Relaxing day, just pottering about.
Not really being doing all that much today. Renewing our passports. All except mine run out over the next few months and my son is 16 and needs his own. Mine still has a couple of years to go but I applied for a new one to miss out on the price rise due to the KGB style work that will start in February. In addition I applied for my Shotgun license. That will be interesting. It will be a paranoia test as there is no reason I should not get one.
Starting to look properly at my XMas lists. I've already got the easy ones. The ones that don't require thinking. There will be more though required for the rest. I'm off from the 9th December so I'll have plenty of time for relaxation as well as getting our XMas sorted out.
I've just finished watching Stargate Atlantis and now I'm off to check my EMails and have a browse across the web.
Treating the symptoms not the disease.
There seem to be many articles in the news over the last few months regarding crime such as shootings and stabbings. It seems that many of us are ignoring our laws regarding the possession of weapons which shoot and stab.
Anyway, it seems that we are yet again following a process that has worked so well with guns with knives. By setting mandatory minimum sentencing. Now I remember reading a while ago that the Government were concerned about the number of well to do people, company directors and the like found with pistols for protection. I never seen the conclusion of that discussion because I didn't come across it again. A search came up with millions of records so I gave up. Anyway, it now looks like they are looking at following a failed process with, err, the same process with
knives. How typical.
I must confess it is a bit of mystery to me how our Government can ignore facts and continue down the path they are taking. But who am I? I am not a qualified politician. As an engineer, in a way, I tend to examine things and work out a way forward then examine that for repercussions and only if satisfied it will cure the original problem and not create any more do we implement it. Politicians on the other hand are professional liars and can argue black is white with no evidence whatsoever and are bound to follow the process in the
politicians dilemma. Let's not confuse the issue with facts.
Now I don't know about you but I have carried knives around for years. In 1989 I, as well as every UK employee, was given a Swiss army knife by the Swiss firm I was working for as a thank you for massive profits that year. I've carried on my keyring ever since. It has two blades each being below the current legal minimum length. Will I need to replace this with a Swiss Army screwdriver? But screwdrivers and nail files can be used as stabbing tools as well. In addition I have another knife that was longer than the minimum by about 2mm which I ground down to about 1mm below the minimum and made really sharp. I use this for cutting string, opening boxes and letters and general cutting chunks out of things, although of course not people, yet.
If this new law comes into force it looks like it will mean I will no longer be able to carry the knives around. So the development of our ancestors of tools to perform specific actions will have been wasted all because some people use them for bad purposes. History, even over the last few years, has shown that when something is difficult to get we find alternatives. So in five years time we will be reading about mandatory minimum sentencing for carrying screwdrivers.
Now what they should really do is, no surprise here, punish those that use any weapons to attack other human beings. Put them in prison for mandatory minimums and let the law abiding people carry what they want as useful tools.
Q: What is the difference between a skunk lying in the middle of a road and a politician lying in the middle of the road?
A: There are skid marks in front of the skunk.
Licensed to Kill.
Reading this article about increasing sentencing for men who kill their partners and reducing sentences to women who kill theirs. Read more
here.
Now it seems to me that sentencing should be done in such a way as to make the victim and the killer sexless. The crime should take all the factors into account and the guilty should, after a fair trial, be punished the same regardless of sex.
The implication of this is that all men who kill are animals and deserve a longer sentence than those poor delicate women who kill and don't deserve jail. They should increase the minimum sentence for killing under any condition and enforce the existing laws so that the abused, men or women, get protection from the abuser. They also need to go to jail for assault if they do physical assault. No appeal for clemency with the abused. Person makes complaint, police investigate, pull a few off speeding duty or something, and then if a case they go to jail. No dropping the case. If the accuser then changes their mind then they get done for wasting police time and have to pay the speeding fines they would have generated.
As this is now it is yet another victory for the feminists and another feeble giving in by our law makers. What happened to truth and justice? Justice is blind and all that. I think justice is looking a bit to closely at some of these cases and perverting itself in the process.
Setting priorities.
Reading this about providing aid to Africa and the targets set to do so made me think about where we are going. Read more about our aid to HIV victims
here.
Now, I'm all for providing this type of aid to developing nations as I believe that we as a people should help where we can. My concerns are that it should be part of a global plan administered by the UN or something and should included economical aid to ensure they are developing into something self sustaining. Unfortunately, I don't believe this plan is in place, we seem to be using a sticking plaster to cover wounds and not dealing with the underlying problem.
Couple this with the statements that we are going to have to work longer as our pensions are not sufficient makes me think that we have our priorities wrong. We are saving people from dying early so they can't then feed themselves so we have to provide that as well and at the same time we have to work ourselves into the grave with no relaxation at the end of your career.
Don't worry about illegal immigrants getting our hard earned money. They can stay at home and get it.
We need to sort our priorities out and make a viable plan that gives us what we have earned, a hassle free retirement, and also helps the rest of the world. Not looking for short term brownie points just prior to the next election.
NHS Dentistry is bad enough now without it being made worse.
Trying to get an NHS dentist in the UK is difficult enough. I know a couple of people who have been trying to get one for a while and there is a waiting list of several months. Now it looks like it could be getting worse. Read more
here.
It seems that our beloved leaders have added a clause into the new contract with the dentists that they are unhappy about. Unlike us they are not taking this crying and biting the pillow but are instead taking some direct action. Even if a small percentage do leave the NHS it will leave our NHS dentistry in chaos.
And it's not like we can get away with a fully private dental service. Many people need this and, yet again, we are paying for this already with our taxes. Do we want to end up looking like the US in our healthcare?
New Toys. While they are still toys.
Went out yesterday and bought myself and my son some new toys.
Thought it was about time he learnt how to use an air rifle. So I bought him a relatively inexpensive model a
B3 as a starter. Reasoning being is he doesn't seem to stick with things long, except computers, so nothing expensive and I want him to learn the basics so no gas bottles just a basic springer with no extras. We got the .177 version. I then spent a bit more on myself. I bought a Logun
Domin8or. I bought the .177 shrouded version. It is light enough for my weak arms, it weighs less than six pounds, and it is really accurate. I've already aligned the scope and been blowing little holes in targets all day and in some cases blowing holes in my pot stands. Also bought a
Gamo P800 air pistol, also .177, and lots of pellets and targets.
Craig has been trying his out and considering he is new to it he seems to be a good shot with it. Way too much time on
Silent Scope at the arcades.
We have agreed some basic rules regarding storage and handling which are quite stringent over and above the general rules everybody should follow. It will limit his use especially during the winter months but hopefully he can still practice in the back garden. Our back has a concrete garage as a back stop and I have set up some roof tiles and carpet covering just behind the targets. This gives about 6 sq feet of hard backstop before the garage. We are shooting within a foot of the centre with the rifles easily enough.
