Government Takes Big Brother to New Heights

The Government is taking big brother to new heights with the UK's first police remote control helicopter. The "spy drone", fitted with CCTV cameras, is being used by Merseyside police primarily for tackling anti-social behaviour and public disorder. This machine which was originally used by the military is 1m wide, incredibly lightweight, and can record images from a height of 500m.

Merseyside's assistant chief constable Simon Byrne said, "We're always looking at ways of putting more officers on the streets, and maximising technology is a powerful way of achieving this. Our drone will be used primarily to support our anti-social behaviour taskforce AXIS, in gathering all important evidence to put offenders before the courts. For us, this is a cost-effective way of helping to catch criminals and supports similar technology we're already using in our vans and helicopter."

Deputy director, Stephen Cahill, said, "We are pleased to support Merseyside Police in their efforts to reduce crime through the use of new technology. This trial is the first of its kind in the country and we're excited about its potential."

The images recorded by these silent night-vision equipped "spy drones" cameras are sent back to a police support vehicle or control room.


This latest development is enlightening and terrifying. The 4.2 Million CCTV cameras and the new "talking" cameras obviously do not satisfactorily fulfill the Government's desire to monitor our every move. They have now turned to "spy planes" which they claim are in the interest of public safety. This is a horrifying window into the future of things to come, especially if Labour wins the next general election. If this level of government intrusion was occurring in another country such as Russia, it would be condemned.

With millions of CCTV cameras, spy planes, and the government's plan to profile people who MAY commit crimes the future of UK is beginning to look more like the movie the Minority Report than the country we know and love.

Brown to Attack Blair Over Education

Gordon Brown will attack Tony Blair's education reforms today in an attempt to further distance himself from the Prime Minister. The Chancellor will describe numeracy rates among young children as "unacceptable" for one of the world's leading economies. "It is unacceptable that we still have 150,000 children leaving primary school who aren't numerate. Both a strong economy and an inclusive society require a fully numerate population." Brown will go on to admit that the Labour Government has failed to deliver a "world class" education system.

Blair will not look kindly on this latest strategy in Brown's campaign. When Blair came to power in 1997 he claimed "Education, education, education " was his priority. Today in contrast with Gordon Brown's recent comments, he believes he succeeded. Blair recently said "Education, education, education was how I described my priorities at the outset of this Government. A decade on, this report shows we meant it".

As I said in a previous post regarding Blair's eduaction reforms, it is progress to renovate and build new facilities for students. However, the current problem does not lie with the facilities, but rather with the education they receive inside them.

Mr Brown claims he will try to shift the emphasis of Labour's education policies away from changes to school structures to core activities in the classroom.

SNP Victory Over Labour - Embarrassment for Brown

The SNP is victorious. The SNP won a total of 47 of the 129 seats. Labour was just one behind on 46. Britain's political map was reshaped in a dramatic result last night after the Scottish National Party ended Labour's 50-year dominance of Scotland. This is certainly to cast a shadow over Gordon Brown's expected "coronation" as Prime Minister.

Labour took a kicking from voters across Britain in the final electoral verdict on Tony Blair's decade at Number 10. This defeat was highly symbolic for not only Labour but Blair and Brown as well. Mr Brown regards Scotland as his political power base. He had taken a central role in Labour's unsuccessful campaign to halt the nationalist advance.

Labour cabinet ministers, including John Reid, the Home Secretary, and Hazel Blears, the party chairman, gave television and radio interviews however Brown attempted to distance himself from Labour's defeat in Scotland and setbacks in the rest of the UK. Instead Mr Brown issued a press release in which he promised that Labour would "listen and learn" the lessons of its defeat.

SNP leader Alex Salmond said last night that Labour had lost its "divine right" to rule Scotland. "Scotland has changed for good and forever." But it will not be smooth sailing for Salmond as he attempts to put together a coalition that will enable him to become Scotland's First Minister. The SNP's narrow victory threatens uncertainty and potential instability, particularly if Mr Salmond seeks confrontation with a Government led by Mr Brown.

Mr Salmond will need the support of at least two other parties to form a majority government. The most likely candidates are the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. However a rather large stumbling block for the other parties support will be Mr Salmond's commitment to hold a referendum on independence within four years. Yesterday the SNP leader appeared to slightly change his tune on this issue by saying there was scope for "flexibility". Jack McConnell, the Scottish Labour leader and current First Minister, refused to concede defeat last night. He pledged to "keep all options open" and said Labour would be "reflecting" on how best to move forward.

Mr Blair attempted to minimise the repercussions of the worse electoral performance of his premiership. He claimed it provided "a perfectly good springboard to go on and win the next General Election."

David Cameron passed his first big electoral test as the Conservatives won 860 council seats in England and emerged with the strongest showing in local government for almost 30 years.


Blair, Brown and Labour can try to convince themselves that the result was not a disaster. The British people have spoken and Labour's era of sleaze and corruption has passed. As the results show the people are looking for new direction and are ready to send Labour packing. It is a shame that Brown will not have the courage to call a general election when Blair resigns.

Blair To Announce His Resignation Next Week

Tony Blair promised yesterday that he would stand down in the next few weeks. He is expected to announce his resignation next Wednesday or Thursday in a last minute attempt to avoid a substantial protest vote against labour in the mid-term elections tomorrow.

