Thursday 5 April 2012

Do as I say-three core: Snowball’s chance: Law flaws: Towns for sale: and I don’t have a wooden car.


Damp, dingy and dismal at the Castle this morn, no post yesterday, the interweb thingy went tits up-not sure why, it could have been my “internet provider” or it could have been the sky water getting into the underground cables.
And by the time it came back on at around 9 of the pm I couldn’t be arsed to put digit to keyboard.




But it seems that the old fart has been accused of failing to “practise what he preaches” after it emerged his own department has stopped offering apprenticeships.
After claiming to be “very proud” of the Government’s commitment to funding apprenticeships at a time when budgets are tight, it turns out that his own Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is no longer taking on new candidates on its own apprentice programme because of the spending cuts.
Figures show the department had 30 apprentices just before the Coalition came to power.
However, this more than halved to 14 over the course of last year and there will be between six and 10 remaining from this year.


Useless tosspot...




Frightened postal workers have been banned from delivering letters to one notoriously hazardous address after being repeatedly 'attacked' by a three-year-old cat called Snowball.
Following a thorough investigation the Royal Mail has stopped its workers from delivering mail to the address after labelling the black and white moggy a 'health and safety risk'.
Despite being described as 'absolutely harmless' by owner Ian Wilkinson, the UK's postal service said Snowball posed an 'unacceptably high level of risk'.
Royal Mail said three employees suffered 'quite deep cuts' after all being attacked by the 10inch tall feline.
Mr Wilkinson, 46, said he was shocked when he received a letter from Royal Mail saying its workers would no longer be delivering mail to his home in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire.
Royal Mail has insisted Mr Wilkinson will not receive any mail until an 'alternative safe delivery point' has been put in place.
A spokesman added: 'There are around 4,000 animal attacks a year on Royal Mail people.

'These attacks cause great distress and in too many cases serious injuries.'


Pussy Post persons....




Hundreds of obscure laws which date back as far as the 14th century should be swept away in a bid to clear up the statute book, it has been claimed.
A joint report by the Law Commission for England and Wales and Scottish Law Commission said there are as many as 817 entire acts and sections of a further 50 that need repealed.
The oldest, dating from around 1322, regulated how animals should be taken to pay the king’s debts, including details on how they should be fed, cared for and sold, and what livestock should be exempt.
The most recent provision recommended for the scrapheap in the 19th Statute Law (Repeals) Bill is a tax provision from 2010.
Examples of redundant laws applied to Scotland include 16 acts passed between 1798 and 1828 to tax pints of ale, beer or bitter to raise funds for public works.
Or you could have-The abolition of imprisonment for debt brought about by the Debtors Act 1869, further 16 old enactments which were passed between 1798 and 1828 to tax pints of ale, beer or bitter brewed or sold in certain parts of Scotland in order to raise funds for building roads should also be scrapped, the report said.
* An 1800 Act to hold a lottery to win the £30,000 Pigot Diamond after its owners failed to sell it because its value, "the equal of any known diamond in Europe", was too great;
* Some 40 Acts relating to the City of Dublin and passed by Parliament before Ireland was partitioned in 1921;

* A 1696 Act to fund the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral after the Great Fire of 1666;

* A 1710 Act to raise coal duty to pay for 50 new churches in London;

* A total of 38 obsolete Acts relating to railway companies operating in British India and the wider East Indies.


Wearing armour in Parliament.

Keeping a whale from the King

Beating a carpet in London

Hanging your washing across the street

Minding a cow while drunk

Firing a cannon near a house

Starting but not finishing a railway

Running a farm on your doorstep

Eating the Queen’s Swans


One they should keep is: Knocking and running (knock dahn Ginger) 

And one they should lose is the 1799 income tax rip orf introduced as a means of paying for the war against the French forces under Napoleon.

Because I think that conflict is just about over now...




Buford, Wyoming, the nation's smallest town, will lose its long-time - and only - resident on Thursday when the outpost along Interstate 80 is auctioned off to the highest bidder.
The minimum bid for Buford, 10-plus acres with a convenience store-cum-gas station situated between the capital city of Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming, is $100,000 for a sale to take place in town at noon local time.
Buford is one of two tiny Western towns to be sold by owners whose spouses have died and whose adult children have moved on.
Pray, Montana, population 8, is on the market for $1.4 million, a price realtors say is a steal for property just north of Yellowstone National Park in the scenic Paradise Valley.

Both communities sprang to life amid Western settlement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when railroads brought people, supplies and prosperity to frontier towns, some of which failed to flourish despite hype by land speculators.


At least there won’t be any problems with neighbours....



And finally:



A wooden 1955 Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing classic car has sold for £5,000 on eBay, Hand-carved from wood and listed as being on sale in the German city of Duisberg, the 1:1 scale replica comes with front wheels that actually steer, The seats also look to be authentic and in keeping with the original car’s style.
The dashboard and interior also appear to be very detailed


No MOT needed, but a woodworm check every couple of years would be advisable...




And today’s thought:

Magic...


Angus


1 comment:

James Higham said...

A joint report by the Law Commission for England and Wales and Scottish Law Commission said there are as many as 817 entire acts and sections of a further 50 that need repealed.

They can start with 1997 and go forward, then go back to ancient times.