Pwecko's Blog

[Pwecko]

Since nothing else ever happens on this forum, I'm going to delight everyone who comes along - that's probably two or three people a year - with my occasional blog.

First of all, I'll give you a little background. I was born and brought up in the Port. I went to William Stockton School and the Grammar School. I moved away for a few years and came back for family reasons. I have never much liked the Port, to be honest. It was more interesting when I was a kid. I don't like it now, with its giant ASDA, multitude of pound shops and all the empty shops along the main road. And I especially hate the concrete square between the library and the Civic Hall. And I hate the fact that council workers get free parking right in the centre of town while the rest of us have to pay. This is starting to become a rant, so I'll try and calm down.

I was out a couple of weeks ago, putting leaflets through doors on behalf of the UK Independence Party. It was great fun. All the people I met were friendly and willing to listen, which made a change. I'm happy to say that UKIP came second, beating Labour into fourth place here in the Cheshire West area and into third nationally. Another couple of thousand votes and we would have had two seats in the North West instead of one and Nick Griffin of the BNP would not have got a seat. So, all you people who voted for the English Democrats, No2EU and other no-hopers should have voted for UKIP instead.

I've been gardening a bit lately. Before the weather turned nasty, it was fun going out and messing about. When the freezing wind hit us last week, it was more of a burden. I don't like the cold. It makes my bones ache. It's nice again today, so I shall go out soon and pretend to do some work.

I'm not going to write too much today. I'll just leave you with a song from a local band (they're from Tranmere, that's local enough) - Half Man Half Biscuit - called The Referee's Alphabet. I hope you enjoy it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqpJ6XYykHE

[Pwecko]

I made a slight error yesterday when talking about council workers getting free parking while we all have to pay. For a while now there has been a 'four hours free' scheme in the car park outside ASDA (I can't call it the ASDA car park, since it belongs to the council). So, until the new Council starts to impose parking fees again in the near future, we can get free parking. But can you just go along and park? No. You have to go and get a ticket to show when you arrived, so that you don't outstay your four hour welcome. This is like giving a dog a biscuit. You get the dog to sit and shake hands before you let it have its titbit. We have to jump through the hoop of getting a ticket. Why? If it's free, make it free. The problem is that the council employs traffic wardens or 'Corporate Enforcement Officers', who come around to check up on you and issue you with a fine if you stay too long, and they have to have something to do before the parking fees are re-introduced.

I hate ASDA, don't you? It is so huge, like an aircraft hangar. That stupid escalator thing keeps telling you to be careful every time someone steps on it. Why not just have a sign at the bottom, so that we don't have to put up with that ridiculous, nannying noise pollution? Is it because the government has ensured by its education policy that a lot of us can't read well enough to understand a sign? Whatever the reason, it should be turned off. People aren't stupid. They know they should be careful.

I hate the stink of the fish counter in ASDA as well. Fresh fish should smell of nothing, so why the stench in ASDA? Unfresh fish? I'm saying nothing.

I hate the way that ASDA has managed to shut down lots of other shops in the town. The only alternative to supermarket fruit and veg now is one stall on the market. Go there for fresh, in season produce, not ASDA or Aldi or Morrison's. All their stuff comes from France or Spain or South Africa or Chile or Kenya. Even during the apple season in this country, you can't buy English apples. All you can get is the hideous, under-ripe tasteless rubbish from abroad, all exactly the same size and shape, all perfect. Why is it so perfect, do you think? Because it's sprayed with vast amounts of pesticides, that's why. Why do the apples often not go off, even when you keep them for weeks? Because they are irradiated. This kills off all the bacteria in them. It also kills off all the goodness in them, but what the heck, who cares about that? Are irradiated apples labelled as 'irradiated'? No, they're not. Go to the market if you want fresh food. Tell them you want English apples. They'll listen to you. ASDA won't.
I am in no way related to the people who run the greengrocer's on the market, by the way. It's just that they are independent (as far as I know) whereas the supermarkets are money-grabbing global corporations who just want your money. They don't care about anything else. Support local farmers and shops.

