BP Political Blow-out

I continue to be shocked by how supine are reports about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill by the world’s media.
I was pleased to see that President Obama’s brother was recently denied entry to Britain for being a criminal, a sanction that should equally apply to the President himself.
For the Deepwater Horizon disaster is far more political than environmental.
The current spill is not large in relative terms. Much more oil escapes into the Gulf of Mexico from natural fissures in the seabed each and every year, and has done for millions of years. A similar explosion on a rig owned by the Mexican Government in 1979 released at least three times as much oil in shallow water, some of which washed on to Texan shores.
The truth is, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico is not just physically complex but is laced with more political corruption that in any other oil region -- more than Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Azerbaijan put together.
BP is well up to the task in all other regions of the world, but its exemplary safety standards are continually vetoed by it’s US subsidiary, backed by pressure from the local trades unions and oil services giant Halliburton (which has inappropriate influence within the US Government and to whom BP had subcontracted the drilling).
The Americans think they know best.
In any other part of the world the domino series of failures that led to the Deepwater Horizon explosion would just not have been allowed to develop. For that reason the American political establishment is fully culpable, and gives the Third World a bad name.
The US Government should be indemnifying British taxpayers and investors for losses incurred by BP, not the other way round.

British Election is Called

Five years we’ve been waiting, and the election is now underway.
Because they are so infrequent, British elections tend to be complicated, with floating voters expected to weigh up a huge range of issues, and live with their decision for a long time.
This election is different, because the Conservatives have a simple message, something politicians give their eyeteeth for.

Voting for anyone else could mean a hung parliament, and five more years of Gordon Brown.
So vote for a positive future . . . vote for change . . .
Vote Conservative.

The campaign to win back Kingston & Surbiton is launched with Eric Pickles and PPC Helen Whately (and myself in the centre of the back row). Kingston is a seat needed to give David Cameron a working majority.

Bullying

Everyone’s missing the point about bullying by the Prime Minister. Gordon Brown admits he behaves abominably to try and get his own way. And it did John Prescott no harm amongst his supporters when details of his behaviour were revealed.
There are many examples of effective leaders who have been bullies, but usually as dictators: Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin etc.
However in a democratic system you can only get so far by throwing tantrums. Eventually people start working quietly against you. At all levels of politics you need conciliation and geniality to get the most out of the people working along with you.
And that's why Gordon Brown is a failure.

Dis-Proportional Representation

During my visit to the dental hygienist yesterday, the last thing on my mind was the appointment of Conservative Party candidates in next year’s Spelthorne Council elections.
But it would seem that was exactly what Silvio Berlusconi was thinking about whilst having his teeth fixed last month, after being attacked in Milan before Christmas. He has just nominated his oral hygienist Nicole Minetti (pictured) to stand for the regional elections in Lombardy next month. And a great looking choice if I may say.
You see under proportional representation -- much vaunted by Britain’s minor third party -- the leadership gets to choose the candidates for Parliament by means of the Party List.
Doesn’t sound very proportional to me.

Leap of Faith

Whilst I spend this weekend waiting to know if I’m allowed to be a potential parliamentary candidate for the Conservative Party, I reckon there are two types of politicians. Those who work together, supporting each other’s prospects, so that genuinely the best person succeeds, and those who work to trash their rivals in trying to further their own personal ambition.