Youth unemployment and immigration
Why am I not
surprised that Migrationwatch UK has found that youth unemployment is higher in
areas most affected by immigration?
To be precise, their studies have shown that for every 1000 migrants in
the 50 local authorities most affected by immigration, an average of 700 more
young people were out of work. This contradicts a 2008 House of Lords report,
which said the evidence was inconclusive.
Sir Andrew
Green, Migrationwatch UK’s chairman, said ‘The case for getting immigration
down to sensible levels, as the Government has promised, gets stronger by the
day.’ I couldn’t agree more.
Posted on 19 August 2010 by Richard Drax
Dr David Kelly
Once again, the sudden death of Dr David Kelly, seven years ago last month, is causing a furore. He was the Government scientist who was ‘outed’ as the source of a BBC report describing how Tony Blair and his Government had ‘sexed up’ the weapons dossier as an excuse to go to war with Iraq. After Dr Kelly’s body was found in woods near his home in July 2003, an inquiry by Lord Hutton concluded he had killed himself by severing his ulnar artery and taking an overdose. The fact that if it was suicide, a good and honourable civil servant had been hounded to his death in a witch hunt by the Government was glossed over. Lord Hutton then – inexplicably - put the results of the post mortem beyond reach for 70 years.
This failed to lay matters to rest. MP’s Norman Baker and Peter Kilfoyle have consistently demanded an inquest. Last week, a group of doctors signed a letter stating that the official explanation of the death was ‘extremely unlikely.’ Others, including eminent psychiatrists and intimate friends, have agreed that suicide is most unlikely. Kelly had been threatened with loss of his position, his pension and his reputation. He was smeared as a fantasist. Yet he was in fighting spirits – he had told the truth about the dossier - and had arranged to see his daughter on the evening he died.
If it was not suicide, he was murdered – and here the conspiracy theorists are having a field day. Everyone from Iraqi agents to MI6 has been fingered. But nothing will be found out if the suicide verdict stands.
The whole thing stinks, so much so that I am relieved to see the Attorney General, Dominic Grieve is prepared to step in. He says he will order a full inquest so long as he finds convincing evidence that Dr Kelly did not commit suicide. That evidence can only be provided if Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary agrees to release a number of key documents, including the post mortem, used by Lord Hutton. The Ministry of Justice says the request is ‘under consideration’.
Normally, inquests are carried out on the requests of a deceased person’s family. The powers that be are hiding behind ‘concern’ for the feelings of Dr Kelly’s family, who so far have not asked for fresh investigations. We can only hope that this is exposed as the smokescreen that it undoubtedly is.
Posted on 19 August 2010 by Richard Drax
Keeping our promises
There was a
clear moment during the televised leaders debates during the election campaign
when Gordon Brown was made to squirm. His printed election literature was
promising that an incoming Conservative Government would cut pensions, TV
licences, bus passes and winter fuel payments for the elderly. He denied it
until - when faced with the printed evidence - was forced to admit that his propaganda
was baseless.
David Cameron used
his advantage immediately. ‘We will keep the free television licences, we will
keep the pensions credits, we will keep winder fuel allowances, we will keep
free bus passes,’ he said in Bristol.
So
why do I read that cuts to these benefits are now on the table? In particular,
pensioners may have to wait six years longer, waiting from age 60 to 66 to
receive winter fuel payments. First time claimants will get £50 less, while
older claimants will receive £100 less. Eligibility for bus passes may move to age 75, in line with free
television licenses.
The Liberal
democrats campaigned on raising the qualifying age for benefits, not the
Conservatives. In fact, during the campaign, I went from door to door
reassuring the elderly that such cuts would never be entertained.
The Coalition describes
these decisions as ‘unpleasant but fair.’ However, there is nothing fair about depriving
an elderly person of basic necessities. No matter how hard up this country is,
there are certain benefits, which must remain. Cutting these would be a cut too
far.
