In the UK we have many ancient traditions. One of these is that in our Parliament, the mother of parliaments, we have a Speaker of the House. His duty is to supervise the behavior of our elected representatives, the Members of Parliament.
The Speaker, once elected, becomes neutral to the political prejudices and party controls. He must be above reproach, have total integrity and possess the gravitas considered necessary to command respect from everyone in Parliament.
Normally the election of the Speaker is pretty much a certainty for the man or woman who has been considered a safe pair of hands by most Members. However these times are not normal.
The outgoing Speaker, Michael Martin, had to go because he had lost respect and control. He also had the misfortune to be in office when the whole political process unraveled; when many members of parliament have been found to be involved with varying degrees of dubious expense claims, malfeasance, fraud and inappropriate claims mostly born out of arrogance, greed and corruption of an epic scale.
Last week John Bercow was elected to the post of Speaker. I don’t know the man. I witnessed him make his successful pitch to be elected. I saw that he was most widely supported by his natural political foes in the Labour party, whereas his own party, the Conservatives, presently in opposition, appear to despise him. Ever since Bercow was elected there has been an outpouring of scorn and hatred aimed in his direction. One of the headlines in today’s Sunday Times is “Little Mr Turncoat in an awfully big chair” another is “The titchy Tory married to a leggy Labourite.” Another called him, "The Squeeker".
Make no mistake the man is hated with unreasoning hatred and vitriol. I have watched him in his new job and he hasn’t been outstanding but he has not been terrible either. Compared to his immediate predecessor he has been terrific.
So why have so many media pundits and highborn Conservatives evidenced such contempt, hate and scorn on John Bercow? I believe the answer is another ancient tradition in the UK. It is called anti-Semitism. Almost every negative article or opinion piece, and there has been many, stated that Bercow is pushy, duplicitous, greasy, short, over ambitious, oily and yes, you guessed it, Jewish.
To attack anyone in this manner is unacceptable and would be considered dangerous if this man were a Muslim or a black man but its OK to ascribe supposedly “Jewish” negative traits to the new Speaker. Judge Bercow for what he does now that he has fairly won his democratic election, not for what he is.
The closet anti-Semites who have run their despicable and demeaning whispering campaign against the man and the democratic process should crawl back under the slimy rock they usually inhabit.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
DeadManWalking
During the last year or so I wake up every day wondering what disaster has happened overnight in our once stable and fair land. There is a common misconception in far off foreign lands that the UK is quaint and quiet and never changing. Oh how I wish that were so. Nowadays it seems as if this once peaceful land is on some kind of universal speedy drug. Too much happens too fast and for all the wrong reasons. I long for the social and relative political continuity and stability of the USA, Canada or most of mainland Europe.
The UK has endured the global economic collapse, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that are tying down many thousands of servicemen and women, and huge amounts of resources. We are also disproportionately in the front line of the global financial meltdown because we are such huge players in that sector. If that was not enough we have now experienced the ignominious and distasteful spectacle of our Members of Parliament abusing our trust with grossly excessive expenses claims.
Late last night the results of the European election started to come through. It quickly became evident that it was another disaster for Britain’s Labour Party. Their share of the votes cast is a derisory 15%.
This is the party’s worst performance in living memory and translates to about 6% of the electorate bothering to vote for the Government of the day.
More rude evidence of the British political malaise is the fact that the British National Party (the BNP) gained two seats in the European Parliament, in which Britain has 75 MEP’s.
Labour limped into third place almost tied with the Liberal Democrats but behind both the currently dominant Conservatives and the anti European UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party).
We are left in awe as Prime Minister Gordon Brown staggers around Downing Street like Frankenstein’s monster after one electrical shock too many. How does he remain standing, why does he remain at all?
But, and this is perhaps the biggest but of all, perhaps we should pause and consider the implication of all the political madness swirling around our collective head.
Who does it serve for us to demand the head of Gordon Brown right now?
Do we really need another election and yet more uncertainty at this tipping point moment?
We need some stability as we work towards economic recovery. As much as we want to get rid of Brown expeditiously Great Britain Limited might do better to wait.
