Carnage Report editor Alex Clarke recently caught up with Paul Owen, blogger, broadcaster and prolific writer of his provocative self titled blog sounding off on issues in Britain from an original, no holds barred perspective. So sit back and take peek into the rhyme and reason of one of the better political bloggers around.
Check out Paul Owen here and connect with Paul on twitter @mrpaulowen.
What inspires you to write?
There’s a complex question. I have always loved words and
reading and writing. That is a given for anyone who writes. What inspires me to write is different though. I write
because I have things I want to say that I feel others are not saying, or at
least not saying well or often enough. So I write about the things that make me
laugh, make me cry, make me angry, make me passionate. Those things tend to be
politics, religion, economics, television, radio. Well, take a look at my blog,
at the range there. Sometimes you can feel my fury. Sometimes you feel my
passion. Hopefully anyway.
Why did you choose to write about politics?
I write about politics because it
interests, fascinates, and frequently infuriates me. This government does that.
By and large I support much of what they are doing, or at least trying to do.
But is their pusillanimous approach to things, their modern PR driven wishy
washyness that frustrates. I think that is why so many felt the need to write
in praise of Margaret Thatcher. She was never any of those things. She always
said what she thought. Wouldn’t that be nice.
How do you think the conservative led coalition
government is doing?
Well, as I mentioned above, in general I
agree with much of the agenda they are pursuing. But their deficit reduction is
nothing of the sort. I don’t understand why they talked tough on austerity,
took the brickbats for it, without actually pursuing it. Look at the figures
and there have hardly been any cuts, made worse by the ring fences. This is a
government with the right instincts but without the guts to go the whole hog.
It’s very frustrating. And then of course there is the Lib Dems. But that would
take all day.
In the latest Yougov poll, Labour currently
leads the conservatives by 10 points, what do you think the conservative party
has to do to cut down Labour’s lead?
I think that process has already started.
Labour’s poll lead is very fragile, and they know it. Tories need to do what I
have been trying to do. They need to point out the policy vacuum, or the lacuna
as James Landale so elegantly put it. Despite our economic difficulties Labour
are still not trusted on the economy, and are even, it is reported, toying with
the idea of promising to spend more after 2015. They are drifting to the left,
entertaining the fantasy that the electorate are with them. They are wrong. It
is up to Tories to keep hectoring them on their deficiencies on spending,
welfare, debt and economics. They are very vulnerable.
Throughout the Welfare debate, Labour dithered
in producing an effective counter argument, why do you think that is?
Because they don’t have one. Labour created the problem we
currently face with their hand outs and immigration policy. Their line is that
we reduced the welfare bill by reducing unemployment. But they increased it
during their years of plenty. They doubled it. We simply cannot afford such
largesse, we are subsidising employers and private landlords with borrowed
public money. Labour cannot answer that because they are still stuck in a
redistributive mindset that has done and is doing enormous damage to our
economy.
With the recent death of Margaret Thatcher,
there is definitely going to be a heated debate about her legacy, what is your
position on her legacy or achievements?
My position is that we should thank god or whatever deity
you believe in that she came along at the right time. This country was in
terminal decline in 1979, she reversed that. The welfare debate of her day was
the subsidy of the various nationalised industries, of the miners and so on.
She took that on and reformed industry. It was a very necessary reform. We
couldn’t go on propping up old inefficient industries. They had to be made to
sink or swim. She forced people to confront reality. We need the same dose of
common sense in welfare today.
Much of
the press has railed against George Osborne’s implied link between the welfare system
and the tragic events of the Mick Philpott case, what do you think about his
statement?
He was just saying what many
people think, and indeed can see with their own eyes. If you offer people
perverse incentives you will get perverse results. Philpott was a monster and
an extreme. But there are plenty of people who have never worked who live very
well off benefits. Look at the 850,000 people who suddenly stopped claiming
incapacity benefit when challenged. They may not have been monsters but they were
still claiming what they shouldn’t have been. Our entitlement culture is out of
control.
Do you agree with the prime minster when he
said, in light of recent developments in the Korean Peninsula, that trident
proves must be replaced “on a like for like basis”?
No I don’t. It was a silly thing to say. North Korea is
trying its standard blackmail form of diplomacy. They have a siege mentality.
So we should let them besiege themselves until they are forced to the table
with a reasonable attitude. They must never again be allowed to offer
concessions in return for aid only to renege a year or two later and start the
process again. I think we need to remain a nuclear power, but not because
of North Korea. We need it for the reason we have always needed them. You cannot
uninvent nuclear weapons sadly. We need them because madmen will always want
them. But we should examine if there is a better or cheaper option than
Trident. If there isn’t we will have to stump up.
What I don’t like about modern politics is that
it and its main practitioners lack vision or any real ideas to solve problems
that seem to endure no matter who’s in power. What do you dislike about modern
politics or the political class?
I dislike the very existence of
a political class, people like Cameron, Miliband et al who have never had
proper jobs outside politics. How can they claim to be able to lead, to
legislate for the rest of us when they have no outside experience to speak of.
They go from university, to policy wonk jobs, to MP. That’s wrong.
If you were prime minster, what changes would
you make to change Britain for the better?
The first thing I would do is radically cut
the size of Whitehall, starting with the number of Cabinet ministers. Some
departments could be abolished and nobody would notice the difference. There
would be a proper purge of quangos. I would start a scheme to give jobs to
anyone unemployed for longer than 12 months on jobs on the minimum wages, jobs
they would not be entitled to turn down. I would offer an immediate referendum
on our membership of the EU with the recommendation that we get out. I would
legislate to turn the NHS into an insurance scheme with hospitals and other providers competing
for our insurance money rather than the present unwieldy centrally driven Kafkaesque
nightmare. That would do for the first 100 days!
I know
there are many of them but are there any blogs you would recommend to read?
Dan Hodges in The Telegraph is a must read.
His analysis is usually spot on. I always enjoy Rod Liddle’s provocative thoughts,
along with James Delingpole. And Watts Up With That has been superb at exposing
the lies and hypocrisies of the global warming industry.
What do you think of the recent
decision to make the Bank Of England one of the strongest central banks in the
world?
It’s a welcome reversal of the mess created
by Brown and Balls. But it does depend on who is in charge. Time will tell.
Do you have any political
heroes?
Margaret Thatcher, Churchill, Keith Joseph,
Gladstone.
Much has been made about class
in recent weeks in light of the welfare debate; do you think class is still
important in modern Britain?
No. The only class problem we have is with
the aforementioned political class. I don’t think Britain’s problems are a
class problem, they are born of politicians who don’t understand the people
they govern, and the problems the last 50 years of ‘progressive’ policies has
created. Our education system is letting people down, and our welfare system is trapping in poverty those who cannot
or will not work their way out. We need another Thatcher type figure to address
these problems, someone who comes from and understands our working class
Final
Question, How do you see Britain’s future?
I am an optimist. I think this
government is doing many of the right things. The worry is that they will be
only half done before they lose an election. But Labour are retreating into
their comfort zone which should give us hope. Even if they were to win in 2015
the chances are that they would make as big or bigger mess as they did last
time. Then would be the opportunity to really change Britain before it is too
late. But as a patriot, I would rather they never get the opportunity. We don’t
want to go down the same road that France is currently on.
