The Bewilderness

The Cards Will Work

To return to ID cards, the Register notes that the current immigration problems highlight the inevitable failure of ID cards.

Which leaves Blair's plans to solve the immigration question through the application of IT with difficulties on several levels. The border defences themselves will be expensive to keep up, will put non-immigrant travellers through annoying hoops, but will do little to impede would-be immigrants coming in under false pretences and/or false documentation. They will give the UK a biometric database of a reasonable percentage of the future defaulters, but these can only rationally be tracked down in-country via fairly repressive controls which again will impact heavily on the rest of the population. These measures will produce a large (and, assuming the supply is not shut off, continually growing) group of candidates for deportation, and as these will likely abscond if released, they must be detained until...

If we make things uncomfortable for immigrants, by denying new entrants welfare benefits, the Left will argue that they will turn to crime. It should be noted that immigrant criminals are drawing welfare benefits, often on an illegal basis, and that the absence of a welfare state is unlikely to prevent their lawbreaking.

The Socialist Republics Beyond Watford

Brown's client state crowds out the private sector to such an extent that Soviet economies are being created outside of London and the south east.

THE growth in public spending in northern areas of Britain is so rampant that it is resulting in the “sovietisation” of swathes of the country, new figures show.

Gordon Brown, the chancellor, has pushed up national public spending beyond the levels of former communist countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

The dependence on the public sector of the north of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland has grown so sharply over the past year that many areas are now significantly more reliant on public spending than countries such as Sweden, known for the bloated size of its welfare state.

If one looks at the regional breakdown of productivity statistics on the ONS site, there is a clear correlation between regions with high public spending and low productivity. In the series since 1998, the position of the regions north and west of London have, in the main, deteriorated. One could conclude that devolution and subsidies do not work. No surprises there!!!

Zimwatch: Myanmar's Cousins

Grovelling in Zimbabwe takes a different form from  the NuLab sycophantism that Brits are used to although a Blair babe may wish to take up the option:

Making a belated birthday message to Mugabe, Senator Chief Musarurwa from Mashonaland East told fellow senators that Mugabe should be allowed to be a life President....The President was anointed to be a leader of this country and we wish that he should grow old to the extent that his back is rubbed with cow dung and until the followers know that his duty is to take care of this country, until there are no such things as corruption and until there is peace and equal distribution of land in this country.

Mugabe follows the strategies of his communist role models, eating the nation from the inside out, wasting away civil society until the power of the party is revealed behind the barrel of the gun, and all opposition is exhausted. In countries where such strategies are undertaken, all political forms are gradually hollowed out by a creeping militarisation as the crisis spirals. The problem is that the pirate state has to ensure that the army gets the majority of the spoils. The war veterans may have been bought off after their chairman, Jabulandi Sibanda, was expelled from ZANU-PF for the heretical thought that benefits should accrue to all Zimbabweans:

Max Mkandla, president of The Zimbabwe LiberatorsVoice which represents peaceful war veterans who believe all Zimbabweans deserve benefits, told us the government is trying to persuade war vets in the association not to walk away from ZANU-PF and follow their chairman Jabulani Sibanda who was expelled from the ruling party last week. Mkandla said the majority of war vets have thrown their support behind Sibanda and the new ‘salaries’ are a bribe to keep them close so their activities can be monitored. Mkandla added that ZANU-PF has lost the support of its own members and is attempting to buy loyalty from the police, military, nurses and now the war veterans.

The armed forces are taking control of state and parastatal institutions as Mugabe's regime attempts to stave off hunger and maintain its core functions:

The use of the army to take control of the countryside has been mirrored by the appointment of military commanders to top positions in the civilian institutions, in an effort to strengthen 82-year-old Mugabe's grip on the country.

Generals, some still on active duty, others retired, now control the reserve bank, the grain marketing board, the electoral commission, the state railway, energy ministry, parks authority and other key institutions formerly run by civilians.

Jonathan Moyo, a former minister of information who quit the Mugabe government and is now Zimbabwe's only independent MP, said: "This is an admission that things have fallen apart and that governance can no longer continue in civilian mode."

Perhaps the generals will tire of wiping Mugabe's behind with cow dung and will feel that they can run Zimbabwe better themselves.

Purgatorio Postponed: Another Year of the European Constitution

The meeting in Austria was unlikely to provide the roadmap that the federalists crave. One strategy that is being considered , in line with the "consultative" exercises that Margot Wallstrom has developed, is a rebranding exercise. The European Constitution would be renamed the Basic Law, which is, by coincidence, the translation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, and restructured to remove the problematic elements.

