Bring it on...

Seems our overpaid union bosses in the public sector are trying to justify their obscene wages by calling for a general strike in the coming months.

Picture courtesy of Taxpayers Alliance http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/home/2011/09/taxpayers-alliance-reveals-union-fat-cats.html

BBC.

Britain is facing the threat of mass walkouts by public sector workers after the biggest unions announced strike ballots over pensions.

Unison, Unite, the GMB and the Fire Brigades' Union will consult members about co-ordinated industrial action starting in November.
Unison's leader Dave Prentis told the TUC's annual conference the strikes would involve the "fight of our lives".
But the government said widespread action would leave the public "angry".
Ministers are seeking increases in pension contributions from next April, while millions of workers continue to face a pay freeze.
The coalition argues that rises in payments are fair and will make schemes sustainable despite an ageing population.

If it goes anything like the last lot, I wonder if anyone other than the mums of schoolkids will actually notice. Sure there might be problems if the fire brigade strike and the RMT have shown a tendency to strike over trivia (The EDL, yet not the people who support bombing tubes MAC) but overall other than inconveniencing the general public for whom they rely on for support, I rather think they will be digging their own graves. Their members will lose money, lose public support and in the end will have to bend to simple economics in that the country simply cannot afford the largesse of their current pension schemes. Still I'm sure that the union leaders themselves won't mind a bit, not as if they are going to lose out particularly, their attitude over all seems to be one of "Never mind the results, if I'm still in charge, Then everything went well" a similar attitude to many WW1 generals who felt any amount of deaths to gain a few yards of territory was justifiable so long as it wasn't their deaths.
The public will suffer (perhaps) the ordinary union member will suffer (definitely)and I'm pretty sure that if anyone dies due to the fire brigade being on strike that the headlines will reflect the anger.
Quite frankly other than the government giving up and increasing our taxes (thus committing electoral suicide) I cannot see any way for the public service unions to win this.
I suspect the ordinary members know this too, though sadly they aren't the ones who make the decisions, just the idiots on the so called left who think no price is too high to pay to have a go at a Tory government.

More about → Bring it on...

Lycraphobia

There's no doubt about it, cycling is a healthy sport, good for non impact muscle development and cardiovascular stimulation. However it seems some people do not wish to cycle as they do not want to appear weird...
Telegraph.

The fear or seeming “weird” is putting people off cycling to work, an academic study has found.

A three year research project has discovered that not fitting in, alongside “squashed helmet hair” and turning up “hot and sweaty” for meetings are the biggest deterrents for using a bike to commute.
Successive Governments have invested £150 million to promote cycling as an environmentally friendly way of travelling.
But there appears to be a long way to go before the public is convinced, according to the study funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
“I get called the bag lady, because I walk everywhere and I have quite a lot of stuff with me,” said Steph, a respondent from Leeds.
Lara, also from Leeds, complained: The helmet is a problem for me, because I just think it would make my hair a little squashed.” 

Meanwhile Joe from Leicester added: “I probably would cycle if I didn’t worry so much about image and public opinion – me arriving at a meeting hot and sweaty.”
Sally from Worcester observed: “You do get a sense of some people thinking oh, you’re a bit weird because you’re going up on the bike you know. A bit odd.”

And these are all valid points save perhaps for the turning up on a bike being weird. We have a number of guys here cycle to work, oddly enough though none of them are office staff, I rather suspect turning up to work in the office sweating buckets is somehow frowned upon, though there are shower facilities available, but then you have all the extra gear to carry and it just seems like you're doing your morning ablutions all over again. And helmet head is definitely not something a fashion conscious lady really wants to contemplate either.
So essentially the government is wasting £150 million of our money trying to get people to do what they just don't see the point of, cycling for pleasure, yes, cycling to work with a full shift ahead of you? No.
I can't see this changing a great deal in the future either, cars are just too handy if you want to turn up smart.

 

More about → Lycraphobia

At least they tried

Muslims against crusades came specifically to the USA embassy to cause a scene and celebrate the deaths of over 3000 people. That they managed to burn a Stars and Stripes Flag is their right and I don't have a problem with that. What I do object too is that the powers that be in this country have taken away their right to face the consequences of this act. The EDL attempted to stop this by occupying the demonstration site, they were served with section 14 notices and forced to move aside whilst these ranting fanatics went about their business of shaming themselves and their religion.

Image courtesy of rupertyevelyn at yfrog

Others were there to counter-protest as well, but only the EDL actually tried to prevent the MAC scum from their shameful act.
Credit where credit is due.

Nearly 400 EDL and Casuals at the US Embassy now. MAC disrupted the minutes silence and have been burning flags.
Luke

We will remember, we wont forgive, nor will we forget.

Breaking, 2 EDL stabbed in a London Weatherspoon pub after it was invaded by 8 Islamic knife wielding cowards.
Story is still breaking, but like the bus beating up of the young lady it rather looks like the police arrested 20 EDL, though there are unconfirmed reports of 2 MAC supporters being arrested too.
UPDATE
Both lads are ok and one of the EDL Angels filmed the stabbing so they will get nicked happy days

More about → At least they tried

I don't think this will work the way they expect

Kudos to the judge who decided to send Munir Farooqi to jail for recruiting jihadi's with a cumulative set of 4 life sentences, but there's a bit of a flaw in the reasoning that I can see here unless they decide that Munir Farooqi is going to be kept in solitary confinement for the rest of his sentence.
Telegraph.

