Blog 2023 Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Tea Party

This is a very interesting new protest movement. It tends to underline some deep changes which have occurred within the soul of the United States.

The War of Independence against Great Britain was fought because the colonists disliked being ruled from afar and being made to pay taxes which thay considered had little to do with their lives as they wanted to lead them. The Civil War was fought on broadly the same issue. Although history has taught that it was a war to end slavery, this is not accurate. Slavery would have ended in the U.S., as it had everywhere lelse in the world without the need to kill six hunderd thousand young Americans in the process.

What made the half starved and barefoot troops of the South fight with such tenacity for so long, was their vision of true independence. They did not want to be governed from the centre. Their State was their country. They were happy for their State to be part of a loose confederation in which their State remained sovereign.  They were willing to give their lives and suffer greater hardships than any Americans in any war since, in order to resist the power of a Federal Union, whose sovereignty would be paramount. They lost the war, but it is clear after one and a half centuries, that they won the  argument.

When America voted for Obama it voted for change. But it did not vote for bigger government and higher taxes. It voted for competence in government, economic recovery, controlling Wall Street and restoring America’s image, so ruined after the international sympathy and goodwill following 9/11. America is happy for its President, whoever it is, to strut the world stage with imperial grandeur, but at home it wants the person who occupies the White House, from whatever party, held in check.  

That is what these Tea Parties are about.

Those Expenses

We know there are some M.Ps who are now charged with crimes. We know half the rest have to pay back money, some quite a lot of money. Some of these are busy telling the media that they stuck to the rules as they were interpreted at the time and it is unfair to pillory them now.

Were these people working in some corporation which set out rules for them which it was habitually slack in policing and then, following an audit and complaints from shareholders, decided to get tough, such squeals might just be understandable if not acceptable.

But this is not the case here. These people set up their own rules and kept the details secret from the taxpayers who paid all these ridiculuous bills. The rules they established were preposterous and they knew would never pass public scrutiny so they kept mum. Until the Telegraph. They are collectively guilty of deceit and greed, they have brought our whole system of Government into disrepute, they have damaged our democracy not only in the voters’ eyes, but in the eyes of the whole world, which now greets our claim to be an open and honest democracy with a polite and knowing smile.

This Parliament is rotten. It was wrong and as I have said before, not to dissolve it was against the spirit of our unwritten Constitution. Her Majesty was very ill advised. The fallout may yet drift up Whitehall to the Palace. This affair is nowhere near its end.

Defence Review

Always when money is tight, there are politicians who call for big ticket items like Trident or new ships like the aircraft carriers to be scrapped. They need to be careful.

First cancelling the two new aircraft carriers now would cost more than completing them and would put thousands on the dole. More money, more misery but no ships. However I agree that that global projection as a mini superpower is out of date and counter productive. I would look at altering the role of these vessels to a defensive ( aircraft carriers like tanks and bombers are essentially offencive weapons, but are used in defence) function such as anti missile defence of our islands with the very latest seek and destroy anti missile weapons such as rockets and cyber jamming. Or thay could be equipped as huge humanitarian aid platforms with disaster relief and medical facilities, helicopters and so on. That would cost but under a UN flag we could become a humanitarian mini super-power.

The other issue is the Trident submarine force. Once built this is a very cheap method of ensuring absolute security through deterrence. Without it we would need much bigger forces, more ships and planes and a whole lot more weapons systems to keep our country safe from the unpredictable and emerging threats of the twenty-first century.

If we cut our global projection and invasion capability, apply resources to the point where they will most effectively offer us security in our country and kick out the buffoons in the procurement Department of the Ministry of Defence who can neither plan, nor procure, nor work out what they are ordering, nor even add up, we shall make all the savings we need.

Quantitative Easing

Printing money, which is what QA is, although now it is done with electronic money,  is a risky process which can lead to chronic currency devaluation. So far people feel it has worked. There are signs to watch, however. Inflation has jumped up dramatically and may have to be brought under control with a rise in interest rates. The other point is that the Government, through the bank of England, has been buying its own bonds. Now it is out of the market we shall get a better feel of sentiment among institutional and overseas investors to whom, normally, we  look to buy  Gilts. This is when the downgrade spectre begins to take form.

Defence

A Discussion Paper has been produced by the Government as part of the preparation for the Defence Review which will begin after the election of a new government.

One thing ought to be very clear. This country should by now have fully grown out of its Imperial past and must recognise that we can no longer use armed forces to intervene overseas as an instrument of foreign policy. The notion is out of date and weakens our authority causing us to become more of the problem than the solution. And we cannot afford it.