Posted on 17 August 2010 by Richard Drax
Obama's Planning Problems
What began as a
local planning dispute has put President Obama on the rack with the voters of
the USA. His recent support of a proposed, 13 storey, £70 million Islamic
cultural centre and mosque – to be
sited just two blocks away from Ground Zero in downtown New York - was intended
to show how liberal and humane he is. Certainly the right to freedom of worship
is enshrined in the US constitution. But polls show 70% of the American people
are against the centre. Right
winger, Newt Gingrich likened the plans to planting a swastika at the holocaust
memorial or building a Japanese cultural centre at Pearl Harbour. Over the top,
certainly, but then, Ground Zero is hallowed ground to most Americans.
Obama
has been attacked for his betrayal of those who died on 9/11 – and of those who
survived. Even the police and firefighters are complaining that if he supported
the compensation bill for sick and injured twin towers rescue workers in the
way he’s supported the mosque, it would not now be stuck in Congress. There
have been calls for investigation into the organizations backing the centre,
most of which are from Saudi Arabia – which would never tolerate the building
of a Christian Church in Riyadh.
So
far, offers of an alternative site have been turned down, which in view of the
extreme sensitivity of the issue, might seem provocative. Certainly, for Obama,
already facing poor results in November’s mid term elections, it would be his
best way out of a sticky situation.
Posted on 16 August 2010 by Richard Drax
Defence
It is a government's first solemn duty to protect our island. Everyone
knows this, but history reveals we have failed on more than one
occasion to have sufficient armed forces to meet the threat of the day.
I fear we are about to make the same mistake again. There is no doubt
that the UK is facing unprecedented times, with our economy in a mess
of epic proportions. Huge cuts have been proposed and the pain will
soon be felt as countless thousands of people - mainly in the public
sector - lose their jobs. A defence review is under way and there are
talks of cuts here, too, with our Trident nuclear deterrent also
vulnerable. My own view, for what it's worth, is that we cannot and
should not cut our armed services any further. I accept we must
re-assess the threat and re-organise our forces to meet it. We no
longer face a Cold War scenario, for example. However, this does not
mean reducing our commitments, only re-shaping them. We are an island
nation and depend on trade for our very survival. A cunning fella
called Adolph Hitler nearly starved us into submission only half a
century ago and you might have thought we'd learnt quite a lot from
that experience. Since then hardly a year has gone by without our
armed forces being committed to one trouble-spot or another. We still
have responsibilities around the world, not least Gibraltar, Belize and
the Falkland Islands. It was here in 1982 that our pared back navy was
shown to be horribly vulnerable in the sense we did not have enough
ships. Quite apart from the military value of having a fully functional
and operational Navy, Army and Airforce, the hidden benefit to the
nation is immense and probably worth billions of pounds which would
otherwise be spent on the welfare state. Many servicemen and women are
from poor backgrounds where opportunities are limited. A career in the
services provides not only an escape route from their predicament, but
equips them for a life outside uniform and in civvy street where their
training makes them invaluable to employers and of course contributors
to our nation's well being. Finally, you cannot measure our democracy
and the safeguarding of it in pounds and pence. I would call on our
government to consider very carefully the future of our armed services,
which I believe to be sacrosanct.
Posted on 11 August 2010 by Richard Drax
No more taxes
I read with horror in today's Daily Telegraph that the EU is planning to "seek the right to levy direct taxes on Britons." No thanks. The budget commissioner, Janusz Lewandowski, wants to raise taxes on air travel and financial transactions to fill his pot for spending within the EU. I really am tired of the EU, this socialist nightmare, whose tentacles slither into every part of our lives. Fairness and common sense are the first victims as bureaucrats try and create this illlusion of a level playing field. It can never happen and it will never happen, and the sooner we renegotiate our place in Europe to a trading partner only the EU will continue to lead us up the garden path, with drastic consequences, as Greece exemplifies.
Posted on 11 August 2010 by Richard Drax
Telling the truth about terrorism
So David Cameron
criticised Pakistan’s ISI – the acronym for the all-powerful Inter Services
Intelligence agency - when he visited India last week. For years, it has been
well known that the agency faces, as Cameron put it ‘both ways’. He said that it
must not be allowed to ‘promote the export of terror’ to India, Afghanistan and
elsewhere.
