Campbell's emotional insincerity

Campbell's little drama-queen episode on Marr fails to convince me. It was overdone. A man of Campbell's experience and position is capable of dealing with the toughest of questions without flinching or pausing; he's also superlatively gifted at telling lies with sincerity, acting righteously when dissembling and resorting to ad-hominem attacks on his questioner when things get sticky.

So either Labour are pursuing a 'be authentic, be emotional' script for media interviews, or Campbell was genuinely and suddenly weighed with the realisation of a thousand tons of suffocating guilt right in the middle of an interview ...

Rendering unto Caesar

Conscience has a right to freedom. For centuries, as churches attempted to force on men Christ's work with the methods of Herod, the rights of those whose consciences rejected such teaching were often lost on the rack and in the faggot pyres. Post Enlightenment, we recognise the rights of individual conscience of all those who choose not to take the teaching of Christ, but we're now in danger of imperilling the consciences of those that do.

A valid act of faith is a choice interior to man; we can sign a contract, join a firing-squad, pronounce an oath of allegiance all without any interior consent, but unwilling belief is an impossibility. Our bodies may serve Caesar, but our souls are God's.

No Christian need be under any obligation to heed the assumptions behind Harman's Equalities Bill in so far as these violate the sanctity of individual conscience and faith; being true to one's conscience is one of the greatest duties we owe to our interior selves, and this is not a realm where Caesar has any authority.

Brown's AV gamble to save Labour

Despite the narrowing of Cameron's poll lead in recent weeks, Labour still faces nemesis in the South of England, a step in a trend which threatens to leave it as a rump party in the NE and NW. Past Labour voters will either not turn out at all (and it's questionable whether the election as a whole will achieve even a dismal 50% turn out or not, such is the public disillusionment with politicians) or vote Lib Dem or BNP. And it's that choice that's driving Brown's adoption of the AV system.

In an analysis for the ST, Thrasher and Rallings from Plymouth Poly University estimated that 40% of those voting either Labour or Conservative would pick Lib Dem as their second choice. However, they estimate that Lib Dems picking Labour as second choice would outnumber those picking Conservatives by two to one. Labour candidates are therefore most likely to hoover up second preference votes, boosting their performance above results that would have been achieved under FPTP.

It's clear that Brown is far more concerned with distorting elections in Labour's favour than with the probity of the electoral system; our constituency boundaries support electoral quotas that would disgrace a banana republic, the electoral register is out by an estimated 7m voters (fraudulent registrations and mistakes - estimate by Michael Pinto-Duschinsky) and voting fraud in ethnic areas is rife - all factors that because they favour Labour, Brown has left well alone. He really is nothing but a chiselling little crook, who would rob the English people of a fair electoral system.

The Lib Dems, who would be the natural party of Localism were it not for their commitment to the most corrosive anti-localist full PR voting system, have also done nothing to push for the correction of these grievous anomalies in our electoral system.

Parliament is rotten, the parties are corrupt and our electoral system has been suborned. The first step for any politician serious about returning probity to UK democracy must be to tackle the electoral system itself - in three basic steps;

1. A one-off re-basing of the electoral roll in January 2011 to coincide with the census, with proof of identity and nationality required for every person registered. Ending the right of Commonwealth citizens to vote in UK general elections would also assist in reducing illegal overstayers and false students.
2. The rapid re-drawing by 2015 of constituency boundaries to achieve a universal electoral quota of +/- 5% of the average in each constituency, with the possible exception of the Isle of Wight and the remotest Scots islands.
3. A return to the strictest tests for proxy voting that may include a declaration by a magistrate or GP, to eliminate widespread proxy voting fraud and personation.

I've also thought about compulsory voting, but am content to leave this on hold for as long as we achieve over a 50% turn out for general elections.

Cameron has indicated he will tackle number 2, but that's not enough. Not nearly enough.

Criminal behaviour

Morley, Devine, Chaytor and Hanningfield have now been charged, and are criminal defendants, and, quite properly, any further comment before a jury has reached a verdict on charges against them is sub judice.