Here's another video that you might like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmGVYki-oyQ&feature=fvw

[Pwecko]

Have you noticed that there has been a huge amount of stuff in the newspapers and on TV and radio about the BNP getting two seats in the European elections? And yet, there has been nothing about the UK Independence Party, who came second and pushed Labour into fourth place in our area and third overall? Don't you find that strange? Do you wonder why that is? I'll tell you why it is.

Lots of people voted for UKIP not because of MPs' expenses but because they want to get out of the European Union and have their own elected government at Westminster, not be ruled from Brussels. The only reason that the BBC and ITV gave air-time to UKIP before the elections was that they were forced to by law, because UKIP got so many votes last time. Now that the elections are over, they are ignoring UKIP again. This is deliberate. The BBC is very biased toward the EU and against UKIP.

(In fact, the BBC has had funding from the EU, which is in breach of its Charter Provisions. Check out this website. http://www.tpuc.org/stoppayingtvlicencefees The website suggests that you should write to the BBC and tell them that you will not be paying your licence fee in future and explain why. There are letters that you can copy. I could not possibly advocate that, of course, but other people have done it.)

If you want to know what's really going on, I suggest you watch a couple of videos.

1. The Real Face of the European Union. This is a few years old now and it contains one or two inaccuracies, but it is still a good picture of the EU at work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zb37ZLfL ... playnext=1

2. Britain On The Brink. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR83juHj ... playnext=1

If you want more information, send me a private message.

Here's a really good song with some brilliant guitar playing, just to lighten the mood. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2K7HcYl ... playnext=1
I hope you enjoy it.

[Pwecko]

Oh, I was glum last night. England were beaten by the West Indies in the 20/20. Never mind. There's the Ashes to look forward to in a couple of weeks.

Did anyone see that video of the police beating up a man in Nottingham and zapping him repeatedly with a taser? Bad language - be warned. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raAQaDntIFw That was appalling. There were five or six of them. Why couldn't they just restrain him? Tasers can be deadly and they are being used much too readily by the police. When they first came in, they were only supposed to be used by police with weapons training and only fired in a situation where a gun might be used. Now, there are thousands of them out there in the hands of untrained police and the police seem to enjoy having the power that a taser gives them. Here are a few examples. Just do a search on 'taser' on YouTube to find many more examples.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqdUhotL6Fw Polish man dies at Canadian airport

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNGctzzl8JE&fe... American man dies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m01Q6RIApx0&fe... American teenager dies

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdCUdR8qNF4&fe... Woman tasered in a shop

http://www.phillyd.tv/2009/05/13/police-beat-up-p... Baptist pastor tasered and beaten.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmByfTKKUV4&fe... Man stopped and tasered for no apparent reason.

This shows when tasers may be used. http://police.homeoffice.gov.uk/operational-polic...

Originally, this was the law as to when tasers could be used: "Taser can be used as a less lethal alternative in situations where a firearms authority has been granted in accordance with criteria laid down by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO)." (ACPO, by the way, is a private, non-governmental organisation and not subject to the Freedom of Information Act. That's reassuring, isn't it?)

This means that a taser could only be used where a gun could be used. Would the police have been allowed to use a gun in that situation in Nottingham? No. Should they then be allowed to use a taser? No.

The use of tasers was later extended thus: "officers will be able to deploy Taser in operations or incidents where the use of firearms is not authorised, but where they are facing violence or threats of violence of such severity that they would need to use force to protect the public, themselves or the subject."

The page also says "It is vitally important that we extend Taser in a managed and coordinated way." Why is it vitally important to extend the use of tasers? Are the police constantly in situations where they are using guns? No. Therefore, they do not need to use tasers.

This film covers the use of tasers in Canada.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=202907363... Watch from about 10.00 to 20.00 in particular. The rest is interesting, if a bit long-winded.

Tasers should be restricted only to situations where police who are trained to use firearms would be allowed to use guns. If they are used in situations where the use of a gun would not be allowed, the police who use it should be liable to criminal and civil prosecution.

I am all for adequate powers for the police but, as Uncle Ben pointed out to Peter Parker in Spiderman, "With great power comes great responsibility". The police are not all taking their responsiblity seriously.

