Peace comes in many forms.
It seems that Martin McGuinness is going to Iraq on a peace mission. Read
here. Although I wonder who's side he is on. You see having successfully led a 'peace mission' where Blair just folded and let the terrorists have a load of concessions is he going to do the same hing in Iraq.
Peace can mean many things. Not just us defeating the terrorists. If they win there will also be peace.
Just what were they thinking?
What were they thinking? From the designer to the manufacturer there must have been someone that just fell about when this was shown especially in this day and age. I just fell over when I seen this.
There you go James.
I wonder how we can solve this problem with fraud?
Well, well, it seems that the current way we vote in the UK is open to fraud. Read
here. What a surprise. It's only been like that for, err...., well forever and the new systems just make it easier.
I wonder what could be used as a solution? From the
Home Office website. 'ID cards will provide legal UK residents, including foreign nationals, with an easy and secure way of proving who they are.'
No ID Card = No vote. Makes perfect sense.
It is no longer MAD that keeps us sane.
Back when the nuclear bomb was first developed and it spread to other countries it was a case of 'We have to have it to protect ourselves'. The scenario was that if it was used then the other party would respond in kind and lead the to the destruction of both countries. MAD or Mutually Assured Destruction was the game. Use and be annihilated yourself.
Of course things never stay stagnant and much work was done on the neutralisation of the 'enemies' nuclear weapons and enhancing delivery of our own. ICBMs, SSBNs and stealth technology were all small steps forward and soon copied or countered by the 'enemy' leaving the balance intact while they could not be sure of getting all the launches and even if only 1% of 18,000 nukes got through it was back to the stone age for us all, those that lived of course. Their scenarios showed that enemy retaliation was never going to wipe us out although a look around shows we build major population centers around of military targets whilst they did not so infrastructure strikes meant less to them than us but our superior accuracy meant most, if not all, their leadership was history.
So for 50 years peace has reigned and the only wars being fought were conventional wars using third parties until the 'enemies' political system collapsed entirely. It was inevitable that it would whilst it did not dominate the globe and it couldn't take over whilst the western systems were still functioning. For it to survive it needed total domination so that there was no light to look up to and strive for and there was no help for the downtrodden and the will of the leaders was paramount.
So, nuclear weapons have only been useful whilst both parties have them and both parties want to live. MAD keeps them sane.
Now it seems were have forgotten the lessons of the past and are actually implementing a sub set of these systems in our own society. Such is life. Here in the UK we can't even remember the lessons learnt in the 70s so how can we be expected to remember lessons learnt before that in other countries. Damn these politicians to a new level in Hell. But that is another story.
Today I read on the comments section of the BBC website the following statement 'A nuclear power other than Israel in the Middle East might bring a balance of power to the region'. I nearly fell off my chair. How can any person think that in this day and age?
This latest bunch looking for a nuclear weapon are more than happy to die as long as they take us with them. Hell even if they only take a few they would do it. MAD no longer applies and thus the only balance that will be achieved is that a lifeless desert will be created where Israel is for starters. With Israel probably one nuke would destroy the country enough to enable it to be invaded and the fact that retaliation could take place would be irrelevant and against whom? Here in the West we usually like evidence to ensure we are doing the right thing, well, current presidents excepted of course. It stops us just thrashing around causing more harm than good. However, Israel in it's death throes would not be so kind I'm sure.
But in the end it all comes down to one thing. The countries in the nuke club have safeguards in place to control their use plus they know that to use them is tantamount to suicide, either of their country or the entire political regime. That goes for everyone not just North Korea and everyone of those seems to be happy with living and gorging at the trough of being our lords and masters.
The rest of the middle east however does not appear to be so caring. When their leaders talk about a caliphate and the arrival of the 12th Imam they are talking about the start of their domination of the globe. The 'old enemy' wanted this but their society also wanted to live so they could not get it through force. This 'new enemy' is happy to die to allow this domination and once the domination is in place there will be no coming back until this new society advances to the same stage we are now. It's already a thousand years behind and at it's rate of progress with no guiding light it will be a very long time before we get to this stage in our evolution.
On the plus side of course nuclear weapons being detonated all over the planet will drive us all into a new ice ages to the greenies will be happy. Those that are not dust of course and even then some probably still would be.
So with MAD no longer an viable option with these people can we with all conscience allow one of these other countries to be a nuclear power? In my opinion not if we do not put adequate safeguards in place to stop them moving on to nuclear weapons otherwise it would clearly be one of the more stupid of our decisions. Nuclear power for all but with a monitoring facility in place ran by anyone with an interest in monitoring them. That facility should be available to any country as long as they were prepared to fund the monitors. That way we could be reasonably confident that we were doing what we could to stop them being armed with the deadliest tactical weapons known to man.
Now, taking a step back, I can understand why everyone wants a nuke. It's still a game of they have one we want one and it seems hypocritical of us to stop someone developing one. Well, you are right, it is hypocritical but I'd rather be hypocritical and alive. You see my way would be to actually nuke these countries ourselves and take them back another few hundred years if they stepped out of line in the slightest. Our policy of examining the evidence and punishing the guilty doesn't work here because the perpetrators are dead. They are usually from a bunch of like minded countries where each country denies involvement. So what do we do? There is very little we can whilst we have the mindset we have now so containment seems to be the order of the day. Perhaps in the future we will move to be proactive and then it will not be an issue. We can treat them all as one, under a caliphate, and nuke the lot in one go.
