There's Nothing British About the BNP

Another link for the blogroll - the website There Is Nothing British About The BNP. You might not agree with everything they publish, but at least they are consistently criticising and helping to build up a massive log of evidence against the BNP.

And at least they are happy to actively fight the BNP. Rather than adopting the Peter Hain strategy of hiding underneath a big rock and hoping that the BNP will go away.

Hain and the BNP: Cowardice

Peter Hain will be boycotting Question Time if the BNP appear on it. Losing Peter Perma-tan Hain true tragedy for Question Time, I'm sure you'll agree. But fortunately - with his legendary eloquence and common sense - Hain explains why he isn't going to go on Question Time with one of the BNP knuckle-draggers:

“I was horrified when I heard about this, because it makes them [the BNP] appear as if they are another political party sitting on a panel along with democratically-elected parties.”

Hmm. Well, as much as I despise the BNP and their empty socialism and racism, even I have to concede that they actually are a democratically elected party. They have been since they won seats on local councils. Oh, and getting MEPs elected as well. To claim that they are not a real political party is not only an attempt to bolt the stable door after the horse has bolted, but it is also an attempt to deny reality. It is correct to abhor the policies of the BNP; it is completely wrong to deny the political reality that the BNP can win votes and are part of the democratic process in this country.

In fact, I'd argue that the rise of the BNP is in part down to the failure of the Labour party - and every other party in this country - to make the case against the BNP, and to offer people in this country a real alternative to the status quo. Hain is following the old strategy in relation to the BNP of sticking his head in the sand in the hope that they will go away. Unfortunately, the strategy didn't work. The main party policy of silence on the BNP allows them to get away with their unthinking ignorance without being called on it. And guess what? It helped them to win those seats on local councils, and helped them get those MEPs.

No doubt Hain sees his boycott as a chance for him to champion himself as a progressive politician refusing to give the cowardly and ignorant BNP a real platform in this country. Unfortunately, he comes across as the coward. He comes across as a man who won't debate the BNP because he is afraid of making his case. Regardless of his intentions, ducking a debate with the BNP isn't the noble thing to do. The BNP are a political reality in this country. Failing to engage them on their idiotic policies will only work to help them. The more they are unchallenged, the more influential they will become.

Liberal Democrats - not even a dim light...

It is becoming a theme of the day, I find myself agreeing with another unlikely person – this time Nick Clegg. Regular readers will know that I don’t much rate Calamity Clegg at all, but I have to agree with his sentiments here:

In a closing conference speech, he said the "one dim light" in the current crisis was that it "opens the door to a genuinely new way of doing things".

Of course, as there was with Hain, there is a point of departure between myself and Clegg. Because Clegg’s one dim light is the Liberal Demcrats. You’d expect Clegg to say this, of course. He’s in charge of that fucking party. But really, the Liberal Democrats aren’t a solution to any problem. Unless, of course, your problem is that you really need to find a bunch of wooly thinking, statist Europhiles.

The Liberal Democrats are really Social Democrats. Hell, they are the dregs of the old Social Democratic Party. And as a result, they offer nothing new. In fact, what they do have to offer is pretty much what the Labour party offers. It is just that the Labour Party is far more effective at getting into power and implementing the godawful mishmash of half-baked policies that makes up Social Democracy than the Liberal Democrats are.

And the euphemistically titled Social Democracy is nothing new – in fact, we’ve been getting it recently both barrels as Brown lurches from policy initiative to policy initiative. There is nothing new that the Liberal Democrats have to offer – in fact it could best be summed up as the same old, same old. Consider new ideas in light of the recession; the ideologically redundant Liberal Democrats do not have any new ideas.

There is an alternative – a radical alternative to the status quo. But it won’t come from the main parties, who intrinsically believe in the state led consensus. It is the Libertarian agenda and ideology that offers a genuinely new way of doing things. That is the real alternative; it is there for you if you want to take it.

Peter Hain: Correct, Yet Still A Cock

Here’s one thing I never thought I would say – I agree with Peter Hain. He’s finally said something that is unconditionally, one hundred percent correct. He argues that Gordon Brown is running out of time, and that he lacks a coherent direction for his party and therefore for the country. Spot on, Hain, me old mucker. Congratulations. You’re just about in line now with the majority of people in this country.

Of course, Hain goes and ruins it all by spouting shameless shite that promotes himself and his utterly worthless party. Just take a look at this phrase:

Mr Hain says that whatever the "individual policy merits" of ID cards, Trident, nuclear power, part-privatisation of the Royal Mail and Heathrow's third runway, they "do not add up to a programme to get the pulse of potential voters racing. Where is the story in all that, where is the distinctive Labour narrative, where are the Labour values of social justice and freedom?"

