Hacking scandal shows a society in crisis.

As more details of the hacking scandal emerge - the amount of power the media has over our society is shown in its full light.

Details of senior members of the police force allowing the prior investigation to remain unchallenged, and the head of the original investigation now being a well paid columnist for News International in The Times (Link).

David Cameron having ignored people from all sides (including the now Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Lord Ashdown) to employ Andy Coulson as his Director of Communications and until the last day or so refusing to try and stop their take over of BskyB.

Tony Blair and Gordon Browns governments were equally in bed with the media, with memo's being leaked showing them trying to silence questions from with in their own party.

News International have lied to the police, lied to parliament and there is evidence that there was a deliberate cover up on behalf of News International (Link).

That a single section in society, and one that should be there to protect has run so rampant shows the peril we are in. The media's ability to hold people in prominent positions to a level above the norm led us down this track. 

MP's are supposed to represent real people, but we try and hold them to unrealistic ideals. Reports on their personal lives don't effect their ability to govern, but do have real effect on their friends and family, people we all strive to protect. We need to crack down on the media, while giving them the freedom to report - they need to be able to be held to account, and prove that what they do to people lives are in the public interest, not just in the interest of selling more papers.

Currently the only party with out immediate and direct links to the Media, and specifically news international are the Liberal Democrats. We are the only ones that can bring about this change with out bias or Rupert Murdoch pulling the strings behind our backs!

Nick Clegg agreeing to back Labour in the defeat of the BskyB deal is a start down this road - hopefully the other partys will follow us towards a fairer and more open society.

Newspaper Crisis

The News of the World is soon to depart our news stands - a casualty of a greedy empire out of control.

Hundreds of jobs, and a long (168 years) and illustrious history are being sacrificed to save one woman, who should have already been fired. Rebekah Brooks was Editor at the time, and was either in collusion or completely incompetent if that level of criminal activity was happening in her news room.

This is also a bid to save the deal that will extend the empire, the purchase of BskyB in full - a deal already fraught with competition questions, and now with the extra slap of a big question over the integrity of News Corp.

Even the integrity of our two main partys is called in to question over this, with Andy Coulson (the former head of communications for David Cameron's Conservative Party, and Deputy Editor at the time of the hacking) possibly being arrested today. 

Labour don't get away clean though, despite Ed Miliband demanding change and that the government needs to be seen to take a firm stand to bring the press back in to line - but his own head of strategy, Tom Baldwin is another former News International Journalist who urged the Shadow Cabinet in January not to say anything "which appears to be attacking a particular newspaper group out of spite" and not to associate hacking to News Corporation's attempt to takeover BSkyB.

How did we let this happen? Over recent years the press have gained more and more control over our country, with politicians too scared of bad headlines and exposes to stand against them. 

Now we end up with Trial by Media (luckily two newspapers (The Sun and The Mirror, with The Sun being another News International paper) are being tried for contempt of court over reporting of the Jo Yeates case), and the news papers running riot over anything they think will sell a paper.

Do not get me wrong, I believe in freedom of the press, and that they have to have the power to investigate and keep government and business honest. That requires a degree of honesty, integrity and control that they no longer seem to possess though. There is a big difference over what is in the public interest and what the public is interested in.

Unfortunately our papers can no longer be trusted to do this - they have become the big business that needs investigation, rather than warriors for truth and justice keeping our society honest.

Breaches of the law and privacy aren't calculated against the good they will do, but will the extra advertising and sales be worth the fines they will incur.

What we need is a restructuring of press controls, and independent organisation with real power. A Committee made up from the Judiciary, various aspects of the media, the government and the common people. One with real power to investigate and then act on the investigations, weather that is to forward on to the Police, the Government or to place realistic fines themselves.

The fines would have to be large, most large media organisations will not notice a million pound fine, a large expose will generate far more income than that - the fines need to be large enough to hurt, to remove all profits make by that article and then some. That might make the media stop and think before acting.

If we fail to do this, then we risk the media gaining more and more control over our country, till the government become little more than puppets for the all powerful news barons . . .

Why the cuts are Necessary, a layman's guide.

