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English - not white

During conversation today it was suggested to me that to talk of an "English Parliament", "England" or to speak of the "English" may imply something to do with being white.

Let me make it quite clear, the reason that I and others in the CEP want an English Parliament is entirely political. We want equity with the Scottish, freedom from the British parliament (and so-called Scottish Raj) and democracy closer to the voters.

People like Yasmin Alibhai-Brown completely miss the point: click here for more info.

Petrol protests - terrorism?

Update: Wonko has made an excellent contribution to this story and I urge you to read his post: The advance of the police state.

My concerns about government increasing its power to detain and to treat people inhumanely and to insist on branding them like cattle by imposing ID cards, have mostly been about the principle. I took it as a given that the UK's government was largely trustworthy and unlikely to take political prisoners or otherwise abuse its power.

Then I set to thinking about the EU and how much power Thatcher, Major and Blair have given away with the Single European Act, Maastricht and Nice respectively. I wondered about their gung ho attitude to what is largely accepted as the majority opinion in England and, despite Scotland, the UK. If the government is willing to treat the electorate like that, what might they do with:

• ID cards
• the power to imprison without being:
  • allowed to question why;
  • allowed to ask what evidence is held; or
  • given a trial
• The power to restrict and stop peaceful protest

Trust betrayed
Then the Blair government made sounds to suggest it could invoke anti-terror legislation to keep fuel protests being repeated as in 2000.

This makes me angry.

It isn't just an abuse of power over constitutional change. That could be undone in the future when the EDP or Tories take power (under a new leader). This is an open threat to those who would protest that if they do, they will be treated like terrorists. Let us remember that the terrorists that this legislation was written for, were people willing to commit multiple murder. That they may use this legislation this way is stating that peaceful and legal civil disobedience shall no longer be allowed. It is a suggestion that the state has primacy over the individual.

This is morally wrong in so many ways. Not even the socially conservative Thatcher government would stoop to such levels - and they invoked Clause 28.

At the next election (because our constitution does not allow for a popular recall) we must take these despots out of power. If you are reading this and were brought up by someone who told you

"Don't vote Tory, whatever you do, don't vote Tory"

ignore them for the next election because England cannot and should not cope with more erosions of civil liberty.

Checkpoint reporting

Once again Justify This has found an 'oversight' of the British media: Click here.

It is a worrying that terrorist organisations may be gaining, or learning to exert, power in the Gaza strip. Ariel Sharon should not consider further withdrawals from the West Bank until it is clear how this power struggle is going to pan out in Gaza.

French, Turkish and US Visitors

I've been having more and more frequent visits from people in France, Turkey and the United States. Welcome!

Blowing my own trumpet

Blowing your own trumpet always sounds better than listening to someone else's... Or maybe that's just me!

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you how clever the BBC's editors are and how consistent.

First they placed my response on their Action Network on the front page for a day - it pleased me a little, I have to say.

Second, today they've used my photo as the main photo of the Noticeboard:

The caption says "photo by Gavin Ayling". How very exciting for me only!

King Alfred Picture

The following picture shows another view of the planned new Frank Gehry King Alfred in Brighton & Hove.

I know you want them so let me know if you find any other pictures and I'll include them here.

SEERA - QuaNGOs got promoted

SEERA is the South East England Regional Assembly. It is an assembly set up by the Labour government which is unelected but which makes decisions above the County Councils which are elected.

The Regional Assemblies of England are part of the EU's plan of creating a "Europe of Regions" with areas of size similar to the German Lander. The English need a parliament and they don't want these Regional Assemblies. The North East were given a referendum on an elected regional assembly because the government and their Liberal Democrat allies thought that the North East was the region most likely to agree to be split from England. Click here for the result.

Now the SEERA has released a news release stating that they must be consulted (an elected body must defer) on planning applications that have "regional significance". We must remember, dear readers, that these regions have no historic or cultural merit and are designed purely to contain the right number of people. The "regional significance" that the SEERA refers to is a significance that happens to have bearing over an arbitrary area drawn within England.

It seems obvious to me, and probably every other person who doesn't have a vested interest in the EU or splitting the English nation for political ends (for there are significant advantages for Labour in resplitting England along lines other than its real borders which house mostly Conservative voters), that an English Parliament should be making these decisions for us, not unelected 'representatives'.