Oh, and in case you are wondering. Biological or chemical weapons seem to be a much better way to go for these guys but they are difficult to make, store, transport and deliver although it is easier than the work required to make the warhead in a nuke. However, the nuke is seen as number one and still desired even after all these years. You have not made it as a country till you have a nuke in your arsenal.
So all in all, it's not looking too good and one day there will be a nuke detonated somewhere. The good news is that this lot are into a lot of infighting so it's likely to be 'over there'. The bad news is Israel is 'over there'. I wonder if they will make sure the Palestinians are safe seeing as they worry about them so. Mmmmm. I thought not.
Who doesn't think this will end badly?
Yah! Yet another victory for the consumer. Read
here about the apparent victory for the common man against the big banks. Well, it maybe seen as a big victory but it is not as black and white as it is made out.
I do agree that banks charging £25 when you try and withdraw £10 over the limit is a bit OTT but at the same time that is their fees and you sign up to them when you join. In addition you don't seem to have much choice either as the banks are the nearest thing to a cartel where they all do the same things but with slightly different rates for each item and there doesn't seem to be that much competition between them at all.
However, that is an old problem and one I can't see us fixing either. The main issue I have with this ruling, if it works out this way, is that if banks have to limit their charges for certain items such as overdrafts and so on then they will have to look elsewhere for charges. They still are businesses and have to make profits so it could be that trying to overdraw means you don't get any funds when the account would dip below zero plus the government approved fee. I also find it ironic that the government who charge hundreds of pounds, albeit through our taxes, for their unwanted services are going to decide what is a reasonable fee for a private company. The biggest threat of course being that bank accounts will no longer be free and a fee could be charged and the penalties for those that abuse the accounts are reduced or removed. In addition we could be vetted before we can open an account as they will not want the people that continually go overdrawn and then complain about the fees.
In the end I have never seen anything end well when the government sticks its nose into commercial businesses. From what I understand it
could be government interference in private business that enabled the current sub prime situation that could very well have increased the impact of the next recession.
I don't know how this will end, if the banks will roll over or the government will press for more regulation and legislation but one thing I am sure about. Ordinary people like me will be worse off.
On the plus side of course many people who will not be able to afford the new fees will move back to cash making the surveillance society take a small step back. There is usually a plus side to most things.
Another reason to dislike Red Ken.
This
article explains why he went all out for the 2012 Olympics and helped commit us to £10Bn, at the latest
estimate, although it could still double.
It seems that this b45^4rd was willing to commit us to this millstone because he wanted some of the money which will be thrown at this project sticking to him and help him in his job as Mayor.
Now that this has come out we can only hope that the impact to his voters pockets and the inconvenience of the building work will sway a few of the voters. Although from the polls it seems that Londoners are made up of the Socialists of the South East. I hope that they enjoy the congestion charges and the other crap he throws at them daily. It's why I avoid the place.
St George's Day.
Long may it last.
Let's celebrate despite the carefully timed
news from the Tories.
What a surprise. The tax rebels win.
It seems that
GordoDarling is looking at measures to compensate people who lost out over the abolition of the 10p rate. Read
here. It appears that the rebels must have had a few tricks up their sleeves and we know Gordo doesn't exact shy away from a fight. It's more of a trot or a jog as a run is out of the question however it is still his max speed. He folded on this one quicker than I thought as well. It seems that
Herr Dr Reid must have fully retired and couldn't be
bribedpersuaded to help out. It's being announced now although it won't actually pay anything back until the Autumn although it will theoretically be backdated to April.
Now let me think. Why such a vague statement very very short on facts? Just compensation and in the future as well. Well we can trust them can't we? After all why would they lie? Could it be the polls that are on the 1st May? That seems an important date to the rebels and the announcement came just in time for that. Jolly good timing and how coincidental.
However, I'm of the opinion that come Autumn it will be worked out that we can't afford it or it will be based on a replacement tax of some sort that will be just as bad and as there are no polls around that time the current bunch of rebels will suddenly find they are OK with whatever is proposed. The useless shower of b45^4rds,
I wonder how many people are so thick they will fall for this? After all if an election promise of an EU referendum can safely and legally be ignored, read
here, what value can be put on a vague statement like that from a bunch of proven liars?
Busy with personal things today.
I've decided I'm moving jobs this year and to this end I have been updating my CV to reflect my skills and experience. I understand CV, Curriculum Vitae, means 'course of life' so I put in everything from my advanced birth channel escape techniques to my current birth channel entry requests.
From what I can understand I have to keep it to two pages so I have a way to go. It was about ten when I started but that included the pages of my primary school achievements through secondary school plus the time I was in the boy scouts, the badges I achieved and the fact I was kicked out for violence. Finally off to further education, alcohol limits, speeding offences plus top speeds I have achieved in a car and a bike, ladies and, oh yes, the resulting educational achievements. I include my sexual fetishes as that takes up another two pages. It's the diagrams I had to include you see. Most people don't understand. I've been told I should really remove most of that and just concentrate on real life work experience so I envisage that I may have to use big type and lots of white space if I am to make two pages.
The format of these things seems to change every time I'm looking for a job. The new formats are totally different to mine and I can see it will take me a while to reformat.
So anyone got any decent jobs out there?
An efficient use of resources?
Reading this
article on another operation performed by plod. This time 110 officers went on a special raid and snagged 15 bad guys.
