Herman: King of Europe

We will publish a post on Herman van Rompuy and his European Union later. Meanwhile, observe the man who will try to shape your life.

I don't know, and that's the problem.

Toryteenager had intended to do a post, touting one of the candidates in tonight's decision as to the new EU President. Yet in a system symptomatic of the EU, we don't know who the candidates are, we don't know what their policies are, and we don't know what their vision for Europe is. Thankfully, the charming Mr Blair appears to have been quietly removed from the list of candidates, but now the frontrunner appears to be Herman Von Rompuy, a man who apparently favours a pan-Europe tax system and the abolition of national flags. Much as I disagree with him, I would accept that he should be President of Europe, if those affected by his decisions were allowed a say in the matter. As it stands, the position that these people are vying for, is one in which the people have had no say, and one whose candidates are not being asked to formally declare themselves, and thus have received no scrutiny whatsoever. If the President of Europe is going to serve any purpose, he must have democratic backing, and if the EU is going to serve any purpose, it must shed this ridiculous form of horse-trading, and transform itself from an unaccountable bureaucracy, into a true community of nations.

Labour: Self Inflicted Damage

We must apologise for the lack of posting over the past couple of weeks. it has been a busy time for all of us, but with the State opening of Parliament tomorrow, we feel it is time to pick up the blogging again.

Harsh times call for tough measures, and Labour seem to have embraced this policy wholeheartedly. They are, in effect, giving up around 60 constituency seats due to lack of funding, instead diverting what resources they have to consolidating their heartlands. Given their current majority of 63, this will mean that unless the Lib Dems undergo a sudden surge in popularity, enough of these assailable seats will fall into Conservative hands to allow them a majority, albeit not as large as the current labour one. It is early days yet, but these signs have been interpreted as Labour's acceptance of defeat, salvaging what they can before leaving the sinking ship.

This does not bode well for Labour, who will lose many MPs at the next election due to the expenses controversy. Those whose jobs are threatened either by a narrow majority or allegations of scandal may just feel like giving up is the answer. However the Conservatives should not be complacent. Labour will still be fighting hard to win and the last thing we want is another five years of them in power.

ELECTION TO BE HELD ON MARCH 25

Toryteenager has been informed by a Tory source that they believe Labour will call a snap general election in March, 3 months earlier than necessary, with the most likely date being the 25th which avoids the Easter Bank holidays. Following a meeting of the Conservative War Cabinet they allegedly decided to spend their resources according to this provisional deadline, in the belief that Gordon Brown intends to use the element of surprise, perhaps the only political asset he has left, whilst there have been reports from the civil service that the Government appears to have no legislative planning beyond this January. This can only be a good thing for the Conservatives, as they wish to minimise the possibility of an economic recovery before the election, though Labour will also want a short campaign, given their very limited current financial resources. However, Toryteenager's instinctive reaction is to say quit the deliberations, bring on the General Election!

Labour Party Website - With a few corrections!

Now wasn't that a little more truthful...

The Brittle 'Cast Iron Guarantee' - Snapped

Why does David Cameron seem to be undergoing a phase where he doesn't stick to his word? Yesterday, the gambling fiasco and today, an issue of much greater significance: the Lisbon Treaty. Cameron has promised this referendum ever since and indeed before his election in 2005, and it has been a bedrock Tory policy. Surely it is lunacy to abandon it, at the same time ratifying the Lisbon Treaty and disenchanting potential Tory voters? As the Czech president prepared to sign the treaty yesterday, Cameron had already given up on his 'cast iron guarantee'. Instead, he promised to renegotiate some of the issues he was discontented with. With 27 other countries having already ratified it? I think not. He either accepts the terms or leaves Europe altogether. Cameron is backing down from his ideals and those of his party. it seems that he himself is committing the same 'flagrant breach' of policy that he accused Mr Brown of doing over the EU constitution. Cameron has made a fool of himself, jeopardising the Conservatives' chance of maintaining their high status as well as potentially undermining their chances of success at the next election. Above all, he has been a hypocrite, complaining about Labour's indecisiveness and then falling into the same trap.
But is this fair? Sources close to Cameron say that privately, he has always been against a referendum, as he believes that discontented Labour voters who may have considered voting Tory would view the move as too extreme. Holding a referendum was always going to appeal to the British: fairness and democracy are traits we hold highly, however the implications of rejecting the treaty were always going to need an acquired taste for Conservatism.
We shall see whether the the promised alterations go ahead, but it is not a good sign. We need a leader who can fight for our national interests, not hide behind a wall of doubt and make back room deals signing off our freedom. Cameron better change. It's what we need.


