The 2008-9 Guide to Political Blogging

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My UK trip

My long-time dream is coming true. I have finally saved enough time and enough money for a carefree trip to the United Kingdom. It was not an easy task, but I managed to convince my girlfriend Barbora to give up her beloved Mediterranean sea and spend this holiday with me in my beloved rainy Great Britain.

On August 14 we will set off for the Bratislava Airport and take the Ryanair flight number FR2315 to Standsted. We'll stay in the UK for the rest of the month and with a little help from National Express we plan to visit places like Cambridge, Brighton, Canterbury, Oxford, Bournemouth, Stratford upon Avon or Colchester and meet some of our UK friends. I have also booked tickets for Edinburgh International Festival where we’re going to see some theatre performances.

Do you think that I have chance to bump into Gordon Brown in Suffolk? :-)

The triumphant leader

CH's Tory Diary has announced impressive figures for David Cameron following the recent survey. The satisfaction rate among the Conservative Party grassroots is 'sky-high'.

Well, who could be surprised? With electoral success in local elections and by-elections, with steady 20% lead in the polls, with tired Heathcliff in Number 10, with economy about to fall, with families suffering from high prices & high taxes and with unions demanding return of the 70s, Cameron's Conservatives appear to be in tune with nation. Dave looks more and more like a real leader with substance and proves he's changed public's perception of the Party for good. And grassroots have appreciated his performance by these figures.

No one can say that I've had absolutely no objections to the Cameron Project, but I must acknowledge that I've always kept my fingers crossed for David, wish him well and defend him in arguments with non-conservatives. And when he made a decision I could not accept (like on grammar schools or matching the Labour spending), I 'prayed' that he'll make up his mind. Now I am also in upbeat mood and believe that Tories will the next election. Thanks to David Cameron.

Kosovo question

Last week Slovak government announced that our country will refuse to accept passports issued by the government of Kosovo. If a citizen of Kosovo find himself/herself being on the Slovak territory, he/she will be considered to be an illegal immigrant despite having a valid Schengen visa.

PM Fico repeated the official Slovak stance on the issue of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence. He compared it to the 1938 Munich betrayal, i.e. the agreement that allowed Nazi Germany to annex large parts of the then Czechoslovakia and he hasn't excluded the possibility that our country will never recognize Kosovo because its creation as an independent state was a violation of international law.

This question is one of the few that bring the Slovak political spectrum together. With the exception of the Hungarian minority party, all political subjects (whether they are just pro-European or fanatically pro-European) agree upon refusal of Kosovo independence. Its roots can not only be found in a moved history of the 20th century (when Western countries enabled Nazis and their allies from "anschlussed" Austria and Hungary by series of agreements to seize nearly half of our country's territory, while Czechoslovak representatives weren't invited to the talks with Hitler), but also in a lurking feeling of general public (that is consistently being abused by politicians, especially by the Slovak National Party) that Hungarian minority living in the south is a threat to our state's most important interests and that they still plan to break away and become part of Hungary.

The latter is of course nonsense and can be described only as a vulgar nationalism of some politicians that secures them votes of less educated (yet numerous) voters, although a behaviour of some Hungarian representatives hasn't been very helpful in order to calm down the situation.

But back to Kosovo. The reaction of the Slovak Republic is similar to that of other countries concerned about possibility of a recurrence of identical scenario in their own case, for example Spain (and their problems with Basques) or Israel (conflict with Palestinians). But the list is much much longer: Transnistria, Kashmir, Chechnya, Kurdistan, Turkish Cyprus, Corsica etc.

I do not like talking rubbish about international law and its unbreachability of the international law as I think that you cannot always play by the rules if facing a danger that knows no bounds (terrorists, rough states...), but Kosovo really set a precedent that a state territory is not ‚sacred‘; that it is no more a matter of an exclusive state's sovereignty and that there is an option for a certain part of it to declare independence without a consent of a central government and still be recognized by international community.

And this is simply something I do not like.
If you have a different view of things, let me know in the Comments.

Scorched Earth: Where do I stand?

I presume that my previous post on David Davis has not pleased Mr Dale, so to placate him, I dare to recommend his today’s DT column. I must say that regarding the newest Labour ‘Scorched Earth‘ policy and Tory response to it, I am in this together with Iain. Here are just some lines from his article I like the most:

‘I hate to say it, but if they truly mean what they say on tax, the Lib Dems are in danger of being in touch with the overwhelming majority of the British people, who are now feeling overtaxed, over-regulated and over-governed. Clegg has tapped into the Zeitgeist and may reap the electoral rewards. … I have no doubt that both George Osborne and Cameron are instinctive tax-cutters. But they haven't felt able to say so in such overt language as Clegg. Instead, they came up with one of the more vacuous political slogans ever invented - "sharing the proceeds of growth". It is time to ditch that mantra. There may well not be any growth of which to share the proceeds.‘

And this is what Iain twittered yesterday after finishing his article:

‘I rather worry about the effect of my Telegraph column tomorrow... Gulp.‘

You don’t need to be worried, Iain. You’re 100 per cent right!

