VOTING FOR OBLIVION

Enjoying a beer in the Strasbourg sunshine.

The week commencing the 24th October 2011 has been a funny old week. As readers of this blog will note I was in London on Monday for the mass lobby of Parliament campaigning for a referendum on EU membership, then the following morning it was back on the train to London, only this time to catch the Eurostar train on to Paris then the French TGV to Strasbourg - one of the homes of the evil empire known as the EU.

I travelled with Mrs B and my bother Bruce and his wife Chris, we arrived in the evening and the following day, which was bright and sunny, we had a day free to explore Strasbourg, which despite being blighted with one of the two EU Parliaments, is a beautiful city and well worth a visit.

The reason for our few days away, and of course no blogging here, was for a visit to the Parliament, and what a time to visit. Literally in the early hours of Thursday morning the EU leader finally agreed a pact to try to save their euro, which may have a reprieve due to their actions but will, in fact, never be saved as it was always doomed to fail.

As we and the group of other invited visitors sat in the balcony above, Herman Van Rompuy and Comrade Barroso made their historic speeches below where we sat - all tosh of course.

In their mind their euro, which I referred to as “urines” during my visit, is saved, but at what cost? It is costing the Greeks, and any other eurozone nation that lands in the same economic trouble, their democracy, freedom and sovereignty as the whole package has been designed to give the EU ever more control. All member nations, including us here in the UK, are now obliged to present our budgets to the EU for inspection - this is unprecedented. At a time when Cameron is talking utter drivel about repatriating powers from the EU - it is doing the very opposite and grabbing even more for itself.

Cameron and we Willy Hague can talk about taking back powers from the EU until EU approved cows come home, but unless they are intent on taking Britain out of the EU - which s the only real way power can be returned from the EU, they are doing nothing else but confirm what deceitful and dangerous people they are.

While in Strasbourg on that Thursday evening, I was actually a UKIP candidate in a local Walsall Council by-election in Bloxwich East - the result was not good - only 98 votes. The Labour candidate took the ward from the Conservatives, who in turn may take it back next May when the local elections take place. Sadly, the voters have chosen to continually vote for the two main political parties that have landed this nation in the mess it is in and which those very voters moaned to me about on their doorsteps in the run up to the vote. If they keep voting for these parties it is no wonder Cameron, Clegg and Milliband can get away with all the meaningless tosh they spout and continually get away with it. They are talking us into oblivion and sadly, the electorate keep voting for it.

WAVING TWO FINGERS

Campaigners outside Parliament calling for a referendum on the EU.

When is the right time to leave a sinking ship? Surely the answer should be - before it sinks below the waves and takes you with it. So when David Cameron states that it is not the right time to hold a referendum on the EU it can only be presumed he wants to be like the captains of old who went down with their ships. The trouble is captain Cameron will take all of us with him when the EU goes down, as it is certain to do.

Not content with wanting to see our nation sink and drown just because Cameron wants to help bail out the EU version of the Titanic, a large number of campaigners gathered outside the Houses of Parliament to lobby their Members of Parliament to ask them to vote in favour of the long overdue referendum on our sad involvement with the EU. On the night of the 24th October 2011 the not so Honourable Members came back with their response - in effect they gave a Parliamentary two fingers to the people they are allegedly there to represent.

The voters of Britain should remember the 24th October when it comes to the next general election - then it will be their turn to demonstrate their prowess with two fingers!

CORRUPT TACTICS

There has always been something about David Cameron that has reminded me of Ted Heath. Cameron may be a bit more stylish than Heath was in his day, Cameron may be married with a young family, unlike Heath who remained a bachelor, also Cameron may come across as less curmudgeonly than Heath, but Cameron is without doubt proving my theory correct.

On the issue of surrendering this nation to full control by the EU, both men have shown the same deceit and devious tactics – both were, and are, blatant liars.

Heath lied through his teeth when he said there would be no loss of sovereignty, he hid the true facts of what was intended, finally admitting years later on TV that he lied. Heath was a traitor who by signing the Treaty of Rome gave this nation away.

