Gregg Beaman To Stand In Oldham East For Libertarian Party

Following the welcome news that Phil Woolas now ex MP has been gound guilty of electoral wrong doing

Gregg Beaman has announced his decision to run for the Libertarian Party in Oldham East.

2010 Libertarian Conference- 27th November 2010

This will be held at the Punch Tavern, 99 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1 DE 27th November 2010 as we rotate for the third year back to London, from York 2008 and Bristol 2009.

You will need to register and pay £10 to off set costs by Nov 1st to receive your voting card and agenda. I do not propose to take money on the day.

Please pay via our account at HSBC noting your membership number and LP2010 as the reference.

If you would like to make a donation over and above (Please) mark as Donation.

40-28-20 Sort Code  Account Number 92635313

It is envisaged that Libertarians of the non member variety can be invited but cannot obviously vote, hence the voting card.

Postal votes are obtainable from 1984@lpuk.org for NCC positions.

Tax Blunder Rebellion

Never mind the politics of whether or not William Hague is gay (not in the slightest importance to me) this is serious stuff, and should make any sensible person question why they should not be a Libertarian. I reprint in full the following from the Anna Raccoon site in the hope people are going to start waking up.

Start

It’s been a while since there has been a story in the press that left me with my jaw so far down that it hurt. But today, I believe, we are firmly back in the deranged world of government gone completely insane:

HM Revenue and Customs could take direct control of every worker’s monthly pay cheque under plans to overhaul the error-prone income tax system.

Instead of employers deducting income tax then paying gross salaries to employees, the gross monthly payment would go to an HMRC-run tax “calculator”, which would then pass the net salary to the worker.

The reform would mean the end of traditional monthly payslips, because employers would no longer be able to tell workers how much tax they had paid each month.

The immediate thought that comes to mind is: what do we do when (and not if!) this all goes wrong? What happens when, as will inevitably happen, HMRC makes a balls up and takes your whole month’s salary? Who will you fight with? Without a payslip, how do you budget for the forthcoming month, especially if you are on highly variable wages? What about people with all sorts of different sources of income? How will this “help” them? What about people who have valid reasons for submitting an annual return to claw money back?

Inevitably, this kind of glorious “lateral thinking” is a result of the many failings of the people in HMRC. Why is the long-suffering taxpayer being exposed to this extraordinary risk? It’s not like the government exactly has a fantastic track record when it comes to grandiose computer systems.

I’m going to do something that I don’t generally do, because I’m not as erudite at campaigning as Anna: I’m going to ask you to spread the word about this as far as you can; I’m going to ask you to write to your useless MP and complain in the strongest possible terms about this insane idea; write to your local newspaper, tell all your friends and do everything you can think of to stop this insane idea from becoming reality.

Because although Anna is a wonderful campaigner, I don’t think there’s enough of her to go around to save each and every one of us!

UPDATE: I am generally loathe to update articles, especially if they have only just been published, but I feel that this information may be of great value to 1.4 million taxpayers:

The first batch of 45,000 letters demanding cash to be repaid will start to arrive on Tuesday – with the rest sent out over the next four months.

But accountants said recipients should act swiftly to use a little-known loophole which forces HM Revenue and Customs to abandon ‘out of the blue’ demands and effectively write off the money.

They also insisted many of those affected are entitled to argue that they or their employer have done nothing wrong and should not be penalised for someone else’s blunder.

Enough is enough. It is time to starve these incompetent thieves of our hard-earned money!

Still Fighting 'them' on the beaches

The War goes on ! The war against Fascism (The marriage of the big State with big Corporations) we were told ended in 1945. Another skirmish has broken out, that the Libertarian Party is pleased to be part of-

All the links in the following article reproduced in full are to be found here on the Anna Raccoon site



70 years ago this week, Winston Churchill made his famous speech immortalising the words ‘Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.’ He did so to rally every man and woman in these Isles to support the war effort:

“because we have been nurtured in freedom and individual responsibility and are the products, not of totalitarian uniformity, but of tolerance and variety.”

Sheila Martin was a fragile babe in arms when her Mother heard those words. Too young to understand the menace behind the Messerschmitts and Heinkels screaming overhead and disturbing her slumber. She was the intended beneficiary of Churchill’s words, one of the generation of children that depended on the bravery of British men such as her Father, away in France fighting for the freedom, tolerance and variety that was Britain’s hallmark.

Today, Sheila is once more fragile; she is 70 years old and was widowed 30 years ago. She tells me she has survived five heart attacks; she suffers from asthma, angina and high blood pressure. She only smokes the occasional cigarette these days, partly for health reasons, partly because her minimal state pension doesn’t stretch to any more.

70 years after Churchill’s speech was made, she has retired from a lifetime of hard work.

She was part of that unsung army of hard working, clean living, decent individuals, who cheerfully got up every morning and trudged off to put in a decent days work for a paltry wage as a ‘Mrs Mop’, raised her family, nurtured her marriage, made ends meet, saved little, but asked little in return, save the freedom, and tolerance that her older relatives had fought to provide. She is not a politically aware lady, nor insolent, nor ambitious for financial rewards.

In common with other ‘Smokers’ who may not like the new laws prohibiting them from smoking where others may be offended by the practice, she respected the law of the land, and complied. She is no campaigner against such laws.

Thus it was that she found herself standing at a bus stop, waiting for the bus which would take her home, and taking the opportunity to smoke a cigarette in the open air – there was no bus shelter. She could no longer smoke a cigarette on the top deck of the bus. She had not been able to smoke a cigarette with the cup of tea she shared with her daughter in town. Now she must stand in the road to enjoy the ‘freedom, tolerance and variety’ of the British Isles.

She only smoked half the cigarette; as the time drew close for the bus to arrive, she ‘nibbed’ the cigarette, letting the lit end fall to the ground, and thriftily stowing the other half of the cigarette in her handbag for a later occasion. It was her last cigarette until pension day.