Well, it seems to have gone down well as a PR coup but I think that just walking around almost any estates in the UK would have seen 110 guys getting 55 arrests. Of course it could be more but I'm guessing they would have gone for 85 year old men who may have twisted a few fingers so it needed 2 plod for each arrest.
Now, this has been called 'the biggest of it's type' whatever than means and took around four months. I can only assume that operations like this are working all over the country which factored in with how many are looking after our politicians and investigating race crimes against Basil Brush actually explains why there are so few plod on the streets actually fighting crime and not acting as the enforcement arm of some pressure group.
Now before you ask I do understand that they expect to 'free' 30 women who have been forced into prostitution but it makes me wonder how many lives would be saved from people getting their heads kicked in by feral scum, people terrorised, not by terrorists but by the kids two doors down, the list goes on if plod had a better service out there. I actually wonder how many of them would have actually be put into the sexually abused category before our specially trained interrogators are finished of course. Once they have finished it will be all of them even the ones working as cooks. It's that or return to whatever hell hole they came from. Not a difficult choice to make.
I wonder how much these raids are actually required. After all four months of detective work would have identified the players and arresting them individually over a few hours and prosecuting them must have been an option. They surely can't have been that bothered about them destroying evidence as the main evidence will come from the women and the surveillance. I can understand a raid on the main place for the finances and then only a small subset would have been required.
Now I can understand why these special operations go on, and there seems to be so many of these task forces now, but does it really take so many plod for so few arrests. I know that the Western mantra is overwhelming force to minimise risk but this seems to be taking these things to extremes. It seems that heavily armed and armoured plod are taking no risks whatsoever but putting the public at risk instead. That seems to be OK though. Plus after 30 minutes of action, if walking into a house with a bunch of your pals is action, I'm sure they are back to the station for some hard earned rest and some donuts before going home after another long and busy day.
It seems Dixon of Dock Green is well gone. It's the Sweeney every time although without the roguish charm and everyone wants in. So much so there is no proper policing going on. It seems that the Red Lion can be raided by 50 plod in case someone is smoking, or drinking soon, but in the meantime feral youths roam the street terrorising and killing and nothing is done until after some poor chap is pushing up daisies.
We need to get our priorities right. Although this does seem to fit in with the governments wasteful use of resources in every other area of our lives. Why should plod be any different?
Is there a book coming out?
It seems Prescott has a sympathetic story in the news. Read
here.
I've not noticed but he must be ready to publish his memoirs and this story is much better than his appeal for sympathy over his little willie. That didn't go down too well the first time around.
Local councillors are on their own.
Now Gordo is back from the US Darling has
been given his instructionsdiscussed it with the PM. Screw the little people. Read
here. The government can't afford to lose £8Bn pa and the face involved in a disastrous U turn which would have the opposition in hysterics and the back benches knowing that there is a tool to be used. Gordo will undoubtedly spell out to them in some way over the next few days. I wonder if Herr Dr Reid is working freelance atm.
So the local elections will go the way they go with the government knowing that just before the election they will fix this issue to much clapping and brownie points because that is how daft we are. Will it be enough though as the rest of the country spirals into the plug hole?
Surely this can only be two steps up from Zimbabwe. So I suppose we have a little bit to be thankful for.
It's worse than I thought.
I've been reading all these Anti Brown articles from America. Got to love how quickly you can alienate a country. Read
here and
here. There were more but I lost the links and don't know where I found them.
It seems to have got worse though. Now instead of making a speech from the White House or some big do in Washington he made his speech in Massachusetts. Read
here. From what I can glean they are a bunch of extreme liberals from the Democratic party. Must be the nearest thing he can get to Labour in the US and from what I understand just as bad.
What a disastrous trip. He seems to have alienated himself from them all. Even the Democrats seem unimpressed and, boy, do they have low standards.
Why do they not keep these things simple?
This
article claims that voter confusion may swing the London mayor contest. It may be so but if anything the thickos voting for Red Ken will be most impacted so I'm tempted to just laugh and move on.
It does make me think though. If all but one of the candidates are a bunch of useless socialists then even if someone, not socialist, had a clear win under this method they could actually end up losing. That doesn't sound right but does explain why this bunch are looking at changing it.
What else can they trying to do by making the voting process so complicated? If candidate 1 gets 1 more vote than candidate 2 then he has won. More people want him to take the place than the others and those that wasted their vote voting for the person that came last even though they actually would have preferred candidate 2 shouldn't really be whinging and whining. It seems that our desire not to upset even the people that choose the losers we are looking at giving them another chance to effect the results and change the will of the majority.
Perhaps as we are so flexible why don't we split the role up and let each serve a proportion of the term that they are voted. That would be fairer as the candidates would each have a chance to shine and thus each voters choice would be taken into consideration. It would make for much more interesting elections as more would take part and we would need agree lower limits.
I can see it now. Red Ken storms into the Mayors office. Cheers from his followers echo off the office walls and Red Ken pops some champagne bottles and his staff gather around while the glasses are distributed and they all toast him becoming mayor again. Eventually they all finish and drift off nibbling the hors d'oeuvres. Red Ken says 'Right. I'm ready to go to work' What is down for my 10 o'clock?' A voice comes back and says 'It's 9:30 Mr Livingstone your time in office is up. Can you leave now as Mr Smith from the Raving Loony Party is on his way up to take his turn.'
Yes! Much more interesting. They won't have time to mess things up. I like it already.
