Polly At The End of Her Brave New World

It's all over for me

Polly’s world must be collapsing around her:

The fall of the Social Democrats in Sweden reverberates around Europe, but sends particular shudders through those close friends of Goran Persson in Labour ranks. As strangers occupy Stockholm's governing corridors, here is a chilly memento mori for Labour.

OK Pol… I understand that you’re in a delicate emotional state at the moment given that your utopia of free love state intervention and the answer to all your problems has in fact been wisely thrown out by those crazy Swedes.

I understand that… but if you’re going to make pretentious comment about a “chilling memento mori” at least demonstrate that you have an above Sure Start education by actually knowing what one is.

You write a memento mori as a warning of death to the Labour Party. Bollocks! A memento mori is a tomb carving frequent in the early medieval showing an effigy of the decayed body underneath the effigy of the occupant in life. There’s a good one in Canterbury Cathedral.

What an irony that the victors - 41-year-old Fredrik Reinfeldt's New Moderates - modelled themselves on New Labour. They took power by ditching old promises to savage the welfare state, rebranding themselves as near Social Democrat clones. Reinfeldt won by doing what David Cameron does, sounding so Social Democratic no voter could take fright. Unsurprisingly, Cameron is in close touch with the New Moderates.

Polly… you’re clinging to a dead past (would you like a memento mori carving to honour it?). Russia has proved that the hard left socialist ideal just doesn’t work. What we’re left with is this whole “mythical” centre ground issue that lefties like you bang on about and the more firebrand tories go on about.

The truth is, this is not far different from life before the Russian Revolution, government and opposition differed about the details of how they would run the country as opposed to this great capitalist and socialist ideological divide. Of course they sound similar, they are similar. But there’s a strong enough difference to base a vote on.

Here is Labour's fear. How can a good government lose power when the country is flourishing?
With a rising growth rate of 5.6%, low interest rates, thriving manufacturing and exports Britain would die for, how did it happen? True, unemployment is a problem - but hardly worse than in much of the EU, while Sweden's welfare system is the envy of the world. Abroad, Persson wasn't hampered by two unpopular wars with no end in sight. So why?

Let me take a wild stab in the dark Pol… the fecking 55% tax rate?

Swedish Social Democrats held many sessions with Labour about "how to renew in office",

I think of course that could be how they lost… if you’re going to ask New Labour how to renew they’ll probably tell you to make sure your DPM bones his secretary and that you flog peerages.

Visiting Sweden during the campaign and talking to those ruefully picking over this week's result, I can see stern lessons for Labour. Persson's party ran out of steam. Its leader stayed far too long, a risk Labour faces if there is a seamless Blair/Brown continuity of more of the same, going on and on. Brown seems dangerously eager to emphasise "no change" on every policy of importance. But change or die is the lesson of Sweden.

Ooooo…. Let’s hope they pick die! She had to get around to it sooner or later didn’t she? The only way for Labour to get in is to ditch Blair and go for her throbbing Viking. I’ll bet that would get her interest rates rising!

Persson forgot his wise maxim: in opposition the left must behave like a government, and in government it must act like an insurgent opposition.

Perhaps if his, and our, government behaved like a government in government then they wouldn’t be chucked off to the opposition. Cross your mind Polly?

Here's the other great lesson from Sweden. They forgot about women - yes, even in Sweden.

How can a country that gave us Swedish Erotica really have forgotten about women?

Sweden's women ministers fumed during the campaign as Persson ignored the party's record on childcare and maternity and paternity leave, which should have been the Social Democrats' proudest electoral assets. He let the right set the agenda with traditional male politics when it is the women-friendly subjects that win the Social Democrat vote.

So the women ministers fumed? Did they get out and campaign on these issues alongside their government or did they pop down to the shops for some more shoes and let the men get on with it before blaming the men for them losing their jobs.

But in opposition look how Cameron's campaign is devoted to pleasing women, in tone, style, words and demeanour: the polls tell him women are more green, family-minded and worried about work-life balance. Never mind if it's all empty mood music, trading on what Labour has done without promising anything more than mild exhortation

Oh for feck’s sake Pol back that up with some evidence will you? We all know that the Tories policy groups are not reporting back for another year. We all know that. We’re not expecting a policy. We’re not in the business of rushing an ill thought out headline grabbing policy initiative that’s doomed to failure, that’s what Blair’s done and it’s cost him dearly.

Argue the strength or lack of strength of Tory policies when they arrive Pol. In the meantime you haven’t got a fucking clue what you’re talking about.

Above all, Labour needs a woman as deputy leader.

Why? Why does it need a woman Polly? First off that’s just sexism, it’s as wrong as saying “what this party needs is a white man in charge”. Secondly you seem to be suggesting that women will only vote for women. You’re talking shite girl.

What a pathetic figure Ming Campbell cut in an ill-advised photo opportunity on the beach with his tiny cohort of women - only nine out of 63 MPs; yet the Lib Dems, like the Tories, still refuse to use quotas to get more women into parliament. Labour has 97 women MPs.

Yup:
- Patricia Hewitt
- Hazel Blears
- Tessa Jowell
- Claire Short
- Glenda Jackson

The list of great British fecking success stories just keeps on trucking doesn’t it?

Sick Bastards! But At Least They'll Have a Hospital

Yesterday’s Times featured Nulab at its most insidious.

“A SECRET meeting has been held by ministers and Labour Party officials to work out ways of closing hospitals without jeopardising key marginal seats, The Times can reveal.”

Vision clouding….. rage taking over….

These people make me fucking sick, and sick is the last thing I need to be since as a Tory voter my hospital will be closed down. I blogged many times that NuLab is only working for its own interest and fuck the rest of us. How much more evidence do we need?

We see self detonating Islamic morons all over the place trying to further their agenda but at least they are clear and honest about their agenda and what they’ll do to achieve it. New fucking Labour put the fucking smiling grin of Blair on the telly and then set about royally ass raping us with a melon.

“Details of the meeting, revealed in e-mails passed to The Times, show that it included Hazel Blears, the Labour chairman, political advisers from No 10 and even — at the request of Ms Blears — a Labour Party representative.”

A Labour Party representative???? Not a Labour MP I could understand that but a Labour Party representative!!! Why is an unelected leftie fecktard helping to decide which hospitals should be closed and which shouldn’t?

You’ll note it includes Blears and some political advisers as well. No hint of any Trust CEO’s, Clinical Directors, you know the people that ACTUALLY run and work in the health service. You self-serving backstabbing cockwarts! It wouldn't surprise me if this Labour Party Rep had stood for parliament and been beaten... now he's out to exact his revenge on all those eeeevviiilllll Tory voters.

I’m not against hospital closures to save money, but do it on an economic basis you corrupt self-centred dogfisters and have the decisions made by people who are accountable to the public. Not by some fucking Trade Union Gobshite. Not by some goatshafting Labour Party Donor and certainly not by some failed fucking Parliamentary Candidate who is more concerned with blaming Tories for the fact he hasn't got a diary secretary to grope.

“The e-mails show that Patricia Hewitt, the Health Secretary, called for those at the meeting to be provided with “heat maps”, showing marginal Labour seats where closures or reconfigurations of health services could cost votes.”

Mr. E said that Patricia Hewitt should resign immediately. I disagree. She should be publicly crucified in Hyde Park. The ticket sales for such an extravaganza would probably pay for these hospitals to be saved.

