And Another Thing…

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing wrote the failed EU Constitution.

The far shorter Reform (Lisbon) Treaty is engraved on his heart.

@Quietzapple – My first comment might have been libelous if it were directed at you, rather than just a general observation, but feel free to sue if you wish.

The rest of my post was directed at Mr Harris, whose blog this is. But considering you expect me, (and/or anyone else here), to know you quit the Labour Party in 1987 or anything else about you for that matter, I can see where you might have got confused.

And for the record. I don’t want out. I would, however, like my country to be run for the benefit of the population by a government who are adult enough to admit when they got it wrong.

Tom said “We cannot and should not farm out every policy decision to unelected advisers.”

Well then, I take it you’re in favour of scrapping all the quangos stuffed full of unelected New Labour apparatchiks you’ve created in 12 years?

The silence is deafening!

It would be one thing if teh governemtn said “we’ve heard teh scientific evidence, but want to keep Cannabis as Class B to avoid sneding out the ‘wrong message’” or similar comments. It is quite anotehr to say “the scientists are wrong” without any proof. The latter seems to be what happened.

Mr Harris, could you give a hypothetical example where the science definately says one thing (and the goevrnemnt agrees the with the science), but the government *should* do something different?

QZ I need no government to implement policies to protect me from what they claim is moral weakness. I’m a good citizen. I’ve raised fine kids. I’m knocking on 60 and if I want a pipe I’ll have a ****ing pipe regardless of any government and regardless of people with broomsticks up their arses.

Get real. There are millions like me out here, of all ages; the “war against drugs” was lost years – decades – ago. A realistic approach is needed that would benefit all, most of those the many, many victims of low-level drug-related crime.

But you know best, clearly.

Again I ask you, as you have so far ignored the question. Give me evidence that the criminalisation of drugs is of benefit to our society.

And whilst you are pondering your response, here is an article on the benefits Portugal has had from decriminalisation.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1893946,00.html

No doubt you will tell them they are wrong… (note ellipsis)

@Quietzapple
“You want out? Try Bolivia or somewhere else where they have a more cavalier approach to human life.”

And there we get to the crux. Your Christian view of life – you think you know what’s good for us regardless of what we think/want or what science says.

Why not return to your bronze-age mythology, abandon shell-fish and leave the 21st Century for grown ups who try to get their ‘facts’ from evidence and experience rather than revelation.

When you cry “think of the children”, tell them “just say no” when all the evidence points to the fact that the children are better protected by being open and honest about the effects and risks of drugs suggests that reason has bypassed you.

In fact, were it not for such a consistent on-message labour view, I’d consider you a Poe.

Please address this point Tom.

How do you feel about the lack of a referendum? Was that not a breach of your manifesto commitments (in spirit if not letter)? Is this an acceptable way to govern?

You are usually very frank, be frank about that.

You are the government. DC is the opposition. How about addressing the real reason why we will not have a manifesto whether the Tories win or not.

Obviously you are under no obligation to respond to my hot air but I cannot really see how you can maintain the two positions you do at present with a clear conscience.

Quietzapple

This is far from a flame war. We’re all being really nice and understanding with you because we can see that you have deep-seated problems; we feel for you and hope that you can overcome these barriers.

>Of course talking about drugs doesn’t
>necessarily lead to taking them, but
>“Expert says Pot less dangerous than
>Fags” does.

I’m not sure that anyones ever suggested that government advice leads to drug taking before, but here it is. You have the worst grip on causality I think I’ve ever come across.

This thread stands as testament to your ineptitude on this subject. The last believer in “just say no” also disapproves of “sado-masochistic practices”, apparently, and compares Alan Johnson to Jesus…all in a single thread. Is this part of a comedy routine? What are your thoughts on spanking? Where is the Quietzapple S&M threshold? Now you’ve brought it up, tell us what consenting adults should and shouldn’t be allowed to do to each other in the bedroom.

Your hysterical rantings are farcical at best, delusional for the most part – what sort of teenagers are listening to, and acting upon the advice of government advisors?!

You are the only person I’ve come across so far to suggest a causal link between teenage drug taking and Professor Nutt’s stance – utterly ludicrous. To round things off nicely, you suggest that people that don’t agree with you should leave the country, but it is clear from this thread that you are in a tiny minority, so perhaps you should consider your own residence.

Kristian

Awesome point, well made!

I despair that people don’t realise that a Government Minister would be most unwise to tell the public (including lots of impressionable kids) that he is concerned that Nutt’s campaign might push them in the direction of drug abuse.

Pretty much certain to fuel the fires.

I repeat that Tom’s blogs are frequented by Tory Trolls . . . oh, when time permits . . .

@Chris Monday 2 November 2009 at 4:45 pm
//Quietzapple//

Oh good. Not just me then. Started to feel like I was picking on him, but clearly not!

How can you wind your irregulars up with SNP rascals, Tom?

Is the ‘candidate’ in question a bit Archer?

Obviously worth watching, may be good value.

I suspect that some of these are related to Iain Dale’s collection, y’know, claiming one foot . . .

They can reduce the garden’s micro flora very effectively I gather . . .

This is the type of ‘listing’ of Labour’s achievement that needs to be broadcast throughout the forthcoming campaign. Great stuff.