Cameron deceived his own members in the Conservative Party by pretending to be a Eurosceptic. He deceived the electorate by promising a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, then going back on that very promise using feeble excuses that it was already signed. If he is the Prime Minister of this land his Government can repeal anything that is bad for Britain – he didn’t despite the devastating attack upon the British constitution the Lisbon Treaty represents. Heath and Cameron are men of the same unpleasant and devious, treasonous, lying cloth.

He has now been forced, due to growing pressure, to allow a debate on the matter of holding a referendum on the EU in Parliament. To show his utter contempt for democracy and the voice of the people he is going to impose a three-line whip to force his Tory MPs to vote against the option of holding a referendum – this is the man who in the run up to the 2010 general election Conservative activists all over the country said a vote for Dave was a vote against the EU – those poor souls who were deluded into thinking they were voting for an EU-sceptic Prime Minister and Government were duped, conned and well and truly stitched up – they voted for a rabidly pro-EU Prime Minister and Government. If only the Trades Description Act applied to these treacherous people.

If you want a referendum on this issue then you will need to pressurise your Member of Parliament, this can be done by clicking this link: http://www.writetothem.com/ and writing to your Member of Parliament and demand they represent you.

My own MP is Valerie Vaz, sister of the EU fanatical Keith, despite there being little chance of madam Vaz taking note and voting in favour of a referendum, this below is what I have written to her.

“Soon you will be given a vote in Parliament on holding a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the European Union.

The British people have only ever been given one say on this most important of issues in 1975, this means that not one person under the age of 54 has ever had an opportunity to have a say on this, added to which the 1975 referendum was based on some very suspect facts, many even consider that referendum to be the most corrupt and fraudulent plebiscite this nation has ever held.

In 1975 I personally voted in favour of remaining in what was then the Common Market based on the information provided by the Government at that time. We were specifically informed that there would be no single currency, no laws would be made and imposed upon us and that membership was nothing more than a trade agreement to benefit industry and jobs.

As we all know, that was a pack of lies, that 1975 referendum was based on deceit. It is way past time the British people were given a say on membership of the European Union which is costing us vast sums of money, forcing businesses to move abroad and the loss of jobs – we need the mechanism for a controlled withdrawal from the EU and this referendum will give us the opportunity to begin that most needed of processes.

Please vote in favour of calling a referendum and give your constituents their chance to have a say.”

Sadly, there is a great danger that if we do get the chance of a referendum, it is taking a great risk. You only have to look at the 1975 referendum for a perfect example of what we will be in for should a future referendum on EU membership come about. That 1975 referendum was the most dishonest, corrupt and biased vote this nation has ever held. Foreign money poured into the ‘Yes’ side while the ‘No’ side had few funds. Scare tactics were used such as the threat of war again in Europe, jobs lost and Britain being too small to be on its own – all those dishonest arguments will return and the public will be scared into voting to stay in the EU despite their growing dislike for it.

Yes, we want a referendum, but we want an equally funded and honest referendum. The chances are neither of these options will be available to us, which is almost fitting that corrupt tactics will be the only way any Government will be able to keep us enslaved to the corrupt EU.

THE EURO IS ON ITS WAY OUT

Hot off the internet is news of the inevitable demise of the EU's distasterous euro. Whatever you do ensure you read Ambrose Evans-Pritchard who is the Daily Telegraph's highly informed economics expert.

OH NO, NOT ANOTHER ONE

Wallsall Council, you may as well bang your head up the Council House Wall for all the good it would do to get the Council to listen to sense on car parking charges.

Regular readers of this blog may remember the item I posted last week which covered my by-election campaign in Bloxwich East and the constituent who, like many others, was wrongly fined at the Crown Wharf shopping complex on the edge of Walsall town centre.

The car parking at this place has become notorious due to its system of automated car registration recognition and people having to punch in their car numbers when they pay to park – loads of people have fallen victim, including this lady who, after seeing my election address, got in touch with me about this.

I am pleased to say that she took my advice, thanks too to the insistence of her very sensible husband, and posted a recorded delivery letter to Parking Eye pointing out the fact that she had paid and not overstayed her time. She called me this morning (17th October 2011) to let me know the good news that they have rescinded the fine. They claimed she had punched in the wrong registration number when paying at their machine, but as someone who has used the system before she knows she did everything correctly.