A former Taliban fighter who ran a ''recruitment centre'' in Manchester for extremist Muslims to go to Afghanistan to kill British troops was today jailed for life. 

Pakistani-born British citizen Munir Farooqi, 54, was at the centre of a plot to radicalise and persuade vulnerable young men to ''fight, kill and die'' in a jihad in Afghanistan, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Farooqi, of Victoria Terrace, Longsight, Manchester, and two others were captured in a police sting when two undercover anti-terrorism police officers infiltrated his group.

Farooqi bragged to the officers how he had fought with the Taliban and told them they could become ''martyrs'' for the jihad cause.

He also found ''amusement'' in the sight of the flag draped coffins of fallen allied troops returning from Afghanistan, the court heard.

Today Farooqi was given four life sentences and told he must serve a minimum of nine years before he can be considered for parole.

Ok, once you get past the idiocy of giving someone 4 life sentences and then stating he must serve at least 9 years before becoming eligible for parole you can guess what's going to happen once Farooqi finally gets settled into the system. He's going to start recruiting new convert jihadi's, it's what he does and prisons have a problem with Muslm extremists.
Sunday Mercury.

Amid the forests and foliage of leafy Littleton sits the forbidding fortress of HMP Long Lartin, where some of the world’s most dangerous Islamic extremists swap stories, prayers and even plots.
New research from inside the lock-up’s specialist terror suspect unit suggests that regular inmates are being converted to radical Islam by the dangerous militants who are allowed to mix with other lags – and even lead prayers.
Fanatics inside the Worcestershire prison include Mohammed Hamid, 51, dubbed Osama Bin London, who encouraged teenagers to become suicide bombers during camping trips in the Lake District.

Among his cellmates are Adel Abdel Bary, an Egyptian linked to Al Qaeda’s deputy leader Ayman Al-Zawihiri, who is fighting extradition to the US for the 1998 African embassy bombings which killed more than 200 people.
Mustapha Taleb, a disciple of hook-handed terror preacher Abu Hamza, kept a prison diary about how ordinary Muslim prisoners initially avoided extremists during his time inside Long Lartin.
“When we came here first, it was harsh, harsh treatment and harsh life,’’ he said. ‘‘Even the prisoners were like scared of us, because the system here told them that these people are very dangerous, you can’t mix with them.”
But ordinary Muslims’ initial fear of the detainees soon evaporated.
“With the brothers here, our Muslim brothers in the prison, it’s OK, it is as God wills it,” Taleb wrote. “There is some kind of harmony, connection between brothers in here, praise be to God.”
They have access to controversial Islamic texts, with terror detainee Barbar Ahmad writing in a blog from his cell that: “I understand now why prison is known as the University of Islamic Knowledge.”
They are reportedly allowed to share meals, and even lead prayers with other prisoners, raising fears that radicalisation could spread to other Muslims and even non-Muslim converts.

Why do I have the feeling that we're setting the cat amongst the pigeons here and prison is the last place we want to be sending this guy? Personally I think a parachute and just the clothing he's wearing along with a plane trip over central Afghanistan is the perfect solution for Farooqi seeing as he's so enamoured of the place, if we want to be really cruel we could always shave the beard and tattoo I love Israel  to his forehead in the local dialect.
Yes I know it would breach his human rights, but I'm having a hard job regarding jihadi's and their recruiters as actually being human at the moment, something Islam at its most extreme seems to strip away from ordinary people.
What appears to have happened looks just a bit like giving a fox the keys to the henhouse.

More about → I don't think this will work the way they expect

Waiting for our own Oskar Freysinger

 Or Geert Wilders come to that



The man makes a lot of sense, yet the one thing noticeable about UK politics is the notable lack of anyone prepared in politics to actually say how it is to the ordinary people on the street.
Even the 2 party system we have is more or less designed to keep things the way they always have been, maintain the status quo. To get to the top is impossible for a maverick or personality as the compromises they have to make just leave us with recently a succession of interchangeable clones. Those who don't or can't play the game by the rules are destined to fail, just ask Gordon Brown, not that succeeding would have made him any more popular, but he might have lasted longer.
Yet when you hear what Freysinger has to say, it strikes a chord in many of the people who read it and you know that if we had a UK version he would be instantly shunned by the media and written off for not playing by the rules (as the left see it) yet like Pat Condell and others he would probably be very popular with the masses.
It's a shame the system we have turns out politicians rather than people who believe in doing what's right.

More about → Waiting for our own Oskar Freysinger

Doing what our parents did

Long, long ago back in the days of my youth people were very very careful with their money and what they would spend it on. There was little or no credit as such, occasional store "tick" but that was often measured in weeks not years like today's credit cards, there were also savings schemes like the Co-op "Divi"
Thing was people were very careful with their money as they knew that if it ran out, well you went hungry till you got paid, gardens were for vegetables mostly and anyone who had a allotment was envied.
Seems people though are heading back to those days...
Telegraph.

Shoppers are becoming increasingly "professional" as a result of the lowest consumer confidence in a generation, according to the head of Morrisons. 

