Armagheddon was never like this

I think that in amongst all the furore over the pension for a retired banker that not more is being made of the Hutton statement to the House of Commons over British involvement in rendition.

British soldiers handed over detainees to the Americans, and then we seemed to be less than interested in what happened to them subsequently. Strange isn't it don't you think. Why don't you and your other bloggers take an interest in this issue rather than concentrate on somebody who is only receiving his entitlement and which a failed Prime Minister blusters but can actually do nothing.

Parlaiment was lied to, agai, they sit there suppinely shout shame. This is the most morally bankrupt parliament, and when the history books are written then the true depth of our banruptcy will be revealed, Armagheddon was never going to be like this.

Accountants

I must admit that I am slightly perplexed. Why is nobody saying that surely the auditors/accountants must share some of the blame for all these problems in the banking sector.

Who was it that actually signed off the accounts, that the values placed on the assets repreresented a true and fair value. Why are the questions not being asked.

Sir Fred

if the banks have been 'nationalised' as we were told they had been then what exactly is going to happen to the Pension Scheme for Royal Bank of Scotland. Why have the assets not been taken over and the payment of pensions controlled by the state.

Lord Myners apparently used to be in some sort of banking. Well my pension entitlement was always at the discretion of the Trustees. I could quote you from my pension booklet if you like but trust me, everything is at the discretion of the trustees.

As for the Board who approved these arrangements surely they should be named and shamed.

Mind you I do find it a bit galling the Prescott comments, could not the same be said of him bearing in mind his less than noble activities in the past.

I think that Sir Fred has brought the company into disrepute, I don't know of anything more disreputable for a bank than to become effectively bankrupt. Surely that was grounds for instant dismissal, again though it is very difficult for somebody to define reputable. Could not some ministers be charged with bringing parliament into disrepute, for example reading some papers without absorbing what was said in them, refer to the Hutton speech to parliament yesterday on Iraq.

Time to go

I think that Gordon Brown will do anything to avoid PMQs. Since his 'election' how many times has he actually taken PMQs, as against the number of weeks available to him.

I would trust Brown if he did not read out the names of the dead soldiers every week. It is now revealed to all that he does not mean what he says. If he did then he would announce an inquiry into the Iraq war, with the attendant loss of life on both sides, and furthermore would announce that no British troops will be sent to Afghanistan, in fact we will be withdrawing our soldiers by the end of the year.

Finally, he should come clean on our involvement in torture, our part in detaining individuals who were subsequently tortured by any third party. How many of the enemy have actually been captured in Afghanistan, and how many killed.

Ivan and Parliament

from now on every time a death of a British soldier is announced at PMQs then I will expect the MPs to sit in complete silence for that session listening to the questions and answers in total respect. If they do, then you can expect others to believe like me that this current parliament is a complete sham. Now maybo some of these MPs may understand about the deaths by knife crime in London of so many young people.

The trouble is that most of the deaths are amongst groups which MPs do not usualyy care very much for. I think that they are hypocrits.

Blair is a liar

I notice that now they have even cancelled PMQs altogether. What is it they cannot utter the words of sympathy for Ivan without underlining the shallowness of their usual wednesday charade of the naming of the dead soldiers, killed for the lies of a PM, and a chancellor, who did nothing to stop the war in Iraq.

Jack Straw should hang his head in shame for disallowing the cabinet papers to be published. We should see the full transcript of the minute taker. They did it soon after the outbreak of WWI, when papers were issued giving details of who said what and when. They should do it for the illegal war in Iraq.

I call Blair a liar, and in my defence if a prosecution is brought against me for libel then I will demand in my defence the full transcript of the minutes and the minute taker to prove my innocence. Just try it, go on Blair lied, and the cabinet knew he lied.

State Ownership

surely there is a simple solution to the the problem of the Royal Mail Pension Fund.

The government sets up a holding company to manage the assets of the Fund, the whole of the assets are then transferred to this this new holding company. The government then sets a maximum pension that will be payable, remember it would be augmented by the state pension. Therefore, all of the assets comeunder government control, independent control of course.

