This entry was posted on
Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 at
11:25 am and is filed
under The Political Weblog Movement.

1. After publishing a post entitled “What you probably won’t read in the press”, Conservative councillor John Ward (blog) ends up with extended and unwanted press coverage (Daily Mail, Telegraph, Mirror, Kent Online)… you are permitted to be amused by that. The state allows it.

2. Yes, screaming ‘Nazi’ is surplus to requirements. But then so is bitching about that and immediately slapping Labour with a ‘eugenics’ tag. Oh, and screaming ‘Stalin’.

3. The example Lynne gives here is also surplus to requirements. In fact, it could even – with care – be classified as a misrepresentation; John Ward advocated compulsory sterilisation… but did not actually go into any detail regarding a proposed vetting procedure (he may well agree that such a worthy couple could be permitted to breed by the state).

4. Personal abuse, no matter how mild or appropriate it may seem, is also surplus to requirements.

5. No, what this debate really needs, now that John Ward has published his defence, is a copy of his original article. That would help John to better make his case that what he published was an incomplete passage (i.e something that, with care and added thought, could be improved upon) that is being actively misrepresented by people out to get him. But John Ward has decided that the “responsible” thing to do is delete that entry. For the good of the blogosphere in general, apparently.

6. What’s that? It’s still in Google’s cache, you say?

What You Probably Won’t Read in the Press
Published by John M Ward at 14:04 Saturday, 15 March 2008

One side of the Shannon Matthews story you are unlikely to read in the mainstream Press is what the police themselves know about this sorry tale. “Inspector Gadget” has it HERE. Note the “seven children” part in particular, and the implicit reasons for that…

This is just another example of “Breakdown Britain”. I think there is a case for compulsory sterilisation of all those who have had a second (or third, or whatever) child while living off State hand-outs. It would take a lot of pressures off all concerned, protect the youngsters themselves to some degree, and remove the incentive to “breed for greed” — i.e. for more public subsidy of their lifestyle (a now well-known dodge, worthever huge amounts to countless thousands of professional spongers).

With over-population being the root cause of so much that negatively impacts Planet Earth, and thus needs to concern human society, the very last thing the world needs is to encourage excessive breeding.

7. Tch. As I was writing this, John Ward deleted the more recent post outlining his defence. This is getting to be a bad habit.

8. If you publish it, be prepared to defend it or withdraw it.

9. Deleting is not the same as withdrawing, especially if you then go on to defend the substance of your deleted input (it’s part of an “uncomfortable truth”, we are told).

10. Asking someone to clarify, defend or withdraw their published opinion on an issue is not “avoiding the issue”, so… any time you’re ready John.

(waits)

UPDATE – While we’re waiting for John, take a peek at part of John Ward’s defence that has recently been removed from the Mail article. The missing text is in bold:

UPDATE – Cameron Newland – John Ward Is My Hero: Somehow, the political opposition (Labour) is trying to seize on Mr. Ward’s comments, and have gone as far as comparing his suggestions to those of Hitler. If he were legitimately trying to sterilize women on his own as some sort of vigilante, then Labour would be right to make the Hitler comparison.

Hitler was a vigilante?

UPDATE – A fresh post from John at a blog now titled ‘Former Councillor John Ward in Medway’:

Weight off my Mind
Published by John M Ward at 14:36 Tuesday, 25 March 2008

I have today, after a lot of thought, resigned from the council.

I wasn’t going to do so originally, but in today’s Soviet-style Britain, with all the pressures coming down upon us from on high and with yet more to come (as I recently reported HERE), all the indicators are that recent events have, funnily enough, afforded me an opportunity to ‘get out from under’ before even more bureaucracy hits local Councillors.

Therefore this ‘blog (which was initially just an experiment anyway) will close very soon.

As for me: I look forward to the next adventure in my life, wherever that should turn out to be — just as I did when I moved here eleven years ago, not knowing what lay ahead of me then.