Sim-O

Back at the beginning of June Old Holborn asked his MP an interesting question and I wondered what my MP, Nicola Blackwood, would say to it as well.

The question is regarding how to remove ones consent to be governed…

I’m not an anarchist or a troublemaker, I’m just asking you a simple question.
How do I withdraw my consent to be governed?

After one false start, as I forgot to include my address which is MPs’ need so they know they are conversing with a constituent, I have received an answer.

It’s not as interesting as the question…

Dear Sim-O,
Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate your strong views on this subject, and thank you for raising them to my attention.

Is that it? No ‘I’ll get back to you about this’ or ‘WTF? Get to fuck you timewasting troll’. Just a simple ‘Yeah, whatever’.

So. Lets’ try again…
Dear Ms Blackwood,

Is that it? Are you thinking about it? Don’t you know? Can I expect a more substantive reply in a few more weeks when you’ve found out?

I realise it may be one of the more unusual questions you’ve been asked, but you haven’t addressed my question of how I withdraw my consent to be governed, just given me the brush off.

Regards

Old Holborn posed an interesting question to his MP and I wondered how my MP would answer.

So I asked her…

Dear Ms Blackwood,

You’re my Member of Parliament Let’s be honest, you’re not there to represent me or my wishes, that’s why you joined a political party.

You won the election, even though most people in the Oxford West & Abingdon constituency didn’t vote to be represented by you in Parliament so now I’d like to ask you a very simple question.

How do I withdraw my consent to be governed by you?

I’ll assume you believe that the population are governed by consent and not force, so how do I withdraw mine? You see, I don’t want anyone to represent me in Parliament. I want to be free of other people assuming responsibility on my behalf, making laws on my behalf and raising taxes on my behalf. I want to be free of all the Statutes and Acts you guys spend your days creating “on my behalf”, “with my consent”.

I’m not an anarchist or a troublemaker, I’m just asking you a simple question.
How do I withdraw my consent to be governed?

Or MUST I be governed and taxed? I know if I refuse to pay whatever taxes you decide are in my best interests, you will put me in prison, I know if I refuse to abide by whatever laws you decide are in my best interests, you will put me in prison and I’ve decided, actually, that’s not a very good deal. Not in “my best interests” you might say.

Before you decide that MY paying taxes is in the best interests of everyone else, remember that I was born a free man, not a labouring serf to whom you can dictate that half my labour must be used for the betterment of others, or else I will go to jail. That is akin to slavery or bonded labour, something made illegal in 1956 by the UN. I demand nothing of Government and in return, ask that it demands nothing of me.

Well, Ms Blackwood? Am I free or am I only free to attempt to choose my master who will inflict his laws and his taxes upon me in an election? In which case I am not free and my labour belongs to the State, regardless of which political party holds office. A bonded labourer if you prefer.

I await your response. Please don’t use the “you are free to find somewhere else to live” argument, I was born here, here I will stay, and am perfectly capable of governing myself thanks. So, how do I withdraw my consent to be governed by you or Parliament and NOT be thrown in prison by you? Am I free or am I trapped in what Conservatives used to call a “closed shop”? Am I merely your servant whilst you pretend to be mine?

Nadine Dorries seems happy to be seen to have someone making threats of violence against people for her, or so it seems by her silence on the subject. This is position that Nadine is putting herself in is not good, so I thought a she might need someone to have a quiet word in her ear.

Nadine isn’t going to listen to me, obviously, so off went a letter to my MP, Dr Evan Harris…

I am writing because a friend of mine, Tim Ireland, could do with your help.

For a fuller background to the story you will want to read the web pages listed at the end of this letter. It won’t take long, but the abridged version goes like this:

As one of the results of uncovering the source of a supposedly Islamist hit list of high profile people in The Sun newspaper, Tim has received serious threats of violence to him and his family from a group calling themselves ‘The Cheerleaders’. The ringleader of this group, and also of a music band called ‘The Fighting Cocks’ whose members have also been involved in this, is called Charlie Flowers. These groups know where Tim lives and have proved it by publishing his home address on the internet and there is no reason to doubt their sincerity with these threats.