Now, this could be done for all pension schemes, all contributions go into the Fund and are managed by the state. The same with the coal miners, the gas board, British Airways, all the former state companies which have been privatized. The state can run the economy through this holding company. The state will control all companies because eventually they would have majority holdings in all companies. The plan will have succeeded, a socialist state, completely wrecked, we are all serfs now.

An election now

this is disgraceful. The government must face the commons immediately on this issue. There must be a vote, now, which I can only hope the government loses, and then a vote of no confidence.

This must be brought to an end. It is totally unacceptable.

Trouble is I can see the international crisis getting worse, then Gordon may well bring in a who rules the country, as the people take to the streets.

Time to go

we now know that the labour party manifesto contained the promise not to privatize the Royal mail. Now they are saying that they only want to privatize part of it, many labour MPs apparently will not be voting in favour of the proposal.

In the meantime the liberals and conservatives apparently in favour of full privatization, or no privatization, I am unsure as to their positions. Accordingly, this could be the end game for Gordon Brown.

Labour MPs are quite entitled to actually vote against this proposal. Conservative and liberals are entitled to vote against on the basis that it was not in the manifesto, and also not full privatization. Accordingly, they can morally vote against. The bill is defeated.

At this point there can be a vote of no confidence in the government, end game, Gordon has to go to the country. Either that or he is more of a dead parrot than ever. This is the opportunity to end this most inglorious parliament, it is time to go.

Just as in your programme where you go through the history of former PMs, then at some time in the future another historian will be writing about Gordon Brown, the man who I regard with Tony Blair as the men who have destroyed the UK.

Why, because do you seriously think that there is no coincidence between the march outside parliament by soldiers who returned from Iraq months ago. At the same time an individual is returned to this country from the American base in Cuba where he has been held in detention. When he has been sent to countries where he has allegedly been tortured with our knowledge. No injunctions can stop the truth coming out.

The government had the chance to come clean, when Blair left and Obama was elected. The opportunity has been missed, there is no point in any more lies Nick. When will Browns picture be on the wall of Downing Street.

Boom and Bust

when people say that Gordon said he had abolished 'boom and bust' that I think you will find was the not the whole story, he said 'Tory boom and bust' well I would say that when the conservatives actually win an election there will be so little left that there will be no boom nor bust, it will just be bust

An analogy

I think that you are being very clever. It is up to the individual to listen to your programme and understand that nothing really is 'new'. We cannot learn from history because each new event is different in some way from something else. It is not a machine for ever producing the same nut, the same size, the same in every minor detail, history is not like that.

When I listen to your programme I will treat is an analogy. There are 'things' which we cannot say about current events and living people, but we can leave it to the listener to say to themselves, 'hey I think he might mean this or that person'.

You were very clever over the yacht affair, only now can we see the problem with regard to states baling out firms, or companies, South Sea Company for example. Now which firm could we be talking about.

Many years ago, during the Vietnam War, George C. Scott appeared in a film about a chaotic hospital, the hospital was an analogy for the War. Finally, they shoot horses don't they, they put them out of their misery.

Close it all down

all that the PM has to do is to pass an immediate law which bans stock lending, that bans short selling, option trading, and trading in futures. In fact he could go and nationalise everything, and finally he should close the stock exchange. Any shares should be held in the name of the State.

Oh, and he can say that all homes are now owned by the state, there is no private property. He should also say that usary is illegal, that no borrower should pay any interest, and that it is illegal for a lender to charge any interest. It is just so simple, I wonder why nobody else has thought of it.

Mortgage subsidy

when will people realise that the government has not taken over the banks, the bankers have taken over the government.

Just ask any of those who used to work for the banks what form of mortgage subsidy they got. Just ask them, if you dare.

Observant people

I am glad that there are some observant people out there, you are of course correct. Whitehall, 1212, could not make it up.

All we need now is Dixon of Dock Green! Now would his questions have been a bit more pirecing than those of Andrew Marr?

What surprises me is that Jacqui Smith must have known she was sailing pretty close to the wind otherwise why should she have been so scrupulous in checking her position.

Bit like General Sir Mike Jackson admitting in his book that he took independent legal advice before the war aginst Iraq. Now, should senior soldiers really be doing that should they not follow orders, without question!

