The Wit and Wisdom of... Neil Armstrong

I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It's by the nature of his deep inner soul ... we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream.

Neil Armstrong, at pre-flight press conference for Apollo 11, 1969, who passed away today.

Best Head of State Ever?

Here is an interview of an Irish MP by Michael Graham, a US radio show host who makes you glad of the inane dullness of BBC local radio. I say interview, it's a bit one sided for that...

http://www.upworthy.com/a-tea-partier-decided-to-pick-a-fight-with-a-foreign-president-it-didnt-go-so-we?g=4

A year and a half later, the MP in question was elected President of Ireland, with over 50% of the final vote. Why can't we all have national leaders like this?!

What If... Britain Said 'No' to Europe?

The 1975 EEC referendum must rank as one of the most significant events of modern British history. It made the two great political clashes of the late twentieth century virtually inevitable, leading directly to Bennism and it's antithesis Thatcherism.

When Labour's Harold Wilson was re-elected in October 1974 by a hair's breadth, he had done so on the basis of a promise to renegotiate Britain's position in the EEC and offer any new terms to the British people in a referendum. This was the brainchild of Tony Benn, the maverick left-winger and socialist bogeyman of the Tory press. At first Wilson was not unduly worried. While the Cabinet was split on the issue, the Yes campaign was better funded and supported.

However, while the No campaign had fewer public backers, one of them was Enoch Powell, still amongst the most popular politicians in the UK, while Tony Benn electrified the Labour grassroots on the subject. The Yes campaign also suffered from the presence of so many cabinet ministers; the voters began to see the referendum was an opportunity to give Wilson a good kicking. Still, the end result was very close; Britain opted to leave the EEC by a margin of 0.8%. In Brussels, the barely arrived British delegation packed their bags and left. They had been there for 18 months.

With the public's verdict delivered, Harold Wilson had little choice but to reward the man who was the public face of the No campaign. The week after the results came in, Enoch Powell was knighted and  Tony Benn was summoned to Number 10 and promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer. Denis Healey, smarting at his undignified exit, left the government altogether.

Newly installed at the Treasury, Benn began a huge expansion of public spending, pumping money into his pet project the National Enterprise Board. Not even the pleas of his deputy Joel Barnett and his successor at Industry Edmund Dell could persuade him to stop on what many saw as a reckless and dangerous experiment. With the economy stalling and inflation running high, this was make or break time.

And then in March 1976 Wilson resigned. The Labour party was immediately plunged into a leadership contest, with James Callaghan, Roy Jenkins, Tony Crosland and Denis Healey all throwing themselves into the fight. But after his successful year, the Chancellor had the momentum behind him, and several successive ballots later, Benn narrowly beat Callaghan in the last ballot, thus making him Labour leader. Rather awkwardly, for a dedicated republican, he was also Prime Minister. Benn used the weekend to radically restructure the Cabinet, and while jobs were offered to many on the right, they turned them down for fear of what was to come. Some jumped early; Benn's majority vanished instantly as Roy Jenkins defected to the Liberals.

They were right to be fearful. Almost instantly, the markets reacted with near hysteria, plunging sterling into a deep crisis. Benn's response, in full agreement with his Chancellor Peter Shore, was to implement a 'siege economy,' ending much of Britain's foreign trade to try and promote domestic producers and ending sterling's role as an international reserve currency. The proceeds from North Sea oil were taxed at 95%, while Shore also radically re-drew income tax brackets, with a top rate of 90% and 99% on unearned earnings; for the lowest paid, there was total relief from tax. VAT was abolished and the gap met by increasing Corporation Tax and imposing a tax on international banks in the UK. The result was a total loss of confidence from outside investors. Benn was urged to apply to the IMF for a rescue package, but he wasn't having any of it, pointing to the example of Ramsay MacDonald. The Labour right were appalled. Gerald Kaufman described the new 'Plan for Britain's Future' as 'the longest suicide note in history' and dissent focused around the so-called 'Gang of Four': Kaufman, Healey, and ex-ministers David Owen and Shirley Williams.

The 1976 Labour conference was toxic. The hard left was in a celebratory mood, finally having what it saw as a proper socialist government, whilst the right was terrified by the consequences of Benn's policies. When Benn himself took to the platform and promised a 'fundamental shift of power from the top to the workers,' a young member from London cried 'Liar!' The hall erupted in pandemonium. The next day, the 'Gang of Four' announced they were quitting the party to form a new Social Democratic Party, taking many right wingers and trade unions with them. The great labour movement was rent asunder.

Although remaining in power, Benn's hands were tied by the fact he was leading a minority government. This meant his grand ideas of nationalising the banking sector and abolishing the House of Lords. His plan to solve the crisis in Northern Ireland also floundered; while Dublin was delighted that Benn was willing to give them the Province back, and the IRA declared a ceasefire, this was countered by the sky-rocketing of loyalist atrocities, including the infamous attempt to murder Benn at the 1978 Labour conference.

Nonetheless, a great increase in trade union power was implemented, whilst many major companies were taken into public ownership, workers placed on the boards of the remaining private sector companies and the level of state benefits were increased greatly. This did manage to drastically reduce unemployment, but at the expense of hyperinflation and economic stagnation. And even then, Benn was unable to prevent the Winter of Discontent in 1978-79, with the Three Day Week being brought back in to conserve power. Many voters reckoned if this was socialism, they'd rather have a quiet life.

And so it was that 1979 saw Margaret Thatcher propelled into Downing Street by a landslide. Labour's vote plunged to 28% and the SDP saw a huge increase in the number of MPs it returned. Thatcher immediately slashed taxes and began to cut the size of the public sector, using the money from North Sea oil to help repair the ravages of Bennism. Under her and her successor, Norman Tebbit, the UK slowly moved into line with other Western countries, and the great seventies crisis receded from memory.

Labour were never to hold elected office again; after the 1992 election it merged into the SDP, which finally ended 18 years of Tory rule in 1997 by a landslide. One of the first jobs of the new SDP government was to reapply to join the EU; who better to do it than the delegate who had denounced Benn at the 1976 conference, new Prime Minister Tony Blair?

Photo of the Day, 11/08/12

In response to Mitt Romney's Vice-Presidential candidate:

In fact, 'In response to Mitt Romney' would have worked just as well...

Best Spam Ever

Everyone knows about spam emails. The ones saying if you hand over your bank details, you will inherit the fortune of an African kingdom, or get a larger penis, or possibly both (the exact connection between the two never being overly clear). However, this possibly beats all hands down:

'Hello,

I am Gen Ann DunWoody , an officer of the U.S Army. Based on the United States legislative and executive decision to pull our troop out of here in Afghanistan .I have decided to contact you for this business opportunity and relationship.

please Honestly I need your sincere and truthful friendship and I really wish to have you as my good friend and as Family Friend and also wishes to entrust some funds into your care, I have (2.521million) US dollars Cash, which I successfully moved out of the country here in Iraq through diplomatic dispatch , Now I need a good partner someone I can trust. To receive this fund on my behalf,

the money is oil business we did with some Iraqi citizens worth of (28million US dollars, the $2.521million) stated is my share part of the business and its legal , l move the fund out of Iraq as a family treasure. The diplomatic dispatch will send it to your house directly , am waiting your reply for me to give you the contact of the diplomat for direction on how to come to you with the money/cash well package, The most important thing is if we can build up trust on each other?

i need your urgent reply to my private email address genannwoody@gmail.com , so that i can furnish you with details for this transaction..

Sincerly
Gen Ann Dunwoody'
I'm not really sure if anything can beat that...

P.S. Credit to Chris Bowman for drawing this to my attention!