Ok, quick explanation of why all the government cuts are necessary, very much in layman's terms

I am leaving out GDP, as that figure has nothing to do with government income and only has any point if tax was at 100%

Lets look at a family, they are comfortably off and earn £51,400 per year after tax.

They have been spending too much on credit cards though so owe £77,100 (this is 20% more than they earn) to credit cards and don't have a mortgage or house to secure these on, so there is nothing to sell to repay them other than the items they have purchased them selves (which will have dropped in value, or been consumed). This is 151% of what they earn each year - so if they spend every penny just on paying off debt, didn't eat or pay rent it would still take 1.5 years to pay off!

Because of their lifestyle, they are giving money to their elderly parents who have no pension or savings so are having to pay it out of current funds.

With all of this they are spending £66,900 each year, dispute their already heavy debt. Which means they are spending £15,500 more each year than they earn (that's a 20% increase in their debt just the next year), and as interest rises on the debt, this will go up with out increasing spending any more.

here's those figures in a more succinct format.

£51,400 Income

£66,900 Expenditure (120% of income)

£77,100 Current debt (151% of annual income)

£15,500 annual increase in debt (20% of debt)

If a family was in this condition, they would be expected to go bankrupt as they would not be given any more loans and wouldn't be able to cover the debt.

Change those numbers from thousands to billions and that was the state of the country at the end of 2010, and it has gotten worse since.

If the UK goes bankrupt, no other country will trade with us - we rely on imports for most of our food and no longer really have a manufacturing base. That would instantly make us a third world country begging to survive. There would be no pensions, no retirement, no benefits and no NHS - and that is the only alternative to cuts! (The Thatcher government dealt with the last massive public debt by selling off all our utilities, we don't really have anything left to sell).

So what I ask is - is it worth putting up with cuts for a few years while we get this sorted, or would your rather face the alternative?

A Goverment in Denial

It has been a while since I have had time to write - life can be like that sometimes, but the news of recent days and a small amount of free time has given me cause to speak out.

Again Gordon Brown shows he has no ability to accept a reality that all evidence shows is almost diametrically opposed to his own deluded beliefs.


Helicopters

Again Senior Army Officers, that are working in the field in Afghanistan have complained about a lack of helicopters - in one case with the officer dying in an attack almost identical to the kind he described in a memo stating the problem. Yet despite this, our Prime Minister insists that we have plenty of helicopters in the field. Maybe he should try saying that to the grieving relatives of soldiers that have time in administrative transportation operations. i.e. soldiers moving to another base, not performing combat operations.

As Tony Blair found out a few months ago, they are accountable in the public's eyes.

Drugs Tzar

To show that this desire to ignore all evidence that may be contrary to their desires they have asked their Drugs Tzar to resign, why - because they claim he is not able to give impartial advice. What they mean is that the advice (which is backed up by lots of scientific research) doesn't follow the policy's they want to impose on the population.

You might think, well they will be gone soon, and then things will be better, but the comment from the Tory party over the drugs Tzar, wasn't in defence of his scientifically backed up comments, but that the government had taken too long to get rid of him, and they should have done it the first time he made a comment they didn't agree with.


The Conservatives

The Tory's are currently claiming to be the Original Liberal Democrats, but their message is neither Liberal or Democratic.

With the Tory's in power, the privatisation of the infrastructure for another of our vital services is inevitable - they have already stated that they will privatise Royal Mail and not even the Americans have gone that far. Will they never learn that privatising the front end is ok, but as our lack of development in the communications sector has shown, if the infrastructure is privatised, necessary work to develop better technology and keep pace with the rest of the world will not occur due to cost.

The best we can currently hope for is a hung parliament, with the Liberal Democrats holding the swing vote, as I fear a Conservative Government will just continue the spiral a greater divide between the haves and the have nots.

Road users hit again.

Once again the government has hit rural community and the transportation industry. From midnight tonight petrol duty goes up by 2p per litre, but that is before they add VAT on top of the already charged duty (they get you twice) which at the current rate of 15% makes it 2.3p per litre.

At the end of the year, VAT will go back to 17.5% so we will be hit again, this is the third raise in 9 months. Road Hauliers have had a huge increase in insolvency's due to the combination of the recession and excessive fuel bills.

