SALMOND'S PLANS UNRAVEL.

As the debate over Scottish independence gathers pace, it's clear that the plans of megalomaniac Alex Salmond are unravelling.

Last week, George Osborne made it clear that an independent Scotland would be just that - independent. He ruled out Salmond's plan for a sterling currency union and was backed up in this stance by the principle financial representatives of the Labour and Liberal Democrat parties as well as by the top civil servant in the Treasury.

Next, the current president of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, appeared on television on Sunday and stated fairly categorically that an independent Scotland would have to apply for membership of the EU but could well be disappointed. Oh, Lordy, Lordy !

A cornerstone of Salmond's attempt to become Prime Minister, President or even King, of Scotland has been his constant claim that independence would change very little; the only real change would be to free it from the unwanted and hated attentions of the government in Westminster. According to Salmond, an independent Scotland would retain the Queen as head of state (though no mention of what would happen once she is gone), would retain sterling as its currency in a currency union with the remains of the UK, and would still be a member of the EU. It is now clear that at least 2 of these claims have 'feet of clay'.

Whatever the people who live in Scotland, for they are the only ones with a vote, decide in September there'll be ructions. If it's a vote for independence, expect a lot of whingeing and whining from the people once they realise the true implications of their choice; if it's a vote to remain in the UK, expect Salmond and his mates to be back arguing for the so-called 'Devo-max', in other words, effective independence within the UK. The second of these would undoubtedly lead to considerable unhappiness in England as Scottish members of the Westminster parliament would continue to tell the English what to do while Scotland was not affected by their decisions.

Ho-hum ! Exciting times ahead.

VINCENT NICHOLS : CARDINAL IDIOT.

Following the comments of Archbishop Welby a few months ago, another holier-than-thou prelate has decided to take issue with the government's financial policy. This time, it's the Cardinal-designate Vincent Nichols and his remarks are equally wrong and inappropriate.

Nichols believes that the government's social reforms are a disgrace and are leaving people 'facing destitution'. He claims that the 'basic safety net' for the poorest families has been 'torn apart' and that there is now a 'real dramatic crisis'.

As a representative of one of the richest organisations in the world, Nichols lives in palatial style. His organisation, the Roman Catholic church, purposely keeps many millions of its supporters in poverty and ignorance in order to maintain its vice-like grip on their lives; it denies the realities of today's world and does its best to ensure that its members remain rooted in out-dated tradition, flummery and mysticism. That he can criticise any government while supporting the world-wide activities of his church defies logic.

As well as the basic incongruity of his position, Nichols is also so factually wrong in his remarks that they become meaningless. The current government has done very little by way of 'social reform', other than introducing its perfectly sensible and fair reform to eliminate the 'spare room subsidy' previously enjoyed by many council tenants. Other than this, it has increased the basic personal allowance for income tax and kept interest rates at historically low levels, both policies which strongly benefit the less well-off, while seriously disadvantaging the better-off by the manner of their operation. Unemployment is falling dramatically and employment is at levels never before seen; exactly what is Archbishop Nichols wittering about ? Does he believe that the idle should be allowed to remain idle, or that the workshy should not be encouraged back into work ? If he does, he is in a serious minority.

The 'basic safety net' remains in place for those who need it, while those who are able to look after themselves are being made to do so. This is nothing but social justice. No one in this country, barring those who choose to be, can be called destitute and true poverty has been unknown here for at least the last 60 years. True poverty in the world exists only in countries dominated by religions, such as his.

One can only assume that, with his elevation to the College of Cardinals due to take place on 22nd February, Nichols felt the need to draw attention to himself. That he has done so is certain, as is the fact that he's made an idiot of himself.

BAN DOGS, NOT SMOKING IN CARS !

Today it's been reported that yet another child has been attacked and killed by a dog. This time, an 11 month old girl has been mauled to death in her bed by a supposed pet, which has since been destroyed.

Yesterday, our political masters voted to introduce a ban on smoking in any car in which a child is travelling. Today, the government has made it clear that such a ban, almost entirely unenforced and unenforceable, will be brought into effect in the near future and that contravention will be treated as criminal activity.

One has to wonder why it is that our politicians prefer to involve themselves in controlling the most minor aspects of our lives while ignoring far more serious issues. While cigarette smoke may be unhealthy and even lead to some irritation of the airways, no child has ever knowingly died from its effects; indeed, other than the contentious case of Roy Castle, no one has ever been known to die as a consequence of so-called 'passive smoking'.

Conversely, many people are attacked by dogs every year and some, mostly children, are killed. Our politicians have made half-hearted efforts to control so-called 'dangerous dogs', while ignoring the blatantly obvious fact that ALL dogs are potentially dangerous. They are basically wild animals which live by hunting, killing and eating other animals; they can, and do, carry an assortment of nasty diseases. We forget these facts at our peril.

So there we have it. While dangerous, and sometimes lethal, animals are allowed, and even encouraged, to roam freely amongst us, the government proposes to make criminals of anyone who dares to smoke in a car carrying children, an offence of no proven threat to life at all. Is it any wonder that the electorate are disenchanted with politics and politicians ?