The UK has endured the global economic collapse, two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that are tying down many thousands of servicemen and women, and huge amounts of resources. We are also disproportionately in the front line of the global financial meltdown because we are such huge players in that sector. If that was not enough we have now experienced the ignominious and distasteful spectacle of our Members of Parliament abusing our trust with grossly excessive expenses claims.
Late last night the results of the European election started to come through. It quickly became evident that it was another disaster for Britain’s Labour Party. Their share of the votes cast is a derisory 15%.
This is the party’s worst performance in living memory and translates to about 6% of the electorate bothering to vote for the Government of the day.
More rude evidence of the British political malaise is the fact that the British National Party (the BNP) gained two seats in the European Parliament, in which Britain has 75 MEP’s.
Labour limped into third place almost tied with the Liberal Democrats but behind both the currently dominant Conservatives and the anti European UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party).
We are left in awe as Prime Minister Gordon Brown staggers around Downing Street like Frankenstein’s monster after one electrical shock too many. How does he remain standing, why does he remain at all?
But, and this is perhaps the biggest but of all, perhaps we should pause and consider the implication of all the political madness swirling around our collective head.
Who does it serve for us to demand the head of Gordon Brown right now?
Do we really need another election and yet more uncertainty at this tipping point moment?
We need some stability as we work towards economic recovery. As much as we want to get rid of Brown expeditiously Great Britain Limited might do better to wait.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
TwilightoftheGods
You know how it is. You realize that the drug is no good for you, that it can damage your health and well being, but you can’t resist it. That’s me and writing blogs and articles. I tried to stay away, to go cold turkey but I could no longer resist.
I stopped writing my commentary on the world at the end of April and here we are, about a month later and the world has got in an even bigger mess. They needed me.
The real reason for my absence, which you shall hear me mention many times in the near
future, was my readying my book, Twilight of the Gods, for publication on John Blake Publishing this week. Available to order now on Amazon.co.uk, it is, I hope a fun book that you will enjoy greatly!
But I digress. I was talking about how the world has gone even crazier during my absence. I figure there are three really important places on the planet, the UK, USA and Israel.
Everywhere else, all those other places might be fun, even interesting occasionally, but for things that hinge on the fulcrum, you have to look to these three countries. I could write a book just on the subject of why this is so, but its true that these are the three places that grab the worlds attention and never ending fascination. Today I shall keep our attention on the UK, and over the coming days it will be the other two legs of this strangely configured tripod we shall examine.
I, like many of my readers, have good reason to be particularly intrigued by these places because I was born in the UK, my ancestral roots are in Israel and one of my daughters and her two wonderful kids live permanently in the USA.
I am not saying that these countries are the centers of the universe or anything stupid like that, but I do contend that what happens to them, through them or because of them is of hugely disproportionate impact on the world at large. That is why what’s happening now is so crucial as I truly believe we might well be at a fateful crossroads in the fate of mankind.
The story of the seemingly endemic corruption amongst the elected Members of the British Parliament has been growing for the last several weeks. It is shameful and disappointing to see this degree of venality and ineptitude from both our elected representatives and the bureaucrats paid to provide checks and balances. It makes us angry and diminishes us all. Above all it robs us of the vestiges of faith we had in the probity and once proud tradition of our “clean” parliament. Of course the right thing to do would be for the tainted Prime Minister to call an immediate election allowing us the opportunity to clean house. That won’t happen unless it’s forced because our incumbent leader knows that the result will be his losing. The man is clinging on to power by his fingernails despite having no mandate to do so.
The history of the UK is littered with wars, collapses and civil strife as a result of disasters such as the long-term conflicts and insufferable economic problems we are currently suffering. There is a simmering and growing anger boiling just under the surface of this great country that is truly dangerous.
A survey released this week stated that 85% of the population wants a judicial review and oversight group to oversee the future control of the elected House of Commons. This must not be allowed to happen. If it was put in place we will have moved one step closer to a totalitarian regime that we must avoid at all costs. No one in this country can be allowed to have power over our elected representatives. They must be the paramount level of our government. It really isn’t difficult to put in place sensible and simple rules and regulations to govern expenses and allowances. We must not throw away the concepts and centuries of traditional democratic evolution because of the petty misdemeanors and crimes of a few corrupt and contemptible thieves posing as politicians.