Even environmental campaigners are complaining this time, stating that most people have cut road use down as far as they can with out improved public transport - but fuel duty goes in the general tax pot, helping to pay the vast sums involved in unwanted projects like the National ID Card. In fact fuel duty hurts public transport as they have to pay for the fuel, at the same rate.

This causes real problems for people in rural community, where on the whole salary's are lower and having a car to travel to the shops (which can be 20+ miles away) is essential. Having already seen to the closure of a large quantity of rural post offices, being able to get to the nearest town is essential.

Rail does not provide an affordable alternative, as I show below:

To drive my car to London costs about £35, leaving when I want. If I want to park in central london, at an NCP I can for say £20 for the day and another £6 gets me a one day travel card. Total cost £61, and an increase of £6 per added person. if I take 4 people it only costs £22 per person, including the travel card, and we can travel when we want (it costs £16 per person if we park further out for free and get the tube in)

If I want to travel before 9.00am the cost per person is £126 with the £6 for the one day travel card applying, so £132 PER PERSON! not only that, but you have to change trains and travel when the trains run.

The Liberal Democrats want to cut down on road use, but we want to do this by improving and lowering the costs of public transport, making it a cheaper and viable option vs the car. Not only that but we want to increase the ability of the rail system to transport bicycles so you have the option to take your bike and use it at the other end.

Both the Conservative and Labour governments have hugely increased the cost of fuel using road users to fund expensive government projects, and there are no signs that the Conservatives plan to reverse this trend. The only party with a well reasoned policy are the Liberal Democrats - we just have to hope that they get enough of the vote next year to do some good.

You can help with this, Vote Liberal Democrat at the next election - If everybody who thought, "I would vote for them but they wont win" did, and if everybody who thought "they are all the same" gives us the chance to prove them wrong, then we have the opportunity to win by a landslide!

Do your bit for the future of Britain, Vote Liberal Democrat.

Peter Mandelson, Spying and Students

Not a good start to the week from the government, Whilst the Prime Minister is at his Fife constituency desperately trying to avoid getting kicked out at the next election, Peter Mandelson is supposedly running the country from Corfu via blackberry . . . . (Note that Peter Mandelson is not currently an MP and not elected, another of New Labours knocks against democracy with the large increase in unelected officials in the cabinet)

Independent Article

Chris Huhne has pointed out the frightening levels of government surveillance, with over 1500 surveillance requests made every day last year - an very few of them relating to Anti Terrorism, the excuse for bringing the said laws in. I have already posted at length about this and no doubt will again, but Chris brings the points well enough now -even using on of my favourite statements about it, that George Orwell's 1984 was supposed to be a warning, not a blueprint.

BBC Article

What I really want to get my teeth in to this morning is the student situation, a report from Scotland shows a climate of spiralling debt for students, meaning most students from poorer family's have to work well over the recommended 10 hours maximum per week, with student loans, commercial loans and credit card debts leaving them in a terrifying financial situation, and one that had a direct impact on their ability to study (how do you study well when you are exhausted and cant stop thinking about your financial problems). This means lower grades and less chance of getting a good job that will help to pay off the debt.

BBC Article

The governments plans to solve falling attendance from poorer family's, not by reducing the financial strain, but by reducing the grades required by poorer students by 2 grades. This will just cause a two tier system in the university's and lead to resentment from student that had to study harder to get in - adding to the problems rather than resolving any.

And then to add insult to injury they are talking about limiting the number of multiple occupancy houses allowed in any one area so that finding a shared house will be harder for students (and anyone else who need to share due to being unable to afford the extortionate levels of rent at the moment - a problem that is on the increase and means there is a need for more shared housing not less). As shared accommodation becomes less plentiful it means that those still able to provide it will be able to charge a premium, putting yet more strain on student finances.

BBC Article

The government claims to understand there is an issue with rental costs in the country, but it seems that they are intent to throw petrol on the fire rather than to put it out. A policy we are seeing appear with frightening frequency across all levels of government policy.

What we need is a clear national constitution, setting out people's rights, Who is eligible to take what office in government, and what level of surveillance is allowable for national security with out infringing on people right to some level of privacy.