It's been really windy today so coupled with the fact it is cold with our wind chill factor added, or subtracted to be accurate, it must be down to minus something. So we have been freezing our butts off while setting all this up and shooting off half a tin of pellets through all three weapons. He doesn't like the pistol and prefers the rifle but I find the pistol easy to use and comfortable to hold. Having had experience before it just felt comfortable and natural.
So we will see what happens with his accuracy. It won't be long before he is better than I am and if he keeps it up I'll get him something better next year sometime.
Next thing he wants is to go clay pigeon shooting again. That is a bit more expensive. I've applied for a shotgun license so that will help. Don't have to pay for an instructor every trip. That will make a saving.
Well. Why don't we survey everything across the country?
Reading this poll on the drug Khat. It seems that a poll has voted to support moves to make the drug illegal when it is currently legal. Read more
here.
Well, I always question these polls since I listened to '
Yes, Minister' regarding national service.
For one thing I don't know squat about khat. (It rhymes in my head) But it seems to me the argument about khat could be used as the same argument about alcohol and 24 hour opening. It's all about self control. It is worse than cannabis? What of the polls supporting cannabis being made legal? Funny how they always chose to make things illegal rather than the other way.
Maybe they should survey everything across the UK population and let's see what we really want. Doing it properly and not some made up one sided questions that lead to the answer they want.
Makes you think.
This article on a burglar being prosecuted made me think. It just goes to show how unusual these types of prosecution have become when this makes it on the UK front page of the BBC site. Read more
here. Oh by the way. He is pleading 'Not Guilty' but our boys in blue think they can connect him. Only think?
Government project's. A recipe for disaster?
Seems like whenever you look at any significant Government Project there are massive and expensive failures predicted or actually happening. Read an article on the latest MoD overspends
here.
You would think from this that it was a fault of the project management community and managers in those areas rather than the people that request the project. In some cases that is true but when you compare public projects and private projects it seems that the failure rates are not as bad as you would think. Public sector projects do fail more often but not to the level that is implied by the media. Read this
report.
I've worked a significant portion of my life on government projects, mainly MoD, and I am currently working on the multi billion pound
NHS project.
In general, significant projects are bid for by third party suppliers and evaluated by a central body. This means that the same people putting in successful projects in the private sector are failing to put in projects in the public sector. How can that be?
Well. In my opinion, it is down to two things. Funding requirements and Management. Touching on each.
Funding requirements. This to do with the Public Sectors requirement to fund entire projects up front. We have to define requirements and funding for procurement, implementation, support and removal years in advance. Sometimes 25 years or more for major projects. Major changes take place in these timescales and necessitate significant changes to the scope of work. This also causes them to be overambitious with a project to allow for changes, often predicted, and make it all encompassing.
Management. Politics enters into this area. It is not unknown for someone to make statements in the House of Commons which results in much work within Government systems to make the statement true. Senior figures see things developing outside in the commercial marketplace and say I want some of these shiny new black ones rather than the old beige ones. Unfortunately, these requirements are usually defined in paper under contractual agreements with the third parties and, again, not easy to fix except at great cost. They also like setting up lots of progress meetings to discuss progress and summon all the key people to report to them.
Over the lifetime of projects there can be, and are, many technology changes and assumptions made can be changed radically by general progress. In some cases disappearing completely perhaps to be replaced with new requirements. These requirements are defined in paper under contractual agreements with the third parties. Who have also made contractual commitments based on them. There can be many changes made to the user requirement itself over the lifetime of the project as people become more aware of their expected use and see other tools. In some cases it is not easy to make changes to the systems without major rework at great cost. Technology leaps can change things significantly. In reality they are trying to plan ten to fifteen years in advance based on today's requirements. Who could have predicted the change in mobile phones, PDAs and communications over twenty five years ago. Projects are releasing kit now that has been obsolete in the commercial world for years.
In fact many bidders have low bids because they are anticipating changes which do not have to be subject to cost oversight and can make a reasonable profit. The vendor has the cards at that point and can literally charge what they want. Plus the customer then fiddles with the requirements all the way through the project in some cases adding in completely new functionality and changing the scope entirely. All subject to change notes and increased costs. Look at Nimrod as a prime
example and this is just the refit not the original project which had doubled in cost many years ago and was used as a justification for moving from the old costplus model to full project specifications with quotes up front. Costplus was where a supplier would get his
costs repaid
plus an addition agreed percentage as pure profit which gave them little or no risk. Nimrod was the one that seemed to derail that gravy train although it was not the only project that had significant overruns.
In the commercial sector no projects have the scope involved in public sector projects. Small projects which introduce gradual changes take place and can be stopped at any time. Technology changes over the time of small projects are insignificantt and can be ignored. Managers still fiddle but have to find funding out of this years budgets. So there is usually no long term impact. In short the project is broken down into small chunks which can be managed easily. Public sector ones do not. Thus the overruns instead of being a few medium sized sums are huge sums. 10% of £1Bn, £10M, sounds a lot worse than 15% of £100K, £15K., and you can hide £15k easily enough.
I always use the example that the sooner you know of a change the cheaper it is. Take the following simple example.
I want to paint several large rooms blue.
I can change the colour before I order the paint and it is effectively at no extra cost.
If I change it after I have ordered the paint there is usually a restocking fee of about 20%. Plus I've got more trips.
If I change it after I have started work I cannot return some of the paint so there is the cost of the paint I have used, the restocking fee for what I return plus the cost of the new paint. Plus I have some rework to do, labour cost, and yet more trips.
If I change it when I am finished. I have to buy a complete new batch and start again.
Make the changes as soon as you can. The sooner the better.
What happens in government type work is;
I get three people in for a quote and get three different quotes.
Procurement goes for the cheapest and places an order with supplier A. Looks like he is below cost with his paint. Sucker. They will only make a small amount of profit on this.
Just after I place the order it is then decided they want it red. I call the supplier. It is a change. And guess what? He had a deal on the blue he can't get on the red so it will cost me an extra 10%. It is now the highest quote but I'm stuck with the guy because I've already placed an order so I agree with the new price. Not such a sucker after all. Profit margin now up to normal.
I then get a visit from senior management. The new thought is lime green. I contact the supplier. They have already ordered the red paint. The restocking fee is 20% plus there is a delay on that colour but good news it is the same price as the red. That delay will also cost me because the supplier has fewer resources available for the new date estimated for delivery of the paint but can get contractors in at an added cost. Which I agree to pay as otherwise it will take longer to do with more disruption to the business otherwise.