Lies and tortures

Just look at the use of injunctions against a former soldier who previously spoke at Stop the War rallies. This government does not like freedom of speech, especially when the truth is told.

Trust me, this 'mob' deserve to be tortured, did you know about the lies Mr Brown, what's it like being the first Prime Minister ever to take over as a result of a coup, how dare you read out the names of the dead almost every Wednesday before you don't answer any questions.

Weird or what

I think I may just have worked it out.

Now at 9:40 on the 19 February post number 764 I made comments about traditional banking inasmuch that there is nothing new about the dealings now going on, forwards, bills of exchange, arbitrage etc...

Now today we read that Gordon Brown wants to return to prudent traditional banking. Exactly what does he mean. To the days when the workers were paid in cash and an awful lot of people did not actually use a bank at all.

The first thing which should happen is the lifting of the regulation which forces people to have their wages paid into a bank. What people do not understand is that when money is deposited into your account at the bank it actually becomes the banks money to do with it what it will.

Nobody was call themseelves a banker unless they have a fully certified qualification as to what a banker is. First thing he is not employed by the government and he is not a social worker.

People will know from previous postings that the banks lend their own staff huge multiplesof cash at discounted rates to enable them to buy houses, at all levels from junior clerks to chief executives, they also get subsidized loans, assistance with buying rail season tickets, and car loans. These are all taxed as benefits in kind.

These benefits should be eradicated, with immediate effect. There must be no bonuses, all remuneration should be in the form of pay, just simple basic pay, if they don't like it then they can lump it. Banking is a job, it is not rocket science. Take money off somebody at a low rate of interest and lend it to somebody else at a higher rate of interest. Some would call it usary.

The link to my earlier comment, Gordon and his team read these blogs so that they get to know what is happening in the real world rather than the make believe planet the politicians exist in. Enjoy your chat with Mr Obama Gordon, and tell him we won't be doing anything more to assist any American torture, and tell him you are going to hold an inquiry, both into Iraq and Afghanistan.

A free England

If things were allowed to happen in the present and the future as they have in the past then America would still be one of our colonies. I know that there has never been a directly elected PM, that doesn't mean that it was acceptable, nor that it should always be the case.

We are meant to live in a representative democracy. I do not think that there are many who would now think that the present encumbants of the Houses of Parliament are in any way shape or form representative of modern England. Does anybody actually think, for example, that Jacqui Smith represents themselves, if they do then there is no hope.

We are entering the end game for the UK, as soon as the present Queen dies can anybody seriously think that the UK would continue in anything like its present form. I want freedom from Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland. Just let them go, I want my freedom from these foreigners.

The White Flag of Surrender

why don't you just give up. This is so pathetic not maintaining your blog.

Would you like to explain what the point is anymore. Of course unlike the Obama campaign the political parties don't make any money or get any converts from your blog so that want all the effort concentrated on their own pathetic efforts.

The internet has been destroyed, you might as well raise the white flag of surrender.

Careless Talk

I see that President Obama is now coming under pressure because guess what, he is going to continure the Aghan problem with regard to POWs in the same way as his predessor, namely these are prisoners of war and we will treat them as such. How interesting that the optimism is already beginning to evaporate. I wonder when we can expect to hear from the Stop the War supporters that they have backed the wrong horse.

Same with China. Clinton just wants to talk about the economy, forget about human rights that can be sorted later.

Interesting that even the unelected Lord Mandelson should refer to the problems with the car industry when raised by a union leader, with the disdain of careless talk...Ah, a wonderful minister for jobs, you know the British jobs for British workers, well that depends on there being jobs!

Dead parrot parliament

it is now becoming apparent that there is the new agenda to get rid of blogs like yours. Just let them die. The politicos do not like reading well argued comments as to why the whole political edifice is collapsing. Fancy reading that we now hold all of them in contempt.

Dispite their protestations they serve no useful purpose, they are the dead parrot parliament. What exactly is the point of them anymore. They send 'our boys' off to Afghanistan to repeat the mistakes of Iraq, to die for absolutely nothing.