Charlie Flowers has claimed that this campaign of harassment against Tim is being carried out on behalf of, amongst other people, Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-bedfordshire.

(the claim is here: http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/friends-of-the-cheerleaders-wade-in-with-evasions/#comment-12040)

Tim has contacted Nadine to get a denial that she is involved but a response is not forthcoming.

What I would like you to do is to speak with Nadine Dorries and maybe explain what sort of position she is putting herself in, and the reputation of MPs in general, by refusing to answer, or simply dismissing, this allegation that threats of violence are being issued in her name. I am quite sure I do not need to explain to you what that position is.

I look forward to your reply.

Background:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/sep/15/sun-alan-sugar-error
http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/dominic-wightman-the-story-of-an-encounter/
http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2009/09/26/harrassment-against-tim-ireland/
http://barthsnotes.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/friends-of-the-cheerleaders-wade-in-with-evasions/

I was just thinking this morning about how much longer I would have to wait for a reply to this email to Ocado about their claim to be ‘as green as walking to the supermarket’ when early this afternoon a response plops into my inbox…

Dear Sim-O,

Thank you for your e-mail.

The claim that ?Ocado is greener than walking to the supermarket? was a conclusion that was reached by an independent Carbon Footprint Assessment agency called Greenstone and not by Ocado.

The centralised warehouse which every order is picked from means a small supply chain and massive energy/resource efficiency at every level of the business.

Greenstone compared our unique picking model to several well known supermarket chains. These chains emit huge amounts of carbon as they have countless stores around the country, all consuming electricity, using chillers etc. All of these stores have long supply chains from suppliers driving up and down the country. Building new stores generates high amounts of carbon, while Ocado can still grow within one Warehouse.

The most recent comparison in May 2009 of Ocado to ?traditional supermarkets? across the same detailed categories showed that we had a lower carbon footprint. This did not take into account the huge additional carbon footprint of traditional stores from customers traveling to them each week by car.

Hence it was concluded independently that Ocado is greener than walking to a supermarket

For more information on the survey itself, you can contact Greenstone in the following ways:

Greenstone Carbon Management Ltd,
4th Floor,
Vigo House,
1-4 Vigo Street,
London W1S 3HT.

T: +44 (0) 20 3031 4000
F: +44 (0) 20 3031 4001

E: info@greenstonecarbon.com

I hope this has been of assistance.

A customer service bod

Fair enough*. I’m not gonna try and see the survey for myself as, frankly, I can’t be arsed.

*I think I was a little unfair in this tweet as I read it quick and misread it.

Ocado, online grocery home delivery service, claim on their vans that they are ‘as green as walking to the supermarket’ and on their website has the statement…

With such a lean, efficient operation, we’ve been able to lower our carbon emissions to the point where each Ocado delivery now has a lower carbon footprint (CO2 per £ of sales) than walking to a supermarket.

I’m buggered if I think how driving a van can produce less CO2 than walking, especially as at the moment they are using biodiesel and not something like hydrogen fuel cells which produce only water (not counting all the CO2 produced in the ‘manufacture’ of the hydrogen). I wouldn’t have given it much thought if the claim had been nearly as little as walking, but less…?

So I sent them an email…

To: ocado@ocado.com
from: Sim-O
Subject: your CO2 output

Sri or Madam,

On your vans you claim…

We’re as green as walking to the supermarket

and your website also carries the statement…

With such a lean, efficient operation, we’ve been able to lower our carbon emissions to the point where each Ocado delivery now has a lower carbon footprint (CO2 per £ of sales) than walking to a supermarket.

Could you substantiate that claim, please. It is a big claim and it has to be true otherwise you would not be able to make it, but I am puzzled as to how.

What are you counting as producing CO2 in each type of journey? How far back through the delivery chain are you going? What, exactly, are you comparing for each type of journey?

What are the figures and the maths that enable you to make such a claim?

Kind Regards

I’m not trying make a point, get some info so I can point my finger and yell ‘Cpaitalist Charlatan Pigs!’, but genuinely puzzled. Just by the fact that the van has a driver puts the van on an equal footing with the pedestrian. Doesn’t it?