UKIP looks to the future

Nigel Farage, the Leader of UKIP, also known as the United Kingdom Independence Party has revelead the party is planning to axe its famous logo:

The party also plans to rename officially as UKIP to broaden appeal outside of the European Parliament elections. The party has had great sucess in those elections, and in 2009 beat the ruling Labour party for second place. Mr Farage said the party has won the battle to keep the Pound, saying ''Our pound sign has been a fantastically simple image. But now it is in my opinion represents a battle honour and not a forward looking aspiration for a party that wants to represent an independent UK'' He also told the Daily Telegraph ''Most of the voters vote for UKIP. The UK Independence Party is a great name for the European elections and less appealing for domestic elections. From here on, Ukip it is.

“UKIP is a voice of opposition against the political class of this country''.

This is a fantastic idea. UKIP clearly has the potential to become the UK's largest Conservative Party, supporting small government and conservative principles, unlike the 'Modernised' Tory Party, that has been such a failure - losing the 1997, 2001, 2005 elections and having to form a Coalition with the left-wing Liberal Democrats at the 2010 election and already being well behind in the polls.

Nigel is the UK's most principled and likeable politician and will continue to take the party forward, with a new image.

Fairfax launches despicable smear campaign

Fairfax, the company which last financial year lost $2.7 billion and still refuses a board seat to Gina Rinehart, has decided in a last ditch attempt to help Labor, to lauch a foul smear campaign against Tony Abbott. All week The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have attempted to revive baseless claims made that Mr Abbott punched a wall 'inches' from the head of Barbara Ramjan, who had just beaten him in a University election. The political editor of The Age, Michelle Grattan today published her third opinion piece in a week, attempting desperately to add credibility to these claims.

This morning, on Today Mr Abbott admitted he may have called Ms Ramjan 'chairthing' rather than 'chairperson' as she had asked to be called. Shock, horror. What a terrible insult.
But seriously, does it really matter that at 19, Mr Abbott called some far-left University opponent a 'chairthing'?
Mr Abbott put it well, declaring 'A lot of childish and immature things happen on student councils and I think I probably was guilty of using that silly phrase'.

If Fairfax can prove the allegation, 35 years old, then they should put forward some evidence, rather than University gossip and gutless claims made by political opponents.

Twitter 'Trolls': The problem with censorship

Over the last few days, Sydney's Daily Telegraph has been running a populist campaign calling for government censorship, or namely 'new laws' to deal with abusive 'trolls' on Twitter. These calls are made with the best of intentions, but could lead to sinister consequences. I myself being a conservative blogger and Twitter user have copped my fair share of criticism online and through by blog. My view is, why not just ignore these faceless cowards? I don't know them, and couldn't care less what they think.
In the United Kingdom, much harsher laws have been enacted, most likely with good intentions, that have had serious implications for freedom of speech. One such example of a sinister consequence was the case of Liam Stacey, a 21 year-old biology University student from South Wales. He was weeks away from graduating and possibly becoming a forensic scientist.  Earlier this year Liam was jailed for 56 days  for breaching section 4A of the Public Order Act, after stupid comments he made on Twitter whilst drunk after Wales beat Ireland in rugby. This was the comment he made:
''LOL, F*** Muamba. He’s dead''. He made this comments after black Tottenham player Fabrice Muamba collapsed in the middle of a game. These comments are heartless and stupid. But do they warrant time in prison, especially when a Muslim gang who attacked a woman yelling 'kill the white slag' walked free? The gang who got a suspended sentence after kicking the victim in the head repeatedly and pulling her hair, also called the victim a 'white bitch' - despite these racial taunts. The out-of-touch magistrate Judge Robert Brown decided the attack was not racially motivated, and accepted the gang may have felt the 'victim of unreasonable force', after the victims boyfriend protected her. The thugs faced five years imprisonment for causing actual bodily harm for this hate crime.

In Liam Stacey's case, the judge declared I have no choice but to impose an immediate custodial sentence to reflect the public outrage at what you have done. This is the same judge Justice Wyn Williams, who in 2011 allowed a truly evil woman who killed her autistic son with a coat belt in an Airport hotel room to walk free, telling her she had 'been punished enough'. This of course didn't apply to racist Liam Stacey, who despite being booted from Swansea University and being vilified and condemned by the press and Twitter users alike.

Another example is Paul Chambers. In January 2010, Paul made this comment on Twitter ''"Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You've got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I'm blowing the airport sky high!!" The airport, in South Yorkshire was closed due to snow. In one weeks time, he was due to fly to Belfast in Northern Ireland to meet his girlfriend. Days later he was arrested.
He was prosecuted under section 127(1) of the Communications Act 2003, which prohibits sending "by means of a public electronic communications network a message or other matter that is grossly offensive or of an indecent, obscene or menacing character". In May 2010, he was convicted and fined £1,000. Fortunately in July 2012, he was finally acquitted at the High Court. The prosecution cost taxpayers millions.