There is no point anymore, they may as well not be here, bit like you really where you seem to have given up completely. I mean I was the first to 1000, it was fun, but this is, well not to put too fine a point on it, pathetic.

Jacquie Smith

there is something I just cannot get my head around. Jacquie Smith follows rules to excuse her behaviour over her main residence being her sister's house. Fair does, within the rules. In the meantime a certain Muslim cleric is awarded damages because the British government did not follow rules, and the court followed the rules as laid down and gave the cleric damages. Jacquie Smith has so lost the plot, just like our beloved leader Gordon Brown.

bankers Bonuses

so now we learn that tax receipts in January are well down. Oh what a surprise. I have said before that the government relied on the bankers paying taxes on their bonus payments. Gordon Brown must have known the size of these bonuses years ago, yet he did nothing about them because he was willing to take the taxes to fund his extravagent spending (sorry investing). He knew exactly what the bankers were receiving as bonus payments.

Now we learn that various governmnet departments and quangoes also make bonus payments, surely these should be banned as well.

After the wars

the problem is that clearing bankers are totally different to investment bankers and never the twain should meet.

Brown talking about international regulation is just such a waste of time, it ain't going to happen. The more he refers to the global economy does he not realise how ridiculous he appears. Did we not trade with China over a hundred years ago, did we not have an Empire? India, African states, Australia, Canada...Did we not have a Navy to give us control of our trade routes, did we not have gunboat diplomacy, arbitrage dealing of buying in one country and selling in another (SA Gold companies), bills of exchange, forward contracts, factoring, all existed long ago, as for Certificates of Deposit, Foreign Exchange... do not allow yourselves to be duped, this is not the first global downturn, this is just the latest of many. Look at what happened after the Napoleonic Wars...

Afghanistan

one thing you learn at Sandhurst is that you should never ever reinforce defeat. We have lost in Afghanistan, there will never be victory. When people talk about sending more troops in then I find it unacceptable as to the kill ratio. We will end up invading Pakistan, then you can seriously expect trouble. It will just be like Vietnam and Cambodia. This is an absolute disaster, just read your Kipling, Tommy this and Tommy that, follow orders boys do as you are told, kill, kill, kill.

Go now

there should be more on Milliband and the suppression of information relating to torture.

With Obama being lected there was the chance to come clean. The trouble is that Obama was elected, and therefore could not be tarnished by the Bush years, the same cannot be said of Brown, nobody has elected him and he paid for the wars. Shame on him, shame on parliament, tell him to go, go now.

I think that labour are implementing a scorched earth policy. Leave nothing for the enemy to build on.

Sponsorship

I just cannot understand some things any more.

I thought that Northern Rock was nationalised! So why does Newcastle United continue to be sponsored by the taxpayer. Is this fair, are there not other clubs which could be subsidized by the taxpayer. I for example support Plymouth Argyle, where is the state subsidy to my club.

The same with rugby union, my team, Plymouth Albion have had to reduce the wages of their players because of 'the economic slowdown'. Yet the six naions championship seems to be sponsored by RBS, again one of the so called nationalised banks.

I seriously think that Brown is bonkers, why won't he instruct the sponsors to cease payments, as the the companies concerned should no longer be making payments, so as to be fair to the rest of the country.

The shareholders seem to have lost everything, surely it should be the same for those institutions and clubs who receive largess from the taxpayer.

Afghanistan

I am surprised that more has not been made of the allegations concerning the Foreign Secretary, Milliband, and the apparent request for the US to send the letter which was used by the courts to suppress information about our involvement in torture.

Can we take that there is more bad news to come out as Radio Five Live ran a propaganda programme from Sandhurst this morning. Great, soldiers sign up apparently for the adventure and comaraderie, not to kill foreigners. We are the invaders in Afghanistan, we are killing huge numbers without trial based on the words of informants who want to settle old scores. Many are being killed as collaborators, this war must end, and we can take our Drones and sniper rifles with us.

