The Narrative

I'm currently working on a new post at the moment.  Before I do I want to show you a video and with good reason.  If you're relatively new to getting your news from blogs, you might find yourself in a state of disbelief because you've either not seen the story on the TV news or the version you have seen doesn't tie up to the version you're seeing on blogs.  Understandably you might think that the mainstream news wouldn't have a slant to it unlike what is often referred to as "some random blog".

Unfortunately not all is what you might think.  And it is for that reason I want to show you the video.

Warning: There is some language within the video that is considered racially offensive.  It is however used as a direct quote of a third party and not the viewpoint of the Bill Whittle and is certainly not my viewpoint




If you're looking for something a little more robust on the subject then you might want to look at the link below which bears a lot of similarities but there's a lot more background to it, which makes it less easy for people to write it off as shallow and incorrect. You will have to get over the somewhat strange use of the presenters smoking pipe as a prop.

A history of political correctness

Growing the list

I've had a little time on my hands so have had a quick jump around to grow the list of independent blogs over on my blog list.  For many of you I'm sure you will already be aware of the work they are doing.  For those of you who may find some new ones, please take a look and become informed.

Cui Bono?

The Telegraph are leading on further revelations of the long held view that during the Labour Years, Brown & Blaire were engaged in an ongoing battle for the keys to Number 10.  Although constantly rumoured at the time and confirmed later in memoirs, today's news takes it a step further with the publication of memos.

The BBC's take on the story was that this was really only of interest for historians.  For me this analysis is shallow in the extreme because I think it is very telling. I would also question if it is of such inconsequence, why the BBC are running it near the top of the news.  I suspect their view is the story behind the "story".

Although I agree with few of his opinions, Tony Benn once offered a sound piece of advice in a documentary on spin.  His advice was that when you hear or read a story, ask yourself who benefits from that story being told in that way.

As this story tells about the Brownite plot to take over No10, the current top two at Labour Milliband and Balls are implicated.  However, Balls seems to be positioned as more of a key player, especially when one looks at the graphics placing Balls right at the centre of this plot.

The relevance?  Well Milliband is taking something of a kicking at the moment.  His honeymoon period as Labour leader is over.  Rumours grow that the party has lost direction and has reverted to the class war model to cover up their paucity on policy.  Milliband needs a distraction from those stories.

Step forward Ed Balls.  Reports are emerging reports that some of the hatchet men of the dark days of New Labour are starting to return to the fold.  The jungle drums also seem to be raising the question of whether Balls is back into his mode of briefing against key figures for his own aim.

How timely therefore that a story appears, highlighting Balls previous plotting activity.  How beautifully barbed that it shows his willingness to engage in this sort of behaviour in the middle of a terror crisis and the subtle implication of what a cold hearted plotter he must be.

To politicians, this or something similar is probably closer to the real story. 

But for us, it still isn't the real story.  Salacious though it might sound to politicians and the press we the great unwashed get more dejected for what passes for democracy in this country.  For the public, the real story is why in the midst of some of our big challenges, do we have politicians spending time plotting their own paths to personal power.

Just in case you're still sitting on your hands

If you read the websites of the mainstream press, you'll eventually read a story that charts another day in the decline of this country.  Chances are your blood threatens to boil.  You may wonder if you're the only one outraged by what you see but when you read the angry comments at the bottom you realise that you're one of many.  Somewhere in those comments will be posts including phrases such as "Britain - wake up"" or "When are the people of this nation going to actually do something about.....?"

Which is the nub of the issue.  It seems we have now become punch drunk to the abuses of democracy, our national identity and our way of life.  Whilst we might criticise what we see, we will remain sat on our hands probably muttering that someone should do something.  Hopefully one day the many will realise that when our house is on fire we really need to act.  So I hope the following story is one that will prompt you to think hard about how much longer you can continue to sit on your hands.  My concern is that many are waiting for the current "Conservative" government to get into their stride to turn this nonsense around.  Well if you're one of them - read on.

Autonomous Mind is running with a story in the Telegraph drip feeding (as AM so wonderfully puts it) the idea of us joining our military assets with France and along with Richard North, point out that this isn't a new idea but one that has been slowly developing over a number of years in line with an EU vision.  Worse still this started under John Major.

Every time I read this I am reminded of a piece I read in recent years but I'm unable to locate to post the link here.  That particular article highlighted one of the reasons for the lack of engagement with NATO by France.  The conclusion it came to was that France did not engage because they did not hold many of the significant positions of command in the structure.  In other words they wanted to run the thing.  I find knowledge of that article sheds a very different light on this "sharing" and "interdependency" being talked about.

Even if this isn't a French power grab, we are seeing our cede power away from Britain into a wider EU military force.  But think about that for a while and think about what that means.  Effectively we can no more decide that we're going to enter a conflict based on our own decision.  If Argentina decides that the Falklands is now theirs again (despite having sold them to us) and invades we won't simply be able to deploy the aircraft carriers without plenty of horse trading.

Let us also consider what happens if we end up with this EU military force.  How will that work?  Who decides.  The movement to any warfare at least goes through the show of a debate in this country.  Try applying that to the EU and it looks very different.  Let's take a quick look back at recent conflicts that European countries have been involved in.  Dithering is a word that springs to mind and so is disagreement. 