Meanwhile the bastard teddy throwing trade unions have called the first strike in the NHS in over 20 years. That was how the BBC put it, it sounds a lot better than the first strike in the NHS since the last Labour Government.

It’s only going to cost them more hospitals… but hey when have the unions cared about facts?

This whole fucking NuLab set up stinks more than John Prescott’s sweaty arse after a good two hours of diary secretary action. We have healthcare irrespective of income apparently, but not irrespective of voting intention.

I’m not naïve enough to believe that politicians don’t generally offer some sort of bribe to get us to vote their way but this is rank fucking corruption at its worst. This is vote Labour or we’ll shut your fucking hospital.

I hope that the day after the election, these people are paraded through London and then hung drawn and quartered in the fucking Tower.

I'd Rather She Was Executed But This Will Do...

Live Long and Prosper

BBC:

Former Cabinet minister Clare Short says she will be stepping down as a Labour MP at the next General Election.

Well after the week Blair’s had he probably needs some good news. I can hear the champagne corks popping in Downing Street already.

Ladywood MP Ms Short, 60, partly blamed Tony Blair's foreign policy and said: "I have reached a stage where I am profoundly ashamed of the government."

Welcome to Britain Shorty... we’ve been ashamed of Blair for fucking ages. Every time the useless bastard opens his mouth and says “well what’s really important is...” or "the facts of the matter are" or "in real terms" we hang our heads in shame. Short regularly has a go at the Americans for electing Bush, well look at what we elected, look at the leader HER PARTY put forward. Too right we’re fucking ashamed.

Now she’s saying she’s going to resign from parliament. Let’s see if she actually does since you might recall that she said she would resign if we invaded Iraq and then promptly didn’t.

Ms Short made her announcement in the Independent, in which she wrote: "Blair's craven support for the extremism of US neoconservative foreign policy has exacerbated the danger of terrorism and the instability and suffering of the Middle East.

OK Claire answer me this.... had Blair said no we’re not getting involved and Bush had gone ahead anyway as we know he could have. How would that have changed the situation?

"He has dishonoured the UK, undermined the UN and international law and helped to make the world a more dangerous place."

Dishonoured the UK yes, undermined the UN? Well good on him. The UN is the most spineless fucking paper shuffling exercise I have ever seen, and I’ve seen the EU. Ratshit insane jihadis all over the world are getting themselves Weapons of Mass Destruction and the UN responds with a 2 month committee meeting and launches a Strongly Worded Letter.

Jesus Christ, we’re toast!

I’ve just been listening to Old Labour’s Windbag on Jeremy Vine and I caught the anecdote that Blair used her to pass a message to Brown saying if he would green light the UK’s entry into the Euro he would let Gordon become Prime Minister earlier.

Somebody tell Guido....

Liar or Just Too Clueless To Govern? - You Decide!

Trust me... I'm a clueless fecktard!

So an investigation is being called for after Blair received the unemployment figures prior to publication yesterday and then went to tell the TUC:

“Speaking to union leaders on Tuesday, Blair said: "Tomorrow, I think, we will probably see for the first time in some months a fall again in unemployment." - Reuters

Naughty naughty Blair....

But imagine Guttersnipe’s mirth when the figures were published today and the reports said:

“The number of people out of work has risen to its highest level in six years” - Guardian

If you’re going to massage the figures Tone, as you usually do, at least get the direction right. No wonder the Labour Party think they're going to win the next election, they can't tell the difference between rising and falling polls.

Morons

History Quiz

Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. (The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened! Do you remember?)

1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
A. Olga Corbitt
B. Sitting Bull
C. Arnold Schwartzeneger
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

2. In 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Iran was taken over by:
A. Lost Norwegians
B. Elvis
C. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40.

3. During the 1980's a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
A. John Dillinger
B. The King of Sweden
C. The Boy Scouts
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

4. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
A. A pizza delivery boy
B. Pee Wee Herman
C. Kylie Minoque
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
A. The Smurfs
B. Davy Jones & The Monkees
C. The Little Mermaid
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
A. Captain Kidd
B. Charles Lindberg
C. Mother Teresa
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
A. Scooby Doo
B. The Tooth Fairy
C. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
A. Meatloaf
B. Grandma Moses
C. Michael Jordan
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

9. In 1998, the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
A. Tarzan
B. Hillary Clinton (to distract attention from Wild Bill' s women problems)
C. The World Wrestling Federation
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

10. On 11 September 2001 four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted to a crash by the passengers. Thousands of people were killed by:
A. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
B. The Supreme Court of Florida
C. Mr. Bean
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
A. Lawrence of Arabia
B. The Lutheran Church
C. The NFL
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
A. Bonny and Clyde
B. Ned Kelly
C. Billy Graham
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

13. In 2002 the Sari Nightclub in Kuta Beach, Bali, was blown up killing 189 young mainly Australian tourists by:
A . The "Bundy" Polar Bear
B. Ho Chi Minh
C. Paul Keating
D. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

14. In July 2005, three London Underground trains and one London Bus weresuicide bombed by:
A. The Spice girls
B. The Beatles
C. The Four Tops
D. 4 'British' Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Case for profiling? After all if we're looking for football hooligans we stop white, working class men wearing football shirts, and do you know what? It works.

Unions Spit Dummy At Blair!

Waaaahhh! I want more money!

Our Gracious Lord and Master has been speaking to the Unions today. Actually I’ll rephrase that he has been talking at the Unions, I doubt those Stalinist fucking parasites would have had the decency to listen.

Tony Blair has defended his record as prime minister and told union members the "brutal truth" is that government is a "hard and difficult business".
But Mr Blair, who was heckled in what was his last speech to the TUC as PM, said it was a "darn sight better than wasting our time in opposition".

Yup…. You’ve gone from wasting your time in opposition to wasting our time in government. I can see how that would be better for you.

They may have disagreed sometimes, he said, but there had been great progress in health, education and pensions.

He spoke after some RMT union members walked out shouting for him to go.

I laughed until I shat fruit when I read this…. Can you see it? They’ve called a fucking strike in the middle of his speech. You can just see the shop stewards shouting everybody out and them all swanning outside. I imagine there will have been a readily produced coal burner and a picket line set up.

Stop it… you’re killing me.

Other people waved banners in protest at the involvement of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, while comments about schools prompted shouts of "rubbish".

I wonder if they got thrown out… possibly not since they were not at a Labour Party conference.

He said Labour could only continue in government if it focuses on policy for the future and "accepts that government is a hard, difficult business".

The fecking arrogance!!! The Labour Party can only continue in government if us, the electorate, the people who they have ridden roughshod over by the socialist fucking jackboot and financially squeezed until bile runs out of our eyes vote for the Labour Party.

GET THIS INTO YOUR FUCKING HEAD!

"But it is a darn sight better than wasting our time in opposition passing resolutions no-one ever listens to or can do anything about.
"That is the brutal truth ... You have your difficult times and you have your better times and the decisions you take are often very, very hard to take, but actually it's a privilege to take them.

Get that… a privilege, not a fucking right.

"And the reason for that is, just occasionally, you meet people - and I do in different parts of the country - whose lives we have changed."

Yup…. I’m one of them, I much worse off under Labour and now I can’t smoke in my car.

Here are some other people whose lives have been changed:

- Bullied girl stabbed in the eye for liking rock
- Mother faces jail for swearing at neighbourhood yobs
- Forces' combat deaths worst since Falklands
- 'Sexual predator' killed woman posing as taxi driver
- Paedophile given £40,000 legal aid to fight for toilet rights
- Dad killed after confronting yobs
- Pupil dies in gang-style execution

And that’s just in three days.

