[evening report] as threatened earlier today [or was that last evening]

Blogfocus

Haven't forgotten but too tired and ready to crash. Tomorrow morning.

Snow

Well, it turned out to be much warmer today and so I donned the light gear. Unfortunate because on the way to the tram, I was scooting past two girls on the path when my right toe hit a raised piece of concrete, my left them hit a raised piece of metal and down went Higham, sprawled over the gravel and ice path.

The two girls sidestepped me and carried on as I tended to the grazed paws and tried to rearrange the attire a trifle less deshabille and to carry on myself as if nothing had happened. Alas the clothes were too filthy but the ride home was nice and fortunately I was there with the class of passenger where such things go scarcely without comment.

CP developments

Where to start? Maybe with the response of the blogosphere.

With the exception of the Devil's Kitchen and Toque, bless their cotton socks, fine gentlemen both, the response has been polite [they posted my comments] and to the point [they ignored them entirely and carried on as if I hadn't commented].

Far from upsetting me, it is such a British thing to do and as that's the type of thing we're fighting to protect – the right to ignore pressure brought to bear on us – then I'm actually smiling at the non-response.

Dear old England, dear old sleepy England – you'll sleep your way through the CP takeover and then past it and then, having somehow got the idea months too late to do any good against the EU monster, you'll stir and throw off the shackles in your own way.

I know you, England – you've always been frustratingly like this. We come storming in and demand you man the battlements and you politely ask if we've taken our tablets yet. I sometimes think this quiet, stonewalling response will do more to defeat Europpression than any amount of mobilization.

Some quotes, with the obvious one first:

And then England--southern England, probably the sleekest landscape in the world. It is difficult when you pass that way, especially when you are peacefully recovering from sea sickness with the plush cushions of a boat-train carriage under your bum, to believe that anything is really happening anywhere.

Earthquakes in Japan, famines in China, revolutions in Mexico? Don't worry, the milk will be on the doorstep tomorrow morning, the New Statesman will come out on Friday. The industrial towns were far away, a smudge of smoke and misery hidden by the curve of the earth's surface.

Down here it was still the England I had known in my childhood: the railway-cuttings smothered in wild flowers, the deep meadows where the great shining horses browse and meditate, the slow-moving streams bordered by willows, the green bosoms of the elms, the larkspurs in the cottage gardens; and then the huge peaceful wilderness of outer London, the barges on the miry river, the familiar streets, the posters telling of cricket matches and Royal weddings, the men in bowler hats, the pigeons in Trafalgar Square, the red buses, the blue policemen--all sleeping the deep, deep sleep of England, from which I sometimes fear that we shall never wake till we are jerked out of it by the roar of bombs.

[George Orwell: Homage to Catalonia Ch 14]

The Deep Unpleasantness of Them

From Wolfie, who should know:

I don’t have documentation and I don’t have a collection of links but I've got drunk with some of the people on the inside. Their selfishness and arrogance knows no bounds (amazing how champagne loosens the tongue) but the only thing that threatens their march to power is nationalism.

These are deeply unpleasant people we're up against, as you saw in today's post and they seem to be bereft of any sort of moral framework. Here is what they say to the students directly:

I want to tell you about another space and I want you all to be school governors by the time you are 25. No, that does not mean that you are going to sit on a board, with the emphasis on your arse sitting heavily on a board. You are going to be part of the leadership of an organisation that will set the standards that your brothers and sisters are currently receiving in schools.

Anon [one of them] says, in reference to both this and to the Campaign in Schools material:

I believe this exploitation of the children, copied from both communism and hitler, is their Achilles heel, if it is exploited correctly, plus the finger printing and DNA testing at 6 years old.

Devil's Kitchen says they're a bunch of amateurs and he's right – just like everyone employed to run a department – DEFRA, NHS, take your pick. Look at the lost records today. This was also the trouble with the Germans who, contrary to popular lore, made many, many errors whilst decrying any errors whatsoever.

So not only are they really nasty but they're also incompetent in their cleverness. What a combination! John Trenchard made me smile:

I'm reminded, in a way, of what the Jedi master Yoda once said: “Remember, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they."

