h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Today Gordon Brown announced new terror security measures including baggage scanners at train stations, bollards around public buildings etc etc. At the same time they are pushing ahead with ID cards in the face of negative polls at every turn. Who's trying to terrorise the public - Gordon Brown or Bin Laden?

The extent to which they have totally lost control of immigration is laughable; the Home Office itself employed 5000 illegal immigrants, (by the way, who's the Home Secretary *this* week?). The estimated numbers of immigrants went up by over 500,000 in a series of revelations over 24hrs. The truth is, the Government does not have the slightest clue how many immigrants there are. Shanty towns are taking root in places like Slough. They cite the HRA and EU law as tying their hands when it comes to deporting criminals, then Italy drives a horse and cart through that argument.

Haphazard law-making is successfully challenged in the courts and overturned. Resentment over the West Lothian question rises to fever pitch. An unelected and deeply disliked man sits in No 10. They brazenly stick two fingers up at the electorate over the promise they made to have a referendum over the EU, not to mention the transparent shilly-shallying over the election that never was.

If not illegal, certainly immoral wars are fought with armed forces starved of resources and made to live in accommodation not fit for paedophiles and rapists. Injured troops receive less compensation than civil servants with RSI, forcing them to take out private insurance because the Govt fails in the most basic duty of care. Whistleblowers are executed (David Kelly).

Has there ever been a more incompetent government? The only thing saving them is an opposition almost as useless as Labour were in the 80s.

"Whistleblowers are executed (David Kelly)."

Has there ever been a more hyperbolic post? The arc of the post is truly, mathematically a hyperbola, starts out rather flat and then goes shooting off into infinity.

Here SWL, you dropped this '

I can envisage ID cards mobilising people like the poll tax did. I sincerely hope so.

Having seen shanty towns in Harare, Gweru, Vic Falls and Johannesburg I really doubt Slough has so much to worry about. Is your concern the levels of all immigration, or just misapprehension of the levels of illegal or criminal immigrants? If it's the former, I've yet to see evidence that we're "overrun".

I often seriously consider moving to Scotland, for all sorts of reasons. I hope they devolve and benefit from it, though I note that Salmond has had to back-pedal on some election promises. Pros and cons?

Hear hear on the failure of the covenant to our armed forces. And yes, Kelly was executed. Can't prove it obviously, but I do fear that he was.

Probably too young to know if there's been a more incompetent government, but we're not at a three-day-week situation yet.

Since when did we elect a PM?

We vote for candidates, who are representatives of parties - the party with the most votes is asked by the monarch to form a government, and it is up to them who they put in No 10.

Yes, Beatrice - and we get the party we deserve?

Arnie, here's a chance for you to contribute something (though you rarely do).

Is it true that terror suspects must be charged wihin 2 days in the US?

I almost dropped my beer yesterday when I heard the 'idea' (for lord BoB pray that it is only an idea), of the security checks at 'major Uk Railway stations'. They have serious lost their frigging minds, and clearly no one who has thought of this 'idea' has ever used a UK mainline 'major' railway station in a long long time.

But, there have been so many (luckily foiled) attempted bombings on the railway network that surely we must all agree its a good idea... oh, but they're haven't . Well, I guess its as good a way as any of tieing in with the joined up government aim of increasing road traffic, I just pray that they ensure the cost of security at railways is passed on to the train traveller.

It's all a bit 1984 isn't it?

>>>Is it true that terror suspects must be charged wihin 2 days in the US?

Unless of course, they're just tied up, drugged and wake up in a non-existant prison in eastern Europe

It's a symptom of Gordie suddenly realising that the job he has coveted for 10 years is a lot harder than he thought. He and his top team are just not up to the job. No policy and even worse he's falling out with the experts he's brought in to advise on security and foreign policy. I can see this government going sooner rather than later. As to amnaging the media Alastair Campbell must be wetting himself with glee.

It's not 2 days in the US - "USA: The attorney general can detain foreign suspects but must start deportation proceedings within seven days. Suspects can be held for periods of six months"

More about other countries here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7090105.stm

Slightly hysterical. What it is a depressing sign of is the tendency of our current government to react to every newspaper headline with a policy announcement rather than get on with sensibly applying the measures they announced a week ago or the week before etc.

Possibly the question you should've asked in the first place, SWL would be

"Has the Government (ANY government) had any sense to lose in the first place?"

They wouldn't last 5 minutes in the real world - not with the government we have now

It's virtually impossible to respond to this because there are so many issues mixed up together, some of which I might agree with, some of which I would consider to be nonsense.

Still, if it helps you get it off your chest...

sprout

As goes the governments reactions and actions as per regards 'TWAT' and 9/11 and trying to make out the afganistan and Iraq wars were in some way justified, they are just getting more and more 'reactionary' and do seem to be more concerned to maintaining a goodly deal of terror in the populus rahter than actually about addressing any issues/problem that they're mgiht actually be. The governemnt lost hte whole plot on TWAT years ago, anything they do now is just creating more and more levels of rediculuslness and pointlesness and using these to justify any kind of reduction in civil libertity that from month to month they misguidely believe might win em a couple more votes from whichever illeducated portion of the population they're trying to harness votes from on that particualr day.

Immigration covers too many things, mainly thanks to mis reporting of immigration by the media, which is itself as a result of polititions turning the whole thing into yet another thin veiled attempted to use an issue that really ought to be sensibably addressed, as just another way of convincing people to vote for them rather than that other party who'd quite clearly do something which is the thing that we don't want them to do at any circumstances.
Whole point is, that with short memorys in politics it does appear we're just revisiting each and every 'wave' of immigration that this country as ever had.
As far as I can make out and its tricky trying to diseminate the lies from the damn lies and the fabrications from teh damn fabrications, and see whereabouts in all of which something resembling the 'fact' lays, we'd be absolutely buggered economically as a country without immigrent labour, and the huge contribution of immigrant populations to the economy.
We don't need immigrrants to create Ghettos, we've been doing it well enough without them, and again, historically it is what all happens when a new 'wave' of imigration to the country occurs, and quite frankly we could happily give Slough to whoever wants it, its a bluddy horrid place.

Firstly, the immigration levels at the moment far exceed *any* previous wave of immigration, by an order of magnitude. Secondly, the argument that they benefit the economy is based on the rather spurious assertion that they won't get old or use services. Where they have "helped" the economy is by sustaining an over-inflated housing market. Low paid manual workers tend to vote Labour so it's a double whammy for Labour.

Immigration is a great thing for any society. Fresh blood, new ideas, an injection of vitality but it needs to be controlled.

For the economic impact of immigration - http://www.migrationwatchuk.com/archive/economic/briefingpaper_a04.asp

Migration Watch are certainly a single issue body and partisan, but they work from the Government's own figures.

It's also based on the assumption they are contributing to the economy by working for less than the minimum wage, and thus allowing cheap produce onto our tables.

I'm sure we could use a similar arguement to justify slavery.

Last Sunday afternoon during a fascist demostration against inmigration a 16 years old boy died in Madrid stabbed by a young fascist.

They were carring the spanish version of the same flag used in Austria and Swissland by fascist groups.

The inmigration is not a problem, it is a very complex world fenomenon without being addressed properly yet.
Mind you, we are not far from those dark years of fascism. Unfortunately, useless politics and policies and prejudiced angry stupid people are helping its return.

I mean Politicians

Can the immigrant population not ease strain on housing and healthcare availability by building more houses and joining the ranks of the NHS? they're not all plumbers and cockle-pickers.