They come in as arranged and start to paint. When the colour is up really, really senior management drop in to see it. They don't like the colour, so what else can we do? We investigate and decide on red but by the time we have done this the work is finished. Contract completed. Supplier waiting to be paid. Cost overruns of 50% and we don't have what we want. Management says it is unacceptable to have this colour. I get the blame and am shunned by all those in the offices who feel queasy.
Three months later a decision is made to redo our other offices. They want these ones red. I then go out for bids for this new requirement. The bids come in, Supplier A now quotes cheaper red and wins the contract again. B4$^4&ds.
This is based on a true situation although not with paints. Honest.
Let us pray.
Bliar health may not be up to another feud. Read a colleagues opinion
here.
British Justice. Another farce.
I was reading this
article about a fraudster on eBay. He had been caught, yet again, doing the same thing selling goods by deception on eBay. He had been caught selling goods by deception and prior to being sentenced for the first offence he did the same thing again.
Now came down to sentencing and our judge. Who is really on top of the situation said that since he had reformed whilst in prison for his first offence then he let him off with community service.
They said he was a model prisoner whilst in jail. What a surprise. You don't get many bank robbers robbing banks or burglars breaking into houses whilst in the nick. Now if they had a sentencing session coming up would they get community service. Even terrorists don't blow people up while in the nick. If justice was served this guy would have been a supermodel never mind a model by the time he came out.
If he does do something again can we prosecute this judge as an accessory and for aiding and abetting?
What has happened to 'Do the crime, serve the time'?
Talk about burying your head in the sand.
Looks like things are not going to well for Gordon Brown. The Turner report on Pensions is being 'sabotaged' by our future PM. Read more
here.
He is claiming they are unaffordable and I for one believe him. They are unaffordable when your priorities are ID cards and funding an illegitimate war in a far away place. Can't afford everything. However, I think he needs to get his priorities right. Oh wait!. He has. After all he will never have to rely on the standard pension as he has a super duper Government one and directorships looming.
At least he is now seeing what it will look like if he becomes PM. Things are not going to go his way all the time even with the bum licking toadies we have in power or in opposition for that matter. He clearly does not have Bliars sickly charm.
Double taxation but only if you do something bad... like driving.
Isn't it funny how if you are doing something that can be taxed then there is a tax and if they can screw you twice because they feel like it they do that also. Drink, driving and smoking all fit in this category. Easy targets.
I know his
article doesn't exactly fit the bill but it is in line with double taxation. They take tax off you to build a road, and sometimes they don't, then they tax you to use it and set up some arbitrary formulae which allows them to make payments worse.
Remember guys when you snap and want to kill someone. Don't take it out on the guy in the toll booth. Go to your local council offices and tell them how upset you are.
A highly skilled force. Just a little bit more training required.
I read this
article about a bit of UK friendly fire. Remember that friendly fire isn't.
I know that these things happen in the heat of not wanting to be killed so I do have a lot of sympathy for these guys. The live ones as well as the dead.
Then I read this phrase in the article and thought 'I don't believe that.' The article said 'The report will make recommendations on better dissemination of critical information on the battlefield and improved training. This would include teaching soldiers
what different types of armoured vehicles look like and knowing when to fire.' (My emphasis)
WTF. What are they doing when they do all this training. Schoolkids are hot on identification of planes, boats, cars etc. Everything that boys find exciting. Yet, these highly trained soldiers, cough, don't recognise the difference between a mainline Russian battletank and one of their own. And it's not like we have that many to chose from all they have to do is remember what ours look like. Everything else can be blown away. Note: we don't have to worry about US forces. They will be the ones shooting at us already and from the air. That's why we have separate areas to fight in. In addition they were 'slightly disoriented' I think he meant lost. So these guys were firing into our tanks from outside the area where they should have been.
But no-one was at fault. I'll remember that next time I'm heading down a motorway the wrong way. I was slightly disoriented officer. That's OK then, those deaths were no-ones fault.
As far as the training goes I think the knowing when to fire part seems to be down pat. Identify enemy tank. Point big gun at it. Fire when pointing at it. Keep reloading and firing until all you can see is a hole in the ground. That worked OK. Now if they managed to get the identify part right and read a GPS then they will be fully trained.
And one of the widows was OK with that explanation. It was highly detailed. Talk about taking one for the good of the corp.
Jeez, so much for our professional army.
What a prima donna
Liam Donaldson our chief medical officer considered quiting because he was not listened to by our Government. Read more
here. How sad for him. Now he knows what we feel like even though it looks like he has bullied his views into the public over the last few years.
If he is so much of a prima donna that he has to have everything he says followed or he would resign then he can't be much of a negotiator as he is clearly not into compromises. He should resign anyway.
Why do we let these self opinionated and inflexible idiots be put in these positions of power.
The next thing we know he will be threatening to resign unless obese people are kept in little cages until they slim down to just overweight. Then 20 years later is will be overweight people in little cages.
Don't worry it's all for your own Good.
Our first Tasering.
I read here this was the first use of Tasers to subdue a subject. Read more
here.
My first thoughts were. If we are concerned about mobile phones in garage forecourts then what is the potential for something that is powerful enough to incapacitate a man by firing 50,000 volts through him?
My next though was there was no mention of him being armed. Does this mean that we are going to use tasers as a matter of course to subdue people? Is this the tip of the iceberg?
My final thought was. I bet he wishes he had been a good boy that day.
Any excuse to save costs will do.
Reading
this about obese people being refused hip and knee replacements on the NHS. One of the factors is financial. I have no doubt there are medical reasons for some decisions and I am happy that qualified doctors make this call but to have finances on the list is unacceptable.
It is inevitable that we come to make these decisions due to the policies of the Government. Do this, do that and if you don't we will punish you. However, in these instances it is a disgrace. There people, well some of them, pay the NI and taxes like the rest of us. They have no choice yet when it comes to getting a service it is refused. Will they get their NI and tax back so they can go private. Doubt it. They should sue. It is one thing that seems to work nowadays. They are being discriminated on because of their size. Is it sizeist or something?
Soon it will be that you can't get heart transplants because we have to meet a quota of 50% from minorities. Sorry, your dad has popped his clogs because he is white.
This may be legal but is it ethical.
I've just installed some software that I purchased quite legitimately from PC World. It failed to install. Ooops, some problems with DLLs. After a bit of investigation it was because I had not upgraded my Office software. I still run Office 97 although I have two licensed copies of Office 2000. One is free and the other installed on my sons computer. Don't ask. I don't have any requirement for any additional functionality so I didn't bother and he did because his school work was on Office 2000.
So now I have a software application I can only use on one system, my sons, which has a less powerful processor. What a bummer.
