Queen Used As Election Pawn

The Queen is being used as an election pawn in a party political broadcast to parliament. The shameful charade of New Labour's 'Queen's Speech' is set to test the water with a manifesto and "smoke out the Tories". An insult to the public and total waste of time.

'Announcing populist measures to "smoke out" the Tories on policy, Brown has signalled the start of a bitter election campaign,' thunders The Times. Not in a news conference. Not in a party political broadcast. But through the age old tradition of Wednesday's official opening of parliament.

The Queen's Speech has been reduced to a glorified New Labour press release with Pussycat Peter's paw prints all over it.

Reading from a prepared script, it's left to Her Maj to set out her government's 'legislation' for the coming year. But none of the measures will see the light of day. Not least because of looming across the board spending cuts.

Missing from the 'manifesto' will be the budget and pre-budget report, increasingly used to set policy with key announcements.

Using a Queen's Speech in this way is an insult to voters and affront to parliamentary democracy. The Orange Party isn't turning yellow but LibDem leader Clegg has a valid point.

The "glitz and glamour" of the Queen's Speech, he said, would be "based on a complete fiction" because there were only 70 parliament days between now and the last date to dissolve parliament.

That kinda blows out of the water commons cheerleader, Harman's insistence that "the majority of the bills in the forthcoming Queen's Speech would become law before the general election".

Laws take, on average, 240 days to pass through all stages. If Bottling Brown finally gives the public what they want and calls the election before going all the way to the wire, then time is even tighter.

Then strict election broadcasting laws kick in. Parliament grinds to a halt. The commons won't see MPs for dust as they scurry off to begin the election battle proper.

Tough times call for tough measures to tackle jobs and the recession, a decaying social culture and downright distrust of the political system. Instead an election gimmick is being used to sound out the public mood, shore up the struggling Supreme Leader's precarious position and try to wrong-foot the opposition.

Mention parliament to voters and only one thing springs to mind - the disgrace of the MPs' expenses scandal.

Clegg has called for the Queen's Speech to be cancelled and replaced with emergency reforms to "clean up politics".

Parliament could usefully use its time to clean up its act with a fresh start ready for voting day, instead of trying to water down Kelly with an MPs' expenses stitch up.

Using precious time to restore trust, sounds a pretty sensible idea. "The one gift this failed Parliament can give its successor is a fresh start," said Clegg.

Battling Brown has finally fired the election starting gun but it feels like the parties have been limbering up with an increasingly bitter campaign for donkey's years. A weary public is fed up with all the dithering and dilly-dallying.

Using a Queen's Speech as a party political tool ahead of an election isn't new. But this one smacks of party politicking like no other. Voters will see through another shameless New Labour smoke and mirrors sham. Using taxpayers cash to get some free publicity is a cheap stunt.

Using the speech as rearguard action to whip up flagging support from core voters in the vain hope of preventing total wipe-out is a dodgy way to dupe voters.

As Clegg said, it will serve as "little more than a rehearsal of the next Labour manifesto" and "an attempt to road test policy gimmicks".

The floundering ship is sinking fast in an ocean of failure and disaster. Half-baked unfunded policies are now the order of the day in a stagnant Whitehall. It's a sure sign of election time when U-turns come thick and fast.

Voters feel in their bones that it is time for a change. Beleaguered Brown has lost public confidence. Cameron is the PM in waiting. Isn't it about time the fag-end government showed the electorate some respect?

Instead ministers are left with little to do but dish out dollops of Brown sauce to an election battle weary public.

Top picture: Private Eye cover 1964. Mid picture: Private Eye

Read More...

Why Has Saint Vince Set His Sights On Darling?

Saint Vince has launched a scathing personal attack on the fiddling chancellor calling on bunkered Brown's ex-Darling to quit. Meanwhile it's move over Darling as the struggling Supreme Leader plots to ditch his old pal and install his henchman Balls at No 11. The Saint has set his sights on one sinner but why him when there's a whole greedy gang to choose from? Coincidence or all part of a cunning political plan? 

Accusing useless Darling of fiddling away with his hands in the till of the exchequer while the economy crashes and burns, Cable's personal attack in the Mail must be music to the ears of the Downing Street plotters eager to look for any excuse to get rid of a liability. 

Now LibDem leader Nick Clegg has followed Cable in calling on the chancellor to quit over his expenses claims.

