Linkin Park "Numb"

This kind of sums up how I'm feeling about a few things at the moment...

I won't explain why, but those who know will know what I mean.

Cameron, Trident and North Korea

I thought on the day that is timetabled as the end of the world and the day Kim-Jung Un orders his men to march south, that I'd write a small piece on why David Cameron was wrong about Trident being a good thing going into this possible conflict and why ultimately it doesn't make any difference.

Nuclear weaponry is something that the world wishes it could un-invent. One of the reasons the Allies pushed to coming up with an atomic bomb was just to act as a deterrent to the Axis powers having them and maybe starting the cold war early. The problem was the Germans hadn't the materials or means to deliver such a weapon and little real understanding of what the device would be. One scientist told Feldmarschall Milch of the Luftwaffe that an atomic bomb would be about the size of a pineapple!

When it came to bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki the Allies only dropped the bombs to demonstrate to the Russians the power and awe that they had harnessed. Don't believe the argument that it shortened the war and saved the landing of troops as the USAAF, RAF, RAAF, RCAF and VVS all had enough munitions, aircraft and personnel to blast Japan back to the stone age with a lengthened aerial bombardment, the kind of firestorms and brute force that had been meted out to Germany's cities like Hamburg, Ulm, Dresden and Berlin.

The same is now true for North Korea. The UN and NATO have access to such a vast air fleet of strike aircraft, should North Korea go to start a war then within three days complete aerial supremacy could be attained. Don't be fooled, the CIA has got enough information on North Korea to properly assess their nuclear capabilities and their military strength and locations. This is no Cuban missiles crisis, nor the Balkans tensions in the late 90s when Russia and the West squared off over an airfield.

Nor is this a case of the Eastern bloc facing Democracy. The Warsaw pact powers no longer exist. Only China stands behind North Korea and they would back away should nukes start flying around the place!

Kim-Jung Un's nuclear delivery is really quite limited with only South Korea, Japan and maybe Guam falling in range. Though there are bigger rockets under development that could be used against Australia, Los Angeles and San Francisco they are far from ready.

As for Great Britain's contribution? Well last week David Cameron smugly stated that it was for moments like this it was a good thing we still had Trident.

Really?

The USA still has a massive arsenal of ICBMs and Stealth bombers able to launch from American soil and deliver a nuclear blast into down town Pyongyang.

What would they want our small fleet of submarines for?

England isn't under direct threat and our small amount of nuclear power would be a drop in the ocean compared to what America can fire.

The nation would be better off scrapping an obsolete relic of the cold war and investing the money into our ailing economy and job creation.

The passing of an icon - please show respect

Margaret Thatcher was a divisive figure in British politics and history. She will leave a mixed legacy and will be remembered differently by different people.

I was still at Primary School when she was deposed and John Major replaced her. I remember a few of us, at the age of 9 talking about who wouldst replace her and the favourite at the time was Michael Hesseltine.

At times like this it is easy for people to only remember the good and the achievements and not be balanced. The same is true for Churchill, remembered as a great war leader, not for his failings at Gallipoli and the Gold standard that caused the General Strike. Will Thatcher be remembered for her patriotism, her iron will and her Churchillian defence of the Falkland islands?

Or will she be milk snatcher, miners bane, poll taxer or privatiser?

I know that her policies had a nasty effect on mining communities and the privatisation of British industry and services has had a mixed results but as rail and utility fees working people are feeling the bite. There are people with a lot of anger and hatred for the Iron lady.

However, today is not the day to spout hatred or to celebrate in her death.

Someone's mother and Grandmother has just died, as well as a historic British icon and heroine to others. Let the family mourn and show some respect for the dead.

History will judge Margaret Thatcher's and although it is worth giving a balanced view and not get to caught up in hero worship let's keep it respectful and allow the family to grieve.

Greg Mulholland to disestablish CofE???

Imagine my surprise last night, when I was leafing through the Evening Standard on the train home, and discovered that Greg Mulholland (Lib Dem MP for Leeds North West) is taking the first steps to disestablishing the

Church of England.

Er.... Are you sure Chris?

Afraid so. If you don't believe me the whole article was reproduced in the Huffingdon post.

To go into greater detail it isn't as bad as it sounds.

One of the most divisive parts of the introduction of Gay marriage has been the fact that basically the state is perceived as ordering Religious leaders to make it so and dictating rules on what people had to believe.

One of the problems that many probably had with the proposition of equal marriage was that the state was effectively telling them that their beliefs were wrong and correcting the word of God rather than any deep seated Homophobic views or hatred. The British government has no right to tell Muslims, Catholics or even Church of England what they can believe.

I know some scions of the Christian Church still view homosexuality as wrong or sinful and although, I personally have a more enlightened approach I cannot tell them that their interpretation of the scriptures and Bible are wrong. After all the freedom to practise your own spirituality and beliefs is one of the cores of Liberalism - as long as it isn't being actively used to persecute and restrict the freedoms of the Gay community.

So we reach an impasse of what is more important - something Greg has stressed in this online press release on the subject.