When have those Labour values ever been at the core of Nu Labour? Whatever the merits the Labour movement might have, they have not come through at all in the Nu Labour project. And isn’t Peter Hain an ex-Liberal? Is he really best placed, being the naked opportunist that he is, to comment on Labour values? What next? Peter Mandelson talking about ethics? Tony Blair talking about honesty?

And do people want policies that get their pulses racing at the moment? Or would they rather have policies that allow them to keep their jobs and their homes, and policies that won’t bankrupt the country and burden them with massive taxes in the future? Just asking is all.

Oh, and anyone who uses the phrase “individual policy merits” and “ID cards” in the same sentence without the words “have absolutely no” and “whatsoever” automatically proves they are talking crap.

"To win, Labour must be seen as the credible force for change, and that means changing itself – and there is not much time left," he writes. "There is no escaping that New Labour has lost five million voters – and not simply because of longevity in power. On basic core-vote issues of affordable housing, job security, employment rights, crime and migration, Labour has to do much better and much more."

It has had over a fucking decade to make real, substantial changes in all those areas. Given it has failed to achieve anything of any value in nearly 12 years of power, why in the name of all that is holy would we give these cunts more time?

Besides, let’s look at who is relaying this blindingly obvious message to the British people: Peter Hain. Peter fucking Hain. The man who was forced to resign from one of the most corrupt cabinets in living memory. The then government minister whose defence was that he was incompetent, not corrupt. The man who, when forced to apologise to the House of Commons, treats it as a victory and a vindication of himself. A man who could be treated as the very definition of nakedly self-serving and utterly ego-centric. Yeah, his message needs to be heard, but any wisdom within that message is almost completely devalued by the fact that it is coming from the mouth of that perma-tanned cockwad.

And let’s not stop there – I agree with Hain, but he is still a colossal – a massive and complete – dickheaded fuckwit. A moron of the very, very highest order. Because, as I mentioned earlier, the fact that Brown has both lost his way and the plot has been obvious to everyone now for a very long time. Some people were even saying it before Brown became PM. That Hain has only had this revelation about Brown now says more about Hain’s grasp on reality and of his basic intellect than it does about Brown or the current situation in the Labour party.

So there we have it – I agree with Hain, but at the same time still regard him as a total lackwit.

Hypocrisy? Insanity? Delusion? Nu Labour.

Peter Hain on The Electoral Commission:

"I do think the Electoral Commission does need to be much more accountable and needs different leadership from what it has had in the first stage of its work. I must say, and I won't go into detail, I found it to be incompetent, dysfunctional and unworldly, politically."

Let's rewrite that to be a comment on the current government:

"I do think the Labour government does need to be much more accountable and needs different leadership from what it has had. I must say, and I won't go into detail, I found it to be incompetent, dysfunctional and unworldly, politically."

Honestly, I don't think Hain gets the irony of what he is saying. But is anyone knows incompetence, it is him.

Hain: It isn't just me, y'know

So, Peter Hain isn't going to be prosecuted over the donations scandal that cost him his place in the Cabinet. So, technically speaking, he is innocent. And let's not get lost in the semantics of this - yes, the police could not find sufficient evidence to charge him, but in the UK that means he is innocent.

Of course, his campaign still failed to declare thousands of pounds worth of donations, so he still fucked up in a massive way. And his defence - that other MPs have been just as careless, if not more so, really does not stand up to close scrutiny. His campaign broke the rules, just as other campaigns have broken the rules. All this means is that Peter Hain is a particularly conspicous turd in a shower of incompetent, rule dodging shits.

On Comment Is Free, Hain argues that MPs should be wary of calling for each other to resign and/or be investigated over dubious donations:

And those MPs who have been too ready to call for police involvement need to understand that any momentary political advantage they might so achieve over opponents actually undermines politics itself.

This is, of course, horse shit. It isn't politicians calling for police involvement that undermines politics, but rather the fact that the police need to be called in at all. It is the politicians breaking the laws and the rules that creates all the problems. And it is that arrogance, that fetid stench of corruption, that is so undermining politics in this country. Hain's defence - that he should never have been investigated, that others are doing it as well - reeks of the self-pity of a kid who was caught with his hand in the sweetie jar. One of the reasons why there is such contempt for politicians in this country is because they all seem to be at it, and it is only one or two of them who are actually exposed and face any sort of penalty.

