THE SHOTGUN MARRIAGE

In recent years I've not bothered to watch the BBC's 'Questiontime' programme.  The programme had gradually deteriorated under the increasingly partial chairmanship of Dimbleby, D. The panelists were generally either safe hand-picked party mouthpeices, or predictable 'independents'. However, during the general election campaign I returned to viewing the programme, just to keep up with the latest sparring of the big parties.

But since the shotgun marriage of the CondemCo government, there are indications of some deliciously ironic and hypocritical moments in store for viewers as the love-in between the two parties slowly unfolds and eventually unravels and disintegrates. Last week we had the spectacle of the fanatical manic right-wing John Redwood trying desperately to be nice to a Libdem woman panelist. And Dimbleby constantly enjoys reminding everyone of the pre-election  leaders' debates when Cameron and Clegg were at each other's throats.

The Labour Party was uncharacteristically wise to have nothing to do with the Libdems or any sort of 'rainbow' alliance. Thereby they managed to snatch a sort of victory from the jaws of defeat in the election.

I don't believe this government will last a full five year term (why five years?). But neither do I consider it will disintegrate early. I'd give it at least a couple of years. There is too much riding on it for both coalition parties for them to allow it to fail early. They both wanted a taste of power,  really desperately. That power will not be surrendered readily, no matter what unlikely political backwaters they have to navigate.

Here is another image from right-wing Mid Beds Tory MP Nadine Dorries' blog, just a few days before the election. I'm not making it up - this really did appear on her blog:

A HELPING HAND

It seems that right-wing Tory MP Nadine 'Nimby' Dorries is having trouble with her blog.
It's been off the air since the general election.
I'm not sure what the trouble is. There may be a technical hitch.
Fortunately, before her blog disappeared, I took the precaution of saving a few of her pre-election items.
To give a helping hand in times of need, I'll post one or two here.
This is the first:

NADINE DORRIES WALKS OUT OF FLITWICK HUSTINGS

Nadine Dorries threw a tantrum and walked out of the Hustings Meeting this evening at Flitwick Village Hall, organised by FATCRAG - the local Residents Association.
She was upset by some guy recording the meeting.
He was out of order, but so was she.
This woman is not fit to be an MP, frankly.
No doubt she'll be re-elected on Thursday

IN VERY POOR TASTE

Casting an eye over the UKPollingreport website today, I was surprised to see a scrolling advert along the bottom by the Libdems. It featured a photo of the right wing Conservative MP for Mid Beds, Nadine Dorries, with the words "everyone fears a suicide" superimposed on Dorries' picture.

Nadine Dorries doesn't need me to defend her.
But how typical of the poor taste of the Libdems.

FIDDLERS IN THE HOUSE

Sir Thomas Legg says 390 MPs must repay £1,305,000 for the expenses scandal.

In fact, all MPs, including the current MP for Mid Bedfordshire Nadine Dorries, share the blame, whether or not they individually have been caught fiddling expenses.
They were ALL responsible for the expenses system, which condoned fiddling.
They MUST all have known what was going on.
And none of them did anything about it.
That's Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat.

They share the blame for this scandal which has brought ridicule on our parliamentary democracy.
These were the people elected to take major decisions of war and peace.
You have an opportunity on 6 May (or whenever) at the ballot box to let your voice be heard.

THE VENDETTA AGAINST MR SPEAKER

We all know how the present MP for Mid Bedfordshire loves to trivialise and personalise politics.
She's now busy waging war against the Speaker of the House of Commons.
She's up in arms because, apparently, the Speaker has stopped wearing fancy dress.
Now, most of us don't give a toss what the Speaker wears.
Not so Nadine Dorries.
Taking off his fancy outfit will mean millions of pounds lost each year from our tourism economy, she believes.
So what's she doing about it?
She's refusing to stand back to the wall and divert her eyes when the Speaker walks down a corridor.
I kid you not.
She accuses the Speaker of eroding the authority of Parliament.

In the real world, nothing has eroded the authority of Parliament more than the MP expenses scandal, which has destroyed trust in politicians. Whether or not an individual MP was personally culpable, the fact is they all knew the system, they all approved it, they all knew what was going on. And they diverted their eyes, till the cat was out of the bag.

A Question of Regulation

Nadine Dorries, the Right Wing Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, writes:

" ..... There is only one knowledgeable commentator whose opinion I have listened to and believed throughout all of this financial chaos, and that is Jon Moulson of Alchemy - I am always knocked out by John's pragmatism and commonsense. I'm not yet sure what he thinks of tighter regulatory reform in the hands of the FSA ...... " (Nadine Dorries' blog, 15.10.2008)

Now, I'd never heard of Mr Moulson, so I decided to do some research.
I wasn't sure whether his first name was actually Jon or John, since Nadine Dorries uses both spellings. Either way, I could only discover a Jon / John Moulton at Alchemy. Assuming this is the very same person (I stress it is just an assumption) and that Nadine Dorries has made a typo, I found an interesting peice which was published in the Independent by Sean O'Grady (29.4.2000) :

"Moulton looks mean. Bald, wiry, cold-eyed, thin-lipped, those glasses - he makes an easy hate figure. He looks, in fact, not so much as though he would sell his own granny for sixpence but that he would be happy to sell her kidneys to Ford, flog her liver to General Motors and sell the rest for scrap. 'Some people would say that his main delight is picking the legs off flies,' says one unkind acquaintance."

Oh dear, perhaps not the sort of person you'd wish to bump into on a dark cold rainy night. But Nadine Dorries swears by him, so I pressed on. I then came across a peice by Jane Martinson in the Guardian (20.1.2006) :

" A 'minor' supporter of the Tory party - he has donated about £50,000 - he also blames high taxation and increased spending on the public sector. Then he says: 'I have to declare an interest. Fundamentally, I like really awful times as the collapse of the UK economy is ideal for me and my business."

Dear me, could Mr Moulton be enjoying himself in these troubled times ?
Still, every cloud .....

But what is the answer to Nadine Dorries' query about Mr Moulton's thoughts on tighter regulatory reform in the hands of the FSA ? Well, I found this by Maggie Lee in the Independent (29.10.2006) :

"As the industry comes under the scrutiny of the regulator (the Financial Services Authority is currently reviewing private-equity's impact on the market and bank debt), he is unequivocal that the British Venture Capital Association should act to counter critics. ' The regulation has gone over the top in terms of cost-effectiveness. While the UK was the first country in the world to regulate venture capital, there isn't a shred of evidence to suggest it's actually worthwhile.' "

So, it doesn't appear that Mr Moulton is much in favour of more regulation, of whatever kind. But I suppose he may have changed his mind. After all, a lot of people have. I think we had better wait until Nadine Dorries has had chance to talk to her guru, and vouchsafe his pearls of pragmatism and commonsense. Wait on ....

The New Churchill

Nadine Dorries, the right wing Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, writes that her leader David Cameron is a new Churchill.

He doesn't look like Churchill, he doesn't talk like Churchill, he doesn't walk like Churchill, he doesn't smoke cigars like Churchill. He doesn't ride a bike like Churchill. Not yet, anyway ....

He ain't no Churchill.