I will say only that this is the culmination of a process during which the loathsome David Maclean attempted to hide all expenses details from the public, during which the foul and corrupt former Speaker, Martin, used all his powers to block publication, and during which Brown gave tacit and implicit support to anyone from either side of the house who tried to hide this shameful scandal.

Every MP should today feel disgraced that it was an ordinary member of the public who pursued FOI publication with commendable tenacity, and that it was the bloggers, chiefly Guido, that spurred the light of revelation to shine in the dank and corrupt lobbies and corridors of Westminster.

Ian Kennedy helping to create a new Rotten Parliament

Ian Kennedy is a man who likes to thrust his own snout deep into the public expenses trough; now trousering £100k as head of the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, this seasoned Quangocrat previously took a wedge of £165k a year as head of the Healthcare Commission. Kennedy lives in North London, on the tube network, yet claimed more than £15,000 in taxi fares in his last job between his Finsbury park office and his home. The lazy bastard should perhaps have heeded the advice given by the health fascist sector and exercised his atrophied legs.

Still, with a man like Kennedy - deeply sympathetic to the idea of fat, bloated, expenses and remuneration - at the helm of the body that will decide MPs' future wedge, troughing MPs must be hoping that the culture of this Rotten Parliament can be continued into the next.

This puts Kennedy at odds both with Legg and Kelly - who each, in their own way, are defending our, the taxpayer's, position.

We'll see Legg's report later today, but we must be ever-vigilant against his good work being undermined by Kennedy's swill-dumping.

Greece and Spain must go back to being poor

Spurn any feeling of Shadenfreude that Greece's parlous economic state may engender and forget any prospect of the Euro collapsing; the EU's grasping tentacles have a claim on the UK to subsidise failing eurozone economies, despite our not being in the eurozone, and it's decided by majority vote. The Germans may soon be standing on the doorstep asking us for £5bn. And if Spain gets in on the act, it could be a lot more.

A Prime Minister with even a hint of spine (that's courage, Gordon) would refuse to pay; it's their euro, let Germany bail them out. Except the Germans are unwilling to spend their own money - they want to use ours.

The alternative solution is an attractive one. Let Greece go back to the drachma and Spain to the peseta, allowing them to savagely devalue their currencies, go back to being poor and making their countries affordable holiday destinations once more.

UK Olympics team could breach Equalities Act

Britain's Olympic selectors could be obliged to provide places in the team for those from poor backgrounds as it emerged today that one in three of the team went to private schools. Harriet Harman, the Equalities Minister, said yesterday "Only seven percent of the population go to private schools, and our Olympic Team should reflect this in the interests of equality. I'd expect to see selectors giving special consideration to poorly performing athletes from poor backgrounds in their final decisions for 2012."

If Olympic selectors fail to put together a team that reflects Britain's social make up, they could be in breach of the new Equalities Act. They are understood to be in contact with the IOC over the proposed changes, and also to deal with an appeal from Grey Mist, the UK older adults forum, who have accused Olympic selectors of age discrimination. "Just look at the team" Mrs Beryl Shanks said yesterday "not a single over-60 amongst them. If that isn't blatant age discrimination I don't know what is."

The gay organisation Stonewall was expected to join the protest today, with complaints that there were too few homosexuals and transgendered athletes in Britain's team.

The IOC had no comment to make.

Labour's spiteful little twists

London is amongst the worst places in the EU for air pollution. A report for the London Assembly, published in May 2009, produced evidence that air pollution in London contributes to over 3,000 premature deaths in the capital each year. What action has the Labour government taken over this appalling risk to life? Nothing. Rien. Nada.