Put the champagne on ice ... it's almost time to celebrate, or is it? Blair endorsed Gordon Brown as his successor ending months of speculation as to whether he wanted the Chancellor to take over or would prefer another member of the Cabinet to succeed him. The question is, do we seriously expect Brown to be any better?

It will be interesting to see the results of the election. Blair obviously has his concerns. He fears that disillusioned Labour voters intend to give Labour a "kicking" because they are angry with him over issues such as Iraq. This fear is not without basis. Blair and "new labour" have managed to create an environment in which the voting public are disillusioned, angry and have lost faith in the labour government they, at one point, enthusiastically supported.

Blair began his day of saying farewell with an appearance on GMTV where he said,"I'll make my position clear next week, I'll say something definitive then."

Approximately seven weeks after Mr Blair resigns, an electoral college will be held, almost certainly in London, attended by delegates from unions and other affiliated organisations, constituency Labour parties, MPs and Euro MPs. That timetable would see Mr Blair going to Buckingham Palace formally to resign on Monday July 2, with his successor being invited to form a government by the Queen shortly afterwards.

According to a poll for BBC 2's Newsnight programme last night almost three quarters of voters think there should be a general election when Mr Blair steps down. Those who want an early election include more than half of Labour voters (52 per cent) who took part in the poll.

Mr Brown has rejected calls for an early general election. Of course Brown has rejected calls for an early election as he knows he would not win. The British public are almost as disillusioned with Brown as they are with Blair. If Brown truly wanted to do what is best for the country he would let the voters decide. Unfortunately, Brown would much rather do what is best for Brown.

Do You Want To Be Required to Own a Biometric ID Card? You will be if Labour wins next Election.

According to Home Office papers from 2004 one third will NOT cooperate with ID card checks. The Home Office claims these figures were incredibly out of date. Labour says ID cards will have a wide range of benefits and plans. If they win the next election they will bring in new legislation to make it compulsory to own, but not necessarily carry, a card. The Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives both oppose the identity card scheme. Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Jeremy Browne said: "A major failing of ID cards is that it will cost billions of pounds to coerce law-abiding people into providing their details while those with genuinely malign intentions will strive to avoid complying with the authorities." I don't often agree with Liberal Democrats but I am with Browne 100%. As with the talking cameras and airport eye scans, this takes Big Brother to a whole new level. Browne correctly stated that the people who will get the ID's, simply because it is the law and not because they have any desire to have their personal biometric information stored on a card , are the law abiding citizens who should not have to. If Labour seriously believes criminals will line up on day one, or at any other time, they need a reality check. The next question is, when ID cards do not achieve the desired results what is next? Microchips implanted under our skin? It may sound far fetched but so did biometric ID cards 20 years ago. We can only hope Labour does not win the next election. I enjoy my freedom. Well, what's left of it anyway.
Visit www.no2ID.net for more on this very concerning scheme.

Maternity Support Workers to Replace Midwives to Cut Costs?

Ministers have reneged on the election promise which guaranteed all mothers receive one-to-one care from a midwife during labour. Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt admitted that midwives would probably not be present during the whole labour in any NHS hospital. Campaigners said that costs could be cut by using "maternity support workers" not midwives during the majority of the labour process. There is no national training program for these workers with most trusts insisting they take only an NVQ ( a qualification course lasting only 15 days) versus midwives who endure a rigorous 3 year training program. I would consider the birth of a child one of the most, if not the most, important event in a person's life. The government obviously does not agree or they would not have suggested "support workers" who are meant for jobs such as cleaning up to deliver our babies. What's next to save money... suggesting a family member take a 15 day NVQ so the government doesn't have to pay at all? Royal College of Midwives adviser Sue Jacob said it would be 'nothing short of scandalous' if support workers were left doing the job of midwives. "Women want nothing less than a midwife by their side when they are in labour. We know from all the research that's been done that continuous care from an experienced professional makes a huge difference to the safety of both the mother and the child." I would love to know how the British people feel about this latest suggestion to cut costs at our children's expense by the Blairite Government.

Foriegn Secretary calls David Miliband a "Human Sacrifice"

FOREIGN Secretary Margaret Beckett has 'warned' that David Miliband would be offering himself up as a “human sacrifice” if he stood in a Labour leadership battle. When addressing speculation about the minister challenging Gordon Brown Beckett added that Miliband was a “very good minister” as Secretary for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs but the though of challenging Brown was," complete nonsense."She continued saying that “He is very bright. He is a very good minister. I am sure he will be a major figure in the party for a long time to come and a major contender at some time in the future.“But should he take this step to satisfy someone else’s prejudices? He would be daft,” she added. Obvousely not to Beckett but to several others Miliband has been considered to be a candidate who would appeal to supporters of Prime Minister Tony Blair. Any supporters Mr. Blair has left apart from Lord Cashpoint, that is. Although I hear through the grapevine that Lord "Cashpoint" Levy in none to happy with Mr Blair at the moment. I wouldn't be either if I was being made to take the fall when Mr Blair was obviouely complicit! Good Luck to the lucky winner who get to take over this Government ... Its an uphill battle!