Now you know why I call them the 'il-Lib-non-Dems'

M' Lord Bishop Hill reports on an all too typical example of the way in which our establishment works against us, quietly, discreetly and with maximum obfuscation and utilising to the full the sort of glove-puppets they themselves appoint to positions of influence.  Needless to say, two of the three plotters are members of the 'il-Lib-non-Dem' party in the House of Lords and the third is a Labour peer.  They are all 'wimmin'!  Nobody has ever voted any of them into political office.   They are all typical smarmy, creepy bottom-feeders who have spent their mostly useless lives in the murky world of quangos, university hierarchies and the BBC via which, provided you sing from the correct hymnal and do not lose the tune, you are certain to rise to the surface like scum in a stagnant pond.  I give  you . . .

The Baroness Brinton, and her wiki CV tells you all you need to know:

Beginning her career in the mid 1970s at the BBC as a television floor manager, working on programmes including Playschool, Grandstand and Doctor Who, she became a Cambridgeshire County Councillor in 1993 and contested the parliamentary seat of South East Cambridgeshire in 1997 and 2001.  Formerly Bursar of Selwyn College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2002, and a founder member of the Board of the East of England Development Agency from Dec 1998 to Dec 2004 (Deputy Chair from 2001 to 2004) she was a member of the Lib Dem’s national working group on education, skills and learning.  In 1997 she won the East Anglian entrepreneurial businesswoman of the year award. In 2003 Brinton was awarded an honorary PhD for her contribution to education, skills and learning by Anglia Ruskin University. She is presently a non-executive director of the University for Industry (Learndirect).  In November 2010 she was nominated to the House of Lords,^[3] taking her place on 10 Feb 2011^[4] as Baroness Brinton, of Kenardington in the County of Kent.

Next up is Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, a Labour peer who crept up the trade union ladder and was finally rewarded with a pat on the head from Gordon Brown and a peerage, according to Wiki:

She was General secretary of the Association of University Teachers from 1983 to 1992 and Chief Executive of the Westminster Foundation for Democracy from 1992 to 1995. On 10 July 1999 she was created a life peer as Baroness Warwick of Undercliffe, in the County of West Yorkshire.^[1]  She is currently Chief Executive of Universities UK.^[2]  She is also Chair of International Students House, London.

Finally, we have the exotic Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin OBE DL, another 'graduate' of the BBC Playschool programme, well, it provides such a good grounding for our future leaders and legislators, don't you think?

[She] is a British actress, author,^[3] television presenter, businesswoman and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away and "Fast Forward". On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords as a Life Peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats with title Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent.

I dwell at some length on the bios of these third-raters simply to rub home the reality of the sort of dross and bum-fluff that ends up in our so-called House of Lords and who thereby enjoy all the trappings of unearned office to say nothing of the perks, pay and pensions that go with it at our expense.

Anyway, Bishop Hill (who damned well deserves to be in the Lords) has spotted these three apparatchiks doing their masters' bidding (step forward Sir Muir Russell) by introducing some obscure changes to the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) as it pertains to universities and their professors undertaking research.  There is an existing exemption from FOI requests if it pertains to work which is about to be published.  But these three 'belles dames sans merci' have introduced an amendment which, according to Bishop Hill, in effect:

appears to say that if information requested is part of a programme that is going to lead to a publication it is exempt. This vastly expands the scope of the exemption. [My emphasis]

See how it will work - let's say someone wants some correspondence about tree rings. Under a revised FOI Act the university can say "no, this correspondence was created as part of a programme of research and there will be a report of that research in due course". In other words, not only the data, but the peripheral stuff - emails plotting to keep critics of the research programme out of the scientific literature and so on - are brought within the scope of the exemption. (It is worth pointing out that tree rings would still be disclosable under the Environmental Information Regulations - I'm merely illustrating the principles with a familiar example).

