<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:admin="http://webns.net/mvcb/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:creativeCommons="http://backend.userland.com/creativeCommonsRssModule" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/1999/html" xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"><channel><title>Ross Burton</title><link>http://www.burtonini.com/blog</link><description>A potted account of Ross' life</description><language>en</language><ttl>60</ttl><dc:creator>Ross Burton</dc:creator><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://pyblosxom.sourceforge.net/"/><admin:errorReportsTo rdf:resource="mailto:ross@burtonini.com"/><item><title>Tory Madness</title><guid isPermaLink="false">life/tory-2005-04-27-21-30</guid><link>http://www.burtonini.com/blog/life/tory-2005-04-27-21-30</link><description>The Tories have gone &quot;truth&quot; crazy of late, first by continually banging on about Blair's lies about the Iraq war ...</description><content:encoded><![CDATA[    <p>
      The <a href="http://www.toryscum.com">Tories</a> have gone "truth"
      crazy of late, first by continually banging on about Blair's lies about
      the Iraq war (but we won't mention how they wanted to go to war before
      Labour did), and now with <a
      href="http://www.libdempolicy.com"><tt>libdempolicy.com</tt></a>: a site
      showing <cite>what lies in the small print of their policies</cite>.
      Personally I thought they had been pretty open, but let's see what the
      Tories can make of their policies.
    </p>
    <dl>
      <dt>
        <cite>There should be no upper limit on the numbers of refugees accepted by
        EU countries</cite>
      </dt>
      <dd>
        <p>
          Oh My God.
        </p>
        <p>
          First, I thought that Kennedy had been saying this for ages,
          but that isn't the real point.  Of course there should be no upper limit: if
          suddenly there was an atrocity and people were on the run for their lives,
          we should say "sorry, but the inn is full"?  The sheer balls of a party that
          mixes immigration and asylum into a single über-policy of basically stopping
          it all, whilst having a leader whose parents are immigrants, is frankly
          quite impressive. Obviously the spin guys are doing something right as I
          just can't understand why no-one (apart from the audience in Question Time
          last week that is) is pointing out that they are totally unrelated subjects.
        </p>
      </dd>
      <dt>
        <cite>Liberal Democrats would 'introduce fair benefits for asylum seekers'</cite>
      </dt>
      <dd>
        <p>
          This is a terrible policy as asylum seekers are sub-human scum,
          obviously. Best to leave them in France until we know they haven't got AIDS.
        </p>
        <p>
          I still don't know why asylum seekers cannot go and get a job, instead
          of having to try and live on some pathetic token state benefit.
        </p>
      </dd>
      <dt>
        <cite>The Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesman, Mark Oaten, says he is
        'absolutely convinced that prison is a complete and utter waste of time'</cite>
      </dt>
      <dd>
        <p>
          Sounds about right.  Put a load of sane people in a small boring room
          for a few years and they probably won't be well-adjusted when they come out,
          doing the same to people who are not well-adjusted to start with is madness.  Most people
          in prison need assistance which isn't provided by a magnolia wall.
        </p>
      </dd>
      <dt><cite>We will put your taxes up</cite></dt>
      <dd>
        <p>
          Well, durrr. Is there anyone who <em>didn't</em> know that the Tories only real
          policy is to lower taxes?  Personally I think the Lib Dem policy of a 50%
          income tax on income over &pound;100,000 is a great idea and have thought so
          ever since I started nudging the current upper tax boundary, and realised
          that if my earnings doubled I wouldn't be paying a higher rate.  The tax
          system needs a bloody good overhaul (along with the Council tax, being based
          on property prices from 1980), and this is a good start.
        </p>
      </dd>
      <dt><cite>They would 'work positively towards the conditions for British entry to the euro'</cite></dt>
      <dd>
        <p>
          I'm glad at least one main party is actually mentioning the Euro this
          year, although to be honest if the other two started to talk about it the
          election propaganda would turn into even more of a farce than it already is.
        </p>
      </dd>
    </dl>
    <p>
      Well I expect to get a few comments on this posting, so I'll leave it here
      with a small pointer towards <a href="http://www.tacticalvoter.net/">Tactical Voter</a>.
    </p>
]]></content:encoded><category domain="http://www.burtonini.com">/life</category><dc:date>2005-04-27T20:30:00Z</dc:date></item></channel></rss>