A more recent event was during the London Olympics. A 17-year-old, which the cowboys from Dorset Police insisted on calling a 'man' was arrested after sending 'malicious' messages to British diver Tom Daley, after he finished fourth in an event, and missed out on a medal. The message was not threatening. It was stupid, petty and mean: 'You let your dad down i hope you know that'. The Olympians father, Rob had died from brain cancer last year.  Daley responded, exposing the 'troll' : 'After giving it my all... you get idiots sending me this...'
The 17-year-old then apologised on reflection:

I'm sorry mate i just wanted you to win cause its the olympics I'm just annoyed we didn't win I'm sorry tom accept my apology.'

He later added: 'please i don't want to be hated I'm just sorry you didn't win i was rooting for you pal to do britain all proud just so upset.'

The 'troll' had hardly had a prize-winning upbringing. He lived alone at a guesthouse, lived on benefits and his father has 11 children. He also claimed he did not know the divers father had died.

The Daily Telegraph has pointed to threats made against Laura Dundovic, by a clearly insane 'troll' who threatened to cut off her head and shoot her in the street for not returning advances. Already in the case of explicit death threats, action can be taken, under existing laws. Perhaps Twitter users should also be able to block abusive users.

But Governments love to regulate. Governments love new laws, and certainly with a populist campaign behind new laws, they will find it hard to resist. I rarely agree with the Greens. They themselves love more government regulation. But Senator Scott Ludlam was absolutely spot on when he said 'This is hardly a place for additional government intervention'

As the old saying goes, 'Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me' Let's ignore the pathetic trolls who thrive on oxygen and public attention. Let's rise above them.
UPDATE: I note that the Telegraph say they are not calling for 'new laws', just more harsh and rigorous enforcement of current laws

A day in the life of the new NT Government

After the Country Liberal Party victory in last months Northern Territory election, the new government has got down to work. The Deputy Liberal Leader has been dumped, despite assurances and not been offered a Ministry, after four years of loyal service. Several senior Labor-appointed public servants have been sacked.
But today, their are two stories out of Darwin that deserve comment.
Firstly, the appointment of a smoker as Minister for Health is good news. The politcal correctness surrounding smoking and the draconian regulation and invasion of civil liberties warrant someone who will be sceptical of tough new laws. But, in not so good news, new Chief Minister Terry Mills, has declared he wants a memorial to Japanese soldiers who died during battle in Darwin during World War II. This is a slap in the face to all those Australians who died at the hands of the brutal Nazi's and their allies in Japan.

What next? A memorial where Hitler died, or perhaps as one Northern Territory News reader suggested, to the hijakers who died when they crashed a plane into the World Trade Centre?

Greens support drops - their rise has peaked

The Greens have dropped to their lowest level of support since March 2009, according to the latest Newspoll survey. The Greens are now recording only 8% support. This comes after the Greens suffered swings against them at both the Queensland and Northern Territory elections this year, despite big swings against Labor. This also follows their loss of the Melbourne state by-election a district within Adam Bandt's federal seat, even though no Liberal candidate contested, and the Heffron by-election, where again, despite the absence of a Liberal they lost with a mere 4% swing.

Support for the party has clearly peaked. Without Liberal preferences, the party is also likely to lose their sole House of Representatives seat at the next election. Good riddance.

Barnaby Joyce proves he's not fit for high office

Barnaby Joyce may be a Conservative. He may sound really good when he's yelling and screaming at anti-Carbon tax rallies. But he does not perform well as a team player, and can be an absolute boofhead.
For example on May 6 this year, Senator Joyce claimed that James Ashby, who has accused Speaker Peter Slipper of sexual harassment was 'only slightly less dodgy than Slipper'. This ill-advised comment resulted in a complaint of victimisation being made against the Senator.

Now, the man who is challenging respected Nationals MP Bruce Scott for preselection with the intention of becoming Nationals Leader and future Deputy Prime Minister, has contradicted Coalition policy, despite being a Shadow Minister.

Senator Joyce declared that the sale of a 93,000 hectare Queensland cotton farm to a Chinese consortium was a 'bloody disgrace'. His most astonishing claim was that the Gillard Government, which cannot install pink batts in roofs without killing people and burning down houses, should have nationalised the farm. Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey criticised Senator Joyce for his out-of-line comments 'Frontbenchers have a responsibility to be part of the team. Backbenchers can freelance because they are on the back bench'.

Senator Joyce needs to start acting professional and like a team player, or he should be sacked.

Not the time, not the place: George Osborne booed at Paralympics

Whatever you think of British Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, it is unfair and petty to boo him when he is handing medals to heroic Paralympians. Mr Osborne, who has overseen tough budget cuts in the United Kingdom, and repeatedly backflipped on various policies from the pasty tax to fuel duty and many more is the most unpopular politician in the UK. He was also accused of hypocrisy after he cut taxes for the most wealthy, whilst increasing various other taxes, including on charities.

I am no fan of the Conservative Party - I favour the UK Independence Party (the low taxing, anti-carbon tax, Eurosceptic traditionalist party) - but the Paralympics should not be about politics, and those who booed Mr Osborne should be ashamed.