The police are also being separated from the general population. How often do we see a policeman walking around? I can't remember the last time I saw one. When they do come out on the streets, they've got their stab-resistant jackets, their truncheons and other off-putting paraphernalia. The police are scary now. They shouldn't be scary. They should be friendly and approachable. They are supposed to be officers of the peace, not terrorists. Their use of tasers is, in my opinion, terrorism. That clip on YouTube will scare a lot of people. Who wants to be tasered, after all? I don't.

Some people will say that we should just do as we are told by the police, then they won't feel the need to use a taser on us. Is that right? No. We are British. We should be able to do whatever we want, whenever we want, without let or hindrance, as long as we do not break the law. If a policeman stops us, he should have a good reason for doing so. I hesitate before saying that Britain is becoming a police state, but the evidence is pointing that way.



A really good musical video for you today - Short Ride In A Fast Machine by John Adams. If you can watch this all the way through without getting car sick, you're a better man than I am. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8IuJ4IyIqE

[Pwecko]

I came across this film from 1968, called The Grand Design. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7CfJ8wx ... playnext=1
It's simply a talk given by a chap called G. Edward Griffin about a grand design to bring about a world government. It is very, very interesting. It made me think of the EU and how it has wormed its way into our every day lives. It is well worth watching. I recommend it.

I've seen a few other films by this chap and they are all very good. There is one called 'The Creature From Jekyll Island', http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1691870450 which is about the creation of the Federal Reserve System in America (it's not Federal and there are no reserves) - the equivalent of our Bank of England. It sounds like a very boring topic but it isn't. It is about how control of the USA was taken away from the elected government of the country and put into the hands of a small number of bankers. It gives an excellent insight into the problems that we are facing now. It explains why we have the so-called 'economic cycle'. It isn't a natural thing at all. It is planned by the big banks. They make it easy to borrow money, with low interest rates. People and countries borrow more than they can afford, then the banks restrict how much they will lend and put the interest rates up. Then, when people can't pay, they take their assets from them. Very clever. Very nasty.

Each of those films is over an hour, so you should set aside plenty of time to watch them, if you want to, of course. It's good to be informed, I always think. I've watched them a couple of times each. There's too much to take in in one go.

What a horrid day today. Rain, rain and more rain. It's ridiculous. It's not Wimbledon yet, is it? Or Glastonbury.

I've been watching all the Aufwiedersehen Pet series on ITV4. What a treat. I missed the fourth series first time around, where they all go to Cuba. It made me want to get on a plane and go out there. Then again, I'd probably be better off going down to Dorset, with its wonderful Bulbarrow Hill.

Great tune here for you. Remember Jig a Jig by East of Eden? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiKrCBQn6BU

[Pwecko]

Now, I'm going to scare you today. I mean really scare you, not the little scare you get when someone comes up behind you and says 'boo'. I mean a real-life scare. Have you ever heard of Corpus Juris? It means, literally, 'body of law'. It is the legal system that exists in Europe. Under Corpus Juris, you are guilty unless you can prove yourself innocent, you can be held indefinitely without being charged, you have no right to trial by jury. Does this sound scary? 'Well, if you don't do anything wrong, you've got nothing to worry about, have you?', some might say. But what if something does go wrong? Please read the following article and put yourself in the place of the man involved. http://www.tpuc.org/node/33

If you can read that without your heart beating faster, I guess you didn't understand it. This is what is going to happen in this country when the Lisbon Treaty is ratified and we lose the last of our independence. Why do you think the government has been trying to extend the length of time that people can be kept without being charged? Because of terrorism? No. It is to get us all used to idea that it's OK to keep 'criminals' for long periods without charging them. Why has the government pushed to allow trials without juries? They said it would be only for very complicated trials involving commerce that we ordinary people wouldn't understand. But it's the thin end of the wedge. It will lead to all trials being conducted without a jury.

Most people, the people who don't take much interest in politics (and they're the ones that the EU and our government love), think the EU is just something abroad, far away, that really doesn't bother us. They are wrong. The EU is our government now, not the Parliament in Westminster. That's just a puppet show. It has virtually no power. Yet that is what our attention is guided to, with the MPs' expenses scandal and all the other nonsense. All the time, the EU is taking over.

