Expenses - The Honourable Solution

Bin Laden Captured

Come on. It's late, I'm tired and it made me smile.

History In The Making

This is the first time that Independents have had an Election Broadcast on TV in Britain.

Cleaning up Politics

PRESS RELEASE

IMMEDIATE

29th May 2009

TIME TO CLEAN UP POLITICS IN SCOTLAND

On Monday the 1st of June Scottish politics will be receiving a much needed clean up at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. Like many people in Scotland, Alan Wallace, a Jury Team independent candidate for the forthcoming European elections wants to see the political environment cleaned up. Never one to wait and rely on others Alan and a small team will be at the Scottish Parliament Main Entrance at 1.00pm on Monday with buckets, mops and soapy water in hand, with one aim...

to try to clean up politics once and for all.

Alan and supporters of The Jury Team will aim to scrub clean the facade of the parliament building. Alan states, “It’s time we all took a stance against the corruption which exists within politics today and for politicians to start acting in the interest of the people they represent and not their party line. What we are doing today is a small step but the people of Scotland can make a real difference on Thursday the 4th by selecting a candidate who will stand for what they believe is really important and is free from the corruption which has been making so many headlines over the past weeks. Vote for The Jury Team on Thursday and you will be putting in place a politician who will work for You not the Party Line”.

ENDS

So, what are you doing on Monday 1st? Come along and join in (or at least watch) the fun at the Parliament in Edinburgh.

Labour & SNP almost on shagging terms

I almost spewed my coffee when I read this, so I thought I'd share.

From The Basa over at http://www.edinburghsucks.com/

http://www.edinburghsucks.com/2009/05/28/labour-snp-almost-on-shagging-terms/

Part Of The Solution

A guest post today from janetweightreed over at My life as an artist

Not one usually to get involved in politics, recently I have written a couple of posts with a political slant.

In my recent post entitled 'Exposing the Core' I talked about the massive 'shift' we are experiencing in all areas of society, and most certainly in government.

Using the apple as an analogy, it is as if the system has been cut in half, ezposing the core and seeds for all to see. What we have found, is something that many of us have always suspected, - that the core of the apple is rotton, contaminating any new and fresh seeds of thought.

I heard about the Jury Team a few months ago. On the surface Sir Paul Judge, its founder, might come across as 'pure establishment' someone who would appear to be part of the problem rather than the solution.

However, having known Paul since 1970 I can say that he is one of the most honourable people I know, and beneath his vaneer of wealth and success is a man with a brilliant mind and a desire to bring positive change in many areas of society. Over the years he has not been afraid to put his money where is mouth is, particularly in the area of education.

Today will see the first ever Party Election Broadcast being screened in every region of Britain promoting independent candidates standing under the Jury Team umbrella.

To see Sir Paul Judge and the Jury Team candidates outline their aims and ambitions for the European elections tune into see the Jury Team Party Election Broadcast at the following times today, Thursday 28th May.

BBC One (England, Wales, Scotland - 10.35 p.m.)

BBC Two (England, Wales, Scotland - 11.20 p.m.

ITV 10.30 p.m.

STV Scotland 11.00 p.m.

S4C Wales 11.00 p.m.

Every one of our votes do count....take the time to look at the Jury Team - they are definitely working towards being part of the solution rather than the problem.

For more information about the Jury Team go to www.juryteam.org and to partipate in discussion and learn about upcoming events go to www.juryteam.socialgo.com

A Bientot

Tories Want Scots To Vote For A Thief

The Tory Party's much-trumpeted crackdown on expenses cheats in their ranks is just a PR Exercise. Their lead candidate in Scotland, Struan Stevenson, was caught "Signing In and Sodding Off" in 2004.

He was accused on the Today programme of signing the MEPs' register that declared he was attending meetings in the Belgian capital but then, one hour later, flying back to Scotland while still pocketing the 262 euros (roughly £180) per day expenses for meals and subsistence in Brussels.

Mr Stevenson said he had been traduced and that the allowance, which also covered his accommodation costs in Brussels, was claimed by everyone.

This answer, however, only begged further questions - the obvious one being that just because everyone else claimed it, did that make it right for Mr Stevenson to do it, too? And if he was legitimately claiming for his accommodation costs, why did he not pay back that part of the allowance that related to meals in Brussels that he didn't eat?

One MSP, who was not unsympathetic to Mr Stevenson's predicament, nevertheless asked whether the MEP would be happy to pay one of his farm labourers a full day's pay if that man turned up at 8am but then cleared off an hour later. Daily Telegraph

This is the weakness of the Party List system. Mr Stevenson has been a politician all his life and excelled at climbing the greasy pole. Three terms in Westminster and now seeking a third term in Brussels, Mr Stevenson is well-versed in the black arts of politics. So little wonder that he has sufficient weight in the party to ensure he heads the Party List. But where does that leave the voter? Every vote for the Conservatives is a vote for this man, a known expenses cheat. The Party obviously doesn't care about his shady past, a fact that gives the lie to all Cameron's attempts to be the white knight cleaning up the Tory Party.

