I rally don't know why there is such a fuss about David Cameron's speech yesterday. So he criticised the government for failing to protect its citizens properly. If the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition is not allowed to do that then we have reached a very strange point in our parliamentary democracy. Accusations that he has broken the cross party consensus in the war on terror are wide of the mark. If these accusations have any validity at all, then the LibDems broke the consensus many months ago. His accusers forget that the Conservatives have not just blindly followed the government over the last year - they have vehemently opposed the government's plans for 90 days detention and various other measures. This hasn't been done just for the sake of opposing - the reasons have been principled. The overreaction to Cameron's speech almost goes to prove that he is on to something.
18 comments:
Spot on Iain. Cameron has made a valid point. NuLab pandering to muslims (a key vote in a number of key Labour seats e.g Straws) and the general establishment "cringe" in the face of the islamofascists has damaged our security. Blair talks the talk, but his government signally fails to deliver on any of it. Exactly how many hate preachers have been deported or hate-spewing mosques closed? None.
Why do we search everyone flying and subject everyone to massive scrutiny when the potential terrorists are a readily identifiable section of society? Why not be honest and admit that this is ISLAMIC based and subject asians and muslims to the scrutiny. My mother is most unlikely to be carrying explosives when she is flying to see my brother in the US. But NuLab won't do this as they have all been spoon fed multiculturalism and fear accusations of racism
Iain,
Dont overlook the fact that this Labour shower are playing the 'I want to be leader' game.
Never ever forget the awful record of the Labour Party and Ireland. Always throw that back at them with custard on! (Or, as we prefer here in the third world, clotted cream!)
But Cameron! he is turning the Conservative Party into the Lib Dems. He is so unconvincing. Heard him again this morning on 'Today'. I just cannot get any enthusiasm for him whatsoever.
Incidentally, you may recall my telling you, and the Conservatives, that here in the South West you need good LOCAL candidates to stand any chance! Bodmin (Cornwall North) have been given an A list candidate to interview. From Wales a member of the welsh assembly, so I am told! She stands as much chance of winning as Rupert the Bear. I despair when the local party had a man (who I was a reference for)highly thought of. Indeed he is the mayor! who has left the party because of their treatment of him and his application.
Cameron's 'I have a dream' will prove yet another nightmare for the conservatives I'm afraid!
Totally agree Iain. Thought Prezza had totally lost the plot with his comments.
I find it very worrying to think that the Government of our country believe it is wrong for the Leader of the Opposition to express any criticism of government policy.
I am rapidly coming to the conclusion that this bunch of authoritarian has got to be voted out sooner rather than later. It wouldn't surprise me if their next proposal would be to cancel elections in the name of national security because to elect kick out this government and elect someone else would send the wrong message to the terrorists.
The snag is I am not conviced the Tories would behave any differently if given the chance.
How did someone this vacuous become a national leader. Apart from stating the bleeding obvious and an idea of throwing money away he said nothing. My demented old mother talks more sense!
It's a bit disingenuous to suggest, as Cameron did on the BBC breakfast this morning, that if you don't like the government's foreign policy, you should vote for another party, then in practically the next breath on Today, for him to note that the tories support the policy in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, etc. The cross party consensus is the problem, not the solution.
Unless of course, you assume that the Libdems could win an election.
Your blog does not tend to attract the same all-out venting of rage as often seen in blogs like Devil's Kitchen or Mr Eugenides etc but this really does make me want to stand up and scream out all kinds of obscenities to the world about how passionately I detest that worthless & completely incompetent buffoon Prescott. I realise of course that even using one of the many swear words so effectively used on DKs site would guarantee having my post deleted (but really, it's so therapeutic ....just try it..shout out what you really think of Prescott's ...it's good to spew out all the bile & cleanse yourself of all the ulcer-inducing hatred that you otherwise would bottle up and allow to fester).
It is precisely the spine-less appeasement policies of the current government which have created the conditions within which Islamo-Fascism exists today in England. The current government continues to appease rather than stand up to the hate-mongering & martyr-glorifying radicals living amongst us. Rather than attempt to counter or even 'manage' the ever-encroaching tide of Islamification which is spreading through Europe, they waste our time with patronising speeches about how 'we all have to be more tolerant & understanding.' And now they think that handing out a few Bank Holidays to commemorate important moments in Islamic history or to mark special occasions, will somehow stop all these 'angry, disillusioned, and frustrated' terrorists from blowing us up with nail bombs or what have you? (I actually think it'd be great to have a few extra holidays, don't get me wrong, so why not also throw in a few Maori or Tutsi or Tamil or Yanomamo holidays as well?). But it misses the point: These people want to kill us, and impose their backwards & barbaric Sharia Law upon an unwilling populace. Throwing them a few bones will only strengthen them. Let's give Poland to Hitler, maybe he'll sit down and be a good little boy. I see absolutely nothing wrong with the opposition leader criticising the shockingly criminal ineptitude of the current Labour government in its strategy (or lack thereof) against extremism. Prescott gets up and tried to pull off his own version of Bush's "You're either with us or against us" line, implying that unless you toe the party line and back the government you are somehow being unpatriotic...what a complete waste of space he is. What's funny is that America is the country that all the IslamoFascists refer to as the Great Satan, and yet it's here in England that the British Muslims seem to be able to thrive and multiply...it's here in England that they refuse to integrate. And it's here in England that their hatred manifests itself in the form of home-grown terror. Funny how you don't seem to get too many home-grown Muslims in America blowing up their fellow citizens. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of these "we've brought it all on ourselves...our government policies have caused this terrorism", far from it....the roots of all this extremism has little to do with Iraq or Afghanistan and existed well before 9/11. It is this government's failure in stamping out this evil disease which I have a problem with. And hats off to David Cameron for having the balls to stand up and say so. And Prescott...please just go back to Hull and start your new career as an MC at some second-rate cabaret outfit...pint glass in one hand, microphone in the other...butchering Tommy Cooper lines for a few laughs... Can't you just picture it?