I found this parliamentary transcript courtesy of Hansard which was transcribed as the Conservatives former MP, Teresa Gorman, proposed an English Parliament to countenance the Scottish Parliament and Welsh assembly in 1998: Hansard transcript. In it Mrs Gorman makes observations and predictions that are spot-on. Some of the things mentioned in the debate have already happened and others are likely to happen yet.

Unfortunately, an English Parliament is not yet Conservative policy, so I urge you to write to your MP. The people of England are the ones who can make a change in this policy which is one of the most dangerous pro-EU policies at the moment.

David Davis

David Davis has shown, in one speech, why he is the leader the Conservatives and, indeed, England, need.

He has made an impassioned speech that talks of the very basis of his beliefs and looks to his origins. David Davis has said what everyone secretly knew but couldn't articulate - that England needs opportunity for all not limited by a welfare state but augmented by state-sponsored compassion.

I commend David Davis and hope he wins the leadership contest.

See:

• The BBC's article; and
• David Davis for Leader Blog

Gun crime in London

Knowing, as I do from individual research, that the Daily Mail cannot be trusted to tell the truth the whole time, I am making this post despite my reservations.

According to the Daily Mail Weekend magazine's review of Murder Blues, a BBC1 program airing as I write, London is the 3rd worst city in the world for gun shootings. When you consider that this is in 'competition' with cities like Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Nottingham and any number of third world and other US cities, that is truly shocking.

The US is world renowned for having legal, even protected, gun ownership - the so-called "Right to bear arms". And yet they manage to only have a maximum (as I don't know what the top two are) of two cities above London? Incredible.

King Alfred Approval

Thank goodness the application was passed: Brighton Council's article.

This is a partial success on the way to an exciting proposal that is taking a frustratingly long time to get even this far. The site confirms that there is yet more bureaucracy to get through. For more information about the design etc, try the following page: The plans.

Update: Thanks to John for his comment. The post on his site is excellent and I recommend you visit it.

Jeremy Clarkson

We advocates of technological solutions to global warming are heartened by Jeremy Clarkson's public statements. I am glad, too, that he can laugh off a custard pie attack: BBC News.

Petrol queues

The established media is reporting a surge on pumps in some locations, but I can confirm that at all times this evening there have been queues at all petrol stations in the Shoreham-by-Sea area...

I'm as guilty as the rest - I was planning on going to a petrol station shortly when I thought it would be quieter. My sources say queues are still stretching around the Holmbush roundabout.

The oil companies assure us there is no shortage but surely they cannot cope with this sort of sustained and sudden demand?

Petrol shortage / rationing

The UK government has done something so stupid that even I, a serial criticiser of New Labour, am surprised.

They announced today that if there were to be a petrol shortage they would ration petrol. That is not to say there will be a shortage - the protesters have said that they will not seek to cause disruption as happened five years ago. Unfortunately, the people of this great nation rightly think to themselves "If I'm going to be unable to buy petrol shortly, I'd better buy some now."

This is only sensible, forward thinking. It's just a shame that the government could not have foreseen this and stayed schtum.

Petrol duty has, as the IOD said today, removed the market for petrol that would keep prices at a consistently low level in England. A short drive from an area dominated by one town to another area will show that prices vary according to the local competition and not according to any nationwide pricing strategy. The government's ideological taxation of petrol is an unfair tax on people's need to travel - taxation should be about raising revenue and not about incentivising people to have a conscience about the environment.

The issue of a flat tax has been raised again recently and petrol duty should be included in the list of taxes scrapped as part of this change (along with VAT and alcohol duties). I will support any legal protest to reduce or remove this highly unfair tax.

I implore you to visit the following site: Less Tax On Fuel

Stats

I'm confused by my site's stats....

I have a country counter on the right of my site that is, granted, a bit newer than the 1 September, but it stores stats for my consumption on another site.

My web hosting service, however, has much more detailed stats about all sorts of things including what the visitor had for dinner the previous evening. The following is a screenshot of the most recent info for September:

First of all, what is the 'European Union doing on the list; if it's there why is Great Britain separate; and finally, why does the US show as the largest number of hits when all other indications suggest that English visitors (with a few Scottish visitors too - you are welcome!) are by far in the majority.

