Living In Brown's Yellow Submarine

Blustering Brown has sunk to new depths offering up a Trident sub as a fig leaf to make him feel important. Strutting aimlessly alone saving the world, the empty gesture is as much use as a coal-fired sub. It takes a leader with guts to scrap Trident, not a spineless posturing has-been living in a Yellow Submarine.

Coming up with a cunning plan, the wannabe commander-in-chief is to tell the UN he is willing to cut the number of Trident missile-carrying subs from four to three, a day after being anointed smug saviour of the world.

Only he's not a presidential head of state. Billy-no-mates Brown is a two-bit prime minister of a fag-end government, snubbed by Obama and set to be out on his ears in a few months time. Only ordering some poor soul to press the button is in his gift, for the time being.

The struggling Supreme Leader is thinking about, maybe, perhaps, getting rid of one sub - when three can easily do the job of blowing up the world.

Pseudo-liberals seem blissfully content looking for the 'sky of blue and sea of green', welcoming the move as some first faltering step towards scrapping Trident or the road to unilateral nuclear disarmament. This is nothing of the sort. This is empty gesture politics.

If deluded Brown thinks this will appease the Party Left or steal a march on political rivals, he's living in a Yellow Submarine. One of the best things about iTunes is you can delete all the Ringo rubbish from Beatles albums.

Scrapping one of four subs doesn't save 25%. More cash would have to be spent on maintaining the overall 'deterrent' capability of the remaining fleet. One sub is always out of action anyway for maintenance. The new breed of subs would be quite capable of taking up the slack after scrapping the spare.

You can't play football on deck so what do these guys on nuclear subs do all day apart from skulking around 'deterring' and watching Das Boot on DVD?

Captains have to read doomed Brown's droning drivel in a "by the time your reading this letter" before they can press the button. Maybe that's what's needed to tip them over the edge?

At the beginning of the year, with a warning of things to come, ex-generals thundered in The Times branding the Trident missile system completely useless and the £20 billion replacing it a waste of money, particularly in the current economic crisis.

With the new Vietnam looming in Afghanistan, they argued that rather than spending £20 billion renewing Trident, more should be spent on the armed forces.

"Nuclear weapons," they said, "have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of the violence we currently face, or are likely to face - particularly international terrorism."

But hey, what do tin-pot generals know? With hindsight, it seems quite a lot.

Replacing Trident was one of war-mongering Blair's legacy leaving presents, giving the go-ahead to replace the system with a brand spanking new US baby, now heartily backed by Blinkered Brown.

Once again it raises the thorny question: what's independent or a deterrent about the UK's independent nuclear deterrent?

There's nothing independent about the UK's reliance on a US system with politicians quite willing to sell their souls to the US arms trade.

Trident has only one mission and that's to get a seat on the UN security council top table. It's a lot of money to fork out to join the big boys club. Whether it's three subs or four makes no difference to Iran or to the nuclear arm race.

Trident and the whole US-owned submarine missile system is a Cold War legacy. It is not a weapon for now, where the direct threat to the UK comes from home grown radical Islam.

The case for and against Trident will no doubt rage on, ad nauseam. The arguments are purely political rather than military.

With an empty UN gesture, Bottling Brown has kicked the Trident political football back into touch.

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Forced To Live With Useless Trident

Ex-generals have branded the Trident missile system completely useless and the £20 billion replacing it a waste of money, particularly with the economic crisis. That won't make a blind bit of difference but two cheers for trying.

As the generals denounce Trident as irrelevant, it would take a brave political leader to have the guts to scrap it. 

In an attack that wouldn't be out of place from the so-called lefties (and the Orange Party for that matter) the ex-generals have rounded on the money spent on the UK's nuclear submarine system, arguing that rather than spending £20 billion renewing Trident, more should be spent on the armed forces. 

Replacing Trident was one of Blair's legacy leaving presents, giving the go-ahead to replace the system in 2006. Now heartily backed by Brown he's probably already written his "by the time you're reading this" letter to nuclear submarine captains.

