Cameron Urges Us To Keep His Mates Rich.

David Cameron, shown above keeping warm this winter, has urged us all to keep our homes nice and cosy warm until next spring. "No one should be afraid to heat their home this winter," he told our reporter in an exclusive interview for the News in Shorts. "I advise people to heat one room at a time and wrap up in as many jumpers as they can." We asked the Prime Minister about the cost and the fact that many people simply can't afford to use their heating. "I'm very sympathetic, as you would expect from a warm-hearted Tory like me, but such people have to think about the wider picture. If they don't use their heating how will my mates at the energy companies pay their bonuses this year? Not burning gas and electricity this winter is positively unpatriotic if you ask me." We next asked why he refuses to stand up to the energy companies. "I often do, proposing toasts to them at the various nosh-ups they give as part of their "lobbying" activities. I've told them straight that they can't keep putting prices up unless they push some of it our way in the form of "donations" and, I must say, this system seems to be working quite satisfactorily." Encouraged by the PM's candour so far in the interview we next asked about the danger that many old people will die from the cold this winter. "I don't know any old people facing that danger this winter, do you?" he asked us in return. "I think the danger has been grossly exaggerated. I know one little old lady - I won't say who - who lives in several 200 bedroomed properties and she seems to have no problem paying her heating bills even though she has several Corgis to feed. Now I know that there are a few old codgers who used to be in what we called "the working class" but they are a vanishing minority and we are confident that long before the election in 1915 they'll be completely extinct. But I'm not an unrealistic or harsh man and I suggest they dig out their old mink coats, fox fur stoles and fur-lined riding boots to keep warm. Or perhaps they should do what I do and go to their villas in the south of France or Spain for the winter. Look at me. I'm not rich - I'm down to my last £10 million - and I'm not worried."

Tory Corruption Rolls On.

The Tories are beginning to scent defeat especially over Ed Miliband's pledge to freeze energy prices. So far there hasn't been a peep out of them on the issue. The reason? Because they can't match the policy and if, as the energy companies are threatening, energy prices are hugely inflated in anticipation of a Labour victory in 2015 what can Cameron do about it? Nothing, he wouldn't dare. And there's the rub because if his wealthy mates in the energy sector do raise prices the question will be why don't you do something about it Dave? Heads Ed Miliband wins, tails David Cameron loses. Nothing loath, however, Tory corruption is still rolling on, grubbing as much money in bribes as they can before being turfed out of office. Osborne is busy challenging the EU's attempt to cap banker's bonuses in the European Court to protect his banking pals. BT has been handed £1.2 of taxpayers money despite having a virtual monopoly in the provision of broadband internet. As Margaret Hodge has succinctly put it; “The consumer is failing to get the benefits of healthy competition and BT will end up owning assets created from £1.2bn of public money.” Meanwhile the Tory "reform" of the NHS is now leading to ever more health rationing while the bloodsuckers who have muscled their way into Britain's healthcare system courtesy of the Tory party are offering a "self-funding" option that allows those with the money to jump the queue. And, if you want to know how the Tory party is directly benefitting from all this you just have to look at the scandal involving the City brokerage firm ICAP. They were run by an ex-Tory treasurer who "donated" millions to the Tories even as his company was fraudulently fixing international interest rates. Of course the Tories are refusing to hand back the millions they have received from this crook. And so the Tory money-making scheme of accepting bribes from criminals and laundering public money through the private sector rolls on. Makes you wonder why 32% of the electorate still support these spivs and conmen doesn't it? Maybe they are just plain stupid.

Energy Companies Rigging The Market.

Two months ago the wholesale price of gas doubled because of shortages so acute that Britain had only 6 hours of supply left. At least that was the story the energy companies wanted us to believe. In fact the gas companies had plenty of gas that they deliberately kept off the market in order to force prices up. Ofgem, the industry regulator, has now swung into action and is dragging its feet on the question explaining that finding out the truth must take second place to investigating "properly" - or as the rest of us would describe it, not at all. David Cameron is so concerned about all of this that he has appointed a new advisor on energy. She is Tara Singh, a former lobbyist for British gas where her chief function was to persuade the government that stealing money from customers is fair because they are too dumb to deserve any better. She is also a climate change sceptic at a time when the Tory party want the rest of us to stick our head in the sand over the issue so they and their mates can make even more money. This, apparently, is the Tory's idea of a "coherent energy policy" designed to shape the future and infrastructure that Britain will need if our money is to be stolen by the energy fatcats in the most efficient manner possible.

When Is A Policy Not A Policy?

The answer to this question appears to be twofold - when David Cameron announces one on the spur of the moment and when it impacts on the Tories best pals. The PM's announcement yesterday, after coming under pressure over energy profiteering from Labour, was a case in point. "We are preparing legislation," he grandly announced, "to force energy companies to offer their customers the best tariffs." If the Tories were preparing such legislation then it seems to be news to them and, as the opposition has rightly pointed out, Cameron's statement actually makes no sense whatsoever. If true then its begs the first of many questions such as "What about the Tories much-vaunted faith in competition?" If all energy companies are forced to offer their customers the best possible price doesn't that mean that they must all charge the same tariff? Then there's the question of how the Tory-led government, not noted for either their intelligence or competence, will know what "the best price" actually is. The energy companies were left bemused since they seem to have no idea how such a policy could work while no discussions with the government seem to have taken place. The Department of Energy were quick to distance itself from the so-called policy denying suggestions that companies would be forced to move customers onto cheaper tariffs. They were left having to lamely explain that customers should "shop around" for the best deals. The government was left, in turn, with only one argument and that centred on the jungle of misleading information and hundreds of different tariffs that the energy companies use to baffle their customers. This, however, is not popular in the Tory party since it means that some of their best and most wealthy donators will no longer be able to steal money from a bewildered public and then pass some of the proceeds on to them.

The Cost Of Privatisation.

As ususal this winter the energy companies have joined together to put the price of gas and electricity up this winter in order to steal yet more money from us. They are citing the usual suspects - wholesale energy price rises, which never deliver a cheaper supply when they go down and investment, which seems to consist almost entirely of energy executives stuffing huge wads of cash into their own pockets. Meanwhile new figures show quite clearly that the privatised railways are also stuffing public cash into their pockets as subsidies to them far outstrip anything that was paid to the nationsalised network. Indeed the only state-run railway still in existence, the east coast line, is operating with a fraction of the subsidy paid to most private train companies. Privatisation, instead of giving us lower prices by being more efficient, has simply diverted public money into private hands for no good reason. The promised "efficiencies" and lower prices have never materialised and, instead, the public has had to watch as our money is simply stolen by executives and shareholders. Yet, despite this, the Tories are eager to expand privatisation into areas that Margaret Thatcher only dreamed of - the NHS, schools, the police and the benefit system. Their reasons for doing so are quite clear. They have noted the billions of pounds that are involved in these public services and are scheming to stuff those billions into their pockets and those of their rich pals. Essentially they are stealing the state for their own private advantage in an outrageous act of daylight robbery that is nothing short of treasonous.