Its Not Ideal, But It Is a Start

It is not ideal but the people behind No2ID are setting up Power 2010

It is chaired by Helena Kennedy and has funding from the Rowntree Trust, there were enough people attending the Convention on Modern Liberty who from the floor were passionately calling for a New Constitutional Settlement. For me where the Convention went badly wrong was inviting the warhorses from the Conservative/Labour and Social Democrats as the main speakers. This was before the Expenses scandal spoke, which just discredited them appearing in the first place.

We cannot allow the political classes to divide 61 million people into powerless ineffectual groupings.

I intend to try to swing the LPUK behind this movement, because the ballot box is being abused, I don't want to be represented by TV celebs. I want to emmasculate the political classes and reduce the State.

The Convention although flawed was packed with passionate people, I do not agree with some of the peoples views, but I want Radical Change, not more petty fogging tinkering at the edges.

Time To Start Building Up OUR Databases

They have done it to us for long enough, we need to start collating information on the spiders web of connections and influence of those that say they govern us, without going anywhere near an election. Did you vote for Brown to be PM, or Mandelson to run 60% of Whitehall ?

List all the members of all the quango's with their links, affiliations and who the gives Patronage to who, list the favours that they do viz Baroness Scotland- thats a technical breach of the Law etc from the head of UKBC- who was the CEO at Birmingham City in the middle of the vote rigging scandal.

All we need is a sponsor and a secure overseas database. Everytime something dodgy goes off we can see who is linked to who and how they avoided Court.

Why did Peter poppet's mortgage provider not press charges ? Why was Blair's Cash for Peerages never examined in Court. Who invoked Anti Terrorism Laws against Iceland ? etc etc

The Bullingdon Club- who scratches whose back to become the next Prime Minister and Chancellor and Mayor of London.

ACPO- The Private Limited Club that runs our Police Force

This is not an original idea but comes from the Yorkshire Ranter, my politics are different to his, but we share the same disgust about this self perpetuating oligarchy.

Fake Charities.Org has exposed the endemic corruption of Government handouts, A Little Database of Influence compiled on the same basis as Wiki.

At last an idea that people from all walks of life and political views can expose the people who quietly spend our cash

Another victory for 'gun control'...

An all too common crime story in the UK, where for the most part, guns are illegal for the law-abiding to own:

Heavily Pregnant Women Raped at Gun Point

A heavily pregnant woman was raped at gunpoint by a burglar who told her it was her 'lucky day'.

The 33-year-old victim was only two months away from giving birth when masked raiders burst into her home and held a sawn-off shotgun to her partner's head.

She was dragged upstairs by one of the three attackers wearing a balaclava.

Despite the desperate pleas of her boyfriend who begged them not to harm the mother-to-be, she was forced to perform a sex act by the masked man, who threatened to shoot the couple if she did not follow his orders.

And now the same scenario in the USA, where owning a gun for self-defence is considered a right:

Pregnant women holds armed burglar at gun point

“The lesson here is never threaten an expecting mother, especially if she’s armed with a shotgun. … At around 4 A.M. Sunday, Fairley was wide awake, because her unborn daughter was kicking. That is when she heard a noise; it sounded like someone touching a potato-chip bag downstairs. ‘I came and looked over the stairs,’ Fairley says. ‘I saw this kid, down at the bottom of the stairs. He was about to grab my computer.’ Fairley is six and a half months pregnant. So, she says she yelled down at Justin Delhomme, he walked out of the house and she grabbed a shotgun. In the street, Fairley confronted the 18 year old. ‘He pulled a gun on me, and I told him, ‘You know, you need to put that away before I shoot you because mine’s bigger,’ and he put it back in his pocket.’ Fairley says she held Delhomme until the cops came with a little help from her husband and mother.”

Not too happy with politicians legislating away your right to self-defence? Then do join:

www.ArmBritain.com


I also encourage you to read Law and Order section of the The UK Libertarian Party's Manifesto.

Something To Be Really Worried About.

I listened to Radio 4 this morning, to Austin Mitchell after his fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference yesterday. Eight people turned up at his meeting, and one of those was his wife.

I saw the empty seats, the closed off areas at Brighton

I saw the photographs of half dead, half asleep Lib Dem supporters whilst Cleggy gave his all at the Lib Dem Conference.

UKIP and BNP are in dire straits financially; the LPUK is examining the pointlessness of contesting seats at Westminster in favour of building a grass roots local authority base.

Next week I am going to be watching the glassy eyed adoration of no policies Cameron and the Conservatives.

Basically Party Politics has collapsed in this Country, dwindling party memberships, over centralisation into Westminster, the recession, the expenses scandal etc has traduced democratic politics that has taken four hundred years to build up in less than twenty years.

The Public know it’s a fix, the Public want Radical Change and a New settlement, that was evident at the Forum on Modern Liberty, but that clamour for real progress has been stymied by the big three parties, and the growth of smaller Parties and pressure groups will never have a voice under this Electoral system. The British just don't do the 'Summer of Rage'

The Public has withdrawn from even voting, because ‘the Government’ always gets in. This has produced the bizarre situation where corrupt faux aristocrats lead the Labour Party. Has it really got to the point where Mandelson is the saviour of the Socialist Left? Is there nobody left in the Labour Party that can see what a travesty this is. We have now got a situation were Esther Ranzten and a baggage handler from Glasgow, are now seen as the authentic voice of politics. Don’t get me wrong anybody who takes on somebody who is trying to explode a car bomb has physical courage, but I am not sure that I want my politics to be along the lines of ‘fisticuff’ Prescott. A man who can barely string a coherent sentence together.