The Trident system of submarines, missiles and warheads still has a lot of life left in it, not due end until the 2020s and could be upgraded and patched up, rather than replaced with a brand spanking new US baby. 

Retired generals have a habit of speaking sense, in the past rounding on the utterly futile and hugely expensive military debacle of trying to fight wars on two fronts in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Their views of course come from a military perspective. But what other view should be taken, apart from politicians quite willing to sell their souls  to the US arms trade? 

Once again it begs the question what's independent or a deterrent about the UK's independent nuclear deterrent? Their argument points out there's nothing independent about the UK's reliance on a US system, we only keep it going to get a seat on the UN security council and it makes no difference to the current nuclear arm race. 

In a letter to the Times, Field Marshal Lord Bramall and Generals Lord Ramsbotham and Sir Hugh Beach say Trident is "irrelevant" and write: "Nuclear weapons have shown themselves to be completely useless as a deterrent to the threats and scale of the violence we currently face, or are likely to face - particularly international terrorism."

"Rather than perpetuating Trident, the case is much stronger for funding our armed forces with what they need to meet the commitments actually laid upon them. In the present economic climate it may well prove impossible to afford both."

In these hard economic times, £20 billion of our cash is a lot to fork out for seat on the top table of the UN security council. 

Trident and the whole US-owned submarine missile system is a Cold War legacy weapon. It is not a weapon for the situation we are in now, where the direct threat to the UK comes from fundamental Islam.  

The case for and against Trident will no doubt rage on, ad nauseam but when the views of these generals are taken into account, the arguments are indeed purely political rather than military.

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Disgraceful Sneaky Aldermaston Sell-Off

Arrogant government ministers have put two fingers up to parliament, slipping out the sneaky fire sale of the UK's nuclear bomb factory as a crafty way of boosting treasury coffers and bypassing MPs. 

Opposition MPs are furious over the secret sale which makes a mockery of any claim the UK has an 'independent' nuclear deterrent.

The government is tight-lipped over how much it got for its stake in the Aldermaston Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), as news of the sale slipped out just before parliament broke up for the long Christmas hols.

The sale to a US firm was announced in a single one-paragraph statement posted here on the firm's website:

"BNFL is delighted to confirm that it has today agreed the sale of its one third shareholding in AWE Management Limited to the Jacobs Engineering Group".

This underhand behaviour from the government is a disgrace. The fact that something of such strategic importance could happen without a by-your-leave to parliament beggars belief. 

Opposition MPs are furious, accusing the government of burying the sale. And there's anger the UK would no longer control the site where controversial Trident nuclear warheads are produced, maintained and due to be replaced.

The sale means we no longer have any stake in the production of our own Trident nuclear warheads. The other two thirds of AWE were already in private hands, split between American defence giant, Lockheed Martin and the UK firm, Serco.

There are concerns too that this was a knock-down sale at below the market price and is the thin end of the wedge, as the government steams ahead with sell-off sales to claw-back some cash in the face of a recession borrowing binge.

Other state assets ear-marked for quickie sales include Ordnance Survey, Met Office  and Forestry Commission. 

As with the planned part-privatisation of Royal Mail, these sales have the paw prints of deputy prime minister, Mandleson, all over them.

And, like the sale of Royal Mail, the whole issue of back-door privatisation and indeed the hugely expensive and morally corrupt Trident missile programme are dear to the hearts of the Orange Party and many backbench Labour MPs and trade unions.

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Scotland Aide Quits In Disgust

Shameless Scotland's bag-carrier has shown the way and quit in disgust as his spineless minister sticks it out and ducks the flak. The MP delivered a broadside on Bunkered Brown's woeful lack of leadership as much as over the shamed attorney general.

The Labour MP's bold bombshell has come like a breath of fresh air in the shabby Westminster word of back-scratching.

Hesford, unpaid aide to an elected minister as well as unelected Scotland, says in his letter of resignation that he "cannot support the decision which allows her to remain in office," winning a round of applause around the land.