As RMT leader Bob Crow led a delegation out of the Brighton Centre in protest, he said: "What is the point of listening to someone when you cannot believe a word they say?"

I don’t like to side with Blair here, but what’s the point of having a guest speaker if you’re not listening.

The Unions are the most childish people it has ever been Guttersnipe’s misfortune to run into. As soon as they don’t get their own way they throw their tools down and sit with their arms folded in a strop. They storm out slamming the door behind them, what a set of fecking drama queens.

Fucking grow up the lot of you. If you’re getting a raw deal in your job, get a new job. Even at the height of the much vaunted “3 million unemployed” era every Job Centre I went into had cards on the wall… don’t tell me you can’t get another job.

As he explained that a large part of the Western world were inclined to believe "the threat is George Bush and not Islamist terrorism", a number of delegates shouted: "Yes."

Which really does say a lot about these people doesn’t it? They would be more comfortable with a regime in place that stones women for adultery, and I might add for being raped.

And let’s look at another angle here:

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union naturally is in the interest of RMT workers, Unison deals with nurses, NHS workers etc, The CWU for postmen, call centre reps etc.

What the fuck has Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon or America got to do with any of these people? Answer me that! What???

Does your humble postman think “I want to do my bit to stop the war in Iraq, I know I’ll join the Communication Workers Union, that’ll have Dubya shitting himself by dawn”.

For fuck’s sake. An old friend of Guttersnipes was a union rep (despite being a Tory member) and voted for no money to be sent to aid Basra because none of his members lived there… very sensible I thought. Sadly the union didn’t agree and sent quite a lot of their members’ money over to Iraq.

To date he has received no satisfactory explanation as to how this helps his members.

Chancellor Gordon Brown, tipped as Mr Blair's most likely successor, told reporters before he headed off to Brighton to give his own private address to union bosses that he wanted "to praise Tony Blair's speech".
"I urge all trade unionists to support the reform agenda set out by Tony Blair and agreed by the whole government."

Let’s translate that as “I urge the Unions to not block everything I want to do as they have blocked everything Blair wanted to do.”

So as this is Blair’s last speech to the TUC they clearly treated him as that rock star that just won’t play an encore. They walked out sulking.

Did UKIP Achieve Something While I Wasn't Looking?

UKIP are announcing their new leader today. Personally I'm hoping for Nigel Farage as he is one of the best speakers I have seen since my interest in politics started.

Makes you wish he was on my side, and here's hoping that someone in the Tories pulls us out of Europe and then he might join.

Now they are not all fruitcakes and racists (after all... the Humble Devil is in) but I think their former leader speaking today falls definitely into the fruitcake arena.

"UKIP MEP and former leader Jeffrey Titford said the party was ready for a change.
He told BBC News: "Whoever comes through, you're going to find that we're going to be involved far more with national politics and not so much selling the European line.

"We've won the European argument, the European Parliament argument, what we're looking for now is to get into British national politics and I think that will be right up on the agenda of the new leader." "

Given that we are both still within the EU and still within the EU Parliament, and that Brussels regularly rams an EU standardised marrow up our arse every 2 weeks how has their argument been won?

Trade Unions Can Just Feck Off!

UNISON: We feck your country up a treat

Guttersnipe has always believed if you look into any war deep enough you’ll find religion, and likewise if you look into any crumbling, failing organisation that fails to work no matter how you reform it you’ll find the same gremlin in the machine every time..

I talk of course of that great leviathan the Trade Union.

My in-law, the noble Baron Snipegutter says “All a trade union does is protect a bad worker” and what true words they are....

There is always the summer strike action by the RMT Union which happens with such regularity now that it’s just counted as an extra holiday, but today it is UNISON that are throwing their teddy out.

“The health secretary spoke out as workers employed by NHS Logistics voted to strike after the government awarded a 10-year contract to German firm DHL.
Union officials say the walkout will cause "major inconvenience" and could see operations cancelled. “

So there they have made their threat.... “could see operations cancelled.”

They’re going to have operations cancelled and patients suffering because a contract has been given to a private sector company. They never stop to think that DHL may have been given a contract because they would do something as ridiculous as a better job, that’s the way business works.

Because they can’t have their stalinist fucking utopia they are going to make the patients suffer. Why not just behead them on Al-Jazeera and have done with it guys?

“Union officials have warned that the move could lead to hospitals quickly running out of supplies of bedpans, urinals, hand gel, latex gloves breakfast cereals, drinks and tinned vegetables.”

Why would they quickly be running out? Aren’t DHL being employed to deliver these? If they don’t then they are in breach of their contract and they lose business. Seems pretty self-policing to me.

“She pledged to protect the terms and conditions of staff and their pensions and dismissed as "absolute rubbish" suggestions it was part of a wider plan to privatise the NHS. “

So if you believe Commissar Patsy the staff are keeping their jobs and their cushy fecking state sector pensions that we all have to pay for, no doubt they keep their retirement age of 60 as well while we all slave on until we’re 68. So the only complaint the union has is that the private sector is being involved.

They’re planning to make sure that patients have their operations cancelled because they don’t like who is providing the goods.

Union Leader Dave Prentis said: "These are not troublemakers, not hardliners but workers who care deeply about the NHS, who want to stay part of it, who want to play their part in saving it,"

Concerned about saving it so much that they are holding the patients hostage.

A deal reached earlier this month will see 1,700 employees from parts of NHS Logistics and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency transferred to the private sector.

You’ll note again that they’re not being made redundant, they are getting new jobs in the private sector with the same salary and better pension rights than the rest of us.

I fecking hate trade unions, they hide behind that fecking “protect the worker” bollocks to promote their Stalinist agenda.

They spout this bile that suggests the private sector is somehow evil and exploiting and without the benevolent unions we would all be fecking slaves.

Just compare for a moment the number of strikes there are in the private sector compared to the public sector. Would this suggest that private sector employers are evil?

No.

If the rest of us in the sector that pays for the public sector aren’t happy with the deal we’re getting we go and get another job. In the state sector they down tools until the Labour Party lets them run the fucking country.

And the Labour Party will cave as they have done throughout history

1966: Emergency laws over seamen's strike
1968: Rail go-slow begins
1970: State of emergency called over dock strike
1975: Miners set for 35 per cent pay rises
1977: Firefighters strike over pay claim
1977: Firemen jeer TUC's pay snub
1979: 'No chaos here' declares Callaghan
1979: Public sector strike paralyses country

UPDATE: The Young Greek Fella has ranted on this.... go read it... it's a work of brilliance.

Probably the Best Place For Him At The Moment

Our Tone has been in Lebanon where he’s probably safer than if he were at the TUC Conference.

Mr Blair defended his position of rejecting calls for an early ceasefire, saying a UN resolution dealing with the "real problems" had been his priority.
Several protesters disrupted a news conference, shouting: "Shame on you."

Guttersnipe wonders if they were thrown out and detained under the Terrorism Act or is it just 82 year old refugees in England that get that treatment.

Has anyone noticed that when some goon in Denmark draws a cartoon the "Religion of Peace" burns half the world down in angry protest but when the man they see as one the chief allies of the devil appears in their recently bombed out country there is only a small peaceful protest?

Just strikes me as odd that's all...