What has come out of this is the fact that company, and the shops that pay rent at the Crown Wharf, have a serious problem due to the notoriety this shopping complex’s car park is picking up. There have been a number of press items of motorists being fined despite the fact they have paid, which must now be putting many shoppers off using this place – including this lady who vows never to go there again.

She said that once she started telling people about what happened to her she found it had happened to no end of others too – some had just paid up to avoid any hassle but no longer shop there. Once bitten twice shy, as they say. Even at the post office when paying for the recorded delivery for her letter to Parking Eye, the lady behind the counter said: “Oh no, not another one”, which makes you wonder just how many people have become victims of Parking Eye. As I said before, if we had free parking there would be no problem and businesses and Walsall would profit from it – but try telling that logical fact to Walsall Council – you may as well as bang your head up the wall of the Council House for all the good it would do.

A TRIAL RUN IN BLOXWICH EAST

The other day I wrote on this blog about my campaign in the Bloxwich East by-election and my help for the lady who had unfairly received a parking fine, even though she had fully paid up and had not contravened any parking restrictions. Thanks to help I am getting from UKIP activists in the Midlands who are delivering my election addresses to the homes in the ward, campaigning is going great guns.

One thing with this by-election is the fact it is the perfect opportunity for the people to give UKIP in Walsall a trial run. Sadly, many voters are reluctant to move away from their habits of a lifetime and continue voting for either the Labour or Conservative parties, even though those parties have consistently failed them. One party many have stopped voting for are the Liberal Democrats, which is why UKIP often polls higher than them in many local elections.

However, as Bill Tweddle, who was the Councillor who sadly passed away was due to be re-elected next May, whoever is elected in this by-election in Bloxwich East will have to re-stand during the local elections next year. This then is the perfect opportunity for the people in the ward to give UKIP a test run, as it were, just to see how well we do as a new political face on Walsall Council. I have confidence that if they decide to give me a test run up until the local elections next May they will be pleased with what UKIP can do for them – they have nothing to lose and this is the perfect opportunity to test out a different political way of doing things.

As I go around the ward people I speak to are very disillusioned with the old political parties that are responsible for running this country into the ground over the decades, the Way Walsall Council is run is no better. Parking fees and fines are killing trade in Walsall and Bloxwich as shoppers move away to places that provide free parking – I have been campaigning against this madness and if elected will really stand up against parking charges and call for free parking periods. There’s a lot more that needs doing and if elected I will make a start during my trial run.

By electing someone such as myself who will have a lot to prove in a short time means the people of Bloxwich North will have a lot to gain and nothing to lose, other than the incompetence that has shadowed Walsall Council for years.

BARROSO IN THE BUNKER

Here he goes again, Nigel Farage the UKIP leader giving some well deserved stick to the EU Commission President, Jose Barroso. Watch and enjoy.

A SIMPLE ANSWER - FREE PARKING

Standing in elections brings all sorts of differing experiences, over the years since I first joined the Referendum Party in 1996 I have stood in four general elections and, to be honest, I have lost track of the number of local elections I have stood in. And now I am at it again as the UKIP candidate in a by-election in the Bloxwich East Ward in Walsall.

Most local elections tend to be fairly low-key events, as the old political quote goes, why go around stirring up apathy? Sadly, that’s all that seems to happen in most local elections. As we plod the streets delivering our election addresses we get to meet people cleaning cars and tidying up gardens and say hello. Before you even speak to them the look on their faces says: ‘Oh lord, what’s he going to try to sell me now’. When you tell them who you are you get one of four responses. They either say: ‘Nah, never heard of you mate, I don’t do politics’, or: ‘You’re all the same – I don’t trust any of you’, then there are the depressives: ‘I know what you’re saying and stand for, but it’s all too late, you can’t change anything and you can’t win’, then finally, God bless ‘em, you get the supporters who are always pleased to meet you. These wonderful souls wish you good luck, tell you they will definitely vote for you and best of all, slag-off your political opponents by telling you how useless they all are.