Anyway. Looking at this whole situation it became clear to me how many applications required upgrades which appear to give no added functionality for the user. Media player is a case in point. Microsoft decides to add Digital Rights Management to it's media player to stop piracy. This causes problems for some users but who cares. At least you can select what patches to apply. Then you discover that a critical software patch to stop one of the latest worms or something has the media player patch included. So if you install the critical patch you have also patched your totally unrelated media player with the DRM code.
And I think that the number of patches we have installed for XP has exceeded the size of the original OS itself. The original came on one CD and one patch alone was 250Mb.
Next thing is we will be forced into this trusted computer environment that has been talked about over the last few years. Read more
here. But, it will be OK on MS and the US Government will have a backdoor. We can trust them.
Roll on a decent OS.
An open and shut case.
This
murder case was clearly racially motivated but a police officer, Det Ch Insp Tony Boxall, said the motive for the attack was not clear. "Whether it was racially motivated, only the defendants can say".
If this had been a white group it would have got a racial label from day one. Even after all the comments said by the killers it still isn't being said.
An interesting point.
This blog makes an interesting point about the policewoman murdered last week.
Read his comments
here.
Women on trial for claiming rape. As it should be.
Now reading this article on women getting the blame for being raped. Read more
here.
I don't think the article put it quite in perspective. It implies that women wearing short skirts and flirtatious behavior are to blame and claims this should not be so. I agree. If we, men, can't put up with a look at the goods on offer and enjoy a flirt without resorting to force then there is something wrong with us and we should be punished.
But rape claims are more than that. Look at Mike Tyson, an animal by behavior and by a strange genetic quirk classed as a human, he spent time in jail by taking a women to his room, making it plain all the way what was going on and he was taking her for sex then she says 'No'. Now you don't go in a tigers cage and put your head in it's jaws and complain when it bites you and insist it is put down. He didn't deserve that conviction. Nor is his case uncommon.
When sex occurs the woman can claim she said 'No' even after it has started. Or, if I think I understood correctly, one case where she changed her mind after the event. There is something wrong with that. Not all men are animals but it's not a big step when nookie is involved.
That is why the women's sexual history should be known. If only to allow her character to be known to the jury. After all it is often one persons word against another and your character should come into it.
Amnesty International UK director Kate Allen says "The government has an international duty to prevent this gross human rights violation yet it's clear that the government's policies on tackling rape are failing and failing badly."
I agree but the violation isn't all against women. A lot is against men who sometimes must be convicted just because they come across badly and their word questioned. It seems to be happening a lot to men. Women are seen as the victims when they are not. Read an
example of what would have been murder is the roles were reversed.
It is a very difficult area. Perhaps we need to ensure that all sex is recorded so it can be reviewed later and seen as force or not.
Previously I referred to a consent device as part of a health scan. Perhaps we need to do this as part of the sexual ritual. 'Here you are tell me I'm OK to screw your brains out.' 'OK. I'm ready. Do it to me big boy'. Let's hear that played in court when she changes her mind.
Yet more waste to make some of us look big.
I read this today about our Government wanting it's own air fleet similar to the US one. Although, thankfully, scaled back. Read more
here.
I remember Bliar going for this a while ago and it didn't go anywhere. I was wondering what has changed? We still don't really need one. We certainly don't want to pay for one. The Queen has reduced her own fleet requirements. So why is this proposal going ahead?
I can only assume it can only be so that we look more presidential on the international circuit. Won't be long before we change the Prime Minister title to UK President then. Has a much better ring to it. Pity Bliar will miss out. Or will he? Maybe he has another plan.
An interesting accident study from Canada.
Here is an interesting
article on accidents and driving speed from Canada. This site examines data for British Columbia specifically and makes some interesting points. Worth a read.
One thing inferred is their road planners seem just as useless as ours.
We should have a study here just like this. I bet it wouldn't show much difference from this one.
Is a coppers life worth more than a member of the public?
There is a lot of talk about the policewoman killed in a raid on Friday. Read more
here. I wasn't going to say any more about it but I read in this
report that they had arrested six people for this. A murder in the UK is still uncommon enough to get action.
What does get my back up is that the Ex Met guy Stevens has said the death penalty should be reinstated for police killers. Now personally I'm against the death penalty because there are so many innocents in jail who have been fitted up by these same police officers. We only hear about the ones that can prove they have been fitted up. There must be thousands of them in the UK.
But, why just police killers? Is not my life just as important? Are our deaths so insignificant that a few years and then released on license is a fit punishment but a cop killer is executed.
Maybe they will do this during the arrest to save the time and money spent on that pesky trial and subsequent appeal where the real evidence comes up.
The KISS Principle. Too complicated for Government.
The more complicated the plumbing the easier it is to block up. - Scotty, Star Trek.
The KISS principle. Keep It Simple Stupid.
But, like all Government systems in their haste to screw us out of every penny they make a system so complicated that the users don't understand it but that doesn't matter because they will always claim it back, the public don't understand it and are scared to get it wrong so they don't get their entitlements and the criminals find the loopholes and abuse it. Amazingly enough, the only people that lose out are honest people. You and me. Again and again. Read my own experience
here.
The National Audit Office has had a look and concluded what we have all known for decades. System is too cumbersome and should be simplified. Read more
here. Will anything happen? Not under this Government, they like complication. It keeps more employed.
You have the right to remain silent. If you can.
Browsing through some web sites on my links bar and discovered this
article on torture condoned by the US and UK. Including torture in Iraqi by that nice new Government.
Now I don't know if the Iraqi part is true. I know the rest is from other articles. Therefore, I'm inclined to believe the rest.
How long before our police force is trained in interrogation techniques? I think that those detained in our fight against terror are already being tortured. Not with chainsaws though, we are more sophisticated than that.
What are we becoming?
So what?
I was reading an article about Iran having some nuclear weapons data. Read
here.
It seemed to be being used by some as evidence that Iran was being helpful and by others that it was using the data to build one.
Now I don't know about you but I am aware of higher educational establishments in the US who have access to such data plus have the capability of building nuclear weapons. Are all these places to be closed or access to Americans only? Wait, was
McVeigh not American. The only real difficulty is obtaining the nuclear material.
The material has to be processed and partly as a by product of a nuclear reactor. This is the fear with the nuclear reactor. Iran has decided nuclear power is the way to go. Why should the west's fear that they will use the material stop progress in Iran. There must be a way forward such as permanent western inspectors monitoring the material and fully paid for by the west.
It's our interference in what people see as their own business that causes the west to be hated. Why should we police the world?
Policewoman murdered in line of duty.
