Tories and Opinion Polls

Surely even the politically neutral would agree that the country never reached the depths it is now plumbing under John Major. And yet during Major's period in office, Blair swept to commanding opinion poll leads double those that Cameron is achieving. I wonder why this is? Five possibilities occur to me:

1. It may generally be easier for a centre-left opposition party to achieve higher ratings because the promise of the benefits of higher spending is superficially more attractive to voters than the dour fiscal rigour that any centre-right party must offer.

2. It may be that the Conservative brand remains too toxic at least in certain areas of the country. Maybe still more years must elapse before the children of those that opposed Thatcher forgive the party. Perhaps the 'pot' of voters that the Tories are addressing is simply smaller than Labour because of this.

3. It may be that Tory policies are insufficiently clear and well understood. Blair continually reiterated a short clear programme. If people do not understand what the Tories will do, then the Tories will receive core vote plus anti-Labour vote but will only be able to share the non-aligned floating voters with other parties. Blair took the latter category as well.

4. Single issue politics appears to be more prominent: witness the rise of UKIP (Europe), the growth of the BNP (Immigration). Perhaps more people are willing to use their vote to protest using one of these minor parties than before. Again, this takes votes from the traditional parties.

5. Presidential politics are unfortunately here to stay. Blair was an extraordinarily dominant figure for Labour and had an extraordinary ability to communicate across party lines. Cameron is a superb politician and a very good communicator. People like him. But he somehow does not quite have that Blair communication magic. This is not a criticism: of politicians of the last 30 years surely only Mandela and Obama have been alongside Blair in that extraordinary category. That difference between the very good and the extraordinary is surely where a few percentage points goes.

Fred Goodwin, the Post Office and Current Insanity

Fred Goodwin's massive payout is an affront to every taxpayer in the country. It beggars belief that the man who presided over the complete collapse of RBS should receive a penny, let alone a fortune undreamt of by 99.99% of the British population, let alone a fortune paid for by that same 99.99% of the population. Pass a special Act of Parliament, sequester his assets, make being Fred Goodwin a criminal offence...I don't know how to recoup my money; but when I am looking at having to work three, four, five years (who knows?) longer than I otherwise would because of the destruction of the economy in part brought about by this man it makes me sick. Am I ditching my liberal values? No, the harm principle clearly applies in this case: Goodwin is guilty of white-collar crime.

And so to the Royal Mail. Of course I would not have to work three, four, five years (who knows?) longer than I otherwise would if I sat on defined benefits pension that regardless of the state of the economy gets paid to me. If the last taxpayer in England was on his knees grubbing around to survive in caves then this bloody government would still protect the defined benefits pensions of the higher-paid public sector. The combination of my blood boiling from this, and the sickness brought on by Fred Goodwin means I'd better go and have a lie down before I explode.

Binyam Mohamed, Torture and Right and Wrong

Torture is disgusting and no decent country should ever tolerate it. Surely modern man has learnt the lesson from the Spanish Inquisition that inflicting enough pain will force almost anyone to admit to almost anything. If Bonyam Mohamed was tortured then the Labour Government should make any evidence public, even at the expense of our special relationship and intelligence data.

One of the most deeply worrying things to me about the last few years is how Labour have interfered in justice. They stopped the inquiry into British arms industry's bribery of the Saudis, they have prevented the publishing of data about the torture of Bonyam Mohamed. Frankly, I don't care if Mohamed is British, Russian or Ethiopian, torture stoops to the level of our enemies. We are better than that. We must be better than that.

If my loved ones were killed in a terrorist outrage and the Government told me that it was only under torture that they caught the culprits. I hope, I really hope, I would feel the same. Even if I didn't, this is an area where I would want the state to protect me from myself. If we, as a country, tolerate the 'proceeds' of torture at any price - yes at any price - then what have we become?

Frank Field, An Admirable MP

Reading the Frank Field article in the Daily Mail caused me to wonder whether I admire him because although he's Labour he says nice things about my party. I don't think that's it. I think its that his priorities reflect what every MP's should be: 1) his conscience, 2) his country, 3) his constituency and 4) his party. In that order.

Okay, 3) and 2) may be flipped around - but 4) should never be reprioritised. Trust in politicians has seeped away because party is placed before conscience, country or constituency. It will never be restored until that is changed.

How bad is the recession?

Just how concerned are people about the recession? Right now the most viewed article on the Telegraph website is "Giant rat caught in China", on the BBC "Police hospitalised over HP sauce", and on the Guardian "Rihanna assault photo leaked online". (Rihanna is an R&B singer, I hadn't heard of her either).

Are we all tabloid readers now? 

PS Check out the giant rat photo, it's great...

Labour Leadership

The Labour leadership speculation is entertaining. Most of it reminds me of the lack of talent on the Labour front benches. But one of the most worrying things about Labour is its lack of commercial experience; I think many of them are unaware that the only way doctors, nurses and policemen get paid for is by private sector workers working for companies seeking profit at the expense of others. It's dog-eat-dog capitalism where I'm trying to make you buy my goods instead of someone else's that pays for the public sector.

One of the conversations that made me most angry in recent years was someone telling me they had left the private sector 'because they could not carry on working for their own profit and wanted to do something for the community.' This is typical Labour-think. Last year my tax bill paid for at least 1 and maybe 2 nurses. Unless I and the millions like me work hard without job security and with lousy pensions to pay taxes, there are no nurses, doctors or policemen (or at least ones with salaries). Our government does not understand this. None of the Labour leadership candidates inspire me to think a change of leadership would make a blind bit of difference.

At our local Tory AGM last night, Jeremy Hunt MP spoke; a future cabinet minister who has created hundreds of jobs from scratch in his business career before parliament. That makes me think he understands about how the economy works, about debt, about living within your means, about competition. Roll on a Tory victory.

The Bizarre BBC

An Indian colleague at work is over working with us for two years. He came over today to ask about something he'd been told by a TV salesman ' You need a licence.' My friend: 'A licence? For what?'. TV Salesman: ' You need a licence to own a television.' My friend: 'Why?'. TV Salesman: 'To pay for the BBC, otherwise you get fined or locked up.' 

Complete and utter incomprehension on the part of my Indian friend. Quite. You get locked up in this country if you do not pay a tax for a box that can receive audio-visual signals.

When will any politican of any stamp actually address this bizarre hangover of British imperial paternalism? Would I mind if it was actually politically balanced rather than actively left-wing? You know, I rather I think I would. The television tax is one of the most illiberal things in Britain. It irritates me regularly. It's when I have a conversation with a friend from abroad like this that it really, really flummoxes me.