Two of Sandwell’s famed ‘enforcement wardens’ approached her – a man and a woman. They told her that they were issuing a ‘Fixed Penalty Fine’ of £75 under Section 87 (1) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 as amended by Section 18 of the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. This mouthful of gobblygook was lost on Sheila; she had no idea what she had done wrong and put the piece of paper in her pocket.

Once home, friends and neighbours clustered round to read this piece of officialdom. Sheila still had the ‘end’ of the cigarette, with its precious inch or so of un-smoked tobacco in her handbag, so how could she be accused of littering the street – it had to be the cigarette ash they were talking about?

I have spoken to Sandwell Council, they tell me that they do not issue fixed penalty notices for cigarette ‘ash’ – I am sure they don’t. I am equally sure that Mrs Martin is telling the truth when she tells me that the half cigarette with its ‘butt’ was still safely in her handbag when she returned home. So we are left with the quandary of whether the ‘lit’ end of a cigarette, which will become cigarette ‘ash’ within seconds, constitutes parliament’s intention when they defined litter as including:

In section 98 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (definitions), after subsection (5) insert—

“(5A)“Litter” includes—

(a) the discarded ends of cigarettes, cigars and like products, and

(b) discarded chewing-gum and the discarded remains of other products designed for chewing.”

If a court holds that it does, then every smoker is liable for a £75 fine every time they smoke a cigarette in the street. I do not believe that to be parliament’s intention.

On Friday, the threatening ‘Final Demand’ from Sandwell Council, warning her that she now faces a £2,500 fine plus costs (and possible imprisonment if she does not pay that) expired. The next opportunity for Mrs Martin to contest this matter will come in ‘some months time’ – the council cannot tell me when her case will arrive at the top of their back log of cases to appear in the Magistrates court.

Sheila Martin is frightened, intimidated, and feels helpless in the face of this prosecution. She is in delicate health, aggravated by stress, and I have asked the council to reconsider their decision to press ahead with what may well be an interesting test case defining a cigarette end, but which will be at the expense of a frail and elderly person. They have referred me to their ‘revised Enforcement Policy’ – which makes for terrifying reading, a fine example of the totalitarian government Sheila’s Father fought so bravely to prevent. (available HERE)

Nick Hogan, who I was instrumental in rescuing from prison after similar council action, has joined with me, the Libertarian Party and the Sunday Mercury, to ensure that Sheila suffers as little as possible from the council’s intransience.

We have already arranged for some very high powered legal representation for her, to put her mind at rest, and I have promised her that she will go to prison ‘over my dead body’ – she is obviously unable to pay this fine, or incremental increases of it, and I have personally guaranteed her that somehow I will make sure that she doesn’t have to pay it herself, nor go to prison.

There is no need for money at present, all the legal beagles so far involved are kindly donating their time and expertise free of charge – although if there are any other lawyers out there who would like to join the team, this is one broth that will not be spoiled by too many cooks. My e-mail address is on the contact section of this blog.

70 years ago we were prepared to ‘fight them on the beaches’ – how appropriate that today we prepare to f’ight them on the Sandwell……’

Couldn't We All Just Have A Whip Around?

Fascinating to see Aunty reporting on the return of the milk snatcher this morning:

The government is considering cutting a UK-wide scheme offering free milk for under-fives in nursery or daycare, the BBC has learned.

A few obvious things first:

1. As the ~£60 million price tag shows (no doubt actually costing about £90 after it's churned through HMRC) it is hardly "free".
2. Who it's not "free" to: we've been piling up the IOUs so long it's no longer the kids drinking it that are paying but their children; and we've debt interests eclipsing our Education and armed forces budget they're paying over the odds as is.

That all said is it really beyond the realms of possibility to pay for this through charitable means? The outcry will be state-paid milk being stolen from the poor; is paying through a consortium of private charities at local level with nationally agreed pricing with milk companies really that difficult? Assuming the simple shopper isn't paying over the odds it a little under a quid each a year to keep 5 year olds in milk.

Note From The Treasurer

I would like to thank everybody, Member and supporters who so generously made a donation to the Party in July, however made. We do not get the support of major companies or unions and are totally reliant on your generosity.

There is so much more that the Libertarian Party can and must do. Tim Carpenter and Andrew Withers have been on mainstream TV and Radio in the last few weeks, so we are slowly prizing the door open.

We are painfully aware that we are in a difficult economic period, which is why I am trying to build a war chest for next May slowly and surely. Therefore every pound we collect in is so valuable.


Please keep the donations coming in of whatever size. Whilst I am speaking to some serious donors it is your £5, £10 , £20 plus that keeps us going.


Direct bank transfer to:

sort code 40-28-20

account 92635313


Please put your surname and if you have one a membership number as a reference.

Fill Yer Boots

Has the TV licence had its day?
Free market thinktank the Adam Smith Institute has called for the TV licence fee to be scrapped, arguing that a BBC subscription model would be better for the industry and avoid criminalising poorer people. Is this the best way forward?

Get stuck in.

Next Yorkshire Libertarians Meetup

I owe you all a massive apology.

The last 3 months have been a fierce battle to put food on the table and keep myself working and I have neglected my post as coordinator.

I would very much like to make up for that and apologise in person to our members at the next regional meeting, after which I hope to make the meetings a considerably more regular occurence.

A general email will go out soon but if people can suggest dates when their free this month and next I would grateful; email me at tjerubbaal@googlemail.com or leave comments in this post - will respond as they come.

Benefits?

DK provides a succinct rebuttal to Shuggy on the subject of the poor, benefits and choices.

But the money given to the poor is supposed to serve a certain purpose—that is, to allow them to stay alive. Even Beveridge maintained that benefits should only be at a "subsistance level".

If there is a social contract, it is that those of us who work agree to be taxed to ensure that those who have no work are not lying about, starving in the streets. This is a cost of living in a society, and it also answers the demands of basic humanity.

