the EU I have resolved that I cannot bring myself to vote for them until the Conservative Party gets a hold of itself over the EU and commits to withdrawal. Jeff is right; my politics are all over the shop, because I vote on the policies and how I see them. My politics do not line up to any of the parties exclusively. This is obviously showing through in my posts.

You will not get party allegiance here. I am broadly of the political Libertarian Right, and when The Conservatives, UKIP, LPUK and even the English Democrats and Jury Team talk about issues I see to be important, they get my support, and when they are not making much sense I will also say when I disagree. I would say the same of the Parties of the Left such as Labour, Lib Dems and the BNP, but I have not found anything I can side with them on; so they will continue to receive my criticism.

I am writing this blog because for many years I have taken an active interest in politics, and the more I read and the more I wanted to take part the more frustrated I became. There was a point when I wanted to get involved with the Conservatives and go knocking on doors, and try and win people and voters over. But, I do not agree with the Conservatives on certain things. I certainly do not agree with their current stance on the EU, and feel sorry for the people that have recently felt that they have been let down. But there is much more than that, the Conservatives are a “broad church” and for that they should be commended, but on policy, it is the same collection opposing factions in Westminster pulling the strings. Their only real strength is their continued presence in Westminster as a non-left wing party. The rise of the internet and with new ideas being expressed, I think their position as the sole power on the right of British politics is going to be severely challenged in the next two decades. Anyway, they do not stand for everything I believe in, no party does, so they will not earn my membership, nor my blog allegiance (bloglegiance).

I believe the state should be small, and that it should be drawn by the people of the people and for the people. The state is currently suffocating people, and I want to argue against this. I believe in the rule of law, and that those laws should be written by democratically elected representatives, and that execution of the law should be done by civilians, and that the law should be applied fairly. I believe that people should be distrustful of the state, and should be able to stand up to the state so as to demonstrate that we are being governed by our kin and our neighbours. I want the state to represent the views of the majority opinion, but to show compassion and understanding to the minority. I want the state to only have as much power as is needed to execute its duties, to legislate and protect the people it represents. I want the state to never believe it is above its own laws or the values of those they serve. I want the state to stay out of the way and out of the lives of individuals and families, I want it to have boundaries and a framework it dare not cross. I want people to be able to live their lives, to exchange information and news freely, to be free to assemble without molestation, for the state to know that it works for the people and is there to serve us, not the other way around. And most importantly, if and when any of the above is infringed upon with or without intention or malevolence, I want the people to be able to throw out the whole rotten lot and appoint a group of people, who, can stand and win office on the strength of their arguments and bring about a new government as mandated by the people. There are measures by which all of the above can be monitored, and in my mind we live in sad and dangerous times.

Unfortunately for me, to be able to blog here and write in defence of my political beliefs, I am unable to put myself into the camp of one party. Yes, I generally feel that none of the political parties can match my lofty ideals, but that as I see it is their malfunction, not mine. Looking across parties, there are bits here and there that I agree with, and in my position I am free to do so. I do not expect my opinions to be universally accepted or understood, but there is always the comment form for people who do visit here to register their opposition. Jeff’s point was that without a tribe in which to belong I may be missing out on a few people’s blog rolls and that that may be costing me some lost traffic. That may be the case, it certainly seems logical. I don’t think that I can bring myself to plead for blog roll links from those who feel that they cannot link here because I am not towing a party line, because there are many who already have linked to me without that fear; plus, I don’t want to. If I am losing traffic it is because I am not as good at this as other bloggers and I know I am not as good a writer as I wish I was. If I get a hit and that person does not come back, I only did half of my job. I have not broken the glass ceiling because I have not been able to entice people to keep reading my musings. For the record, Jeff is a fantastic blogger who is able to write impartially and cogently about a party and cause that he is obviously passionate about, and also then is able to engage in detailed follow up in the comments. If you are not terribly familiar with his blog, please make some time and have a read. There are some brilliant Scottish bloggers, and in my opinion the SNP bloggers are winning the argument for a separation of the UK, an opinion that they are convincing me on that I did not hold a year ago.

So I am not about to join any party, but I am going to try to be clearer about where I stand on certain matters. There are probably a thousand blogs where you can go to get party grass roots and member’s commentary. But come to this blog and you will get my honest assessment, but you can always know by coming here that I am not pushing you towards a particular party. I am not sure if that counts for anything on the political blogosphere, but that’s just how it is.

And as one of my film heroes says “and that’s all I got to say about that.”

Daniel1979 Welcomes Everybody Here

I have tried since I started this blog to reach out to as broad an audience as possible, I know not everyone will agree with me and that is fine.   But I just had to welcome, individually, whomever this is/was in particular...  Hope you enjoy the blog, and find something you like!