As a result of
his remarks, Pakistan is apparently in uproar and a delegation of senior
officers from the ISI have cancelled this week’s visit to London. So far,
President Zardari is still coming but is said to be under considerable pressure
not to do so by Pakistan’s military.
Despite what
looks like a diplomatic blunder, those in the know say Cameron was absolutely
correct in what he said. Journalist Ahmed Rashid -probably the best informed
commentator in the region - says he was spot on and that the ISI is notorious
for their support of the Taliban and other Islamic militants.
Interestingly,
the member of the ISI making the most noise about Cameron’s comments is easily
one of the most Janus-faced. Retired General Hamid Gul, former head of the ISI,
has been described this week by the Hindu and New York Times as the ‘middleman
for terror.’ Certainly, the thousands of US military documents leaked on
Wikileaks last week make it clear that he is still energetically in touch with
his old networks in the Taliban.
Suggestions that
Cameron was pandering to his Indian hosts by attacking Pakistan are a bit thin.
The PM was merely telling the truth – astonishing in modern day diplomacy.
Posted on 31 July 2010 by Richard Drax
Mandelson's Meddling
One of Lord Mandelson’s most damaging
insinuations in his recent book about the rise and fall of New Labour is that
David Cameron was not forced to
promise a referendum on AV to the Lib Dems in order to form a coalition. Whether he believes that Nick Clegg misled Cameron by
suggesting that Gordon Brown had promised AV without a referendum or whether
Cameron simply overegged what he told his party in order to persuade them is
not clear. But as always, with Mandelson, real damage has been done. At the
very least, Conservative MP’s are less likely to trust the Lib Dems. At worst,
they will believe the Coalition was founded on a lie and will challenge the
decision to hold a referendum next May. Neither is helpful. And Peter Mandelson
has sown the seeds of discord in the new Government, which his what he and the
Labour party seem intent upon doing. Like the IRA, I believe the only way to
divest Mandelson of his power is to deny him the oxygen of publicity.
Posted on 28 July 2010 by Richard Drax
The 'special' relationship
News reaches me from Helmand that the Australians are now the US commanders' favourites in the field. Their new, most favoured status is despite the heavy price we Brits have paid in blood and treasure - and the fact that our commitment is nine times greater in terms of numbers.
Part of the problem is our geographical association with 'old Europe', which the US clearly does not trust. Yet we
have always worked well with the Americans and our appreciation of their might in
battle – they are always there to do the ‘heavy lifting’ - was matched only by their
admiration of the sheer professionalism and quality of our fighting men. Our
relationship with the Aussies has always been more complex and historically shaded.
It
would be a pity if, after standing shoulder to shoulder with the USA for so long, we should be overlooked
for reasons more due to petty geopoliticking than historical evidence.
Posted on 26 July 2010 by Richard Drax
Defence cuts - again
I have written
before of my deep concern that cuts to the armed forces will lead to a cut in
our capabilities and an over reliance on allies who have not always rushed to
our aid. As Minister of Defence Liam Fox pointed out yesterday, our armed
forces must be ready for three eventualities; all out warfare, counter
insurgency, such as Afghanistan, and medium scale campaigns, as in the
Falklands. Yet it is hard to see how the drastic cuts envisaged will leave us
able to pursue any one of these lines of action.
Unfortunately,
the facts are grim; this week the National Audit Office found that the MOD is already
£500million over budget this year. Dr Fox describes the planned equipment
programme as ‘entirely unaffordable.’ And he is also fighting hard to keep Trident
off the MOD budget entirely.
There’s no doubt
that defence procurement is in his sights and he is planning to renegotiate defence contracts, thereby making substantial savings. ‘Either companies reduce costs or
we cancel whole projects,’ he says. Certainly, there is ample evidence of waste
– home made Apache helicopters cost three times as much as ‘off the peg’
versions, for example.
Whilst I agree
that we must reconfigure our fighting forces to suit realistic potential
threats – leaving behind outdated, cold war strategies – we still need
boots on the ground. We continue to fight a war in Afghanistan and resources - and nerves - are stretched already. I am comforted that Dr Fox describes any suggestion of
sacrificing personnel before equipment as ‘nonsense.’
Posted on 24 July 2010 by Richard Drax