Gambling with his Principles


Given that David Cameron has endorsed a report which says that "problem gambling damages physical and mental health, employment, finances, personal relationships, is linked with depression, alcoholism and obsessive-compulsive behaviours", it is surprising that he has advocated a raise in the gambling age, and has promised to abolish supercasinos. It seems odd then, that he seems content for this very gambling to go on within his own party. Every Conservative party member was this week e-mailed with an application form to become involoved in the 'Conservative Weekly Draw', a money-raising sweepstake which is about as a clear a form of gambling as you can get, promising a grand prize of £5,000 in exchange for a weekly contributiuon of £4.34. The Conservatives have promised consistency and an end to governmental hypocrisy, if this is the best they can do in Opposition then we should fear for the future of the party post May 2010.

There is Nothing British about the BNP

David Cameron does Harry Potter

This looks remarkably like the start of Harry Potter movie....

Please Tell Us What You Think About Toryteeenager

Please take the time to fill out this blogging survey - not only will it help us, it will also ensure that you get a blog tailored towards what you want!

Do you like the new blog layout?

Yes

No

Follow Toryteenager on Facebook

Would you prefer the blog to have

More frequent, shorter posts

Less frequent, longer posts

Follow Toryteenager on Facebook

Would you prefer the blog to contain

More videos / Youtube Clips

Fewer videos / Youtube Clips

Follow Toryteenager on Facebook

Would you like Toryteenager to use Video Blogging in addition to text blogging?

Yes

No

Follow Toryteenager on Facebook

Is there anything else you would like to say about Toryteenager?

No

Other

Please Specify:

Follow Toryteenager on Facebook

Thank you very much

Torytenager's New Look

As you have undoubtedly noticed, Toryteenager has changed their blog format. Hopefully we have succeeded in creating a smarter, more presentable blog that is easier on the eye and simpler to use.

Please feel free to suggest any alterations and above all, enjoy!!

Wrong Job, Wrong Man

David Miliband has dug himself into a big hole. The more he argues for a 'strong' EU president who can 'stop the traffic in Beijing', the more the British Public realise that they should have been consulted over the move. Without the referendum that was so necessary when re-writing Britain's position in the world, the very job that this 'strongman' would hold is not only undemocratic, it would not carry weight of public opinion behind it. It is fanciful to imagine that foreign leaders will sit up and listen to a man who has not been elected, and whose job was only created as a result of back-room deals in the Brussels.

But how much worse would this situation be if it was Tony Blair at the reins. This man who was deemed by his own party to be unfit to run the country, is now being touted by those same people to run the whole of Europe. This is the man who surrendered £7 billion of British taxpayer's EU rebate, this is the man who isolated himself in Europe by running headlong into a war which the EU was opposed to, so how can this be the man who, according to Miliband, will best be able to represent British interests in Europe?

If the EU is going to have a hard-hitting president, then the job needs to have the peoples' backing, and the President himself should be directly elected, avoiding this ridiculous scene of horse-trading in Brussels. Until that time we need a committee chairman, not a warrior.

Priceless!!

This was taken from yesterday's Telegraph. A wonderful example of British stupidity.

(Click on the image to enlarge it)

Bold Claims from an Idiot or Tactical Genius?

Why should we believe what Gordon Brown has to say? For months now, he has been taking us on a ride, offering and then retracting statements about policies and the future of this country that were infeasible. Will his latest announcement be any different? He has openly claimed that Britain will be out of recession by Christmas, but is this a reality? France and Germany have been leading the way, and perhaps he has taken inspiration from this. But does he not realise that our economies are so very different? French and German economies have much smaller financial sectors, meaning that they were hit less hard, the governments had to intervene less and they could get up and running again more rapidly. This was due to less reliance on credit and little obsession with property, which is what held our economy up. Their social security systems are also better, so fewer jolting fiscal stimuli were needed, ultimately meaning a more balanced and above all stable economy.

However even if Gordon's promise isn't retracted, what visible difference will it make; we will probably only be returning to technical growth of 0.2% or so, and even though for some it will mark a return to a near normal level of salary or bonuses, for many it will take years to rebuild their lost savings and retirement accounts.

To Debate or not to Debate - That is the Question

So, should a man who believes that women enjoy rape, that the holocaust never happened, and that Africans are inferior to Europeans, be allowed to appear on a state-sponsored TV programme? The simple answer is yes - not because it is their democratic right, not because of the BBC 'has a duty' to give them coverage - but simply because it is probably the best way to ensure that they self-destruct at the next election. The real problem with the BNP was best exposed on Newsnight last night - the people who vote for them simply do not agree with the extremist views of Nick Griffin et al, they are just disillusioned Labour voters, who never have and never will vote Tory. The BNP ruthlessly exploit these tensions by offering an electoral choice that gives them exactly what they want, safe in the knowledge that they will never get close enough to power to have to enact their racist views. Griffin is faced with two choices this evening : either he will give the 'election-friendly' BNP policies, in which case the panel will bring up the rather unsavoury comments he has made in the past, or he will tell the truth, and the cat will be out of the bag. Ultimately, however, it won't really matter, as we can be pretty sure that most BNP voters won't be watching Question Time anyway!

