I don't like to kick a man when he is down but in this case I'll make an exception

Eric Illsley MP is today facing jail for expenses fraud. Over at the Grim Reaper, Grim has a novel solution to his punishment HERE.

I like it too, except that as well as being put to hard labour in the community, convicted MPs should wear high viz jackets with "I'm a thieving bastard" written on them and have to spend at least an hour a week in the stocks.

The wheels of justice appear to move very slowly, slow enough in fact to ensure that these cases came to a conclusion after a General Election. That does not have anything to do with the highly politicised CPS whose head is a fervent leftie, does it?

I don't know how this is all playing out amongst the plebs - you know, the ones who should, in an ideal world, have to take a test that determines if they understand the basics of our democracy. The plebs are the ones that swing Labour votes in Illsley's part of the world. I guess that, as long as Labour bangs on about "toffs" and "cuts" and they begin to worry about the cost of fags and booze and the sanctity of their benefits, then there will always be Eric Illsleys to bring our country down to the level of an African Republic.

14 comments:

Jim Baxter said...

Speaking of the plebs, I see that one of the 'jewrers'. as she describes herself, in the Mr Sheridan case, has landed herself in the soup for calling her fellow jurors 'scumbags' for convicting him.

Hell is other people.

Never kick a man when he's down. Wait to see if he tries to get up and then by God let him have it.

(J.P. Donleavy)

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Strangely enough you make my point better than I did. If one of the rural jurers (try saying this out loud) has used uncourtly language, viz "Scumbag" it kind of bears out my contention that voting one way or another is visceral among the plebs.

The Grim Reaper said...

The plebs, as you call them, will probably be angry for the next day or two about this and then will have completely forgotten about it. Hence why MPs got away with abusing the system for so long, really.

Jim Baxter said...

Nothing strange about that. Ha!

Oops.

Sorry.

Tribalism in the electorate eh?

Sigh. I come here in the hope of a laugh of the non-sardonic kind. Or for stimulating cultural observations.

Sigh.

RMcGeddon said...

" The plebs are the ones that swing Labour votes in Illsley's part of the world."

I'm a bit confused here WW. You keep saying that the whole of the body politic is corrupt but you also keep attacking the 'plebs' for voting Labour.
Surely posh middle England Tory voters are just as much to blame as the lower classes for the state of our 'democracy'.
The Nadines of this world are just as creepy and grasping as any Labour MP.
The benefit scroungers who vote for a red balloon on a stick are doing no more damage or cost any more than the posh Tory voters who support cast Iron who supports the EU and the bankers bonuses.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Welcome to the blog RMc. I am not sure where you get the idea that the majority of Tory voters are "posh" or that they support the EU or that they support bankers bonuses. Most Tories I know struggle to make ends meet because they pay for everything in full with no benefits. Some opt to send their kids to independent schools because they do not want their children to be indoctrinated into Marxism, nor do they want their kids to leave school with little grasp of our history or our language.

The plebs are an amorphous bunch and it is certain that some of them will vote Tory, but most do not. The plebs are people who only respond to carrots and sticks and rarely spend time thinking through the issues. You can train a rat to avoid the stick and go for a carrot, it does not take much in the way of propaganda or spin.

As Grim points out, give it a day or two, and all those who vote Labour because their dad did will have forgotten it.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

There is nothing distasteful about referring to the segment of society, that underclas that contributes nothing but a requirement for the rest of us to be corralled, stamped, inumerated and generally told what to do, as plebs. It is the lowest common denominator in society which is the reason we have litter laws, child protection, social workers and a bloated public sector that moves them into new public housing and then moves them out again when they have trashed it.

RMcGeddon said...

WW. Thanks for the welcome. Your blog is excellent.

I don't think that all Tories are posh. I was just using the analogy to counter your claim that all Labour voters are scrounging plebs.

" The plebs are people who only respond to carrots and sticks and rarely spend time thinking through the issues."

I agree. Anyone who voted Lib/ Lab / Con would therefore be a pleb by this definiton.
Nothing has changed since the coalition was 'elected'. Any promises have been quickly dropped. Instead of Afghanistan being Hagues ' first priority' nothing has changed.
Instead of 'getting tough ' with the EU we're paying in more this year and tidying up any loose ends to stop a referendum on future changes.
The Climate Bill 2008 still makes us pay £19Bn annually for the next 40 years to help build windmills etc for a total scam.
There has been no stop to mass 3rd world and EU immigration.
No attempt to get out of the 'Human Rights ' Act despite promises.
Curbs on bank bonuses quietly dropped and the bailout goes on ad infinitum ( £200Bn so far - more than any pleb payout which by the way the plebs have actually undercaimed by billions for decades).
The list goes on.
I just feel that your labelling people as 'plebs' because they vote for Labour clouds the issue and allows people to think that it would make a difference who we voted for.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

No, whoever we vote for out of the main parties is going to make very little difference.

Intelligent people vote Labour, which is beyond my comprehension.

No major party is willing to address the issues that middle England (and the rest of the UK) want addressed, such as membership of the EU. This is because the popular vote is in favour of leaving the EU altogether and that does not appeal to the Establishment, whose interests are firmly tied up with it.

RMcGeddon said...

" Intelligent people vote Labour, which is beyond my comprehension."

There you go again WW. Giving the main political parties credibility. Insinuating that it makes a difference who people vote for.
You should substitute Labour for Tory or Lib Dem occassionally. Just for balance.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Oh, alright then. Keep watching RMc.

RMcGeddon said...

cheers WW ;)
I've spoken to a few 'intelligent' Labour voters and asked why they voted Labour and their usual answer is along the lines of... " All the parties are the same. Govts come and go but nothing ever changes so I may aswell vote for the party that keeps me in the style to which I've become accustomed"

Foxy Brown said...

Intelligent people vote Labour, which is beyond my comprehension.


I wouldn't call them intelligent. In my neck of the woods - affluent north London, voting Labour is imbued with notions of morally superiority. It is widely held that the Tories hate blacks and gays; despise women and think the working classes smell.

Wrinkled Weasel said...

Welcome to the blog Foxy. If you look anything like your profile picture... oh. Oh dear. Oh. Back in a moment.

I think you have a very important point there about superiority. The BBC has this too. It goes hand in hand with allowing people free speech as long as it expresses a left leaning view. It is a kind of new scapegoating. You only have to see how lame left wing comedians are. Many of them are still doing Thatcher jokes.

Thanks once again for reading the blog and commenting.