At the general election (if there is one - that isn't certain), please vote for the one party that wants to get us out of the EU, the UK Independence Party.

Tell your friends and family to read this and do some research yourself. Find out how our country was hijacked with the full compliance of our treasonous governments. We joined the European Economic Community and way back in 1975 our parents and grandparents voted to stay in it. It wasn't a Union. When our government signed the Maastricht Treaty, we joined the European Union, a political union, with a view to forming a new country called Europe. We had no say in that. If you are under 52, you've never had a say in whether or not this country should be in any European Community or Union. Isn't it time you had your say?

Write to the newspapers. Write to your MP. Tell them that you want to get out of the EU.

Here's a nifty little number based on The Stranglers' Golden Brown. You may have seen it before. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2B5JHSTOrdU

[Pwecko]

I was in Chester on Saturday, floating along the Dee in the sunshine. It's no wonder Chester is so popular with tourists. It's a very beautiful and interesting city. The bridges over the river, the city walls, the rows, the cathedral and all the shops, pubs and restaurants. It's got a lot going for it. When you live near somewhere interesting like Chester, you often don't appreciate it. If you've never been or haven't visited for a while, I recommend it for a day out.

Chester still has quite a lot of independent shops and pubs, unlike many other towns. Ellesmere Port, for example has hardly any in the town centre. All we have is branches of big companies. Go to similar towns across the country and you find the same shops there. It's very boring. One of the joys of going somewhere new is discovering things that you don't find at home. But now, wherever you go, there is a Macdonalds, a Pizza Hut, an ASDA, Tesco, Sainsburys or Morrisons. Ellesmere Port has lost any individuality it may once have had.

Here's a song by Ray Davies, ex of the Kinks, which talks about this phenomenon, among other things. It's very good. Have a listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=12j1yAWFMPA

[Pwecko]

Why is Gordon Brown still the Prime Minister?

I asked myself this question a number of times and came to the conclusion that the only reason for him to hold on to power, despite the many good reasons that exist for him to resign, is to delay a general election until the Irish people have been forced to vote in another referendum on the European Constitution/Lisbon Treaty.

Dave Cameron has promised us here in the UK a referendum on the treaty as long as the treaty has not already been ratified by the time the Conservatives get into power. Of course, Dave doesn't want a referendum any more than Gordon does, so the Tories are not pushing for an election as hard as they might. There was the show at Prime Minister's Questions last week but no consistent pressure is being applied.

Gordon knows that if he resigns now, a new leader would have to call an immediate election, so he can't do it. The Irish will be voting in October, so the election can't come before November. He is hoping very much that the Irish say Yes, then he can pass on his position to Dave, who will tell us 'Hard luck. It's a done deal. No referendum, I'm afraid.'

Both Labour and Conservatives have lied to us over the years about the role of the European Union. They have given away all the power of this country to a foreign power - which is treason, in my book. The Liberal Democrats are no better. They are the most pro-EU party of the lot.

Lots of people have seen the video of the Conservative MEP, Daniel Hannan, cutting Gordon Brown to pieces when he visited the European Parliament a few months ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94lW6Y4tBXs Unfortunately, Daniel Hannan is one of only a very few Conservatives who are against the EU.

Most MPs of all colours have pledged their loyalty to the EU and see the national governments as barriers to progress. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzwJnEpK ... annel_page The man in that video, Christopher Beazley, is a great europhile. He wants us to join the Euro. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M_2w_2NNW4 He likes to say yes to everything that the EU wants. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOdYyd1I8_k And he loves his food. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG0-17jz ... annel_page

There are more Conservatives like Christopher Beazley than there are ones like Daniel Hannan, unfortunately. Both David Cameron and William Hague tried to avoid the question of whether they would give us a referendum if the Lisbon Treaty was already ratified by the time they came to power. They said 'We will not leave it there', or something equally meaningless. They will not give us a referendum. We are being sold to the EU. Our leaders will be unelected bureaucrats in Brussels very soon. Say bye bye to democracy.

[Pwecko]

EU to cut pensions by 20%

I was wondering whether to bother writing anything today, then I saw this http://www.dailyexpress.co.uk/posts/view/109335 Please read it, especially if you are coming to the end of your working life and you have been putting money into a pension fund for the last few decades.