A Step Too Far

When David Cameron was elected leader of the Tory Party, he promised to increase the woefully low number of ethnic and women Tory candidates with the words, "Until we're represented by men and women in the country, regardless of race or creed, we won't be half the party we could be". Toryteenager always had, and always will support him in this admirable aim, but sadly it now seems that Cameron himself is betraying his own principle. In his appearance before the Speaker's diversity conference he said that "It's my intention ... that some of those shortlists will be all-women shortlists to help us boost the number of Conservative women MPs", but this seems to be in direct contradiction with the principle of MPs being elected regardless of their birth. The only possible reasons for all women-shortlists would be if selection committees were sexist; if women were not good enough to be elected in their own right; or if they were simply too scared to stand on their own. But none of these reasons apply, indeed such a proposition is insulting to the brilliant women candidates who are fighting to break into Labour strongholds, insulting to the selection committees who often go out of their way to ensure that their shortlists are representative, and insulting to the women MPs who are serving their constituents just as ably (and in some cases more ably), than their male counterparts. Women shortlists would prevent many good future MPs from entering Commons, and would insult the brilliance of many women candidates. We must fight to ensure that, as Cameron himself has said, "we establish a system that guarantees increased diversity, fairness and meritocracy"

Shut Up!

Why is it that BBC reporters are entirely incapable of running any new stories? As Westminster returns today, they immediately recourse to re-chewing the fat over the expenses scandal. No matter that Gordon Brown has said that he will be selling off the nation's assets at rock-bottom prices, no matter that Britain is in the grip of mass unemployment, no matter that there are Greenpeace activists currently camping out on the very roof of Westminster - the journos just have to return to the same old stories about Gordon's gardening costs and Peter Vigger's duck-house. Perhaps its an easy story, perhaps they are genuinely only capable of thinking about one thing at a time - but it does seem rather depressing that the great 'fresh start' politics needs right now, is being dampened by the sordid rumblings of a scandal that is well and truly past its sell-by date.

More than just a speech...

David Cameron's speech not only set out his ideas for a better, more responsible society, but he also presented them in such a sincere manner that he has seemingly won over the minds of the people as well as those of the harshest critics. It was a personal speech, very much focused on his idea of what the problems were so providing insight into his solutions, something which until now he has been reluctant to divulge due to current instability. He did mention though, that many of his policies and targeted issues may not be able to hold centre stage if and when he came to be in government as issues would always come to light that would have to be dealt with first, so it was personality and leadership, not well thought out policies that would be needed to create a strong government. It was here that his speech differed so substantially from Mr Brown's; Cameron was frank with voters, he tried to present the facts in a way that would be accessible to everyone.
He presented his ideas clearly, stating for example that Labour's solution to the crisis was more government when it was government that created the mess in the first place. He talked about the 'steep climb' to a better society, and then the more optimistic turn his speech took as he referred to the 'view from the summit'.
People have asked what there actually is behind Cameron's wall of smiles, sincerity and promises. Very simply put, there is an ambition fuelled by a genuine desire to hep the country, and to 'reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can’t'. This is the Tory philosophy and drive, and it is this that they will stick to, not the individual, poorly coordinated promises offered up by other parties.
Cameron's speech was undeniably personal and moving, he discussed how he considered leaving politics after the death of his son in February, and praised his wife, family and cabinet for giving him hope and the desire to continue.
Whether or not this speech has done it for him, we shall have to see, but one thing is certain, if he continues what he is doing in government, we should be able to see the view from the summit a whole lot sooner than we could have expected to.

If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off.

If you save money your whole life, you'll be rewarded.

If you start your own business, we'll be right behind you.

If you want to raise a family, we'll support you.

If you're frightened, we'll protect you.

If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we'll stand by you.

If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you.

Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this:

We will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who don't

Family, Community, Responsibility

Mend the Broken Society

Fix the Economy

Fix Politics

Fix Britain's Standing

But ultimately its Character that Beats Policy

Best Quotes So Far

1) Stop treating adults like children, and children like adults

2) There is such a thing as society - its just not the same as the state!

3) State should be the SERVANT not the STATE

4) Politics is WE not ME

5) NHS is not a machine

and Finally

6) You're having a laugh mate!

7) Money for Education not Whitehall