BHUTTO A STORM IN A TEA CUP.

The idiotic fuss being made about some criminal who has, apparently, managed to be a member of both the Conservative and UKIP over the years is a fine example of the way in the which the media makes mountains out of mole-hills.

Mujeeb Bhutto has a fairly chequered history including being imprisoned for kidnapping. Obviously, such a person is a poor choice to be a political spokesman and one has to assume that those who granted him party memberships were unaware of his background, but then why should they have been ? He would hardly be the first member of a political party, or party spokesman, to have been found to be a crook.

One has only to consider the long list of MPs caught out fiddling their expenses, several of whom have been sent to prison, to realise that Bhutto is pretty far down the chain when it comes to criminality and political status. Politicians have lied and cheated for centuries - Chris Huhne, Jeffrey Archer, Jonathan Aitken and John Stonehouse all served prison sentences in recent years while many others from days gone by probably avoided such ignominy only because of powerful friends.

Bhutto does not bare comparison with these people and has only been in the news because of his association with UKIP, a party feared by all of the 'Big 3'; for Labour and the Liberals it's also manna from heaven that he's been shown to have been a one-time member of the Conservatives. In truth, it's all a storm in a teacup. 

VOTE UKIP.

CORRUPTION RIFE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION.

Today's BBC television news has been dominated by stories which have little merit or are anti-government. Top of the list was the supposed row about Michael Gove's activities as Secretary of State for Education, closely followed by the ongoing, and now rather tired, story about flooding, the death of some American actor of whom I've never heard, the trial of a Coronation Street actor, and so on. No mention of the single most significant story of the day so far, but then the BBC is a fervent supporter of the European Union, so why would it highlight the shortcomings of this dreadful organisation ? Indeed, this story is  even rapidly falling down the list of news items on the current version of what I still refer to as 'Teletext'.

While the EU's Home Affairs Commissioner has presented a report detailing the 'breathtaking' corruption which exists in the Union, the BBC news reported on a small 'sinkhole' opening up in High Wycombe; apparently the loss of a woman's car down this hole was considered more important than the identification of corruption within the EU amounting to £100,000,000,000 annually - that's £100 billion pounds, by the way, pretty much the budget of the entire NHS.

The commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem, has gone even further than this and said that she believes the true cost of corruption within the Union to be 'much more' based on a survey conducted for the report but, presumably, £100bn was all she felt fully confident of reporting. Thus far, there does not seem to have been any reaction to this appalling news from any British, or EU, politicians.

One has to wonder why anyone, except those benefiting from the corruption, would want to belong to such an organisation. The sooner we leave it, the better. VOTE UKIP.

GOVE HITS SCHOOLS, TEACHERS AND PUPILS WHERE IT HURTS !

While most of the Tory members of the Cabinet are namby-pamby wets, one stands out as a go-getting hardliner - Michael Gove.

Already facing criticism from the left wing, egalitarian liberals who infest our society, over his decision not to reappoint one Baroness Morgan as the head of 'OFSTED', he's now announced that he wants our schools to bring back 'traditional punishments' as  response to bad behaviour by their pupils. Gove sees this as meaning the return of proper detentions, lines and more community-based sanctions such as cleaning classrooms or weeding school grounds.

Baroness Morgan is a Labour life peer and a former adviser to Tony Blair; it can hardly be a surprise that a Tory-led administration would want to bring in a more like-minded head for such an important QUANGO, but that hasn't stopped Gove's deputy, the expenses fiddling Liberal David Laws, from being reported as being 'furious' with his boss over the matter. Gove simply says that he feels it is time to refresh the leadership of OFSTED; what's wrong with that ?

As for classroom discipline, it's surely about time that teachers were given the power to exert some genuine control over the louts whom they are often called upon to educate. Unsurprisingly, teachers unions, all predominantly left-wing bodies, are jumping up and down in their usual hysterical fashion but without actually saying anything very meaningful; effectively, they're just carrying out their normal activity of opposing anything which a right wing government attempt to do to improve our failed education system.

Listening to Gove on today's 'Andrew Marr show' on the BBC, he's now chucked in another little bomb, suggesting that it's high time the little darlings worked a bit harder by having longer school days. In my time at school, we worked from 9-4 with a lunch break and a short morning break; now, it seems, that the school day is more like 9-3 with frequent 'free' periods in between and, of course, an emphasis on a plethora of 'life style' subjects aimed at indoctrinating children in areas such as equality and diversity, personal relationships and so on. My own knowledge from teenagers of my acquaintance is that they do very little at school which is of any use to them and that there's very little in the way of sanctions for bad behaviour. One 'A'- level pupil, whom I know, spends no more than a handful of hours at school plus a few more at a placement; her actual effort is minimal and yet she expects to gain the equivalent of 4 'A'-levels in due course and then go on to university. When I was at school, she'd have been lucky to get on an 'A'-level course, let alone go to university.

It's well passed the time for a radical overhaul of our education system and Gove may well be the man to do it, if he's given long enough at the job. That, of course, is the issue, as always in British politics. Unless the Conservatives win the next election he'll be out of a job by May next year and that will be that.