When leaded fuel was the norm, the most shocking evidence was produced that those living long-term in the shadow of London's Westway had accumulated such high levels of lead in their bodies that some actually exhibited symptoms of lead poisoning, but this wasn't the most horrifying impact. The effect of accumulated lead in young children, many of them of West Indian origin, had caused irreversible brain damage manifested in mild cases as learning difficulties and in severe cases as severe behavioural disorders. Did Labour legislate to ban lead from fuel? Did they re-house everyone living under the Westway? Did they horsefeathers.

Kids don't get a choice, of course, as to where they live, but I do. I know the increased risk to my health of living in London with its polluted air, and the visible signs of this pollution are evident when I remove a shirt after ten hour's wear or in the fine coating of soot that gathers in door and window embrasures.

My only satisfaction is that London's most vociferous anti-smokers are breathing the same filthy air.

The idling engine of a 2 litre diesel vehicle produces more air pollution in two minutes than a smoker produces in a year of smoking. It's actually possible that a child locked into a sealed vehicle with a smoking driver is less exposed to polluted air than one standing outside the vehicle in a traffic jam. Opening the window to let the ciggie smoke out lets in the far more polluted air outside.

So let's not pretend that Burnham's proposed smoking reforms have anything to do with health or child welfare. They don't. It's pure Labour bile and spite towards a cohort of the population least amenable to Labour's Levaithan Statism, where smoking is a proxy for civil disobedience.

I shall continue to be civilly disobedient, and watch with pleasure Mr Burnham breathing Europe's most polluted air in the Commons.

US forces in place for Israel strike on Iran

The inevitability of a strike by Israel on Iran in the face of Iranian intransigence over its nuclear weapons programme is strengthened today with news of new US deployments to the region. Iran's well-developed range of missiles, including the Shahab and Fajr as well as the ubiquitous Scuds, have the reach to hit major oil-producers in the region with the potential of a disruption to supplies out of proportion to the actual damage. The supposition is that once Israel launches its attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, Iran will mass-launch its missile capability not only at Israel but at other US-friendly states in the region.

News that Obama has authorised Patriot anti-missile missiles to be deployed in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait (they're already established in Saudi and Israel) in addition to stationing anti-missile warships in the gulf will signal strongly to Iran that the US is behind a forthcoming Israeli strike, and ready to help limit the fallout. And protect its oil supply.

The effects of Israeli-US action on the UK election campaign can only be guessed. Whatever the best course of action for the UK, Brown and Banana Boy are unlikely to take it, and the EU's foreign minister, Nanny Ashton, is about as effective as a chocolate teapot.

My own view is that we should keep out of it. And be as ready as we can to ensure our own oil supplies to limit the damage on our crippled economy.

National Sickie Day? Try this

Libby Purves writes in the Times today - which is apparently National Sickie Day. So before I dash for the train, let me tell you about a very simple bonus system we use for staff below foreman / supervisor level.

Every December they get a bonus of up to 8% of their annual earnings, including overtime, but only if they've had zero days sickness absence over the year. For every day's absence, the bonus is reduced by 1%. Their sickness levels are at about 2.5 days overall, compared with 12 days for NHS staff and 10 days for plods.

OK, our scheme is tough for anyone who breaks a bone, or who has cancer, but it works, and our overall paybill is still lower than our competitors.

Sack these jessies

Any police officer who refuses to walk the beat alone must be sacked. No sympathy. I walk these streets alone, without the benefit of kevlar bullet-proof vest and a communication system that includes an 'urgent assistance required' alarm button and without the benefit of the full rigour of the law being applied to anyone who assaults me. If a well-armoured and protected plod isn't safe on the streets, then the streets aren't safe for anyone - and we should sack the Commissioner.

And if 'modern' plods are nervous, it's about time they remembered two things well understood by old-time plods;

1. Being polite and respectful to the public will make them your allies
2. Law-abiding middle class blokes are most likely to come to your assistance if you're in trouble - so lay off trying to criminalise them by the overzealous imposition of noddy-offence penalties

In London, the greatest volume of complaints against the Met are over the rudeness and arrogance of individual officers. Patrolling alone will allow these confused individuals to remember who pays their wage, and why.