Woah there...

Let's do this one a bit at a time...

"Poverty is no excuse for anti-social behaviour"...???

Yes, your Prime Minister said that. You remember him...The guy you voted for...The one you thought was going to do a great job for EVERY man, woman and child in Britain...

He has finally told some truth, albeit hidden behind yet another web of falsehoods and downright lies.

In a country where corporations like BP are allowed to post profits that would just about feed every man, woman and child in the country whilst the petrol price goes through the roof using oil that comes out of the sea bed in OUR waters (yes, the British coastline and inherent waterways are actually owned by WE THE PEOPLE - Where is our share of the huge profits for use of OUR land anyway?) Blair has the cheek to not only accept that poverty is prevalent in the UK (which surely indicates a lack of success in his chosen career) but also has the nerve to all but claim that poor people are causing all of the trouble.

Some of the wealthiest people I have ever met have the least "respect" for anybody else. They swan around in petrol guzzlers dropping one child off at school (whilst everybody else's kids go on buses or in car sharing schemes), have huge parties at the weekend making untold amounts of noise until ungodly hours of the morning and using every piece of grass in the street to park on thus leaving the place looking like a football pitch in the height of winter when they have finished. They own and use the largest home entertainment equipment that I have ever heard, act like total and utter idiots most of the time that they are in public. They are rude, thoughtless and nothing short of callous. They sound a lot like Blair himself really.

What about Blair's own son? It seems like his behaviour must be pretty anti-social doesn't it? Always guaranteed to give the press a lovely "passed out in a gutter covered in puke" shot every 6 months isn't he?

Does that mean that Blair lives in poverty in 10 Downing Street?

But before I call Blair a thick, short-sighted, snobbish, full to the brim with crap, would sell his own mother for a fiver bastard, let's continue through the article...

"Also central to the new approach is a drive to increase the scope of out-of-court powers and tools..."

Out-of-court...Also known as without trial, evidence or jury, also known as summary judgement and all but outlawed in any civilised society due to the lack of controls, checks and balances in place to ensure fair treatment for all.

"...increase fixed penalty notice fines for disorder from £80 to £100."

Fixed penalty notices? £100? But these are on the spot fines aren't they? And £100? I would like to know where all of the people that Blair seems to think live in poverty are going to get £100 from in the first place.

"And if they think problems are being ignored, local people across England and Wales will be able to make an official "community call to action".

That will be backed up by a local committee which would consider serious complaints and issue findings the police and others would be obliged to address."

Local residents can, essentially, decide that somebody is behaving anti-socially and, if the police decide they are not behaving anti-socially and thus do nothing to tackle the total non-issue, the locals can enforce their will anyway and make "the police and OTHERS address the issue" whatever that means.

Please don't fail to notice the deliberate attempt by Blair to slip that little word past us too...OTHERS...Who the hell are they going to be? Others? OTHERS? I would regard that as one of the most dangerous parts of the article. Far too non-specific and left open on purpose...What does Blair have in mind here? Simply terrifying...Others will be performing the police's job. Will we have the army on the streets of Britain? We had them policing Northern Ireland so it is not completely out of the question is it?

"Denying he was seeking to return to a "golden age" of the past, Blair said he wanted to take powers further to "get on top of 21st century crime."

A golden age? Which golden age do the writers of the article mean exactly? The Roman Empire was a golden age wasn't it? They destroyed half of the world and treated most of their subjects like dogs. Maybe that's what they had in mind.

"The prime minister called for a "genuine intellectual debate about the nature of liberty in a modern developed society".

In a nod to to his critics Blair accepted: "There is a serious argument against what we are doing."

But he said civil liberty arguments against the tough new approach were "wrong and out of date" given the breakdown in respect among some sections of society."

TONY BLAIR HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEIR CIVIL LIBERTIES ARE BEING TAKEN AWAY AND THAT, WHILST THEY ARE RIGHT, IT IS TOUGH BECAUSE CIVIL LIBERTIES ARE WRONG AND OUT OF DATE.

Why do people lack respect? Is it possibly because two parents are required to work instead of one? Is it possibly because the "youth of today" have had all of their youth clubs closed down by Blair? What about the fact that children under the age of 16 are now no longer allowed to play football in the park after 9pm? What about the fact that young people see all of the protests and opposition to the Iraq war and then see the government lie and cheat to get to war anyway? What kind of example is that?

WAKE UP...Once those civil liberties are gone there is no getting them back. The struggle for democracy will have been lost, the police state will be official and the Big Brother state will reign supreme for all time.

I cannot even bear to continue on this point because it is so utterly ridiculous. Blair has announced that he is going to continue to erode your civil liberties and any arguments will be deemed "not genuinely intellectual" and cast aside.

"Blair told his Number 10 audience that traditional processes were "too cumbersome, too remote from reality to be effective".

"In my view we need a radical new approach if we are to restore the liberty of the law abiding citizen," he added.

To achieve this, Blair said, the authorities of the law would have to focus on a few problem families who undermine the quality of life for the many - particularly those in poor areas."

Did I just fall off of the bullshit tree? Blair has just told us how we are going to have to give up some civil liberties in the fight against yob culture and is now claiming that doing it will protect the liberties of the law abiding citizen.

How does the removal of civil liberties protect them?

Right now this minute people all over Britain are thinking that these new laws won't affect them. What they fail to understand is that once a civil liberty is taken away from everybody it is taken away from EVERYBODY...Once something is law it applies to EVERYBODY.

Anybody can use hearsay evidence to apply for an ASBO and it only takes the "yea" of a Community Support Officer (a totally unqualified person with little or no knowledge of the law prior to a 6 week training course before they are left to go out into the community and make decisions that affect the entire life of those on the receiving end) to dish one out. As if that total lack of legal process wasn't enough, Blair is actually looking for ways to make that "cumbersome and too far from reality" set of processes that we call law become even less based upon the inherent legal rights of the individual in Britain.