Politics is dead, the only option on offer is Mandelson’s ‘post democratic’ age. This is just an Oligarchy by another name with the rest of us condemned to the role of exploited serfs.

Unless the Radical smaller Parties start to coalesce around the concept of a new constitution, a new settlement and a new voting system, we are going to see the gradual sapping of the life blood in our democratic institutions, with the Police and the EU taking up the slack and running the country by default. The Army is now a degraded institution, loved and respected by the people. Hated and kept short of funds by the political classes and sent to fight illegal wars and to occupy foreign countries, the police on the other hand seem to have no shortage of equipment and helicopters, because the political classes see them as the only thing between us and them.

I spent the weekend as a Libertarian, with a Socialist, a near BNP supporter two Tories and a Liberal Democrat. We discussed politics we all had strong points of view that we could never agree on, but we had a forum to discuss politics because we had respect for each other and ‘ground rules’ that everybody was entitled to their say. What we did agree on that this was not replicated at either National or Local level. There is no forum. If nobody is prepared to listen to my point of view, why the hell should I listen or engage to somebody who wants to talk ‘at’ me about their politics.

That is the position that the Public now have with the current political structure.
There may be only 646 of them and sixty million of us, but nobody is listening to the sixty million, only to the 646, and pretending that this the body politic.

Personally the prospect of a Cameron Government fills me with dread, as it will not be any different to Blair/Brown.

Irrespective of each of our political standpoint, we have to fight for a New Constitution, one that comes from below not imposed from above.

Our Politics are Moribund, and worse still has absolutely no mandate from the people of this Country.

What are the police for? What is the law for?

What is the law for, if not to protect people from being harmed by other people? And what are the police for, if not for apprehending those who harm others?

Those are the obvious questions that arise from the Pilkington case. The Police Federation has apparently "accused the Government of destroying public confidence in the police by introducing 'gimmicks' and endless paperwork which have left too few officers on the beat to respond to every call. "

And indeed the Government (this one in particular, though previous ones are not innocent) must bear much of the blame. But surely it isn't just gimmicks and endless paperwork that the government is responsible for. What about the fact that the government has created over 3,600 new criminal offences since 1997? That must create extra work for the police?

And it is hardly surprising that the police don't have the resources to cope with thuggish behaviour, when they have to spend their time interviewing opposition MPs, bishops, street evangelists, and the BBC Director General.

There is something seriously wrong with policing in Britain, and the reason for that is that there is something seriously wrong with the current approach to law in Britain. We have too many laws, and many of them are unnecessary and unhelpful. Some are a threat to our basic freedoms. A key principle of libertarianism is the rule of law, and that includes the notion that "there should be as few laws as possible, and that those that do exist should be simple, clear and predictable in their application." We need fewer laws, not more - so that the police can concentrate their resources on the things that are important - and give families like the Pilkingtons the protection that they need.

Thou shalt not babysit...

You know the whole Nu-Labour project has failed when this sort of thing happens...

The Children's Minister has ordered a review of the case of two police officers told they had broken the law by caring for each other's children.

Ofsted said the arrangement contravened the Childcare Act because it lasted for longer than two hours a day, and constituted receiving "a reward".

It said the women would have to be registered as childminders.

Minister Vernon Coaker said his department was talking to Ofsted about this particular case.

According to the Mail on Sunday, Ofsted told two detective constables, Leanne Shepherd, from Milton Keynes, and Lucy Jarrett, from Buckingham, to end their arrangement.

The worst thing about this though was that someone actually reported them. Of course there would be no story if someone hadn't reported them.

But it makes you wonder if Britain should change its tag line from a nation of shopkeepers to a nation of snoopers.

Shriti Vadera -- A Peston Press Release

Read this Government press release blog post by Robert Peston on Shriti Vadera...

No member of the government is closer to Gordon Brown than Shriti Vadera.

The former banker was an adviser through his many years as chancellor and has been a minister since he became prime minister.

In a way, she's his personal investment banker - the woman who co-ordinated last year's rescue of Britain's biggest banks, the brains behind the financing of all sorts of big public sector projects that were kept off the government's books, the organiser of the cancellation of debt owed by the poorest countries.

Her loyalty to him is total and - predictably - her decision to stand down as a minister is at his request, so that she can concentrate on what he regards as the big challenge of the moment: viz, how to make the global economy more stable.

She's becoming in effect the first employee of the G20, the new group of the world's most powerful countries - including the fast growing economies of Asia and South America - that has supplanted the G7.

Her role will be to advise on the design of the new institutions that must be created to make a reality of the G20's determination to better co-ordinate the economic stewardship of individual countries.

Seriously does this not make your blood run cold?

What Peston is saying here is that the person who was employed to help Brown screw up the British economy is going to be employed to help screw up the world economy.

Why would anyone in their right mind want to do this? Is every leader of every major economy around the world just mental?

Based on the above it's a distinct possibility and it just makes me want to cry.