Dalton Philips, the chief executive of the country's fourth biggest supermarket group, said: "We're seeing it across the country: the phenomenon of checking all the prices, of leaving the credit card at home, of being very savvy about what they are buying, buying in bulk packs and splitting the packs with friends or freezing. This professional approach to shopping, this rigour will continue long after the recession, I think. Grocery shopping is the biggest bill after your mortgage, after all."

The company said that 51pc of its customers were now checking the price of every single item before they put it in their basket, and that spending on credit cards had fallen by 8pc over the last six months, while spend on debit cards had increased by 4pc.

Its bleak assessment of the consumer economy came as it reported a strong set of figures, at the top end of analysts' expectations. Like-for-like sales increased by 2.2pc and the company claimed it was the only one of the big four supermarket groups to be gaining market share, with an extra 400,000 customers a week visiting its shops, taking the weekly total to 11.5m shoppers.

"We're encouraged by these results. It is especially encouraging that we delivered these results at a time when the economy is having such a pronounced impact on consumers. The last three years have seen the largest drop in spending power since 1980 to 1983. We are also hearing concern from our customers that there seems no end in sight. Consumer confidence is almost as low as it has ever been," Mr Philips said.

 I have to admit that the QM extended household do this sort of thing with buying in bulk and splitting the packs amongst the family. We also use our mobiles when at farmers markets and occasionally boot sales, though this is more down to the ladies being jigsaw fanatics.
People are learning the old lessons of not spending what you don't have again, often enough using the credit cards only for emergencies and setting out a fixed budget for food rent/mortgage, power, transport etc and sticking to it as their actual spending power has been reduced by price rises coupled with no real term wage increases.
Hard times in old England? Well not so much, we're still immeasurably better off than previous generations, though it's debatable whether we're happier or have more in the way of spare cash in our pockets at the end of the day. My Dad could easily afford to take himself and his 2 sons to the football on Saturday and go out drinking on Saturday night, I can't, I have to be a lot more careful with my spare cash in that sense, though I have a great deal more choice on where to spend it.
I expect a lot more families are now in the same boat, becoming more careful on where we spend what spare cash we have, we aren't poverty stricken by any means, just more choosy as and how we spend it. I don't expect this to change any time soon, if anything it will get worse as belts are tightened and prices rise.

More about → Doing what our parents did

Bet they're faked (not)

I'm not a great one for conspiracy theories, in the end it always seems to be that people can always find some evidence to prove what they want to believe no matter what. The Twin Towers attack is one of those with people constantly coming up with "proof" that it was a controlled detonation or the panes were added to the films after or even it was the wrong sort of plane.
The Moon landings are another case in point, with accusations that they all took place on a massive sound stage, that the flag waved in the breeze when a door was opened, all foundering on the simple fact that if it was a conspiracy, it would have involved hundreds of people and not one has ever come forward to admit it, ever.
Mail.
For many it is one of the human race’s greatest achievements - but ever since that first ‘giant leap for mankind’ there are some who have questioned whether man really did land on the moon.
Now, though, there’s photographic evidence so powerful that even the most hardened sceptics should be persuaded that we really did touch down on the lunar surface.
Nasa’s Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) has taken new photographs of the surface that clearly show astronaut footprints, the lunar rover and spacecraft scorch marks.

I don't doubt for a second someone will be along in a minute or two to tell us these pics are fakes, though to my mind, the USA's crowning scientific achievement has always been its lunar landing program. I listened to it back in 1969 with most of the rest of the world and was thrilled by it as much as I expect any American was too. Why some people had to try and spoil it I don't know, but the rumours were always persistant if having little or no evidence to back it up. Even the flag in the breeze was explained

Still, I was pleased to see the pics, they proved to me at least that something I felt was right is actually right.

More about → Bet they're faked (not)

Good for him

Normally I don't like the compo culture as the people most often getting hit by it are the general public as sooner or later it leads to higher taxes, premiums or prices as the people paying out seek to recoup their losses. However I'm all for people having the right to sue over someone or some organisation not doing their jobs properly.
Telegraph.

A driver whose car was damaged by potholes in Coventry has won a payout of £2,000 after taking the city council to court. 

Hamilton Bland took on the authority after it refused to compensate him for the damage to his Mercedes.

The damaged was sustained during the city's winter roads crisis in January 2010 when hundreds of new potholes appeared after freezing weather.

The 68-year-old former BBC sports commentator hopes his case may pave the way for other people to take legal action.

He took his claim to Coventry County Court after the council said it wasn't to blame.

Mr Bland argued the impact of hitting two potholes was severe, causing damage to three of the wheels on his Mercedes while he was on his way to a leisure centre for a swim.

There is a little bit more to this case in which it turns out the council had been neglecting the roads as they'd ran out of money, no doubt having to pay for all those diversity co-ordinators, chief executives and translation services. But Coventry were caught out by the fact that  Hamilton Bland simply wasn't going to take "It wasn't our fault" as an acceptable answer. If only because looking after the roads is the responsibility of Coventry Council.
This is a fundamental issue that a lot of councils have lost track of in that most people only want them to empty the bins, light the streets, trim the grass in the parks and fix the roads when they get potholes. What most people do not want their councils doing is pandering to immigrants (translation and housing) paying themselves over the odds, telling us how great they are via a printed paper and ignoring our questions when we do write to them or fobbing us off.
Yes I know councils have to deal with a lot of other stuff, but they should never forget the basics and that's exactly what Coventry Council did. Shame that it wont come out of the pockets of the councillors or the executive.