Of course it all counts for nothing when you have failed to manage the most important part of government, the economy.

This has been the biggest failure in our history, you could not have handled it worse.

Good stuff. Though I’m not sure ‘Cancer Guarantee’ is a particularly happy phrase. And ‘More students then ever’ suggests the person putting the video together ought to become one of them.

Good video but I’d change the narrator if I were you.

About time Labour started boasting about what they’ve achieved.

Is the ban on cluster bombs one you want to highlight when we are engaged in two wars though?

It also begs for a response with all the other things Labour have done while in power that have been, imo, less beneficial to the country.

Rory – MPs cease to exist at the point when parliament is officially dissolved. As with my Twitter username, I wanted to rebrand the blog now so that I have one less thing to worry about when it all kicks off.

Tom,

First class stuff here. This is real achievement where everyone has benefited. I will wager you that not one of the ‘no-hopers’ on here will be poorer as a result of the Labour Government. These success stories are a result of real policies, something the Shamerons know nothing about.

‘Vote for me cos its, er, Patriotic to do so… change, etc, etc.’

Wooly rubbish. No wonder they are jittery!

@ Jamie Glackin

None of the “no-hopers” poorer? Ha!!

My pensions are screwed & I pay huge amounts more tax under Labour and I see my tax money being wasted & generally thrown into an abyss ever day of the week.

I’m working harder to stand still than ever before.

Wooly rubbish? you probably never even read or watched the speech . If not I suggest you do so & catch a dose of common sense.

Taxed to Death-

The Nation thanks you for the contribition you are making for the benefit of everyone in society.

What you describe as an abyss, I would describe as helping a child escape poverty through Working families and Child tax credits. That’s real Patriotism. Well done.

@ Jamie,

Happy to pay for those things just not all the other crap – see list above.

We conservatives do not eat babies for breakfast ya know

Correction: “We conservatives do not eat quite as many babies as we used to for breakfast ya know ”

Oh look:

Gov’t Gilts effectively downgraded by the market. As it says, the market leads, the ratings agencies follow – so expect the formal announcement over the coming weeks.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f14fb952-249e-11df-8be0-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

What does this mean? It demonstrates what the rest of the world thinks of the UK’s “economic miracle” & Labour’s stewardship of our economy.

What it also means is that it costs us more cold hard cash to fund Labour’s irresponsible borrowing (which is now expected to grow even larger following the downgrading of the Q2/Q3/Q4 GDP figures).

Chickens, home, roost.

LOL @ Tom

(we also do have a sense of humour about some things – just not the state of our country)

Ratings agencies? Does anyone still trust them?

The ratings agencies that decided securities backed by dodgy US mortgages but re-branded were worthy of A+ ratings? The agencies that decided Northern Rock and RBS had safe, secure policies?

Nice list by TTD, one that it would be nice to see Labour address, maybe go point by point on each one showing why TTD is wrong or what the trade off was that forced the government into each one (was an increase in NI justified by improving the NHS infrastructure for example).

@Paul: Doesn’t matter whether you trust the the ratings agencies or not, they couldn;t care less and nor could the lenders. The FACT is that they determine the ratings and that determines the coupon on the debt. You can moan about it all you like but the fact is we are now paying massively more to borrow than, for example, the Germans and the cost of our borrowing is and will head north as our rating heads south.

As to the list – go ahead & try – but this government has puposefully weaved such a tangled financial web it would be impossible.

However overall, the government was not forced to spend and waste all the money it has by anything or anyone except its own ideallogical foolishness.

If it was an individual or a business it would have been bankrupted years ago. The irresponsibility as far as our future is concerned is nonethe less, breathtaking. Suggest you get your head out the sand and look at just how deep the hole we are in is.

You can argue “but we had to have all these things” all you like. But quite demonstrably, we did not. To convince me (or anyone else) otherwise, tell me why we could not “cut our cloth” according to what we could afford just like other countries did and do?

@ Nicky “”I’m working harder to stand still than ever before.”

Said I. True – for less money (staying in my pocket)sadly

“Working hard? You’re working hard at writing posts on here (lovin’ all those emoticons, BTW)Just a “;” and a “)” or a “:” and “)” but I suspect that isn’t what you actually get paid to do. Unless you work for CCHQ, that is.”

Benefits of being self employed – there has to be one!

“Wooly rubbish? you probably never even read or watched the speech . If not I suggest you do so & catch a dose of common sense.”

Said I

“Cameron wouldn’t know commonsense if it bit him on the bum. What he is good at is coming out with a load of empty platitudes – for example, Regional Development Agencies are a BAD THING because they’re quangos, in his book.”

Says you:

Have you seen how much cash they burn for what they produce? It ain’t a good return.

“And yet in reality it’s been the RDAs that have been in the forefront of promoting good business,regenerating regions and creating jobs. ”

You mean like the 65% of people in the Newcastle area that now work for the public sector – sorry, those arn’t real wealth creating jobs.

“I read the transcript of Cameron’s speech – it was pretty thin stuff. Reactions to it on the Daily Mail website were quite interesting. Mail readers tend to go for the Tories by default, but they are decidedly underwhelmed and irritated by Cameron.”

Yes well, he’s not “Atilla the Hun” so he’s never going to please that lot!”

Try and dig a little deeper.