Baroness Scotland and the Fake Gong

After having posted on the trinkets and ermine our Socialist Party like to drape themselves in

I received this comment-

I can happily assure you that the "Constantinian Order" of which Baroness Scotland is a member is an imitation of the real Order, given by a junior prince of the Bourbon family whose claims are unrecognised by the King of Spain, head of the Bourbon family. Five Spanish government bodies investigated this prince's claim, and decisively dismissed it. The factotum of this Order is a Mr Anthony Bailey, a PR guru, who has recommended its wide distribution to a variety of individuals (he also recomemnds awards of the long extinct Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies, given despite the fact that this kingdom has not existed for almost 150 years.

The real Order (see www.constantinianorder.org) is headed by the Infante don Carlos of Spain, Duke of Calabria; its British delegate is Prince Rupert zu Loewenstein and it has no connection with Mr Bailey's group.



It just gets better, she can't drive for toffee, does not understand the Laws she has drafted herself and gets awarded fake medals from a PR company.

A true symbol of Socialism in the UK. We have not stopped laughing in the office.


Lord Guthrum of Duston in the County of Northamptonshire, Grand Inquisitor of the Marechals of the Mayenne. Noble of the Ancient Order of Ferret worriers.

UPDATE

More on Anthony Bailey and Tone and Gordon- Get your awards here the're luvverly

And more dodgy cash for Labour via Mr Bailey


You could not make this up, a new socialist aristocracy awarding themselves fake gongs by a PR Guru who raises money for the Peoples Party.

The regulators should be in jail Jim Rogers

Baroness Scotland

The Libertarian Party holds that the Rule of Law should be upheld. Nobody shall have prior rights or priviliges. This applies to the highest and the lowest in the Land.

That the Noble Baroness is following the moral ambivelence of her party and fellow faux Aristocrats, and that her Party Leader is without scruple or the power to remove her from office should be of no surprise. That the Opposition is yet again failing to press home demands for her removal is an utter disgrace, and clearly demonstrates the moral ambivalence of all of the Political Classes at Westminster.

That the Social Democrat Party in public says that her position is untenable, yet if the above is to believed Nick Clegg believes something entirely different.

The Question has to be asked why should anybody consent to follow Laws passed by this Government, when the Senior Law Officer in the Land stands convicted of employing an illegal immigrant, and has yet to repay £170 000 that she was not entitled to.

This Rotten Parliament is open for Radical Reform to prevent 'minority' Governments continuing to abuse Parliament and the Law.


Andrew Withers-Chairman Libertarian Party.

Elderly couple face jail for owning tools of defence

Here's a story from the Sofia Echo that shows up the insanity of the UK's current victim disarmament laws:

The Scottish Sun is reporting that a couple who bought guns to protect themselves from thugs in Bulgaria were last night facing criminal charges back home in the UK.

Under the headline "Bulgaria gun pair face jail", David Goodwin reports that pensioners Alan and Sylvia Cantwell could be jailed for at least five years if convicted, the manadatory minimum term for possessing an illegal firearm in the UK.

"The shock threat emerged after the terrified pair contacted Tayside Police to hand in three self-defence weapons, which fire gas pellets, not bullets," according to the newspaper.

Apparently, police later swooped on their daughter's home in Dundee where they've been staying since arriving back in Scotland. Alan, 65, and Sylvia, 63, say they were grilled for three hours at a police station.

The couple had fled Bulgaria after a particularly violent attack in their new home in the countryside near Pleven. The gang battered and robbed them in their new home then returned to try to kill them.

Sylvia said: "After we phoned up to hand in the guns, the CID arrived. They searched the house while our grandkids were here. I felt like a criminal."

A Tayside Police spokesman said: "Our enquiries are continuing."

Most civilised countries - along Britain up until the sixties - allow their citizens to own non-lethal self-defence items such as pepper sprays and CS. But in the UK, under the current authoritarian three party consensus, these tools of defence are classified as Section Five firearms - meaning that they are in the same legal category as machine guns, flamethrowers, rocket launchers etc, and therefore carry a sentence of five to ten years in jail for simple possession, even without any criminal intent. Meanwhile, the real criminals just ignore the law and arm to the teeth. Note that the Mr and Mrs Cantwell tried to comply with the law by handing their weapons in to the police - that didn't save them from being interrogated for three hours, and it won't save them if a decision is made to prosecute them. That's not justice.

Libertarian Party policy is to enable peaceful, law-abiding members of the public to protect themselves from attackers by repealing the ban on non-lethal defensive weaponry such as pepper sprays. We'd rather the police spend their time going after real criminals than harassing innocent pensioners like the Cantwells.

Libertarianism on the rise

According to Henry Porter Libertarianism is on the rise...

A poll run by PoliticsHome this week revealed a fascinating result to the question: "Do you think in general, the state has too much or too little of a say in what people can and cannot do?" Nearly four-fifths of the sample (79%) answered that the state had too much of a say, while only 8% believe the state has too little say.

If the poll is an accurate reflection of the nation's mood this is an important finding. For some time I have been aware of sharp change in the public's attitudes to surveillance, as well as a general feeling that the government is too quick to seize personal data and tell people how to lead their lives.

The poll suggests that public has solidly come out against the idea that everyone who has regular contact with other people's children should be subject to the vetting and barring procedure. A total of 73% thought the new laws unfair. By party, the breakdown is as follows – 83 per cent of Conservative voters were against the laws, 77% of Liberal Democrats and 58% of Labour supporters. So even Labour voters have their doubts about this particular policy, which, incidentally, was the subject of a spirited campaign run by Josie Appleton of the Manifesto Club long before the media woke to the implications of what the ISA checks would mean for ordinary people.