PEOPLE DIED TO INTRODUCE, PROTECT AND UPHOLD THE BRITISH LEGAL SYSTEM...SINCE WHEN DID THE PRIME MINISTER BECOME SO CONFUSED ABOUT HIS ROLE THAT HE FELT ABLE TO DISREGARD LEGAL PROCESS AND WIPE OUT HUNDREDS OF YEARS OF PROGRESS?

Note the use of the phrase "poor areas" again too? Quite clever when you realise that one of the first youth curfew zones was Ampthill in Mid-Bedfordshire. An incredibly pretty, leafy piece of England with lovely houses and tons of rich people floating about like Lord and Lady Muck. Packed with exactly the sort of people that Blair seems to think have absolutely nothing to do with the problems. Why?

"Constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer met offenders who are carrying out unpaid work orders, home secretary Charles Clarke visited a youth inclusion project and health secretary Patricia Hewitt visited Kings College Hospital.

Clarke also used a BBC interview to deny that the plans were "gimmicky".

"The criticism that it is gimmicky is quite mistaken. This package is the opposite of gimmicky," he said."

Unpaid work orders? Nazi Germany anybody? All these people living in poverty are not only having to pay fines that they clearly can't afford, but now they have to work for free too, That is nothing short of Hitler's concentration camps.

Clarke says that they are not "gimmicky"...He claims that they are, in fact, the opposite of gimmicky. DAMNED STRAIGHT THEY ARE...Anybody who believes that the further erosion of our rights is in the least bit gimmicky is a fool who deserves their fate.

The war on terror, the war on drugs, the war on crime, the need for respect...All used as excuses for the removal of the things that once made Britain a great nation.

It is time to rid ourselves of this insane, despotic dictator and replace him and the entire parliament with people that care about Britain and ALL of its citizens.

It is time for a revolution before there is no time left.

And now, all I have left to say is that Blair is a a thick, short-sighted, snobbish, full to the brim with crap, would sell his own mother for a fiver bastard...Or something much, much worse.

Tuesday 10th January 2006 | ePolitix.com

Launching the government's 'respect' action plan, Tony Blair has insisted that poverty is no excuse for anti-social behaviour.

In a keynote Downing Street speech on Tuesday, the prime minister detailed a range of new policies and approaches to give communities more power.

There will be a focus on helping parents deal with problems, coupled with penalties for those who refuse to rectify their behaviour or control their children.

Also central to the new approach is a drive to increase the scope of out-of-court powers and tools, which can be used to combat the growing yob culture.

And there was a commitment to increase fixed penalty notice fines for disorder from £80 to £100.

Regular 'face the people' sessions will see police officers, council and other officials forced to detail what they are doing to tackle anti-social behaviour.

And if they think problems are being ignored, local people across England and Wales will be able to make an official "community call to action".

That will be backed up by a local committee which would consider serious complaints and issue findings the police and others would be obliged to address.

Denying he was seeking to return to a "golden age" of the past, Blair said he wanted to take powers further to "get on top of 21st century crime".

Blair said a radical approach was needed to restore the liberty of law abiding citizens.

The prime minister called for a "genuine intellectual debate about the nature of liberty in a modern developed society".

In a nod to to his critics Blair accepted: "There is a serious argument against what we are doing."

But he said civil liberty arguments against the tough new approach were "wrong and out of date" given the breakdown in respect among some sections of society.

"This is not a debate about those who value liberty and those who don't," warned the prime minister.

He also said his critics should avoid making false choices about the approach which needs to be taken to combat crime.

"The real choice, the choice on the street, is not between a criminal law process that protects the accused and one that doesn't," he said.

"It is between a criminal law process that puts protection of the accused in all circumstances above and before that of protecting the public."

Speaking later to Sky News, Blair said he did not accept poverty was to blame for anti-social behaviour.

"I'm afraid I just don't accept that the reason for this is poverty, simply," he said.

"In fact, I don't really think that is the case at all.

"The vast majority of people, including families on low incomes, behave perfectly properly."

The prime minister also said that "traditional thinking will have to be overthrown" if respect is to be restored.

Blair told his Number 10 audience that traditional processes were "too cumbersome, too remote from reality to be effective".

"In my view we need a radical new approach if we are to restore the liberty of the law abiding citizen," he added.

To achieve this, Blair said, the authorities of the law would have to focus on a few problem families who undermine the quality of life for the many - particularly those in poor areas.

He said young people should be encouraged to "get involved with the right kind of activities at the right age".

And the government would make more funds available for youth opportunity funds and expand the extended schools programme.

"The respect action plan has a balance between enforcement measures and prevention," he said.

"However we do need to make sure we deal with the small number of families who are out of control... and in crisis."

Some 15 ministers from seven government departments were on Tuesday at different locations across the country to demonstrate different aspects of the 'respect' action plan.

Constitutional affairs secretary Lord Falconer met offenders who are carrying out unpaid work orders, home secretary Charles Clarke visited a youth inclusion project and health secretary Patricia Hewitt visited Kings College Hospital.

Clarke also used a BBC interview to deny that the plans were "gimmicky".

"The criticism that it is gimmicky is quite mistaken. This package is the opposite of gimmicky," he said.

"The criticisms of gimmicky could be made of isolated announcements, particular proposals, particular ideas that were made at various times to try and address those issues, though I think even in those circumstances that would not have been a fair criticism.

"But this whole action plan, running as it does right across the whole of government... is the opposite of gimmicky.

"It is a coherent, focused programme of action for every government department, every part of our society to change this culture of disrespect amongst, as the prime minister said, a minority.