Those of you who have so far thought that the EU is a pretty good thing, do you still think so? Of course, if you work for the government in some way, you'll still be quite happy because "Millions of state employees, including MPs and civil servants, will be insulated from the effects of the EU measures because they still have gold-plated final-salary pensions underwritten by the taxpayer."

This raises a few questions in my mind.
How can the government keep increasing the number of people it has working for it?
How can the government keep increasing the wages and salaries of its employees?
How can the government guarantee final-salary pensions to its employees when they retire?

In the past, if you worked for the government, in the Civil Service, for example, you generally received a lower salary than you might have got in the private sector. This was balanced by job security and a guaranteed pension. Things have changed dramatically. Now, government jobs are much better paid than private sector jobs and yet the job security and the guaranteed pensions remain. Why? This makes no economic sense at all.

Who pays government employees? The taxpayer. Where do the taxpayers get their money from? Making and selling products and services. It is the private sector that pays for the public sector. As the public sector increases, the pressure upon the private sector grows and grows until it gets to a point where it cannot afford to pay any more. We passed that point a long time ago. That is why the government is so heavily in debt. It is borrowing vast amounts of money to pay its own employees and it is not us who will pay for it. It is our children and our children's children.

Gordon Brown happily boasts that he will not cut spending. Why not? He should cut public spending to the bone. Those people who are pushing pens for the government now could be doing a proper job that produces wealth for them and for the country. Instead, their intelligence and energy has been misused, to take our money away from us and waste it on things like the Millennium Dome, the NHS data system, ID cards and many computer systems which have eaten up billions of pounds but have not yet produced results. Not to mention the fact that Gordon has 'invested' (there's a weasel-word for you - it means 'spent', of course) billions in education and the NHS (spending has tripled under Labour) and yet efficiency in both has fallen. There are still millions of children who are illiterate and innumerate. There are old people dying of starvation in British hospitals because they are not cared for - nurses stick their dinners in front of them and take away their untouched food, not stopping to think that they haven't eaten it because they may be too feeble to do so. People are dying from MRSA and C. difficile.

Those of us who work in their own businesses - there are around 4 million small businesses in this country, 2.5 million of which are sole traders - are not guaranteed to get a good pension when they retire. They are guaranteed nothing. Yet they must pay the huge salaries and pensions of those who work in the Civil Service and quangos. We are being sucked dry, people. They are taking the mickey. What we need is small government. Gordon Brown, or whoever is next in power, needs to cut government spending very heavily. There is a tremendous amount of dead weight in government. It would be very easy to dump it and save a great deal of your and my money.

A good start to saving money would be to get out of the European Union, protect our pensions and stop paying £40,000,000 per day to unelected bureaucrats who constantly tell us what do do and how to do it.

[Pwecko]

Trial Without a Jury

I mentioned above, in my post of June 19th on Corpus Juris, that there would soon be trials without juries. I didn't expect it to happen quite so soon, but here it is. http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=26844

"Three judges in London, headed by the lord chief justice, Lord Judge, gave the go-ahead because of a "very significant" danger of jury tampering."
This is the thin end of the wedge. All cases that have a danger of jury tampering will be tried without a jury eventually. Then there will be another excuse for not having a jury and in the end there will be no trials with juries. The cost will be one of the reasons. Keep an eye on things. This is a move toward the Europeanisation (horrible word, I'm sorry) of our legal system. We need to stop it by getting out of the European Union and bringing in a government that recognises that our ancient system has developed over hundreds of years and is much better than that on the continent.

[Pwecko]

Taking Liberties

Have you ever said or heard anyone else say 'It's a free country'? Do you believe that it's a free country? Sadly, I have to tell you that our country is not free. During the last twelve years, with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as Prime Minister, our rights have been eaten away. There is a very good documentary film called Taking Liberties, which you can either buy http://www.amazon.co.uk/Taking-Libertie ... 301&sr=8-3 or watch online http://bbc5.tv/eyeplayer/articles/taking-liberties This film shows how Blair went from hating ID cards, while he was in opposition, to loving them when he became Prime Minister. It shows how he used the so-called 'War On Terror' to take away our right to privacy, our right to free speech, our right to protest and our right not to be held in prison without being charged.