Yes, indeed, a very "familiar example" in which that heroic warrior for truth and openess, Steve McIntyre, was held at bay for years by obfuscating so-called scientists at East Anglia University attempting to cover up the codswallop they had been excreting over the years.  Also bear in mind that this codswallop was produced on the back of our taxes!  But the ever acute Bishop Hill sees how this ammendment would work in practice:

But more than this, the term "research programme" is deliciously vague, isn't it? Does this mean that when the paper is published, the university can turn round and say "we are still involved on a research programme on tree rings. The emails are still exempt". I think so. I don't know so, of course, and the obvious question is to ask how the exemption has worked in Scotland, but unfortunately according to this blog, the question has never been asked of the COmmissioner so there is no legal precedent as yet.

You will have noticed, as the sharp-eyed Bishop Hill has done, that these three 'wimmin' are all part and parcel of the university establishment  and you may wonder, as he has done: 

So, Universities UK are in essence able to propose their own amendments via their sympathisers in the House of Lords. It's certainly something of an indictment of British democracy to see special interest groups propose their own legislation in this way.

Well, so far, so typically British establishment! But I have one further question not raised by Bishop Hill.  Why is a so-called 'Liberal Democrat' party pushing a proposal that is both illiberal and undemocratic?  And can we sue them under the Trade Descriptions Act?

 

Comments

[Whyaxye]

"Why is a so-called 'Liberal Democrat' party pushing a proposal that is both illiberal and undemocratic? And can we sue them under the Trade Descriptions Act?"

Best laugh of the day so far! Perghaps I am being too paranoid, but sometimes I think that our elite deflect attention from what they are doing by presenting themselves in a pantomime or farcical manner. We all have a good laugh ("Blimey! What are they like? You couldn't make it up!").

And then, when we have dried our eyes, more of our freedom has gone.

[David Duff]

Isn't it what the conjurers call 'distraction technique'?

[Lawrence Duff]

None of these individuals appear to have ever had a market based job and, apart from one stint on Cambridge County Council, not one has ever been elected.

Couldn't run a whelk stall and never got asked to.

What a legitimate mandate to run the country.

SoD

[David Duff]

Exactly so, Lawrence.

By the way, I have just recommended an American e-pal to read your tale about the Jock paras because she was recently in Glasgow and had to ask people to repeat everything five times because she couldn't understand a word!

[Lawrence Duff]

Floella Benjamin has a little poem about herself on her web-site, written by an admiring doctural student of politics (warning: you might need a sick bag): -

"Our dear spectacular Floella,
The glamorous Chancellor of Exeter
The woman who makes many to think and be tick
And the rescuer of many who might sink
‘Imagination’, said you, can make us get anything in life,
‘Imagination’, you said, can take us to greater heights
‘Yes, we can’
‘Yes, we can’
Your journey tells us we can
Your actions tell us we can
From Trinidad
You were a child, with a dream
And since then, a model to all
Even in House of Lords
The kids are happy, when they see Floella
The adults are happy, when they see Floella
‘Can’t we be like her?’
‘Yes, we can’
‘Can’t we summon courage and be our best in life?’
‘Yes, we can’
The success of a man
Or a woman
Is not determined
Or defined
Is not prescribed
Or proscribed
By the colour of their skin
Or the circumstances of their birth
But, by the sizes of their faith, hope and action
Think, believe, and act
And you will be like Floella Benjamin"

-Tunde Oseni, Doctoral Student in Politics, Exeter University: 5 November, 2010

I hope he at least got a blow job for that. Seems like he might have done even better.

What was it you said the other day? : -

"In the stinking septic tank of politics some turds float effortlessly to the top..."

Might I add "...buoyed up by each other."

SoD

[David Duff]

This boy should go far, he is a greaser par excellence. Now I gather he has PhD in 'Political Science', an oxymoron if ever I heard one. It can't be long before he takes his seat in the Lords. Thanks, Lawrence!