Along with the a consultation and rework of the electoral system in the UK, setting fixed terms amongst other things (something that will stop governments from calling elections when it is convenient for their position in the polls) the Liberal Democrats will also add a Bill of Rights to the British Legislation, something we have never had and something that will curtail all governments to come.

The Scottish Assembly is looking at the student situation, but this is something that needs to be done nationally. Though there is not the money in the economy to do all we would like at the moment, cutting back on the 12 Billion IT expenditure that the government has started, and that is spiralling out of control, over budget and is currently 5 years late in some cases (and that recent research shows has had no positive effect on government efficiency, in fact government efficiency is getting worse not better) and improving the military procurement system will put some money in the budget.

We will strive diligently to improve the finances of the worst off, unlike the current government and work for a fairer society for all. Unlike the Conservatives, and now New Labour (as Mandelsons holiday shows) we do not rely on big business for our funding, that is both our greatest strength (as we do not have to try and appease them with policy) and our greatest weakness (as we are always low on funds, and do not have enough money to stand in every constituency at times). We are funded by the people we represent, so we can centre our policy on their requirements with out having to pander to our sponsors desires or loose them.

If the Liberal Democrats get in we can offer real change. Though there is a strong feeling that all politicians are the same, there have only been two parties in power in living memory, Labour and the Conservatives, and in their current forms they are hard to distinguish from each other. If every voter that wasn't vote Liberal Democrat because they think we can't win we would have a good chance, if every voter that dosn't vote because they think we are all the same, was to give us the change to prove them wrong (what have they got to loose, if they are wrong and we are different then they have gained if they are wrong nothing changes) we would win by a landslide.

I call on all voters to bear this in mind, give us a chance, get behind us rather than splitting to various small independents or "special interest" parties, then you will have a chance to see real change, positive and lasting change and a change that will set Britain up to move forward in the 21st century as a shining example of what can be done buy the people that the rest of the world can follow!

Having to steal to eat

I have just read a concerning article over a court case in the town I live in. An unemployed man, who had had his passport and other vital papers stolen from him was taken to court for stealing £12.54 in food and drink from Asda. At the time of the theft he hadn't eaten in 4 days . . . .

He was found guilty and fined £50 and told to pay Adsa a £15 surcharge for the goods.

The court case isn't what bothers me most - people cant been seen to be allowed to get away with theft, what ever the reason. The part that concerns me is that in our society we have a situation where someone needs to steal to eat. How can our government claim to be tackling poverty, when situations like this still occur.

There should be some way we can feed the homeless and poverty stricken victims of modern society with out them having to resort to theft. Even if it's just a can of discount beef stew in a disposable bowl (that would cost at most 15p per person). In 2008 there were just under 100,000 homeless according to government figures (which hide large numbers of people). That is under 5.5 million pounds per year to give a hot meal to each one every day - that is only 1.5 million over what the Prime Minister spent on travel last year.

The government has spent a fortune on it's digital britain report - concerned about getting high speed broadband in to every house in the country - shouldn't it be more important to get food in to every mouth in the country first?

Extreme Surveilance

Yet again our Government is embarrassing us, using the powers brought in to prevent terrorism for mundane matters.

This time, it is not only has it embarrassed us, but it has also insulted the soldiers whose lives are risked every day in Afghanistan. The MOD has sent a letter to all our wounded troops, saying that they may use surveillance techniques to check on their claims.

Are the people doing this doctors, are they trained in what the limits produced by a certain injury are - No, they are Military Policemen, who are being ordered to snoop on their collogues.

These boys have put their lives on the line - and been wounded doing so, and in return they are treated like criminals.

It makes me think back to the old man on Britain's' got Talent who was a break dancer. He had trouble walking, but when he was dancing no sustained pressure was put on his legs - so he had a form of exercise he could do. The Governments reaction to this was, as he can dance, he cant be disabled so they cut his benefit . . .

These a just the latest examples of a government out of control, and making decisions on subjects they know little about but that have a profound affect on peoples lives . Power needs to be returned to the people who understand the subject, local people who understand local issues rather than damaging mandates being sent out by Whitehall to the army of unnecessary bureaucrats that have been put in place to police bad policy.

