Quite possibly the most important feature of a democratic state is the power given to the people, a power so great that it helps shape the form of leadership and government that that country will receive. It is called, the Vote. This single instrument can shape victory or defeat for the political elite. It is a highly sought playing card by the political leaders of a nation and can lead to disaster if misused.

To think that this power could be misunderstood so badly by the people of a country that they do not even know who is to be voted for in an election is quite scary. With troubles in the middle east, you are probably thinking: “I know what country he’s talking about” and, you probably are right: England.

YouGov figures suggest in a recent poll that a staggeringly large population has not got the slightest clue who their local councilors are which is rather disturbing considering an election is just around the corner. As high as 80% of people can not even name a single candidate. It shows that the general public of England are pretty uneducated. This is worrying especially with the upcoming referendum to be had at on the same day.With great power comes great responsibility, it is the responsibility then of the political elite to educate the politically unaware of their campaigns and why the vote of power is so important to them.

Sit back and let whomever shouts the loudest win, in Germany it was Hitler, next time it could be Nick Griffin act now, get involved.

Remember, Yes is a positive word, No is a negative word, much like death. A vote of No to AV is a vote for Death to democracy in the United Kingdom. You alone can change that use the vote to bring around a modern era of democracy where you, the people of the United Kingdom declare in one loud voice we will not go into the darkness without a fight, we want the power to decide over our politicians, we want AV and we want it now.

References
WriteToThem
BBC News

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

David Cameron is expected to announce a number of radical points in a speech today. They cover reforms to NHS and education which Britain is in desperate need of. The reforms will extend to justice as well, where the Conservatives already have a poor reputation with the removal of Legal aid services and threatening to close the Supreme Court down. Can they really be serious about taking a step towards a modern Britain – one which requires a honourable Justice System, an education system that people can actually afford to be educated in and a health care system which doesn’t cause patients to become more sick?

One of the reforms will see health care responsibilities devolved to the GP level, where by your local Doctor will be responsible for funding the practice from government funding instead of going via the Health Care Authorities. This of course can be translated into: Sack the Middle Management (more cuts are on the way).Surely It would be beneficial if a doctor spent his time, oh I dunno say curing people of illness?

Now let us imagine a world where public services are corporate entities , so your local council suddenly becomes your phone line provider as well. This is exactly the kind of world that David Cameron envisions with a white paper to be published this year seeing public sector to become privately ran … can anyone remember how that went the last time? I think it was something along the lines of ruin and disaster. Even charities can give a pitch in now to run the public sector albeit in the case of certain councils the council tax does seem to be a charity service rather than providing a real service to justify it so they might be an improvement there!

““There are things government does today that it will stop doing,” he will say“  – is he referring to thinking and work here?

References
The Telegraph

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

Both Washington and London have declared that the release of documents from wikileaks are a massive threat to national security and could cost lives. But how realistic is this? Only a fraction of the documents have been released so far but what I have looked at hasn’t been exactly matters of life and death. Or for that matter things we were not already aware of.

In on release, the Secretary of State hinted that the US should prepare for possible further actions against Iran – It has long been suspected that USA wants to attack Iran over its nuclear program. They even went so far as to consult people on the matter. Surely this cant be the life and death stuff Washington and London is fearful of being released to the general public?

Perhaps they are referring to diplomatic discussions with  the Saudi Crown Prince which indicated that it was of importance to the King that the situation in Iran be dealt with by any means necessary. That was certainly unexpected, the Saudi government never seemed to be publicly working in co-operation with the western world before.

London might be just trying to cover up some rather humiliating revelations about Prince Andrew instead. The prince has accused the UK as having the best geography teachers in the world and that the US never was any good at Geography. Well, it wasn’t long ago that we heard a study suggesting that a disturbingly high percentage of American school children could not point out America on a map of the world. So that really is not new stuff either. The prince referring  to law enforcement as idiots well that perhaps is a new revelation but again, this really isn’t a threat to National Security of Britain let alone the United States.

So a lot of the dangerous stuff seems to relate to Iran, so is London and washington afraid of the retaliation from Iran? Well, they can sleep safely now, because Iran has responded: “We don’t give any value to these documents” – President Ahmadinejad stated in a press conference where he outright blames the United States for the release of these documents. A sign that no one is really taking the documents seriously, people are enjoying reading the remarks made by people that were in positions of power and heard things that in retrospect should perhaps never have been said for political correctness reasons.

References
Daily Mail
TheMirror
AllVoices

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

In parliament on Wednesday discussions took place about the concept of compensating the few people whom bought an ID Card under Labours terrible ID Card plans. The minister responsible for heading up the scheme proposed a discount of future purchase of a passport to ID Card Holders.