After all this, come election day after the polls close at 10 pm, you head off to the town hall and never get the size of vote you had hoped for, although these days it’s not quite so bad as more often than not we in UKIP are gaining more votes in local elections than the Liberal Democrats – who incidentally, are nowhere to be seen in Bloxwich East as they are not even putting a candidate up.

Generally this by-election, which is due to be held on Thursday 27th October, is following the same pattern. However, yesterday I took a call off a lady who, like so many in recent times, has fallen victim to the parking regime employed at a shopping complex close to Walsall Town centre. In recent times car parking in Walsall has become a battleground. On one side you have a beleaguered army of shoppers and traders who are under constant attack from Walsall Council and their army of parking wardens – or ‘enforcement officers’, as we are supposed to call them. These blighters spring up from nowhere and slap tickets on vehicles around the town for the slightest parking infringements, whilst on the other hand shoppers are giving up the one sided struggle and taking their money and business elsewhere leaving the towns traders, and the jobs they give, in the lurch.

The lady in question, who lives in the Bloxwich East Ward, saw my election address in which I had commented on 'Walsall Council’s excessive car-parking charges’, and called me – she had just become another victim of the Crown Wharf’s parking enforcement system which is fining people even though she had fully complied with all the parking charges, times, and other rules. This place is creating quite uproar in the town as all sorts of people become victims.

Like many she had driven in, paid at one of the nearby machines for two hours parking, which had to be the second machine she came across as the first was faulty, put in her car registration number, as she had done many times before, and after 37 minutes she drove away and forgot about this very mundane experience – that was until yesterday (11th October 2011).

Yesterday a parking fine of £85 landed on her doormat and made her one very upset lady, which was when she called me after seeing my election address – she even thought I was already a Councillor even though, despite the plethora of elections I have stood in over the years, I have never been elected – sadly.

My advice to this lady was to write to the parking enforcement company, Parking Eye, and inform them that she had paid and not overstayed her time and post it by recorded delivery to ensure they got it. The poor lady, who like the vast majority pay their bills on time, never infringe any laws and make sure they always park their cars correctly and pay in full, live in fear of the might of the law when they themselves become its victims. Her response was that she was going to pay the fine, which was reduced if paid within a fortnight, to avoid any further trouble and complain after.

As stated this parking system at the Crown Wharf in Walsall as become quite a talking point in the town due to so many innocent drivers incurring parking penalties. When speaking to others it seems this lady had discovered a number of her friends and acquaintances had also fallen victim and just meekly paid up vowing never to return –as this lady was planning to do. This is where I did a bit of digging.

I looked up the details of the people who own and run the Crown Wharf and in a telephone call to them asked about the parking system. I was put in touch with a chap named John who denied there was any problem there but, according to him, occasional glitches do occur – hmm. He was actually quite a nice chap and explained that anyone, such as the ward constituent I was calling on behalf, finds they get a fine that was incorrectly issued, just write to the enforcement company, Parking Eye, and it will be sorted as their system keeps accurate records. He said a lot of people enter the wrong car registration which then creates a problem with the automated registration plate system they have there. However, as the lady in the ward, who by now was a jabbering wreck, assured me that she had done everything correctly, including entering her car registration.

I am pleased to say that even though I am not elected, by getting in touch with this company I was able to help her and she and her husband intended to pen a few words which, hopefully by the time you are reading this, will be in the post to Parking eye, and the outcome will be an apology from the company for the aggravation they have created.

Sadly, in towns and cities all around the country these minor disasters are all to often a common occurrence. Councils and the companies they employ are making substantial amounts of money in parking charges and the fines they collect. For those who read Richard North’s highly acclaimed EU Referendum blog will have seen his expose in several postings of how councils around the country are raking it in from fines, and not all of what they are doing is legal either.

As misery is created for businesses and shoppers by councils everywhere, including Walsall Council, and none of them giving a care in the world for what they are doing, there is a simple answer – free parking. No fines, no problems and busy town centres – or is that too hard a concept for our councils and councillors?

