tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post7466301886422339250..comments2024-02-01T14:56:24.725+00:00Comments on The Laird Report: Handed his Political Ass, SNP MP Stewart McDonald feels the heat as Michelle Mone brands the Glasgow MP an 'SNP moron', there is no such thing as a smart SNP MP, they aren’t picked because they are the ‘best of the best’, they are picked because they are in the cult, has the ‘Hunter Virus’ infected Westminster? Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post-17252094960890147592018-02-05T19:16:28.300+00:002018-02-05T19:16:28.300+00:00There was a time when Britain could boast great po...There was a time when Britain could boast great politicians: J.S. Mill (regarded as one of the world’s great political philosophers), Edmund Burke (similarly highly regarded), radicals like William Cobbett, PMs such as Pitts Elder and Younger, Canning, Peel, Palmerston, Salisbury, etc. Apart from Churchill, who have we had since that compares to such political titans?<br /><br />Why did we get such capable politicians in the 18th and 19th Centuries? Why have they declined since? Since, in fact, <b>we started paying them salaries in 1911</b>? There is obviously more than one factor (such as the values of the society in which they were raised) but how a political calling has been transformed from a service to one’s country to an opportunity to dip one’s snout into the taxpayers’ trough must be seriously considered. Being unsalaried, MPs needed actual <i>talent</i>: to make money (as ex-Sergeant-Major Cobbett did, financing himself through his writing) or to convince a patron that they were worthy of their support (as Burke convinced Lord Verney and William Hamilton), or to have made their fortune before entering politics (such as successful naval officers, rich from prizes, like Sir Edward Pellew)—no complacently voting themselves pay rises at the taxpayers’ expense for them.<br /><br />MPs once generally saw their job as simply steering Plato’s ‘Ship of State’ safely, taking in a reef here, setting full sail there, battening down the hatches and seeking safe harbour when necessary—not to be forever shouting ‘<i>Look at me!</i>’ while trying to rebuild the entire ship from the keel up, as our MPs do now, seeking headlines for their latest whim to radically restructure our country. For many, being an MP was part-time (and being unpaid, the public little minded them taking long holidays or concentrating on their businesses), with MPs such as <a href="http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1690-1715/member/norris-sir-john-1671-1749" rel="nofollow">John Norris</a>, who combined representing Rye (1708–22, 1734–49) and Portsmouth (1722–34) with a Royal Naval career, commanding operational cruises to the Baltic; and <a href="http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/cochrane-thomas-1775-1860" rel="nofollow">Admiral Thomas Cochrane</a> (the inspiration for C.S. Forester’s Hornblower and Patrick O’Brien’s Jack Aubrey—and Scottish to boot) who led daring expeditions against Bonaparte’s forces in the Med while representing Westminster constituency (1807–18). Now, our MPs constantly try to justify their jobs and ‘be seen to do something’, perpetually passing new laws and regulations to nag us with.<br /><br />MPs needn’t all be successful in business as Baroness Mone is. With internet crowd-funding, if but 50% of an MP’s voters gave a mere £1 a month to their local MP, our highest-paid politician would be George Howarth (Labour, Knowsley) who could be raking in £284,106 p/a (and possibly considerably more, if more than 50% of those who voted for him donated and/or donated more than £12 a year); while our lowest paid MP would be Angus MacNeil (SNP, Na h-Eileanan an Iar) with a still respectable £36,078 p.a. If your local MP is any use, why wouldn’t you be willing to give them a measly quid a month—just £12 a year? Although I suspect many MPs are elected only as the lesser of evils—people will chuck a vote in their direction but they’ll have to work harder to persuade a decent number to part with even a paltry £12 a year.<br /><br />(As it would not only be demeaning for MPs to seek recourse to sites such as Patreon but would make them hostage to the idiosyncratic, ideologically-driven interpretation of rules that <a href="http://gotnews.com/sick-bay-area-liberal-bugman-ceo-patreon-jackconte-says-lauren_southern-banned-stopping-human-traffickers/" rel="nofollow">such companies have</a>, HMG would need to set up a dedicated site and server for this.)<br /><br />Few politicians will entertain this idea though, it being easier for them to treat us as cattle, to be milked dry.Awaiting the Restorationhttps://waitingfortherestoration.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post-33934766973580006132018-02-04T22:42:41.212+00:002018-02-04T22:42:41.212+00:00Dear Anon
"Since you're such a wonderful...Dear Anon<br /><br />"Since you're such a wonderful commentator on all things political, how did you not realise she was in breach of being a member?"<br /><br />I am not on the staff of Westminster!<br /><br />"They're allowed just five "business interests".<br /><br />No shit, have to remember that when I am made a peer!<br /><br />GeorgeG Lairdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07634338820731652821noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post-59614383432246705252018-02-04T10:16:25.542+00:002018-02-04T10:16:25.542+00:00Since you're such a wonderful commentator on a...Since you're such a wonderful commentator on all things political, how did you not realise she was in breach of being a member? They're allowed just five "business interests" Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post-54209990955509105352018-01-31T17:30:21.307+00:002018-01-31T17:30:21.307+00:00Give the SNP moron a break, he’s insulting a big b...Give the SNP moron a break, he’s insulting a big blonde, I suppose it’s different from calling for another European and Independence referendum.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7972114991869354050.post-23216220027814555322018-01-31T16:17:36.722+00:002018-01-31T16:17:36.722+00:00We’ll said George, he will get his comeuppance soo...We’ll said George, he will get his comeuppance soon, and Michelle being a lady can keep on going, knowing just what an a**e he and his party areCharlie.Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09594231569999309050noreply@blogger.com