More about → Good for him

The moral bankruptcy of the left

The depths to which the left sinks when dealing with anything it doesn't understand or fears can never be underestimated.




Here we have an utter slimeball UAF mong describing an attack on a young female who had fallen off a coach carrying EDL patriots that had been attacked and clearly gloating about the violence and thuggery on display.



The attack on the coach.

The attack on the woman who had her jaw fractured but is now out of hospital.

The police? Well they arrested everyone on the coach (though not the young woman)
Fortunately the video shows despite some ludicrous claims by various Leftist and Muslim groups that the EDL had provoked the attack just exactly who the barbarians in our society are, and they aren't the EDL. You can imagine the headlines if the EDL attacked a coach of Islamists, the front page wouldn't be big enough.

More about → The moral bankruptcy of the left

They came, they saw they did a little shopping (not really)

The EDL went into Tower Hamlets today, no real trouble, no rioting (yet) and at the time of writing this had peacefully left the area and for some reason are now kettled on London Bridge (no I don't know why either)
BBC.

The English Defence League (EDL) are protesting in east London - despite a ban on marches in six London boroughs.

Several hundred protesters were outside Liverpool Street Station, a BBC reporter said. Police were escorting them towards Aldgate High Street.

BBC London's Paraic O'Brien said the atmosphere was rowdy, with a lot of shouting and incendiary chants.

There have been no clashes with rival activists. A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said it was "very quiet".

Earlier police said a group of EDL supporters had gathered outside King's Cross Station with another 500 protesters in Whitechapel.

Far be it from me to cast doubts over the numbers the police are giving out, but at least 500 were in Covent gardens, 1000 at Kings Cross, and 300 at Liverpool Street and that was at 1pm an hour before they were due to be escorted to the demo site. Overall estimates put EDL numbers at about 2,000 and no trouble other than a police attempt to arrest "Tommy Robinson" after his speech. As far as my sources can tell, there were only 4 arrests.

The activists are supposedly prevented from chanting or waving their flags while walking as that would constitute a march.

O'Brien confirmed the protest was on the move through Aldgate High Street at the behest of police and there was chanting.

I don't know who thought that banning the EDL from chanting or flying their banners would work (higher plod probably), the EDL had already said if any attempt was made to stop them then they'd return on the 22nd of October ater the ban had been suspended. Fortunately the police on the ground have far more sympathy with the EDL than the political officers running the various forces.

Twitter:
Overheard in Brick Lane, copper: "The #EDL have done what they were told, it's you lot that haven't." 

Yes, the UAF idiots and assorted Muslims who were foolish enough to believe the propaganda the UAF put out proved incapable of behaving themselves yet again.
Despite the claims that there would be violence, there was none, what happens after the EDL have left is none of our concern.
Update, apparently there was talk that the EDL didn't make it actually into Tower Hamlets, though we do have pics of a bride crossing in front of the demo in Alie Street, Tower Hamlets, also at 7pm members of the EDL were still at Mile End right in the heart of Tower Hamlets.

More about → They came, they saw they did a little shopping (not really)

Interfering with a democratic right

It's a democratic right to protest in this country as it's a democratic right to counterprotest. It's not however a democratic right to march as the idiots in the UAF found out when they called on the home secretary to ban the EDL march in Tower Hamlets and subsequently found their march banned as well. However the anti-democratic antics of the left have gone much further and their fantasy world where everyone "must" oppose the "knuckle dragging fascist/racist EDL" (their view, no-one else's) in that they have managed to secure funding and other aid from trade unions despite the fact this isn't an employment issue.
The Londonist.

Opposition groups including Unite Against Fascism are organising a counter demonstration Their website reported that the RMT had threatened to stop work on health and safety grounds if a planned muster at Liverpool Street station went ahead, which has to be one of the few occasions when Londoners might actually support a walkout. They are also calling on two Euston pubs to stop EDL members using their premises as meeting points.

I very much doubt other than in the fantasy world that much of the left inhabits that any Londoners would welcome the communist lead RMT calling a strike or a walkout on a busy Saturday in London, it really shows how much out of touch they are from reality to even express such views. I can't help wondering if the RMT remember just who set off the tube bombs and yet they have their leadership trying to stop those who seek a solution to the problem as opposed to just appeasing the problem. As it is, the EDL are not using Liverpool Street (it doesn't seem to have occurred to the imbecile left that the EDL will be coming from all over the place in all directions), nor are they using pubs in Euston, still it's typical of the left to try and deny struggling pub owners the right to make money hand over fist in these hard times.

The far-right group originally intended to march through the London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Newham, Islington and Hackney but a 30-day ban was imposed after an appeal from the Metropolitan Police over public order concerns.

No they didn't that route is sheer guesswork from you, simply setting out the areas in which the ban is in force.

The decision to ban the march has been criticised by freedom of speech campaigners – Liberty’s legal director James Welch said:

‘The police and home secretary must realise how serious it is to ban marches in a free country.’

The Met points out that it wasn’t an easy decision to make:

‘We have not sought this power since 1981 – which shows how we do not take this lightly. As far as Saturday is concerned, both parties have requested a static demonstration and we will be negotiating with them suitable locations with the aim of minimising disorder.’

