If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Now the 'send in the clowns' shtick has gone stale, it's now time to send in the 'political has-beens'. If either Michael Portillo or Alan Johnson remained on the front-line of British politics, their respective parties would be far more likely to win the next general election.
Cameron appears to have frantically scribbled the policy on a napkin as he watched the local election results come in. Since his party's woeful performance, he has suddenly become more jittery about immigration than Captain Hook was about ticking clocks.
By failing to include legislation to enshrine the 0.7% aid commitment in law in today's Queens speech this Tory-led Government has once again broken a Coalition Agreement promise. Both the Tories and Lib Dems have failed to honour a promise which was in their respective 2010 election manifestos.
According to the Queen in her speech at the state opening of parliament today, the government "will continue to focus on building a stronger economy". Can you run that past us again please, Your Majesty? That will presumably be the same government that has inflicted on us the slowest economic recovery in almost 150 years?
It is now time for us to stand up for immigrants. The vast majority of them, just like the majority of everyone else, are decent people who make significant contributions to their communities.
Expectations of the Queen's Speech, in terms of economic measures, were low. Sadly, they turn out to be right. Nothing that was announced today will make much difference either to growth in the economy in the short-term or its potential to grow in the medium-term.
Audiences the world over are captivated by images of violence. Rolling news runs round-the-clock footage of troops and tanks fighting harsh battles in some of the world's most inhospitable places. This deserves our attention and thank goodness these pictures stir the public and their political leaders to tackle pressing security issues.
The rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) is an expression of frustration with the establishment political parties in not creating jobs, ceding home rule to the European Union while fostering growing disorder in large sections of the population.
Over the last session of parliament we have seen a remarkably thin legislative agenda from the government. Swathes of parliamentary time have been left unfilled and the bills that they did produce have been chaotic, badly drafted and badly managed. I have calculated that since the last Queen's speech, the government have u-turned on average once every seven sitting days. If No10 briefing is accurate, they are u-turning on this Queen's Speech before it's even been delivered by dropping minimum alcohol pricing, plain cigarette packaging and their register of lobbying interests.
Let's not call this payment 'aid'. Call it 'reparation'. Call it 'compensation'. Call it 'giving back a percentage of what we've stolen this year' - not snappy, but at least it'd be true. But not aid. Aid suggests charity, and we have no right to call it that.
We have a legal duty to provide protection to those who have a well-founded fear of persecution; a principle that the British public broadly supports, even if politicians and the officials who carry out their mandate don't.
None of this was necessary. None of it was inevitable. Much of it is a direct consequence of policies introduced by one of the most ruthless and callous governments this country has ever seen. And for that same government to turn around and celebrate the charities forced to pick up the pieces is not only paradoxical - it's an act of gross hypocrisy.
In order to counter the rise of Ukip Cameron is going to have to listen to those on his right and move the party back to where it was. If he doesn't, he is going to face sniping from his right flank for the next two years.
For the time being, there is no doubt that Nigel Farage is optimistic about Ukip's chances of becoming a leading party in Westminster.
Sadly we live in a world when politicians rarely look outside the bubble in which they are trapped. You can't blame them really. If they say sorry, their rivals say 'you have failed'. If they admit fault, the ideologues of their respective parties start baying for blood. In a world where your position is only as secure as the amount of time you have spent climbing the greasy pole to political success, little wonder that they feel they can't be honest.
Labour actually didn't do all that well. Plus the electorate just aren't that convinced by Miliband/Balls. And I'm being polite here. The bottom line that Ukip voters have delivered today to the Big Three is: the people are tired.
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