However widespread opposition to the proposals have seen the concept rejected. Every party other than labour made it clear the intention was to scrap the scheme if they came to power. Now that has been done, and government wants to destroy the data collected under the ID Card scheme within two months. Consequently, they will be unable to offer such a discount as the data will not be on record to inform Passport agencies of the eligibility for a discount.

I must agree with the Government policy on this one buy into a trial of a contreversial program and you have to understand the consequencies of it – it could go down the drain as was the case here. I once bought shares in a newly floated company on the AIM exchange and it collapsed I cant exactly expect a discount on my next set of shares now can I?

Really does bring in to question the competency of the department that overseen the program having an unlimited budget they spent £330 Million and did not even manage to come close to a percent of that from the scheme. They would have required at least 1/6Th of the population of the UK to sign up to come close to breaking even – and that doesn’t take into account the on-going costs of maintaining the system.

One protester against the system suggested buying one as a memorabilia for the success against the system.

References
ZDNet
Public Service

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

Military police are investigating allegations that military flights are being used to illegally import pure heroin. Afghanistan is the world’s largest manufacturer of Opium which for smuggling purposes is frequently converted into Heroin as it is a less bulky form therefore in theory making it easier to smuggle.

The investigations are being conducted specifically towards personnel at airports in a few regions of the country. The Ministry of Defense states it believes the accusations are unfounded but has increased security measures including putting sniffer dogs into place to detect the activities.

British forces are not the only ones under investigation, Canadian forces are facing similar measures. The Ministry of Defense has indicated that personnel found to be smuggling or in any way involved in smuggling of the drug will face the full extent of criminal sanctions.

The sales of opium from the regions where it is produced is used to fund Taliban operations against the government and allied forces in the country.

References
BBC News
CTV News

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

Not too long ago I was very critical about the US Extradition treaty which the United States belive somehow is fair despite the dubious nature of the treaty. Seems that someone in central government was listening. The government has announced that a review of the treaty is to take place.

Two thousand years ago, a man could walk from one end of the earth to the other, safe in the knowledge of three words: Civis romanus sum. (I am a citizen of Rome).  British people should be equally protected by the process of due process and the justice system working to protect us against the powers of foreign nations.

Whilst it comes as great news that the treaty will be reviewed in regards to the fairness of the treaty, it will come as a disappointment to many that the panel will not be ready to begin their investigation until next summer. Alas we should remember that it is the UK Government and it wont do anything worth doing unless it can take a tremendous time to do it!

The treaty with the United States is not the only one which will be reviewed but it is one of the most fundamentally unjust treaties requiring little or no standards to justify an extradition.

References
The Guardian

Created by Whitebunnywabbit

“The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just, they are no longer strong.”

-Winston Churchill

The Extradition Act 2003 (c.41) of The United Kingdom has problems. The leaders of the Liberal Democrats and Conservative Parties in the coalition both acknowledge this. They want it changed.

Controversy

There have been a number of issues with the act. It took 3 years for the United States to bow to pressure from our little island and actually ratify the bill. This suggests that the US Goverment is not as interested in Justice being that they are a super power and think they can do what they want.

Moreover, The USA only needs to have a suspicion in order to justify the request of extradition, most other treaties require at least reasonable suspicion. This may have been due to the UK having equally low requirements against the United States. It is in the intrest of justice that this be resolved in both directions – a revisal of the treaty would be able to do that.

The most concerning fact is that they may extradite on the grounds of actions taken by UK Citizens Inside the UK that had a ramification on the US. This could be extended to the point of extraditing in cases where a crime was not even commited in the UK! This surely cannot be allowed by any country.

Reports from US Goverment officials seem to be suggesting that the US belives that the treaty is completely fair, in that way that only can be sumerized by The Prime Minister in Love Actually:

: I love that word “relationship.” Covers all manner of sins, doesn’t it? I fear that this has become a bad relationship; a relationship based on the President taking exactly what he wants and casually ignoring all those things that really matter to, erm… Britain. We may be a small country, but we’re a great one, too. The country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham’s right foot. David Beckham’s left foot, come to that. And a friend who bullies us is no longer a friend. And since bullies only respond to strength, from now onward I will be prepared to be much stronger. And the President should be prepared for that.

The United States wishes to extradite Gary McKinnon for hacking into their computer systems. The crime was commited here, and as such should be tried in the UK under UK law. Furthermore, given the US law includes penalties such as Death, extradition to the United States should be viewed as a last resort and even then only when strong evidence exists. In the case of Mr McKinnon, a legall recognized mentally ill person, this should be enough reason to justify denying the US extradition.

If the newly elected Goverment wishes to keep themselves in power, now would seem like a good time to put the foot down. We are in Europe, let us grow stronger special relationships with those that are just hours away and let the Super Power stand alone.

References:
ComputerWorld
The Telegraph
Wikipedia – Extradition Act

Created by Whitebunnywabbit