What a difference between two leaders.
The
Pope arrives in the US to an enthusiastic welcome by thousands of Americans.
Gordo arrives in the US to .... err.... He did get there didn't he? Oh, Yes.
Here is the unelected leader of a country telling the world that another unelected leader should be kicked out. Must have slunk in like the weasel he is.
That about sums it up. Even the BBC put Gordos bit in the UK section. Could this be faked and Gordo has never even gone to the
moonUN? Wouldn't surprise me one bit.
Oh, how these words ring so true.
It seems the BBC are reporting Gordo's statements in such a way that their headline actually says what most of us think about his policies anyway. The
article is about Gordo making unpopular decisions to get through the global credit crunch.
Maybe it is just me but I read the words 'Brown says he will not be diverted from taking "unpopular" decisions to ensure Britain gets through the global credit crunch' in a similar way to a dictator not being diverted from spending his time making unpopular decisions such as 42 days detention and id cards and spend any time on working on getting Britain through the global credit crunch.
It's the phrasing. I've obviously worked with too many sneaky managers and listened to politicians that you have to analyse their very words literally. That and the fact they are careful liars anyway makes their exact words important.
So Gordo, if it is a priority why are we still screwing around with things that are not helping the economy and forcing green taxes, reducing freedoms making it difficult to travel and reducing our free money. If, of course, you are actually interested in fixing the economy.
Mmmmm. Thought not. B45^4rd.
Education begins at home.
As many of you know I have a granddaughter. Like all who spring from your loins, although in this case not directly, she is undoubtedly the smartest, most beautiful and lovable girl in the whole world. Unlike the others who say this, in our case it is true.
Anyway, so in an attempt to beat the odds in the UK we are all trying like mad to teach them as much as possible before they enter the system that we joking refer to as an educational system. To this end we sit down with then and try and teach them whatever we can.
Yesterday, it was my turn. After a few fruitless attempts at attempting to teach her about black holes and other astronomical phenomenon of which she clearly had no intention of listening we wandered off to some of the older toys thrown in a corner from where she was younger. Out was pulled a couple of toys put away over a year ago. I really should tidy up. What caught her eye was one of those little blocks that they could hammer plastic blocks through plus a little hammer. One of the thing that amazes me is how long a kid can do the same thing time after time without getting bored. She used to bash away at this thing for hours.
Anyway this block has eight hollow shapes with four colours and the items can be bashed through turned over and bashed again as many times as you want but I had of course to try and teach her something as well. So I'm pointing the the shapes and saying square, circle, which she knows and pyramid, hexagon which she doesn't while she is saying the colours, red and bashing the red one then blue and bashing the blue one ignoring me and deliberately obstructing my advanced education techniques. Now I know what modern teaching is like.
At one point there was a knock on the window and I looked up to see my son waving in. Sadly at that point blue coincided with hexagon and I received a hammer blow to my index finger from a rapidly moving yellow plastic hammer wielded by a sadist and I thought my finger was broken. It is unbelievable how a plastic hammer hitting a finger sitting on the edge of a hollow plastic block can hurt. While I was cursing and nursing my finger my son was in hysterics. It's so easy to please some people.
So yesterday she learnt some new words. Another failure turned to success at the last minute. Or maybe not.
Modern volunteering.
It seems that since the Bank of England decided to cut interest rates, I understand that it was not a request despite the independence of the Bank, it has been negated by these greedy banks. That's a bit of a problem. So something needs to be done and the crowd that does something, no matter who badly thought out, every time something needs to be done are swinging into action. Read
here.
Thus Darling is going to have a word with the banks and get them to volunteer. I'd love to be a fly on that wall. The unspoken 'or else' is so loud that even I can hear it. I even think I would watch this discussion on pay per view just to see how he goes about it. It would be a classic.
Now this is a big problem for the banks. Since there has been rules put in place to limit their profits on overdrafts, missing payments etc. they have had to find others ways to keep their profits up. No sooner have they done that, to complaints, than the housing market is hit and there is the real risk that more than a few newer mortgages will be bigger than the value of the property it is secured on. Especially as over the last few years there has been a move back to mortgages over 100%. So they won't want to reduce mortgage rates and threaten their business never mind their profits. So the government makes them the bad guys again and our dozy public will believe that the following recession is their fault as we all know hoe greedy big business is.
So what to do? Drop the rate and possibly go under. Will the government have to guarantee that if they push this option? If I was a bank I would be looking for some assurance that if I step away from a safe strategic path to walk a third parties tactical path I would expect something in return. At least some guarantee of safe sailing. Even then, what about the share prices? If a bank is forced to do this, no matter how voluntary it is, will that not cause an impact on the banks share prices as it's investors question the move? Might that not trigger the same effect as high mortgage rates? Could shareholders take the directors to court? What a quandary. One think is certain in this game of chess Gordo and his puppet won't have thought more than one move ahead. Hell, even thinking of just one move causes massive headaches for that lot and they don't even consider risks attached to the moves.
Well now is the time for the banks to do what is right, not for Gordo and the bunch of useless b45^4rds who got us into this with an empty piggy bank, but for the country. I just don't see it being
GordoDarlings way though. It might cause some issues but why should we believe this tinkering is going to help when everything else they have done for the last decade has made things worse.
I'm sure we will read about the whole thing in the papers. It will make interesting reading. I'm sure though that there will be a token 'voluntary' drop in rates. This lot still have a few years to go and the 'Or else' still has some teeth and they won't hesitate to bite.