On another matter, does Great Britain imply that Ulster visitors are listed elsewhere? Also, according to my NeoCounter stats (which I have checked with the help of a Canadian and a Russian) I have had several Swedish visitors, whereas my hosting's stats say that I have had only one Swedish visitor ever... A pinch of salt shall be used in future...

Kwik Fit - insincere - boo!

Don't you hate it when a company uses false sincerity as a weapon against you in order to make a sale?

I was cold-called just now having used Kwik Fit for new tyres during the weekend. They asked about the service I received and, when I said it wasn't good, they said "Ah well, I've made a note of that." and then proceeded to tell me about their insurance offering...

Frankly, I don't think he made a note of it and I think he said it to make a possible insurance sale... Or maybe I'm cynical?

English Parliament Petition

There is a petition online for an English Parliament at the following location: PetitionThem.com

I urge every one of you to sign this petition. If you are not sure of the reasons for an English Parliament, please visit the Campaign for an English Parliament's website and add a comment if you still have questions.

Stargate SG1 Series 9 and Battlestar Galactica

When, oh when is Stargate SG1 coming to Channel 4 / terrestrial? Channel 5 seem to have captured Stargate Atlantis, for which I am grateful, but where is SG1? I'm started hiring the DVDs from LoveFilm, but I shouldn't need to...

And Battlestar Galatica hasn't made the transition from Sky One yet... I really don't want to get Sky.

Pledge on ID cards

Click the following link to help resist the surveillance society.

"I will actively support those people who, on behalf of all of us, refuse to register for an ID card and I pledge to pay at least £20 into a fighting fund for them but only if 50,000 other people do the same."

Buckingham

If you have something you would like remedied in the Adur district or the Buckingham Ward of Adur, please put a notice on the following site:

• BBC Action Network (Buckingham)
• BBC Action Network (Adur)

'English' towel

I bought the towel pictured below on my jollies, but guess where it's made...

It's made in China! Thank goodness for globalisation and thank goodness the EU didn't stymie this import!

I know which towel I'll be taking with me when I next hitch a lift on an infinite improbability drive powered spaceship.

Brighton Wok

For those of my readers from the Brighton area, the following is interesting:

Bloglines

I have added a publicly accessible look at my favourite feeds on my bloglines site: click here for more info.

Coeliac disease (celiac in the US)

I have coeliac disease which is an intolerance to the gluten found in wheat and many other cereals. It is surprising how many foods contain wheat flour!

First though, about me... I was diagnosed when I was around 18 months old so I have no memory of what wheat-containing foods taste like and, because I was always aware of the intolerance (Coeliac UK hates the word 'allergy'), I have never considered wheat-containing foods as food.

I was looking at the blog directories for lists of blogs that mention gluten-free or coeliac disease and discovered that there is very little information available or that is updated regularly. In England we are very lucky to have an excellent and well-funded charity that supports coeliacs and those with gluten intolerance superbly. Life would be almost impossible without the directory of foods that can be eaten that Coeliac UK provides. Many US websites and US celiacs seem completely unaware of basic information like that roquefort cheese is normally made using bread-mold (to make the blue veins) and so is unsuitable for inclusion in a gluten free diet.

Ingredients
At the moment the law on ingredients lists on foods says that any ingredient that constitutes more than 25% of an individual ingredient must be listed. This means that if a cake has a biscuit bottom then the ingredients can list 'biscuit' but not 'wheat' if the wheat is 24% or less of the biscuit. This is very dangerous for coeliacs as, unlike my example, wheat can be a constituent ingredient in less-obviously wheat-containing ingredients.

In an unusual departure from usual, the EU introduced a good law in this respect which means that any of the EU's favourite allergens must be listed in a 'Contains' panel on the rear of all packaged foods sold in the EU from 25 November 2005. The so-called "25% rule" is also to be abolished from that date. It is a shame that the UK government could not have done that previously so that this rare compliment to the EU could have been avoided.

