Geert Wilders’ Speech Hits the Spot
Geert Wilders’ speech in London:
…we should defend the right to freedom of speech. With all our strength. With all our might. Free speech is the most important of our many liberties. Free speech is the cornerstone of our modern societies. Freedom of speech is the breath of our democracy, without freedom of speech our way of life our freedom will be gone.
Why can’t any of our leaders show the same spirit?
Gordon Brown is Right
I can’t believe I’m writing this, but I find myself in agreement with Gordon Brown over his opposition to changing the law on assisted suicide:
…death as an option and an entitlement, via whatever bureaucratic processes a change in the law might devise, would fundamentally change the way we think about mortality.
Big Government: Big Danger
The same illness, just a different country – in this case America:
Bigger government means more government employees. Those employees then become a permanent lobby for continual government growth. The nation may have reached critical mass; the number of government employees at every level may have gotten so high that it is politically impossible to roll back the bureaucracy, rein in the costs, and restore lost freedoms.
People who are supposed to serve the public have become a privileged elite that exploits political power for financial gain and special perks. Because of its political power, this interest group has rigged the game so there are few meaningful checks on its demands. Government employees now receive far higher pay, benefits, and pensions than the vast majority of Americans working in the private sector. Even when they are incompetent or abusive, they can be fired only after a long process and only for the most grievous offenses.
It’s a two-tier system in which the rulers are making steady gains at the expense of the ruled. The predictable results: Higher taxes, eroded public services, unsustainable levels of debt, and massive roadblocks to reforming even the poorest performing agencies and school systems. If this system is left to grow unchecked, we will end up with a pale imitation of the free society envisioned by the Founders.
Never Provoke a Chingford Polecat
Lord Tebbit was a little upset about the noise surrounding Chinese New Year celebrations:
Lord Tebbit kicked the dragon in the bottom during the celebration last Tuesday.
The Nature of Russia
Gary Kasparov on the character of modern Russia, and Europe’s spineless attitude:
Stifling free media, arresting journalists, bullying its neighbours – Moscow is stamping on freedoms and the EU turns a blind eye
…As Moscow shuts down opposition newspapers, arrests journalists who fail to toe the government line and bullies its democratic neighbours into submission, some European leaders are not silent. Instead they are arguing for closer ties to Moscow, for energy cooperation, for military for arms deals.
Jobs for the Boys in the European Union
There really is no ‘controversy’ here. Don’t they understand that this is the way things work at the EU?
A ‘jobs for the boys’ controversy engulfed the head of the European Commission yesterday after José Manuel Barroso’s former chief of staff was handed the plum job of EU envoy to Washington.
This appointment will be an ideal match to that of Baroness Ashton of Upholland as EU ‘High Representative’. After all, he shares the same qualifications for a foreign affairs post:
Mr Barroso secured the job for his fellow Portuguese Joao Vale de Almeida despite his lack of international diplomatic experience.
Democracy: Afghan Style
Hamid Karzai pulls a fast one:
The country’s Electoral Complaints Commission previously included three foreign experts chosen by the UN. But Karzai has taken exclusive power to appoint all five panel members under a presidential decree published today, while the Afghan parliament is in recess.
After all, we don’t want another repeat of the vote-rigging in last year’s presidential elections, do we? Or, rather, we don’t want a repeat of the investigation into vote-rigging.
The Conservative Shadow Cabinet
Iain Martin’s description of the Tory Shadow Cabinet:
The shadow cabinet (AKA the mushrooms, kept in the dark and covered in…)
Quite Right, Douglas
Douglas Murray makes the obvious point in the Telegraph:
Who cares who killed the Hamas commander?
Doing the Pancake Walk
Health and Safety struck yesterday in St Albans:
With their frying pans primed, the teams were set to sprint to victory.
Hundreds of well-wishers lined the course expecting the usual thrills, spills and slip-ups of the annual pancake race. But the jolly mood turned sour when a new health and safety rule was announced moments before the start – no running.Spectators at the Shrove Tuesday event in St Albans, Hertfordshire, booed the city’s tourism manager Charles Baker as he explained there were fears competitors might fall over.
Mr Baker announced: ‘We have a new set of rules today due to the wet weather conditions and health and safety regulations.’
After outlining the running ban, he added: ‘It is a genuine health and safety concern. People fall over in the dry – they will certainly fall over in the wet.
