Total Clegg Up

Watch Clegg blame Conservative for just about anything. The man is deluded. The main interest starts about 2 minutes into the extract. It's like listening to Nick Griffin the BNP leader espousing his fear of immigrants but in reverse. Fearmongering at it's worst. Some background on the European Arrest Warrant which was also opposed by Liberty. As John Wadham, director of Liberty said of the Bill:

"Speeding up the bureaucracy of the extradition process needn't be a problem - but we need safeguards to ensure you aren't sent to a foreign prison, under foreign
laws, without good reason.

"This Bill, and the EU arrest warrant, seek to cut away those basic protections. Foreign authorities should need to show they have a
substantive case against the person to be extradited. We must have adequate protections against improper extradition".

BBC NEWS | Politics | Stand tall in Europe, Clegg urges

Gurkha Justice Campaign - Fighting and Dying for our Country

Nick Clegg on the Gurkhas

Mr Clegg said that there was an obligation to allow Gurkhas who have fought for Britain to settle there, and warned that the Prime Minister must find his moral compass soon if he is to avoid defeat in a vote this afternoon on last week's residency ruling.

He said the basic principle is that, “if people are prepared to fight and die for our country, they have the right to settle here”.

He added this afternoon’s debate and vote “is an opportunity for all MPs…this is a Prime Minister who once said he had a moral compass - he’s got to find it quickly”.

He went on to say the government is “in truly despicable fashion are trying to scare people” with the use of "totally fictional numbers" regarding the number of former Gurkhas who could settle in Britain under more relaxed rules.

“This ruling would mean Gurkha’s who fought in the Falklands war would have no right to settle here”.

Gurkhas are fighting for Justice. They want the same terms and conditions as their UK and Commonwealth counterparts.

Britain has had no greater friends than the Gurkhas. They have served all across the world in the defence of our Country for nearly 200 years. Over 45,000 died in the two World Wars as part of the British Army. They are still fighting in the British Army today.

You may have seen in the media that the Gurkhas have been fighting in Parliament and the Courts. Step by step, things are getting better - but there is a long way to go.

The Government decision of 25th April 2009 on Gurkha settlement rights is yet another huge betrayal of the Gurkhas who have served our country.

Only a tiny fraction of the Gurkhas who retired before 1997 will win settlement rights under the new policy. A Gurkha will have to have served 20 years or more or won one of a handful of medals: the big majority of Gurkhas served for 15 years under standard army policy.

You can read the full details of the Government's decision online.

The campaign for full Gurkha Justice will now be taken back into Parliament and the courts. The Government needs to know they will have a huge campaign against them who will commit to righting this wrong.

Please sign up to the campaign below. We will keep in touch with you about how you can help: there is now much that needs to be done.

Join me in the campaign: together, we can finally right this wrong.

PoliticsHome

Gordon Brown and his Lists

Nick Clegg told Gordon Brown today at PMQ's that he confused a "list" with answers. It also seems from this article by Irwin Stelzer in the Telegraph that Gordon confuses "lists" with Priorities and Actions.

The problem is that Gordon has lots of "lists" but nothing is in reality generated from them. As Mr Stelzer says

Unfortunately, he knows how to draw up an impressive list of goals, but cannot set priorities or figure out how to get there. He wants to end child poverty, but that can't be accomplished by increasing child benefits and dependency on the state, or raising the minimum wage to price teenagers out of jobs.

He wants to raise the productivity of British firms, but ensnares them in EU regulations that reduce workforce flexibility. He wants to increase the number of workers gainfully employed or on training schemes, but can't seem to grasp that continued payment of benefits makes the couch more attractive than the workplace.

Mr Brown wants the NHS circa 2008 to be as great a boon to Britain as it was at its founding 60 years ago, but can't quite accept that full patient choice and genuine, wide-open competition are a surer route to reform than more and more central directives.....

....Gordon Brown wants a richer, fairer nation, its citizens safe on the streets and in their homes, but insists on micromanaging every twist and turn on the route to that goal.

He understands, or says he does, the power of Adam Smith's invisible hand and the diffusion of power it creates.

But somehow, he can't resist relying instead on the clunking fist. It just seems to him so much more effective to do it alone, rather than to rely on the individual choices of citizens, free to pick their kids' schools, their own healthcare providers, and workplaces in which the rules suit them and their employer, rather than central planners' notions of the proper work/life balance.

As Mr Stelzer says at the end

"Too bad, not only for the Prime Minister, but for Great Britain."

I can only echo this sentiment on a day when it becomes more and more obvious that we are heading towards a recession that Gordon Brown has no idea how to handle.

Gordon Brown would achieve more by doing less - Telegraph