Now this is a very nice idea. And maybe a lot of people are tired of the size of the state. However on an economic level I'm not sure people are so liberal. Especially given that so many people are now reliant on the state -- both directly and indirectly -- for their income.

Personally I think we've still got a long way to go. And it won't be until we begin to convince people that you can't have a liberal society without a liberal economy that we will see a true rise in libertarianism.

The above is encouraging, but we're still a long way from the finishing posts.

Baroness Scotland

If the Home Office fail to prosecute Baroness Scotland, all they will prove is that the Rule of Law only applies to some and not to the favoured few.


Libertarian Party Press Release

Idiot Quote Of The Day

You can’t be green if your only vision of the good society is the small state.

Ed Milliband- TUC Conference today

This is Government

The Ant and the Grasshopper is a fable attributed to Aesop, providing a moral lesson about hard work and preparation. In 2002 someone adapted that fable (attribution sought) to show the utter waste, despair and stupidity that our political masters have visited upon us in the name of Government.


THIS IS GOVERNMENT

THE WAY NATURE WORKS VERSION:

The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building and improving his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed.

The shivering grasshopper has no food or shelter, so he dies out in the cold.

THE END

-----------------------------------

UK GOVERNMENT VERSION

The squirrel works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool, and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the squirrel is warm and well fed.

A social worker finds the shivering grasshopper, calls a press conference and demands to know why the squirrel should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others less fortunate, like the grasshopper, are cold and starving.

The BBC shows up to provide live coverage of the shivering grasshopper; with cuts to a video of the squirrel in his comfortable warm home with a table laden with food.

The British press inform people that they should be ashamed that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so, while others have plenty.

The Labour Party, Greenpeace, Animal Rights and The Grasshopper Council of GB demonstrate in front of the squirrel's house. The BBC, interrupting a cultural festival special from Notting Hill with breaking news, broadcasts a multi-cultural choir singing 'We shall overcome'.

Ken Livingstone rants in an interview with Trevor McDonald that the squirrel got rich off the backs of grasshoppers, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the squirrel to make him pay his 'fair share' and increases the charge for squirrels to enter inner London .

In response to pressure from the media, the Government drafts the Economic Equity and Grasshopper anti Discrimination Act, retroactive to the beginning of the summer.

The squirrel's taxes are reassessed. He is taken to court and fined for failing to hire grasshoppers as builders for the work he was doing on his home and an additional fine for contempt when he told the court the grasshopper did not want to work. The grasshopper is provided with a council house, financial aid to furnish it and an account with a local taxi firm to ensure he can be socially mobile. The squirrel's food is seized and re distributed to the more needy members of society, in this case the grasshopper.

Without enough money to buy more food, to pay the fine and his newly imposed retroactive taxes, the squirrel has to downsize and start building a new home. The local authority takes over his old home and utilises it as a temporary home for asylum seeking cats who had hijacked a plane to get to Britain as they had to share their country of origin with mice. On arrival they tried to blow up the airport because of Britain 's apparent love of dogs.

The cats had been arrested for the international offence of hijacking and attempted bombing but were immediately released because the police fed them pilchards instead of salmon whilst in custody. Initial moves to return them to their own country were abandoned, because it was feared they would face death by the mice. The cats devise and start a scam to obtain money from people's credit cards.

A Panorama special shows the grasshopper finishing up the last of the squirrel's food, though spring is still months away, while the council house he is in, crumbles around him because he hasn't bothered to maintain the house. He is shown to be taking drugs. Inadequate government funding is blamed for the grasshoppers' drug 'illness'.

The cats seek recompense in the British courts for their treatment since arrival in UK .

The grasshopper gets arrested for stabbing an old dog during a burglary to get money for his drugs habit. He is imprisoned but released immediately because he has been in custody for a few weeks. He is placed in the care of the probation service to monitor and supervise him.. Within a few weeks he has killed a guinea pig in a botched robbery.

A commission of enquiry, that will eventually cost £10,000,000 and state the obvious, is set up. Additional money is put into funding a drug rehabilitation scheme for grasshoppers and legal aid for lawyers representing asylum seekers is increased. The government praises the asylum-seeking cats for enriching Britain 's multicultural diversity, and dogs are criticised by the government for failing to befriend the cats.

The grasshopper dies of a drug overdose. The usual sections of the press blame it on the obvious failure of government to address the root causes of despair arising from social inequity and his traumatic experience of prison. They call for the resignation of a government minister.

The cats are paid a million pounds each because their rights were infringed when the government failed to inform them there were mice in the United Kingdom .

The squirrel, the dogs and the victims of the hijacking, the bombing, the burglaries and robberies have to pay an additional percentage on their credit cards to cover losses. Their taxes are increased to pay for law and order, and they are told that they will have to work beyond 65 because of a shortfall in government funds.

-----------------------------------


If you want to continue with this form of social madness, just keep on voting for the same old political parties. Labour, Conservatives and LibDems all see a lot of mileage and patronage in maintaining this kind status quo, where the lazy and can't be arsed are making lifestyle choices at the expense of the productive members of society. They are frightened to confront the EU, frightened to tackle the unions and the money laundering, frightened to take on the Fabians, in fact the Conservatives are now part of the problem.