I can't understand it either. Does the government honestly expect the opposition to blindly agree with everything they do, simply because its on the subject of terrorism?
I agree with you Iain, this hysterical over-reaction appears to be a sign of a government clearly concerned that they've made a bit of a balls-up of the whole situation.
Did you notice the Telegraph reporting that Prescott has fouled up again by disclosing details of the police investigation during a meeting at No 10?
I can't understand it either. Does the government honestly expect the opposition to blindly agree with everything they do, simply because its on the subject of terrorism?
I agree with you Iain, this hysterical over-reaction appears to be a sign of a government clearly concerned that they've made a bit of a balls-up of the whole situation.
Did you notice the Telegraph reporting that Prescott has fouled up again by disclosing details of the police investigation during a meeting at No 10?
Has there been an over reaction to this speech?Baroness Scotland was made to look a complete fool by Radio 5 yesterday and Prescott attack had zero credibility because Prescott has no credibility. The BBC appeared to be neutral even though they omitted to broadcast about the nonexpulsion of preachers of hate.For my part I thought his speech very good.
Yes we Conservatives (and Lib Dems) have opposed these measures on the principle that they don't work, ad make the situation worse.
We know, we have done all this sort of thing before.
John 2 jags, half a brain Prescot seems like all people of his ilk to want to shut down debate and critisism. Perhaps he would prefer North Korea?
If he were on to something he would have:
1. Called for a halt to all NEW faith schools.
2. Called for the re-introduction of the primary purpose rule on marriages. And pinned its abolition on Blair - Abolition of the rule was THE very first thing Nu Lab did in 1997.
Of the 23 alleged terrorists now accused, I'm willing to bet a very large percentage are married to foreign-born wives drawn from the Sub-continent, often illiterate, not wise to ways of a modern democracy but very wise masculine threats from within their new UK-based family if the don't behave, keep quite and tow the line.
This lack of western feminising influence caused by easy access to foreign-born wives in a community that has been told it has a lot to be upset about can best be summed up in this immagined scenario:
Western-born wife: "Waseem!
Potential Terrorist: "What!"
Western-born wife: "Are you looking at that bloody web site again?"
Potential terrorist: "No!" (quickly turning off the computer)
Western-born wife: "because you still haven't put that bloody bin out and I won't be nice to you latter if you are"
The fact that an angry and rapidly growing part of the UK population is not being subjected to the restraining influences of westernised feminism is directly the fault of Blair and soley down to his very first policy change -and Cameroon should say so and say so quickly.
You've probably forgotten what happened to his predecessor.
"... If the leader of Her Majesty's Opposition is not allowed to do that then we have reached a very strange point in our parliamentary democracy."
Iain - we most certainly have reached a very strange point in our parliamentary democracy - the end of it.
For the last 9 years Blair has eroded the democratic protocols of parliamentary government. He plans to finally bury them with the 'Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill'.
I liked the epistle from
'Forhead-Vein-popping-Teeth Grinding Full-on'
But there is one thing I know. The problem is not just the fault of the worst government, ever, of this country but also successive Tory governments! Why?
Over twenty years ago I attended police conferences at which we were told that the greatest threat to the western civilisation was from Muslim Fundamentalism and nothing was and has been done to protect this sceptred isle.
If this IS a war then many politicians should be in the dock for Treason!
David Cameron made an excellent speech and pointed out one or two facts.
1.Gordon Brown has frozen the home office budget.
2.Tony Blair has not followed through on his twelve point security plan and recommendations on community cohesion.
Glad DC pointed that out to us!
He also put forward some excellent proposals about how to improve homeland security and community cohesion.
Iain, don't fall into the trap of just discussing the reaction of Labour and the media on the issue of cross party loyalty.
ASK why Labour is freezing the home office budget and not following through on headline grabbing policies.
And while you are at it, ask John Reid and his successor at Defence to explain the Defence committee's findings, reported last week.
We might even ask Gordon Brown to explain why he expects the home office and our soldiers to provide security here and abroad on a shoestring!
So, should we ignore his speeches instead?
The fuss at least indicates that people are paying attention. That they're doing so because they thought he'd never speak about policy again only goes to show...something.
Other points that Cameron should have raised, attacking Blair for pursing a policy of appeasement domestically, but activist on the international front. (A catastrophic combination). He could have called for
1. A French style law on the restriction of the spelling of all, Forenames and Surnames - 120 different ways of spelling "Mohammad" is undermining all of our data-based intelligence.
2. A Mustafa Kermal (Ataturk) style law that insists on the use of family names on birth certificates and all official documents (either the mother's of the father's but not anybodies as is - unbelievably - the case at the moment, when a birth is registered.
3. This ones a bit controversial: your 6 digit birth-date, plus a m/f narrows all individuals down to a group of about a thousand people. Add 2 forenames and a family name and you have a unique tag (if there is only one way of spelling each name). WITHOUT the need for id cards.
However, there are a surprisingly large group of people claiming to have been born on 1st January, (especially since most hospitals try to avoid births on a bank holiday) - they should be DNA tested to give them a unique id - the same as the rest of us.
Criticising the government of the day is fair play, but couldn't David Cameron have made the points he made with a bit of emotion instead of like an off-hand contribution to a high school debating society. He somehow comes across as being a nice guy but, dare I say it, weak!
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