But the money does not belong to the poor to do what they want with it, it is not provided to give them "choices": it is there for a specific purpose—to ensure that they can stay alive. If they want "choices" then they must go out and earn their own cash.

This morning at Breakfast Mrs Tomrat and I discussed the insanity that is out education system; she relayed a story her student teacher told her about one of our youth group members, who's first placement had been at their school- they told us they were one (of many) who was provided with a PE kit whilst the teachers washed and dried their school uniform and any other clothes they had brought. Another needed to be provided with sanitary towels.

In neither case was this a result of financial poverty; were it, the parents could have asked a half dozen agencies for help; no, this was a result of parents not caring- the former being sent in with dirty clothes by work-shy wasters, the latter by a parent telling their daughter to use school toilet roll.

What have we become? I cannot conceive in my head using my child as a meal ticket*. Nor can I fully comprehend the sheer level we have debased ourselves to for a few scraps from our leaders tables, filled ironically from our own pantries.

I've an alternative suggestion that I've mooted before: make the individuals tax free allowance exchangeable, tax-interchangeable and set no minimum/maximum pricing for it's sale (unfortunately requiring an income tax for obvious reasons).

So married couple want to have a stay at home parent/part time worker; this is made easier to achieve by transfer of all/part of their tax credit, leaving more money for them to make more choices.

A NEET uses his to subsidise training and work placements, bartering for accommodation and a living wage whilst doing so via his company, who use it to lower their corporate tax take.

An unemployed middle-aged man cashes his piecemeal at a negotiated rate to a private friendly society who sell it as a commoditised corporate tax subsidy - charities and business alike shoot up to thrive in this environment; businesses carry charity and friendly-society logos on their websites stating they give competitive rates of exchange/services in return for their tax credits.

Their is a natural cyclical nature to how the subsidy works: in a recession the tax take goes down as does the costs of maintaining the unemployed, carried by those surviving businesses building up the necessary capital to be profitable, invest and create jobs. As more people are laid off there is more tax credits competing for less money, incentivising the owners to seek the best use of their voucher, whether by work or by exchange.

You will not fix the problem of worklessness, faux-entitlement and children-abuse with schemes encouraging sucking at the teat of the state; they need to take charge and see the consequences of their actions - that needn't be starving children because of greedy, frankly evil and conceited parents, nor do we need to put them in such an impoverished state they have few places to turn, merely getting people addicted to responsibility and the freedom it affords will be enough.

* = yes as a father I do claim tax credits and child benefit and I do so with a straight face- as far as I'm concerned this is a tax rebate and would swap it tomorrow if I could for a smaller state, lower taxes and less fanning around.

Whilst I'm sure folks like the Popular Front of Judea would balk at the prospect of taking the man's money so regularly I am perfectly content - I become more or less tax neutral at my current salary and I have no problems with the waste coming out of other peoples pockets, after all, if you don't like it, stop voting the twerps in.

The Target For This Month

We need to start raising funds for the local Elections in 2011, I would like to appeal to all members and supporters to donate what you can this month.

Our account number is 92635313 Sort Code 40-28-20

Our immediate target is £2000. We are looking to open a permanent office to handle donations and all the other administration and membership applications.

Times are hard but every £5 and £10 is income in the right direction.

Working For The Man

Day Of Days !

Guido has unconfirmed Reports he has gone.

Quick Get a stake to drive through Mandelson's 'heart' to make sure

ELECTORAL REFORM NOW !

Something We Should Support

From my inbox yesterday:

Dear Friend,

As election day gets closer and closer it is vital that the expenses crisis isn't drowned out in promises and spin. Over the last two years the Sunlight Centre's largest campaigns and investigations have been into the Smith Institute and former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. With your help we want to remind voters about this in the run up to polling day.

Not many people, and certainly not many of his constituents, know the role that Ed Balls played in the scandal around Gordon Brown's favourite, think-tank The Smith Institute, and its breach of the charity laws covering party political activity.

Following the Charity Commission investigation initiated by the Sunlight COPs, the board of the charity had to resign. In the year between leaving the Treasury as Brown's Special Adviser and becoming an MP, Ed Balls was paid close to £89,000 to write two pamphlets for the sham organisation. We want to tell the voters in his constituency of Morley and Outwood about this so the Sunlight Centre will be running an advert highlighting this and his expenses claims throughout the local paper websites in his constituency. We also want to remind Jacqui Smith's constituents of her role as the "poster girl" of the expenses crisis.

Electoral Laws allow us to spend £500 in each constituency, but we need your help in order to raise these funds. If you could please contribute perhaps £10, £20, or £50 then together we can make sure that these two rotten elements of the last rotten parliament are not returned on election day.

Thank you in advance,

Harry Cole

Media Director
The Sunlight Centre

LPUK has asked it membership and friends to donate what they can. Frequently. And it has enabled us to grow, gain new members and expand beyond just being 5 men on the Internet getting together with an idea.

Our membership is not made up of rich City workers managing the bailout money this government has taken from our pockets. Our donors are not rent seeking public sector union proto-communists or big-business lobbyists; our membership is the vast unsung heroes of the real free England, the kind who understand that wealth is more than shiny baubles, but that the pennies are important, including the ones the government takes from them and squanders. It is those who are stopped in the street for no good reason and are imprisoned for telling the agent of the state that what they are doing is none of their business.

I ask our membership, yet again to support a cause out of self-interest; it is in your interests to tell these thieves, these flippers and their petty, flacid authority where to go- the dole queue.

Put what you can towards it.

Libertarian Party Manifesto 2010

We have seen much of the big three party's manifesto pledges. To this end I submit for review the Libertarian Party manifesto. Please note that you can compare this manifesto by carrying out a search for your party's name along with the terms manifesto and the year.

If the views presented are more to your liking perhaps you should contact the party, donate, become involved or a combination of all of the three!

In a country where we are individuals having choice is important. We should be aware of the decisions our representatives are making, the impact they have not just on our lives but that of all people and ensure our voices are being heard.