The big news at the moment is the police officer shot dead after a travel agent raid in Bradford. Read more
here. Which is about 60 miles from here. It's getting closer.
Now I feel confident they will get the killers. One thing our police do well is investigate serious crimes and the detection rates for those are higher than normal. In fact the only real police work in my opinion nowadays.
One thing it does prove though is that in this country only the criminal have guns. Gun crime has risen dramatically since the gun ban. There is talk of arming the police, which as they are already armed, must mean having them wear guns openly. When will they return that right to the ordinary citizen?
Another bit of hypocrisy.
The US, while stating it is following the rules and regulations surrounding prisoners, is setting conditions on allowing UN representatives to visit their gulag at Guantanamo Bay. It seems that the visit has been cut from three days to one and the number of people from five to three. 20% of what was requested. In addition there was also a condition that they were not allowed to speak to anyone in private. The UN refused the final condition. Read more
here.
Can you imagine if any other country were to put those conditions in place? There would be threats of sanctions and invasion. Mainly from the US.
What hypocrisy. However, no longer surprising from the leaders of the 'free' world.
To ban banning. There is a thought.
Reading this
article on banning banning....
I remember the one time I watched Jerry Springer. In my defence I was ill and the telly was on while I watched a video. It was a long time ago. When the tape finished there was Jerry Springer talking to a guy who had made the mistake of coming on his show. I never understand that 'Hi, Honey let's go on Jerry Springer I want to tell you something.' 'OK, dear I'll go. It must be something good.' What an idiot. Anyway, this guy was there and his girlfriend of many years was telling him that she had been seeing someone else as well for years and had brought them on to make a choice. They discussed it and it came clear this other guy, also on the show, was unaware of this as well and both had spoilt this girl rotten. Well more than she deserved. She made her choice of the first guy. He said 'No thanks. I'm not interested.' She then turned to the other who worded it a bit stronger. She was really upset I was laughing it cheered me up, the second guy was upset as well but the first guy was quite calm. Jerry Springer spoke to him and asked him how he felt. He replied he was a bit surprised at the relevation and upset about how they had been treated but it wasn't the end of the world. He then said something I thought was so right that I try and use it whoever I get irritated. He said 'If it ain't a problem don't make it one.' He just didn't deserve what had happened to him.
The world would be a much better place if we all lived with an attitude like that.
Only in a Democracy.
Ian Blair. The guy who wants Judge Dredd type powers for his men calling for a debate on terror laws. Read more
here. For the first time he seems to be talking sense. Has he been replaced by a clone or something?
And anyway, where does he think he is? This is the UK in 2005, ran by a bunch of liars and tyrants, not a democracy.
For our own Good.
Reading this about another safety edict on behalf of our Nanny state. Banning pens we have used for decades. Read it at '
Nanny Knows Best'.
"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
C. S. Lewis
God in the Dock
Ouch. Looks like it isn't going too well. For us anyway.
All those billions spent in the US and it looks like they have not improved the safety of their citizens one bit. Read the article
here.
But it's not all bad news. Praise was given as "good progress" had been made in encouraging Muslim nations to integrate into global trade and clamping down on money laundering.
They seem to be doing the same thing here in the UK. We have clamped down on money laundering so now many find it awkward to open a bank account and have to meet the arbitrary criteria of bank clerks. Helps with tracking money for tax purposes though. Like most things an unexpected bonus for the Government but of little use in combating terrorism. And trade is always good for lining pockets at a good price of course.
Ha Ha. He should move to a better area.
Maybe it's just me but I found this funny.
Bliar's local can't get extended drinking hours because the application was denied on the grounds of public public nuisance and public safety. Read the story
here.
Obviously a lot of rowdies frequent the Westminster pubs.
Where do we draw the line?
Read this
article on the limited protection we can put on the railways and thought to myself, 'What is the point of even doing this?'.
Let's face it, terrorists are going to take the easiest targets and have already shown they see the rail network a viable target. If we can't protect them then what has all the funding and resources been going on. Aircraft have been protected for many years. They have a limited area where unsophisticated attacks can take place and can easily be secured. Railways on the other hand have thousands of miles of infrastructure that would cost billions to protect.
Even if they could protect this then the terrorists will just move on to buses and car bombs or in the last instance suicide bombers like in the Gaza strip.
Are we going to end up having to pay for scanners outside every door so anyone walking in can be scanned.
It's looking more and more like the old gun ban scenario. Let's legislate for something that will be mainly ineffective. At least we can say we did something.
The politicians dilemma.
The only ones really protected in this country are the Politicians who got us into this.
National Security. The age old cry of the oppressor.
National Security. The age old cry of the oppressor. - Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek TNG. Well nearly, he actually said 'Internal Security...' but close enough.
Lord Carlile, A Lib Dem, has said that he believes Police needs 90 days to interrogate terrorist suspects. He even said he knew of two or three cases. Read the article
here.
Now I don't know about you but I would have though that if there were examples then they could have been quoted in justification. They were not and the excuse seems to be, yet again, National Security.
Now what I find confusing is that we in the UK certainly overclassify everything. A really interesting example is the Dunblane
shooting. Why is that? Reason is supposed to be it is upsetting for the victims families but surely seeing things around their own houses would do that. Conclusions are it is embarrassing to the current Government somehow. Mmmm. So what? There are probably thousands of this type of suppression. Each one more related to cover up than National Security in my opinion. Call me paranoid but when things are leaked they are usually lifting the lid on something political rather than National Security. Our Government sees protecting itself as a National Security issue. Also, when things are leaked the full wrath of our Government comes down on the conscienceous objector who leaked rather than the culprits protected by the cover up.
This should be ridiculous in what is supposedly a free society. There is no reason why all the documentation created by the people who are supposed to work for us should not be made available on the web. We have the Technology. Clearly security and certain working practices at
AWE and
MI5, for example, should be covered under National Security but why should they not be obligated to publish financial details and reports not related to current issues publicly?
Our government has a vested interest in covering things with National Security. It is a way to control us and manipulate us. It all then comes down to trust and fear. We don't trust them, and have not for a while, and it looks like the fear is wearing off.
Time for another announcement of a terrorist atrocity narrowly averted by our security services then, with the fear restored, a request for 90 days with justification undefined due to National Security might be better received.
Oh No. This is not what I want.
Seems Billie Piper is
leaving Dr Who at the end of series 2. Now Dr Who may have gone down the pan. Fingers crossed really tightly on her replacement.
She is afraid of being typecast. Unfortunately, I can understand that but this was one of the few shows I watched. If she moves on to something else I'll probably miss her.
Such is life.
Nature usually finds a way.