Nicky Campbell

at the end of your propaganda programme from Sandhurst you made reference to freedom of speech. I have to say that as well as Kendall-Smith being prosecuted for refusing orders, there is the situation where a soldier who used to go to Stop the War meetings now has an injunction against him, by the Ministry of Defence, preventing him from speaking in public. I would therefore say that yes there is freedom of speech for as long as you say what 'they' want you to say.

I think you and others should read one of the large circulation daily papers where others have now said that our response is disproportionate and uses military fire power, like long range sniper rifles, where there is no trial, the soldier, or his informants are both judge and jury in a conflict with no end.

Lord Adair

it would appear that everybody in the financial services industry has been, well this is difficult, but too intellectual. That is if you listen to Lord Adair this morning on Andrew Marr Show. Why didn't Andrew ask Lord Adair, excuse me but what exactly are your qualifications to be the head of the FSA.

Also, I thought it illuminating when at the end of the show Andrew sat back in his chair and sighed, which I think says it all

Diss Brown

I agree with other contributors. Gordon Brown shows us no respect, he should be dissed. I can't wait until his mates dob on him. As you say so succinctly 'not me guv'.

Capital Gains Tax

please understand that this is purely a theoretical exercise and does not refer to any living person.

Let us assume that somebody lives away from home quite a lot, in this depression not unusal, they have to go where the work is. Now then they move to, let us say London, and stay with a friend, maybe even a family member. To whom they give money, say GBP25,000 a year. Now then they declare that this is then their main residence, and therefore the home where they have left their wife and children is their second home, which they paid a small sum of money for but which has increased in value.

Now maybe they lose their job in London and fall on hard times, so hard that they have to move back to the home where they have left their wife and children, leaving their main residence far behind them.

Money is so short that they then have to immediately sell their home far outside of London. However, surely it was not their main residence because the main residence was earlier the London home. Accordingly, there must be Capital Gains Tax payable because you have to pay CGT on the sale of any home which is not your main residence unless you have lived there for more than six months. That is of course also that the home outside of London was in joint names, or ot could be just in the name of your partner. In which case the partner is not liable for CGT.

I think that the Capital Gains Tax rules need to be changed. I would suggest that it should be immediately abolished and replaced with the irrefutable fact that everything should be treated as income and taxed fully accordingly. It is CGT which is the problem, not allowances. Just get rid of it, especially with the Great Depression II about to hit with the spectre of deflation.

Lloyds Group

may I suggest that Crosby has a very nice house, by the looks of it. I would like to know if that property has been purchased with a subsidized mortgage from any previous employer and if he is actually still receiving a subsidy even though he has left the bank.

I regard this as a fair question to ask taking into account the further losses announced, now by Lloyds Group, after their acquisition of HBoS.

I also find it very interesting that redundancies were announced after the select committee met with the former bosses, and also that Lloyds Group has chosen today to announce their massive losses.

Not me Guv

I would never work for Gordon Brown. He is what can be called a fair weather friend.

The trouble is that the cabinet also know this and that they are all going to go down in flames.

I do love an MP, for that is just what Gordon is basically, who turns around saying that he will sort out the problems by some time in the future. Bit like sorting out the school building programe by 20/20, like vision. To be blunt it may well be that Gordon will not even stand for election next time, he probably wants to do a Mandelson and come back to the House of Lords where he can run the country from the other place, not even having to go through the process of being elected.

I do love it, as you say 'what me guv'! It is always somebody else with our Gordon. Not good enough.

The trouble is that nobody seems to remember something I learnt in banking, yes there is due diligence, but there is also contingent liability.

Maybe when the PM praises the sucesses of the NHS computer system, he might like to tell us how the system will prevent another Harold Shipman. Furthermore, when exactly will this government change the rules for the signing of death certificates as will be reported on the BBC tonight. Shameful, bring on the experts.

Experts part 2

I feel that we are seeing rats leaving a sinking ship. There are an awful lot of other people who should 'resign' but they should not be given any compensation whatsoever.

I remember a court case which collapsed because the 'expert' witness was not an expert at all. Same as when we see people on our news. We see the name then 'economist' or 'banker' or oh you get my drift. So, what we need is an explanation as to what it is that enables these people to call themselves 'economist' because is that some sort of middle class speech for unemployable redundant university tutor.