Libertarian+Manifesto

EDIT: For those of you that require this document in another format please email
sutton @lpuk.org

Too Good, Or Depressing?, To Let Drift Back Into The Ether

All freedom-loving peoples should read this; what happens in America happens here a few years later.

What a sad turn of events.

Fools the lot of them.

Right Problem, Idiotically Wrong Solution

Finally someone gets it

Had a very early morning today when my daughter decided sleep was for the weak at 3am. Still serendipity meant I took a different commute this morning which enabled to pass closer to the uni than usual, in turn passing some beardy wierdy, sandalista's handing out the above; the lower half is here:




Isn't it amazing how so many people arrive at the right conclusion to our present idiots in power- that they are all clones - but end up at radically different solutions?

Where the AGS see a change in who controls the knobs of power I just see a bunch of knobs, needing to be thrown out.

Nice to see common ground though.

When Dinosaurs Ruled The Earth

Apologies for the late comment on yesterday's Daily Politics show with this delectable washed up hack Mr Andrew Neil (61). Pictured here with yet another young lovely not the one that had previously been photographed with wearing a baseball hat that Private Eye repeatedly reprinted.

Anyway, the disgust that this hack produced yesterday has led to a glut of membership applications and donations to our tiny and irrelevant party in the last twenty four hours.

Neill and the BBC do not understand the meaning of 'Public Service Broadcasting' for which the BBC has a charter and the ability to enforce a TV tax to pay for itself. Neill felt that it was not his task to question Mounsey on his party's policies, but to play the man himself, attacking his blog. The wee balding scotsman is not fond of anybody who has any association with public schools, so Mounsey was never going to be off to a good start.

This morning Chris has deleted his blog, and has made a personal decision to tone down the visceral anger that has been his trademark.

Unlike the rest of the BBC, professional politicians and Neil himself sucking off the teat of the public purse, the members of the Libertarian Party are committed amateurs. We cannot afford to have our real jobs and lives threatened by those who feel threatened by having been caught fleecing the public purse in 'Rotten Parliament' and in the BBC.

Neill appears in another show were he sits around chuckling with the hypocrite Diane Abbott and the ever bizarre Portillo. If these three are what the BBC thinks represents politics no wonder forty per cent of the population don't vote, and the rest are utterly disillusioned with what is on offer, including the sterile 'Leaders' debate tonight.

Dinosaurs ruled the earth once, they do not do so now as they were unable to adapt to a new reality.

Cameron A Halfway House Libertarian?

Where a libertarian party would simply decree that it is for the individual to build a strong family, get their children into a good school and find work, Cameron's conservatism wants to actively help people secure those three fundamental building blocks of the good life.

Tim Montgomerie

Yes, it is the Libertarian Party's belief that it is upto you to build your family, get the best education and get work. It is nothing to do with a raft of Quangocrats,Social Workers and politicians setting targets. All of these have removed tesponsibility from the family, along with crushing taxes that would make it financially easier.

Cameron has already stated infront of his party conference, that he does not lead a Libertarian Party. I don't want to be a partner in Government, I do not want to govern anybody else.

I do want Government off my back

Libertarian Party Leader On 'BBC DAILY POLITICS' Wednesday 14th April

Fresh from the bearpit that was 'The Big Question' on BBC last Sunday (available on BBC iPlayer) Chris Mounsey is on the Daily Politics Show tomorrow Wednesday 14th.

Hopefully there will not be a member of the medical profession on the programme as per last Sunday who said 'I'm a Libertarian too, but I want everything banned' (paraphrasing a bit there I know)

Chris will be putting forward the proposition that the State should get out of our lives.

Appeal For Funds

I would like to thank everybody members,supporters and non members for their financial support over the last week, however we have to up our income significantly over the next few weeks to support our candidates.

PLEASE DONATE WHAT YOU CAN

Martin Cullip to stand in Sutton & Cheam

Martin's website will be going live shortly.

Long Overdue

In my role as regional coordinator I sent out a message to our regions members inviting them out for a drink to discuss views, concerns and the like and be surrounded by like-minded people.

The date proposed was this Sunday, 17th April - as there were some issues last time with some individuals wanting to show up to cause trouble I will refrain from putting the time and place up here, so if you would like tone reminded, or if your not a member and would like to know more then please email me at:

thomas.howell@lpuk.org.uk

If you have any concerns/ideas I'm the interim please do not hesitate to contact me.

See you Sunday!

Brilliant Dilbert Illustrating How The Law Can Pervert Justice

Remember if it doesn't cover the rights you bear intrinsically it is most likely to screw over someone.

Death Of A Democratic Liberal Nation

General Election Turnout

1992 77.7%
1997 71.4%
2001 59.4%
2005 61.4%

Source UKPolitical Info

Percentage share of the Total Electorate that voted Labour in 2005 21%

Source Railings & Thrasher


Labour Party 35.3% of the Vote 356 seats 55% of total seats
Conservative 32.3% of the Vote 198 seats 31% of total seats
Lib Dems 22.0% of the Vote 62 seats 9% of total seats
Other 8.0% of the Vote 30seats 5% of total seats


Nearly 40% of our fellow citizens are not likely to vote in 2010 because of apathy,ignorance or they are disenfranchised.

If you live in a 'safe' seat and your vote is largely an irrelevance.


These depressing statistics show that we cannot pretend to be a democratic nation, we are an oligarchy. Yesterday Clegg came to Bristol. Big Poster on a truck, swarm of journalists, not one voter! He said with a straight face that he expected to be in No 10 to an open mouthed BBC reporter.

He is lying to himself, to the camera and to the voters and he should hang his head in shame. He knows he will never march into Whitehall under FTP because it is rigged in favour of the big two.
Clegg does not understand the zeitgeist and is weaker for it. He has already flunked his historic destiny for himself and his party.

Stop pretending that the Lib Dems are anything other than 'kingmakers' and set out your stall for proportional representation and an end to this squalid excuse of a gerrymandered 'Representative Democracy', these opportunities only come along once every forty years. Ashdown was conned by Blair, and Clegg has clearly learned nothing from the experience.