When we introduced Myximitosis into the rabbit population it devastated them and then they developed an immunity which protected the species. When we introduced poisons to rats they eventually developed an immunity so we have to use other methods to control the population. When we used drugs to combat bugs they also developed an immunity.
Finally, something position for the human species. It seems this guys body is the first documented that may have developed an immunity against HIV. Read more
here.
A step in the right direction for once.
Why can't we join together and work out the best way forward?
I was reading this
article about the new Dakosaurus andiniensis 'Godzilla' croc which died out millions of years ago. I find this kind of stuff fascinating which is probably why I am full of useless facts and a boring old fart. It talks about this croc ruling the seas, even preying on the dreaded Ichthyosaurus which incidentally prior to this discovery was the ruler of the seas. No big problem. We are discovering new things all the time. In time we may even discover 'Godzilla' was a vegetarian or made an active choice to be vegetarian. Such is science. Always discovering new facts, promoting theories, disproving existing theories and learning all the time.
Then I read this other
article. It deals with global warming and gives yet another theory related to it. Now, I do have concerns on this one. Environmentalists will be looking at this with a view as to how it supports their theory and can be incorporated into their propaganda. If it doesn't it is rejected by them. Conversely, the Industrialists will be looking at this with a view as to how it supports their theory and can be incorporated into their propaganda. If it doesn't it is rejected by them. Such are the issues when everything is seen as black and white. Unfortunately, the world is full of colours and shades of grey. Very little is actually completely black or white.
If we spent the money spent on their lobbying we could make progress on the environmental front. Providing of course it is spent constructively. We are pulling in two different directions with a knee jerk reactions and any gains we make are partially negated by other actions. It also puts the general population off and it is through them that the biggest gains will be made. Either at home or by buying compliant products and forcing non compliant businesses out of business.
Science is not exact. It is theories based on existing facts.
Contrary to the ecologists, nature does not stand still and does not maintain the kind of "equilibrium" that guarantees the survival of any particular species - least of all the survival of her greatest and most fragile product: man.
-- Ayn Rand, "The Anti-Industrial Revolution," The New Left: The Anti-Industrial Revolution
This is more like it.
Why don't any of our politicians have the balls to make these sort of statements. Read
this from the Australian Treasurer.
Well done to this guy. Unfortunately, Oz has the same sort of Politicians in charge. Detention put in at 14 days, for a start, Guns banned, rising crime. Much as we have so it'll probably be followed by him being sacked and an apology.
I'm getting fed up that things than need to be said are being silenced by the PC brigade.
Interesting how you point of view makes a difference.
Reading this
article on Bliars failure to get the 90 day detention through.
In it Bliar points out that there is a '"worrying gap" between some MPs and public opinion.'
I just started laughing. Funny how public opinion is now on his agenda. It wasn't in the Iraqi invasion where public opinion mattered not a hoot. Nor do I remember reading about thousands of people walking in protest about the 90 days detention. When it really matter people are prepared to go out and make their opinions known. Generally to no avail.
And what is this public opinion anyway? A list of biased questions similar to the questions sent out from Charles Clarke. Read
here.
If public opinion is of so much concern, as it should be, then why not fix something up to make our country really get the people involved. The current system was developed to meet the technology of the time and give, over time, to the best of their ability everyone a say in the running of the country. We have advanced since then. There is nothing stopping us setting up a system where we can vote on every bill in the house. Politicians roles would change to propose legislation and we would decide.
Only problem here is that those currently in power, who say they are serving the people, really would serve the people. How many are really serving their country now?
Has party allegiance changed so much?
This
article is talking about political target groups and trying to define their allegiances.
I read this statement; "Party political allegiance is no longer handed down from generation to generation or family to family."
I must confess I was a bit taken aback when I read it as I thought it mean that people were changing their way of thinking but I certainly have not seen it where I am. People I know have always voted for any of the other parties and I only know of four or five people who are floaters. Then I understood it to mean parents were no longer dictating to their children who to vote for. Less of a surprise as kids are a lot more independent and less ignorant when it comes to politics.
So in reality. Still the status quo we have always had with Labour have a hard core, Tories have a smaller hard core and Lib Dems have a, much smaller, hard core. Probably less than 20% of people in the UK decide the outcome between Labour and the Tories mainly by shifting allegiance to the Tories.
Since the Tories don't seem to have any coherency at this point I hope that whoever gets chosen as their leader will at the very least pull the party together enough to put up a fight at the next election. Maybe with a bit of luck they will even have some decent policies although I doubt things can change that much.
That's why I always have a great time whenever we discuss Democracy.
A victory for Justice?
Bliars 90 day proposal has been rejected. Read
here. However, a 28 day one was accepted. So it has doubled.
Slowly but surely our freedoms are eroded.
Months of upset over a simple incident
This is the sort of issue we need to resolve if we really want to get our schools in order. This teacher has been suspended for four months because he 'manhandled' two pupils who had locked another in a storeroom. Read the story
here.
It's generally parents like this that cause all the problems for teachers. They shout and scream but not once do they think about their child being the culprit and the teacher just the policeman. Perhaps the legal department could look at what happened here and come down on the two children who caused the problem. Put some discipline and respect back into our schools.
In the meantime the amount of time we take to investigate these issues needs to be significantly shortened. In some cases where investigatory work needs to be done then they have no option but to detain them for 90 days while they do the investigation, but...... Oops, I'm getting my powers mixed up. That should read; In some cases where investigatory work needs to be done then they have no option but to suspend them while they do the investigation. But in most cases I would have thought they could do an investigation, report and hold a hearing within a fortnight.
An example of following the rules and not the intent.
Reading this
article about rules being designed to make people do what you can't legally stipulate.
Basically, the schools are making local rules which discriminate against poorer people. Thus bypassing the law which disallows discrimination against class.
This sort of thing is not new. People, being people, want to control their environments in many ways and exclude people they feel are undesirables. Government, being Government, have to legislate to stop this even when the people in Government break the rules themselves. Being PC, or just politicians, they don't seem to recognise the hypocrisy. Or perhaps they do but think it should not apply to them.
Putting aside this issue we just have to look at many 'rights' we have and see how they are eroded and abused by those with a little bit of power. Petty Hitlers we used to call them. The faceless buerocrat in local council who removes our capability of performing something we are legally entitled to do.
Examples are speedbumps. Law makes the roads 30mph. Speedbumps are put in which cause severe damage to your car if you do 30mph over them. You can't have your calls recorded but the NSA in the US do it for our Government and supply them the transcripts. You have the right to a trial and legal representation but not if you are accussed of serious charges such as terrorism. You have the right your hobby but not when it has any link to a weapon or impacts on someones feelings or environment no matter how slight. And, of course, you have the right to chose your own childs school as long as you can meet the arbitory entry criteria. I'm sure there are many more.