I can only hope that the next government shows more insight and takes steps to fix some of the incalculable damage the present government, and the conservative government before it has caused.

If we get a hung parliament, then the Liberal Democrats will be able to have some voice in policy making and then some sanity will return to Westminster.

Can good behaviour contracts curb unruly under-10s?

This is an extension of a post I made on the BBC have your say site. I couldn't say all I wanted in 500 letters.

The government is looking at ways to curb children's miss behaviour, their current plan is Good Behaviour Contracts for the under 10's. Supposedly this will ban them from abusing their neighbours and going to certain parts of their estates . . . .

This follows the failure of ASBO's on teenagers (who in some areas see them as an award, not as something bad).

Unfortunately our government is behaving like a bad Dr, and pumping all it's resources in to trying to fix the symptom not the cause - and even then prescribing the wrong treatment. Who at 10 understand the meaning of a contact, let alone has the self control to follow one, certainly not the demographic they are targeted at.
One of the problems is that Children are not being allowed to be children any more. With schools always going after targets kids are seen as machines for reaching these rather that developing people. The Association of Teachers has asked the government to do a study in to why our children are so unhappy, this is part of the reason why.

Our children are moved from pillar to post, with no where to go - if they go in to town there are machines set for the frequency's they hear to help make them move on, if they hang round the local streets they are seen as a threat, and most parks these days are aimed at little kids and end up moving on the older ones.
After school clubs are almost non existent, certainly in rural areas where there is no money for them. As a result we have the play station generation, why are they developing - because they have nothing else they can do.
If they try and do anything slightly risky or exciting they are told off and barriers are put up because its too dangerous.
We have taken away the things for them to do, and the places for them to go and we wonder why they are unhappy.

To add insult to injury schools have become more and more based on government targets in certain areas, so they are limited to what they can study there as well. School has just become about qualifications, they seem to have forgotten that school is also where kids learn how to behave socially and be good citizens. Please do not take that comment to mean that I like the citizenship classes the government has introduced - I am talking about learning naturally from interaction with others and following the example of older people.
Citizenship classes are just another stress, and more prove to the children that they are not part of our society and that we don't really want them. Though this is not true, it is the image we give off.

So far I have just stated all the bad stuff, so here come the other side - how do we fix it.

Fixing it isn't as hard as it sounds, though it will take time - we have had this situation for several generations, and it will take one of two for it to fully fix.

The first thing we need to do is to ease back on our expectations of children, and let them be children. Focusing towards exams and targets is ok at 14, but whilst they are younger let them play.
Bring back after school clubs, and not ones where the teachers are supposed to work for free, but properly organised ones, with a wide range of subjects (schools have lots of facilities that are only used during the day). That way Children can spend time doing what they enjoy and are talented at even if they don't have the resources at home. Art, Drama, Mechanics, Woodwork are just a few examples. Debate society's for the more socially motivated.
Make punishments real, not 5 minute time outs, but loss of something that they value - having these clubs provides something, if they miss behave, then they are not allowed to go. They will soon learn that there are consequences for misbehaving. It will also help create something that they are proud to be part of, so they don't want people to be disappointed in them. Give some power back to teachers and the Police, neither get the respect they deserve any more because from a young age children are given no reason to.
Mix the clubs for kids with clubs with adults, so that they can get advice from elders and learn to interact more socially, make them an active valued part of our society, rather than one tossed from pillar to post with nothing to do.

Kids misbehave because they are bored, they hang round the streets because they have no where else to go - both of these problems can be fixed in one easy step - and by letting them find and work on their talents we end up with people with better skills when they grow up.

But this needs to be funded, the government squeezes more money out of us every year - and with higher fuel bills the cost of travel to the clubs becomes an issue let alone the cost of the clubs. Funded car pools and free places for family's with below average incomes (and I mean the government average here of £22,000 ish not their definition of low income households) It might cost at the start, but the lower costs of less crime, drug use and vandalism should help make up the shortfall in time.

The government is spending 218 million on their family intervention project - that is a whole lot of clubs . . . . .

These are just my ideas, I am sure with others the problem can be solved - unfortunately it needs more than the complete lack of any kind of imagination our government has.

Lets stop trying to treat kids like adults, and let them be the children they are!