Yet the EDL would not have been the ones causing the trouble, it's the opposition to the EDL who cause the trouble by stirring up hatred and suspicion within the communities where the EDL intend to march. Police officers have admitted that the EDL are disciplined and obey instructions unlike the UAF and other groups who oppose the EDL and only come for a fight.
I'll leave the final word to the EDL though...

‘Placing a ban on the EDL march gives out completely the wrong message. It suggests that it is the EDL, and not the extremism that we demonstrate about, which needs to be kept in check.’

More about → Interfering with a democratic right

I'm sorry? Whose fault was it?

I blame the government for lots of things, mostly because they interfere when they shouldn't and act like kiddies in a sweetshop when it comes to spending taxpayers money. What I wouldn't do is blame them for not doing something which wasn't their concern in the first place.
BBC.

A couple held captive by Somali pirates for more than a year have criticised the British government in a book, for failing to support their family.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, formerly of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, but who now live in Devon, said assistance offered to relatives had been "derisory".

The couple's ordeal began when their yacht was seized in October 2009.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said it had been in "constant touch" with relatives.

The Chandlers, who now live in Dartmouth, make their claims in a book documenting their 388-day kidnap.

It wasn't the British governments fault that those two idiots decided to sail in pirate infested waters, though I do believe that the government could have dusted off the old rules of conduct when dealing with piracy and wiped them out if they caught them.
Nor was it the governments job to look after the families of the two idiots other than to give them updates if anything was happening, which is what appears to have happened.
It should not be the job of any government to support families other than the normal means of support as provided by the state, even that I have railed against when it moves from support to pampering.

A spokesman for the FCO said: "Throughout Paul and Rachel Chandler's ordeal, a dedicated team from across the region and in the UK did everything we could to secure the couple's safe release. 

"HMG's policy is long-standing and well-known - we do not make or facilitate ransom payments."

As it should be, nothing more should be allowed or required. If you go sailing into dangerous waters, you only have yourself to blame if you get kidnapped and it isn't the duty of the government to look after your family in any special way if you do get captured. Keep them informed, yes, attempt to secure your release, yes. Offer your family counselling, tea and sympathy, no.

More about → I'm sorry? Whose fault was it?

Checks and balances

Before governments became so obsessed by what we think and do and all the unnecessary checks that the busybodies put into the systemwhen women who'd had a baby wanted to go back into the jobs market they could usually find a minder, often enough a family member, but occasionally a neighbour, essentially someone they trusted. Sometimes it cost them a few quid, but the whole point of doing it was so that yes they could work, but yes at the end of the day they had something to show for working. Even the registered childminders for all they weren't cheap, were still affordable, at least until health and safety regulations, followed by the now mandatory CRB checks came into force. The end result has of course been inevitable...
Express.

THE soaring cost of childcare forced 32,000 working mothers to quit their jobs in the past year, a study revealed yesterday.

Women working part-time and earning on average £8,557 are £98 worse off at the end of the month if they have to pay nursery charges.

Research by insurers Aviva found that 32,000 mothers left work to look after their children while their husbands become the sole earners.

The study also found that those in full-time work, earning an average of £17,513, have just £120 left over after paying for childcare, which can cost around £385 per month.

For children under two this soars to £729 a month.

Yep, if you can't find family or friends, you're buggered as the price you pay now goes way above what you earn if you're in the low paid sector/minimum wage area of the market. It means even if you want to work you're better off on benefits looking after your kids. Of course if you work you lose other housing and income support benefits too such is the system that has been foisted upon us.
The governments insistence on Criminal Record Bureau checks on anyone who comes into contact with kids has pushed the costs up as this cost is now factored into any payments working mums shell out, plus if you have a high turnover of staff, each new member needs a check, whether they were approved at their old place of work or not.

What the end result of this will be I do not know, it may be that more stay at home mums means better educated and behaved kids, it might even lead to the regeneration of our society back into a self help one. I doubt that was the original intention of the government though, it was all purely another attempt to dip their hands into our pockets. But as ever in these things, they've pushed it too far and some unintended circumstances has kicked in. They're losing workers in the jobs market, but kids are seeing more of their mums.
Might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all, only time will tell.

More about → Checks and balances

The gift that keeps on giving

The UK defence forces face £34 billion in cuts, the state itself is snipping back in various areas (the wrong ones to be sure but still snipping) and yet still the lunatics in charge of the Ministry of Defence manage to give away £1.7 million to Uganda in the way of a gift of helmets and body armour.
Express.

DEFENCE chiefs squandered nearly £1.7million of taxpayers’ cash on helmets and body armour for the Ugandan army last year.

The equipment was handed to the African nation as a “gift”, the Ministry of Defence’s annual accounts showed yesterday.

Rank and file military personnel, many of whom face redundancy as a result of £34billion of defence cuts, will be outraged that equipment is being given away to foreign armies.

It follows complaints that the lives of British service personnel have been put at risk by a failure to deliver body armour, helicopters and other equipment in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Other financial losses range from £5.4billion for scrapping aircraft to £2.4million for repairs after the nuclear submarine HMS Acute ran aground in a training exercise.

Another £1.7million was lost in a bizarre legal row over supply of furniture.