There can not be a single person in the UK who is not impacted by legislation or rules put in on top of legislation to reduce our rights over the last few years.
The rules should be enforced at no cost to individuals when petty dictatorships use their powers to pervert a right. That should include our biggest dictatorship. There are so many petty rules that we have little or no rights at all. And, yet we still put up with this. Citizen Smith used to say 'Come the Revolution'. We are still waiting but not for much longer I hope.
UFO's are here, and here, and here...
Was sent this
link by someone. It is to do with UFO sites and is powered by Googles new mapping technology which is quite good.
I went there and thought. Wow, that is a lot of sightings. Then I looked and thought. Hold on a minute, Roswell is missing. After a quick look round the page I discovered that this was for one month only. The last month updated which currently is September. Wow. I never realised there were so many sightings a month and not just the red states. :)
Sir Humphrey style survey.
I was browsing the web and came across this
article on the Labour party emailing it's members for a survey. It's well worth a read and is an example of the classic situations raised by Sir Humphrey Appleby in
'Yes, Minister' and 'Yes, Prime Minister'. Both series still an accurate reflection on Politics.
It may be satire but it has a ring of truth.
Read this
spoof page on elections and see how easy it is to believe.
Start of a slippery slope.
This news
article is titled 'Labour facing 'critical moment'.
Funny thing is I don't see it as that. I see this as the first critical moment at the start of an incline. Once politicians smell a little weakness they move in for the kill. Quite unlike the mild mannered civilised people they attempt to portray.
Former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, told the BBC many of the planned reforms were not wanted by voters. No! What a shocker. Funny how it's only ex-cabinet members who see the light.
Now the other MPs are seeing Bliars lead whittled down and his authority questioned. They see him needing to keep hold of Blunkett and failing. They see him being hounded by Brown. They see more and more rebels coming forward and the majority reduced. Many may still be hypocritical for toeing the party line whilst they don't believe what they are voting in but they must realise that real people are starting to see that these laws are impacting them and not in a +ve way. They want to have a future beyond Bliar. If justice is served most of these toadies would be out on their ears. Fortunately for them there is very little justice in the UK.
I only hope that when, not if, Bliar is gone that someone sensible looks at the situation in the UK and starts making some good policies which will actually improve the lot of the UK citizen and get rid of a lot of this PC nonsense. Sooner rather than later please.
No rioting please. We are British.
Reading the
articles on the rioting in France just puts things in perspective for our home grown riots such as the virtual non event in Birmingham.
Now it seems very much like the upset in Birmingham is based on issues between two different cultures for commercial
reasons. Unbelievable really if it really is true.
A few people of course try to escalate it but the general population have clearly been indocrinated into the British way. Let's not make a big fuss. We will be looked after.
These guys are fully integrated into our society. Their only issue now is the colour of their skin leads them to be under suspicion of terrorism offences. How long before these British subjects get fed up? When they realise that the people they think are looking after them are no longer classed as friendlies.
Maybe then we will have our riots that last longer than a couple of hours. Hopefully, we won't get there and this sort of trouble will be classed as what is appears to be. A few racists causing trouble. A few racists, coloured of course, so it isn't classed as a race crime for some reason, throwing matches around a flammable area.
There must be more than this...
Reading the
article on the three people charged on terrorism offenses.
I'm normally happy to skim these items on the understanding that these charges will be put forward in court and proven beyond reasonable doubt. Guilty or not the facts will come out and the guilty get punished and the innocent freed. Well, generally anyway.
Reading the article. One guy has 'A DVD entitled "Martyrdom Operations Vest' which is for a purpose connected with the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism. Plus two pieces of paper in his bedroom - one with the words in Arabic "Welcome to Jihad" and the other "Hospital = attack".
Another was allegedly found to have a video slides film on a computer hard drive showing how to make a car bomb. Plus video slides film showing a number of places in Washington DC.
What is going on? There must be more than this.
Putting aside the above case which still needs to be processed and looking at the process itself.
The policy seems to be to charge these guys with lots of crimes each by itself supported by very flimsy evidence and relying on the sheer volume of it. Coupled with the 'We also have telephone surveilance supportting this but you can't listen to it'. It can't all be wrong can it? Relying on our general principle of not wanting to get blown up. No smoke without fire. Let's play safe. This seems to be a way of ensuring these prosecutions go ahead.
Something just doesn't sound right with this whole process. How many miscarriages of justice could this process lead to? We will never find out because it is all based on 'What if's'. The facts are true enough it is just the intent that is guessed. Won't be out for 15 years so we are a lot safer.
No wonder they want to remove that burdensome rule and lower the standard of proof. If this isn't done then some of these cases may actually be tried in front of juries who can think. If we can find any that is.
Watching the Spies.
Reading this
article on wire taps or phone bugging.
Seems like most people are in favour of it. Civil Liberties groups don't see a problem and the police want to use it. So what is the issue? Personally, I'm all for it as well.
Seems it is the security people that are doing the work that don't want it used. Why is that? Well, it seems they are worried about the damage to work by MI5, MI6 and the police. It could also compromise techniques. Finally, it seems that there were many breaches in the rules which means they were legally bugging the wrong people and were illegally bugging others.
Now I don't know about you but I am concerned about putting operatives lives at risk and compromising security work but I fail to see how actually using this information can compromise these issues if the use is managed correctly.
I believe the real concern is that this work does not actually provide evidence that can stand up to close examination. A voice with a Geordie accent saying 'He won't know what hit him.' could be out of context and actually may not even the correct phone number and therefore the wrong person. I don't know about you but I can't tell the difference between one strong Geordie accent and another. So what they want is for it to be used as a 'and we have supporting voice intercepts which you can't hear for security reasons'. 'Trust us we work for the Government'.
They should put up to scrutiny of their work. The processes used should be validated. They are not above the law. Most people interesting in Privacy knows that all phone conversations and EMail in the UK are intercepted and scanned by the US anyway as part of a reciprocal agreement to deliberately bypass privacy laws by each Government. Follow the rules not the intent.
We can validate the legal process and have the recording used in court for 90% of criminal cases without any issues. Most criminals don't know the calls are being recorded. So they will hardly be in the position to compromise the resources. Evidence shown and used in the case which can be easily validated.
The next 9% will be the suspected terrorists. Who are networking with yet another MI6 mole or have been marked as suspect for some reason. Making arrangements to bring terror to the UK. Sources could be compromised here. However, to have the data validated and sanitised should be possible without compromising anything. If that is not possible then leave it out. Let's face it if it is the only bit of evidence they have then there is something wrong.
