BALI IS OVER Monday, Dec 17 2007

So the global warming conference at Bali is over. Agreement has finally been made, following the United States’ agreement to allow green technology for developing countries. But what have they actually agreed?
Well, in typical global political style, they’ve agreed to keep talking towards a new treaty in a couple of years’ time. So that’s alright, then. They haven’t actually done anything.
I do hope the delegates are going to off-set their carbon emissions in terms of all the hot air they spouted as well as the footprint involved in getting there. But somehow I doubt it.
I am skeptical of such conferences. I am skeptical of words from people such as Al Gore. Even if agreement is finally made, I doubt if many countries will ratify it, or make real concessions to combating climate change.
I think this because politicians are the wrong people to do it. It is technology that needs to change, and that happens through enterprise. And there will be no real moves towards halting the problem until a new business ethic arises to actually do it.
And that’s another thing I do not really see at this moment.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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THE POLICE ARE ANGRY Thursday, Dec 13 2007

British police are enraged. After the Home Secretary decided to back-date an already pitiful, but agreed, pay rise, they have called for her resignation after expressing no confidence in their boss.
Further, they have decided to ballot their members concerning the right to strike. Such a thing is unheard of in the British police, who are at present legally refrained from strike action. Believe me, this mood is serious indeed.
It is serious because the police are supposed to be above all that. But in recent years an increasingly politicized police have been doing, and saying, a lot of things it is not their job to do in a free country.
Is this another sign of a growing police state, with a politicized police force? Sadly – and dangerously - it is. But I do not blame the police. Rather, I blame the political commissars NuLabour have infiltrated into this once marvelous and proud institution.
Which also explains the action today. Rats DO tend to turn.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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CHANGE THE ANGLICAN CHURCH Monday, Dec 10 2007

John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, has cut up his dog collar and is refusing to wear it again until Mugabe is no longer president of Zimbabwe. What a wonderful Archbishop he is, but what’s he doing in the Church of England?
The Church seems to be in decline in England, principally because it is at odds with modern society and the wider Anglican Church, with 70 million worldwide. And Church hierarchy seems more concerned with this 70 million.
As, indeed, they should. But not at the expense of England’s traditional Church. Now, I’m not a practicing Christian, but let me suggest a new way that could allow the best of both worlds for this beleaguered Church.
With two Archbishops, I suggest the national Church be headed, not by Canterbury as today, but by York – which would leave the Archbishop of Canterbury to run the worldwide Anglican Church. Fancy a new job, John?

© Anthony North, December 2007

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END OF THE HOUSING AFFAIR Thursday, Dec 6 2007

It seems to be coming. UK house prices, inflated for so long, are beginning to stabilize, and in some areas go down in price. A credit squeeze, both national and global, is beginning. City and mortgage lender watchdogs are becoming pessimistic in unison.
Next year we can expect a harsh credit squeeze, and a fall of maybe 10% in house prices. This may well be true, but believe me, it could get much worse. With confidence gone, the economic system could fall – especially as it is nothing but confidence keeping it afloat.
I’ve been expecting it for years – and technically if the crunch had come maybe five years ago, it might not have been that bad. But central to the reason it did not come then are the banks and their cheap credit.
This was essential, for people simply had to spend to stop the system from collapsing. And every time you spent big over these last few years, the greater would become the depression when it all fell apart.
I’m hoping I’m wrong. But watch this space.

© Anthony North, December 2007

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IF ONLY BLAIR WERE PRIME MINISTER Monday, Nov 26 2007

I never thought I’d write that title. Of course, I don’t mean it. As far as I’m concerned he never should have been Prime Minister. But many, it seems, wish he still was. Indeed, it is this lacking why Labour is behind in the polls.
Blair, it seems, is a more competent Prime Minister than Brown. Which is, of course, a simple continuance of the con trick Labour continually used. For the simple fact is, Blair was not competent at all.
Rather, Tony Blair was the PR man at the front of the party. The person who really ran the government was Gordon Brown, the ultimate backroom boy. The problem is, now that he is up front, we can see that he is, and always will be, the backroom boy.
So there you have it, folks. This present leader, who claims to offer a new vision for Britain, is the same old force that has been behind Labour since 1997. As to whether he ever was competent, well – now the PR has gone to wash over the disasters, we can see that he wasn’t.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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DEFINING EDUCATION Monday, Nov 19 2007

David Cameron is going for the popular vote by saying all six year olds in the UK should be able to read. This is a PR stunt of callous proportions, for the simple fact is no education system ever has, or ever could, achieve this.
Unfortunately, there is a proportion of society that just does not do well with education. Throughout most of history, society has catered for this sizeable chunk of any society through jobs that do not require significant education.