Top politicians accusing one of their kind of being a downright crook without the legal protection of parliament are rare. But there's no stopping Saint Vince: 

"Here is the company finance director caught with his fingers in the till. He doesn’t explain. He doesn’t apologise. He just blames his colleagues for not stopping him. His moral authority has vanished. He must go, now."

Cable's attack has been simmering for some time. Today it is unleashed with all the furry fury Vince can muster. As he readily admits - usually he attacks policy not the person but MPs' expenses have changed all that. 

Few sensible souls would disagree with Captain Sensible. Darling is indeed up there with the crooks fiddling his second homes allowance with some dizzy flipping and having the cheek to claim for accountants to fill out his tax form. But Cable should be careful for what he wishes.

If Saint Vince reckons 'serial flipping' Darling must go then who are mere mortals to disagree? But apart from his good-self brought in by Brown as a "people's chancellor" who can fill his boots? Step forward Ed. Not the Young One but the "Smearing" One. 

Cable's outburst comes on the very day when the plot thickens and the Sunday Times reveals Brown's cunning plan to instal His Masters' Voice Ed Balls as chancellor - one of the most despised men in the tight cabal of New Labour cronies. The man who has been accused of leading the smearing sleazy Downing Street reservoir dogs. The man up to his neck in triple second homes fiddling. 

The minister who managed to wriggle out of any responsibility for the Sats fiasco and Baby P scandal. The minister who has created a monolith stalinesque department of totalitarian social engineering. And the minister who along with Brown made a complete balls up of the economy.

Balls has been protected by the Telegraph which chose to bury his expenses fiddles. Darling has been in the eye of the Telegraph storm accused of switching the designation of his second home four times in as many years and no doubt more scandalous revelations will follow.

Cable is the economic oracle on who and what really messed up the economy. He came up whiter than white on the expenses scandal.  

But a very personal attack just isn't his style. By attacking Darling, he's left himself wide open to the accusation of collusion in the nasty sordid world of Brown politics. 

Beleaguered Brown is planning to be in like a shot and unveil his cabinet reshuffle and his "national" plan to deflect away from the humiliating Euro and local election defeats this Thursday. 

One Leader, One Party, One People has a nasty ring to it but suits both Brown and his henchman down to the ground. Does Cable reckon he's in with a chance to be part of that 'national' plan and a national government of 'unity'? 

If Cable is coming out with a genuine heart-felt plea to put someone trusted at the helm of the economy fair enough but if he is using it for personal ambition to climb up the greasy pole of politics any credibility and well-deserved respect will be blown out of the water. 

Cable and Brown go back a long way to the days of John Smith's Labour Party. He should stay clear of the petty Blairite/Brownite New Labour Party politics - unless he plans to rejoin them. Or unless there's a crafty new Lib-Lab plot hatching in the background.  

The Orange Party is quite chilled about the whole shenanigans. 

Brown should go ahead and ditch Darling with the blessing of Saint Vince and install Balls. The Parliamentary Labour Party will have a duck fit. Brown and his henchman may be out on their ears.

New Labour will tear itself apart. Johnson could come up all beaming and Blairite. Cameron will still win the election hands down - only the New Labour Party will have put up one hell of a healthy fight. And that's better than watching a mangy diseased dog die. 

Read More...

Brown's Bullshit Way Of Saying Sorry

The deluded Supreme Leader is all over the BBC and Observer like a rash, promising a new era of prudence in the banks. Bolting horses and stable doors spring to mind. Maybe it's the only way Brown can bring himself to say sorry for the mess he's caused? But the hair-shirt smells of bullshit. This is the last throw of the dice. 

What a coincidence. Obama suddenly found time in his busy diary to fit in a quick meeting with Brown in Washington next week, which managed to capture some of last night's headlines. 

Today it's calls for a return of "prudent", old-fashioned high street banks and the end of 100% mortgages, which has set the weekend political agenda. Notice how "prudent" is carefully weaved into the hype. 

But the Brown and Obama meeting that put the BBC in such a tizz is nothing new and was hinted at here by the Orange Party on February 6. 

Beleaguered Brown is pinning his hopes some of the Obama magic will rub off on him so he can steal a march on his rivals and a few votes back home. 

Both Downing Street and Brown are obsessed with the April 2 G20 London summit. But in the US, the Obama star is fading and he has enough on his plate with the domestic economy. The Chosen One may chose to drop by but only out of common courtesy.

With the credibility of the prime minister in ruins both at home and abroad, best to get in quick. April 2 is a very long way off.   