How do you have your cake and eat it?
Well you have to work for the government of course. It was obvious wasn't it.
Here they have been arguing with M&S for 20 years and charging them VAT on an item that was not applicable to VAT. Of course they now do not want to pay it back to M&S as it would unjustly enrich them. You have just got to laugh. You can be sure if M&S had failed to pay the VAT on something they would not have a moments hesitation in putting in a bill for M&S to pay. It's theft plain and simple and it appears M&S knew VAT was not applicable but HMRC didn't have the intellectual capability to work it out. So they win either way doesn't matter.
Same with the edict that our troops have human rights. What a surprise. It seems that the laws that every employer in the UK has to meet and sometimes ridiculous claims generate big awards also applies to the MoD. Read
here where our Defence secretary tries to play it down. Now will we see any of these guys prosecuted for putting our troops in harms way with proper equipment and some died. No takers? What a surprise. it seems that whilst employers can do everything possible yet still fall foul of these laws our government can do less than is morally acceptable and yet be immune.
Let's look on the bright side. Won't someone take them to the EU courts? I love to see this stuff all over the worldwide news. May even drive Gordo to a heart attack yet.
Sweeping issues under the carpet.
It must seem to Gordo that Blair's legacy is not quite what he was hoping for. Time after time he has had to pick up the pieces left behind by Blair some of which has been brushed under the carpet so far he only hears of them when they suddenly leap out as a big problem. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
As sweeping things under the carpet seems to be a standard ploy of this lot it can't be surprising that every now and again some of them come back to haunt them. Things like the Serious Fraud Office investigation into the BAESystems al-Yamamah deal for example. A judge has said that the SFO acted unlawfully by dropping the investigation. Read
here. Although as the law was broken by Blair then I can assume that at some point when he is here next he is arrested and questioned about this. I won't hold my breath.
Meanwhile it seems that the problem is now Browns. Now the good news is that Brown has a little bit of time to think about how he handles it. The bad news is that Gordo is not known for his decision making abilities. We all know that whatever choice he makes he will screw it up. He has very few choices. He can choose to allow the investigation or he can choose to cover it up. Both have advantages and disadvantages. Whats the betting he flip flops all over the place and manages to get the disadvantages of both and none of the benefits.
It's a skill he has. The ability to turn gold into crap by mere touch. Usually people with that skill are dead by 30 or protected by rich parents.
I can't wait to see how this works out. This has the potential to have a major impact on Gordo's future. Fingers crossed.
Still room in prison for the real criminals.
It seems that despite record number of prisoners and the fact that the only spaces seem to be kipping in with the warders there is always room for some more when it is important enough. Is it the really hardened criminals who are a threat to life and liberty? People that society in general are concerned about? Of course not, it appears that an idiot has gone to jail for trying to avoid a speeding fine. Read
here.
In the meantime of course we are letting convicted terrorists and real criminals out early to make way for these idiots.
It is clear trying to evade paying the state is the highest crime of all. Much more serious than terrorism, murder, assault etc. Of course they are not crimes against the state but against the people. Who cares about them? We must ensure that the state is protected at all costs.
Why we lose facilities.
It seems Tesco's is being sued because they won't help a disabled person pump up her tyres. Read
here.
Now I can understand that this woman has a problem pumping up her tyres. It's unfortunate but there are probably many things she cannot do on her own and there are probably many similar people in her situation. It's life for the disabled. It sucks but why does she frequent the Tesco service station where the attendants are not free to pump up her tyres. From the article they provide a free service at a service station for the disabled but she is not willing to put herself out. In modern Britain it's her right to have special treatment. We now have to cater for everything under the sun regardless of cost. This is, of course, a case for her local service station where she will get happy smiling service and her tyres pumped for her, of course it will cost her money but we all have to pay for things we can't do either.
The way I see it though is that Tescos, in this case, provide free air as a facility to it's customers. I would imagine it costs them very little in real terms but customers such as me appreciate it. A quick check and a pump up if necessary every time I feel like it whilst I am filling up. It only costs them the cost of the pump and the electrickery because they don't have to train their staff nor do they have to have their staff outside and thus they don't need to provide cover on the tills inside. In this case I see Tesco's actually bending over backwards to help this person and their reward is they are being sued. The disability acts and rights. Part of the reason we frequent these service stations, not just Tescos, is that with their high turnover with low staffing their prices are usually lower than the average filling station. It's the same argument for the local butchers etc. These people want the service of the local butcher, baker, filling station but pay the lower price only enabled by the way they work.
If they lose, and I suspect they will, then I would imagine the next step is for them to remove the pump from the forecourt or start charging a real fee for the service. Of course this will be done at every one of their filling stations not just here. Then of course all the other supermarket service stations will follow suit. After all they are in exactly the same situation. Many service stations only have one attendant on and just can't serve customers and pump air for free. I wonder if they could get away with charging a fee of £5 per session with it being free if you can do it yourself. Somehow I doubt it.
Of course it's not finished yet but if we lose our free air then we can chalk up another victory for our rights and I'm actually thinking that I don't know any places where air is available, never mind free, outside filling stations that are set up similar to Tescos. In fact I think the Tescos pumps here have a higher level of manning than most. Even if they win it's cost them the price of *cough* justice in the UK plus a lot of bad press just for being the good guys and providing a free service. From my reading of blogs in the US Tesco's is the UK equivalent of Wallmart. It's hated for it's success. It makes me wonder if this person is being encouraged by the anti Tesco's/supermarket crowd. It's a win/win situation for them. She loses, the big bully company crushes a disabled women and if she wins the big bully company has been put in it's place and it will cost it money to fix it. It's almost as if this case was selected because of the situation.
