ThunderDragon Blog

This is either extraordinary incompetence or organised deceit. Either the Labour Party have not carried out the proper checks on donations or deliberately accepted the money anyway.

Was was very interesting was the length of time that Gordon Brown took before he gave Labour Deputy Leader and Party Chairman Harriet Harman his backing over her decision to accept money from an intermediary - money refused by Gordon Brown and Hilary Benn’s campaigns. Which in itself asks the question: if those campaign teams knew or at least suspected that the donations they were offered were not legit, why and how did the main party not know or work it out?

By reacting quickly over this, such as with the resignation of the party’s general secretary, Gordon Brown has limited the damage that it will do to him in the long run - but in the short run it will quite likely be worse. What is potentially most damaging is the way that the terms “scandal” and “sleaze” can be attached to Labour and Brown himself over this.

13% lead! Hopefully we can see this sort of poll more often…

WTF? That is an absolutely absurd idea. The Union Flag is an iconic image, and there’s hardly an easy way in which to combine the Welsh dragon into it without it looking absolutely stupid. A flag is just a symbol, it isn’t a direct representation of a nation. All flags are symbols - after all, what else can you do with a rectangle and about three different colours?

As much as I like the aesthetics of the Welsh flag, how could it be adapted into the Union Flag without looking ridiculous? The Union Flag is our flag, and to want to change it just because is just plain stupid.

Source: BBC

Jack Straw is right that the current crises do not constitute Labour’s Black Wednesday. It has not reached the position whereby it is as bad in reality or perception as Wednesday 16 September 1992.

Yet.

This is not New Labour’s Black Wednesday nor their Winter of Discontent. It has not yet reached that level. But it certainly is not all that far off it. If this current issue over the posting of sensitive information of CDs carries on and the Northern Rock fiasco continues, it could very easily develop into it.

As much as I would like it to have, Labour’s Black Wednesday has yet to materialise. Jack Straw is right when he says that “[t]he idea that this an equivalent to Black Wednesday is utter nonsense.” At the moment.

Source: BBC

Well, he did say it!

Religion and politics should not mix. They are two separate things. Faith/religion is a personal thing, and should remain separate from the public political sphere. Whether a politician is a member of any faith/has any religious beliefs doesn’t make any difference as to whether they can be a politician, so long as they place a divide between their faith and their political actions. Have beliefs, but don’t preach them. Religion should stay out of politics. It has no place in it. Britain is, in practice, a secular society and this should be reflected in our politicians.

The juxtaposition of this with American politics is striking, especially considering that in America there is an official separation between the two

Sources: The Telegraph, BBC

The Oxford Union has voted 2-1 to invite the BNP leader Nick Griffin and Holocaust denier “historian” David Irving speak in a debate. My reaction is simple: So what?

Mike Ion thinks that this is wrong because it “will only help legitimise the BNP”. Will it really? No. The Oxford Union is a student society, for crying out loud, and a debating society with it - and debates require representatives from both sides, however repugnant you may find their views. That they have invited them gives neither the BNP and their racist ideology or David Irving and his historically inaccurate Holocaust denial any more credibility or mainstream appeal. After all, the Oxford Union passed the motion “This House would under no circumstances fight for its King and country” in 1933, and yet I bet they did go on and fight in the Second World War.

Besides, it would have been extremely ironic to have backtracked on this issue and refused to have these people speak, considering that this very debate is supposed to be about free speech!

UPDATE: Tory MP Dr Julian lewis has quit the Oxford Union over this. What an idiot. Free speech means free speech. Saying that they can’t be allowed to speak at an event because most of us disagree with them is just idiotic. Just prove that their views are wrong by beating them in debate, rather than just banning them from speaking.

The government wants to indoctrinate children as young as five on the “dangers” of alcohol.

Why do children as young as five need to be taught about alcohol at all? They won’t have drank more than a sip, if any, at that age. What is the point of teaching them about it? There is none. The only intention possible is to indoctrinate these children into considering that alcohol is bad. Also, are these “safe drinking levels” that these kids are going to be indoctrinated on going to be real levels or just guesses?

We all consider indoctrination to be bad, right? So how could this be deemed acceptable at all! I have no problem with teaching children that alcohol can be bad, but it must be a balanced picture, including alcohol’s position in society, and health benefits in small amounts.

Instead of telling them that alcohol is bad, tell secondary school children what constant abuse of alcohol can do to your body. Getting drunk isn’t in itself a bad thing - but doing it every day is, and that is what they should be told - the truth, not a convenient lie.

Source: The Telegraph

via The Last Boy Scout

UPDATE: Six more CDs containing confidential data have been lost by HMRC.

This week’s Hot Issue at the Wardman Wire is the Child Benefit data loss, on which I have written a brief news roundup and analysis, and Matt has written a post focusing the organisational impact from a professional IT Project/Programme Manager viewpoint.

Matt has, however, banned any puns on the name “Darling”, which does take some of the fun out of it! And kind of ironic considering the pun he inserted into the title of my post instead!