It's all part of a frenzied final push at economic spin and vote-catching as Brown and his ministers try to look busy, as they flannel and flounder around in the "fag-end of a government in collapse." 

Brown's calls for a more responsible banking system, in which banks are the "servants of the economy and society and never its master" (ad nauseam), according to the BBC, caused howls of derision and disbelief. 

How he has the bare-faced cheek now to ask people to forget all those years of allowing his banking buddies to cream off the cash and do what they fancy, beggars belief. 

A new era in banking certainly is welcome but how on earth can people be expected to buy into the idea of turning back the clock to Brown's golden years when they are riddled with debt up their eye balls. 

Thanks to the glorious false boom years, loans were packaged up like soap powder and everyone was taken in by the sham of the shiny new dream, before harsh reality kicked in. 

The Orange Party expects much more heady spin in the run up to the June elections and beyond. And that could include pulling a rabbit out of the hat in the oldest accounting magic trick in the book.

Pseudo-liberals in the US have been sent into a spin with Obama and Clinton sliming up to their new best friend China while ignoring the country's appalling record on human rights. It's a high price to pay when you sell your soul to the highest bidder. 

That is set to happen over here as long as China is prepared to risk taking on the debt of bankrupt Britain.  

China's vast wealth is the key. Cheap imported goods which have wrecked UK manufacturing flow in through the front door and wads of cash flow out through the back to China, only to be recycled as investment loans to prop up the wretched economy. 

Add that to the government's abhorrent and disreputable plans to print money and, hey presto, with smoke and mirrors accounting, the white rabbit is pulled out of the hat. Living on borrowed time for decades to come but no massive cuts in public spending. Everything in the very short term suddenly starts to look hunky-dory. 

Throw into the mix the new Banking Act, which gives greater powers to the Bank of England shrouded in a cloak of secrecy and the stage is set for a well-managed turnaround in fortunes.

Pictures with Obama for the BBC and Downing Street album, the bad old Brown days air-brushed out of history, the return of a new Prudence and the country hopelessly in debt propped up by China's billions.  All the ingredients are there for an election spinning turmoil of lies and deceit with a magical final throw of that dice in the run up to the general election. 

But there'll be no gasps of amazement from the audience when the rabbit appears. This time, the public have seen through the sham and the Tories and LibDems are constantly on their guard to square up to the bullshit.

Read More...

LibDems Suck Last Life Out Of New Labour

The death knell for the government has been sounded with the latest opinion poll showing voters deserting in droves, scrabbling around for alternatives. 

With vultures circling overhead, LibDems are picking up a few crumbs of comfort, as Brown and his minister's credibility sink to an all-time low.

On the surface, the new ICM poll in tomorrow's Sunday Telegraph shows a boost for the LibDems - up 6% at 22% - and puts New Labour down 4 on 28 per cent, only six points behind, while the Tories are down 4 to still a whopping 40 per cent.

But it is the government's handling of the economy where the survey paints its most gloomy picture, showing New Labour's support falling to its lowest ebb since Brown's well-managed and well-spun bank bail-out bounce last autumn.

What is unclear, however, is how the questions were framed and the weighting used, as ICM uses a methodology which generally favours the LibDems anyway. A similar poll for the Guardian recently had the LibDems on a silly 16%.

The Orange Party has noted New Labour's demise for a long time as voters, once enticed by New Labour Promised Land, started to shop around for an alternative, with Cameron's Conservatives slowly positioning themselves from the Party that's 'electable' to a government-in-waiting. 

After more than a decade in power that switch to the Tories can only go so far and with no SNP alternative as in Glasgow East, English voters will look to the LibDems as the Tories bottom out, trying to work out which suits them best. 

That is the key to how the general election will be fought. 

Within the Party too, the battle is between the political strategists who argue timing and when best to strike and government ministers who through a mixture of arrogance and self-interest try to cling onto power for as long as they can, in the vain hope that things will get better. They won't. 

At home, the recent refinery workers protest and the rise of Mandelson was the final nail in the coffin for a Party still conning voters that it has any semblance of a 'Labour' Party. Die-hard Labour supporters feel betrayed, with many going on record that they'll switch to the Tories. 

Abroad the cracks are starting to appear, as Brown and his plan to save the world are finally exposed as not all they're cracked up to be. 

Downing Street looked pathetic as spinners tried to play-down the savage Sarkozi attack on Brown's "economic mistakes" coming only a day after Brown was completely upstaged by old foe Blair and his quick prayer with best buddy Obama.  

