Bel is thinking

Nick Griffin has been acquitted of a charge of using words and behaviour intended to stir up racial hatred. The charges were based on a speech he made to BNP party faithful. Referring to islam, he said: ‘This wicked, vicious faith has expanded from a handful of cranky lunatics about 1,300 years ago.’ He said a lot of other things besides, including some offensive things about non-white people.

I believe the Not Guilty verdict was the right one in this case. Griffin argued that the comments were made in private. While the law acknowledges that the offence can be committed in a private place, broadly speaking, there is no offence if the comments are made in a dwelling, and are not heard by anyone outside that place. All the accused has to do is prove that he had no reason to believe that his comments would be heard by anyone outside.

Nick Griffin made his comments to like-minded people at a meeting in a pub. It was clear that he did not expect anyone outside that room to hear what he was saying. He was recorded saying that if his words got outside the room, he would ‘get seven years’. That, to me, is proof that his comments were intended for ‘internal consumption’, so to speak.

Many are unhappy with the verdict. That is understandable. Sky News is reporting Gordon Brown as saying that the race hate laws may be changed. That is definitely not the right way to go about it. There is nothing wrong with the law as it applied to this case. If politicians find the outcome so unpalatable, they should do something sensible about it. The way to address racism is to have unhindered debate about these issues. Let there be no sacred cows. Let everything be up for debate; islam, immigration, everything. Shine the light into these dark areas and we will drive out the racists. If, however, we are prevented from discussing such issues because of political correctness, self-loathing or any such dogma, Griffin and his thugs will seize the platform every single time.

Glad to see that even for our bossy, interfering and over-prescriptive Government, there are limits:

A government guide that tells pet owners to provide private lavatories for their cats — and “mental stimulation” to prevent them getting bored —is to be withdrawn. … The 17-page document lays down rules that cat owners should abide by to ensure the health, safety and happiness of their pets.”

Here are some of the words of advice for the clueless cat owners:

“Your cat should have somewhere private to go to the toilet with sufficient clean litter … You should ensure your cat gets enough mental stimulation from you and from its environment so that it does not become bored and frustrated.”

Never mind that the ‘guidance’ was only withdrawn after protests from MPs. In withdrawing the document, they appear to have realised that cat owners, by and large, are not witless incompetents who would be unable to carry out commonplace tasks without the Government coming along to hold their hands. Nevertheless I am surprised the document was withdrawn. We have become so used to Government interference that it no longer surprises us when another window is opened into our already over-scrutinised and over-regulated lives. We are instead shocked when they realise they have gone too far.

Following on from my post yesterday about the Olympic Games VAT fiasco. More details have emerged as to how the London Olympics could face an unexpected £1bn VAT bill. The Government did not, after all, do its homework properly. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) was set up with the wrong structure, as far as VAT waiver is concerned. The current corporate structure of the ODA is such that, if VAT is waived, it would breach the EU rules on state aid. Apparently, they had envisaged a different corporate structure at the outset, and no-one realised that using the current structure would lead to this result. Such incompetence is astonishing, but not surprising, given this Government’s cavalier attitude to legislative detail and finance.

Tony Blair has now said that taxpayers would not be approached to make up the shortfall. This is welcome news, assuming you trust him. I don’t. Where then will the money come from? If Gordon Brown does not ‘ride to the rescue’, then the National Lottery Fund is the likely target. Cynic that I am, I suspect Gordon Brown, with an eye on his political ambitions, will waive the VAT. As I suggested yesterday, he may want to use this to boost his popularity. I can see the headline in the Sun already, ‘Brown saves London Olympics’.

UPDATE. I have been having an interesting discussion in the comments with Alan of Daily Propaganda, about whether or not the £1bn VAT bill will make any real impact, or if the payment is just a circular transaction between two departments. He has also written an insightful post about the funding details of the Olympics, and the Chancellor’s commitment to underwrite any extra costs. Interesting material.

Dearie me, at first glance, it looked as though the Olympic planning folk had not done their homework properly:

“The 2012 Olympics were hit by a £1 billion tax bombshell today. The Treasury has told organisers they must pay VAT on building and staging the Games - a cost which was not built into the initial budget. It is refusing to back down on the bill, saying European rules on competition mean it cannot be seen to be aiding the 2012 organisers.”

But then on further reading, it turns out that Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell had promised, when the London Olympics Bill was going through Parliament, that the VAT would be waived by the Treasury.

Maybe that was the original plan. However, now that the costs are in danger of spiralling out of control, dear Gordon is well and truly in a quandary of schizophrenic dimensions. Should he ‘generously’ waive all VAT, thus boosting his popularity, or should he act ‘according to nature’ and sting them for every last penny? It will be interesting to watch this one unfold. The downside is that if Gordon does claim the VAT, London council tax payers will find out all about it in a very painful way.

The White House denies that it engineered things so that Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death just in time for the mid-term elections. I doubt that the verdict will make that much difference to the Republicans’ fortunes. There was no prospect of Saddam Hussein being found anything other than guilty, so it was only a matter of waiting for the verdict to be delivered. I would be inclined to argue the other way. Saddam’s loyalists have already been out on the streets threatening vengeance. Any ensuing violence would surely not be to the Republicans’ advantage, as it would only reinforce the point that Iraq is in a state of shambolic lawlessness. In any case, most Americans’ views on the war are already settled one way or another, and therefore not likely to be swayed by a verdict that was widely predicted and expected.

After a few days of rest, this blog is back. It was good to take a break and do some proper reading. I also discovered many interesting blogs. I tried to stay away from political blogs - we have more than enough of that already. Instead, I pursued my interests in economics, literature and philosophy, and was pleasantly surprised to discover many blogs dedicated to these topics. I have created a separate category in my sidebar for blogs dealing (as far as such a thing is possible) with non-political issues. I hope you find them interesting. I am on the look-out for any more interesting blogs, and will add some more in due course.

Glad to see that voices are being raised against the increased marginalisation of Christians in this country.