But if you want a Government that will butt out of your lives, leaving you to be innovative and productive if you want to and to keep those rewards which you have worked for, where the lazy and feckless will struggle because they are lazy and feckless, then the Libertarian Party is the one for you.

The Libertarian Party would like to see much of the natural order of things restored, but for those grasshoppers who are unable to work, to prepare for the winter, where genuine help is needed, then help through government programmes would be available because we care, not because the lazy can make it a lifestyle choice at your expense.

Remember, no matter what the EU and Politicians think, it IS your Life, it IS your Country, and it IS your Choice.

TUC to hold taxpayer to ransom

Well it turns out that turkeys really don't vote for Christmas...

Union members have backed calls for industrial action against any planned jobs cuts in the public services.

Delegates at the TUC congress in Liverpool approved a motion opposing any redundancies in the public sector as a way of making savings.

Officials earlier warned the government against "panic measures" to tackle high debt levels, saying moves to cut public spending would "deepen" the crisis.

Ministers say they will protect current spending until the recession ends.

I suppose this is of no surprise -- but it is very worrying. Because if we are going to put this country back on the right track we have to reduce public debt. Which means reducing public spending -- drastically. Therefore the above story indicates that we're on a collision course with the unions.

So the question is, have any of our political leaders got the balls to take on the unions?

I hope I'm wrong but I believe the answer is no. For Labour it would be beyond suicide -- and I have no idea what that would mean. While the Conservatives have given no indication of their willingness to do this.

It would seem therefore that the unions are going to be able to hold this country to ransom. Which will drive us further into the red...

I only hope that the unionists realise that when they make threats like the above they are not threatening the state, the Labour Party or Gordon Brown. They are instead threatening the hard working, productive people of this country who pay the taxes that fund many of their jobs.

Capitalism and Democracy

DISCLAIMER: The views contained herein are my own; they do not represent the views of the UK Libertarian Party leadership, nor do they represent current or planned Libertarian Party policy. Caveat Lector.

In an ideal democracy, every individual has a direct and unrestrained voice in all decisions made that affect them. Ideally the policies affected by their vote also affect as few others as possible, so their votes are not diluted. The Scottish parliament for instance is a Good Thing -- democratically -- as it grants Scottish people a voice in issues that affect only Scotland, and devolves the scope of many policy areas, so the interests of the Scots are not diluted by the interests of the English, the Irish, the Cornish or the Welsh.

By that same token you could argue it best to devolve further. So that people’s voices on transport, health and education were only diluted by those in their county. Wiltshire could have a low income tax rate, but a completely privatised school system, whilst in Gloucstershire, private schools are illegal. Both counties have the school system their constituents want, and neither affects the other.

However, there are still people in each country having the decisions of the majority forced upon them. The only democratic thing to do is to devolve further, to the level of the individual. Each individual’s voice is alone, undiluted. They get only the services they ask for, the government they want, without affecting anyone else.

Oh wait, there’s a word for when each person selects the product they want from a number of competing alternatives.

The Free Market.

Forty Years Of Failure Of The War Against Drugs

Good post here by Guido on the Adam Smith Institute proposal to decriminalise drugs

Donations to LPUK Election Fund

From the reams of paperwork received over the weekend from the Electoral Commission on the need for weekly reporting for the campaign for the next General Election that has to be held by 3rd June 2010, has already started.

We need to keep the funds rolling in and thank you for all your donations to date.

Fighting any election is a huge financial effort.

Please donate direct to our election fund:

40-28-20 92635313

If you are a member put your surname and membership number so it can be accounted for properly.

Henry VII Would Be Turning In His Grave

Henry Tudor seized the throne on England in 1485, an brought to an end a period of intercine bloodletting known as the War of the Roses.

Before he did anything else, which included restoring the finances of a bankrupt country and instituted the modern English Central State, his first Act was to ban private armies and retainers.

The Left and Labour supporting in this country have formed an organistion called the UAF which is in effect a brownshirt movement to break up demonstrations of those that they perceive as 'fascist' without any concept of the irony of their actions or words.

This organisation is not interested in standing for elections, it is upset that the BNP has increased its share of the vote, has elected councillors and MEP's. Without any self examination, it has resorted to political violence. What is truly terrifying is that the Government in the form of John Denham lauds the UAF's violent methods, and dragoons the BBC into following its condemnation of these fringe right wing groups as 'provoking' the UAF into violence.

Libertarians have no time for ethnic politics of any variety and certainly not for political violence of any form or shape.

Denham should have been condemning everybody involved in the street violence in Harrow, and asking the Police to investgate who is funding and orchestrating the UAF, and its incitement to riot. Not offering partisan support for the aims of the UAF.

At this rate the next election is going to be a tit for tat running street battle of the the two rival extreme left organisations of the UAF and the BNP. Both as intolerant as each other.

We knew it was coming, didn't we?

So, plans for the government's new anti-paedophile database have been announced by the Home Office. And it means . . . wait for it . . . a huge database. Another one. Thousands of ordinary citizens will be on it. All school governors will be required to be on it, even if they have no contact at all with children. Belt and braces, you know. And if you are not on it, and you ought to be, you face a fine of up to £5,000 and a criminal record. Yes, it's yet another new criminal offence created by New Labour. (So far, there are over 3,600 of them.)

At least the main opposition parties are making unenthusiastic noises.

For the Liberal Democrats, Christ Huhne commented, “The creation of the world’s biggest checking system is a disproportionate response to the problem it is trying to solve.”