All three parties are quibbling over Tax, the real issue is Constitutional Reform, I have never seen such depression in the public and the minor parties, knowing that no matter how hard they try and how much money is spent it will make very little difference to the Political Elite. The Rotten Parliament is about to be replaced by the squalid Parliament, full of party placemen, and with precious little mandate and legitimacy from the Electorate.

Libertarian Party Endorsed Candidate Surges To Third Place In The Betting Stakes

Ladbrokes comprehensive betting on the General Election website for many constituencies and they appear to be giving David Kirwan the best odds for any Independent or fringe Party. They are consistently giving UKIP, Greens & BNP throughout the 649 constituencies 100/1. In both Wirral South & Wallasey UKIP is on 100/1.

David Kirwan is an independent endorsed by the Libertarian Party

In Wirral West the betting is….

Conservatives 1/10

Labour 5/1

DSK 50/1

Liberal Democrats 100/1

UKIP 100/1

Jury Team 100/1

David appears to be the only Independent or fringe Party etc ahead of the Liberal Democrats anywhere? This is a great opportunity to break the political mould and elect an Independent.

David Kirwan's website is www.davidkirwan.co.uk

The writing on the wall

Having just read Guido's post on the subject I felt the urge to write to the Tory PPC for my area, Leeds West, to sound out his views on the subject:

Hello Mr. Marjoram,

As the PPC for Leeds West for the Conservatives your party stands a good chance of forming the next government an you representing the people of this district.

Today the blogger Guido Fawkes at order-order.com has illustrated yet more example of Gordon Brown being economical with the truth in thus piece here:

http://order-order.com/2010/04/01/statistics-boss-stop-lying-mr-brown/

Of particular note is the last few paragraph, particularly the area in red:

"Gordon pathologically lies with numbers all the time, he constantly reels off fudged statistics whenever he is questioned. Crime statistics are massaged and worst of all the government’s real debt position is hidden using PFI and by ignoring public sector pension obligations. When the Tories get in one of the first things they should do is restate the national debt to honestly reflect the dire truth of the position hidden by Gordon’s years of deceit…"

As the Conservative candidate for Leeds West I was wondering if you would commit to pressing David Cameron into restating the national debt in correct context and to hold an enquiry onto the exact extent of our national debt.

Achieving this on day one will usher in a new era of honest, open government, the likes of which Gordon Brown has been measured and found wanting for.

If trust is to be restored and a cure found for the current "rotten" parliament it must begin from the ground up; I urge that if you are successful in becoming our MP that you will initiate/support any early day motions (EDMs) to this end and call on the cabinet to acknowledge any petitions on this subject.

Yours sincerely,

Tomrat

Why not write to your PPCs and incumbent candidates as well?

Should be way enough to determine who they are via wikipedia or use this site as I did.

Change starts from asking question; ask yours.

Yet More Indications We Are Ruled By Thieving, Conniving Turds

A Labour MP yesterday. Hope he's got receipts for those

Honestly how is it we are still ruled over by thieves, liars and corrupted souls? When was someone going to tell me Byers was still around causing trouble? Whether he's allowing his buddies to loot British car manufcturers and the taxpayer or undermining the privatised rail industry stock price to enable the government to renationalise it on the cheap, putting old retirees on the breadline he's bad news anywhere he goes*.

Guido and the sunlight centre have him pegged and are petitioning our Buffy to have the "right honourable" bit removed from his name in an official capacity - it was probably removed long ago in the unofficial one. Ofcourse on present form the Queens actions tend not to extend beyond arm waving but we can live in hope.

To make matters worse the Daily Fail is saying that as ex-cabinet ministers they are in line for peerages; this is insult on lasting injury.

What is the panacea to all of this? Politicians will tell you it us mire QUANGOs, more faux-scrutiny and more money to stop them stealing from us or undermining the rule of law; I have a simpler, more elegant solution: a recall law.

Have a localised recall law which comes into effect after the mp's first year in power that allows his constituents to remove him upon collection of more than 51% of registered voters (NOT popular votes; we've all got to want rid of them, not just the ones who are bothered enough to turn up; the right to recall should ensure this figure is closer to the popular one) which immeadiately calls for a byelection.

Likewise a national referrenda (again based on total registered voters not the popular vote) for the removal of a lord which requires a 1% higher than that of the mps who voted to give them a seat in a secret ballot for the lords.

I still think there is some stock to keep the Lords, and that democratising it needs to be done carefully; the only thing that should prevent a Lord entering the upper house is being behind bars and/or being recalled by the citizenry, not the autocracy.

Predictions for #budget2010

A KFC in every bucket, and an uninsured vauxhall nova in every yard.

Either that or the party slogan (pick any party, doesn't matter).

Vote same. Get same.

The Non-Ideal Solution to Meow Meow

A lot has been made of the use and dangers of legal highs recently, particularly with the deaths of 2 children in Scunthorpe thought to be linked to "Meow meow" or mephedrone as it is known chemically.

Whilst drug deaths, especially those where children are involved are heartbraking I remain convinced that the calls of those directly affected for a ban are misguided whilst those of their political masters are purely taking advantage of the situation; either through more thorough control over us proles or, though a more cynical reason there is none, for political gain (particularly odious considering the cause of these childrens deaths isn't entirely as clear cut); if there were any proportionality to there reasoning why not ban alcohol and tabacco, blowing up distilleries.

Boatang has recorded some of the goings on with prohibition over the last century; he makes the standard libertarian arguements, and I agree with them. All.

Problem is as I found out in very practical terms recently people put very little stock in arguements that are inherently pro-freedom; they are geared to accept a smaller world view and find the path of least resistance in simple punitive arguements of one group or another (Melanie Philips being a case in point).