Why David Davis cannot be Cameron‘s Shadow Cabinet pick in this new reshuffle season

After a lost vote on the Counter-Terrorism Bill that introduces 42-day-long detention period without a charge one of the big beasts of the Tory Party and a grassroots' favourite, David Davis, quite unexpectedly resigned from the post of Shadow Home Secretary as well as from his parliamentary seat, triggering a by-election that he was then fighting on the issue of preservation of traditional UK civil liberties. With 72% of the vote (turnout at 34%) David Davis was returned to the Westminster by 'his' Haltemprice & Howden constituents practically unopposed. These are the well-known facts.

I must say that on June 12th, the day when DD announced his resignation, I was really confused. First the agencies released the breaking news that Davis had resigned and an hour later we all got to know why he did so and what Davis' next steps would be. The hour in between was full of speculation.

Yes, I've always been David Davis' fan. In 2005, after Dr Fox's elimination, he was my number 1 choice for the party leader. He was a heavyweight of the Shadow Cabinet giving Cameron's frontbench an aura of substance and credibility.
Though I shared his views on detention limit only up to a point, I understood and respected his decision. I was impressed by his deep conviction and great courage to step down and fight for the cause he believes in. I supported him (although not actively by leafleting etc. as many of my blogging colleagues did) throughout his whole re-election campaign. I admire the man and support him even now. And I want nothing more than to see David Cameron to promote David Davis, now the backbencher, back to the portfolio of Shadow Home Secretary.

But unfortunately there is an obstacle I cannot pass by without notice. The obstacle's called "a teamwork".

What David Davis did, was not dissimilar to an unguided missile. No pre-warning, no prior consultations.
He helped Gordon Brown to escape intrusive questions about a narrow passing of the vote and about the price he promised to pay for the DUP support.
He also caused immediate pressure on David Cameron who had to act cautiously, find proper replacement to fill Davis' place as Shadow Home Secretary, be seen standing firm behind DD in public and face new doubts about their relationship. Last but not least H&H by-election costed the Party and its donors money.

I am not close to Cameron's inner circle. I just know people who know people ... who are close to Cameron's inner circle, but despite the fact I am sure that loners are of no use in party politics. Of course, politicians are usually great individuals, but politics is like football. To win the world cup, you cannot have 11 fantastic strikers. You need defenders and those who assist too. In this game DD was no scrub, but in spite of it, he tackled his own captain and kicked the ball out while trying to score a long-range goal from within his own penalty area. I know this comparison isn't very good. I just wanted to suggest that according to me David Davis' tactics was not very brilliant and as a matter of fact he weakened the Shadow Cabinet. And no doubt he would continue to serve his ideals better inside the Shadow Cabinet than on the backbenches!

These are the reasons for David Davis' current political exile. The most frequent expectations about his future are that he will get a chance to return to the frontbench no sooner than after the next general election. And because a week in politics is a very long time, it is hard to tell if the chance is likely to come.

Bathory movie

I‘d like to draw your attention to the newest Slovak movie (well, in fact it is a co-production with mainly Czechs taking a major part in it).

It’s called Bathory and it’s about a beautiful noble woman from Slovakia (then the Upper Hungary as a part of the Austrian Empire) who lived in the 17th century. Her name was Erszebet Bathory. She was a rich widow of a war hero, having more wealth than an emperor himself. Her seat was in Cachtice, some 60 kms away from Trnava (about 100 kms from Bratislava). Bathory is well-known as a bloody countess because she reportedly killed more than 650 young girls. She tortured them and enjoyed a hot tub full of their blood that should have keep her youth and beauty. As a greatest woman-murderer of all times she is enlisted in the Guinness Book of Records. More HERE and HERE.

The movie offers a new (controversial, but historically well-founded) look at the famous story suggesting that Countess Bathory became a victim of a dirty plot against her in a bid to seize her big estates. Palatine Thurzo who led the conspiracy took the advantage of Bathory’s relish for quite cruel medieval treatment methods that resulted from her illness and accused her of being a murderer and a witch.