When Prescott's Your Peacekeeper Prepare for War!

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more embarrassing for the Labour Party up steps the Labour Party’s greatest embarrassment sticks his head up.

John Prescott says he has "no doubt" Labour will lose the next general election if MPs continue sniping over the party's leadership succession.
Mr Prescott said he had been mediating between Mr Blair and Gordon Brown through "that terrible week last week".

That probably explains why everything went to ratshit in a barrel and knives were drawn at all sides.

Notice though that Prescott can’t say anything like all this fighting is bad for Britain, no it’s all about winning another election. That’s the only thing that matters to these junket hogging parasites, it’s all about staying in power.

I really hope one of them turned to Prescott and said “I have no doubt that Labour will lose the next general election if you keep reaming your secretary, swallowing tax payers’ money and doing absolutely fuck all other than being a fat fucking fecktard, now don’t you have a croquet game to be playing?”

Asked if the backbiting could mean Labour losing the next election, Mr Prescott told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I have no doubt about it if we were doing that for a few more weeks - I have no doubt it will affect us. We have not got the luxury of... making press comments in the way that's been last week without the electorate saying... 'we can't support this government'."

Er.... the public don’t support this government Prezza.... where have you been since May? Your current polls show 30-32% at best. Event the betting markets are showing Tories as having the most seats come next time round. You were going to lose before all this ferret sack fighting started.

Mr Prescott said: "I agree there's been some strong comments made by Members of Parliament, but I say to my colleagues, you're one third of the election process.

It’s worth noting that phrase.... the MP’s are one third the election process. 360 MPs carry the same voting weight as the entire Labour Party membership.

See Political Betting’s excellent article for the details.

Does Anyone Believe This Shit?

Ridiculous simpering twat site Keeping the Faith has publicised what it believes (no it can’t actually believe this shit can it?) to be Tony Blair’s 50 top achievements since 1997.

Shall we have a look?

Tony Blair's Achievements
Tony Blair's top 50 achievements since being elected in 1997:

1. Lowest inflation since the 60s
Well unsurprising given that we’ve stopped using the Retail Prices Index... if you have a look at the Retail Prices Index since the 60s (which you can do here) you’ll see that this isn’t really the case.

2. Low interest rates
Even an old Tory like your good Gutternsipe here can’t fault the decision to let the Bank of England set the interest rates. What fecks me off is that Blair and Brown keep claiming credit for the low interest rates when it wasn’t their decision. Would they take the blame if the BOE put interest rates up to 25%? I doubt it.

3. Introduced the National Minimum Wage
Great.... what we have now is a shit load of illegal immigrants who work below minimum wage and don’t comlplain about it since its more money than they’ve seen in their life. Meanwhile the low end of the pay scale workers in Britain faced redundancy rather than the glittering pay rise that the minimum wage offered. Twat!

4. Record police numbers in England and Wales
No record numbers of Community Support Officers in England and Wales. No powers, cheaper alternative but nice uniform. Record crime levels as well – figures.

5. Cut overall crime by 35 per cent
No you fecking haven’t. It’s well established that the only person to have cut crime on his watch was Michael Howard. However much you may dislike him the stats back him up.

6. Record levels of literacy and numeracy in schools
Then how come record numbers of school leavers can’t read and write? It wasn’t like this under Major.

7. Best-ever primary school results
Only ever primary school results since it was Blair that started all the tests and league tables.

8. Funding for every pupil in England to double (since 1997) by 2007-08
Just a shame it hasn’t been done yet.

9. Lowest unemployment for 29 years
But the jobless total has risen given that most people who were ‘unemployed’ before are now on disability. Those that have got jobs are doing jobs we don’t need doing in the public sector. Nice figures massage if you can get it.

10. Written off up to 100 per cent of debt owed by poorest countries
While getting the UK into the most debt it has ever seen without a low tax level to bail it out when the payments get too much.

11. 78,700 more nurses
More nursing graduates maybe but 1 in 4 can’t find a vacancy.

12. 27,400 more doctors
All Indian since all our universiy entrants are studying diversity theory

13. Brought back matrons to hospital wards
But the nurses aren’t nursing, they’re off being Nurse Practitioners and pretending to be doctors.

14. Devolved power to the Scottish Parliament
Yes... the power to vote on English Tuition fees without allowing the reciprocal courtesy.

15. Devolved power to Welsh Assembly
To do what exactly?

16. Banned anti-personnel mines
Did we use anti-personnel mines under the Tories?

17. NHS Direct offering free convenient patient advice at any time
Which you may remember is stopping because nobody uses it, it’s crap and is going to become a digital TV station instead. How about opening a few hospitals? Oh sorry.. you don’t have the money do you?

18. New Deal - helped over a million people into work
Nope.... kept a million people dependent on the state for a reasonable income.

19. Local government funding has increased by a third in real terms
OK we all know the use of the words ‘in real terms’ means ‘we’re talking absolute knackers’. Funding may be up but its spent on press officers and diversity advisers when what we want is clean streets and good community facilities.

20. Equalised the age of consent for gay men
OK

21. Free entry to all national museums and galleries
Let’s rewrite that shall we? “21. Banned national museums from charging entry” – no further investment and now national treasures such as the Royal Armouries, British Museum and Imperial War Museum are resorting to begging bowls in the foyer.

22. Overseas aid budget more than doubled
Nice to know our hard earned money is propping up Somalian Islamism eh?

23. Restored city-wide government to London
So far we’ve had 3 devolution arguments which is basically claiming “Tony delegated 3 areas of his responsibility to someone else” hardly an achievement. That’s like me saying one of my great achievements is getting Lady Guttersnipe to sit my Driving Test.

24. Child benefit up 25 per cent since 1997
In line with Retail Price Index Inflation so not really an achievement is it?

25. Created Sure Start to help children from low income households
Yet all the surveys show Sure Start to be a complete failure. The only people who think otherwise are Blair sycophants and Polly Toynbee.

26. Introduced the Disability Rights Commission
Because the Disabled didn’t have rights before?

27. £200 winter fuel payment to pensioners & extra £100 for over-80s
Yeah... but only in election year wasn’t it?

28. The biggest rolling stock replacement programme ever seen on our railways
Done by the private companies that run the train services. Why don’t we focus on fleecing Railtrack’s shareholders? Whether you like RailTrack or not those people have a right to their investment being returned.

29. Negotiated the historic Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland
Yeah... how’s that going along now...

30. Over 30,000 more teachers in England schools
No... 30,000 more classroom assistants in schools. See Community Support Officers above.

31. Implemented the Freedom of Information Act
But only after you shredded anything we wanted to read.

32. All workers now have a right to 4 weeks’ paid holiday
And bosses who couldn't afford to meet that commitment laid their staff off - how's that good for the worker?

33. Record rises in the state pension
And record amounts of taxation on private pension funds so they’re going to need it now.

34. 700,000 children lifted out of relative poverty
By redefining poverty.

35. Introduced child tax credit giving more money to parents
Oh yes... more money to parents. How can I possibly be grateful that people seem to deserve my hard earned money simply because they have had a child? And then you go and overpay by £2m quid.

36. Banned handguns
Banned our Olympic Pistol Shooting Team (for which we go Gold, you’ll need that come 2012). The criminals on the other hand have more handguns than ever before.

37. Cut long-term youth unemployment by 75 per cent
By getting them all on media degrees and aromatherapy courses, in fact anything other than a fucking job!