Supporters of the rebranding said that changing the name was designed to acknowledge the concerns of voters who felt uncomfortable with grand talk of a constitution. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said: "We in Germany live with a 'basic law' which does not carry the title 'constitution' but has the same legal quality. It's a possible starting point."

Consideration of the European Constitution was postponed for another year. The future of the EU would be revisited after the Frendch and Dutch elections in 2007. However, the problems that prompted rejection are not fading away and the turn of the electorla cycle does not favour Europhile parties. France, in particular, is volatile and the  possibility of a Le Pen presidency cannot be discounted.

The Deja-vu of the EU where Plan B = Plan A

There have been a flurry of stories on the European Constitution as foreign ministers and their aides hold a small meeting under the auspices of the Austrian Presidency. The meeting will be held at the Klosteneuberg monastery, although the beautiful surroundings will not magically produce the harmony that the Constitutionalists so desire. Apart from the nominal scathing reference to the  waste of public money that   the political parasites are so expert at, it is difficult to read the runes.

The announcements on the Constitution that particular Member States have floated over the last few days present a number of conflicting signposts. Some of the Member States view treaty law and national sovereignty as an outdated encumbrance, arguing that all future European treaties should be passed by qualified majority voting. That would be Giscard D'Estaing and Belgium. Others wish to prolong the 'period of reflection' or proffer an alternative view of institutional integration that does not involve a Constitutional Treaty, or consists of a stripped down version. As an interim measure, they all support the moves to cherrypick certain elements within the document for immediate application.

It will not be possible to estimate the outcome of this meeting, although hints will emerge of the need to present a united front, despite the harsh differences on show. What is clear for many within the European elite is the danger of allowing the unpredictable winds of popular votes in upsetting their plans. Hugo Brady of the Centre for European Reform views referenda as a problem, because they don't understand the problems that the EU faces. The contempt drips from this quote.

"The mistake was asking the people if they wanted the constitution," said Hugo Brady, an expert on EU issues for the London-based Centre for European Reform. "Individuals don't easily see the advantages of a multinational organization. It's not a popular opinion, I suppose, but I don't see why a popular vote on a European constitution was a good idea."

One of the themes that has gripped the European institutions since the rejection votes last year is the need to 'consult' their peoples. 'Plan D', based on theories of deliberative democracy, is designed to foster channels of consultation and participation without allowing electorates any say over legal changes or the way that money is spent. If one looks at how the Dutch government and the Commission interprets government financed consultative exercises to support pro-integrationist policies, we can see that Europe will use the tools of deliberative democracy such as polls, focus groups and panels of picked citizens to provide  legitimacy for their actions.

This short-term focus on Potemkin democracy at the expense of engaging with the electorates of the Members States will increase the sense of disillusionment and disengagement. Unable to engage in genuine reform, the EU is setting the stage for further steps away from liberalism and democracy.

Polly's Panics

Polly Toynbee, writing in the Guardian, removes any pretence that she can view the present government without rose tinted glasses. Corruption, incompetence and the stink of private advantage taking precedent over public interest mean nothing to her. The disgusting impoverishment of private pensioners, robbed of their savings at the hands of this government, is considered a positive. Those who toil and pay taxes from productive labour are wilfully perceived as dumb Peters who should pay the Pauls of social justice (so they can retire earlier on better  pension packages). Paying the public sector more is the usual Leftist definition of 'social justice'.

After this week's grim Guardian/ICM poll, Labour are looking across at the opposition benches and imagining themselves back there before long. Senior figures are saying that if this goes on beyond another six months, the position will be "irrecoverable", whoever is leader. If Labour really has lost the high ground on its core issues - the NHS and education - that will be hard to win back, however good the figures on waiting lists or exam results.

The prospect of opposition concentrates minds. What will be left? Nothing but a broken shell of a party, with virtually no councillors and no party members, bereft of ideas and idealism, intellectually running on brain-empty. Watching Tories pushing on with Tony Blair's own reform policies, their opposition would be paralysed now that so many ideological dividing lines between the parties are blurred.

If Polly still believes the figures spawned by this  government, then  there  is  really no hope for her. She closes your eyes  to a bankrupt education system because she prefers to support exams and classes that destroy opportunity.

Since I wrote about Labour's lost local elections, distraught emails have poured in from around the country. Here is the latest, from Wyre borough council in Lancashire. This Tory council has warped its spending towards wealthy Tory wards, ignoring solid Labour Fleetwood. Last Thursday, two weeks after the main local elections, there was a byelection in Park Ward, the poorest in Lancashire and the second-safest Labour seat in the county; activists piled in to support a good local candidate.