Then there is the definitive John Redwood statement which only misses one point – it is Their agenda to debilitate England so that the people cry out for intervention. Oldest trick in the book. It's no point asking them to come to their senses because they're beyond that now.

Conclusion

So nice to see so many real human beings out there still in the blogosphere who like a beer and a laugh, maybe even a smoke and have no desire whatsoever to take over the world and change it.

What say we don't let Them drag us down into their deeply and depressingly cold world of “the talented” ruling over us “yahoos”. What say we just muddle on as we've always done?

Either way, I'm going to bed. Nigh-nigh, readers.

[eu monster] notes from a little jerk

Further to yesterday's post on the EU and Common Purpose, it's good to see it picked up on in a number of places.

John Trenchard has also done so and he mentions Englisc Fyrd 's work and that of others.

And yet another blog has noticed CP. This speech by CP head honcho Julia Middleton. And I quote:

No region and no part and no part of any country are ever going to go anywhere until it manages to engage the talented.

and:

The other day I was in a meeting in Belfast, I have no idea how I ended up in this meeting. It was a really wonderful meeting with about fifteen people there. When we were really getting going there was this little jerk in the corner, who kept piping out “What is your legitimacy?” and we all said “just shut up” and we kept on going.

and:

Anyway, he went on and on about our legitimacy to such an extent that in the end I turned to him and said “Let me just be absolutely clear that at this meeting we are not trying to allocate any public funding, nor are we trying to make any public policy.Actually in this meeting are the fifteen people that are the only people in Northern Ireland that have done anything for the homeless in Northern Ireland for the last 10 years. That is our legitimacy and it is a totally compelling and overwhelming legitimacy”.

Note the sleight of hand - the legitmacy question wasn't directed at the 15 people. It was directed at Julia Middleton and Common Purpose. Note the disdain for dissent - "just shut up", "jerk". That says a lot.

and then the anti-democratic agenda stall is laid out:

I believe with a passion that there is a democratic space. There is an enormous space in it for politicians. They call the shots. They are accountable. That is right and proper. But there is another space for leaders of civil society.

That is the thing which permeates the whole business - this preparedness for unelected "leaders" to step in and take over key functions in the former UK. This is the attitude of disdain which permeates Common Purpose and that arrogance cannot have no foundation. I mean they must feel reasonably confident that the plan is going swimmingly to speak in that tone.

People, this is what our parents fought in WW2 - the destruction of our country by a European power and in achieving that end, as any historian knows, it used quislings.

Only this time the quislings are home grown and come right out of the ODPM. Do read Bukovsky's take if you haven't already done so and realize this is not science fiction but parliamentary funded action within our land and within a greater and ever expanding Europe.

Why would Milliband speak of the EU super-state not being an EU super-state, not at all, no way, unless that matter had been very much on his mind? Well, this "little jerk in the corner" - Higham and many other little jerks - are going to keep asking: "Where is your legitimacy, Ms Middleton?"

Parker Joseph ran a piece on Common Purpose being referred to in Brown's speech as part of his plans for Britain but a strange thing happened. As Ian said:

You can view the current version on the No.10 Website here, where all references to Common Purpose have now been removed. You can view that Cache version here, but I am going to reproduce it in full in case it 'disappears'.

He then does so here.

Now if there was nothing untoward in mentioning Common Purpose, why then was it removed from the later version? These little questions are minor but their sum total point in certain directions which really should be taken note of by the UK blogosphere.

And what of this, also noted by Parker Joseph - this is just outright illegal. Common Purpose and Deutche Bank - Teachers Pack for campaigning in the Classroom. If you can spare [waste is a better word because it's such pap] a few minutes, please peruse it.

When are the mainstream UK bloggers going to pick up and run with all of this? Who cares about Clegg and Huhne's little scrap? Let's get moving on what is happening in our country while we still have it.

Sorry to be such a little jerk. Now I'll retire to my corner again and mumble at myself.