If you are a Parking Eye victim you may find the below contact details of use.
info@parkingeye.co.uk
appeals@parkingeye.co.uk

ParkingEye Limited
PO Box 565
Chorley
PR6 6HT

LORD HESKETH JOINS UKIP

The big new for those of us in UKIP today is that of Lord Hesketh, doing what a sizable number of us did many years ago, and has given up all hope of the Tory Party and joined UKIP. Welcome to our ranks your lordship.

Simon Heffer, the Daily Mail colulmnist who is also a big UKIP supporter, interviews Lord Hesketh, it's worth a read.

WHOSE HE TRYING TO SCREW NOW?

What on earth is he up to? This question is aimed at our ex-PM, John Major, the man responsible for signing one of the worst EU treaties possible and ensuring the demise of his own political party.

He signed the Maastricht Treaty which paved the way for the launch of the EU’s euro which is now wreaking havoc across the economies of Europe, which ensured that each and everyone of us became European citizens even though no one asked for the dubious and suspect citizenship (I have renounced mine). It is thanks to John Major we now have to travel abroad with our flimsy, nasty little EU passports, we have EU driving licences and all sorts of other EU symbols of nationhood which now blight our daily lives.

No doubt, after news of his statement this morning (10th October 2011) that the EU crisis was an opportunity to grab back powers from the EU must have had people all over the nation chocking on their toast. The man who gave away as much, if not more than the treacherous Ted Heath is now declaring that we should “negotiate for a looser form of Europe”, which he also stated he wanted to see in the 1980’s. If that was the case why on earth did the dim-wit sign the Maastricht Treaty which gave exactly the opposite?

It is no wonder many people fled the Conservative Party in droves during his disastrous Premiership, including this one time rock solid Tory voter. Sadly, he has set the standard for all Tory leaders who have followed him whose message is, talk tough on the EU then do the opposite. David Cameron is keeping the tradition alive which Major started and people, including those still happy to be duped in the Tory ranks, are being deceived into thinking the Conservative Party will actually do something to stop us being dominated by the EU – what fools if they believe that. Major may have screwed Currie, but he’s got another thing coming if he thinks he can screw the rest of us.

THE GERMANS ARE REVOLTING

As the EU continues to deepen the hole it is digging for itself trying desperately to save its pointless vanity currency, the euro, which will inevitably collapse, German opinion, which once could always be relied upon, is now changing. Although in German with subtitles, this short video is well worth watching. Are the Germans revolting against the EU at last?

NORMAL EU PETTIFOGGING LIFE GOES ON

Nigel Farage speaking at the UKIP conference in Eastbourne, the only party leader to speak of leaving the European Union.

The conference season is over, all the political parties have held their annual autumn shindigs at venues around the country, a lot of hot air and meaningless rhetoric expounded and, using the terminology of David Steel, they have returned to their constituencies and prepared to be governed by the EU.

Out of all the conference, the one I attended, naturally, was the UKIP conference in Eastbourne. This was the only conference where the issue of really governing ourselves was dealt with honestly; UKIP after all is the only serious political party which wants Britain out.

The Liberal Democrat conference was a fest of Tory bashing, which must have placed Clegg and some others in a difficult position as they have to work in the Coalition Government with the Tories. As expected with a Liberal Democrat get together little common sense was on display and nothing of use came out of it.

The Labour conference had lots of waffle, its leader, Ed Milliband proved just how useless he really is and took a lurch to the left, which will cost them votes and support – what a silly Milly he is. No doubt that is all you can expect from someone who grew up in a far left and Communist leaning background.

Finally, the Tories marched on Manchester and, as is the way with Tory conferences, had a very PR and slick event especially designed to prevent anyone with real Tory values from having a presence. Mind you, there can’t be many real Conservative’s left in that party as most of them gave up in utter despair.

They talk tough about the EU – then do as it instructs. Cameron and Hague have really shown their pro-EU colours and flatly refused a referendum on it, despite the growing pressure for one and increasing hostility in the nation to EU membership. All Hague could offer was the vague twaddle that they will stand firm against the EU when the time is right. What utter nonsense.

There was a lovely moment when Theresa May spoke about new guidance to British judges on the Convention on Human Rights, this was because one judge refused to deport an illegal immigrant due to him owning a cat. The press instantly had headlines shouting ‘Cat flap’ when that useless lump of pro-EU lard, Ken Clarke, denied such a thing. This gave a nice touch of embarrassment and red faces in the blue ranks.