38. Free nursery places for three and four-year-olds in England, Scotland and Wales
Er.... we had state nurseries before... Guttersnipe went to one, the last time I checked it still wasn’t charging.

39. Free fruit for all four to six-year-olds at school
No doubt to supplement that diet of Turkey Twizzlers and shite that the state feeds our already fat fecktard children.

40. Free school milk for five, six and seven-year-olds in Wales
Given that it’s Wales only I’d put this down as a Welsh Assembly achievement which I believe Bliar isn’t a member of.

41. Record police numbers in Scotland
See above but substitute Scottish Parliament for Welsh Assembly

42. Implemented the Human Rights Act
And made sure his Human Rights Barrister wife was never out of work while the rest of us are now surrounded by Islamist goons waiting to explode at a moment’s notice.

43. Cleanest rivers, beaches, drinking water and air since the industrial revolution
So let me get this straight.... during the Industrial Revolution our rivers were cleaner?

44. Free TV licences for over-75s
However the licence fee went through the roof for the rest of us

45. Banned fur farming and the testing of cosmetics on animals
er... we didn’t have these things in the UK before 1997.

46. Halved maximum waiting times for NHS operations
No... you declared that the maximum allowed waiting time would be halved, the hospitals still miss these targets and the patients still wait for the operations.

47. Free local bus travel for over-60s
No.... free National Express bus travel for the over 60s.

48. Record number of students in higher education
Because the A levels are easier and the courses are shite. How many media degrees do we need?

49. Extended the Race Relations Act so that all public bodies and functions now have a duty to promote race equality
And as such allowed a culture of political correctness to such an extent that the straight white working male feels like a minority.

50. Five, six and seven-year-olds in class sizes of 30 or less
Mentored by a classroom assistant and still unable to read.

There you have it Guttersnipes... makes you proud to be British doesn’t it?

That Brown - Blair Unity For You.

Given that Our Cheshire Cat Chancellor harped on yesterday about his unity with Tony Blair, who finds it surprising that he’s been writing in The Sun today setting out his foreign policy issues?

.... Anyone?

In a few days, I will visit New York, and reaffirm to the American people that Britain — under the courageous leadership of Tony Blair — stands now as then, shoulder to shoulder with them.

Given that America currently considers Britain to be the source of its major threats I doubt Dubya’s going to find that comforting. Standing shoulder to shoulder is all well and good but while we’re doing all this standing we’re letting every crazy jihadi into our country and onto planes to the States.

In al-Qaeda, we face an enemy driven by hatred of our very existence.

Yet we still let them in and give them social security. Please explain Gordon, please.

Between justice and evil, humanity and barbarism, democracy and tyranny, no one can afford to be neutral or disengaged.
That is why — even as we mourn the losses from a dark week in Iraq and Afghanistan — Britain can take pride that our heroic armed forces are leading in the global fight we must wage against terrorism.

Hang on a minute... aren’t you currently the Chancellor? Is Foreign Policy and international diplomacy your thing? Let me think...

No it fecking isn’t... I might not like the Margaret “Pig Eyed Horse Frightener” Beckett but let the woman do her job. Get back to your fucking desk you bean counting extortionist and stay out of what doesn’t concern you.

I have already doubled the money we spend on security since 9/11 to £2billion per year, and I guarantee we will continue to spend whatever it takes to meet the new security demands we face, and our military commitments abroad.

So how come our forces are having to beg body armour, getting killed because they’re in a Land Rover rather than an APC, running out of ammunition and having the protective crash foam for aircraft denied because of money issues?

Why are our armed forces constantly complaining that the complex infantry operations they are required to undertake cannot be done due to lack of helicopters?

Is it because you’ve spent a fucking fortune on the Joint Strike Fighter which has zero use in any of the theatres of operation we are currently involved in?

YOU ARE A TWAT!

So — as well as money — we must ensure our police have the powers they need.

Yes we should, and since 1997 you’ve ensured that they have neither.

So, alongside the national ID card scheme, our next step must be the introduction of biometrics in new passports and visas, and the screening of all passengers.

I’ve said this before and I’m going to say it again.

Enough with the ID Cards... they are only going to protect us from terrorism if they are 7 feet tall and made of kevlar.

And this is Labour's Great White Hope? Jesus...

Someone Apparently Gives a Shit About Anti-Semitism

I welcome this.... a lot.

BBC:

“Labour backbencher Denis McShane said abuse took "classic forms" such as synagogues being vandalised and school children being spat at and insulted.

The former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, who was one of the members of the panel, said the situation regarding anti-Semitic attacks was worse than he had previously believed.”

It makes me sick that Anti-Semitism seems to be acceptable in the UK whereas the merest hint of ‘islamophobia’ results in a flag burning parade requesting beheadings.

The panel's report has been welcomed by Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, who said the Jewish community would "fight prejudice in whatever form it takes".

Let’s start the ball rolling by getting rid of these two shall we?

It would go a long way don't you think?

Dead Man Walking.... We Got a Dead Man Walking Here!

The PM's soul begins to rip into two.

That snivelling Blair speech in full.... did you see it? You can almost see the moment that his heart truly breaks and he sets out on revenge.

But would Guttersnipe indulge in childish schadenfreude? Of course he would. Here’s hoping the catfight continues...

The first thing I'd like to do is to apologise actually, on behalf of the Labour party for the last week, which, with everything that's been going on back here and in the world, has not been our finest hour, to be frank.

Note... not apologise to the Labour Party since, much as the party are a bunch of machiavellian fecktards they would have been quite happy to leave him in power we he not a power crazed ratshit twat. But no... all this is the entire fault of the Labour Party and those nasty people who write letters.

But I think what is important now is that we understand that it's the interests of the country that come first and we move on.

Translate – what I think is important is we sweep this off the front pages as soon as we can.

Now, as for my timing and date of departure, I would have preferred to do this in my own way, but it has been pretty obvious from what many of my Cabinet colleagues have said earlier in the week.

Finish the sentence Tone.... what is pretty obvious? I’ll fucking tell you what’s obvious you pretend plastic premier, We do not want you or your junket hugging tax and spend twat of a party. We don't want you... your party doesn't want you... even Polly Fecking Toynbee doesn't want you. Just fecking go will you.

Oh and we don't fecking want Brown either!

The next party conference in a couple of weeks will be my last party conference as party leader. The next TUC conference next week will be my last TUC, probably to the relief of both of us.

Translate – Just fuck off too I never liked you any way. It’s just so unfair!

But I am not going to set a precise date now. I don't think that's right.

Translate – once it’s off the front pages I can get back to clinging to power.

Now, I'll also say one other thing after the last week.

I quit? I'm off? It's all yours Gordon shove it up your arse? Sorry? Any of these?

I think it's important for the Labour party to understand, and I think the majority of people in the party do understand, that it's the public that comes first and it's the country that matters, and we can't treat the public as irrelevant bystanders in a subject as important as who is their prime minister.

Since when in this adminsistration have the public come first? When? Labour’s progress can simply be measured in how many things they can ban and how much of their money can be given to people who are likely to vote Labour. When have the public had anything to do with this?

So we should just bear that in mind in the way we conduct ourselves in the time to come.

I bear that in mind.... hence why I say

FECK OFF! CAN’T YOU HEAR THE FAT LADY SINGING?

And in the meantime, I think it's important that we get on with the business.
I mean, I was at a primary school earlier.
Fantastic new buildings. Great new IT suite. School results improving.