Now these people are being failed.

With a consistent policy from all parties of making education a pre-requisite for employment, this element of society is falling by the wayside, a neglected class that doesn’t seem to fit in the modern world.
Further to this, such educational requirements ignore another important element of education and society. It is a simple reality that some people are better suited to education than others.

On average, some 10% of a population fit into this top category …

… and in the past they formed the professional middleclass. Such a concept is now shunned, and in typical social engineering, education no longer allows these people to excel.
The upshot of all this is that education and politics is presently failing society at the top and bottom levels in educational terms. Typically left liberal in persuasion, the end result will no doubt be an equal society. But it will be equal only in its failures.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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EVERYTHING UP, BUT SOME THINGS DOWN Thursday, Nov 15 2007

Situation report on our marvelous global economy – particularly as it applies to Britain.
Petrol prices up. Food costs rising. Home heating bills going crazy. Well, it had to happen, didn’t it? After all, you didn’t really believe the lie about cheap food and fuel forever?
But you did believe it for long enough. Long enough for supermarkets to get their monopoly. Long enough for previously nationalized industries to go private to keep the fat bellies of the super rich.

And of course, wages rose in kind …

… so we all became affluent, and were able to buy our luxurious houses and take out our fat private pensions.
Except those pensions are not as fat as they were supposed to be. And those houses went up, up, up in price and turned you into a wage serf.

But never mind.

The pension and mortgage funds had your money just long enough to make everyone believe the con that new super capitalism was thriving, even though it was bolstered by the inflated mortgage and pension you were buying.
So you’ve got nothing but yourself to blame now that petrol is going up, food is going up, and heating bills are going up ….
Oh … and as house prices are about to come down.
Now that will put us in a whole new negative equity …

© Anthony North, November 2007

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DEATH OF THE BIMBO Monday, Nov 12 2007

The Bimbo – that brainless but usually beautiful young woman – is dead. According to a study by the universities of Pittsburgh and California, she never was a bimbo, but a highly intelligent woman.
Surveying 16,000 women and girls, the whole thing revolves around the hour-glass figure. The curves on a woman’s body are directly related to the degree of intelligence. Hence, the curvy hour-glass shape is a direct sign of a healthy brain.

This does, of course, pass on to their children.

And evolutionists would most likely argue this is another classic sign of shape equaling genetic desirability. So how could intelligence be other than beautiful?
We can, of course, deny the relationship between curves and intelligence having anything to do with evolution, and I admit to being skeptical of the automatic assumption that they are related.

Rather, culture could play an equally important part.

It is a sad fact of society that beautiful, curvy women get far more attention by men, and quickly learn how to use this advantage over others. And I hope women will forgive me when I say, the best way to manipulate a man to get what they want is to play sexy, or stupid.
I never believed they were really Bimbos in the first place.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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BROWN’S VISION? Thursday, Nov 8 2007

Well, the State Opening of Parliament is over and the political year in Britain has begun. Everyone looked resplendent, Black Rod’s ‘rod’ gleamed, the Queen’s coach looked stately, and pomp and ceremony was had.
It is always good to watch – a link between a modern state and the past; something that should never be got rid of. But somehow it was over in a flash. And the reason why? The Queen’s Speech was just 8 minutes long.
Now this is a surprise – well, no it isn’t really. It would have been a surprise for those imbued with optimism over Gordon Brown’s claims that he will offer a new ‘vision’ for Britain. But I knew there wasn’t one, really.
How can there be from a man with little vision, and what vision he had having been already used up as he ‘designed’ the country over the past ten years as Backroom Boy No 1? Still, at least we’re beginning to see the con.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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HOME ENERGY Monday, Nov 5 2007

According to a recent report, energy savings in British homes are going to fall short by 30%, threatening government CO2 targets. Well, us naughty British – always sinners, just like Christianity tells us.
Of course, the government has craftily ‘forgotten’ the only reason that they even came close to previous targets. That reason was the previous decimation of the coal industry following the 1984 miner’s strike. Without it, our levels would be astronomic.
So that’s it, then. Britain will fail miserably to reach CO2 targets, just like everyone else. And guess what? We always will. Targets will never be met until a simple reality hits home.
This is the role of big business in raising the levels in the first place. Until big business begins buying local, we’ll fail. Until big business invests massively in alternative fuels, we’ll fail. Until big business gets rid of ridiculous packaging, we’ll fail.
It’s as simple as that.

© Anthony North, November 2007

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