Wendy Alexander: The Best They've Got.

Guido has a round-up of (some) of the corruption stories involving our beloved leaders. Lots to choose from, but the one that stands out for me is the story that the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Wendy Alexander, is facing prosecution for illegal donations. However, unlike Hain, she doesn’t have the decency to stand down.*

Still, according to The Times, she is being supported:

"She was buoyed by robust declarations of support from her Labour group of MSPs at Holyrood and from other key figures in the Scottish party, some of whom hinted that they believe the standards watchdog who has referred her case to prosecutors is guilty of a "stitch-up"."

Evidently I have misunderstood the definition of stitch-up. I thought that it was where someone innocent was framed for something they didn’t do. Whereas clearly it means "politician being prosecuted for accepting an illegal donation." That’s me corrected!

But there is perhaps a more pragmatic, and more depressing, reason why Alexander is being supported whereas Hain was (eventually) hung out to dry.

"However, some of her backbench MSPs also admitted that she had to stay in post because there is no obvious candidate to succeed her."

Nice, there we have it. The calibre of candidates with the Scottish Labour Party is so poor that even if you are facing prosecution for corrupt funding, you are still a viable candidate for the leadership. It is a bit like Derek Conway being elected Tory leader. The excuse that there is no obvious candidate to succeed her is not only not good enough, but also a staggering indictment of the state of the Scottish Labour Party.

*"Hain" and "decency" in the same sentence is something I never thought I’d see on this blog. Unless separated by the words "has absolutely no".

Hain Goes!

Good news. Just a shame that it didn't happen any earlier.

And for what it is worth, I hope the police do investigate and that the incompetent, perma-tanned dickhead is dragged through the courts, convicted, and utterly humiliated.

UPDATE:

And the Brown team are spinning this for all it is worth. Check this comment out from Gordo himself:

"I recognise that, given the circumstances and your desire to clear your name, this is the right and honourable thing to do."

See, this must be a new form of right and honourable that I haven't been informed about. It would have been right and honourable for Hain to go as soon as this ugly mess began. Resigning after the matter was referred to the police is far too late. There is no honour in this. It is an embarrasing mess for Hain's department, government, party and country. There is no dignity in his resignation, it was forced. The unedifying vision of Nu Labour's answer to the Tango Man clinging to power for the last few weeks has been a national disgrace.

Frankly, the right and honourable thing for Hain to do now would be to immolate himself publically in front of the Department for Work and Pensions. Anything else seems, at this point, a bit of a cop out.

Gordon Brown on Peter Hain:

"He took his eye off the ball and he has apologised. The matter must rest with the authorities, who will look at these matters," Mr Brown said.

In other words, Hain's fucked.

But there are two other striking things in the BBC article about the undignified fall from grace of Peter Hain. First of all, there's this:

But the Tories have themselves comes under fire after it was reported that shadow chancellor George Osborne did not declare £487,000 of donations to the Register of Members' Interests.

Cameron has said:

Mr Cameron said that was a "completely different" matter, as the money had been declared to, and published by, the Electoral Commission.

But he would say that, wouldn't he?

Finally, there is the comment from Lembit Opik:

On Sunday, Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik said politicians calling for Mr Hain to quit were "opportunists" and no party was blameless on party funding.

Quite. Whilst I am feeling utterly misanthropic this morning, and whilst my contempt for that perma tanned twat Hain is boundless, there are all as bad as each other. Snouts in the trough, gorging. How long until one of the money grabbing whores in the Commons cites these two examples to take more money from the electorate to pay for their shitty election campaigns?

An Open Letter to Peter Hain

Dear Peter,

I’ve noticed that you have run into a little trouble about your donations during your unsuccessful run for Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. I also understand that this has now been escalated via a complaint from a Tory MP. Apparently you are also massively in debt.

Frankly, this could not happen to a nicer person.

You are the uber cunt in a party filled with corrupt, two faced, mendacious bastards. You are the perma tanned proof that absolute power corrupts absolutely. You have not one ounce of dignity, otherwise you would have already resigned – not just from the cabinet, but also as an MP. You are the embodiment of why people in this country hate Nu Labour, and hate politicians as a whole. Your snout is so far in the trough of corruption that I am surprised you do not choke to death on your own greed. You sicken me – you look and behave not unlike the syphilitic flange of a dying prostitute, in my humble opinion.

I hope you are forced from power, dragged through the courts and utterly disgraced for your egregious corruption. And I hope that this also brings down the government of total shits who currently run this country.

Yours sincerely,

The Nameless One