Notice he doesn’t say anything about the warm and friendly reception that he received from the pupils? He doesn’t say anything about Labour’s input making a real difference to these kids’ lives and the fact that they are grateful for it.

But Labour has made a difference for these kids... so much so they spent their ART lessons creating these to honour their guest:

I'm here at this school that just in the last few years has come on leaps and bounds, doing fantastically well.

and the BBC’s coverage of this event said:

“Tony Blair was booed and faced chants of "out, out, out" by pupils at the school at which he made a statement about his future.”

Yup Tone... fantastic. But let’s look at the plusses here. The kids can spell Time To Go... no wonder they’re heading for Trust status.

We've got the blockade on the Lebanon lifted, today.

Did we? I don’t think WE did. You had nothing to do with that at all.

You know, there are important things going on in the world. And I think I speak for all my Cabinet colleagues when I say that we would prefer to get on with those things because those are the things that really matter and really matter to the country.
So it's, as I say, it's been a somewhat difficult week but I think it's time now to move on and I think we will.

But just to keep things going the fecking Safety Elephant waded in today along with John McDonnell starting his leadership bid.

Well moved on there guys. HaHaHaHa.

And I know you've got reams of questions but I don't think it's very sensible for me to go into them now.

Because none of my press officers have written down what I have to say.

The comedy continues.... Don’t you just love it?

WTF???

When AK toting jihadi Iranian fruitbats start saying the following:

Tehran, Iran, Sep. 06 – The Supreme Commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps accused the Bush Administration and the Israeli security service Mossad of ordering the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, DC.“The events of September 11 were ordered by U.S. [officials] and Mossad so that they could carry out their strategy of pre-emption and warmongering and unipolarisation in order to dominate the Middle East”, Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi told military commanders on Tuesday. His comments were reported by the state-run news agency ISNA.

You would be forgiven for not being remotely surprised...

... so let’s hand over to those wise folk the Americans for their comments shall we? [emphasis mine - RG]

Source:

The former head of the Star Wars missile defense program under Presidents Ford and Carter has gone public to say that the official version of 9/11 is a conspiracy theory and his main suspect for the architect of the attack is Vice President Dick Cheney.

"The exercises that went on that morning simulating the exact kind of thing that was happening so confused the people in the FAA and NORAD....that they didn't they didn't know what was real and what was part of the exercise," said Bowman

"I think the people who planned and carried out those exercises, they're the ones that should be the object of investigation."

Asked if he could name a prime suspect who was the likely architect behind the attacks, Bowman stated, "If I had to narrow it down to one person....I think my prime suspect would be Dick Cheney."

Bowman said that privately his military fighter pilot peers and colleagues did not disagree with his sentiments about the real story behind 9/11

That Gentleman is the Democrat Candidate in Florida. Are the Americans even more off the wall batshit mad than we thought?

Read It And Weep Real Tears of Joy!!!

Hat Tip to ConservativeHome for the press collage.

Just how much internal damage to we think that photo of our Cheshire Cat Chancellor is going to cause eh? Now all the Blairites can openly blame the Brownites and vice versa.

Socialism at its best Guttersnipes.

Puppy On the Night Of The Long Letters

Long time blogger but newcomer to Guttersnipe’s Daily Reads, Rottweiler Puppy has a worthwhile analysis on why Labour is tearing itself apart.

I would have summed it up with Blair is a seven headed cocktard who should be shoved up John Prescott’s arse but the Puppy goes for the more intelligent explanation:

“See, back when they swept to power, the entire cess-pool of British leftism thought that they’d bagged a Clinton of their very own; that is, a charismatic, morally-bankrupt socialist who could con the general public into voting the left into power. As things turned out, Blair was pretty much everything he claimed to be — A genuine centrist who had no intention of endorsing every crackpot scheme for Britain that leftists cooked up.

… So that should have been a good thing, right? Well, no. See, there are a couple of problems with the Blair premiership, and they’re big ones:”

Go read the whole thing.

Blair's Farewell Footlights Parade... Stop It You're Killing Me!

OK ... This happened yesterday when I was away from the desk... so I catch up with the Mirror's startling revelations.

His genuine legacy is not the delivery, important though that is, but the dominance of new Labour ideas - the triumph of Blairism

Yup... at their hearts they’re still socialists. They may not openly behave like it but the eternal quest for ‘dominance’ clearly shows that they’re all still the children of Stalin and in true Stalinist style the propaganda machine is in overdrive.

A SENSATIONAL memo leaked to the Mirror reveals how Labour experts are planning Tony Blair's exit from No10.

Yes... The Mirror, Britain’s answer to fucking Pravda gets the exclusive. Really, if you’re going to make headlines surely the respected option would be The Times. The mass market option would be The Sun. No... we’re going to use The Mirror since that’s the only rag that’s happy to print Labour spin unedited and without dissenting comment.

The retirement blueprint aims to promote the "triumph of Blairism" and allow the PM to quit on a wave of euphoria after 10 years in office. The secret strategy - drawn up by a small group of loyalists - is well under way.Mr Blair's "farewell tour" includes plans to appear on Blue Peter, Songs of Praise and Chris Evans' radio show.

Let’s read that last bit again...

Mr Blair's "farewell tour" includes plans to appear on Blue Peter

So to promote the triumph of Blairism he’s going on Blue Peter? BLUE PETER? He doesn’t even have enough credibility to get on Newsround? Jesus fucking Christ!

Still given that most of Labour’s NHS reforms have been knocked together out of washing up bottles and blu-tac it’s kind of apt don’t you think?

"He needs to go with the crowds wanting more. He should be the star who won't even play that last encore. In moving towards the end he must focus on the future."

Yes he needs to go with people wanting more but sadly they don’t. The cheering crowds that line the streets for his farewell will be Tories, Lib Dems and it will probably be the only time that Tories and George Galloway will be in agreement. He should be the star who won’t even play that last encore, but he won’t be. He’ll hang on to every last glimmer of limelight regardless of consequences to the country because it’s all about Blair. The triumph of Blairism has been to get the Blairs’ lifestyle funded for 10 years from our hard work.

Other items in his planned farewell itinerary apparently include:

SPENDING a day then an overnight stay in half a dozen cities across the country.
VISITING the 20 most striking buildings opened or redeveloped since 1997.

The Dome perhaps? Wembley Stadium? Holyrood? One dreads to think.

Mr Blair's final weeks in office will be particularly carefully choreographed to ensure cheers rather than jeers. Under the heading "Last month" the memo suggests: "Needs a daily grid, planned to the last detail. As much as possible a farewell tour, looking to the future, making sure the party is in the right place and the public remember him as he should be."

Rather than remember him as he was .... a limelight hugging statist control freak fucking camera whore with delusions of putting the rest of world to rights while shafting Britain up the ass with a pineapple?

The strategy is already under way as the PM embarks on a reputation-enhancing series of lectures.

Because reputation enhancing policy decisions and behaviour is right outside his abilities.

The memo says: "He needs to embrace open spaces, the arts and businesses, he needs to be seen to be travelling on different forms of transport. He needs to be seen with people who will raise eyebrows.

Couldn’t agree more.... let’s see him as a hostage in the Middle East.

Great Article about Terrorism ...

Don Feder writes what most of us are thinking... I reprint this in full.