The following list from the EU's guidelines shows the allergens affected currently:

• Cereals containing gluten ( i.e. wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut or their hybridised strains) and products thereof
• Crustaceans and products thereof
• Eggs and products thereof
• Fish and products thereof
• Peanuts and products thereof
• Soybeans and products thereof
• Milk and products thereof (including lactose)
• Nuts i.e. Almond (Amygdalus communis L.), Hazelnut (Corylus avellana), Walnut (Juglans regia), Cashew (Anacardium occidentale), Pecan nut (Carya illinoiesis (Wangenh.) K. Koch), Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa), Pistachio nut (Pistacia vera), Macadamia nut and Queensland nut (Macadamia ternifolia) and products thereof
• Celery and products thereof
• Mustard and products thereof
• Sesame seeds and products thereof
• Sulphur dioxide and sulphites at concentrations of more than 10 mg/kg or 10 mg/litre expressed as SO2.

As a coeliac something that often affects people is a desire, especially amongst the English, not to make a fuss. My attitude in this circumstance is that ones health is paramount and I would rather an entire restaurant of people or more, thought I was ignorant or bolshy than I was compelled to regurgitate my food because of a lazy waiter/chef. If you doubt what a waiter is telling you, ask them to show you the ingredients on a constituent ingredient (such as mayonnaise for tuna jacket potatoes!) and do not be afraid of embarrassment.

Other info
Another god-send (atheistically speaking, of course) that is a recent discovery to me is the Dietary Alert Card. Get one before you go to a restaurant again.

Things have changed immeasurably for the better in England since I was diagnosed in 1980, but you will still encounter ignorance, both malicious and genuine. Stores like Sainsbury's now include whether each and every one of their own-brand products is gluten free on the rear. Asda has started licensing the CoeliacUK logo (see above) which is great as this helps fund the charity. All the other major supermarkets now stock gluten free food in a separate section normally near the organic and kosher foods. Shops that still need to be singled out for apathy include Tesco not only for their poor in-store labelling, but especially because their online shopping site provides NO information at all about food contents - not even the nutritional information.

On this last point, I am generally against further regulation by government, but it seems daft to me to force companies to label their products but to allow them to sell them at a distance via the internet without making that information available.

Finally
If you're from the UK I recommend you contact CoeliacUK in the first instance. I would love to hear from you though, in case I can help or give advice. If you're from the neglected US or anywhere else, please get in touch!

At all costs?

Is it really worth it? The Conservatives and commentators (characterised by Peter Oborne's article in this week's Spectator) may be considering choosing Ken Clarke as the next leader.

The reason, apparently, would be that he is the most likely candidate to win at the next election. Apparently 40% of the British people want Ken Clarke to be the Tory leader. As more than 40% of the British public voted for Blair and the Lib Dems at the last two elections, we can only assume that that 40% doesn't know what's good for them, so why should the Tories listen to them?

Possibly, too, there is some benefit to the Tories in having an electable leader (which would make a nice change), but why on earth would the Tories want to gain power at the expense of their excellent post-Thatcher/Major ideology? David Cameron is cited as being liberal, but only on social issues - which can only be a damn good thing. On economic issues, his supporter, George Osborne, has announced "an independent commission to look at the implications... of flat tax[es]" which is a move in direction the country and, therefore, the Conservatives should be moving. David Davis is a little less liberal, despite the media's implication that he is a whole lot more so, and equally right-wing on economic issues; he is also continuing to work and allowing the leadership not to distract, as much as he can, from Labour's failings. Liam Fox, the Scot, is weak on English issues but a typically good egg, generally.

Ken Clarke is socially inconsistent, as I said before, and economically Gordon Brown's bed-fellow! Not only that, but he has a penchant for giving away our sovereignty and currency that no-one in England and in their right mind believes is the best thing for Britain or England.

The Tories must embrace, advertise and act-upon ideology and not, repeat not, seek power at any cost. Especially if this results in another Conservative government, typified by Major's floundering Prime Minister-ship (though he really is a good speaker in person), that reconfirms and damages further the public's opinion of Conservative economic mismanagement.

I've said it before, and I'll say is again, anyone but Clarke (though preferably David Davis).

Richard Ashworth MEP Fights Sunbeam Insanity

The following shows a strange conflict between what UKIP promises and what it delivers in Brussels/Strasbourg:

South East MEP and Tory Whip, Richard Ashworth, has accused Labour and UKIP members in Strasbourg of jeopardising UK businesses by exposing them to the red tape risk from the so-called "Sunshine Directive".

Richard and his Conservative Group colleagues led an attempt to scrap the infamous directive which would force employers in the South East to monitor the exposure of workers to natural sunlight.