Not sure how you found me, but I really do welcome ALL links!  On November 1st, we may have an interesting "October Referrals" post if this keeps up.

That Sound You Heard Last Night At Around 11.10pm…

...Was my jaw dropping and hitting the floor.

I am quite frankly in a state of disbelief, but I see that the good, sensible and beautiful people that read this blog actually went out and voted for it in the Total Politics Top Blogs Poll.

The top 100 right of centre blogs listing was published last night, and this blog has made a fantastic 48th place. I have no idea how many votes that would have required, but I know it is more that I thought I was likely to get. I shall be adding the appropriate badge to my side bar over the weekend.

I am left with a sense that this blog is punching well above its weight. My readership numbers are still quite low, and I would guess massively lower than some of the other blogs that finished around a similar position; which means that those of you who come here regularly has made me exceptionally proud by taking time out of your lives to register your votes. Please know that I am touched and exceptionally grateful, and I will endeavor to keep doing better to make the blog better.

My surprise did not end there…

I contribute to three blogs, this one, Football Banter which is obviously non-political, and also The Voice of the Resistance, which is a collaborative right of centre political blog that has only been running since late June. This blog also broke into the Top 100 finishing in 58th position which is astounding really as it could only have been going a few weeks before the poll started and illustrates the massive potential of this project.

I want to say Thank You to everyone who voted for this blog and/or The Voice of the Resistance, it is very much appreciated!

Now, back to reality and back to work.

Back In The Saddle

I am back blogging again after a short break, I apologise to both my readers for my absence, but as explained before, the ol' noggin was going a little screwy - for some reason I felt fine writing about football, but every time I tried to apply myself here it just wasn't working. I am feeling better now in that respect.

Work however has gone crazy in recent months. Not because we are bucking the credit crunch, but because we have less than half the staff we had this time last year to do even more work. Things were bad enough but in late July another member of our team was "let go," and progress from his consultation seems to indicate there will be no way back unless others leave of their own accord.

This is of course a roundabout way of trying to evoke a mild feeling of understanding whilst subtly prodding your thoughts to the competition for what used to be amusing referred to as "my free time". Blogging is becoming less fun, and I have less time in which to do it.

You will perhaps scoff aloud, but about a year ago now in the lead up to my wedding I shared a thought with my intended. We talked about how I was contributing in the comments occasionally on mainstream blogs like Mr Hannans, and Guido's and I shared my frustration at not being able to shape the questions being asked and take the debate I thought it should go in. My genius idea was to start a blog after our wedding; but I had absolutely no idea of the length and breadth of the existing blogosphere. Turns out, if I had of looked a little harder I would have found more outlets for that frustration.

Fear not. I have taken stock and I am not packing my bags just yet. It occurs that given the extent of the blogs on offer I am hardly doing anything original enough to warrant stretching myself needlessly. Largely for the last 9 months I have enjoyed writing here, and it is helping me tap into a literary muscle that I knew was always in me but seldom exercised. So, and this is not carved in stone and is just my intentions now; I am looking to keep blogging here until about 100 days passed the UK General Election, whenever that may be. Please bare with me should I not post for a couple of days.

I may regret sharing that fact with you all in advance, but it is nearly always best to be honest about these things. I think by that point I will have been doing this long enough and will hopefully have vented my spleen and expressed what I hope will be considered some original thinking in a few areas...at least to a sufficient degree to be able to not ruin any more parties by ranting on about politics!! I also assume that by then it will feel about right to wind things down. If however, by some miracle Gordon Brown wins the next election, then I may well have topped myself moments after, and in that situation the blog will simply stop being updated at that point. I also have spared a thought for The Voice Of The Resistance, where I hope to be more active than I have been in recent weeks, as it is shaping up to being an excellent center for like minded opinions and seems to be growing support nicely.

It seems right to me, in my head to do as Cato suggested and keep buggering on for now and I hope that I have not peaked too soon, I feel that there are a few good posts left in me, and that I can join with others in running what seems like the most unpopular and incompetent Government ever out of town. As always, I look forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions at my nonsensical ramblings, and there is plenty more of those to come.

Daniel1979 Says...

Smile, and the whole world smiles with you!

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.

Writers Block

I am struggling to find the motivation to blog at the moment, having had my attention pulled away from the blog for a few days I remember what it was like not to worry about having material to post.

Mostly I am just to angry at this Labour government, and having not blogged for a few days those small threads of ideas are not coming to more than splintered bile and crap.

So, here are some pictures my wife took of our dog Poppy a few months ago whilst bored (because I was ignoring her, probably too busy blogging)...
























I hope to be back in the right frame of mind soon. If not, I will press the self-destruct button and start again in a year or so.

People I Knew Growing Up - Part 1

Warning. Do not click this link if you are easily shaken, or in a fragile state of mind.

Despicable. This is why life in prison should mean exactly that.