But they were shocked to lose, with a staggering 27% swing to the Tories in a seat that was never Tory before. The chair of Lancaster Labour party writes: "We've seen support from our regional office dry up (except when they need to bully) and membership has lapsed to its lowest ever. We're alone, isolated and fed up. So on Wednesday night we passed a resolution calling on Tony Blair to resign before the annual conference." They are not by nature that kind of local party.

Why don't you try a new refrain? Labour deserves this because they are arrogant, incompetent and  out of touch with their own base, let alone everyone else. When that  happens, political parties  require a spell in opposition.   

If the current Labour party, that morass of spin, is the government that Left lauds, then we need to take up Thatcher's crusade and destoy the chance of a socialist government taking control of this country ever again.

Goldsmith's Forensics

Further freedom of information requests on the legal advice sought by the government from Lord Goldsmith, Attorney General, provide little alteration to the picture that we understand of the run-up to the war. The exceptional requests, agreed on the grounds of public interest, show the factors that led Goldsmith to argue on the legality of the war, without the requirement of a second UN resolution.

As it became clear that a second resolution was unlikely to be forthcoming, the attorney general "continued to reflect on the legal arguments", today's statement said.

In the following days the chief of the defence staff requested a "clear indication of the legal position" while the treasury solicitor, as head of the government legal service, asked Lord Goldsmith for a "clear statement as to the lawfulness of military action".

The statement continued: "The attorney general recognised therefore that he needed to indicate his clear view as to whether military action would be lawful and that the government would need to set out its position publicly."

On March 13, Lord Goldsmith told his legal secretary that, "after further reflection, having particular regard to the negotiating history of resolution 1441 and his discussions with Sir Jeremy Greenstock [the UK's ambassador to the UN at the time] and the representatives of the US administration, he had reached the clear conclusion that the better view was that there was a lawful basis for the use of force without a second resolution".

These alterations in legal advice were directly related to the "negotiating history of resolution 1441". In hindsight, the failure of this resolution was partially due to the political objectives of France and Russia. Their actions in the Security Council formed an unspoken legitimation for the Attorney General to support the war, raising wider questions about how political developments intersect with legal arguments for state action.

About Time

The pullout of British troops is speeding up.

Mr Maliki surprised Mr Blair's team at the press conference by saying the UK handover to Iraqi forces could begin in June. British officials later corrected this, saying that the planned date was actually July.

Mr Blair preferred not to put an explicit timetable on it, saying that such a move depended on conditions on the ground, and the government's most optimistic public timetable has Iraq taking full control of security within a four-year period. But a joint statement issued by Mr Blair and Mr Maliki acknowledged their agreement to make an early start.

Increased casulaties due to Iranian subversion? Overstretch with major deploments in Afghanistan? A need to avoid a further increase in casualty figures now that MOD stats prove worthless.

Reid Tears the flesh of New Labour

John Reid turns on his own department, to cries of glee from those who do not look beyond the divisiveness at the heart of the New Labour project. A point worth telling, but not much more....although they are no longer blaming the Major government.

The Home Office was also described as "from time to time dysfunctional in the sense it doesn't work"

Who could be in a position to deliver such a savage indictment of 9 years of Labour administration?
[...and do Jack Straw, David Blunkett or Charles Clarke agree with the analysis?]

Step forward, home secretary John Reid.

I am nonplussed at the lack of a constitutional context for this savage attack. All of the Ministers mentioned were supposed to be responsible for their Department and accountable to Parliament for its actions. However, the continual plotting, leaks and internecine warfare make a mockery of ministerial responsibility through the Cabinet or  recognising the Prime Minister as the final backstop for all mistakes. Clothed in an electoral dictatorship, this government falls prey to opportunists like Ried, who are unable to play the Tory card any longer and, therefore, turn on their own. Same rapsheet, different fallguys. 

Can the Home Office survive?

Neurotechnology: What to Expect

Jack Lynch talks about the future of neurotechnology in MIT Technology Review. he zeroes in on the two developments that  could prove most  productive  in the next two decades as  basic science is applied to palliative treatment. One is neurogenesis:

Neurogenesis promises a potential preventative or nearly cure capability. Right now what we're doing is palliative, rather than being able to target the mechanisms and potentially regrow neurons. But it's an area that's far out. The technology is just getting started.

The other is the development of better neurodevices:

In the next 10 years, I think we'll start to see a combination of technologies, like maybe a brain stimulator that releases L-dopa [a treatment for Parkinson's disease]. Whether that's viable is a whole other question, but that possibility is there because of the microelectronics revolution.

The real breakthrough will come from work on new electrodes. This will transform neurostimulator applications. With these technologies, you can create noninvasive devices and target very specific parts of the brain. It's like going from a Model T to a Ferrari. Those technologies will present the real competition for drugs.