He states:

I also want to make it clear that, as a liberal, I do also believe that it should be up to each faith and belief based organisation to decide for themselves what they believe marriage to mean and who it should be open to. I also do believe that the current situation, where same sex couples in civil partnerships lack some of the rights of civil married opposite sex couples (notably on partner's pension rights) is not equal or fair and must be addressed.

Which I think is something we can all agree with.

It further makes sense that you should secularise civil and state marriages and leave them as a wholly

civil/state controlled affair.

I am a little shaky on the removal of the clause that means adultery can be used as grounds for divorce but lets see how that plays out.

This isn't the end of the Church of England, nor is it a great secularisation of State and marriage, rather a way of encouraging equality for married couples, no matter what your orientation, and giving religious bodies the right to practise their beliefs and definitions of marriage as they see fit. How can this be a problem?

Religion is not as big a part of a significant part of the nation's life anymore, unless you are dying or there is a major sporting event on and for many marriage is about the committing as a couple rather than before God. Attitudes have changed as well over the last fifty years and now Homosexuality is considered, and rightly so, as the norm where as my Grandad was a policeman at the time it was illegal and was involved in arrests!

Greg's motion is something that should definitely be considered and is the best liberal answer to a groundbreaking move within politics and society to finally make people equal in marriage. It is hardly the first step in disestablishing the C of E, but giving them the freedom to practise their beliefs without interference from the State.

Catitonia: Mulder and Scully

Continuing my mid-life crisis and digging up music from my teenage years I thought of this song.

This takes me back to Sixth form days and the summer of 98 sitting about the common room playing Star Wars CCG - I never said I was cool!

Or sitting in my mate Tim's car in the carpark chillaxing to tunes.

ah... where have those days gone?

Still! Enjoy!!!

Defection, politics, turncoats and Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold is one of the most maligned figures in History.

Having been a very able commander within the American Colonial army, performing heroically during the campaign in Canada and then again in combatting General John Burgoyne at the battle of Saratoga you would have thought him a celebrated hero.

However he will always be linked to the act of treason at Westpoint and the death of Major John Andre in 1780.

Vexed with the way that the Colonial cause was being conducted, a growing fear and concern with how the country was to run after England had been repulsed. As the war went on he felt he had been maligned and forgotten by the Commander in chief, so Arnold began to look to the British cause and it all became clear.

British victory was in everyone's best interest. By surrendering Westpoint to General Clinton or providing them with the means to take it easily meant the British could gain the upper hand in the New York sector of the war.

Of course his cunning scheme went astray and following the capture of Major Andre, the British officer who'd been Arnold's go between, he was forced to flee to the British fleet and was eventually carried back to London, never to set foot in the US again.

He was viewed with disdain by the Americans and British who saw him as a turn coat who had offered his services for money and rank. Traitor, turncoat and dishonoured.

In there lies a lesson for defectors.

Every cause can faulter, everyone loses faith at one time or another, it is only natural.

Then again some causes are just plain lost and nothing you do or any amount of hard work you put in will come to fruition. It is then that you need to ask yourself some searching questions about the course you are set on.

Take for example, a hypothetical defection from the Libdems to Labour and dear reader, please don't read too much into this.

Nationally you could never agree with Ed, you still believe in liberal ideals and the hard work that Nick et.al have put in (well most of it!) BUT locally they are the only opposition to a Conservative council that you think is mismanaging things.

Can you do what you said you would never do?

Of course it depends on your motivations. If election and power are your sole aim then, like Arnold, you will be seen for who you really are and treated accordingly.

If, at your heart, you do it to represent your community, to fight the perceived injustices, then surely that is a good thing?

Of course as long as you can swallow your principles for the local good, is it not just abandoning a sinking ship to try and achieve the same goals under a different banner?

Or is it better to stand on the deck as the water creeps up your ankle?

It is a decision that no one should take lightly, a decision that should be thought through thoroughly and not rushed. After all the second example should be respected more than the first though like Arnold, once you've left you can never go back and some bridges can never be unburnt, for you will always be a turncoat.

Cllr Juby: Where is our money safe?

Cllr Geoff Juby's recent column in the Medway Messenger:

The recent crisis in Cyprus, where the more you save the more you lose seems to be called

for by the EU, is putting another nail in the coffin for ordinary people who struggle all their working lives to save for retirement, only to find that their savings are practically worthless.  At the moment it seems that if you are elderly you either have to have a very large savings pot, or none at all. Too many people find that their savings are not giving additional income because of low interest rates, yet they are deprived of benefits because they have a few pounds put by for a rainy day. We are trying to encourage young people to make independent pension arrangements, but what incentives are there for them?

We used to trust our banks, but events over the last few years mean that anyone with decent savings has to juggle money so that if a bank goes bust they don’t lose too much, and now we have the added worry that governments might just decide to help themselves to our cash to pay off debts which were partly incurred by bailing out the banks in the first place.

  Whatever budget steps are taken it always seem that the very rich seem to be protected (like the reduction to 45% tax on high earners). Small local businesses fold because business rates are at an unsustainable level for all except the massive high street chains. They force down the prices they pay for goods to a level which enables them to crowd out independent retailers and still return massive profits.

We can no longer trust in money investment in property, small business enterprise or gold – we will all end  up keeping our rapidly devaluing twenty quid notes under mattresses!