A TANGLED WEB

ATW FRIDAY JUKEBOX...

OK, it's Friday evening here at ATW central and it feels like it's been a loooong blogging week, predominantly caused by the slower-than-the-speed-of-steam Squarespace platform. Just to say I have re-activated the ATW typepad site and am currently redesigning it to ensure it is as attractive as this site. So when people say "Hey David, isn't it time you did something about Squarespace nonsense..." - I say well, listen to the song..... 

BUSH SEPARATES FROM HIS BASE...

I do like Peggy Noonan, I think she is a very thoughtful conservative writer. So when she excoriates President Bush for his treatment of those many Republicans who are genuinely concerned about his Immigration plans, I think she's well worth a listen... don't you?

The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place.

For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? Too bad! You don't like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad. But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You're bad."

THE CON-SERVATIVE CAMERON...

Well now, hasn't "Call Me Dave" Cameron gotten himself into a real mess following his ever-so-clever idea to abandon English Grammar Schools in order to win plaudits for the left? Faced with a continuing revolt among MPs and grassroots Tories, David Willetts, the education spokesman, has announced that in some specific areas, new grammars could be built after all.  Two weeks ago Mr Willetts and Mr Cameron said selection by ability did not work and that no more grammar schools would be built under a Tory government.

Listen, I couldn't be more pleased than to see Cameron swing on this. His betrayal of our Grammar's is symptomatic of his more general betrayal of Conservative values. This man is a Vichy Conservative, and he has been destroying the Party that he leads. As if you needed any further evidence of Cameron's true values, just consider the fact that he has appointed former editor of the "News of the World", Andy Coulson, as their head of communications and planning. The "News of the World" is a scumbag rag. The fit with Cameron is perfect.

HANDS UP? HANDS DOWN!

Lunacy! The Government believes that Teachers should stop asking pupils to put their hands up to answer a question because it holds back more timid classmates. They should instead pick the children they want to respond to questions so quiet pupils are tested as well as the keener ones. The Department for Education said the measure would help tens of thousands of "invisible children" who fail to make enough progress at primary school.

This is SO patronising of our teachers, and so removed from the reality of the class-room. Children who can answer questions SHOULD be encouraged to put their hands up, teachers know how to cope with the more quiet pupils without this politically correct gibberish being forced upon them. There is not doubt that Government interference in Education is destroying our schools which is why we need to get its malign influence out of the class rooms! Hands up for that

QUESTION TIME WATCH...

Did you happen to watch BBC Question Time last night? The panel were awful, even by Question Time standards. All shades of political opinion were on display, so long as they were LEFT!

Pompous old Labour buffoon Lord Roy "the boy" Hattersley was there, large as life and twice as useless. The oddly moon-faced Liberal-Democrat Sarah Teather was shockingly bad, preening her inept liberalism as if it had any value! Then we had Greg Dyke, former BBC Director General, who earned HIS liberal credentials by describing the BBC as "hideously white". (Whereas Dyke is just, erm, hideous!) We had the token Tory - the drippingly wet Caroline Spelman, who did not leave me spellbound! And finally, we had TV historian Simon Schama - presumably they could not get a left wing enough comedian?

Anyway, they all started off by universally condemning Grammar Schools. The consensus was that it would have been better if Grammar Schools did not even exist, so ALL kids could be MADE to go to their ideologically acceptable Comprehensives  i.e. Schools that comprehensively fail. Spelman's defence of Cameron's Grammar School problems was hilarious to watch- she was a complete hypocrite.

Then they all got stuck into the "folly" of the UK having soldiers in Iraq. In essence, they all agreed we needed to get our soldiers out of there asap. The consensus was that removing Saddam was a huge error, better to have left him in situ. One member of the audience suggested that we also needed to urgently apologise to Syria, Iran and surrounding countries, and...surprise...we need to deal with the "Palestinian question" before any peace can be achieved. 

Pure Moonbattery from start to finish. No one defended Grammars, no one defended our mission in Iraq - this was a hideously liberal programme from start to finish.

GAMBLE'S GAMBLE...

Those who prey on children should be locked up, as a minimum. Paedophilia is a gross crime and any of us who have kids must recoil at the very thought of it! However, the UK Police's Child Protection Chief thinks otherwise. He reckons that child sex offenders should be encouraged to seek treatment rather than be threatened with jail. Jim Gamble, of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP), said it was a practical way of dealing with the scale of the problem. He believes that treating some paedophiles in the community is a sensible way of reducing harm.

This is just more bleeding heart liberal claptrap. Those wretches who would prey on our kids MUST be locked up, so they cannot access children for their wicked ways. Gamble seems to suggest that those who are caught looking at images of kids on the internet for their sexual gratification would do better with a community service rather than a penal sentence. Wrong. The intent is there, and if they are treated with the traditional kid gloves, one day they will come for our kids in 3D, not just on a computer screen. Sorry, but locking them up - in a harsh prison environment is the right thing to do. Gamble should resign, his views are out of synch with what people want, I believe.