Shamed and shameless Scotland is still hiding behind a smokescreen despite breaking the law and handed a £5,000 fine over employing an illegal immigrant. And making a complete pig's ear trying to wriggle out of it.

In the letter, which apparently caught Blinkered Brown on the hop, Hesford says: "In my view the facts of the case do not matter. It is the principle which counts, particularly at a time when the publics' trust of Whitehall is uncertain to say the least. We have to be seen to be accountable." Quite.

Resignations of ministerial bag-carriers are now part and parcel of a fag-end government. Lower down the pecking order, they're not fully paid up members in the New Labour crony loop.

But the resignation letter speaks volumes about the current mood of backbench MPs. It's the issue of Bumbling Brown and the vexed question of his lack of leadership which caught the eye of the Orange Party.

"Could I just mention matters of policy where I believe leadership is vital," prime minister. Ouch.

"Generally, I would urge you to move as quickly as possible to withdraw from Afghanistan and to signal a change in our position over Trident replacement."

Hesford is blowing with the wind. Storm clouds are gathering ahead of next week's leaving Party conference. Backbench MPs are not happy bunnies. Scotland it seems was the last straw.

Useless Brown's empty gestures about maybe cutting the odd Trident sub doesn't cut any ice. His unwinnable Afghan war has become a shameful, bloody legacy.

As the Orange Party poignantly posted yesterday, shamed and shameless Scotland should do Macavity Brown a big favour and quit to save him more embarrassment.

Instead, not only the struggling Supreme Leader's bunkered support for Shameless Scotland but the whole issue of his lamentable leadership is back festering away in the spotlight.

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Dashing Dave, Great Gordon, Naff Nick

"Get real Nick," blasted Brown and for once Cameron agreed. A week is a long time in politics and what a difference a week makes. Naff Nick's nag stumbled and fumbled along, Great Gordon had been taken out of the knackers yard for a final spirited sprint and Dashing Dave took it all in his stride.

Bumbling his way through the second TV 'leaders' debate, Clegg made a mockery of the debate title, managed to make Gordon look good and make Dave's day.

But the old tuckers were working the crowds in a crowded spin room trying to brow beat the media munchkins to big it up for their man.

Voters, viewers? The debate was on Sky, so viewers would have to miss Corrie to watch it all. Much wlll depend on the reams of reaction which is bound to be spewed out as reports on the debate on the debate rumble on from a Big Media which has already made up its mind.

The Orange Party was watching a different debate from last week but a debate which still saw three Westminster parties slog it out in what appeared at times like a cosy stitch-up.

The clash was supposed to focus on foreign affairs but the major battlegrounds of Afghanistan, Trident and Europe were brushed under the carpet and given only a scant outing as the Celtic nationalists and single issue parties were left out in the cold.

Ex-eurocrat Clegg predictably backed the EU superstate. All three backed keeping troops fighting a hopeless Afghan war. Scrap Trident? Er, nope. Not even Nick.

But gone was the Mandy manipulated Gordon "I agree with Nick" slapstick comedy routine and in came a revitalised Labour tribalist telling that 'Liberal' Clegg to get real. Dave's agreement brought a laugh from the audience, now aired in this second debate. Brown was on a roll and lovin' it.

Dave was comfortable at home with foreign affairs in a foreign office sort of way. Defence of the realm, the national interest comes first - the rest is the way of the world. Back home on the playing fields of Eton, sounding and looking every inch the statesman.

Foreign affairs was never Gordon's strong point - more used to being stuck at home in the kitchen cooking the books. But managing to sound convincing resorting to well-rehearsed rhetoric trotted out from a script.

An 'off the cuff' pre-planned put down line to the two other "bickering" party 'leaders' read out from a pre-written script stuck out like a sore thumb.

Clegg and his novelty act always had a lot to live up to with all the Cleggmania and media hype but then so did Dave in the first round. The difference is what marks out a leader and Clegg fell flat on his face.