You may not agree with all the protesters who feature in this film. For myself, I don't agree with those protesters who believe in man-made climate change (I'll explain why some other time) but I do believe that we, the people of this country, should be able to protest and to speak out against what we think is wrong. This government has taken away those rights, on the pretext that we need protection from terrorists. This is nonsense. The biggest terrorists are those in government.

Please watch this film - it is 100 minutes long, so you'll have to set aside some time if you want to watch it all at once. It is a documentary, so you could watch it 20 minutes or so at a time and it wouldn't matter. If it doesn't leave you extremely angry, nothing will. Blair is no longer in power but his legacy lingers on. We must get this government out of office as soon as possible and put in a government that will commit itself to restoring our freedom. When the general election takes place, probably next year, ask your candidates if they will stop ID cards, if they will do away with plans to tag every car on the road, if they will get rid of intrusive cctv. These are all put forward as solutions to the 'War On Terror'. In fact, they have no effect on terrorism but they can be used to control you and me.

Our fathers and grandfathers didn't fight against totalitarianism in the Second World War, just to have it creep up on us now. We must fight for our rights. Watch this film and get angry. Don't be depressed by it, though. Realise that there are far more of us than there are of them and that we can prevail over those who wish to take away our rights. Tell your friends and family. When most of us know what's going on, they won't be able to fool us.

Thomas Jefferson, president of the United States 1801 - 1809, once said "When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty." We need to make this government afraid of us. We need to show them that we have had enough of being pushed around and duped. We have had enough of our money being stolen from us by excessive taxation. Stand up and speak out.

[Pwecko]

Not On The Label

Today, I just want to recommend a book. Not On The Label by Felicity Lawrence http://www.amazon.co.uk/Not-Label-What- ... 097&sr=8-1, is a book that you must read if you care about what you and your family eat. Apart from showing the dirty tricks that the food manufacturers and retailers get up to, it describes how a very few enormous retailers are controlling what food we all have access to. In this country now, there are only four major supermarket chains - Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrison's. They have too much power. They are exploiting farmers in this country and destroying the lives of millions of people in poor countries. If you think this is exaggeration, just look at the facts in this book.

The United Nations, the World Bank (which is actually an American bank in private hands, not a world bank at all) and the World Trade Organization have encouraged and lent money to farmers in poor countries to grow cash crops, telling them that they will become rich. For example, Vietnamese farmers were encouraged to grow coffee, despite the fact that there is already more than enough coffee being grown in the world. This brings down the price of coffee, which is great for the coffee processors but very bad news for the farmers. Their incomes go down and they often have to sell their crops at less than cost price. They destroy their own subsistence farming in order to invest in something that leaves them poor and in debt.

Countries in the EU and other western nations apply tariffs to imports from countries in Africa, Asia and South America which are four times higher than those which they apply to each other. There are even higher tariffs on processed goods, so that these countries cannot add value to their own crops by, for example, roasting their own coffee. The big companies are killing the poor. This is a fact. They may not intend to do it, but the systems put in place by the banks, trading organizations, the UN and the super-powerful supermarkets ensure that it happens.

Read this book. It is available from Ellesmere Port library, among others. Do a title search here.

https://libcat.cheshire.gov.uk/02_Catal ... archType=1

What to do?
Tell your friends and family. Only buy food when you know where it's come from. Don't buy processed food if you can help it. Learn to cook! It's cheaper and healthier than buying ready-made rubbish.

[Pwecko]

Global Warming

In an earlier post, I said that I didn't believe in man-made Global Warming. Notice that word 'believe'. When you believe in something, it's an act of faith. You believe in Father Christmas. You believe in the tooth fairy. You believe in things that you cannot prove. Despite what Al Gore and many people in the media say, man-made Global Warming has not been proven to exist. Al Gore, in his film 'An Inconvenient Truth', told a lot of convenient lies in order to convince people of his point of view and to attempt to close the debate on the subject.