The other 1% are likely to be Foreign Governments and the like and we are unlikely to see them in court anyway. So no sources compromised there at all. If it needs to be used in some sort of validation then it is likely that the listener will have some security clearances. If not change the decision maker or grant clearances.
Oh! Getting too close and peeking at the inner workings of the intelligence community is starting to make them panic. Accountability here we come.
US prisoners in non US jails. What can we do about it?
Read this
article about the US holding suspected terrorists on non US soil so they don't have to follow US law on due process.
That could mean they have US or even UK citizens there and nobody really knows. Or cares.
Now I remember reading about this before where the reason they were keeping them abroad is that the foreign country they were in could torture them as the US officially couldn't as it was against US rules. This seems perfectly OK to the US and UK lawmakers. What a bunch of hypocritical b4$^4%&ds.
At he time I thought it would have been raised higher and something done about it but it just died a death and the prisoners still remain in a legal limbo. The true Axis of Evil. The US, UK and Oz are happy for this to happen. And we wonder why everyone hates us.
Now the EU is getting involved but I fail to see what they can do. The only ones they have influence over is the UK, Poland and Romania. We will lie and say we know nothing about it. If they are in any EU country they will get flown out fairly quick if the location is identified. The US clearly couldn't care less.
One good thing could come from it. Those supporting the US could be told to pick a side. The EU or the US. Although it is unlikely. It would be interesting. Hope it happens quick while Bliar is still president of the EU. President Bliar tells Prime Minister Bliar to pick the EU or the US. That would be a conversation from the EU worth watching.
- The only proper purpose of a government is to protect man's rights, which means: to protect him from physical violence. A proper government is only a policeman, acting as an agent of man's self-defense, and, as such, may only resort to force only against those who start the use of force.-- Ayn Rand, "Galt's Speech," Atlas Shrugged
Getting your priorities right.
This
article about the guy who missed the vote against the new terror bill made me smile.
Maybe it's just me but if I'm going somewhere important I leave plenty of time after all you get held up all the time in the UK. Traffic jams, summary arrest and detention for hours for looking odd.
So knowing that security was tight and causing delays this guy didn't think 'This is really important. I'll send a message I'll see them after the vote.' Let's face it I'm sure they would have been happy under the circumstances.
Couple this priority setting with the Tories voting for it even though they are against it what chance do we have?
Bliar must be laughing his socks off.
Bliar says give the Police what they want. Judge Dredd your time is now.
This bit from Auntie Bliar actually has a statement which says that 'Police had asked for the powers and should get them'. 'There had to be a "very good reason" for politicians to say "no, we know better than you"'.
Well I don't know what to say. Why do Politicians stick their unwelcome nose into everything else we do? Firemen, Doctors, Judges and even the Police themselves are just a few of the people that have all been overridden in the past by that useless bunch at Whitehall. After all, the Politicians even knew better than the Army and Military Intelligence over Iraq.
Now because it's a keystone to Bliars Nazi agenda the Police now know what is good for the Country. Now if I remember correctly didn't the Met Chief want
Judge Dredd type powers. All he has to do is ask. After all. 'There had to be a "very good reason" for politicians to say "no, we know better than you".
I think he has just opened a big can of worms.
Feeding us some more crumbs.
Well, I must admit to being surprised by how quick this came about. Blunkett has resigned. Read more
here.
Looks like in this instance pressure from the media, politicians and public opinion seems to have won out. What is different in this case? Why did Blunkett resign after saying he wouldn't and with Bliars backing.
The media, politicians and public opinion have been against him before. Certainly on issues significantly more important than this inconsequential issue. What could the difference be?
Then I thought. It is currently being used as a sign of Bliars standing. The chances are that it could be a chink in his armour and used to lever him out of power. Forcing a vote of confidence which he may not win. There seems to be more rebels now than there ever were in the past. He is feeling politically weak over the support he has given Blunkett. He was hoping that it would subside as quickly as it appeared. Additionally, it takes pressure away from the controversial processes being introduced daily. The Blunkett distraction. Maybe he does it deliberately and the save the exposure for an opportune time.
Blunkett falling on his sword shows Bliar is not prepared to put up with this. It makes Bliar appear stronger and in charge and seals up a chink in his armour. It also makes Blunkett look honourable. How quickly we forget the defiance of
yesterday and the support from
Bliar.
We take our crumbs and slink off feeling victorious while they carry on with business as usual and draconian legislation goes through our laughable justice system.
Racial discrimination is still rife in the Met.
This
news item describes how ethnic minorities are being fast tracked through the recruitment process for the Met. Although it is not +ve discrimination because all the applicants have been offered jobs. Mmmm. Wonder how that statement would work out if I tried it and prioritised whites?
Additionally they have been set a target of having the Met 25% non-white. How can they make this a statement anyway with a colour bias? Considering that it is not even in proportion with the population then how can that be classed as non discriminatory?
It's actions like this that actually make normal people racist. To be white and male today means you are bottom on the pile as far as our Government is concerned. They want to be seen as PC so much that they bend over so far, that if they were not spineless, they would have snapped.
How long can this go on? Our Government needs to protect us.
It seems that four gunmen forced their way into a house in London and shot the five occupants. Read the story
here. I won't bore you with going on about gun crime increases or the failure of our gun laws this time.
What really got me was the fact that this armed gang were fought off with kitchen utensils. Now when are we going to do something about these kitchen utensils? If they are able to fend off an armed gang then who knows what else they could be used for. It won't be long before we read about people killed by these kitchen utensils. What exactly were these kitchen utensils anyway?
We need to get some
knee jerk legislation in there to ban these kitchen utensils. They are obviously dangerous bits of kit. We could set up a new national enforcement group called the Kitchen Utensil National Tactical Squad. That will describe them adequately.
No knives, forks or chopsticks. Anything with a point. However, we need a exception on kitchen utensils such as spoons used for the consumption of soup and other liquid based foods. Fingers are no good whatsoever in consuming them. Spoons with a total outer diameter of less than 15cm. Sawn off spoons or those hybrids with tines are considered knives or forks and are subject to a compulsory minimum of five years and spoons larger than 15cm are classed as ladles and need a chef's license to own. Penalty of handling a ladle without a license is five years minimum. They must also be stored in a locked cupboard when not in use. Ladles with a outer diameter of more than 30cm are reserved for Jamie Oliver and cannot be used by any others. Penalty of fifteen years minimum for this heinous crime.
Do we need to set up a protest group to save our spoons? Do we need to add owning spoons into our rights. Banning of spoons will be opposed by the Shadow Government. However, that seems to mean they vote in support of the banning. Politics! It's so confusing although maybe that's why we leave these things to the Politicians. They are true pros.