Refer to Brummer in Daily Mail (p.75) he even refers to HBOS as HSBC.

Expert

I feel that we are seeing rats leaving a sinking ship. There are an awful lot of other people who should 'resign' but they should not be given any compensation whatsoever.

I remember a court case which collapsed because the 'expert' witness was not an expert at all. Same as when we see people on our news. We see the name then 'economist' or 'banker' or oh you get my drift. So, what we need is an explanation as to what it is that enables these people to call themselves 'economist' because is that some sort of middle class speech for unemployable redundant university tutor.

Injunctions

I thought it very interesting when the BBC News showed pictures of Crosby leaving his palatial home. Usually the number plates on a car are fuzzed, in this case it was noted that the personal number plate was not fuzzed, therefore I wonder what we should think of those individuals who spend their money on such items.

Can we also be told that as this person has 'resigned' how much compensation is going to be paid for loss of office.

Please note that the whistleblower also seems to have done quite well what with him being made redundant and not 'sacked'. It would appear to this cynic that there are people who bank the money before airing their problems in public. A whistleblower goes public, not keeping it behind closed doors.

Mind you I have personal knowledge of people who attempt to go public but only get injunctions against them.

Crosby

during PMQs it was the answer to a planted question from his own side which I think also requires some attention.

The question related to training, education and apprenticeships. Now I am surprised that nobody seems to have linked the apparent lack of qualifications amongst the bankers.

Surely it is obvious that the bankers should be the first ones to benefit from any training especially as listening to the answers to questions from the select committee yesterday they refer to themselves as bankers yet lack any formal qualifications.

As for Sir James Crosby it would appear that you are quite correct in your analysis. I wonder if you will be able to get any straight answers to straight questions. It is interesting that yesterday the redundancies announced by the RSB were conveniently made as soon as the select committee rose. Timing seems to be everything. Yet nobody asked any questions during PMQs, I don't think this parliament really cares at all.

Short selling

Have to be a little bit careful. Many readers know that I used to work for an Investment Bank in the City.

I know what I would have asked. What was the share price movements during the period when they were priced for the purposes of taking your bonuses.

What people do not seem to understand is that there is usually a ten day period when shares are monitored and then if you were given a bonus they would divide the bonus by the share price to calculate how many shares were allocated to you. Now try this for an exclusive Nick, rather than that Peston fellow. What was the scale of short selling during the period I refer to earlier, surely it would not be in the interests of people for the share price to actually fall.

Bankers

what becomes more interesting is that the FSA does not appear to have formally interviewed these 'bankers' before they took control. I put the bankers into quotes because I fail to understand how anybody who has not got any formal banking qualifications can actually call themselves a banker. on that basis the lowest clerk at the till could be described as a banker. They are not they are bank clerks, nt bankers.

Bankers

how interesting that we are not allowed to comment on the bankers now being interviewed by the select committee. This is no doubt so that you can now say 'as I was the first to say' I mean get real.

My first comment would be that none of these 'bankers' have any formal banking qualifications. I mean when does a banker become a banker. It would seem to me that very few people have banking qualifications. What on earth.

Please note I used to work for an Investment Bank which was owned by a clearing bank. I never had any formal banking qualifications. I retired as a senior manager and was responsible for setting up banking systems.

Banks now run the country

unless my memory is really failing me then does nobody else remember the labour MPs cheering when the government announced that they had nationalised the banks. Well some of the banks and some of the MPs, but enough for me to think that was what they had done.

However, let us be honest, they have not nationalised the banks. Where are the bank clerks who are now civil servanys, where is the government appointed directors. Where is the Official Secrets Act, signed by all civil servants. You get my drift.

This has never been a nationalisation. It is a lie, the sooner the government admits that it has no control the better.

It is the bankers taking over the government, not the other way around. A typical British cop out.

Bashing bankers

surely even Gordon Brown is not stupid enough to say don't give the bankers their bonuses. Does nobody understand how much tax the bankers pay on these bonuses, if taken in cash. Many use the bonuses to reduce their loans from the very bank they work for, through a mortgage.

