Public Funding For Political Sins

I do not find the subject of party political donations of particular importance or interest. It is a relatively minor and trivial issue when you consider just how much else is wrong with the way our country is being governed.

Yet, without wishing to dwell for particularly long on what has become a media soap-opera issue, I believe it is worth briefly reflecting upon the underlying consequences that this week’s events will undoubtedly have for us all.

Now, it seems quite clear that within the past few days, Gordon Brown and the Labour party have been attempting to switch the focus of media scrutiny from their recent illegal misdoings to that of party funding. The decision by the Prime Minister to discuss political ‘transparency’ strikes me as that of a man desperately trying to make the most out of a bad situation – but then really this is as much as to be expected.

As it stands, the Conservative party currently desires to break the longstanding link between the Trade Unions and the Labour party, while conversely Labour wishes to remove wealthy Conservative party donors including Michael Ashcroft and Irvine Laidlaw from the marginal seat equation.

Yet, while solutions to the supposedly urgent problem of illegal donations that were previously touted included a cap on individual donations and electoral spending limits, in shifting the media spotlight from solely his party to that of how all parties are funded, Gordon Brown has once again allowed the old idea of public funding for political parties to rear its head.

Click here to continue reading the article…

And Yet It Moves

‘Eppur si muove’ or so Galileo Galilei is rumoured to have said of the Earth shortly after his recantation at the hands of the Roman Inquisition in 1663 over his blasphemous Copernican claims that the Earth revolved around the Sun.

Much like Galileo, the modern day EU space project which bears his name continues to move steadily towards realisation, with the Commission and their accountants moving heaven and earth to keep their dream aloft.

The Galileo programme formally began as far back as February 1999 when the Commission first presented plans for its initial creation. However, who can say for how long before this point the elites in the backrooms and expensive restaurants throughout Europe had nursed their egotistical desires?

Until recently, Galileo appeared to have somewhat stalled. The Westminster Parliament was making noises suggesting that it might not provide its backing, and general EU funds had seemingly dried up. Yet, having invested so much time and effort wallowing in their own vanity, the EU Commission were unlikely to throw the towel in over the small issue of funding the estimated extra €2.4bn Galileo apparently requires – a cost which without doubt will dramatically rise as times passes.

To negotiate around this minor financial inconvenience, the EU’s accountants have managed to allocate the necessary funds by means of a transfer of surplus from the Common Agricultural Policy, thus staving off calls for the whole project to be scrapped for the time being at least. To the clinking of champagne flutes much self-congratulation and backslapping probably ensued.

Click here to continue reading the article…

Kaplinsky Offloaded

Joy of joys; that toweringly great moral and intellectual authority otherwise known to many as BBC News presenter Natasha Kaplinsky, is reportedly set to leave her post at the BBC for Channel Five and three million pound contract.

She takes her over-inflated celebrity chasing ego with her to Channel Five where I cannot imagine her new colleagues will be particularly impressed with her ludicrously over the top salary for simply reading an auto-cue.

Since hardly anyone bothers to watch Channel Five news, few people will have to suffer seeing much of her for the foreseeable future. Now, all the BBC need do is let go a few more of their highly overpaid celeb stars such as Dermot Murnaghan, Terry Wogan and Jonathan Ross.