Clarkson's Australian outburst centred on wet and contrived protests over "the one-eyed Scottish idiot" jibe. No one protested about the rest of his outburst - that Brown has been lying over the economy. 

The warnings signs are there, the question is whether Brown and the tightly knit cabal of cronies will heed them. 

Brown famously bottled one general election. He could have gone again, riding on the back of the cleverly managed spin of the "Brown bounce" but he didn't. 

Now the Party is at a crossroads and faces a stark choice. Either accept the election is lost and give voters what they want now, a chance to elect a new government or cling on to power and face extinction. 

What is still unclear is whether it will be the men in grey suits or white coats who will come and take away a deluded Brown or whether the Labour Party itself will continue to sit back and watch Brown destroy the Party and the country. 

The Orange Party still believes the Party has no choice but to eventually see sense, ditch Brown and call an election, sooner rather than later. Not least to try to salvage a few marginal seats. 

The only question remaining is whether it will be the sad, tired old New Labour, or Clegg's blustering LibDems who will form Her Majesty's Official Opposition.

Read More...

Brown Climbs Down On Expenses Disgrace

The national disgrace of MPs' expenses has forced Brown and his commons leader, Harriet Harman, to back-track on their potty plans. But why did Brown order his troops to vote for Harman's law in the first place? 

Even the Palace of Plenty was starting to see sense, with Tories and LibDems firmly coming out against a new law exempting MPs' expenses from the Freedom of Information Act (FoI).

The 'John Lewis list' and second homes allowances caused outrage among many MPs, let alone the public but Harman planned a new law to limit information on allowable commons expenses. 

As the recession bites deeper, the grotesque contrast between the harsh world of ordinary folk struggling in the economic crisis and the cosy comfort of the political elite, is most evident in the closeted world of MPs and their lifestyles.

People are tightening their belts but MPs' generous expenses system allows them to squander taxpayers' cash on furniture and home improvements. 

No wonder Harman was accused of creating one law for the rich MPs and another for the poor rest of us. 

Coming to a head in a confused commons during PMQs, where Brown apparently promised a free vote, MPs were told later that Downing Street had pulled the plug on Harman's beleaguered bill altogether, so the government will not be forcing a vote on it tomorrow.

Brown may have seen off a humiliating commons defeat which wouldn't have stood a chance of getting through the House of Lords anyway but the questions still remain. 

Why were ministers so set on an exemption in the first place? What sordid little secrets and embarrassing details were hidden away in their receipts? What indeed did they have to hide? Now presumably the people who pay their wages, the taxpayers, will soon find out. 

Read More...

Heathrow Runway Will Never Take Off

Disheartened Heathrow opponents can take heart from the mass of opposition against the £9 billion third runway, as a pig-headed government, bent on getting its own way, bulldozes through the sop to its big businesses pals with a powerful Heathrow lobby pushing behind the scenes. 

Government spin has gone into overdrive, as plans for a third runway at Heathrow were given the go ahead, with the 'promise' of new jobs and strict noise and pollution controls, neither of which stand up to close scrutiny and a new fast rail link to Heathrow as a sweetener. 

The Orange Party warned in November that it was a case of when, not if, the expansion would be announced, as it became clear Heathrow was a runaway runway sham. 

The government is singing from the old boom years hymn sheet. Now the bubble has burst, it should be time to rethink the Heathrow monster. But that won't get in the way of a powerful lobby and short-sighted government.

Brown switched New Labour's greybeard, Geoff Hoon, to transport to steer through the plan, backed by Adonis in the Lords. What the government wants, Hoon will make sure the government gets, regardless of the arguments stacked up against them. 

But on the political front alone the plan will face hurdles at every stage with overwhelming opposition from Tories, LibDems, the London mayor, dozens of Labour MPs and a cabinet rebellion led by environment secretary, Hilary Benn. Benn must now consider his position in cabinet if he's to salvage any credibility. 

Even MPs, brow-beaten by the business spin, cannot stomach the way the green lobby has been ignored and can do without a Heathrow battle in their marginal constituencies.

But Brown's deputy Mandelson and powerful lobby forces are at work here. For BAA's Spanish owners, Ferrovial, Heathrow is a lucrative jewel in the crown. Its main customer, British Airways is trying to sew up transatlantic trade. 

Both environmental and political protesters do face an uphill struggle as the whole issue of environmental impact has been spun away and buried. 