Public wants.
Reading this
article about a special police enforcement operation against teenage drinkers. Yay! One of the few things available to our kids now for their spare time. Lots of numbers and stats there just to keep you interested although I was too bored to do any maths.
I was particularly interested in the statement 'Home Office Minister Vernon Coaker said the public wanted police to "choke" the supplies of alcohol to youths.'. Cool. If that's what the public wants but, hold on a minute, don't they also want;
- Criminals pursued and prosecuted.
- A referendum on the EU Treaty.
- A general election.
- The UK out of Iraq/Afghanistan.
- Less tax.
- Less benefits.
- Politicians prosecuted for their crimes.
- Gordo executed using the slowest and most painful method possible preferably involving something large inserted into his bottom. Have to be really large though as from the looks of him he was bullied at school. This symbolises what he has done to the UK whilst *cough* serving the public.
- ......
The list goes on and on. Blogger only gives so much web space but I'm sure you get the idea. How come only the wants of a whingy whiney few spoilsports are actually listened to by our police? The rest of us rant and complain impotently. Our wishes are never listened to. So it's not really what the public wants it's what our useless politicians want and a select few puritans get to see enacted what they want.
Perhaps soon we will get control back of our country and then we can see all these things implemented. Can't wait.
Trust is a rare commodity.
I remember a saying where you talk about someone you don't trust and you say 'If they said it was hot and sunny outside I would take a coat and umbrella with me just to be safe'
I'd read the
article on house prices dropping 2.5% and the thought it could be the start of a recession but remember thinking it could be a hiccup or a seasonal anomaly. No need to panic yet. I didn't really know but I wasn't panicking at all. Then I read an
article where Gordo said that the slump in the UK housing market is "containable". Now that worried me. It reminded me of the Northern Rock fiasco when the government spoke up and almost immediately everyone was down there to get their money out. That caused problems on it's own and would do for any bank or building society never mind one that was in trouble.
So I'm wondering now if his statement on house prices will cause the same issues and actually trigger the very thing he is trying so hard to stop. Made me laugh to actually think there are people out there, like me, that just don't believe a word that these guys say. It's his own fault though. Statements like the Treaty is not the Constitution when the whole of the planet knows it is but he still lies about it knowing that there is nothing we can do.
On other fronts however, we do have major impacts, it's coming up to the local elections for example. Less than a month and the politicians are panicking already and campaigning to save the post offices and making their voices heard about the tax increase on the lowest paid in our society. Read
here about hypocrisy in action.
But most importantly our actions will make the difference between a big crunch or a little one or the sliding scale in between. So now I'm beginning to panic. This is the time when we need someone at the helm we can trust. Gordo is so badly thought of that no matter what he says we just do not trust him. We are doomed, doomed I tell you. I couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Hopefully the knives will be out as UK PLC starts to slide down the slope and Gordo in his spite triggers a general election. He won't fall on his sword. After all, he is a politician but be can be pushed.
In reality it's much too late to make any difference but it would at least give us a bit of satisfaction and perhaps could even lead to a different stance on the EU.
So do your bit and tighten your belt. Minimum spending and complain loudly and often about how we all blame Gordo. Plus if there are any hit men out there looking to do something for charity. The UK could do with your contribution. Just thinking out loud.
Committing the next Government.
I read an article several weeks back on my trawl around the blogs where it referred to something where the current government couldn't put in place something that was binding on any later governments. I came across
this article via Snafu's blog 'Not Proud Of Britain (But Would Like To Be)' today that made me think of it again.
It makes a logical sense. They should not be able to instigate something that is not reversible by a future government. However, thinking about it a little bit longer I realised that it could no longer actually be the case if, in fact, it ever was as in reality this is not possible all the time. Several choices have been made over the last few years which commit the UK to a course that it is almost impossible to change.
As examples.
I've just read on
Snafu's site that Brown is looking at selling off our hospitals and leasing them back. A quick way to sell off the family silver and have some cash to spend now. However it commits us to leasing them back over a period of time and thus in effect means that the UK PLC will pay more over a longer period. Plus how do you reverse that? If we stop leasing them then they will just build houses or offices on the land which is usually prime real estate. Our punters will need to travel much further to 'local' hospitals. Is this not a commitment for the next government?
Our local schools are being demolished and replaced with a one size fits all education system. This can be reversed but at great expense and only to a point. In our area we are merging two schools and selling one off. This is likely to lead to houses or office blocks on the site and reversing that is an issue. Is this not a commitment for the next government?
Then of course there is the EU. Brown is joining us up because our political elite see this as a inexhaustible feeding trough for them. They have done what they normally do which is ignore all the facts and chose what is best for them and not the country. This single policy alone has shown us what contempt they have for the voters. How difficult will it be to renegotiate treaties that are nullified when Brown puts his traitorous signature on to the treaty? Will our EU neighbours even want to? How can this decision be reversed without some major trauma? Is this not a commitment for the next government?
There are more, the Trident replacement, Nuclear power stations, the global warming scam, etc. all of these make long term commitment which will be with us for decades.