For the Conservatives, Chris Grayling said “We all understand the need for proper protection of our children but this new regime has the potential to be a real disaster for activities involving young people in the UK. We are going to drive away volunteers, we'll see clubs and activities close down and we'll end up with more bored young people on our streets.”

But notice this. Neither Mr Huhne nor Mr Grayling said anything about repeal. Not a hint, let alone a promise. Even though their parties knew this was coming, and have had time to think through it, they are content with a little hand-wringing and criticism of the government.

The Libertarian Party is different. We do not simply criticise the government's actions. We promise repeal of intrusive and authoritarian legislation. And an end to the database state.

(cross-posted here)

Gavin Webb crosses floor to join Libertarian Party

PRESS RELEASE

COUNCILLOR GAVIN WEBB OF STOKE ON TRENT CITY COUNCIL RESIGNS FROM THE LIBERAL DEMOCRATS AND JOINS THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY (LPUK)

Gavin Webb, who was selected as the Liberal Democrat prospective parliamentary candidate for Burton in 2008 and elected as a Lib Dem councillor on Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 2007, has today announced that he has resigned from the Liberal Democrats.

He says: "I have made a good many friends in my fourteen years of activism in the Liberal Democrats and I hope that those friendships will continue, but regretfully I have decided to resign from the Liberal Democrats.

"The party, like the Conservative and Labour parties, has become a party of the establishment. It has unfortunately firmly wedded itself to the belief that there are primarily government solutions to the problems facing our country, and in the process, they are adopting policies that undermine our rights and freedoms as individuals.

"As far as I can see, most political parties in the UK appear to trust individuals when it comes to voting for councillors, MPs and MEPs, but once comfortably in power they are reluctant to trust individuals when it comes to them making choices about their own lives.

"There is however one political party - the Libertarian Party - that believes in giving responsibility back to individuals over their own lives and their own finances; and it is this party that I have now decided to join.

"We are on the road of authoritarianism, where government is our ruler rather than us being the ruler of our government. It is time for each and every single one of us to make a stand against government and those who feed off it, and demand the reduction of its size and scope.

"From what I've seen from many Lib Dem parliamentarians and councillors I don't believe the Liberal Democrat Party has the inclination to argue for smaller government in defence of our individual rights.

"Though there are some good classical liberal and libertarian types in the party, with whom I hope to continue to have a good relationship, their voices are crowded out by people who believe it perfectly okay to dictate to people how they should live their lives. I don't wish any longer to be a part of that.

"As an active member of the Libertarian Party, I will campaign to inform people that there are more voluntary, rather than coercive ways in which to influence positive outcomes for themselves, their families and the wider community. I hope to impress upon people that though there may be a need for government of some sort, it doesn't have to be government of the size and expense we see today.

Libertarian Party Leader Ian Parker- Joseph said

It has been a pleasure over the past months to speak with Gavin on numerous occasions, and following a meeting with him last month can attest to his personal commitment to the libertarian values on which he was elected, a man of honour, integrity and a passion for doing the right thing for his constituents.

I am therefore very pleased on behalf of The Libertarian Party to welcome Gavin Webb into the only party that wholly and uniquely stands for libertarian ideals in the UK.

I know that there is a great sadness from Gavin that the Liberal Democrat leadership were unable to rise to the challenge of veering away from the belief that the State has the answers to all our ills. It is a sadness shared by many.

In that light I hope that there are many more who now see the time as right to make the same changes that Gavin Webb has undertaken, not just from the Lib Dems but also those in the Conservative Libertarian wing who are unsuccessfully looking for reforms that will never come, and instead to look to a party that believes in libertarianism as a way of life, rather than one which merely gives lip service to it.

The Libertarian Party is here to stay, and new members such as Gavin Webb can only enhance the message that his constituents so clearly wanted to hear, and that Gavin Webb is living on their behalf.

Libertarian Party Chairman Andrew Withers said-

"Whilst we have a number of Parish and Town Councillors, Gavin is the first City Councillor that has crossed the floor to a truly Radical Party, one that wants to change the relationship between State and the Individual to the point where the State is subordinate to the will of the people, not the people subordinate to the will of the State.

Furthermore, the Libertarian Party argues that State should be small and accountable.

"We welcome Gavin, and hope that his decision will galvanise other Libertarians in other parties to join with us on the long march back to individual Liberty."

ENDS

Gavin Webb Can Be Contacted On 07949 026660

Libertarian Party (LPUK) 0845 299 7650

Email Contact@lpuk.org

ENDS

I have long maintained that the doors of LPUK would remain firmly open to anyone who wanted to stop, take a step back and realise that trying to reform the existing Big Parties in the ways of Libertarianism was like banging ones head on a brick wall.

This is a door that Gavin has chosen to walk through, and I sincerely hope that with his brave first move, it will galvanise others who have been sitting on the fence watching, waiting to see who would be the first.

We have well formed policies, we put the people before vested interests, we put people before the wishes of the establishment and the EU, and the consistency of our policies means that we will not be issuing new policy documents every week as we see from the Conservatives and LibDems.

We are not fooled by the PR work of Cameron, the flip flopping of Clegg nor the increasingly desperate pronouncements from Downing St. We are clear and concise in what needs to be done for the UK, for its peoples to be free from government interference, to be free of daily suspicions, to be free from surveillance, to be free from privateers acting under legislative protection to levy and fine for every infringement of draconian rules, but to be able to live their lives as each sees fit to do so.