Just understand how much the bankers receive not only in direct payments but they also receive subsidized mortgages, at long term fixed rates. They receive car leasing arrangements, they get subsidized rail travel, access to cheap loans to buy shares, their pensions are based on final salary. Even in the late eighties as a senior manager I had access to a GBP30,000 dealing account for my own purposes. My bonus I would put into my pension scheme so as to avoid tax, and then used that when I commuted my pension into a lump sum, therefore avoiding legally taxes on the bonus.

If you were to pay a banker a proper wage then you are fixed with that wage for as long as that person works for you, so can you imagine what their final salary for pension purposes would be. That is why they get bonuses rather than salary increases. Low wages, high bonus, just like the old days if you worked for a stock broker, they always hooked you on the bonus, not your basic salary.

Kellogg-Briand pact

Ah yes the old red herring about our guarantee of Belgian neutrality.

I wonder then if you would like to refer to the 'Treaty providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy' which is known as the Kellogg-Briand Pact which was signed in Paris on August 27, 1928.

Now we know that an awful lot of stuff has happened since we signed up to the Pact but then an awful lot had happened between the time that we guaranteed Belgian neutrality.

Griffin is a wanker

there are some people who, because I keep on about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, refer to me as some sort of wanker. Now, I can take that because I would rather have the seeds of life on my hands rather than the blood of innocent women and children. The politicians and senior officers who accept and give orders have the blood of the tortured souls on their hands, they know it, and we know that they know it. I don't know how they can live with themselves.

Obama

I think that Obama has been reading your comments. For example many people on here resent the fact that Gordon Brown will never apologise for anything because of his psychological make-up.

Obama has two delegates refused for positions in the executive, what does he say 'I screwed up' simple answer which immediately disarms any of his critics. What would be the point in continuing to criticise somebody who just says, 'I screwed up'.

Don't forget Alastair Darling and his comment along the lines of people are 'pissed off' when referring to labour.

Now if only Gordon Brown had come on to our screens after his 'election' as Prime Minister and apologised for Tony Blair, that we had all been duped and that the war against Iraq was wrong, in fact illegal, and that he would indite Blair through the courts for crimes committed against humanity. For colluding with the Americans in the detention of human beings who were tortured.

Trouble is that I think Gordon Brown is also up to his neck in this and is just as guilty as Blair. That is his problem. He thinks that he can achieve silence by using the courts who seem to grant injunctions to silence the resistance to this shameful parliament.

The truth is out there

some people think that the moderators are taking too long to allow comments to be passed for publication. I think that they have to be very careful, the BBC can be sued if they allow libelous comments to be published, that is why the moderators are paid so much money. Something has to be done to give employment to all those law graduates who cannot get a job.

There is so much going on again, the soldier apparently arrested for giving details of how many civilians are being killed in Afghanistan. For example, did we not see Harry call up an air strike against some men hiding behind a wall. Where was there trial, how many other air strikes have just missed the target and killed innocents.

The trouble is that the British are not calling up our airmen to drop the bombs or fire the rockets, they are using the Americans. Why, just look at the case of the British airman who was courts martialled for refusing orders. He spent time in jail, and was sacked. The airforce has learnt that people do not forgive them for the bombing of Dresden, a war crime in many eyes, they know that there will be a day of retribution over what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. The trials of the leaders will soon happen, and the military will say, 'we were following orders' only trouble is should British soldiers and citizens be taking orders from the Americans?

The Americans are guilty of war crimes, for example entering into a war of aggression, of torture and allowing themselves to be duped into not telling the truth over the reasons for the war, it never about WMD, it was about regime change, hence the offer made before the war that they would not go to war if Saddam and his family left Iraq. The WMD would still have been there.

Everybody seems to slander or libel Tony Blair by calling him a liar, whether true or not if it is untrue then surely any man who wanted to preserve his reputation would go to court demanding that no such allegations be repeated, trouble is he would have to go to court to prove he was not lying, people would demand evidence, QED, Blair on a skewer, but like Hoon, he knows too much about too many people so will always be feted by the guilty ones, the real guilty ones.

Clarkson

I wish that Clarkson and his sort would read your blog and the comments attached thereto.