Of course, as with all their rhetoric, none of it means anything anyway as they cannot do a thing about the Convention on Human Rights as it is now enshrined in the Lisbon Treaty, which Gordon Brown signed while he thought no one was looking. The only way possible to deal with this and amend it is to leave the EU, which of course is not an option for Cameron and Hague – so normal EU pettifogging life goes on with the Tories doing as it instructs.

Next Spring, before the local elections, it will all start again as the parties hold their spring conferences, and once again only UKIP will mean what they say.

REMEMBERING THEM

Fred English and HMS Formidable plaque.

What do you remembers of the Blair years in Government? For most, other than the most ardent and blinkered Labour Party supporter, not much good came out of his time in office.

Under the Blair Government he and his Ministers did a great deal of harm to this nation, he surrendered great chunks of sovereignty to the EU, gave up a massive chunk of our national rebate costing British taxpayers heavily, and he also ensure that all British subjects were vulnerable to the EU’s snatch squads under the EU Arrest Warrant, over 1000 British people have become its victims.

However, every dark cloud has a little chink where the light can shine through, one glimmer of which, along with Mrs B and my old father-in-law Fred, we visited last Saturday (1st October 2011). This was the National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas, which is not that far from my home in Walsall.

This, of course, is a place where we can all go to remember all those who fought and died in conflicts for this country, which is ironic that the Blair Government, which so enthusiastically set about destroying Britain, were the ones to ensure we had a place of remembrance for those who defended the nation, our democracy and freedom which Blair seriously undermined.

We had been promising Fred for quite some time we would take him, but never seemed to have the opportunity. He served in the Royal Navy in the Pacific during the latter part of the war on HMS Euryalus, which was the sister ship to HMS Belfast which is now a popular visitor attraction in London.

As we had not visited the National Arboretum before we were unsure as to what to expect. I imagined it would be busy with visitors all peacefully wandering around quietly showing their respects and the place would be a haven of quiet contemplation. The last thing I thought we would see was hoards of hairy motor bikers and great convoys of bikes of all types. It seems out of all the days we had chosen to visit was the same day the Royal British Legion Bikers club hold their annual fundraising event.

There were hundreds of bikes and their large hairy riders in all the usual motorcycling gear, some wearing berets and medals to show their military background. Instead of quiet contemplation there were mobile burger bars, and a rock band blasting out the place with Status Quo, which was not quite what we had expected.

It seems the bikers organise and raise sum very substantial sums of money from this and other events in support of the Royal British Legion, so it was worth forgoing the contemplation and just enjoy the atmosphere – which we did. The quiet contemplation can come on our next visit.

The first area we headed for was the Naval area, which was on one corner of the arboretum’s large grounds. Each young oak tree had a plaque, all in remembrance of ships and those who served on them. Others areas had plaques for the different military groups and operations – even with Status Quo blasting away in the distance it was still quite moving to see.

We looked around for a plaque for Fred’s old ship, but none was to be found, although there was a plaque for those who served in the Pacific and East India fleet. We did, however, find a stone with a plaque on top in remembrance of the aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, which was the ship Fred’s brother Harry served on, also in the Pacific fleet at the same time.

The minute Fred saw it he became quite emotional. A couple standing nearby asked if the Formidable had been his old ship and I related how the two brothers were both in the Pacific on the two ships. The Formidable had sustained heavy damage and loss of life after a Japanese kamikaze attack, naturally Fred feared the worse for his older brother, who fortunately was unscathed. He was notified by his ships telegraph officer as they knew the two brothers would be worried about each other.

Harry took his demob in Australia and married his Aussie girl and spent the rest of his days in Sydney working, until retirement, for the Sydney Herald newspaper. He passed away a few years ago. Fred and Harry only met once after the war when Harry made a visit to his old country. However, they always telephoned each other and wrote on a regular basis and Fred keeps in touch with Harry’s daughter and other family down under.

Without doubt we will return to the National Memorial Arboretum, with Armistice day coming we will remember them.

The National Memorial Arboretum.