Yes I know that £1.7 million is just a drop in the ocean, but these days it could be the difference between some squaddie having decent gear without having to buy his own. Personally I think I could have made wholesale cuts to the nations budget, yet actually increased the money going to frontline services. Course that would mean leaving the EU, scrapping the foreign aid budget, placing a cap on council executive salaries, scrapping 90% of quango's. refusing funding for translation services, scrapping the HRA and removing foreign criminals and illegal immigrants, placing all minimum wage jobs for UK residents only and scrapping benefits for any other than mums, sick/disabled and pensioners who refuse to take them.
And that would just be in my first week as I don't believe in pushing too hard, following week I'd be taking a chainsaw to the civil service upper management (probably figuratively)
That's always been the problem with public services, they don't see what they do as being with our money, they don't have to balance budgets as there's always next year and the magic taxpayer money tree.
This needs to change.

More about → The gift that keeps on giving

Getting it wrong, twice

Sectarianism is a problem in parts of Scotland, Rangers and Celtic being the prime example of two competing factions vying through the tribal fan system of football to make their mark over a hated rival. It isn't racism as you'd be very hard put to tell the difference between the supporters without their colours, it isn't religious either, though a difference in religion goes deep within the two communities.
It's not something we're used too in England, the religious aspect anyway, though the tribal rivalries of football fans we're well used too. However what we wouldn't do, is call for a football clubs fans to not fly a flag that represents their country, after all, that would be a bit racist, wouldn't it?
Mail.

For almost 130 years the proud supporters of Berwick Rangers have revelled in the fact that they are a British team playing in the Scottish Football League.

Ok, lets get the sodding obvious bit out of the way first, whilst Berwick Rangers are a British club, so are the rest of the teams playing in the Scottish Football League! Berwick are different only in the fact that they are based in England!

They call themselves The Borderers, and proudly display both the St Andrew's cross and the St George's cross on their scarves and merchandise.
But now the club's supporters have been told that they can't show the St George's cross when attending away games - because it incites sectarian tension.

As sectarian implies religion, I cannot see how flying a flag of St George is being sectarian, what it does imply that this club is English and that it's not sectarianism we're talking about here, but racism. They aren't particularly protestant, they certainly aren't Scottish (much as many Scots would claim)
Personally I think it's rank hypocrisy of Stranraer FC to claim sectarianism, when the plain facts speak for themselves, they are indulging in racism. However by calling it sectarianism they hope to get away with it, save only that the idiots at the Daily Mail decided to do an article on it.

More about → Getting it wrong, twice

Someone is channeling me

I really should stop giving people ideas for free, not so long ago I blogged about my take on workfare in the post Talking up a Storm.I suggested that people should not receive benefits unless they take some form of job and it seems that I'm not the only one thinking along those lines, though it's a bit disturbing when it's a left wing think tank doing it.
Mail.

Workshy should be FORCED to take jobs at minimum wage or lose their benefits: Shock
A leading think-tank has urged the Government to crack down on Britain's workshy - and force them to take jobs at minimum wage.
The hard-hitting Institute for Public Policy Research report recommends people on the dole for more than a year should work or lose their benefits.
It wants a state-run scheme to guarantee a job on the minimum wage after 12 months unemployment.

The Labour-leaning think-tank said the jobs should last a maximum of six months and be no more than 30 hours a week to allow people time to hunt for more permanent jobs.
But if a job-seeker refuses to take it, he or she would lose their welfare entitlements.

Now I disagree with the government providing jobs, as they are useless at that sort of thing, however yes there is enough to do in this country to warrant some form of workfare and not at minimum wage either, could make the workfare jobs at only £1 an hour with the rest topped up in benefits. Certainly it is a way to get men espescially back into work and inculate a work ethic within them. Ladies with children though present a different problem, at least until the kids reach school age. Though call me old fashioned, I do believe that mums should be there for their kids, though balancing the system to prevent certain women having "benefit kids" perhaps setting child benefit for only the first two might get around that.
This scheme also cannot be used against the sick/disabled and pensioners, I suspect that stringent safeguards would need to be put in to prevent it becoming the thin end of the wedge.
Benefit reform has to happen, most people can see it, though everyone has a different idea as to how to go about it. I see my taxes as keeping people comfy on the state and the state unfortunately want to keep taxation high but pay it to themselves. I prefer my method of at least getting something useful out of the unemployed and unemployable, though I place most politicians in the unemployable category.
There are things that need doing, this is a way to get them done, it's definitely worth a try.

More about → Someone is channeling me

The Annual Boarding Up of properties Event

A commenter on my previous post wondered when the police would have the guts to ban the Notting Hill carnival. I suspect we all know why it's the last thing they'd do, although to put it specifically would leave them wide open to accusations of racism, far, far, easier to ban a march by the EDL despite the fact that it costs less to police an EDL event than the potentially riotous Carnival.
In the past, despite having 11,000 officers on the streets during 2008, around 40 troublemakers threw bottles and bricks at officers once the carnival had finished, while there were 330 arrests.
In 2009 the number of arrests fell to 215, including a group of 38 youths who had planned violence during the event. A 15-year-old youth was also stabbed.
In 2010 there were also two stabbings, resulting in minor injuries to the victims and were 230 arrests across the weekend, with most being for drugs offences and public disorder.
Plus the huge number of police compares with the Royal Wedding, which was deemed a terrorist threat.
Mail. 