[stating the obvious] young people reading a lot less

Bostondotcom reports on a reading report:

We know what young people are doing more of: watching television, surfing the Web, listening to their iPods, talking on cellphones, and instant-messaging their friends.

But a new report released today by the National Endowment for the Arts makes clear what they're doing a lot less of: reading.

The report - a 99-page compendium of more than 40 studies by universities, foundations, business groups, and government agencies since 2004 - paints a dire picture of plummeting levels of reading among young people over the past two decades. Among the findings:

Only 30 percent of 13-year-olds read almost every day.

The number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

Almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure.

The average person between ages 15 and 24 spends 2 to 2 1/2 hours a day watching TV and 7 minutes reading.

Those are some of the the stats. Need we do anything about it or is everything fine?

[snow] your life in your hands

Currently the thermometer is showing minus 14 but it's all relative.

For a start, if a person has a car, the criteria are different. The light jacket and cap are enough, as there is no intention to spend more than ten minutes outdoors, except for the walk to the vehicle park before and after.

However, the slightest detour outside the city limits and that can be foolish. I had a situation some years back where there was a blizzard, the car slewed off the airport road into soft mush and the inevitable happened.

Got out of the car, the wind closed the door, the auto-lock clicked, the engine was still running and there I was in minus 20 with only light gear and no spare keys. Escaped that one by a fortuitous set of circumstances but it was a prayer of thanks I said, I can tell you.

If you have no car, things are not necessarily dire but you really must select your gear carefully. Most Russians have a range of coats, jackets and paraphernalia which would be the envy of the west. Some of these coats and boots can be around $700 and for the low-salaried majority, that is a cross they have to bear.

There's no choice.

Tomorrow, the first part of the day is at home and then a car ride into town but the end of the day is a walk to the windswept tram line [the wind whips up the road off the lake] and that needs serious rugging up for.

If it's done with slight overkill it's better - for example, my fur coat is best in about minus 25-30 and in minus 15 it's way too warm for comfort, even without a jumper underneath, which I haven't worn for some years.

Gloves are going to be the issue. The monsters are too bulky to take but the light cloth ones I bought in London [they amusingly called them "extreme weather" at the time] - they might be the killer. It only takes one underweight clothing item and you're gone within about five minutes.

The other factor is the wind. Whereas the humidity level, the moisture, is the UK issue, here the wind chill factor is everything. Even a light breeze drops the real temperature by up to 7 degrees or so and that can make a huge difference.

I've been out walking of an evening when there was no breeze but about minus 20 and it was delightful. I've been in minus 5-7 and it was near impossible. Similarly, the coldest I've ever been was on Hadrian's Wall at 06:00 - I've never felt cold like that either before or since.

So - the clothing issue is one to sleep on tonight and I'll tell you which gear I'll go with tomorrow.

For now, the payoff is the beautifully heaped up snow through the window and that makes up for any vicissitudes, real or imagined.

[board games] microcosm of real life ?

Have to admit – hadn't really thought about this one too much before Dave J's post:

For awhile now I've been having a difficult time of playing board games with my daughter.

I squirm about wishing the game(s) would end, trying hard to hold my tongue and smile politely as we trudge round and round the little squares.

Then it hits me. This has nothing to do with the act of playing games, and everything to do with the games we're playing.

After pondering this I've come to the conclusion that most board games are microcosms that mirror our world; and the problem lies in the realization that these games are choosing to glamorize all the wrong aspects of that world.

Life: the game of socialization, norms and expectations.

Monopoly: the game of real estate, consumption and economics.

Payday: the game of work. Work to get paid, spend that paycheck accumulating "stuff," and "things."

Risk: the game of global conquest. Build up your military forces and take over the world one nation at a time.

The list goes on and on with one mindless game after another encouraging us to delight in our opponent's virtual downfall.

The obvious reaction of some would be: "Take it easy, get a life," and Dave's obviously aware of this:

As a parent I struggle with where to draw the line. If I censor everything that I feel is objectionable, how will my daughter be able to form her own impressions of the world? Then again, what level of exposure is overexposure?

