Just you carry on saying that Jean Claude, just say it again. I dare you. I double dare you.

Here

Listen son.  Since 1914 we have three times spent blood and treasure saving 'Europe' from itself.  Just why do we need to do that again?  Eh?  Just tell me why?  In any event us getting out will liberate European nations (once again) from the empire builders and grotty little strutting functionaries like you.

I've got your number son, and I know where you live.  If (when) it all goes pear shaped I'll be popping round to see you with three big mates to have a quiet word about your likely fairly short future.  Just you see if I won't.

Update

Some good graphs here.

Tolerance

Spotted by Bob E in The Globe & Mail:

"There’s an epidemic of obesity in our society. ... We want to do something to turn back the clock," OMA [Ontario Medical Association] president Doug Weir said in an interview... "If we want to keep health care sustainable in the province, we have to do something," Weir said.

In a policy paper in this month’s issue of the Ontario Medical Review, the OMA said the success of anti-tobacco campaigns shows that there is now more tolerance for what may be perceived as manipulative or coercive measures.

Headline Of The Day

Over at The Daily Mail. It's the sort of headline that somebody thinks up and then waits years for the appropriate story to come along.

Fun Online Polls: Localism and Xmas pantomimes

On a good turnout of 117 votes, the results to last week's Fun Online Poll were as follows:

I'd like local people to able to decide:

None of the [below] 66 votes
Whether there should be new roads or houses in their area - 50 votes
What type of businesses can be carried on in their area - 33 votes
Who is allowed to buy a car in their area - 16 votes
How many children families in their area are allowed to have - 17 votes
What jobs children in their area should do when they leave school - 14 votes

I was delighted that over half of respondents chose 'None of the above' (which produced the message 'Congratulations! You are a libertarian'), but given the self-selecting nature of any blog's readers, I suppose that might not be too much to ask.

I can't say I'm surprised that over third thought it was a good idea to allow 'local people' to block the construction of new roads or houses in their area, as this is the rich seam of small mindedness which the Lib-Cons are trying to tap into with their whole 'localism' agenda.

But what's terrifying/depressing is that over ten per cent of people thought it was a good idea for 'local people' to be able to decide what type of businesses are carried on; who is allowed to buy a car, how many children people are allowed to have; and what jobs other people's children should do when they leave school.

If we scale the results to reflect the real world, in which only about twenty per cent of people are relaxed about new developments in their area, the findings are pretty scary indeed. Is it really possible that well over ten per cent of the people in this country are authoritarian to the point of being an actual fascist, or who think that the Soviet Union or PR China was/is a good way to run a country?
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Anyway, I shall resist the temptation to do a Fun Online Poll "Are you stuck at the airport?" and reinstate the previous poll to the sidebar, let's see how much more hilarity we can wring out of that (some good comments so far).

OK lads, pull up the drawbridge!

From The Guardian:

Community groups will be given the right to... vote on new housing developments under powers to be unveiled on Monday as part of the government's "big society" project...

The bill will create:

• A community right to build, allowing homeowners to add extensions or loft conversions, or new homes to be built, as long as a simple majority in the area votes in favour.

Summa summarum, once these local groups of self-appointed fascists* are in charge, existing homeowners will almost automatically be given planning permission to stick on an extra room or two (thus banking the latent gain when the total value of the house increases by more than the cost of the work done, which it does in most cases); but there won't be any more new housing built for those who would like to be homeowners, so they'll have to settle for renting in perpetuity or buying somewhere much smaller (thus paying additional rent for permission to use duly enlarged existing buildings).

Applied to the business world, this is tantamount to saying that red tape for existing businesses will be reduced but you can only start a new business if you first obtain permission from all other businesses in the area.

* Interestingly, it was Nulabour who insisted on sticking the word 'community' into every sentence, which was their code for 'looking after our special interest groups' (this reached its apogee with the catch-all gibberish phrase in the community). The Lib-Cons have now merrily hijacked this and 'the community' is now code for their own favoured special interest groups; the NIMBYs and Home-Owner-Ists.

Fascist Health Scare Du Jour

From The Metro:

Children who have not had MMR jabs should* be banned from schools, a leading health official said yesterday. The ‘radical’ move was the only way to increase immunisation rates, said Dr Sohail Bhatti, director of public health for east Lancashire.

‘It’s what happens in France,’ he said. ‘There, you can’t be admitted to school unless you show your vaccination certificate. That’s what we call big society. You have a responsibility to be a good citizen and part of that is not spreading potentially fatal diseases to other children.'

... In 2008, a similar proposal by the Labour government was dubbed ‘Stalinist’ by the British Medical Association.

Question: do children who haven't had the MMR jab 'spread potentially fatal diseases'? Is there the slightest shred of evidence for this? Like most of my classmates, back in the day, I've had measles and mumps and am still alive.

Question: would the excluded children be given the cash equivalent of the cost of the school place that is denied them to try their luck in the free market?

Question: isn't that last comment from the BMA a bit rich?

Declaration of interest: both my children had the MMR jab.

* He who says 'should' is usually completely in the wrong.

Nazism and the FSA

I am not Mark Wadsworth.

Some of you may know that my business partner and I run a retail financial advice business. We are directly regulated by the Financial Services Authority. You may also know that I have long held the FSA to be one of the provisional wings of the political class. A latter day Stasi. I hold them in utter contempt.

The FSA's latest 'initiative' - really a simply self justificatory project to cover their epic failure - is called 'Treating Customers Fairly, TCF as it is known by all in financial services. Any of you with a vague understanding of philosophy will see the immediate flaw; what is 'fair' to one person may well be very 'unfair' to someone else. Basically it is utter bollocks.

We were recently required to attend a 'TCF Assessment Meeting' with FSA personnel at a football ground in a neighbouring town. An FSA apparatchik would ask us lots of questions to assess whether - in their opinion - we were 'treating our clients 'fairly'. After the opening niceties and a statement by the FSA appatachik as to how he was going to do his bit he started the questioning like this:

FSA. "I would like you tell me what you think we mean by 'treating customers fairly'?
Lola. Would you like to define what you mean by 'fairness'?
FSA, "We ask the questions!"

Yes, truly. He said "Ve ask zer qvestions". I stared at him and contemplated leaping to my feet with a Nazi salute and saying 'Jawohl. Herr Sturmbannfuhrer', but, to my lasting regret, I didn't.

What went rapidly through my mind was the consequences to my business partner and my clients if they were left in the hands of the Fascist shits when they proceeded to shut us down for the temerity of treating them like the total Hoons they are.

The meeting then proceeded, at the cost of a whole mornings work for both my business partner and myself.

Letters are going to go to my MP and various others. We shall see what happens. I will keep you posted.

(I couldn't post this until I had calmed down).

Lola