The knives were out for Clegg with his dodgy dealings and shameless past splashed across the tabloids and the Telegraph. But a question from Sky's Adam Boulton aimed to put the party leader on the spot was dealt with poorly by Clegg with an arrogant slap down, exposing the off-hand manner of a smug two-bit politician.

Cutaways and reaction shots from the audience meant to liven up the second debate became a dangerous toy to be played with in the gallery. A cutaway to a sweet young thing smiling sweetly and nodding at Clegg reeked of biased editing.

Lessons had been learnt. Clegg tried to sound tough on immigration but fell at the first fence over an amnesty. Round one saw Clegg put himself up as Mr Clean. It was left to Dave to deliver the put down - no-one should be put themselves on a pedestal, not least Clegg.

The stakes had been high. The little fish in a big pond had been bigged up to take the heat off dismal Brown's first debate disaster. The question now is would voters trust Clegg to call the shots holding the balance of power? Is this unknown who has shot to stardom really prime ministerial material?

Overall, the limp LibDem leader turned in a lacklustre performance putting the brakes on the Clegg bandwagon. Tired Brown came alive at times and can expect to turn into Bouncy Brown. Calm Cameron turned in the kind of prime ministerial performance that could begin to turn things round for him. All in a tabloid sort of way.

But then the winners and losers of the second debate were always going to be fought over on the broadcast news bulletins and above the fold on newspaper front pages - not from voters watching the TV talent show.

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Cuts Battle Gets Breath Of Fresh Air

Voters suffocating in the spin of spurious 'cuts' have been given a breath of fresh air in a ground breaking report spelling out exactly where the axe should fall. New bedfellows, the TaxPayers' Alliance and Institute of Directors, have come up with a sensible £50 billion shopping list.

The public is being taken for a general election ride as the battle of the cuts hots up. Neither party is prepared to come clean with concrete cuts. But swinging cuts are on the cards to tackle the country's mounting debt crisis. To pretend otherwise is a deceitful false economy.

Now the respected employers organisation, the Institute of Directors (IoD) and the Taxpayers' Alliance pressure group (TPA) have joined forces with detailed proposals to save £50 billion of annual public expenditure in 32 painless steps.

The Orange Party has been take aback by the breathtaking detail from the two uneasy bedfellows. It is a lesson on how to cut spending without destroying essential public services. Add scrapping Trident and ending the wasteful Afghan War and it starts to add up.

The usual worthy suspects are there but there's more including: scrapping the useless NHS computer (saving over £1 billion) and ID cards, freezing public sector pay (saving over £6 billion), halving spending squandered on consultants (saving £1 billion), scrapping failed Sure Start (saving £1.5 billion) and wasteful Building Schools for the Future (saving £2.5 billion).

Cuts are not painless. You pays your taxes and takes your choice. But the report does set out options for reducing the crippling £175 billion debt burden after the pre-election political posturing.

The heat is on in the general election phoney war. Cuts are inevitable. Even dithering Darling has come clean about the dire state of the public purse. Cameron is starting to look like a man with a cuts plan. But both parties prefer to keep their powder dry rather than hand over ammunition to the enemy.

The report "How to save £50 billion", lays out detailed proposals to save £50 billion a year of public spending with a series of 32 practical steps which have the potential to save £42.5 billion a year from 2010-11 and a further 2 steps saving £7.5 billion that could be introduced from 2011-12.

Any talk of cuts should come with a health warning. Big public spending cuts could kill economic recovery and lead to mass unemployment but something has to give. The spoonful of £50 billion spending cuts would help the medicine go down instead of the mother's ruin of more reckless borrowing.

The Institute of Directors director general, Miles Templeman, reckons that large sums can be saved without hurting vital services. "We hope this will start a serious public debate about the best ways money can be saved, and whether the state needs to withdraw from certain activities it can no longer afford.”

The Orange Party is impressed. None of the usual wishy-washy drivel about "efficiency savings" here. Instead the report zooms in on reducing or removing unproductive items of government expenditure that don’t work, or are not essential.