Therein lies the parents' dilemma - knowing something is not good for the kid but not wishing to interfere for fear of counterproductive effect. So the parent rationalizes: "Well it's only a harmless board game after all." Surely there are more important things to be worrying about?

Add to this my desire for her to develop a strong sense of personal ethics, and the reality that the highest form of morality (according to Kholberg) transcends societal norms and laws, and I am often at a complete loss as to how to react or what to do, and I rationalize "Meh, it's just a board game." But is it though? Is it just a board game?

[defamation] grovelling apology to the eu monster

Andrew Alison is a good man, with the interests of his country at heart:

Another issue close to my heart is defence. In the USA, members of the military are regarded as heroes. Here in the UK they seem to be regarded by a large sector of society as no better then a street beggar.

This government talks the talk very nicely on how it values our armed forces, but in reality it cuts defence spending so much that our armed forces do not have the vital equipment they need to do their jobs.

With our armed forces stretched around the world you would think the government would be significantly increasing spending on defence, instead of making the token gestures they do at the moment.

I have joined the UK National Defence Association that is campaigning for 'SUFFICIENT, APPROPRIATE and FULLY FUNDED ARMED FORCES that the Nation needs to defend effectively our Country, its people, their security and vital interests at home and worldwide.'

There is only one problem – which Country?

At this time there are fine bloggers like Devil's Kitchen, Iain Dale and Andrew here who are tenaciously clinging to local party politics, believing it to be the battleground. It's understandable.

Andrew [and I imagine bloggers like James Cleverly too], are inside the party political system and so they see only those issues which they can sink their teeth into or if they do see glimpses of the real battle, it's in passing. They're perfectly correct in saying that the treatment, equipping and repatriation by Brown and Blair of the armed forces is a disgrace – it is disgusting in fact.

Where these boys don't look far enough afield is in their faith that lobbying pressure or even blogging will alter Brown's stance – that if the “British” people perceive that he is doing less than adequately in this area, the old cynic will throw a bit more money the way of the forces.

Brown can do no more than window dress because he knows full well that there are to be no UK armed forces post-2012, for the simple reason that there is to be no UK in any real and meaningful sense [as distinct from the remaining title]. As for England - whe did you last hear Brown speak this word in supportive terms?

There is a pan-EU army and Milliband in fact spoke on this in the past few days. There is no UK in Brown's eyes. There are the 12 EU regions under MEPs. Why would he commit funds to a moribund organization – the former British Navy, Army and Air Force?

Why should he care?

Bloggers are so focussed on the inner dastardliness of Brown and his lack of moral fibre, in terms of treason to the UK, whilst the reality is that he is being quite loyal – loyal to the former-UK based EU regions which are almost in place, using Common Purpose leadership in all key positions.

This is one reason Common Purpose are now hitting back at the sphere.

Here are some links on who Common Purpose are and what they're doing. More importantly, where they fit into the EU jigsaw: one, two, three, four, five, six.

Here are some other things on them: seven, eight [on the connection with Camelot] and nine [on the CP info-packs]. Enough to be going on with.

Further comments by others:

Nov 11

On the defence connections with CP [already mentioned in the links above]:

You should ask why Assistant Chief Constable Irwin Turbitt, is lecturing RAF seniors about 3 years handling of protestant and catholic crowd control in Drumcree. (page 64)

Look in the index, then tab down to the page,

But you should read the chapter before that, written by Prof Benington, titled Public Value and Adaptive Leadership.

November 10

On the new regionalism:

Who defines a region? Well it isn’t us. HMG in its White Paper ‘Your Region Your Choice’ says ‘that it is not necessary for a region to have a strong historic identity to create a modern one,’ adding boundaries will ‘generate a good deal of fervour’ but no one will be able to come up with better ones so the ‘standard regional boundaries are right.’ That begs the question of whose ‘standard’ boundaries.

The answer is Eurostat, the EU’s statistical service in Luxembourg. These boundaries have been used since at least 1961 in Community legislation. And it’s all done by population.