Gavin Webb has taken the first steps, we will be looking to you, your friends, family and neighbours to follow him in taking the next steps and making the Libertarian party a real political force in the UK.

Crime victims – UK & US comparison

First, let's take a look at the USA, where in most states a person is allowed to own a gun for self defense.

----------------------------

Woman With Shotgun Kills Rapist in Self-Defense




Pizza Shop Owner Shoots Armed Robber



Armed Homeowner Shoots Robbers During Daytime Invasion



Texas home owner defends family from home invaders



93 year old women keeps invader at bay



Now let's look at the UK, where for the majority of people, guns are extremely illegal to own.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------









Wake up and realize - Criminals do not care that guns are illegal. All bans on gun ownership do is ensure that bad people have the upper hand. As a society, we should ensure victims have a chance to defend themselves from rape, robbery and murder using the best tool available - a firearm.

Remember: A person who is willing to murder isn't going to flinch when it comes to breaking a law saying he can't have a weapon. It's really very simple.

For a plethora of reasons to legalize gun ownership for self defense, look here:

The Armed Citizen - Regually updated reportings on armed self defense

Justice in the UK

Couple fleeing attack prosecuted over firearms


After suffering two brutal attacks in their home in Bulgaria, an elderly British couple took it upon themselves to take responsibility for their own means of protection. Whilst still living in Bulgaria, the couple purchased several legal self defense tear gas guns, of which fire cartridges designed to disperse an irritant gas towards an attacker. Since a police officer can't be carried in a pocket or stored in one's home, this seems like a viable means of thwarting another attack in future, correct?

Whether they accidently left them in their luggage, or simply saw no further use for them is unknown. All that's known is that upon returning to the UK, the couple decided to hand the devices over to the police.

Now, thanks to this knee-jerk totalitarian government, they both face a minimum 5 year jail sentence for possession of illegal 'firearms'. A great victory for the Met, who whined and begged for this to be implemented.



Another case, involving a son honoring his terminally ill farther's decision to end his own life, saw him sentenced to 3 years for transfering a WWII era Walther PPK into the hospital where he lay dying. Also, this case I previously wrote about springs to mind when dwelling on the subject.

When will people catch on and realise that mandatory sentencing is completely and utterly batdropping insane and a bedraggled mockery of the term 'justice'?.

Now, if only these people could get it into their thick, barnacle encrusted skulls that not everyone who is unlucky enough to be caught in possession a firearm is a psychopathic fluffy-wuffy kitten murderer, deserving of extreme jail sentences.

The Metropolitan Police is alarmed by the number of firearms being carried and used on the streets of London. New figures show that, in the past three months, the number of reported incidents involving guns to which police have sent armed officers has risen by more than a third – to 4,106 – compared with the same period last year.

So, guns are good enough for police to have, but should you dare to own one for frontline, immediate defense of yourself and your loved ones, you're deserving of five years at minimum locked in a stinking cage with rapists, theives and murders.

If a women in this country pulled a handgun on a rapist in her own home, she'd get a minimum 5 year jail term for possessing a prohibited firearm. Meanwhile, the rapist would most likely be looked upon as a victim and probably awarded free viagra on the NHS.

This government is completely vile. Excuse me while I devour a cute, small fluffy animal in great annoyance initiated by this travesty.



--- Taking into account the above, get ready for the wacky world of UK justice! ---



Three-and-a-half years for robbing multiple victims at knife point



Six years for smashing a women round the head then proceeding to commit rape



Three years for robbing and threatening to beat a shop owner

Give Me A Receipt For That -Brown

I cannot afford the haircut, nor do I actually need one these days ! however Society Hairdresser Van Clarke is running a campaign to put the full tax take by 'Government' on every Receipt he gives customers.

Van Clarke reckons it’s time to give his clients a true insight into their salon bills – and their extortionate further tax contributions. Of an average bill of £100, more than £13 makes up VAT, over £26 goes towards staff national insurance and income taxes, and almost £9 to over a dozen other business taxes including; rates, insurance tax, climate levy tax and even landfill tax, adding up to £48 of tax – almost half the bill. Now add the income tax paid on that £100 by the customer and her taxes.....

You may have noticed some of our budget Airlines doing the same. Until every day we can see how much is being pilfered by the 646 nothing much is going to change.

Network of Government Operated NGOs divert £1.1bn for political indoctrination.

Network of Government Operated Non Governmental Organisations divert £1.1bn for political indoctrination.

Fake Aid - How foreign aid is being used to support the self-serving political activities of NGOs. A highly detailed and scathing report by the IPN (International Policy Network), an independent think tank has now exposed this massive misuse of taxpayers funds.

Never heard of a Gongo? Here is how the Washington Post describes it.

The Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation is a Gongo. So is Nashi, a Russian youth group, and the Sudanese Human Rights Organization. Saudi Arabia’s International Islamic Relief Organization is also a gongo, as is Chongryon, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. Gongos are everywhere, in China, Cuba, France, Tunisia, and even the United Kingdom.

Gongos are government-operated non-governmental organizations. Behind this contradictory and almost laughable tongue twister lies an important and growing global trend that deserves more scrutiny, as the UK government increases the funding and control of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) stealthily.

