Parlez~me~'n~Tory

Rightly Wry, Satirically RIGHT

This evening I became a little agitated when reading a misleading blog post from a Labour blogger AKA @LabourMatters on Twitter.

It all started when @BevaniteEllie posted the following

RT @labourmatters: Leading Tory MEP: NHS a Marxist mistake impossible to get rid of. http://bit.ly/I9Zrs Denounce Hannan, Cameron, NOW.

As usual this is a bit stark and quite typical of the mass deluded Socialists on Twitter. The blog post appears below so as to preserve the original text as it was during our conversation.

Leading Tory MEP: NHS a Marxist mistake impossible to get rid of

Conservative MEP Daniel Hannan seems to have decided to take his holidays in the USA, but the beach and ice creams are not for this man, instead he’s campaigning against President Obama’s healthcare reforms.

Apparently telling all who will listen, which happens to include the Washington Post, that the NHS is a disaster and the US should “ponder our example, and tremble”.

“You see a grizzly picture of your own country’s possible future… Do not make the same mistakes we have,” he warned. “I see this massive encroachment of the state… this huge power grab by the state machine… squeezing the private sector, to engorge the state.”

In Great Britain, he explained: “It is not uncommon to wait six, 10, even 12 months for a knee operation… It is exactly a Marxist system. You are treated as a supplicant and expected to be grateful for what you get.”

Then, just in case he hadn’t made his lack of support for the NHS, he describes NHS staff as “the electoral block that makes it impossible to get rid of”.

I was intrigued and wanted to see in what context Daniel Hannan had made this last statement. So after Googling Washing Post Hannan I easily found the video (not just a report as the blogger had used).

After seeing the video first hand it was obvious to me that the Labour blogger had been a tad economical with their quoting and so set about to take the task to hand.

Using my alternative account of @Wicksie as I was not logged in initially with @Parlez_me_nTory I set about hoping to put the record straight. After all, this would be a reasoned person, surely.

What follows is the exact account of the conversation, no misquoting, no dishonesty, no lies. I leave it you at the end to make your own mind up. Don’t forget on Twitter you only get 140 characters or less to pass your message. Where you see this [@Wicksie] at the start of a line that indicates who is making the statement, so, for instance I open the conversation.

[@Wicksie] @BevaniteEllie @labourmatters just watched the interview from Fox, the blog post is inaccurate where you mention NHS Staff, you misquoted

[@LabourMatters] @wicksie “We have 1.4 million people employed by the NHS…And that is the electoral bloc that makes it almost impossible to get rid of.”

[@Wicksie] @BevaniteEllie @labourmatters Yet again you selectively quote, try watching the vid http://bit.ly/ZuDEL The ppl will decide about the PLP!

I then followed this up with a ReTweet (RT) from my other account:

[@Parlez_me_nTory] RT @wicksie: @BevaniteEllie @labourmatters Again you selectively quote, watch the vid http://bit.ly/ZuDEL The ppl will decide about the PLP!

[@LabourMatters] @wicksie Video (last 41sec) or the transcript say the same: http://bit.ly/Tl6Cp No misquote.

There was surely an alternative video. It would appear there was one for Labour to watch and one for Tories to watch, at least if you believe good old @LabourMatters!

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters Try reading w/out your spin hat, it is a reference to management/beaurocracy. I stand by my interjection!

[@LabourMatters] @wicksie Read what was said! 1.4m staff are the electoral bloc preventing getting rid of the NHS, not managers in NHS. Nice try though.

I sense they’re getting a little upset at this point at having been caught out with selective spin.

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters It’s not a try, it’s not a game, misquoting is tantamount to deception, outrageous

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters concentrate and concentrate hard: We have 1.4 million people employed by the National Health Service.

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters It is the third biggest employer in the world after the Red Army in China and the Indian National Railways.

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters Most of those 1.4 million people are administrators, that the managers outnumber the doctors and nurses. And that is…

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters …the electoral bloc that makes it almost impossible to get rid of. That’s the entire quote, intact in order, now be honest

[@LabourMatters] @wicksie Not a very gracious loser are you?

What? Where did that come from? If you have no point to make move along please, nothing to see here.

