Sir John Major challenged ministers to exercise a windfall tax this winter on energy companies’ profits to protect the neediest in society. He thought the Government would have to step in to choose between heating their homes or putting food into theirs and their families mouths. He said that the Government needs to reconnect with the North of England, who have been pushed out to the political periphery, as well as the people living on council estates, who have been demonized by politicians and the media that they feel their opinion counts for nothing.
I find it extremely ironic and audacious that David Cameron has the cheek to tell people just to "put on an extra jumper", when he is trying to give MPs a 11% pay rise. When has he had to worry about choosing between eating or heating? His father was a big stockbroker in London and his grandfather was Sir William Mount, 2nd Baronet. He has no idea.
I completely agree with John Major when he said “It is not acceptable to me, it ought not to be acceptable to anyone, that many people are going to have to choose between keeping warm and eating.”
This isn't an exaggeration; people will DIE if they have to choose between heating or eating. 24,000 people died last year due to the cold in their homes. The shocking toll will increase fears that the number will be even higher this year because of further increases in energy bills and warnings of a particularly cold winter.
The only problem I have with John Major's outburst is that he was once Prime Minister, why didn't he do anything? He talked about Lloyd George ideal about making "homes fit for heroes". I'm pretty sure Lloyd George was a bit before his time, it is very easy for him to say it now when he doesn't have the responsibility.
To be brutally honest, many MP are completely out of touch with people outside their Eton-Oxford lifestyle, they just do not understand the challenges that others face due to the cold winter and the energy crises.
Monday 28 October 2013
Wednesday 2 October 2013
Ed vs Paul Dacre
I do not really like many politicians and Ed Miliband is no exception, but what the Daily Mail did was completely unjustifiable and inexcusable.
The Daily Mail described the late Marxist scientist, Ralph Miliband, as "The Man Who Hated Britain", in the Saturday pages of the Mail itself. The Labour leader had a column in the Mail in which he puts foward a robust defence of his dad, the renowned Marxist political scientist who passed away in 1994, and accuses the paper of a "character assassination".
The first two paragraphs are worth reading in full:
"It was June 1944 and the Allies were landing in Normandy. A 20-year old man, who had arrived in Britain as a refugee just four years earlier, was part of that fight. He was my father. Fighting the Nazis and fighting for his adopted country.
On Saturday, the Daily Mail chose to publish an article about him under the banner headline 'The Man Who Hated Britain.'
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back. But my Dad is a different matter."
And his last paragraph:
"There was a time when politicians stayed silent if this kind of thing happened, in the hope that it wouldn’t happen again. And fear that if they spoke out, it would make things worse. I will not do that. The stakes are too high for our country for politics to be conducted in this way. We owe it to Britain to have a debate which reflects the values of how we want the country run."
Despite all of this, the Daily Mail refuses to back down, which is extremely ironic, in my view because was it not this newspaper that described the public reaction of |Margret Thatcher death as a total "lack of respect for the dead" and described it as "a disturbing new low in British life", a bit hypocritical, don't you think?
After all of this, the Daily Mail stand by "every word" in their article. I'm quite sure Paul Dacre will regret his decision of digging a bit too deep into this...
The Daily Mail described the late Marxist scientist, Ralph Miliband, as "The Man Who Hated Britain", in the Saturday pages of the Mail itself. The Labour leader had a column in the Mail in which he puts foward a robust defence of his dad, the renowned Marxist political scientist who passed away in 1994, and accuses the paper of a "character assassination".
The first two paragraphs are worth reading in full:
"It was June 1944 and the Allies were landing in Normandy. A 20-year old man, who had arrived in Britain as a refugee just four years earlier, was part of that fight. He was my father. Fighting the Nazis and fighting for his adopted country.
On Saturday, the Daily Mail chose to publish an article about him under the banner headline 'The Man Who Hated Britain.'
"It’s part of our job description as politicians to be criticised and attacked by newspapers, including the Daily Mail. It comes with the territory. The British people have great wisdom to sort the fair from the unfair. And I have other ways of answering back. But my Dad is a different matter."
And his last paragraph:
"There was a time when politicians stayed silent if this kind of thing happened, in the hope that it wouldn’t happen again. And fear that if they spoke out, it would make things worse. I will not do that. The stakes are too high for our country for politics to be conducted in this way. We owe it to Britain to have a debate which reflects the values of how we want the country run."
Despite all of this, the Daily Mail refuses to back down, which is extremely ironic, in my view because was it not this newspaper that described the public reaction of |Margret Thatcher death as a total "lack of respect for the dead" and described it as "a disturbing new low in British life", a bit hypocritical, don't you think?
After all of this, the Daily Mail stand by "every word" in their article. I'm quite sure Paul Dacre will regret his decision of digging a bit too deep into this...
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