A vote for the Conservatives on June 4th is a vote for corruption.

Sunny D's A Control Freak At Heart

Awwww, isn't "Call me Dave" Cameron a nice guy? Never mind "Hug a Hoodie", the whole country just wants to give him a big soppy cuddle for all the things he's been saying lately. Our new Wolfie Smith has been storming Westminster with his "Power To The People" warcry. It fair makes the bottom lip tremble and the tears well up with pride that this multi-millionaire champion of the people is going to cast off the shackles that oppress us and lead us into the Promised Land. Sing Hallelujah brothers and sisters.

Er,

But don't sing too loudly near Ralph Buckle, Chairman of the University of York Conservatives. He might not appreciate it. See, he's just been expelled from the Conservative Party, out on his ear for suggesting that Euro-sceptic Tories might want to vote UKIP if they shared their values. (Why stop there - every thief and swindler in Britain has something in common with UKIP). Sunny D dropped the fluffy facade long enough to kick Ralph where it hurts. Y'see, Cameron is all for Free Speech and Open Democracy - that is to say, he's all for talking about it. You don't think for a moment that he means it do you?

Hell no. A Party man must NEVER voice an opinion that hasn't been approved by Central Office. A Party man must NEVER think for himself - not while the Party pays a lot of expensive suits to do the thinking for them.

Arbeit macht frei - but the Party doesn't, not any of them. A Party man is a beaten man, a whipped puppy, an opinion-less drone.

Your choice. On June 4th vote for the independent Jury Team candidate that is free to speak their mind, free to speak out against sleaze and corruption or vote for the Party man who puts his Party before you.

Sunny D - Waffle, Spin & Shite

David Cameron's so-called sweeping reforms are actually just the usual airy-fairy political crap we've come to expect from the main parties. The PR man is mouthing platitudes and echoing anything he hears if he thinks it will get his arse closer to the big seat.

Asked why the party was not making a firm commitment to bring in fixed-term Parliaments, Shadow foreign secretary William Hague told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's the first time we have ever raised that proposal as a party of course we want to set the debate going about that.

Heard it all before chummy. You'll bury the idea in a welter of committees, wait a few years until you think we've forgotten, then quietly ditch it.

But Mr Cameron rejects any change from the current system.

"Proportional representation takes power away from the man and woman in the street and hands it to the political elites," he says.

And there you have it. He hasn't learnt a thing from this. We've still got politicians sitting in the Palace of Westminster spouting the most Bod-awful cockwaffle that bears absolutely no relation to what ordinary people are saying and thinking. He wants to keep FPTP because this is the only system that can deliver massive majorities. And with a massive majority, he can stick two fingers up at the electorate, just as Thatcher & Blair did and as Brown continues to do.

Get stuffed Cameron. We won't be fooled by you and your like again.

Time to get some independents in to start really kicking up a racket in the political system. Independents aren't controlled by the men in grey suits. Independendents think independently.

Monsters In Disguise

Why A Party Vote Is A Wasted Vote

I understand people who vote for a party because there's one strong policy they agree with. It might be only one policy out of a dozen, but it's enough to get their vote.

But then the Party MEP goes off to Europe and joins another party - the Christian Democrats or the Socialist Alliance or something like that. Now his Party's 12 policies get mixed in with policies from representatives of up to 26 other countries - your one policy that you agree with so much and for which you voted, is now just one policy amongst maybe three hundred other policies.

Further, your Party MEP is now ordered how to vote by his European Party Whip, who takes precedence over his UK Party Whip, (this is why David Cameron wanted to pull the Tories out of the Christian Democrats - his orders were being over-ruled).

Basically, your Party MEP is now just voting fodder for some foreign party who you never voted for, who you know nothing about and over whom you have absolutely no control.

An Independent MEP doesn't have any of that. He works directly for the people who voted for him - not a French/German/Italian/Polish guy who can order him to vote this way or that way. This is precisely why the SNP vote against Scotland's interests nearly 50% of the time.

Jury Team are all Independent Candidates who have sworn to act for their constituents first, second and always. They will never be subjected to a Party Whip.

Darling Can't Count

Alistair Darling is among nine cabinet members who used £11,000 of taxpayers' money to pay for personal accountancy advice, the Daily Telegraph has said.

Hold on. This is the guy who, together with Gordon Brown, actually devised the tax system. Now it seems he doesn't understand it.

Why the hell is he Chancellor of the Exchequer? Wouldn't it be a good idea to have someone in that post who can count to 12 without taking his shoes and socks off?

He's come up with a tax system so cumbersome, convoluted and unwieldy that he has to employ someone to explain it to him. What chance do the rest of us have? Unlike Darling and his colleagues, we can't just shove it on expenses along with everything else.