Voters are no fools and they shouldn't be treated like fools. Trying to get a head round real government expenditure is a minefield of mind-numbing number crunching, deliberately spun to keep voters in the dark.

A start could be made by following the report's example and making government expenditure a tad more transparent so voters can identify further savings.

Everyone bar MPs, City fat cats and quango cronies have had to tighten their belts in the recession depression. It's time for the government to follow suit and that has to include public spending. The days of the taxpayer picking up the bill belong to boom, not bust.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, reckons the proposals offer practical, reasonable ways to save large amounts of money. "Taxpayers cannot afford to sustain the current rate of spending, and they want to see an end to their money being spent unwisely."

Meanwhile beleaguered Brown is due to crawl out of the bunker for a cosy chat at Chequers with union bosses to stitch up a deal with the Party's paymasters to stave off a cuts kicking as the Party conference season kicks off. That, as the Sun says, is no way to run a country.

The public is fed up with the arrogance of a fag-end government. No wonder deluded Brown's depressed. Show some leadership man. Come clean over cuts. Stop political point scoring and sitting on the fence.

Let the voting public have their say and decide who to trust with the inevitable axe.

Top graphic: News Of The World

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Cable Needs Fire In His Belly

A dire warning the economic crisis could drag on for a decade has been delivered by the LibDems Vince Cable, warning tougher action is needed. But his borrowing solution has glaring omissions - government waste and squandered billions. His economics need political bite.

The gentleman of economics delivered a well-reasoned way out of the economic mess in today's Independent. But his grounding is still in New Labour, politically steered by Blair-boy Clegg. 

Dancing around the political dancefloor, Cable wrestles with the politician's dilemma – "Do we try to be positive and risk misleading people through complacency; or do we tell it like it is and risk adding to the fear and financial panic?"

Put simply should we be taken in by the government and the BBC"s 'Downturn' spin or ITV News 'UK Recession'. 

The Orange Party is in no doubt. Come clean and shout it from the rooftops. And as Cable says: "On balance, it is better to be straight."

Straight is not something that springs to mind after Monday's farcical Budget. That's led Labour MP, Frank Field, to conclude: "The package therefore raised some fundamental questions about the government competence in running a crisis economy."

The liberal economist, JK Galbraith, does spring to mind as Cable suggests precedents can be found in history for a way out of the crisis. 

Current interest rate cuts are not nearly enough to kick-start the economy. They must come down further and indeed they will. 

Tax cuts must be seen as fair. Cut taxes for the low paid funded by removing tax relief, allowances, tax loop holes and tax breaks which fund the lavish lifestyles of the wealthy, rather than the government's "tokenistic higher rate".

But it is on the issue of borrowing, which Cable reckons is necessary to prevent a further downward spiral, where the Orange Party would take serious issue. 

There's no need to borrow a penny more. Cut back on government waste, ridiculous schemes which squander billions and you have all the savings you need. Here the LibDems need to inject serious politics into economics. 

Make a start. Pull all troops out of the hugely expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, scrap the despised ID cards, scrap Trident, the failed NHS computer system and meaningless government quangos. Do the maths, add up the savings. There would be money to spare.

There is no need for a squeeze on the public sector if the cash is spent wisely and sensibly. And those savings will allow public spending for where it really matters. Spending on schools, hospitals, social housing and public transport. 

Though ignoring the massive £33 billion off-balance sheet PFI debt, Cable does put his finger on the key to a way out of the current economic mess. The banks or rather the way money is lent. 

The present £37 billion bank bail-out was sold as part-nationalisation, when it was nothing of the sort. As Tony Benn said, you cannot have it both ways. True nationalisation is the answer, bringing full state control, responsibility and accountability. 

The government cannot walk away from direct responsibility, warned Cable. "It must take seats on the boards of leading banks, not to micromanage them, but set strategy." 

At the moment, as Galbraith said, government bail-outs with taxpayer's cash just allows the banks and financial institutions to "sail into the wild blue yonder".

