PaulRogan

Fuel rationing; house prices crashing; Private Investigators to replace Police Detectives; teachers striking; cost of living rising. Blair is now apparently starting to blame Brown (through his Funding Lord 'Cashpoint') for New Labour's slide. Meanwhile, another Lord announces he is leaving the Country and, whilst living in Switzerland, he still retains his vote over UK legislation back home. Another example why an unelected and undemocratically accountable House of Lords is as much out of touch as was taxing the poorest more.

Churchill said, it wasn't oppositions which won elections; it was Governments which lost them. So is New Labour running out of steam? Obviously in hope of this Cameron will be stoking his boiler with all the fuel he can get. Maybe Labour is out of puff but are the Tories steaming full ahead? More importantly, are they heading for a station where lots of passengers are waiting for their train? Steaming headlong into the buffers will not be the precursor for a Labour defeat.

The French President's wife scored a big hit in London this week. Much is also discussed about the diminutive size of Mr. Sarkozy, but wasn't Napoleon also short and look what he managed!

Clearly the French Leader and his attractive Misses didn't have to fight their ways through Terminal Five and it's mountains of baggage. The BA/BAA debacle has done little to promote Gordon's Great Britishness in the world, let alone in England.

PM Brown is presently targeting his attacks on the SNP for being un-British because they want a vote on more independence for Scotland. The SNP retorts, what happened to letting British Democracy decide, in fact what happened to letting the people decide at last years General Election? The English Democrats say, what happened to the promised referendum on the EU Treaty? A good way of making sure you win a vote is to simply cancel having them.

The Government has declared war on supermarket plastic bags. In the scheme of things, supermarket plastic bags are a miniscule percentage of our household refuse but are seen as a target to encourage us all to reduce landfill and litter.

On the face of it, having a ‘go' at the supermarkets should get public support. We all love to hate them because they seem to want to control our lives and money just as much as the Government does.

However, I fear that basic food prices could rise as a result of this ‘war'. One easy way for supermarkets to control shoplifting is to have shoppers enter their stores bag-less. With growing numbers of customers approaching checkouts with an array of bags and boxes, controlling shoplifting will require more vigilance and manpower and that will ultimately cost shoppers more.

Is the Government making a mountain out of a molehill or have they found a cunning and stealthy way to increase retail prices?

Outcry!! We are not Americans who force their kids to do this inappropriate sort of thing. It could damage them for life!

I have taken ‘the oath' in a number of forms and on a number of occasions, the first time when I became a cub scout. Personally, I would much rather swear allegiance to our Monarch as Queen of England than to a piece of cloth of whatever significance.

More importantly, to whom would PM Brown want us to swear allegiance when we are irrevocably locked into the United Socialist States of Europe? EU President Blair? Is this Government issue a preamble to a more sinister plan?

My contacts in France are telling me that their Government is re-assuring them that, on the evidence from England, the proposed smoking ban in France will not effect the viabilities of their bars and clubs. I was further informed that the French public was skeptical and had a cunning ‘Gallic' plan. Rather than have exceptions which allow the law makers themselves to carry on regardless, as here in the Houses of Parliament, the French are considering an exception for local rural establishments where only the owner works and serves. Now that's a bit of Europe worth having!