Battening down the hatches: Shopkeepers board up windows over riot fears as record police numbers prepare for Notting Hill Carnival
Shopkeepers were today boarding up their windows over fears that the Notting Hill Carnival could descend into the violent scenes that rocked London earlier this month.
Record numbers of police will take to the streets in a desperate bid to deter the rioting and looting that spread across the capital.
There were fears that the carnival could become a focal point for unrest which lead to suggestions that the annual event could be cancelled.
But instead the annual carnival will see the highest number of police officers on duty in the event's 47-year history in the wake of the London riots.
Double the number of officers that policed the Royal Wedding will be on duty at the carnival next weekend, with the Met planning 20,000 shifts split over the two-day event, it is understood.
It is Scotland Yard's biggest public order test since the riots during an unprecedented security operation at the two-day carnival.
Businesses were boarding up their shop fronts earlier today as a precaution in the wake of the widespread violence and looting.
Police received criticism about their handling of the riots and will be keen to ensure there are no repeat disturbances.
More than a million revellers are expected to descend on the capital over the coming days for what is Europe's biggest street festival.

To be honest, unless there was actual rioting going on in London on the days leading up to the event I didn't expect a ban. Though I do expect one of two things, either it will go without a hitch as everyone will be at pains to make sure the event isn't tarnished by the riots (unlikely but possible) Or it will start off quiet and explode as it gets later. (more likely)
 Still, Scotland Yard has staged a series of dawn swoops in a pre-emptive strike to avoid trouble at this year's carnival. A total of 40 suspects have been arrested in raids across the capital which suggests some forethought by the police, but will have done little to ease tensions in the communities involved. Plus I'm quite uneasy about arresting people simply because you think they might be a problem.
I think personally that the Notting Hill Carnival has to be seen as a success by the powers that be who were quite badly shaken by the riots and if that means draconian policing it will be seen as worth it despite our civil liberties being dragged through the gutter again. Problem with overt policing though is that it does have negative consequences too.
It will be interesting to see how this goes, but I predict trouble will erupt at some stage.

More about → The Annual Boarding Up of properties Event

Being careful about what you ask for

The EDL were planning a march in Tower Hamlets which is their democratic right to do, various other groups were planning on opposing the march which is also their right to do. That those who oppose such marches by the EDL tend to be violent thugs and that they have been leafleting Tower Hamlets in attempts to stir up the local populace into a riot is also known. The recent riots and the actions of Islamic extremists in Tower Hamlets has provided the far left who see violence as the only form of legitimate protest with a heady brew in which to promulgate their lies, slander and scare stories. There were calls for a ban on the EDL march from the local council and from other groups and eventually the Home Secretary at the urging of the police stepped in to ban the EDL march, which should have been good news for the idiot socialists and extreme Islamists within and without Tower Hamlets.
Except the Home Secretary went further and banned all marches for a month in Tower Hamlets including those who oppose the EDL, cue immediate hypocritical denouncements by the left who wanted to ban an EDL march yet cannot see why their own marches should be banned as well. A classic case of the biter bit...
Socialist Worker.

We have a right to march against the EDL racists
In an unprecedented step, Scotland Yard has applied to the home secretary to ban all marches in five London boroughs for 30 days starting from 2 September.
This means that the English Defence League march in Tower Hamlets, east London, set for 3 September will be banned. But the blanket ban will also cover the counter-demonstration organised by Unite against Fascism and United East End.
The English Defence League still plan to come to Tower Hamlets to hold a static protest.
Already anti-racist activists in Tower Hamlets have put out calls for the counter-demonstration to go ahead. Socialist Worker backs all those who want to stand up to the racists. We call on everyone to come to Tower Hamlets to show that the racist EDL is not welcome.

Yes, the hypocrites believe that only they have the right to march, but it goes further, their actions have also prevented the lefts 75th anniversary of the "Battle of cable Street" march and all because they were incapable of acting like adults and were calling for violence and protest against another march.
They are only just coming to terms that if you call to take away the democratic rights of one group, it also takes away your democratic rights too.
Epic Fail socialists, Epic Fail.

More about → Being careful about what you ask for

Better safe than sorry?

Safety is an odd thing, at work the management of the place where I work have tried by fencing off the conveyors that move pallets around to make things safer for the staff who drive the forklifts by denying them access to the areas. It works after a fashion, at least until the guy who has to come along and fix a problem with the conveyors (that would be me) finds that the area is fenced off and he cannot gain reasonable access to work due to space limitations making the job in some areas quite dangerous for the engineers. Turns out all they needed was a "Do not approach/enter sign" but decided to play safe and put up barriers thus activating the law of unforeseen consequences. It's only a minor instance, but they aren't alone in their zeal to remove risk entirely from peoples lives.
HSE.

Health and safety legislation exists to protect people from real risks at, or connected with, work. But it can be hard to see this from some of the stories that are reported. Below are 10 of the most bizarre health bans or restrictions spotted in media coverage by HSE over the last year.