We could down this route for a long time, but the point raised is this.  You're watching this unfold and it is being done without your say so.  You are watching your nation being ground down slowly although the pace is picking up as your politicians are now more convinced than ever you will simply sit there and accept it.  It has been commented before that it is part of the British character to wait until it is almost too late before they act.  The problem is we show signs that we won't act until it is too late as we now appear to be what is popularly known as the end game.

There are still some vestiges of democracy left if you will get off your hands and put them to work

Lighting the Beacons

In times gone by, messages warning of imminent danger could be sent in a variety of ways. They were mostly quite slow.  Usually a letter sent by rider or a telegraph.  The problem came when you needed to send a message to quickly rally a large number of people to defend against a danger or a threat.

One of the first ways developed was the lighting of beacons.  Perched on high ground and visible from miles around these sent messages to call those to defend what they held dear.  During World War Two, the plan was church bells were to be rung continuously to signal the arrival of Germans on British soil.

We have our own version of beacons that we can light.  Our message is slightly different.  Although they exist to alert you to a danger that your normal sources of "news" for some reason won't tell you about, they also bring another message.  The message is that hope exists.  They bring the message that many of us are out their who want our nation back from grip of unrepresentative big government who are taxing us without representing us.  The network of modern day beacons is known as the blogsphere and there owners are lighting them.

So what can you do?  Well first you can visit them.  I've set my blogroll going over on the right hand side.  Take a visit, read and have your eyes opened to what is happening behind your back and being hidden in the pointless news of celebrities.

Richard North is currently compiling a list of more of these blogs.  Visit those.  After that its down to you to pass the message on.  My guess is that you know plenty of people who think the same as you.  You know them from conversation in the pub. You shake your head at the same stories in the news. 

So here's what you do.  Follow the blogs.  Cut and paste the links into emails that you send to your friends.  You can also build your own beacon by creating your own blog and light it by sharing the news you find when you decide to fight the apathy.

All you have to do is decide to rise up off your knees and stand up and begin to speak even if your voice shakes.

You are not alone

In yesterday's post I mentioned the idea that whilst many of us want to do something to stop the decay of this country and start turning things around, we do not do so because we fear we are alone and out of step.

My news for you is that you are not alone but the self interested are quite happy for you to believe that.  So for this Saturday I want to provide you with a bit of inspiration that I found courtesy of Captain Ranty, to show you that there are others out there who like you think something is very very off.  There are 4 videos stretching to approximately half and hour.

Pour yourself a nice lazy cup of coffee and enjoy.

So, where do we start?

It doesn't take much looking beyond the mainstream media to know that something is very very wrong.  Worse still it is wrong in so many areas and can look overwhelming. The question becomes where do you start.  This is something I've struggled with for a while now.  Desperate that something should be done and feeling somewhat isolated I struggled to get a foothold from which I could begin the journey.

The first ray of light came from the words in a blog by Captain Ranty. I was particularly moved by the simplicity of the words "Do something, say something, tell someone" and later followed by the words "stop telling yourself that a hero heads this way.  The hero was here all along".  In other words if were all waiting for someone else to do it, it will never get done.  More often than not we're all waiting for that hero to come along out of a fear that we're all alone.  The thing is, once we peel back the layers of news from the mainstream media, we see that there are many more of us out there, sick to the back teeth of the way our country is going and how our politicians fail to act on any of it because they've simply lost sight of the fact that they work for us. So we're not alone we must simply start to go to work on this problem.

As luck would have it I came across other similar posts on other blogs.  First I came across this entry at the Witterings from Witney blog covering two subjects that I feel are pivotal in our efforts to restore Britain.  Shortly afterwards I noticed that Richard North at EUReferendum had also picked up on the subject matter.  And so it begins.

The key is that we must start the work to restore the nation by speaking even if our voice shakes.  I understand that we need confidence.  That confidence comes in numbers and that we must find a way to tackle what appears to be an insurmountable task.  The numbers come if people start to become active.  The risk to that is that people will not start if the task appears too large.  There is however hope that Richard North has touched upon in his entry.

Our political class has lost sight of the people who put them there.  To a point we are paying the price for our own lack of interest.  They have become more interested in the contents of the trough in which their snouts are firmly embedded because they know that we are not watching in any way that threatens their place at the trough.  Some are beyond redemption.  Others, however only carry on with indifference to us because they think we're not looking or holding them to account.  If that were to change, then those for whom there is hope could be brought back into line.

So how to bring about change?.  Well we need to understand our strength and their fear.  Their fear is a simple one - the removal of their place at the trough.  What many of them value more than anything is the status quo - blind voting along party lines that ensures that they continue to be able to gorge themselves on what we keep feeding them, which is money. Our strength, the thing they need to ensure their place at the trough is our vote.  We can take that away and redirect if necessary.

At present it isn't being used in a powerful way and that needs changing which comes about with a slight change of focus.  We currently vote with a national mindset but our power comes when we start acting locally.  The real threat to any MP who has lost sight of who he or she works for is a local threat.  If a bloc can be grown locally the power shifts from the MP to the voters.  Power comes back to the people and as Richard North points out, power is a numbers game.

So we start locally.  Knowing that moves us forward.  There's more to come and I'll keep adding it here.