I don't know if it is just the way I am thinking but Cannabis class C or B, Fox hunting, 90 day detention, parliamentary legislation setting for starters. All these things are easily adjusted to suit and completely reversible. No real impact on the UK population at all. However, this government has been making fundamental changes that will take several decades to fix and they have made so many of them. Imposing their socialist philosophy on them all. Generations from now the population of the UK will still be feeling the impact in the dumbing down and emasculation of our population and the reckless policies of our leaders. The only other time I can think of when things have been screwed up so much is in a third world country such as Africa or the middle east and at least they have the excuse that their society practically demands this and so it looks like screwing up a first world country requires a war or a socialist government.
It's going to be a hard struggle to recover from the last ten years and it isn't finished yet. Gordo will hang on to the last possible moment damn his traitorous hide and so far we don't even have viable options on the table for replacements as all the main parties are just as bad as each other.
Politics vs belief.
Well, well it seems that despite the Iraqi PM making all those statements things have not worked out as well as he expected. Read
here about conflicting information from Iraq.
It seems to me that western politics seems to have had a greater effect on the Iraqi government than we originally thought. They are already starting to say one thing and do another. It seems that although the PM himself did not negotiate with the insurgents a third party did it on his behalf, gives a bit of deniability, and his adversary, the Mehdi Army, was told to stop. So following Iranian instructions and ignoring Iraqi kind of gives a clue what to expect next especially as the insurgents didn't lay down their arms as instructed. Trophies or something. I don't know. Although I am sure that concessions were made to all the parties. In the next few weeks I'm sure we will find out what some of them are. Perhaps a government post for Moqtada Sadr? Of course in the future the Iranians will need the Mehdi Army. After all they are on the same side. Not Iraq's but Allah's. The caliphate starts to come together.
The Iraqi PM is now facing the same dilemma that we do in one way and that Saddam did in another. First of all his paid troops are facing up to fanatics who are willing to give their lives for their cause and because no one issues uniforms free of charge then they don't know who they are. Then he has the problem that Iraq can only be tamed by force. He needs to clamp down but being US backed he doesn't have the Iraqis to do it like Saddam had his Baath party. He will be replaced as soon as the US loosens it's grip. poor b4$^4rd. Like all dupes he is doing what he things is best for his country. Of course being sneaky and manipulative he has a career head of his at the UN if he gets out quick enough. He could try being a peace keeping envoy or something. Loads of money, no work, no risk, name in the papers. Lovely.
One thing is certain. He has no real power in Iraq and it seems the Iranians are the ones with it all. That looks like a problem for the West and helps consolidate the Middle East under Allah. So points to all that said that removing Saddam would increase Iranian power. Something to make you happy and sad at the same time.
Election time has it's up sides.
I find election time frustrating. On the one hand it is a waste of time and effort and the old saying 'It doesn't matter who you vote for they always get in' rings so true nowadays. It's a bit like watching ants make a trail across your garden. You can put a few obstacles in their way but in the end unless you go on a homicidal splurge they all end up where they want to go anyway. Actually, that's probably exactly what politics is about. Anyway, elections are about as exciting as a chinese burn on your favourite organ except for one thing. I find this part of the elections to be funny. Read
here about now we are approaching the local elections the politicians have worked out that the tax cuts at the budget were no such thing. Even when the blogs and MSM were saying this on budget day these guys have only detected it when it is a threat near election time. Note all the complains about the timing. If the timing was right you wouldn't have heard a thing.
As the neanderthal minds of our local politicians awaken from their deep slumber they start hearing rumblings about issues and they think 'I had better generate some good PR'
No. That sound boring. Switch to David Attenbourough voiceover
So the great liarus manipulutus awakes from it's several year long slumber and swings into action. To these relics from a time long forgotten their simple desires must be met and nothing can get in the way. The mere facts are ignored in their quest for mating and the great liarus manipulutus will not stop it's frenzied screwing for several weeks. The public will be screwed like they have not been screwed for several years. Most of the public will have forgotten the last great screwing and will become easy prey for the skills of the great liarus manipulutus. Skills unmatched anywhere else in the animal kingdom.
As they have done since politics began the great liarus manipulutus will run around from now joining protest groups and claiming that policies in place were not what they wanted. Even if that same policies was voted for by them and regardless of whether they support it or not.
This frenzy will continue until the night before the elections when it will simply stop dead. The gullible electorate usually have been fed enough to dim their minds and believe that the great liarus manipulutus is actually working for their good. Some believe there is a mystical element at work here as normally sane members of the public will be overcome by the output of the great liarus manipulutus that even after several years of stating 'I will never vote for those clowns again' they still do.
The great liarus manipulutus' great skill is to give a convincing statement that they have changed and that they understand and do better every time just no one remembers the previous times they have bent over and felt invaded by the entire group of great liarus manipulutus.
The day after the elections the minds of the great liarus manipulutus simply shut down until the next election time but in a final screw you to the public they continue to participate in policy making and working for the government where with their minds effectively asleep they screw up everything they touch.
Like all species before them the great liarus manipultus has had it's ups and downs with culls and threats over their habitats. Some believe a big cull is overdue and these magnificent creatures will be wiped out as the minds of the public finally snap. Will it happen in our lifetime? I don't know but
I hope so so I can see them suffer we will see.
We must do something. No matter how useless.
Typical government in action. Read
here about the plan to ban sex offenders' from social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to prevent them contacting children.
