Fitaloon at MicroShaft

As MP’s vote on whether or not they should vote to have a referendum on moving to AV, I just wondered if we could first of all ask them to start voting using AV for everything in Parliament and also have secret rather than whipped votes.

We could then have laws that were the least unpopular. Sounds good to me. Should also suit the dithering and delaying Gordon Brown.

Gordon Brown is the  road-block to proper reform.

Time for a Change

BBC News – MPs to decide on vote system referendum.

A Populus poll reported in  the Times has this to say

Voters are deeply pessimistic about the state of Britain today, believing that society is broken and heading in the wrong direction, a Populus poll for The Times has found.

Nearly three fifths of voters say that they hardly recognise the country they are living in, while 42 per cent say they would emigrate if they could.

But worries over the pace of social change and dislocation are balanced by the belief that life will get better, according to the survey undertaken at the weekend.

It suggests that 70 per cent believe that society is now broken, echoing a Conservative campaign theme of the past two years, while 68 per cent say people who play by the rules get a raw deal and 82 per cent think it is time for a change.

Oh and by the way the Tories lead by 40-30-20-10. According to Political Betting this is in to Landslide area rather than being anywhere Hung Parliament

As I have been saying

Time for  a Change.

We’re living in broken Britain, say most voters – Times Online.

Always and Forever

Tonight further sad news from Afghanistan. Reading between the lines I think this may be the first casualty from the current  initial ’shaping’ phase of Operation MOSHTARAK in Afghanistan.

This death takes the toll of deaths in Afghanistan past the number killed in the Falkland Islands. A sad statistic when we consider how little we have manged to achieve in the past eight years.

The BBC has this:

A British soldier has been killed by an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The soldier from 36 Engineer Regiment, part of the counter-IED Task Force, was killed earlier on Monday by an explosion in Nad-e-Ali.

The soldier’s next of kin have been informed, the MoD added.

The fatality follows the death of two British soldiers in an explosion on Sunday and means 256 UK personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

My thoughts are with his family and friends at this sad time.

via BBC News – UK soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Twice in one day we see the dithering delaying Brown in action.

First, we had this morning the humiliating climbdown when, Brown finally worked out it was time to suspend it’s three MP’s accused of being Cheating Bastards.

It took David Cameron approx 5 minutes to do what it took Gordon Brown 72 hours and a large boot to the ass to do.

Then later on Brown finally realised that having Labour’s lawyers trying to defend the Cheating Bastards wasn’t a great idea and stop instructing them while the cases of the Cheating Bastards are sorted out.

I suspect we will see a few more cases of the dreaded Dithering Delaying Brown this week.

Time for a Change.

Gary Gibbon on Politics – Tory tactics in attacking PM risks backlash on all parties.

Always and Forever

The MOD is reporting the sad news of the deaths of two soldiers from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS), part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, in an explosion near Sangin. Apparently these deaths are not connected with the current major attack in Helmand.

The MOD has this:

It is with sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that two soldiers from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland (1 SCOTS), part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, were killed in Afghanistan yesterday, Sunday 7 February 2010.

The soldiers died as a result of an explosion near Sangin, in Helmand province, yesterday evening.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, said:

“It is with deep sadness I must inform you that two British soldiers were killed last night by an explosion near Sangin in northern Helmand.

“They were from The Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion The Royal Regiment of Scotland, part of the 3 RIFLES Battle Group, and were on a foot patrol bringing security to local people near Patrol Base Wishtan when the explosion caught them.

“Two of our comrades have been cruelly taken from us but their bravery and fortitude will not be forgotten.”

Next of kin have been informed and have asked for a period of grace before further details are released.

Please note that the deaths of these two soldiers are not connected to Operation MOSHTARAK.

My thoughts are with the family and friends of the dead.

Ministry of Defence | Defence News | Military Operations | Two soldiers from 1 SCOTS killed in Afghanistan.