That is why I would like to propose an alternative to outright legalisation which would reduce the prevalence of deaths attributable to drug taking whilst curbing the spread: expand the powers of the MHRA to include recreational drugs of all kinds (including alcohol and tabacco) and alter the remit of drug laws to inform peoples of the risks involved.

Additionally tax it as you would any other legal recreational drug; weight for weight recreational drugs like alcohol and tabacco mitigate the costs associated with their use many times over - possibly one of the only reasons why they've not been banned outright by a bansturbating parliament, plus the fact that they are populist, attention-seeking scumbags probably figures into it quite heavily too. Either way one of the most egregious aspects of prohibition has been the lack of research that goes into these drugs; a fact that through much of their history has led to pathways of research being controlled by some particularly unsavoury elements, which can never be a good thing.

Drug licencing means that credible research will have to be done into the effects of these drugs in their pure form and delivery methods will be improved - we will swap pharmaceutical-grade talc and polyols for brick dust and cut glass currently used.

All the while drug development can continue in a self-sustaining manner; the burdens of abuse becoming self-mitigated problems.

This isn't ideal; I am effectively calling for the problem of recreational drugs to fall out of one government agencies lap (the police and justice agencies) into another (the regulatory bodies) and to ensure comparisons can be drawn include tabacco (alcohol is covered by strict GMP guidelines making it less worthwhile); the outcome of any credible study would probably make uncomfortable reading for some users of current legal drugs.

All in all though I am advocating a net increase in the individuals freedom; not everyone will make decisions which will be good for them but fewer of those bad decisions will prove fatal or find them taking their life places that will prove impossible to come back from. Drugs will naturally become cheaper and safer, releasing the burden on healthcare and remove the criminal monopsonies that plague our inner cities; the police becoming able to mop up weakened and impoverished criminal gangs.

If the war on drugs teaches us anything it illustrates where denormalising behaviour eventually takes us; to disenfranchise and criminalise an entire subculture merely impoverishes us all.

I am no fan of drugs; I think it is pure escapism, but as a drinker and resident of the UK I have to say of late we have all needed an escape; making drugs pay their own way will only reduce the dependency on them overall and help those who use them become responsible for their own actions.

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To Quote Saint Bob Send Us Your ******* Money!

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Panic Buying

Good God is there no group Gordo won't beat up on and then pander to the next minute like a deranged schizophrenic ex-girlfriend off her meds?

London’s hedge fund and private equity industry won a last-minute reprieve from contentious new European regulations on Tuesday, after Gordon Brown pleaded that the issue be shelved until after the general election.

The personal intervention by the prime minister staved off certain defeat for Britain at a finance ministers’ meeting in Brussels, where France leads a powerful coalition that is calling for tough regulation of the sector.

Having realised the enormous amount of wealth and money these funds generate in the capital he suddenly realises that letting rival countries having a say in the way one of the last best functioning industries in the UK works may not be in the best natural interest. Do I hear a mea culpa? Do I chuff.

But the confrontation has only been deferred. Spain, holder of the rotating European Union presidency, signalled that it intended to secure a deal on proposed legislation on the “alternative investments” sector before its term ends in June.

The grandstanding hasn't stopped, but merely delayed- why you ask?

That could create a bruising early test of relations between an incoming Conservative government – if the opposition party wins the election expected on May 6 – and the rest of Europe on an issue of vital economic interest for Britain.

France and Germany have led calls for regulation of hedge funds and private equity, arguing for more disclosure of trading information to supervisors as they pose a systemic risk. Britain accepts the need for regulation but argues that draft rules would be too onerous.

The proposed EU directive mainly affects Britain: an estimated 80 per cent of Europe’s hedge funds and 60 per cent of private equity firms are based in the UK.

To create problems for the Bory's; typical ZanuNuLayabout gerrymandering skeelitness.

So what does this new directive intend to achieve?

The so-called Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive would regulate private equity and hedge funds as well as various other “alternative” funds – such as for commodities, real estate and infrastructure, writes Nikki Tait.

Core measures include requiring fund managers to obtain authorisation before they operate in the EU; satisfying authorities about their internal risk management arrangements; providing certain information to investors; rules on leverage and custodial standards; and rules for offshore funds and managers located in so-called third countries.

The directive must be approved by member states and by the European parliament before it can become law.

So fund managers, with billions entrusted to them by investors to whom they are accountable, to look after their money and make it work for them, are expected to be answerable to an unelected, unaccountable quango in Brussels? Part of the same quangocracy and mediocracy that hasn't had it's own accounts signed off for God knows how long?

The European Commission says the AIF sector in the EU managed about €2,000bn ($2,720bn, £1,900bn) in assets at the end of 2008.

€2 TRILLION is a lot of money from which to cream off a healthy crust (not accounting for all this other points the cash is striped from our unwilling hands. Kerching!

Knowing that Britain would be outvoted in Brussels on Tuesday, Mr Brown made a last-ditch appeal to José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, his Spanish counterpart, to defer a decision by finance ministers on the directive. Downing Street rejoiced at what it portrayed as a diplomatic coup for Mr Brown. “Gordon has spent years building up political capital with key allies in Europe,” said one aide. “Mr Zapatero was very understanding.”

Spain said it wanted to take more time to get a better result.

Pure political point scoring being played by Mr Brown - in the short term he has mitigated the effects of an unelected quangocracy's decisions to further ruin the finance industry of the UK by palming off any decision to the Bory's (potentially) in the next parliament. What's the betting limpet Brown will be on the opposition benches after the GE heckling them about not protecting the finance industry?

And just to prove where the "opposition" lies on this:

However, Mark Hoban, Conservative spokesman for the City, said Mr Brown had been forced to plead for a deferral because he had failed to dilute the directive at an earlier stage. The Tories would base a Treasury minister in Brussels to monitor future legislation.

Notice this is an admission that, either way there is nothing either party can do to stop this; if the EU wants control of this area they will regulate it into submission; this is it's modis operendi since day 1. Also notice that the Bory's actually welcome the chance to interfere in yet more things.

