You've got to love our grandees

You may have noticed that Tory Members of Parliament have been charging the taxpayer tens of thousands of pounds for the cleaning of their moats, the purchase of horse manure, the mowing of their paddocks, the installation of their chandeliers and the sustenance of their pedigree dogs.

It's at times like these that we need to listen to those voices reminding us of some traditional values...

• Get tough on those who don't the difference between right and wrong.
• Stand against big wasteful government.
• Clamp down hard on those who scrounge off hard-working taxpayers.
• Stop the European gravy train.

Now where are those voices? Who is going to speak out in favour of these traditional values? Oh whoops... they're precisely the ones who've been exploiting the system....

Broadsheet: David Cameron is not up to the job

The pundits are obsessed with how terrible the Labour Government is. It is, of course, terrible. But is David Cameron actually capable of doing what needs to be done? He says what people want to hear, but where's the evidence he's actually going to deliver?


Here's what needs to be done:

• Stop wasteful government spending, by giving tax-payers the power to make their own decisions in their area about hospital closures, school closures, post office closures, bobbies on the beat, housing developments and bin collections.


• Save the country from the damaging effects of climate change. Farming is under threat. Houses that are near rivers, near flood-plains and near the sea are under threat. Get Europe doing something useful for a change, and sort out carbon emissions internationally.


• Cut red-tape on business, and regulate only as much as necessary to protect us from the crooks and incompetents. And stop interfering in people's lives.


• Less tax. Higher, simpler, fairer pensions

David Cameron's all spin. Vote for the party that's actually campainging to do what it takes.

Is it fair to call our politicians corrupt?

Hands in the till, noses in the trough, riding the gravy train, fiddling the expenses, cheating, crooked, sleazy, corrupt, dishonest...

There are lots of examples we can cite to justify such accusations.

But in Britain, as far as we know, nearly all politicians stick to the rules, the rule-breakers are punished, and the rules are being progressively tightened to catch misuses of taxpayers' money. Transparency and punishments should be greater, but that's not the point.

No, the real story is that the people in power lack judgement. They fail to see that the rules do not currently prohibit behaviour that the public perceives as wrong.

This failure might, in itself, be sufficient reason to doubt their value as decision-makers, unless they possess other skills of great worth. So let's see... financial acumen no, diplomacy no, understanding of science no, commitment to a free and free society no, powers of persuasion no, competence in running services no...

How do you decide who to vote for?

Who's got the best policies?
Who's been proved right in the past?
Who's everyone else voting for?
Who did I vote for last time?
Who looks least like a bunch of losers?

Who's going to do the right thing on climate change?

Politicians want our votes. They tell us that only they care enough to be trusted to sort out schools, hospitals, crime, terrorism, the economy, and tax cuts. And somehow, magically, only they and their friends are competent and honest.

But climate change is different.

If the government screws up education, the NHS, the economy and so on, it can all be put right sooner or later. But if politicians get it wrong on climate change, our planet is wrecked for good.

Instinctive responses

	Labour	Conservatives	LibDems
Economy	treat companies as state contractors	let business do what it wants	regulate only when necessary
Climate Change	make the right noises	make the right noises	do the right thing
International Relations	suck up to the powerful	talk tough	build consensus
Schools, Hospitals, Police	control	give control to the bosses	give power back to local communities
Freedom versus Terrorism	authoritarian government	authoritarian government	freedom
Taxation	lower before an election, stealth taxes after	lower, whatever the cost to the economy	fairness

They're all the same

	Labour	Conservative	LibDems
Had a plan five years ago to prevent the Credit Crunch
Voted best on Climate Change by the Green Alliance
Scrap Heathrow expansion
Scrap university fees
Against illegal Iraq war
Scrap authoritarian laws on detention, ID cards, and storing the DNA of innocent people
Scrap tax loopholes for the super rich
Give power back to local communities to make decisions on hospital closures, school closures, post office closures, the police, housing developments and bin collections
Higher, simpler, fairer pensions
Invest in a proper public transport system