Some gongos are benign, others irrelevant. But many, including those mentioned above, are dangerous. Some act as the thuggish arm of repressive governments. Others use the practices of democracy to subtly undermine democracy at home as is the case with the DfID funding of Gongo's in the UK. Abroad, the gongos lobby the United Nations, OECD and other international institutions, often posing as representatives of citizen groups with lofty aims when, in fact, they are nothing but agents of the governments that fund them. Gongos are embedded deep into society and are used to advance ideological interests.

In the UK the government have set up a network of Gongos and Fake Charities under the guise of the DfID (Department for International Development) which are used almost entirely at taxpayers expense to politically indoctrinate children, lobby governments (both at home and abroad) and promote government ideological policy through bans and forced changes to lifestyle choices.

The Libertarian Party has long highlighted the use of Fake Charities, ostensibly charitable organisations who lobby government on behalf of concerned citizens groups, which are majority funded by government, such as ASH and Alcohol Concern to name but two, but these revelations with regards to NGO's and Gongos is a stunning misuse of funds for political indoctrination. What is even more concerning is that the Conservative Party have already announced that they intend to increase the funding further.

A highly detailed and scathing report by the IPN (International Policy Network), an independent think tank has now exposed this massive misuse of taxpayers funds, diverting massive financial support to Unions and in particular the National Union of Teachers for political indoctrination of our children. 87 PER CENT of funded programmes are aimed at kids or students.

What it shows is effectively a huge network of organisations laundering taxpayers money for political purposes. Partnership Programme Arrangements (PPA's) transfer hundreds of millions of pounds to mainly hand-picked NGOs in unrestricted funds. This includes groups like ActionAid who campaign explicitly against free trade.

What we find absolutely incredulous however, is that the Conservative party not only know about this abuse of taxpayers funds, but intend to increase it when they take power. Under the banner of One World Conservatism, the Conservative Policy Green Paper No.11 begins "Our vision for international development, as in other areas of policy, is to achieve progressive aims through Conservative means". In translation that means more of the same with a slightly different propaganda slant.

The conservative document goes on: “We will retain the present system of Partnership Programme Agreements (PPAs) through which DFID supports leading NGOs and development organisations. As far as possible we will link funding increases to evidence of effectiveness and results, rewarding good performance and ensuring our aid achieves the most it possibly can.” P. 24 Conservative Party. 2009. One World Conservatism: A Conservative Agenda for International Development.

Ian Parker-Joseph, Libertarian Party leader said: "The use of taxpayer funds in this way is both immoral and bordering on the illegal. Under no circumstances will a Libertarian government allow taxpayers to fund any organisation that is using part or all of its funding for political purposes or for political lobbying, and we would call on all other political parties to issue such an undertaking. To see the Conservative Party add its approval to these underhand schemes is disappointing, although not unexpected given the current progressive direction of the conservative party under Cameron".

The IPN press release highlights the following:

Recipients of this money include trade unions and other partisan political organisations in the UK. Examples include:

£1.2 million given to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) since 2003 for activities including: lobbying, hiring new staff and an “international buffet and wine” event to celebrate “International Women’s Day” in the UK. DfID also paid the TUC to hold lessons in how to apply for DfID funds.

£300,000 to the National Union of Teachers (NUT) to “enable them [teachers] to become global agents of change”.

The creation of fake NGOs such as “Connections for Development” (CfD), supposedly a forum for black and ethnic minorities to engage “on issues relating to international development.” DfID created and is the only donor to CfD, providing it with £600,000 in its first two years, yet an independent review questioned “the purpose of the organisation.”

£10 million spent flying poor Brits to poor countries to work for free.

IPN’s Julian Harris, one of the report’s authors, said “DfID often hand-picks the largest recipients, such as trade unions, behind closed doors. This smacks of cronyism.”

The report highlights the waste of DfID funds on political campaigning while a child dies every 30 seconds from malaria in poor countries.

“The money DfID is wasting in this year alone could in principle treat 230 million people suffering from malaria,” concluded Harris.

Please read the detailed report here.

The Libertarian Party Press Release can be read here.


.

The British Military Industrial Complex

Sometimes it's possible to understand why lefties get so het up about corporate self interest. Because sometimes it's so blatant you'd have to be blind, deaf and a leper to miss it...

Britain must step up defence spending to meet its foreign policy commitments or risk becoming a nonentity on the world stage, industry bosses warned.

"Our decline as a nation will become irreversible and we'll find ourselves with no real influence in the world," said Mike Turner, chairman of the Defence Industries Council (DIC) and former chief executive of BAE Systems. "We believe urgent action is needed."

Accompanied by the current chief executive of BAE Systems, Ian King, the boss of Rolls Royce's defence business, Martin Fausset, and the UK heads of other large defence companies Thales and Finmeccanica, Mr Turner said the Government's policy of prosecuting foreign wars while reducing the proportion of gross domestic product spent on defence was becoming unsustainable.

Now, funnily enough I happen to agree with that last point. Our current foreign military operations are unsustainable.

However I'm not sure we should be giving £2bn of our money to a bunch of warmongers -- as DIC Chairman Mike Turner suggests we should. A more sensible policy might be to admit that we can't remake the world in the image of Tony Blair and pull out of Afghanistan. Thus reducing our need to spend more on the 'British Military Industrial Complex'.

But given Nu Labour's penchant for burning our money I'm pretty sure they'll go with this DIC idea. Because in a literal sense it's as close as they'll ever come to doing the aforementioned with our money without breaching health and safety.