For example I have often said that Brown is bonkers, he is not an idiot, that is different, so Clarkson get your facts right.

Secondly, how many times have I said that in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, another truism you have printed.

I wish that Clarkson couls actually be original, he is not, he is just mouthing what some of us have known and thought for an awful long time. Only trouble is that I, and those who agree with me are, forewver trying to get the world to know the truth.

Brown is guilty

many people seem to be in ignorance of what is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan. How many Americans have died in Afghanistan over the last month. The information is there if you want to find out. What might also interest your readers is that more Americans have died as a result of their own suicides rather than killed by 'the enemy'.

We must not allow the government to reinforce our defeat. There must be an immediate mission statement from Gordon Brown on the situation in Afghanistan. Karzai is a busted flush. However, how, because we support democracy there is only one solution! Brown must tell the Afghan people how to organise a bloodless coup in the same way as he took power from Tony Blair, who saw President Obama yesterday. Poor old Gordon.

Torture by Americans

interesting that Obama or one of his officials has said that US government officials will not torture people. Interestingly, why say government officials. What if he were to arrange for the torturing to be done by the many private security firms now operating overseas.

Obama

may I remind readers of the inaugaration speech given by Obama.

He made reference to the burning of Washington during the American Civil war, I know they refer to it as The American War of Independence, but it wasn't. It was a civil war because were not they rebelling against an English Parliament and an English King. So, from that we can see that Obama and those around him still don't like the English, especially since they were drawn into a war based on lies by Blair.

Secondly, we know that Obama's father was in Kenya during the Mau Mau troubles and there is allegations that Obama senior was tortured by the English during that conflict. So, again we can why Obama does not appreciate the English.

Accordingly, we should not be afraid of any threat of withdrawal of cooperation by the Americans. They know that they are using torture, we know that they are using torture, so take them to the courts. We are complicit because we detain the prisoners who are then handed over to be tortured, so we too are guilty.

As for torture, what if you torture an innocent man, where does that leave your morality. The tortured person will also know that as soon as he gives out the information that there is every likelyhood that he will be murdered, so as to remove the evidence. Remember Steve Biko, who managed to throw himself out of a window after being questioned!

Torture

these allegations are not the first to come into the public domain.

There is an injunction against my son which was imposed by the High Court. This whole episode is shameful. We are not innocent on this issue, the truth must come out and support given to those who want the truth to come out rather than those who wish that it would just go away.

British jobs for British people

surely you could start a blog in respect of Peter Mandelson on the Today programme this morning, Radio 4.

I mean fancy the great leaders Gordon Brown, just to make sure that the great leader is not Lord Mandleson, views on British jobs for British workers requires our input. We are of course not very dignified when we point out that it may well be that what Gordon said in 2007 is now being misrepresented and taken completely out of context. For example, who are we the electorate to ignore the comments by an unelected Lord, because of course I could go and work in Europe, leaving wife family and children behind. But it sometimes is not a question of could, it is more to do with should.

Should the government say that we must learn all the European languages so that we can get a job in Germany, Italy or France. Many workers from overseas have Englsih as a second language, when we consider that there are a substantial number of the English who even cannot read and write in English so how on earth are they meant to work in Poland!

Titian Brown

please accept this comment as an apology to Gordon Brown. I have previously referred to him as an Aspidistra, this was wrong he is not. I have also referred to him as bonkers, this too is wrong, he is not bonkers because no man who runs this country could be bonkers, and by referring to him as such runs the country down, and undermines confidence.

I have also said that he picks his nose and that other politicians are loath to shake his hand. Well I saw the way the Chinese Prime Minister shook Gordons hand and although at first a bit reticent he did eventually hold the profered hand.

I have also previously referred to the economy as being similar to the Titanic, with no more boom and bust the economy was meant to be unsinkanble. Well Gordon has confirmed that he sees himself, not as the captian of the Titanic, but the painter Titian, very close to Titanic but he does mix his syllables. Can others see Titanic and Titianic, all you have to do is to put in the 'i' and there you have it.

In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king, and as the veil of ignorance of our terrible economy is lifted people will realise how poverty stricken the politicians are.