Last year this system was enforced throughout EU by regulation - every local authority has to use it. The excuse was the enlargement of EU. Her are the populations for the regions:

Region 3 million 7 million
Sub region 800,000 3 million
Sub sub region 150,000 800,000

In the UK we already have regions but now here are sub regions and sub sub regions.

The division of this country has still further to go right down to the parish councils.

In the Brussels' plan London is region number UKI with 2 sub regions: an outer and an inner. And London will have five sub sub regions.

Ken Livingstone says he will abolish the 32 London boroughs in favour of 5 super boroughs.

Now please do read Bukovsky's take on the new face of the EU and where it is currently headed. This man has his detractors and he is a little too self-enamoured for my liking but he does have the background to make the statements he does. He was a bit wonky on some of the fine detail, e.g. Belgian law but his major points are correct.

There are two observations about all this EU/CP stuff:

1. The EU and by association, Brown's government, want us to concentrate on the smaller issues - on Cameron and Polly Toynbee and Clegg and the NHS - the blogosphere, in duly obliging, are virtually left alone to mutter in the corner about it like an Anglican Archbishop on why we should be Christian.

They want us to concentrate on how many percentage points the Conservatives are up today - it's nice accessible information. Open your Telegraph or if you're bold, go further into other publications and see the latest dastardly thing Brown's done and then swearblog at it. The smart bloggers are welcome to follow the price of gold.

Everyone's happy and the EU can proceed unencumbered.

2. There are certain minor investigators, on the oter hand, who are rabbiting on about something far bigger but of course the real story is not transparent, is it? It requires a great deal of ferreting, hours of mind-numbing reading of Eurospeak booklets and there, embedded somewhere in paragraph 23.14.07 on some grandiose sounding example of EU paper warfare, is the eminently reasonably sounding but actually quite worrying statement of intention.

The bstds don't exactly go out of their way to help us. The real info is fragmented, embedded, hidden and in its place is a wall of Euroassurance for the punters. But some of it does get out and some dots do get connected - not many but enough for a group like Common Purpose, whom there is irrefutable evidence are monitoring blogs, to decide it's time to counter these Gross Libels.

However they don't actually sue the libellers; they post statements of innocence on their own site:

A letter from the trustees

Common Purpose receives a broad spectrum of media coverage that highlights the positive impact of our leadership development programmes and award schemes. Examples of the many positive changes in society that have occurred as a result of the programme participants’ actions are available on our website.

A tiny fraction of media coverage, mostly postings on online discussion boards, blogs and websites, is making highly offensive and untrue claims about Common Purpose. Our reputation is very important to us – we have been advised that whilst the content is undoubtedly offensive to those who are named or implicated in the articles, it is also defamatory.

Common Purpose is founded on the principles of independence and non-alignment. All of our work remains true to these principles. More detail on how we work is available in our Charter.

A reading of the letter and the site itself shows a rational, even-handed, official, government backed qango charged with the simple purpose of carrying out leadership training. No mention at all of buying up MOD sites, no mention of the money poured in not only in Britain but on the continent and no mention of what this Common Purpose is in the first place.

Mention of a Charter but when you go in there, it is so broad and Eurospeakish that it virtually means what you care to consider it to mean.

No mention of the media monitoring, using dummy sites which disappear after each evening and which fellow bloggers have some of the web addresses of.

On the other hand, the "highly offensive' blogosphere is charged with defamation, which is defamatory to us in itself. Well this blogger charges Common Purpose with finding any statement about them factually incorrect - there are enough links given to form an opinion on this matter.

If Common Purpose would care to inform me which statements are factually incorrect, due apology will be immediately forthcoming and that false information will be summarily withdrawn.

Meanwhile, as Vladimir Bukovsky said:

We are losing time. We have to defeat them. We have to sit and think, work out a strategy in the shortest possible way to achieve maximum effect. Otherwise it will be too late. So what should I say? My conclusion is not optimistic. So far, despite the fact that we do have some anti-EU forces in almost every country, it is not enough. We are losing and we are wasting time.