Author: tomkilcourse

see that about a hundred Labour MPs plan to join Conservatives in voting against changing the electoral system from ‘first-past-the-post’. Senior figures from both sides are already meeting to discuss the matter. As a result of this alliance we see the likes of William Hague and John Prescott in bed together. Former Labour MP Joan Ryan said: “This issue is more important than party politics.”

As one who sees most issues as more important than party politics, I find it interesting that these people get together on an issue which is likely to affect their personal welfare directly. Perhaps they should consider tackling other issues, of national importance, in similar mode, giving their whips a day off occasionally. Fat chance!

The Government has made its priorities abundantly clear by winding up the Forensic Science Service, while ring-fencing overseas aid and retaining the Equalities Commission quango

Today’s crossword, 4 down, the clue is “Check about special synthetic substance”. The answer is clearly ‘Resin’, but resin is not synthetic, but a natural substance. Am I wrong, somewhere?

I thought that the above map, copied from Friday’s Le Figaro, gives cause for thought at this time of year, as we Europeans freely celebrate, or not, the Christmas festival. The red areas show where Christianity is forbidden and repressed by the state, while the brown areas show where Christians suffer endemic violence and discrimination. Spare a thought for them.

An Algerian man, Abderrahmane Saidi, has been fined €750 by a court in Nice for insulting the French flag. He also received a four-month suspended sentence and was ordered to attend classes on citizenship. Insulting the tricolour is punishable in France by a fine of up to €1,500.

I wonder what would have happened to Mr. Saidi had he insulted the Union Flag in the UK, or the Cross of St. George in England, a country which does not even have its own national anthem.

France and Germany have decided jointly to block the entry of Romania and Bulgaria to the Schengen group of 25 countries between which a passport is not necessary. The Romanian president has denounced this move as ‘discrimination’. Well, yes!

This is yet another case of the word ‘discrimination’ being used pejoratively irrespective of the relevance of the act. When did discrimination become wrong, per se? What matters, surely, is whether or not the act of discrimination is pertinent to the case in hand. We have become accustomed to considering discrimination in a negative light, when the ability to discriminate is a characteristic that sets mankind apart from lower animals.

If the Romanian president wishes to end this particular act of discrimination, the solution lies in his own hands, not in Berlin or Paris.

A view from our guest bedroom window, yesterday. Flaming cold.

Having recently learned that the National Audit Office has refused to write off the Commons accounts, we now read in the DT that Sir Christopher Kelly, Chairman on Standards in Public Life, has had to speak out against the possibility of MPs policing their own expenditure claims. This is because MPs, including David Cameron, threaten to scrap the existing system run by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

My last blog asked if these people have learning difficulties. We now have the answer. It beggars belief that when confidence in Britain’s parliamentary representatives is at an all-time low, that the Prime Minister supports the possible closure of IPSA. If they continue down this road, these people will be responsible for eradicating the few traces of genuine democracy that remain in the UK.

I see that the head of the National Audit Office has refused to sign off the House of Commons accounts because there is insufficient evidence to support exependiture of around £14m. Will they never learn?