However there should be a transparent and speedy examination, and where necessary, after due process, prosecution and trial of all the miscreants. The punishment for those found guilty should be precisely the same as that given to any other criminal guilty of stealing from the public purse. Certainly no less or more just because of who they are.
I remember, not too many years back when the MP’s in the UK were either rich white men who were Conservatives or working class white men who were sponsored by the Trades Unions who were Labour. Because the wages became a little higher and the allowances were (too) loosely administered we found ourselves with a new and different political elite who actually was much closer in identity to the people they were representing. We must not lose sight of the advantages this break from the past of privilege and class warfare gave the UK. We mustn’t return to that inglorious and unworthy past.
It’s good to be back!
I stopped writing my commentary on the world at the end of April and here we are, about a month later and the world has got in an even bigger mess. They needed me.
The real reason for my absence, which you shall hear me mention many times in the near
future, was my readying my book, Twilight of the Gods, for publication on John Blake Publishing this week. Available to order now on Amazon.co.uk, it is, I hope a fun book that you will enjoy greatly!
But I digress. I was talking about how the world has gone even crazier during my absence. I figure there are three really important places on the planet, the UK, USA and Israel.
Everywhere else, all those other places might be fun, even interesting occasionally, but for things that hinge on the fulcrum, you have to look to these three countries. I could write a book just on the subject of why this is so, but its true that these are the three places that grab the worlds attention and never ending fascination. Today I shall keep our attention on the UK, and over the coming days it will be the other two legs of this strangely configured tripod we shall examine.
I, like many of my readers, have good reason to be particularly intrigued by these places because I was born in the UK, my ancestral roots are in Israel and one of my daughters and her two wonderful kids live permanently in the USA.
I am not saying that these countries are the centers of the universe or anything stupid like that, but I do contend that what happens to them, through them or because of them is of hugely disproportionate impact on the world at large. That is why what’s happening now is so crucial as I truly believe we might well be at a fateful crossroads in the fate of mankind.
The story of the seemingly endemic corruption amongst the elected Members of the British Parliament has been growing for the last several weeks. It is shameful and disappointing to see this degree of venality and ineptitude from both our elected representatives and the bureaucrats paid to provide checks and balances. It makes us angry and diminishes us all. Above all it robs us of the vestiges of faith we had in the probity and once proud tradition of our “clean” parliament. Of course the right thing to do would be for the tainted Prime Minister to call an immediate election allowing us the opportunity to clean house. That won’t happen unless it’s forced because our incumbent leader knows that the result will be his losing. The man is clinging on to power by his fingernails despite having no mandate to do so.
The history of the UK is littered with wars, collapses and civil strife as a result of disasters such as the long-term conflicts and insufferable economic problems we are currently suffering. There is a simmering and growing anger boiling just under the surface of this great country that is truly dangerous.
A survey released this week stated that 85% of the population wants a judicial review and oversight group to oversee the future control of the elected House of Commons. This must not be allowed to happen. If it was put in place we will have moved one step closer to a totalitarian regime that we must avoid at all costs. No one in this country can be allowed to have power over our elected representatives. They must be the paramount level of our government. It really isn’t difficult to put in place sensible and simple rules and regulations to govern expenses and allowances. We must not throw away the concepts and centuries of traditional democratic evolution because of the petty misdemeanors and crimes of a few corrupt and contemptible thieves posing as politicians.
However there should be a transparent and speedy examination, and where necessary, after due process, prosecution and trial of all the miscreants. The punishment for those found guilty should be precisely the same as that given to any other criminal guilty of stealing from the public purse. Certainly no less or more just because of who they are.
I remember, not too many years back when the MP’s in the UK were either rich white men who were Conservatives or working class white men who were sponsored by the Trades Unions who were Labour. Because the wages became a little higher and the allowances were (too) loosely administered we found ourselves with a new and different political elite who actually was much closer in identity to the people they were representing. We must not lose sight of the advantages this break from the past of privilege and class warfare gave the UK. We mustn’t return to that inglorious and unworthy past.
It’s good to be back!
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