We need to organise an impregnable defence of the British Isles that will halt an enemy by land sea or air. For this we need a navy, an air force and an army. We need the best technology to make the fullest use of missiles, drones and satellites. We do not require mobile forces ready to deploy across the globe. No longer should our young people be asked to die on foreign fields in the muddled belief that our first line of defence is in somebody else’s country.

We do need to maintan our nuclear deterrent. Nutters everywhere must know that any country anywhere which attacks us will not survive to see out the day. That is defence. Much of the stuff we do now is not.

Energy Supplies

So now, in the face of the usual denials by the other Milliband, it is official. Our energy market does not work properly and supplies will soon be at risk and also very expensive. This was a privatisation too far. At the very least the ‘market’ needs to be closed down. A single national authority should be responsible for all power generation and regional distribution via the high voltage network. There may be scope for small local companies to manage the domestic lines and distribution, but not if it puts up costs or makes supplies unreliable. It should make enough profit to maintain a proper investment programme to upgrade our deficiency in production,but not more.

We need to be savvy in the way we use our own north sea gas and balance its use as a domestic fuel with use for generating electricity.  Oversimplifying to make a point, if we used the gas to generate cheap power, would consumers be better off?

Electoral Reform

Gordon Brown has come up with a Bill for Electoral Reform. It had been speculated for some time that this was on the cards. There is no doubt that changes to the way we vote for a new Parliament have to be brought about. The present system dates from when there were only two parties and cannot pass the test for a modern pluralist democracy where voting is meaningful and effective. Which type of arrangement you prefer is a matter of debate but anything is better than the present first past the post which guarantees that many, sometimes most, M.Ps get elected with a minority of the votes and the government of the day does not have a proper mandate.

There will always be die hards who murmer about strong government (the correct words are bad government), but the majority of right thinking people see that this is the way to go. Which makes the opposition of the Conservative Party all the more unfortunate. The reasons why not to vote Conservative are beginning to pile up.

Iraq Inquiry

I know lawyers grumble daily at their exclusion from this tribunal and lament the many millions in fees from which their greedy fingers are excluded, but it really is doing a stirling  job. David Cameron, when asked for an opinion on events so far, deferred and said he would rather wait for the Inquiry’s conclusions. I must say our David is beginning to look less and less like a reliable Prime Minister, very unsure of what to say, even about his own policies these days. Rather disappointing.

I will be bold. The advantage of this format with all the evidence coming out in public, with relatively relaxed witnesses saying what they think and much more effective questioning than it is given credit for, we are able to form our own conclusions. On the evidence so far it is becoming clear that Blair thought he was not Prime Minister but King, he had made up his mind and would brook no dissent. His style of government would be unconstitutional if we had one, the preparation for war was inadequate hazarding our troops, the war was in any event illegal and the lack of planning for what to do afterwards, wicked.  Blair’s vision of history is muddled and his arguments deeply flawed. He surrouded himself with a government in which he would shine as the only light. All of them were spineless except the late Robin Cook, and Clare Short who was described as difficult to handle, always a good sign.

There was of course Gordon. Big clunking fist, brooding and isolated. Or was he a player? His evidence will be very interesting. Very interesting indeed.

After Hours Visits

There really is no excuse for the continuing problem of getting a doctor to visit after hours. Before the Government began to cave in to unreasonable demands from medical negotiators, family doctors provided twent four hour care. That was the natureof the job.

That is the point. Being a family doctor is more than a job. It is a calling. It is not like being a solicitor or an accountant or even a hospital doctor. What it is, is being responsible for the health and wellbeing of their own patients, who are parmanent and exclusive to them. It cannot stop at six in the evening or remain on hold until eight thirty in the morning. Family doctors must go back to providing their own cover after hours. In the past members of a group practice took it in turns to deal with emergencies, whether at night or the weekend. Small practices combined to share the load. 

How we ever got into the muddle of out of hours contractors is not important. What is important is to put a stop to this ridiculous concept now.

Tory Wobble

Something is not right at the centre of the Tory  Party. The retreat over cuts is alarming, not in itself, but because it signals another policy lurch. Coming on top of the business of the tax allowances for married couples (as opposed to cohabiting couples), this looks as if the high command is losing its nerve. There is mileage in being willing to hack at that deficit no matter what, and very little mileage in going the same route as  Labour. At present it is clear where Labour is and where the Lib Dems are. The Tories are beginning to look as if they have dropped their compass.