In the typical way that these clowns work it must have taken thousands of consultancy man hours to come up with this. The reports probably said that it would be impossible to monitor and that the only way they would find out is if another child was approached or molested and at that point the ordinary protections in place now would be the best they could do. But as our government is a bit stuck for headlines that show them doing something and they don't listen to experts anyway, after all they know best they just push it through. On the plus side though we will need a new DB to manage it, a new department and the real work will be done by industry.
I can see it now. Scene a little townhouse in Westminster. Two registered sex offenders in front of a computer where they are looking at a login screen for facebook.
Kiddie Fiddler 1 - 'I just don't know what to do. I was just about to log on and risk 15 years in prison getting beaten up and screwed by big fat guys and then having to face my family again as a pervert but I can't because it asks for an EMail address and I've given the pigs mine already'
Kiddie Fiddler 2 - 'Just sign up for a free one with GMail or something'
Kiddie Fiddler 1 - 'Don't be stupid. I can't do that it's illegal. New law just came out. You think I would do something like that against the law?'
Kiddie Fiddler 2 - 'Sorry man. My bad. I should have thought of that myself. I know you are a honest and decent guy.'
Kiddie Fiddler 1 - 'OK. Apology accepted.'
They look at each other and after a while they turn the computer off and one picks up the latest copy of 'Save the Planet monthly'.
Kiddie Fiddler 1 - 'Well If I can't screw kids directly I'll screw up their lives in another way. '
He looks over the latest proposals and laughs. 'This should do it.'
Lethal force.
It seems that yet again when the police decide to use lethal force then everyone is hunky dory about it. In this actual case it seems that there was good reason. Read
here. Maybe this guy had looked at what his future was going to be like after the last budget or something or even gotten a pensions forecast. Could have been anything really.
The frequently asked, yet never answered, question that should come out of this is that if it is justified that a life is taken in our crime ridden land then why should our police have this monopoly? No real reason for why we are unable to defend ourselves when it is recognised that the police do not have to. Even when they do come out they do not do a good job for PC reasons such as health or safety or they are scared of violating the bad guys rights.
There is obviously a reason for the powers that be restricting our ability to defend yourself. I have heard several reasons ranging from they want us all disarmed to *cough* make our society safer through to they want a monopoly on enforcement to keep their grubby little mitts on power.
Personally I think that it is simply that our wonderful leaders actual capability for self deception and thus they believe their own propaganda on crime. As far as they are concerned crime is coming down, despite any documentation otherwise and thus they see no reason for people to require the capability of any force what so ever. Remember that in their minds they know best and that we don't know what is best for us.
Is there a way forward? I just don't see one. The whole lot of our current leaders and the potential replacements all want to keep the status quo. Us plebs cannot be trusted and, in their minds, the repercussions of us being perpetual victims is down to that. Even if a review of the situation as promised a while ago means little when our leaders make up their minds before the report is even typed. I just don't see any change in the near future.
Oh well. Just have to stick with my sharpened spoons and hope plod doesn't come looking for me or I get a pension forecast while I am on a downer.
Pensions hit again.
Clearly this case where a gay guy can collect his lovers pension is going to have a major impact on pensions. Read
here about the European Court of Justice decision. It basically says that the whole of the EU will have to conform and treat all partnerships the same way. The pension funds will have calculated figures that will not have included payments of this sort so that means that pension funds in general will need to payout less across the board to meet these new obligations. More than pensions will be impacted by this though.
As pensions have already been hit by Gordo's tax and the company's payment 'holiday' several decades ago as well as all the financial issues which abound today it doesn't take a genius to see that paying into pensions is not as good today as it was. Basically knowing what I know now I wonder if I would put my funds into a pension fund at all and would have directed more towards other schemes.
It made me think though that currently we can't really rely on any long term planning at all. When plans put in place decades ago can be screwed in a very short timescale by a government to meet it's self imposed obligations. I wonder how anyone can feel comfortable making plans now for thirty years into the future based on the last few years. Can we expect a new type of long term savings scheme to cater for this or should we be looking at using existing schemes in a better way? One concern is that even more changes will be made by our cash strapped government and other savings schemes will be screwed even more. Already with the taxes on savings it is only the low rate tax payers, funnily enough those without any money, who actually make any money out of the interest payment.
My only ray of hope is I'm not at retirement yet so unless these greens screw everything completely with this global warming scam I still have a little hope. Fingers crossed.
Frightening new discovery.
It seems that
trolls really do exist. The trolls we get on our blogs are actually a sub species of the humans who have become more predominant due to the widespread use of the internet. Where before they were to be found hiding in dark places, slightly insane and usually masturbating they are now found more and more on the internet where their mad writings are giving some credence.
From this position of power these creatures, once thought mythical, have spread their influence over the internet and the blogging community has caused them to explode. New research shows that trolls actually make up more than 50% of the bloggers out there now, genuine bloggers having been displaced and their blogs taken over by these trolls and their easily led cult followers. These followers are real humans who are so simple they believe everything they are told.
One only has to look at the amount of rubbish out there to see that no sane people could write like this. A perfect example is
here. Clearly this person cannot be like the rest of us.
We need to act now. I propose we change our computers so that the keyboards are really small and fiddly so the trolls big fat fingers can't type. That should do it. You notice we don't get any trolls on phones. The keypads are too small.
We need to eradicate them and take back the internet and we must act now.
Write to your MPs and get them to introduce legislation regarding keyboard sizes before it is too late.