Top 10 Reasons Islam Might Not Be a Religion of Peace
Written by Don Feder

A passenger revolt occurred on a Malaga-Manchester flight. Vacationing Brits refused to fly with two Arabic-speaking men. This came in the wake of arrests of 21 British-born Muslims who were plotting to blow up as many as 11 trans-Atlantic flights.
A spokesman for Britain’s opposition Tory party said the passengers panicked into “behaving irrationally.” Fancy that, not wanting to fly with members of a faith whose adherents keep trying to blow things up. Oh, how irrational!
Within days of this incident, a Lebanese student was arrested for trying to plant bombs on German trains. In India, meanwhile, a group with alleged ties to al-Qaeda threatened to blow up the 17th century Taj Mahal.

If Muslims make travelers nervous, it’s not without cause.

Would you be more likely to have an anxiety attack at 20,000 feet if the passenger seated next to you was: A) An Irish nun saying the Rosary? B) A Mormon missionary in regulation white shirt and narrow, black tie? C) A Hari Krishna in a standard-issue saffron robe? or D) A bearded bloke of Middle Eastern complexion holding a well-thumbed Koran?

When you hear of a terrorist incident, is the first thought that pops into your head: Probably some crazy Muslim? Guess what? It probably was some crazy Muslim!

Guessing the religion of those who plant bombs, highjack planes, fire into crowds of civilians, take hostages, and murder hostages is the world’s ultimate no-brainer.
And yet our leaders, the media, and many of us pretend there’s absolutely no connection between psychopathic, ideological killers and the religion which exalts the slaughter of unbelievers.

To counter confusion here, a la Letterman, I humbly offer The Top 10 Reasons Why It’s Quite Possible That Islam Isn’t Exactly a Religion of Peace.

#1 While it’s certainly true that not all Muslims are terrorists, it’s equally true that most terrorists are Muslims.

Think about the really ghastly terrorist incidents over the past two decades: the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing (242 dead), the 1988 Pam Am 103 bombing (259 dead), the 1993 World Trade Center attack (6 dead, more than 1,000 injured), the 1994 bombing of the Buenos Aires Jewish Center (86 dead), the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam (291 dead, 5,000 wounded), the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole (17 dead), September 11, 2001 (over 3,000 killed), the 2002 Moscow theater hostage-taking (94 dead), the 2004 Beslan school hostage crisis (344 dead), the 2004 Madrid train bombings (192 dead), the 2005 London underground bombings (56 dead) and the 2006 commuter train bombings in Mumbai--formerly Bombay--(at least 200 dead).

In each and every case, the killers were …? That is correct, sir: Muslims! What other religion condones savagery committed in its name? Jesus said turn the other cheek. Muhammed said cut off the other guy’s cheek. The Torah says show kindness to strangers. The Koran says: If you can’t convert them, kill them.

#2 Muslims don’t play well with other children. Wherever there’s religious bloodshed anywhere in the world, it’s invariably Muslims versus someone else. Could this be a coincidence?

Israel, Gaza and Lebanon – Muslims verses Jews. Kashmir – Muslims vs. Hindus. Kosovo/Bosnia – Muslims vs. Serbian Orthodox. Nigeria, the Sudan – Muslims versus Christians. Indonesia – Muslims vs. Christians. Myanmar – Muslims vs. Buddhists. The Northern Caucuses– Chechen Muslims against Russia Orthodox, and so on.

Inquiring minds want to know why the “religion of peace” can’t behave peaceably with any other religion.

Answer: Islam remains what it was at its beginning 1,300 years ago: a violent, expansionist faith that will tolerate no competitors. What other religion has the concept of jihad (holy war) – the notion that if you die fighting for Allah you get 72 virgins (exhausting as that must be) in Paradise? Muhammed started by eliminating the competition – annihilating Jewish tribes in the Arabian Peninsula. More than a millennium latter, it’s still business as usual for his successors.

3. For Muslims, violence and threats of violence are always the first resort to any perceived insult or injury.

Recall the Muslim response to Danish cartoons of their beloved prophet. The Danish embassy in Beirut was burned to the ground. There were death threats against the cartoonists and the editors of papers that published the cartoons. (In London, protestors held signs proclaiming “Those who insult Islam should die” and “Europe is a disease. Islam is the cure.”)

In rioting in Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, 139 died. Protestors were particularly offended by the implication of the cartoons – that Muhammed and his religion encourage murder and mayhem. The irony of “They say Islam promotes violence? For that they should die!” was lost on demonstrators.

4. Islam is virulently anti-Semitic.

Jews have been described as the miner’s canary of the world. Those who start with the Jews never stop there. The 20th century’s mass murderers--the Nazis and communists--saw Jews as a special threat. Hitler killed 6 million Jews--as well as millions of non-Jews.

The Koran connects genocide to the end times: “The last hour will not come before the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims kill them, so Jews will hide behind stones and trees and the Stone and the tree will say ‘O Muslim, ‘O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me; come and kill him.’” Muhammed called Jews “the descendants of apes and pigs.”

Every anti-Semitic canard in history has currency in the Muslim world, including the Blood Libel (that Jews murder non-Jewish children and use their blood to bake Passover matzo) and The Protocols of the Elders of Zion (“exposing” a Jewish conspiracy to subdue humanity).

Jew-hatred is a staple of Muslim rhetoric.

In a recent interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram, Gen. Hamid Gul (former head of Pakistani Intelligence) said Mel Gibson was right, “Jews cause all the wars.” Egyptian Mufti Sheikh Ali Gum’a says the war in Lebanon once again exposed the “Hebrew entity” (Israel) as “the bloodsuckers… who prepare matzos from human blood.” In Britain, popular Islamic cleric Sheikh Abdullah el-Faisal (a Jamaican convert) tells audiences “Jews should be killed… as by Hitler.”

When he met John Paul II in 2001, Syrian President-for-Life Bashar Assad told the pontiff that the Jews "try to kill all the principles of divine faith with the same mentality of betraying Jesus and torturing him."

And Adb al-Rahman al-Sudais, sheikh of Mecca’s Grand Mosque, in Islam’s holiest city, calls Jews “the scum of the earth,” and calls for the genocide of a people who are, in the sheikh’s words, “an ongoing continuum of deceit, obstinacy, licentiousness, evil and corruption.”

Muslims really have a hard time deciding whether the Holocaust: 1) Never happened 2) Is grossly exaggerated or 3) Didn’t go far enough.

#5 – Public Opinion in the Muslim World Is Scary.

Muslim public opinion can be summarized as acid hatred, chauvinism and revenge fantasies--leavened with paranoia. In the five years since 9/11, polls consistently show that, irrefutable evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, worldwide, a majority of Muslims believe the World Trade Center attack couldn’t possibly have been committed by Arab Muslims.

Naturally, they attribute the crime to “Zionists.” If someone wrote a book titled “How to Fly a Plane Into a Skyscraper Whilst Using Human Blood to Bake Matzos: A Zionist Training Manual,” it would top the Tehran Bestsellers List.

#6 –Generally, the more Muslim a nation, the more lunatic and dangerous it is.

Think Iran. Think Saudi Arabia. Think Afghanistan while the Taliban was in power.

Think of the fate of women in these regimes--consigned to the status of breeding stock. Think of their attitudes toward democracy, civil liberties and minority rights: No way, Jamal.

As a rule, the more a nation is governed by Islamic law and customs, the more it hates the West, supports terrorism (Iran’s support for Hezbollah, Syria's support for Hamas, Al Qaeda training camps in Taliban Afghanistan. Radical mosques in the United States financed by the Saudis), and covets weapons of mass jihad (witness Iran’s nuclear program).