Brown told MPs yesterday there wouldn't be a commons vote on the expansion, when he rejected a Tory demand and caved in to the powerful lobby, saying it would go to a planning inquiry.

The government has tried its damnest to stitch it up. A planned unelected and unaccountable planning quango stuffed with New Labour lackeys, was designed for exactly this kind of confrontation to side-step objections. 

Heathrow isn't just huge, it's grotesque. A third runway will only add to the problems. 

Heathrow is being developed purely for the lucrative transatlantic trade and business traffic in particular. But in a few years time, that could be a road to nowhere as the world's financial centres continue to switch to the Far East. 

The Orange Party doesn't believe any further Heathrow expansion is necessary. High speed rail links in and out of the Capital would be a better, realistic solution. If there's an argument for a big London-based European hub, then Heathrow is not the answer. 

Business leaders say thousands of jobs rely on Heathrow expansion. Jobs sure, but they don't need to be created at Heathrow. 

But the arguments pale into insignificance with a general election looming. The government is out of touch with voters who are becoming increasingly angry and frustrated. Time and again the government gets away with doing just what it wants, regardless of public opinion. 

Heathrow expansion is another nail in its coffin. When New Labour's stranglehold on government bites the dust, the expansion plan will be booted out. 

Heathrow and its further expansion is just one of the crippling legacies of Brown's deluded blooming booming years. Once again we are being forced to live with that legacy until a new government sees sense and catches up with the times. 

UPDATE: Backbench true Labour MP, John McDonnell, has been suspended from the commons for five days. His crime? Running off with the sacred mace and attacking Hoon over the Heathrow runway with the words: "You are a disgrace to democracy." Thank god there are still Labour MPs with the guts to stand up to these morons.

Read More...

Are We Ready For A Captain Sensible?

The dogged determination of Brown to recklessly borrow his way out of recession, leaving a legacy of debt, should be a gift to the sensible ones. A golden opportunity to become the voice of financial sense and sensibility. But is the country ready for a Captain Sensible or happy with Brown's Flash Crash Gordon? 

The current economic woes reveal a stark contrast between two polarised camps of political and economic thinking. 

Conservative, LibDem and true Labour voices are urging caution and common sense in the interests of the country as a whole. That is at odds with a short-sighted government chasing petty political advantage, hell bent on wrecking lives for generations to come. 

Taking the Captain Sensible approach takes courage. It means refusing to cow-tow to the reckless spending fuelled by borrowing which Brown is determined to foist on the country. It means braving New Labour scare-mongering over cuts at an election.

Borrowing and debt have become embedded in the country's psyche with a culture of greed. For a decade people have been cushioned from reality along with the banks. The government too has been happy to follow that recipe for disaster. It take a brave and courageous soul to risk sticking their political neck out to burst that bubble. 

Faced with huge bills, the answer had been to borrow more. Ridiculously cheap imports lulled people into a false sense of security. People were encouraged to buy what they couldn't afford. Now it's impossible, to pay off the debt.

Captain Sensible faces a huge uphill struggle to change the habits of a decade.

Brown wants to lead the world and set off on a massive spending spree taking the country down with him. 

Putting our money where his mouth is, means tax cuts and spending have to be funded by billions of pounds of extra borrowing. For that to have any real effect, the borrowing has to be huge, around £15 billion, and on top of the huge debit already piling up.

Brown is in a strong position. He has the backing of a weak Bank of England governor, easily manipulated by the government. New Labour is well on its way to re-capturing much of the media, in particular the BBC state broadcaster, after the fall-out of the Blair years. 

Time and again Brown and his chancellor are portrayed as action men but they are only acting not solving the global crisis. Caution and real prudence are falling on deaf ears. 

Out of touch with reality, Brown is lovin' it, strutting around the G-20 world stage, quick to pour scorn on shadow chancellor, George Osborne, who is adamant he's doing his job "to tell the truth about the economy" and voice reasonable concerns.

Brown and the economy are out of control. The government is in denial about the true nature of the economic mess. 

Away from the government spin, the amount of real government debt is mind-boggling, following a decade of reckless borrowing and spending and despite the best effort to keep much of it off the public balance sheet. 

Last week Brown, Cameron and Clegg threw themselves into a topsy-turvy tax cutting bidding war. All are agreed over tax cuts and tax breaks but that raised the billion dollar question - just where is all the extra cash going to come from? 

All this should mean the recession is a wake up call, a time to tighten the belts and austerity management. 

