Coalition MPs Are Occasionally Okay

A new campaign has been launched called ‘Feel Free To Insult Me’. Two of its main proponents are gay rights activist Peter Tatchell and Conservative MP David Davis. It simply promotes freedom of speech, even when insulting a person or group. Recently there have been a couple of disconcerting arrests: although common sense finally allowed them to be released without charge, a teenage boy was nonetheless arrested merely for holding a placard that read “Scientology is a dangerous cult”, and a student was arrested for a joke about a police officer’s horse being gay! If scientologists and homosexuals are offended by these statements, they need to grow up and chill out. So Tatchell and Davis have put their usual ideological differences aside in the hope that a law banning public insults will be repealed. Therefore, well done David Davis for resisting the traditional control freakery of the Tories. Also in the news this week, a report has been released by a ‘Conservative-supporting venture capitalist’ (now there are four words that should send chills down anybody’s spine!), encouraging reform of employment law so that ‘no-fault dismissal’ would become a great deal easier. In layman’s terms, this means employers will be able to sack an employee without having to provide a reason, thereby avoiding tribunal expenses. Thankfully, Business Secretary and Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable has stated his opinion that there is no place in British society for this type of removal of workers’ rights. This will hopefully prevent such a draconian policy from ever reaching fruition. So also a big well done to Vince for realising that the economy is not the be all and end all of politics. But of course, Davis and Cable are exceptions; don’t ever forget that the majority of the ConDem coalition government are still very uncool.

Financial Responsibility

In a week where Labour have quite rightly trounced the Tories in elections (with the exception of mad Mayor Boris!), I have actually found myself agreeing with a Conservative MP. Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has said that consumers and home-owners who took out loans, spent on credit cards and accepted large mortgages were "consenting adults … Households were spending more than they earned. That's why household debt rose … there were two consenting adults in all these transactions, a borrower and a lender, and they may both have made wrong calls. Some people are unwilling to accept responsibility for the consequences of their own choices." I wholeheartedly concur with this opinion. People who borrow money without considering their financial situation are reckless and should understand that their actions contributed to the financial crisis just like the banks’ actions did. A person should only spend what they can afford; it’s that simple. Monetary speculation is economic naivety. So in future, I strongly suggest that everyone only buys what they are able to purchase. It really isn’t difficult.