If Islam is the religion of peace, where is its St. Francis of Assisi, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa? Where are the Islamic equivalents of the Quakers and Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Far from making rulers more enlightened, Islam specializes in the mass production of Ayatollah Khomeinis, Osama bin Ladens, Mullah Omars, Hafez Assads, and Saddam Husseins.

#7 – When a young Muslim becomes more involved with his religion, his thoughts often stray to suicide bombing.

I was in London when the latest terrorist conspiracy went down. On the evening news, I heard a BBC reporter interviewing a neighbor of one of the suspects. “He was a good lad,” the neighbor opined. “Played football” (British soccer). “Recently, he became very involved with his religion” (hint: not the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).

How often have we heard those fatal words? Born-again Christians witness and do good works. Born-again Muslims work with liquid explosives.

Converts to a cause are usually the most enthusiastic. Paul became Christianity’s first missionary and foremost proselytizer.

Converts to Islam frequently end up shooting total strangers (John Muhammad and Lee Malvo), try to detonate planes with explosives in their shoes (Richard Reid), fight against their country (American Taliban John Walker Lindh), and frag fellow GIs (Hassan Akbar ). When was the last time you heard of a Jewish convert going after civilians with a high-powered rifle, or a Catholic convert waging jihad to avenge Thomas Moore?

Religion usually makes people better (kinder, more compassionate, and more tolerant). The religion of peace is the exception to the rule. You might say that Islam is to religion as rap is to music.

#8 – Islam isn’t minority friendly.

In Freedom House’s 2006 Global Survey, of the eight countries with the worst human rights records, five are Muslim: Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Syria and Sudan. The other three--Cuba, North Korea and Burma--are communist dictatorships. Cuba and North Korea are frequently aligned with radical Muslim regimes.

Which would you rather be: a Muslim living in Tel Aviv or a Jew living in Tehran? A Coptic Christian in Egypt or an Egyptian Muslim in Rome? An Orthodox Serb in Muslim Kosovo or a Turk in Germany?

Islam has the concept of the dhimmi (non-Moslem living under Islam), which is several steps below blacks in the Jim Crow South--though slightly better than Jews in Nazi Germany.

#9 – Where Have All the Moderate Muslims Gone--Long Time Passing?

If suicide bombers are radical Muslims, apologists for suicide bombers must be moderate Muslims. (In a letter to Tony Blair following the unraveling of the latest plot, 40 Muslim community leaders--including six members of Parliament--claimed Britain’s foreign policy gave “ammunition to extremists.”)

If someone slaughtered hundreds of innocents in the name of Christianity, everyone from the Pope and Billy Graham to your parish priest or local pastor would denounce the crime as an obscenity--without reference to the fall of Constantinople.

Hardly a day goes by that evil isn’t perpetrated in the name of Islam somewhere in the world. When it comes to denouncing same, moderate Muslims are mostly AWOL.

Occasionally, we’ll hear from a Muslim not mired in the Dark Ages. Usually, they’re wondering where all of the other moderate Muslims are. One is Irshad Manji, a fellow at Yale University and the author of “The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslim’s Call for Reform in Her Faith.”

Ms Manji can author such a book while safely ensconced in New Haven. If she wrote a book suggesting--or even hinting--that Islam is less than perfection, while residing anywhere in the Muslim world, she’d be dead. In fact, in many parts of the Islamic world, a woman can get in serious trouble for reading a book.

# 10 – Islam is bent on global conquest.

“Islam isn’t in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant. The Koran … should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth.” – Omar Ahmad, founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

“Islam will return to Europe. The conquest need not necessarily be by the sword. Perhaps we will conquer these lands without armies. We want an army of preachers and teachers who will present Islam in all languages and all dialects.” Dr. Al-Qaradawi, Egyptian-born, Qatar-based spiritual leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.

“The Muslims are required to raise the banner of jihad in order to make the Word of Allah supreme in the world.” -posting on the website of the Islamic Affairs Department of the Saudi government. (These oil-rich fascists control roughly 80% of U.S. mosques.)

“Islam is advancing according to a steady plan, to the point that tens of thousands of Muslims have joined the American army and Islam is the second largest religion in America. America will be destroyed. But we must be patient.” -Saudi Professor Nassar bin Suleiman al-Omar on al-Majd TV.

Within 100 years of Muhammed’s death, Islam had conquered the Middle East and spread across North Africa before it was finally stopped in southern France. Today, due to immigration, one in every 10 Frenchmen is a Muslim and an estimated 50,000 convert to Islam each year.

In Britain, with 1.5 million Muslims, attendance at mosques is higher than at services for the Church of England. Islam is spreading down both coasts of Africa--in Nigeria, Kenya, the Sudan, and Ethiopia--as well as in the Balkans, former Soviet republics, Asia, and the Philippines.

Whether they bury us with swords, explosives, or immigration and procreation, the fate Islam has in store for us is the same.

If you don’t get it, you’re not paying attention. Or, perhaps your religion (liberalism) blinds you to the truth.

Islam is: A) A religion of peace B) A religion of rest in peace C) A religion that leaves you in pieces or D) A religion that wants a piece of what you have now--the rest later?

About the Writer: Don Feder is a former Boston Herald writer and syndicated columnist, currently making a modest living as a political/media consultant and free-lance writer. He's the author of "Who's Afraid of The Religious Right" and "A Jewish Conservative Looks at Pagan America." His writings can be found at http://www.donfeder.com.

Are The Purges Beginning?

According to Iain Dale, Labour have taken steps to make sure that there will be no more unfortunate incidents of throwing out people with a legitimate protest at this year’s conference..

So damaged was Labour by the expulsion of Walter Wolfgang from last year's conference that they have determined never to let it happen again. Party staff have been instructed to draw up a blacklist of all the potential future Walter Wolfgangs and have banned them from the Conference.

Yup.... They’ve apparently identified a list of all the potential hecklers and banned them from the conference.

OK, the more pissed off socialists there are in the world the happier your good Guttersnipe usually is, but hang on... aren’t these people Labour Party members? Haven’t they paid their fees and have the right to attend?

Nice to see democracy alive and well in our governing party don’t you think?

Shocked But Not Entirely Surprised

I'll miss him

The late Steve Irwin was one of the world’s great characters. True we all thought he was insane (although were he British he would have been eccentric) but mad as biscuits as he may have been his crowning achievement was that he made conservation and learning about wildlife interesting. He spent his life and gave his life in pursuit of the environment.

I’ll confess I was shocked when I saw the news this morning, but not entirely surprised. As DK has put it this morning ... live by the sword, die by a stingray barb in the chest.

I for one will miss him. Many people have satirised Steve Irwin’s exploits, I think those done by Irregular Webcomic provide both humour and fitting tribute. Read the whole series.

Time's Up Rambo!!

I'm a useless fecking moron!

You may recall I blogged some time ago that John Reid had declared he had 100 days to fix the Home Office.

Can't think that far back? Well look here at the post I made the day after his stupid outburst.

Day 100 is today...

As of tomorrow fellow Guttersnipes I want to hear every bollocks up the Home Office fails to hide. Civil Servants... you know your duty.

and to celebrate John Reid's sterling achievements in this field the BBC has the following headline:

Government Clueless Over Crime

Keep up the good work Reidy!