The Orange Party has to be dragged screaming to echo the views of Thatcher but the 'housewife' approach of balancing the books of income and expenditure makes sense. And to balance the political books, the last true Labour prime minister, Jim Callaghan, eventually came round to thinking you cannot spend your way out of a recession by just cutting taxes and increasing government spending. 

There is not an unlimited supply of credit out there. Borrowing comes at a price. Eventually we'll be forced to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund, Saudi Arabia and China. That puts us at the mercy of others. Taking a begging bowl to beg for credit means they'll want something in return.

The alternative is to make sure we pay our way. That means cuts. But not in the way the government would have us believe. 

Scrapping ID cards, the useless NHS computer and ending disastrous foreign wars along with reigning in the billions squandered on ridiculous government waste and failed pet projects would give much of the savings needed.

Cutting back on spending means sacrifice but if people are asked to make sacrifices then the same should be true of government, with a start on those highfalutin' projects.

What is not clear is whether a new mood of common sense and sanity has really caught a willing public imagination nor whether there is a politician strong and brave enough to stick to the sensible and risk an almighty media backlash whipped up by the entrenched New Labour government.

It means not acting selfishly for short term political advantage by inflicting a terrible burden of debt on future generations which will leave a lasting legacy for decades to come. 

Look hard enough and you can find Captain Sensibles in some Tory, LibDem and true Labour politicians.

Read More...

Heathrow, A Runaway Runway Sham

Expect some delays but no cancellations as plans to further expand Heathrow come under the Commons spotlight. The government is still singing from the old boom years hymn sheet. Now the bubble has burst it's time to rethink the Heathrow monster. But that won't get in the way of a powerful lobby and short-sighted government.

Cheaper transatlantic air travel and the unhealthy emphasis on the City as the savour of the economy led the way for a huge European airport hub based at Heathrow. 

Expansion continued at a pace with a motorway infrastructure and new T5 as the government put all its eggs in the one basket, despite real environmental concerns. 

Heathrow isn't just huge, it's grotesque. Full to the brim and running on such a tight schedule, the slightest problem throws an huge spanner in the works and the whole beast grinds to a halt. A third runway will only add to the problem. 

A report commissioned by the City of London Authority claimed without more flights to reduce airport problems that could threaten the City. 

But in a few years time, that could be a road to nowhere as the world's financial centres continue to switch to the Far East. 

Heathrow is being developed purely for the lucrative transatlantic trade and business traffic in particular. An expanded Heathrow will require the huge Cross Rail investment direct to the City. And that requires billions of pounds more to be spent on dodgy financial deals.

The Orange Party doesn't believe any further Heathrow expansion is necessary at all. High speed rail links in and out of the Capital would be a better, realistic solution. 

But if there's an argument for a big London based European hub - then Heathrow is not the answer. 

Business leaders say thousands of jobs rely on Heathrow expansion. Jobs sure, but they don't need to be created at Heathrow. 

Heathrow is indeed "deeply unpopular" and many are fed up with delays, airport traffic and heavy security. But that doesn't mean a third runway is the "obvious" solution. 

The way forward is the credible Thames Gateway, argued so well by London Mayor, Boris Johnson, and with a mighty crusading effort by the Sunday Times. Apparently there's a proven working off the shelf model just waiting to be dropped in the Thames estuary at a fraction of the cost. 

But powerful lobby forces are at work here. BAA's Spanish owners, Ferrovial, may be trying to shed other airports but Heathrow is the overcrowded and lucrative jewel in the crown. It's main customer, British Airways is trying to sew up transatlantic trade. The whole issue of environmental impact has been spun away and buried. 

Conservatives, LibDems, many true Labour MPs and the London mayor all oppose plans for a third runway. 

MPs have a chance to voice their opposition today with a refreshingly alliance of often opposing political views. But that won't sway a pigheaded government bent on getting its own way with a powerful Heathrow lobby pushing behind the scenes. Conservatives have branded talk of consultation "a complete sham".

Transport secretary, Geoff Hoon, is expected to overrule MPs and say Heathrow should get a third runway. And what the government wants, Hoon will make sure the government gets, regardless of the arguments stacked up against them. 

Already expansion at Heathrow seems to be a foregone conclusion. The government's proposed new planning laws and planning quango will see to that and neatly side-step any objections. 

Heathrow and its further expansion is just one of the crippling legacies of those blooming booming years. Once again we are being forced to live with that legacy until the government catches up with the times.

Read More...