The truth, which is inconvenient for Al Gore, is that there is no agreement between scientists on what caused the earth to warm up in the second half of the twentieth century, but it is almost certainly not an increase in carbon dioxide. I strongly recommend that you watch a film called 'Global Warming or Global Governance?' It explains how the earth has not actually warmed in the last ten years and has, in fact, cooled. This is very inconvenient for the Global Warming believers, so they have changed the name of their belief to Climate Change. There are many, many people whose jobs depend upon the idea of man-made climate change, which is why they maintain the myth. Please watch this film. http://bbc5.tv/eyeplayer/articles/globa ... governance It is 100 minutes long. I know I keep recommending long films but if you want to know the truth, you have to put in a bit of effort.

There are always people out there who will lie to you for their own benefit. Those people in the City, who have set up the whole 'Carbon Trading' industry, are happy to make money out of the Global Warming myth. The government is all too happy to create new taxes and new legislation using the excuse that they are trying to save us from Global Warming. Companies sell their products on the basis that they are 'greener' than other products. Scientists more easily get funding for their research if they put a Global Warming twist on it.

Global Warming or Climate Change, as it's now called, is everywhere. It is accepted as fact by the lazy media. On the news, the newsreaders lower their voices and frown when they talk of the earth heating up and how we are causing the death and destruction of the world by using incandescent light bulbs rather than the new low-energy ones (which give off radiation and contain mercury - really clean, eh?). The whole thing is a con. Watch the film, especially if you do believe in man-made global warming, and see if the truth manages to get through to you.

[Pwecko]

Deepest apologies for putting the wrong link to the 'Global Warming or Global Governance?' film in my last post. It has now been corrected.

[Pwecko]

Pig Business

I watched a documentary on More 4 last night, called Pig Business.
http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/the- ... s_p_1.html
http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/the- ... 6_p_1.html

I hope it will be available soon on the 4 On Demand service. It should be required viewing for everyone who cares about animals, themselves, their children and the state of the agricultural business in this country. It shows how a few giant companies, in league with the EU and various governments, are destroying small farmers, using factory farming techniques, which pollute the air, land and water; which cause misery and sickness to animals; and which produce cheap but very poor quality food for the supermarkets.

Here in the UK, we have more stringent rules regarding animal welfare than exist in the rest of the EU, yet because we are in the EU, we are forced to accept meat from other member countries. This means that meat produced in, say, Denmark or Poland is cheaper than that produced by our farmers. In the present economic conditions, this cheap meat is attractive to bargain hunters. However, nowhere on the pack does it tell us where the meat comes from. It may have a very British sounding name on the front, with a picture of an idyllic countryside scene. If it showed the factory sheds where the pigs are raised, without seeing sunlight throughout their lives, we might not find their products quite so appetising.

The scenes in the Pig Business documentary were very disturbing. Dead pigs are left lying on the floor of the sheds with the other pigs sometimes nuzzling them to get them to move. Other pigs have bones sticking out, obviously very sick, while others have large tumours hanging off them. Yet the owners of these factory farms say that they are working within the rules set down by the European Union. Do you know what? I believe them. One of the problems is that the EU, often portrayed as a champion of standards, is far too lax in this area. Why? My guess is that the big firms either bribe them or threaten them. They certainly do not have the welfare of the animals or the population on their minds.

One huge American company, Smithfield, has bought up abattoirs and pig farms in Poland and, with the help of the EU, is driving all the small, family farms out of business. It aims to move into the British market and make itself the biggest meat supplier to the UK's supermarkets. We need to ensure that it does no such thing by refusing to buy its products. The problem is that, especially when it comes to processed food, like sausages, ham, chorizo and salami, it is impossible to know where the meat has come from unless you get it directly from the producer or a trusted, independent butcher. We need to take control of the big businesses. We need to tell them that we will not accept the rubbish they try to sell us.

Our farmers are being killed off (often literally https://statistics.defra.gov.uk/esg/ind ... 4_data.htm ) by big business, and the only way that we can guarantee that they stay in business is to buy their products from them. Make sure that the meat you buy is British. If it doesn't say it's British, it isn't. Be careful though. Some food is simply packed or processed in Britain and passes itself off as British. We need to look after our own animals, our farmers and our own health.

If this documentary becomes available to watch online, I will update you.