"This is protection gone mad. Of course we want safety at work to receive the highest priority but for bosses to have to tell workers to cover up or rub on some sunblock, is meddlesome nannying of the worst kind," says the MEP.

The Conservative Group narrowly failed in their attempt to scrap the "sunshine directive" because UKIP MEPs voted against an amendment which would have removed natural sunlight altogether from the scope of the draft EU law. The ten UKIP members voted against the Conservative amendment. The amendment was supported by a majority of 361 MEPs, with 296 against, but failed by just six votes to reach the "qualified majority" level of 367 required to amend legislation in a second reading.

"It’s hypocritical of UKIP to boast they are the champions of freedom from EU bureaucracy when they fail to take a stand against this ridiculous law which would impose an enormous burden on local employers," says Richard.

The Tory group did however achieve a significant victory by persuading a majority of MEPs to support a fall-back compromise amendment which proposed that the issue be left to member states to decide. Labour MEPs fought the principle of subsidiarity but were outvoted.

Tories throughout the South East voted UKIP against their normal Conservative tendency at the European elections in the hope that this would help us reduce the time we have to remain an EU member state. It looks like this was a mistake!

Experiment (Part 2)

I have decided to stick with my current blogging software for the time being. While Blogsome does have better features it has one massive shortcoming - it cannot be used on your own web hosting. For this reason, Blogger will remain my method of posting.

Thanks for the e-mails one and all!

Holiday!

I have spent the last five days in sunny England on holiday!

When you get the weather, England's the best place to holiday - friendly people, no language barrier, familiar currency...

Experiment

I am experimenting with a new blog provider, please let me know what you think.

Alternative blog

EU invasion continues

No Matter Who's blog has picked up on a further step towards the abhorent EUssr.

Read, acknowledge, and join the campaign against Ken Clarke, Labour, the Lib Dems and anyone else who would allow England to become a part of EUrope.

We need an English Parliament (to Johann Hari)

The following is a post I made to a blog discussing the need for an English Parliament from the Scot's point of view. I have copied it here for information:

I don't think the party politics of the English makes any difference to the necessity to have fair and equitable representation for the English. Non-English MPs not voting on English-only matters does go some way to reducing the problem, but does not solve it entirely.

The English need to be able to present potential legislation for their people. They need to be able to make executive decisions (as cabinet MPs do) without having to rely on hope to ensure that the cabinet MP is not Scottish (as in John Reid as Health minister or Gordon Brown as Chancellor).

Further, if people are voting in a General Election, they are voting for MPs to the UK parliament. Whether people accept it now or not, there is a difference to how people vote depending on where they are voting. In European elections I know Tories and Lib Dems who voted for UKIP, equally, I am sure people who voted SNP at General Elections, vote Lib or Lab at Scottish Parliament elections. Using assumption or extrapolating from other results is not the way to run a democratic country.

There is a political equivalent of the SNP and Plaid Cymru in England, but, because of the size of England, there is no realistic prospect of the EDP gaining enough votes. http://www.thecep.org.uk is the only way the English have of expressing their concerns and, as their support is growing, it is more and more obvious that people are concerned not only about the West Lothian question, but also about England as a nation.

I hope you will join me in supporting an English Parliament, by visiting the following link: Parliament for England.

Ken Clarke bashing

Just in case any MPs (for they'll surely be choosing the next Tory leader without 'our' input now) are tempted to believe Clarke's hyperbole, I would just like to remind you what the EU does 'for' us:

Now, I see, the EU is wasting £70m on an advertising campaign to stop people smoking. As the NHS is doing a perfectly reasonable job of providing public health advice on this matter, it seems to be a perfectly wasteful way of spending my money. If anyone really doesn't know that smoking is bad for you, or that there is help available by checking the internet (from a phone box if necessary), then there's really no chance they'll pay any attention to further adverts.

The David Davis for Leader blog, has an excellent post on the problems with Ken Clarke (and there are many). Let's all hope that whoever the leader is, it isn't him!

Bigots take advantage of New Orleans' disaster

Bigots know no limits. I've put the word 'bigot' in the link as an attempted Google-bomb. If you have a website/blog, I urge you to do the same if you agree.

Thanks to KingOfMyCastle for the link.