After nearly two decades of our cinematography’s decline (there were years when not a single movie was shot) the movie industry slowly raises its head. This year estimated numbers are on nearly 20 movies produced! With this historical motion picture, running time of which is 140 mins and budget over € 10 mil., Slovak film-makers appear to finally learnt how to behave in a free market economics. Its good that they stop begging for money from the state budget and that big business learnt to support even this kind of art.

One way or another the movie is worth to see and I was leaving the cinema more than just satisfied.

And what's next?

It took me more than a week but I've finally completed the retrospection of past events that I neglected during my long blogging break. I hereby not only resume blogging, but I also resume normal blogging regime, which means no more looking back. From now on I am going to publish current stories again. I am going to follow the latest news. I am going to comment on what’s new. And of course I am going to keep the word and post on a regular basis.

Here are the issues I'd like to mention in the next articles on this blog:

- Haltemprice and Howden by-election - Did DD do the right thing?

- Gordon Brown in Wuthering Heights
- Conclusion of the Czech-U.S. Radar Treaty means a lot to this region
- Shameful proposal to change rules for forming factions in the European Parliament
- Unbelievable arrogance of the Europhiles regarding the Lisbon Treaty
- Is there at least one reason why a conservative should support Barack Obama?

- Enormous amounts of Polish, Czechs, Slovaks, but also Muslims and Asians threaten cohesion of the British society

- My August trip to the UK is something my mind is fastened upon these days
- A thief stole my gf’s handbag with all her money and papers (Bad luck as it was the third time in the last five years!)

But who knows... maybe I will blog on something completely different...

14 months in Slovakia: Presidential Hopefuls

In May 2009 Slovaks will go to the polls to elect their new head of state. So far (i.e. since becoming an independent state in 1993) our country has got no luck with regard to the men holding the presidential post. Michal Kovac, Rudolf Schuster and Ivan Gasparovic have been nothing more than just harmless puppets with embarrassing speeches and no authentic views at all. It is only symptomatic that all these three persons (do not confuse with 'personalities') were active during the Communist regime.

We can only be truly envious of the Czechs whose president, Vaclav Klaus, is one the greatest right-wing figures of the world. Professor Klaus does his job with dignity, nobility and elegance, serving his nation in its best interests, but still holding on to his deepest conviction of a classical liberal with everything that annoys socialists of all kinds like free market without attributes, euroscepticism or opposition to current green madness.

But back to our regrettable state of affairs:

So who are the presidential hopefuls who have a real chance to fill the seat in the Grassalkovich Palace? It looks that there are just two serious contestants: incumbent president Ivan Gasparovic (favoured by the ruling socialists and nationalists) and Iveta Radicova MP (member of the SDKU-DS, joint candidate for the opposition centre-right parties, former Labour minister in the previous reformist government).

Any of them doesn't deserve a vote from the convinced right-winger who expects from the head of state a little more than pure empty conformist phrases!

There are of course other candidates as well, but with a minimum chance to succeed. Among them is an old Communist lady (Dagmar Bollova), a chronic founder of Christian Democratic parties (Ivan Simko) or wise, witty and honourable man who can never win (Frantisek Miklosko). Only the People's Party still hasn't announced whom they are going to support (they don't have good relationship with Mr Gasparovic since he left the People's Party in 2002) or whether they will nominate their leader, Vladimir Meciar, for the third time in a row.

In 1999 the Constitution was changed and an indirect election of the president by the parliament was replaced by a direct election by voters. Those who want to be official candidates must be nominated by 15 MPs or collect 15.000 voters' signatures. If there is no outright (50% + 1 votes) winner in the first round, there will be a second round in the two weeks' time with just two strongest candidates from the 1st round.

14 months in Slovakia: Loss of Memory

Some days after the media published information about Jan Slota, leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS), that in the early 70s he illegaly crossed the border into Austria where he lived off shoplifting and carstealing, Slota proposed to abolish the Nation's Memory Institute (UPN) which had been the original source of the information.

The Nation’s Memory Institute administers the archives that belonged to the Communist secret intelligence service as well as to security forces of the WWII Slovak independent fascist state. The institute examines the files on operations of the secret services and on people that the secret services spied upon and they make the files available to the public.

People’s Party (HZDS), the leader of which was a Communist secret intelligence service’s collaborator (click HERE), was the first to gave a helping hand to the nationalists as they opposed the UPN since its founding.

The Prime Minister rebuffed the calls for a preservation of the institute and said that: ‘the fate of the UPN is an issue that only journalists take interest in‘ and added: ‘People talk to me on how they live, what about the euro, what will happen with pensions and about highways. Nobody is really concerned about this issue.‘

The final fate of the UPN was then decided by the Coalition Council. The UPN will be retained as an institution having unchanged position. For the time being.