The key issue holding up a compromise deal was disagreement over the conditions on which funds and fund managers based outside the EU – including London-based managers running offshore funds – should be allowed to market to professional investors within the 27-country bloc.

You know all that money we've been buying up Chinese and far east goods with al these years? Now that there is a way of investing that back into the West they want to stop it.

Let me say this as plainly as I can; there was a time long before governments, national or federated, thought their job was to interfere in every facet of our existence; they knew their only role was to protect mens freedom to go about their business without harressment - if a Bernie Madoff-type defrauded you of your lifetime savings he could be tried and put in choky and his assets stripped to pay you back.

The crunch, heck me losing my job, was not caused by greedy bankers and hedge funds; it was caused by the housing being overinflated in an environment of low central-bank interest rates - Brown even then was on course for screwing up the competitiveness of our finance industry and needed an "opiate" to distract us- he was quite happy to let us think the price of bricks and mortar were rising whilst we bet the value of them on our credit cards and the never-never. It is ironic that Spain holding the big seat in the EU and trying to make these laws is also the country which proves it had nothing to do with the banks as that link shows.

When the dust on our country finally settles and we are left impoverised as a result of strangling regulation and job losses, cold when practical proof of the fact that climate change was a con comes in the form of freezing winters and a decrepit, failing energy infrastructure and angry at our increasingly worthless mps, their troughing of the few remaining taxpayers and wonderment that noone in the market wants to buy the hard work of our children and grandchildren (don't get me started on GILTs), when all this has come about the only people to blame will be the ones who felt that these things didn't matter, that all we needed was to change to the "other guys" intent on fixing our broken society without understanding why it was broke in the firstplace.

You vote the same, you get the same.

Get Off Our Backs- LPUK Campaign Slogan

Whilst the Conservatives have 'Time for a change' (yawn- I can see no radical change a coming, just more of the same, Labour want a fairer Britain ( what as opposed to a vast interfering state run and financed by UNITE) and the Social Democrats want a change to a fairer Britain (puh-lease !)

The Libertarian Party has one simple message, GET OFF OUR BACKS this applies to all members of the two and a half party State.

Stop taxing us to death, stop passing laws every ten minutes creating more criminal offences, replace 'Parliamentary Democracy' with a Referenda based local democracy. Let us decide the best way to spend our money,live our lives Not you

Nick Hogan Released -Official

It took the blogosphere just four days to raise
the near £10 000 to secure the release of Nick Hogan, imprisoned for
six months for flouting the smoking ban in his own premises and failing
to act as the States unofficial Policeman.

It took a further five days to convince Paypal
that the money collected was not part of some International Money
Laundering, Drugs and Sex trafficking Ring, and for the cash to be
released by a High Street Bank under the Money Laundering
'Regulations', during which time Nick continued to languish in Jail.
This in an age when Billions can be rocketed from London to Tokyo in
seconds by our trusted and well beloved Banking industry.

This was always a Libertarian issue, a civil rights issue rather than a
Public Health issue. The hypocrisy of taxing tobacco and punishing its
users beggars belief. If I choose to inhale noxious substances on my
own property, that is my own decision. If members of the public do not
like it do not come onto my private property, go somewhere else to
drink your own brand of poison (until it is banned next of course)

In an age of political parties queuing up to 'do something' which usually means banning something the Libertarian Party was pleased to support Old Holborn and Anna Raccoon with cash and what publicity and support it could muster. However we were more pleased that this attracted support and money from across the political spectrum and across the world.

We do not have to put up with this, we are the people not this Stasi inclined State

Just Do Something To Fight Back- This Is A Libertarian Issue

This is a Libertarian issue if there ever was one, for the sake of £1, you can get a man released from prison. Old Holborn is running a campaign to raise £10 000 to get his fine paid.

As of 16.00 Hrs Monday the amount raised was £3144.00



There has been a fair amount of comment in the blogosphere regarding the six month jail sentence given to Nick Hogan for flouting the 'no-smoking ban'.

Outrage has been duly expressed, here, there, and everywhere. Perhaps we can do better than just express outrage?

Nick was actually jailed for non-payment of the fine originally imposed for a 'mass smoke-in' on the day the ban came into force in 2007 in his pub, the 'Swan and Barristers' in Bolton. He no longer has that pub. He was fined again when council inspectors walked into his present pub and discovered a group of customers smoking - Nick wasn't even on the premises.

His wife, Denise, is now managing their present pub in Chorley herself. Their trade is so low that they don't even bother to open the downstairs bar. Nick is bankrupt, and had gone to court intending to argue that he could not afford the £500 a month payments demanded by the council towards their £11,600 bill for prosecuting him. He has already paid off £1,600. The court gave him a six month sentence instead, and he is currently in Forest Bank prison in Pendlebury, unable to help to earn the money which would ensure his release.

Denise has not even been able to speak to him since he was sentenced. She has merely been told to phone the prison on Monday to enquire when she might see him. She is confused, frightened, and feeling very lonely.

If all the people who disagree with the no-smoking ban contributed a few coppers, then Nick would be released. If you can't afford £1, then at least drop Nick a line and let him know he is not forgotten - not surprisingly, he is feeling very depressed.

Denise has just said to me 'all the people who disagree with the ban - where are they now? - and my Nick is in prison'. Quite.

Denise has no idea how to use the Internet, she has no idea how many of us are against the no-smoking ban. Let's show her.

£1 each - just 10,000 of you - let's see if the blogosphere can do more than merely rant in unison. Once the amount received totals the outstanding fine, they have to release Nick.

Nick's address is:

HMP & YOI Forest Bank
Agecroft Road
Pendlebury
Manchester
M27 8FB

OH UPDATE: Under the health act of 2006, it is the responsibility of the owner or the controller of "smoke free" space to uphold the law. It is not illegal to smoke in a shop or on a train. It is illegal for the owner or controller of the space to allow you to smoke.