The pain of deep recession will be most obviously felt by those facing house repossession and loss of jobs, Cable points out. Easing that pain should be top priority. 

The LibDems are moving in the right direction economically, thanks to Cable. Politically, they still have a long way to go, if Cable economics are to be turned into political votes. 

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Clegg Attack!

The knives are out for Two-faced Clegg and his potty party as the windbag leader of the little party for little people limbers up for a limp performance in tonight's TV debate. Adjectival reporting which suits the style of a blistering Clegg Attack in today's tabloids. Down and dirty politics in the raw but something to liven up a boring election campaign.

The Orange Party reckons it was about time for some SAS-style politics. If you are under fire - go on the attack with guns blazing - don't bury yourself in a safe-hole.

Smug Clegg put himself on the pedestal, the public didn't do that for him. They were taken in by all the Big Media hype of Little Nick's talent show.

And the media played its part in beefing up Calamity Clegg's novelty act and delivering a soap star superstar to the nations.

Now the searing sunlight of scrutiny is being shone on Wonderboy Clegg. Exactly the same relentless attacks on personality and policy both Cameron and Brown have had to face week after week after week.

The same scrutiny that has exposed Saint Vince's slipping halo revealing a waffling charlatan in the TV would-be-chancellor debate.

Now Two-faced Clegg's dodgy dealings and shameless past is starting to catch up with him. In the Mail, Express, Sun and Metro. But it is the Telegraph which knocks Clumsy Clegg off his pedestal revealing political donations paid into his private bank account in 2006, before he became leader.

Dishonest at worst, a fool at best. Whatever side of the political fence wavering voters are starting to sit on, mud sticks.

Fudge and waffle on major issues such as the economy, immigration, Trident and the EU leaves voters confused. Would voters trust this guy to call the shots holding the balance of power? Is this unknown who has shot to stardom really PM material?

The Orange Party believes this isn't about the future of the one hit wonder but Mandy's dream of an ever-lasting New Labour project.

A dream-ticket of a Clegg-Mandy alliance where Labour tribalist Brown would be kicked off a coalition like an old boot hissing 'Liberal' between gritted teeth. Paving the way for son of New Labour with Mandy and the Blairites pulling the strings and calling the shots.

The stakes are high. The little fish in a big pond was bigged up to take the heat off dismal Brown but the cunning plan could backfire as voters see through the sham and the Clegg star starts to wain.

The Mandy Plan with the chaos of a badly-hung parliament is a risky election strategy. The struggling Supreme Leader and the discredited Liberals could be left down in the dumps and down in the polls, leaving Tories to romp home - and to the victor goes the spoils.

Smug Clegg’s cynical claim of "a new honesty and decency" had a hollow ring from a leader who is part of the Westminster elite and a party which changes tack at the drop of a hat to con a few straggling voters.

Revealing "the nasty tricks of the real nasty party", Oborne in the Mail, blasts the leader of "a profoundly dishonest party that is prepared to lie, cheat and on occasion issue outrageous smears on its opponents in order to win power." Milking MPs' expenses to fund party propaganda, according to the Spectator.

Windbag Clegg always had a lot to live up to after all the Cleggmania and media hype. Now Euroboy Clegg has been shown up as a windbag politician, incapable of expressing complex arguments and issues with any clarity.

No wonder Wonderboy is falling flat on his face with "Clegg on his face", as the Sun sweetly puts it. Floundering on detail, fudging on issues and making a fool of himself and viewers who've been sucked in by the spin.

And this from Calamity Clegg who was stupid enough to leave his secret election debate plans in the back of a cab.

UPDATE 2.25pm: Mandy's cage has been rattled condemning "disgusting", "cheap and rather squalid" attacks on Clegg, accusing the 'Tory' press of "smears" and "dirty tricks". Mandy defending Clegg and the old tin-pot trouper calling kettles black. Whose side is he really on?

Tabloid round-up: Politicalbetting

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