Watching Peacocks

I've been trying to think of a subject that I could write about for a couple of weeks now and I've made a list of possibilities. None of them struck me as particularly worthwhile and most have already been discussed in detail elsewhere in the media.

Then, as I was reading through my list, it occurred to me that a lot of the subjects had one thing in common.

Chilcot Enquiry - Elegantly summed up by George Galloway, of all people, on Question Time. I won't quote him but I'll stay as true to what he said as I can remember; In the unlikely event that the enquiry finds that the war against Iraq was illegal nobody will face prosecution because there was no intent to break the law.

MP's expenses - Over half of our elected representatives over-claimed on their expenses. Their excuses were the usual waffle about innocent mistakes etc. and none of them felt honour bound to resign. Three "Honourable Members" face prosecution and decide to invoke Parliamentary Privilege to avoid it, again proving what a shocking bunch of bad hats still occupy Westminster. To top it all off we discover that it has cost us more to investigate than will actually be paid back.

Bank Charges - I'm no accountant so perhaps I didn't fully understand the way things were dealt with, but here goes. The OFT said that the charges were unfair. The banks challenged this through a test case in the legal system, not by fighting the accusation but by asking the court to decide if the OFT had the right to decide whether the charges were unfair as they were part of the banks' core business and hence not part of the OFT's remit. The court decided in the banks' favour mainly because it was a point of law cleverly figured out by their team of lawyers. A layman's summary, i.e. mine, is that they have been ripping off customers for so long they now depend on it so heavily that they must continue to keep doing so to be able to stay in
business.

The Digital Britain Report - Just one recent thing about that. The House of Lords say that those found guilty of filesharing copyrighted material by the media companies should have a right to appeal. (It still sounds odd that it's not the courts that find people guilty, but I digress.) This right to appeal sounds great until you realise that you will be expected to pay part of the costs of said appeal, in effect you will have to pay to prove your innocence.

Whilst stuck in traffic Michael Mancini put the handbrake on before wiping his nose but was asked to pull over by officers who were standing nearby. He was told he was not in control of his vehicle and was handed a £60 fixed penalty and three points on his licence. He is fighting the case at great financial cost to himself and is unlikely to be awarded costs if he wins.

Does your bank balance or influence tip the scales of justice in this wonderful modern utopia?
Ask yourselves how many other times you have heard similar stories and then start worrying about how many you haven't heard.
Your freedoms are being bought and sold for political and economic gain by the elite few who control most of our nations wealth.
Don't let them get control of the internet, it scares them because it gives us the most valuable commodity in the world for free – knowledge.
Use that knowledge and start making a fuss, question your leaders at every chance and don't let them forget that we plebeians are the source of their wealth and power. Without us they are meaningless peacocks, so vote Pirate and remind them they are not untouchable.