An English Parliament

The following is a letter published in the Wolverhampton Express & Star on 1 September 2005:

Outside the British Isles, England is often, erroneously, considered synonymous with the island of Great Britain (England, Scotland, and Wales) and even with the entire United Kingdom. In many ways England has seemingly been absorbed within the larger mass of Great Britain since the Act of Union of 1707.

The Campaign for an English Parliament aims to put this right. There has been a decisive resurgence in English self-identification and awareness. This tide will not be turned back.

Love of England is as legitimate as love of Scotland and Wales. The people of England include everyone for whom England is both their home and future, irrespective of ethnic origin, religion and culture. For our nation our own parliament is our constitutional right.

We call on all MPs from English constituencies, all political parties and on every citizen to campaign for an English parliament.

Alan Davis, Hall Street East, Darlaston.

I wholeheartedly support the tone, content and intention of this letter and I urge any of you who agree, and particularly those of you in Sussex, to write with similar sentiments to your local newspaper(s).

If you are interested in supporting the Campaign for an English Parliament, please join here.

New Orleans, plans and disaster

Most people who have access to any sort of news at all must be wondering what the US has been doing. It seems incredible that the US had not planned for the disaster in New Orleans given that:

• ... they had five days notice before the hurricane
• ... a quick search of the internet shows that the chance of New Orleans flooding was known about for years
• ... the US is the first world country

It is positively disgraceful that there are people still in need of evacuation FIVE DAYS after the disaster!

It is despicable and evily unforgiveable that people are looting for non-food items and shooting rescue craft and attempting armed invasion of hospitals. Just watching the pictures of the rescue efforts and the disaster unfolding makes any normal observer angry, sad and dismayed in equal measure. It is difficult to imagine the civil unrest happening anywhere else in the world including the north of the US. The infamous events of 11th of September 2001 and 26 December 2004 were not met with such ridiculous behaviour.

I want to give to charity to help the people that the US seems incapable of helping, but I am not convinced that they can help during what looks like an apocalyptic civil war. The police have the most horrendous job I can imagine, and the people who suffer are the poor of New Orleans.

Eubank is a responsible citizen!

I'm pleased that an often quirky public figure took issue with irresponsible and selfish white van man: Link. And I'm even more pleased that the BBC did not take the side of PC for once!

Why Ken Clarke is wrong, wrong, wrong

Ken Clarke has made a speech today that reconfirms that, while he may be the most likely candidate to win a future election, he is also the least Conservative member of the party.

With hindsight Clarke was right about the war in Iraq. With hindsight those of us who never believed in the story of WMD or links to terrorism were wildly optimistic that a war could be carried out easily and quickly (though possibly in part due to a complete lack of preparedness for the insurgency). It is also obvious that the war in Iraq has made us an obvious target for Muslim extremists. However, what Clarke implies when he says that the Iraq war made us more likely to be attacked, is that there is some justification, and indeed, excuse, for the bombers. Someone once said that one person's terrorists is another's freedom fighter - these people are not fighting for their freedom, they're fighting to remove ours.

I'm not a neo-con, and I am socially liberal, but to convince me that Clarke were the right person for Number 10, he would have to satisfactorily explain to me, and most other Tory members, how his support for the euro and all things EU (whether it has waned or not) can be balanced against the political balance that Conservatives normally attempt to reach. How can the man claim patriotism if he would willing surrender more of our sovereignty to a foreign and non-democratic organisation.

As Chancellor, Ken Clarke presided over tax cuts, but not the swingeing ones that we should have experienced. As a member of Thatcher's government he did not make vocal complaints against her censorship of the media and 'arts'. With his track record as an economic liberal and inconsistent about social issues how can he seriously take the newly right-wing Labour party to account? The Labour party that has involved itself in privatisation, erosion of social liberties and imposition of social legislation is far closer to Ken Clarke than it is to the majority of the Conservative party.

While it is not good for the Conservatives' image, we also need to be honest about the need to restrict further immigration until those that are already here have had time to assimilate and avoid further ghettoisation. We also need an honest declaration about the need to treat harshly those known to be involved in extremist activities.

The main area of clear blue water between the Conservatives and Labour at the moment should be a more obvious declaration of adherence to civil liberties, a promise not to set laws that erode people's freedom where it hurts no-one else as well as the more radical and so, exciting, financial liberalisation that was promised by the so-called choice agenda.