Reprinted from the OH site

THE DONATE BUTTON IS ON THE OH SITE TOP RIGHT

The Libertarian Party is utterly opposed to people going to jail for offences such as this.

I Like This Idea...

I like it a lot.

Public spending as a percentage of GDP would obviously fall sharply, and those that depend on public spending would certainly feel the squeeze (although social welfare recipients could be given the option of staying on benefit if they relocated outside the City). But against that, Hull would attract entrepreneurs and private investment on an unprecedented scale - and with its easy European access, much of the inflow would come from overseas. There would soon be jobs for all.

I've had to turn down several job offers from several Hull-based companies as the returns quickly diminished when I factored in the cost of travel and tax making my take-home wage significantly lower than minimum wage; but significantly reduced taxation? That alters things quite a bit.

A future consideration for LPUK policy? I don't want to live off the back of you shandy drinking southerners- I want to compete and reclaim the revolution the collectivists have eroded over the last 3 centuries.

You Can't Have It Both Ways

Having left my car in the drive for fear of crashing it on my hill (partly because it's an icy death trap, partly because I'm a coward) I read in this mornings Metro that North Yorkshire county council is planning on cranking up their council tax to pay for snow damage (no link yet but the tax payers alliance has one from a few days ago from the Northern Echo.

No.

Presuming other councils are planning similar rises I have to say that with the amount of money they are squirreling away to make up for their own inadequate pension funds and their cowtowing to central govt. diktat this is beyond the pale.

NYCC predict the cost of pothole and road repairs to be £1m; I wonder how much they've spent on climate change advisers and consultations? You know, that thing that was supposed to usher in snow free Christmas' and Winters? Here in the midst of the coldest winter since global warming beganwe find these self serving, meeley mouthed fools again demanding money for a problem they claimed, with the pride of King Cnut, that we would never see again.

Remember as sad as it is your local council is the states representative to it's people; it derives the majority of it's funding directly from central government-fleeced taxpayer money (or, as is the case with our current structural deficit, IOUs in you children and grandchildrens names).

May I humbly suggest to my North Yorkshire colleagues that prior to February 17th (the date the proposals are debates with the full council, if they can get there through the snow) that you let David Cameron's conservatives know anything less than a funding neutral transfer of funds from their global warming shibboleth to road repairs and winter protection will result in them being (r)ejected at the next (local & general) election.

Grips have got to be got; here's a start.

First Authoritarian Outing Of Tory Party Policy

A Prisoners Earnings to Be Taxed
and the money used to fund Rape Crisis Centres

Fabian social control using the Tax system, how novel !

Strengthening Police stop and Search powers, and 'grounding' orders

The Police will love that, and abuse it the same way they did the Terrorism Act

Anybody caught carrying a knife should expect to go to jail

That's me buggered then, I had better start practicing gnawing through stuff as an alternative to carrying a tool to do the job.

Allow Police to use surveillance powers in routine cases without need for authorisation

The Stasi Charter, the DDR did this they bugged and followed people and completedly missed the 1989 revolution. Do CCHQ not watch films like the 'Lives of Others' or read books like '1989, The Berlin Wall, My Part In Its Downfall' by Peter Millar.

The Police will love this

Replace Police Authorities with Elected Police Commissioners.

No No No, Elected Chief Constables. In Swindon when the Authority said they were going to rip out speed cameras, the Chief Constable just said he was not accepting that, and would put more mobile units on the street. The Chief Constable should set out his Policing Priorities in his manifesto, not drafted by the likes of Jack Straw.

VOTE TORY, VOTE FOR AN AUTHORITARIAN POLICE STATE


This crap comes out the same day the Met was chastised for allowing a taxi Driver sexually assault forty women, because they basically could not give a toss.

Yorkshire Region Coordinator

As you are no doubt aware the regional coordinator for Yorkshire stood down recently and left the Party. As Libertarians it is important that the Party is a grass roots body with its members having a big say in how their region/county/district is run.

Yorkshire Libertarians are a reasonably sized and active group within the Party and we looking for a regional coordinator to step in to the role quickly. The task isn't onerous and we can provide support from the NCC. As he lives in the North West the Chairman, Gregg Beaman, (gregg.beamann@lpuk.org) has volunteered to help and work closely with the co-ordinator. Typical duties include:

· Organise local meetings and stir up activism and local recruitment

· Greet new members and make them feel welcome - I copy the coordinator on introductory emails

· Vet anyone who wants to stand for office in any of the assorted elections that we have. Again the NCC will be involved and we need someone with local knowledge and personal contacts to help us

· Attend NCC meetings. These will be held every two months or so and assistance with expenses is available. Unfortunately they are like to be in London as all roads lead to London and it is easier for the South West and Scotland teams, for example, to get there

If you would like to consider this role please feel free to contact Gregg or me and we can discuss it with you.

It has also been suggested that if we cannot find anyone for the role that we merge Yorkshire and North West as they are also active with a coordinator. Being a Yorkshireman myself I'm not sure restarting the War of the Roses is the best solution, so give the position some thought.

mailto:simon.fawthrop@lpuk.org

Exciting Times Cost Money

Things should start getting a bit more exciting for the LPUK in the next few weeks, the NCC have been pondering the publicity blackout enforced by the Main stream Media. Not ones to don spidermen outfits and dangle from the House of Commons roof or a nearby bridges, we needed a cost effective alternative. Chris Mounsey our new leader has this now in hand, and when the go is given, LPUK members will be the first to know.

My job as treasurer is however to prepare for the upswing. At the the Conference I said I hoped that we could open a permanent office staffed by at least one part time official and backed up by volunteers. My target date for this is May 2010. To do this I am relying on a core of donors to guarantee the wage bill and other running costs.

However we will need office equipment of all descriptions, if you think you can donate that Louis XIV desk please let us know asap.

In the meantime we still need to up our donation rate, so please give generously as a member or as one of the LPUK's supporters. Monthly Standing order forms can be quickly set up to our account so please contact us at donate@lpuk.org