[@Wicksie] @labourmatters What’s lost? Politics and the NHS is not a game. You misquoted you were corrected

[@Parlez_me_nTory] RT @wicksie: @labourmatters What’s lost? Politics and the NHS is not a game. You misquoted you were corrected

[@LabourMatters] @wicksie @Parlez_me_nTory There was no misquote and therefore no correction. It’s perfectly clear in my transcript link and your video.

[@Parlez_me_nTory] @labourmatters @Parlez_me_nTory You won’t listen 2 reason or honesty, u prefer spin & dishonesty. You and your party deserve each other

I decided to terminate the conversation there. It was obvious that @LabourMatters did not like being caught out with their selective spin and that having someone challenge them threw up one or two barriers in the way of their ability so they resorted to attempted intimidation with belittling @Wicksie, the skin’s a tad too tough for that to be successful though.

There is a lesson here though voters of the land. Do not trust those that have been in power for the past 12 years and who will do anything to cling on to it.

The Great British public is being taken for a ride by our Government and its departments who have now decided to play their joker on a misinformed briefing strategy to cloud the real issues that occupy the minds of our citizens.

On 4th August I briefly discussed how MOD’s new helicopters were unsafe to fly in combat due to the unwillingness of the Government to release the required funding.

This claim was quickly denied and then defended by various MOD sources.

Playing The Joker. The Government's New Strategy

But why should the general public believe the MOD’s official briefing machine especially when they have such an appalling track record?

nb:[Photographic evidence of the crash in Oman that led to the 'cut and shut' incident hyperlinked above]

It is fairly common place for this kind of repair to be undertaken most especially within the military environment but all work must be heavily monitored and the briefing machine must learn to prepare itself correctly to ready the nation so that it may present its case in a well informed and timely manner.

My post on 4th August discussed the kevlar plating of 6 Merlin Helicopters (after £45m the Government couldn’t find £600,000 to finish the project). Today I have been made aware of a very similar issue but this time with 7 Sea King HC.4.

Once again the MOD is citing:

a balance of risks

…as their reason for not fitting the kites prior to deployment.

Ok, let’s take that theory for a minute. I work in Information Assurance and the whole issue of risk analysis, risk awareness and risk mitigation is an everyday task for myself and my colleagues.

What risks cannot feasibly taken on board by an individual are escalated up to the very top whereby a decision is made but only after every single piece of evidence has been presented; any decision taken is legally binding and can result in legal proceedings against an individual. Once this decision has been made the portfolio of risk has to be updated and the owner made fully aware of the consequences.

This balance of risks statement seems to smack of the MOD not fully briefing up the chain.

An unamed Senior Defence source told the Daily Mail:

It’s all about relative, not absolute protection. If we decide to add the armour will the performance of the aircraft be so degraded it cannot do its job? Do you take it out of service and deprive the ground forces of air support? Factored into that is the time it will take to fit this armour and when you actually do it.

[what a load of crap 'relative, not absolute']…further claiming

The Sea King is an old helicopter and it’s not as easy to fit it as say, some of the newer aircraft. It is the commanders’ job to balance the risks involved with each mission, and the job of the aircrew to fly the helicopters.

No commander would ever put his people unnecessarily at risk; they have to be his first concern. But in war some risks are inevitable. It’s the job of the commander, not the aircrew, to judge whether the risks involved in mounting individual missions are justified

[false statement? '...it's not as easy to fit it as say, some of the newer aircraft.'

If that were truly the case then this single statement has just wiped out the MOD's rationale for not fitting the 6 Merlin with the required kevlar [see this post (also mentioned at the start of today's blog post)].

Whilst deployed, these Sea Kings have come under small arms fire on a number of occasions though the MOD state that as none have been shot down and no service personnel have been killed as a consequence of their deployement without kevlar it is the correct route to take.

In a statement that further clarifies the MOD’s position the following claim was made

Commanders are clear they do not want any additional armour. Adding extra weight to these aircraft affects performance, which is as much a part of a helicopter defence as armour

…that is a very fair statement, providing it is both true and also representative of the whole population of those that are responsible for flying British military helicopters. Sadly the statement comes with no reference or further details of the size of personnel they canvassed if any at all.

All this in a week when it has been announced that the British helicopter fleet to be cut by a quarter.

A Government department that deliberately briefs to the contrary of both public perception and the truth, Minister’s who take little notice of Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) and a leadership that is in chaos and only concerned with in-fighting; Great Britain in 2009.

The sooner the British public get a chance to get rid of this failing Government the better.

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