Return of adult politics

It was refreshing to get back to adult politics today. 

There is danger of infectious candidate neurosis breaking out if the hysteria of the past week continues. The media conspire with politicians on the make to exaggerate invented  trivia into the major quivering excitement of the day.

So what if dozens of major bosses  are against an NI rise in a year's time when they offer no alternative? The cheap shot on universal cancer drugs for all regardless of cost can convince for a day only. After 24 hours even the media have begun to think.

The King's Fund, Alistair Darling and Ed Balls have cooled things down simply by talking like grown-ups. A King's Fund  economist has disputed Tory claims they could fund more cancer drugs by halting a planned rise in National Insurance. The Conservatives stupidly said the move would save the NHS £200m in NI contributions for staff, giving doctors more power to choose which drugs are made available. But John Appleby, from the King's Fund, said cash was "not there to be saved".

He said the money would still have to be taken away from other services funded from the current year's budget. I think everyone knew that really - including the Tories. No previous politician has managed to conjure money from thin air.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls was a tonic today talking to teachers. He has  had a spell as a pretend teacher. He was applauded when he confessed that his first lesson was 'The more I talked, the less the children listened.' Relaxed and confident he had a humorous rapport with usually compulsively angry union delegates.

The speech was not hypnotic election pap. Don't tell anyone, but there  were some green shoots of New Socialism. He committed Labour to increasing spending on pupils until 2013. But he claimed Tory plans for schools did not add up without "massive cuts or an increase in VAT".

A Conservative spokesman rejected this, saying their policies "prioritised front-line spending on schools". Balls accused the Conservatives of prioritising a National Insurance freeze over public services. He deserved the standing ovation from a honoured profession who have peered over the abyss into a Tory future and are very afraid.

Alistair Darling said he said he believed the economy would be growing - and new jobs were being created - by the time of the increase in NIs in 2011. But the Tories have pledged to cancel the bulk of the hike and say they have no plans to introduce any other tax rises, including on VAT, if elected. The Liberal Democrats said the Tories were "treating people like fools". That's about it.

How long can the Tories' policy of omerta and concealment continue without someone not noticing their credibility vacuum. What are they planning?

Collapsing foundations

I am grateful to correspondent rwendland for linking to a revealing Newsweek article.

It reinforces yesterday blog on the Alice in Wonderland NATO faith in the Afghan Army and Police. News-week report;_

"crooked Afghan cops supply much of the ammunition used by the Taliban, according to Saleh Mohammed, an insurgent commander"

"America has spent more than $6 billion since 2002 in an effort to create an effective Afghan police force"

Lt. Gen. William Caldwell,: "You constantly hear these stories about who was worse: the Afghan police that were there or the Taliban."

"Our recruits are unemployed youth with no education and no prospects," says Police Col. Mohammad Hashim Babakarkhil ... Only the Interior Ministry can flunk a candidate, and that rarely happens.

Americans are only now in the process of trying to create a database that will positively identify and track recruits. Without such data, it's more than difficult to catch "ghost" troops who exist only as names on the payroll.

In the service of this chaos our soldiers are dying.

Comments

[male enhancement]

This blog really makes me impressed and attractive thanks to this blog I can get more knowledge from previous

[Vimax]

We as a country should not about-face abroad from what is actuality done in our name. How can you apprehend of NATO advisedly misrepresenting a case area 8 accouchement area abject out of their bed and accomplished for annihilation and not be angry?

[Bill.]

Like many others, I feel revulsion, and am shamed by the deaths of civilians in these wars "against terrorists".....
Is it not time that the killing of women and children should be reason enough to withdraw and offer humanitarian assistance to these poor people.
As for "our soldiers"......, it does seem that many of the ones killed are but lads in their teens and twenties, merely cannon fodder, without whom the makers of tanks, weapons and aircraft would be unable to make a profit.

[Kay Tie]

WikiLeaks has put a video up of the killing of Reuters staff and civilians in Iraq by a helicopter gunship:

http://www.collateralmurder.com/

It's 17 minutes long and worth watching right the way through. What a mess. An awful mess. Did Tony Blair have an inkling that this would be the day-to-day result of deploying an army to a foreign city, or did he simply not care? Was it an "acceptable price" to be paid?

[Ad]

This whole endeavour has gone too far to be dismissed as unimportant. I find the whole thing a horrible shame upon our nation. This abuse of foreign people cannot continue.

We as a country should not turn away from what is being done in our name. How can you hear of NATO deliberately misrepresenting a case where 8 children where dragged out of their bed and executed for nothing and not be angry?

[Ad]

'In the service of this chaos our soldiers are dying.'

So are many thousands of Afghan civilians. The actual human cost of this confused and futile endevour is grossly understated.

[Kay Tie]

Alastair Darling already admitted to the Treasury Select Committee that the NI rise would cost jobs. The question is are these an acceptable price to be paid for Labour's economic policies?

I'm sure you don't want to tell your unemployed constituents that they must lose their jobs so that Equality Programme Directors and Real Nappy Officers can keep spending millions. But if you're honest you must tell them this is a direct result of electing you.