Tag Archives: Local government in England

Opinion – War hero who fought off 200 enemies forced to sell bravery medal for financial support | UK | News | Daily Express – John Gelmini

February 5, 2015 By in Central Government, David Cameron, Defense Policy, Education, Fiscal Policy, Foreign Policy, People, Politics, UK Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

 

Dr Alf should know that this is par for the course.

50% of our rough sleepers are ex-forces personnel, although SSAFFA and the MOD would tell you that the figure is lower.
The UK is one of the worst countries in the world at looking after its armed forces and their relatives and loved ones and local authority apparatchiks are the worst at helping our injured and maimed fighting men get onto the housing ladder, preferring instead to allow our people to rot in the gutter or under Waterloo Bridge, while benefit recipients and the undeserving get what they need.

As for our military being to small, it is now incapable of projecting power, defending our sea lanes or war-fighting at scale.
If it is to remain this small, we should become an independent, neutral tax-haven and supplement our forces with robots, drones and automated stealth weapons.

If we aspire to “punch above our weight” and whatever jingoistic nonsense politicians like to spout, then we need a Tri-Forces of 250,000, aircraft carriers with aircraft, scalar weapons and thermobaric bombs with fast heavy bombers able to deliver them.

We have to choose one or the other and cut the size of the civil service and local authority headcount whilst merging county councils,constabularies and fire commands to 15 of each as the way to pay for better defense.

We have a duty of blood and honor to our fighting men and woman which the Government and local authorities needs to honor in full.

John Gelmini

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Planned Austerity and Devolution of Power – Dr Alf responds to Rodney Willett

August 24, 2012 By in Austerity, Boris Johnson, Central banks, Central Government, David Cameron, Ed Miliband, Erik Pickles, Euro Crisis, George Osborne, Growth, Healthcare, Keynesian, Local Government, People, Politics, Public Services Reform, Unemployment Tags: , , 2 Comments
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Here is the latest blog from Rodney Willett in a debate on Planned Austerity. It’s well worth a read. Check it out!

A Devonian’s Political Blog.

In case you have not been following the thread, Rodney asked me on Twitter to share my views on planned versus unplanned austerity. After some thought, I responded and John Gemini shared his views as well. Here are the links:

Planned austerity or unplanned austerity? – Rodney Willett – A response from Dr Alf

Planned austerity or unplanned austerity? – Rodney Willett – A response from John A Gelmini

It seems that Rodney and I differ on possible causes for the current mess but we agree on the broad solution, namely:

  • Strong leadership
  • Overarching vision
  • Coordinated and carefully analyzed strategy, and
  • Fully risked assessed, properly costed  and effectively managed delivery plans

Both Rodney, John and myself are agreed that David Cameron is probably unable to provide the required strength of leadership. Although not specifically debated, I sense that we are also agreed that the current leaders of the Labour and Liberal parties too are unlikely to provide the necessary leadership?

At this point, I believe that our views diverge.

Rodney favours devolution of power from the centre to overcome the current crisis.

On the other hand, after some reflection, I favour exactly the opposite course to Rodney – namely an  emergency concentration of  power at the centre, in the short to medium term, possibly under the political mandate of a national coalition, supported by the three major political parties: Conservative, Liberal and Labour.

I envision a UK national coalition that is prepared to seek the views of the British people in referendums and to be ready to possibly withdraw power from Europe, defining a new national strategy after proper consultation with the UK people.

It is only with enormous power at the UK’s centre that the gross inefficiencies and waste in UK Local Government and in the EU bureaucracies can effectively be reversed – I concede that some progress has been made in cutting waste in Central Government but it is lightweight, lacking passion. Once real reforms have been achieved (in local and central government, plus possibly the EU bureaucracy), I would expect a return to competitive politics. In summary, a wartime-type coalition is required.

In conclusion, I would argue that a leader is required who is prepared to fight from the front and unite the people behind a national unity government.

What do you think?

Please share your views, whether you agree, disagree or have a different perspective.

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