1. Wimbledon officials citing health and safety as a reason to close Murray Mount when it was wet
   Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Elf 'n' safety shuts Murray Mount: Fans might slip on the grass, warn officials', 21 June 2011


2. Stopping dodgem cars from bumping into each other at Butlins in Skegness
   Example media story: BBC News: 'Bosses at Butlins ban bumper cars over health and safety fears', 27 April 2011


3. Banning Royal wedding street parties
   Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Royal wedding street party? You'll need £5m insurance, love...', 13 April 2011


4. Removing an unwanted, bulky TV from a pensioner's home for recycling
   Example media story: Daily Mail, 'Pensioner, 85, paid council to remove old TV...and was ordered to drag it outside herself so workmen didn't injure themselves', 7 June 2011


5. Carnivals with fancy dress parades
   Example media story: http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk


6. Kite flying on a popular tourist beach in east Yorkshire
   Example media story: Hull Daily Mail: 'Outrage at kite-flying ban on East Riding beaches', 10 June 2011


7. Stopping pupils from using playground monkey bars unsupervised in Oxfordshire
   Example media story: Daily Mail: 'Children banned from their own playground as health and safety officials decide monkey bars are too dangerous', 8 May 2011


8. Using pins to secure commemorative poppies
   Example media story: http://www.obantimes.co.uk


9. Schoolyard football games banned - unless the ball is made of sponge
   Example media story: BBC News: 'Huyton school leather football ban safety row', 24 February 2011


10. Children no longer allowed to take part in a sack race at Sports Day
    Example media story: Metro: 'Three-legged race is given the sack'

Even the Health and Safety Executive recognises that Councils and companies are using health and safety rules as an excuse to make "unpopular decisions" banning low-risk activities often enough to make their lives easier, rather than properly evaluate the risk and train/warn the people involved. After all it's cheaper to ban than it is to buy the equipment or train the staff. Employment minister Chris Grayling said members of the public should "challenge health and safety myths" and over-zealous practices. However that's easier said than done as most people don't exactly know what the regulations are, plus have a tendency to "believe" the officials making their lives a misery. The law as it stands simply requires people to approach risks in a balanced and proportionate manner. Banning something is far often disproportionate yet it seems to be the tool of choice for those in charge, whether this is due to the current compo culture is debatable, but it certainly doesn't help. Most people actually enjoy a bit of risk or adventure in their lives it's why fairground rides are so popular and why some of us climb mountains, often enough without ropes. Perhaps we should return to the old days of "enter at your own risk" and simply seek to reduce a risk, not eliminate it altogether.

More about → Better safe than sorry?

Leave us alone!

Just been scanning the various news sites I haunt looking for stuff that interests me enough to put fingers too the keyboard, it's not all I do by a long shot, I sometimes play Baldurs Gate as well.
One of the things you tend to notice after a while is the number of health and safety scare stories out there, either designed to outrage us by over sensationalising the story, or ones that show the "health experts" don't appear to live in the same world as the rest of us.
Outrage in the Telegraph.

For 15 years, a set of disused milk crates had been providing children at an Oxfordshire school with old-fashioned fun. But that was before the health and safety zealots caught sight of them.

Now the 25 crates, which have been used as props for countless games involving ships, cars, dens and castles, have been taken away over fears that pupils could be injured on them.

"In all the time we have had the crates, we have not had a single child hurt themselves," said Anne Bardsley, a teacher at Wychwood Primary school, who described the decision to remove them as "outrageous".

The crates, once donated by a friendly milkman, were seized by Dairy Crest during a routine delivery.

Lyndsey Anderson, from the company, apologised for any distress. "Whilst we understand their disappointment at losing something they had come to view as playground equipment, it remains a fact that milk crates are not toys and current health and safety guidelines require that they should not be used as such," she said.

Mrs Bardsley explained that the pupils were always supervised while playing with the crates and that they helped creative learning. "The children absolutely loved them," she added.

No-one had ever been injured, no harm was being done, they were simply useful props. Now I'm sure the company (Dairy Crest) were simply covering themselves from some sort of claim, but after 15 years? It does seem a tad ridiculous, it's probably also cost the school some money in getting a replacement. Whatever happened to the disclaimer "you do this at your own risk"?
Idiocy in the BBC.

Experts say the health hazards of obesity may have been grossly underestimated because we are not measuring the condition adequately.

Risk calculations have focused on severity of weight gain alone and not how long it persists.

Latest research suggests every additional decade of being obese more than doubles death risk.

The researchers told the International Journal of Epidemiology a new measure is needed - the "obese-year".

Similar to the "pack-year" used for smoking, it gives a further quantification that can be used to help estimate the associated health risks.

Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, agreed: "Obesity is starting to become a problem at supremely young ages. We could see people dying before their parents because of obesity."

He said the findings could be a much needed wake up call for some.

"If the GP can say 'You have got to do something about your weight otherwise you will die at 65 rather than 75' that could be a useful scare tactic."

Yep, apparently we can't be trusted to live our lives the way we want too, someone always knows best and so they'll come up with ways to try and live longer (and more miserable) lives giving up all that can be fun in life, our own personal little pleasures simply to add a few extra years on our lives.
We pay our taxes, we fund our health service, they should simply advise us and leave it at that, not attempt to make us live healthy lives. If we want to smoke, drink or eat our way into an early grave then that is our problem, they should simply tell us the risks not try and implement policies to prevent us doing it anyway.
Most people just want to be left alone to enjoy their lives, is this so hard for the "experts" to understand?

More about → Leave us alone!