Showing posts with label government. Show all posts
Showing posts with label government. Show all posts

Sunday 7 June 2009

THE SUNDAY SECTION

Something a bit different this Sunday, the Government and Old Gord in particular are so deep in the “Brown” runny stuff that I thought I would add my perspective of the political battlefield.

RESIGN AND CALL A GENERAL ELECTION YOU ARROGANT B*****DS!!!


There: I feel much better now back to business.


First up:


Ananova £300 million flying palace the world's largest private jet complete with its own concert hall is being built at a cost of £300 million.
Plans have been unveiled for the customised 240ft-long Airbus 380 Superjumbo, which is expected to be snapped up by mega-rich Arabs, reports The Sun.

The "flying palace" also boasts a Turkish bath steam room, a boardroom and garage for its owner's Rolls-Royce.

It is so huge a normal version could carry up to 850 passengers.

The deluxe version's owner will be driven up a hydraulic ramp into the garage. A red carpet will automatically unfurl.

The concert hall will have a stage, a baby grand piano and seating for ten people.

Builders Design Q expect to deliver the first plane in three years.

Possible buyers are thought to include the owner of the Savoy Hotel Saudi Prince al-Waleed bin Talal.


I just hope they have had the speed sensors checked.

Bit of politics-sort of: Sarah Brown becomes surprise Twitter hit Gord’s better half, and I suppose he has to have one has attracted almost 120,000 followers online.

In stark contrast to the mood of crisis in Downing Street her tweets over the past few days have spoken of "glorious" weather, outings with the children and "excitement" at the appearance of tiny strawberries in the garden.

Last weekend she told her followers how much she had enjoyed a trip to London Zoo, especially the water jets in the Splash Zone – "perfect for younger ones on a hot hot day".

Under the user name SarahBrown10, there are regular updates on her public duties, such as speaking at a reception for Chance UK, the mentoring charity, earlier this week.

There are also frequent replies to messages from other users even wishing them well with children's birthday parties or thanking them for recommendations on locations for days out.
There is little reference to politics although in one posting on Thursday night, in reply to an earlier message, she remarked cryptically: "I don't know what a shadow twitterer is."

Her total number of followers reached 118,718 on Friday, leaving her still some ground to make up to catch up with Barack Obama's 1.3 million.

In a message posted on Thursday, she explained: "I have really enjoyed Twitter since I started nearly 3 months ago – love the Tweet chat and info exchange.

"I learn alot here. Sarah"

Nice to see she is backing hubby with all means available to her.

Not really surprised, when you are married to a twit………….



Portsmouth the new Malta Southern Railways are attempting to lure travellers to Portsmouth by comparing it to the sun-soaked island of Malta.
In a new marketing campaign scheduled to run throughout the summer, Southern Railways – which operates services between central London and the south coast – describes Portsmouth as "The New Malta".

Although Portsmouth is famous for its naval history and its FA Cup-winning football team, it also boasts obesity rates and crime levels well above the national average.

Southern Railways' advertising campaign follows the unveiling last month of a French-themed online video comparing Blackpool, a traditional haven for stag and hen weekends, to a sophisticated European town.

"We probably get about two weeks of sunshine at best, and you are more used to seeing people fighting than socialising in a quaint café," said Tim Courtnell, a life-long Portsmouth resident. "The beach at Southsea is a mixture of shingle and Stella Artois cans on most days, and you wouldn't think of swimming in the sea."

I am quite fond of “Pompy” and have spent many happy days there, but what really worries me is that Southern Railways don’t seem to know the difference between a sun baked island in the Med and a cold windy English seaside town.

No wonder their service is crap, I wanted to get to a town just outside Shoreham by Sea which is near Worthing and I had to go Via Portsmouth.




Bit more Health and safety Sandpits disappearing from playgrounds Sandpits have all but disappeared from children's playgrounds across Britain, as councils blame health and safety concerns for the removal of the traditional play area.

A survey indicates that just 2 per cent of all playgrounds contain a sandpit, denying thousands of children the pleasure of digging and making sand castles in their local parks.

Councils across England, Scotland and Wales have ripped out many over the last two decades leaving fewer than 100 sandpits in the 4,815 playgrounds run by the 70 local authorities questioned by The Daily Telegraph.

Most have disappeared over fears that they pose a health and safety risk – with councils claiming poorly maintained sandpits sometimes contain broken glass, needles and are used by cat as a 'litter tray'.

Child experts, however, claimed these risks were exaggerated and the cost of maintaining them was the real reason for their disappearance.

Some 70 local authorities were surveyed by The Daily Telegraph, and Horsham District Council, one of the districts that has removed sandpits from local parks, said: "We closed a sand pit because it was being used regularly as a loo by a large number of cats.

"Despite regular and ongoing attempts to clean the area, we remained concerned about the potential health risks to children and other users of the sand pit."


How does Horsham know that a “large” number of cats are using sandpits as a loo?
It could just be one with the runs.


And finally:

Learn to talk proper like what I do a teenager working for men’s outfitters claims she was told to go John Lewis to see how to address customers properly and given a High Street guide on the correct way to speak.

Danielle Snelgrove, 18, says senior staff at TM Lewin, in the Trafford Centre, Manchester, told her the John Lewis approach to customer care was ideal.

By contrast, the McDonald's more prosaic way with words was to be avoided at all costs.
Miss Snelgrove, from Salford, Greater Manchester, who speaks with a regional accent, decided she didn't much care for the guidance and promptly quit.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "I'm proud of where I come from and here they were telling me to bury my roots.

"It wasn't that they were deliberately unkind - it was just that I had a month of being told my accent didn't fit.

"I'd had enough when the manager and supervisor told me I needed to go to John Lewis to see how assistants speak to customers, and then to McDonald's to see how not to do it."

Miss Snelgrove sense of grievance is shared by staff at the Trafford Centre branch of McDonald's.

TM Lewin has launched an internal investigation into Miss Snelgrove's claims.

A spokesman claimed it would be "inappropriate" to comment on an individual case, but insisted that the welfare of staff was "of paramount importance to us."

The spokesman added: "We recruit people from all backgrounds and actively embrace regional diversity, all of which is encapsulated in our equal opportunities and diversity policy.

"We also aim to provide the very best standards of customer service. We thus train our
employees to understand what constitutes excellent service.

"At no time do we use other companies to demonstrate our service expectations."

No offence to Mancunians but pot-kettle?


Angus

Saturday 9 May 2009

SATURDAY SNIPPETS

Before I start just a quick mention that the Government has had their worst week, well, since last week anyway, roll on next week!


First up is-how not to get a job: how grammatical errors see CVs binned - Telegraph

Experts found that 94 per cent of job hunters risked missing out on vacancies through poor spelling, grammar or presentation on their CVs.
In some cases, applicants' attempts to impress potential employers failed through the odd missed word, with phrases such as: "I was responsible for dissatisfied customers."
For others, the omission of a single letter consigned their CV to the dustbin: "I am a pubic relations officer."
And sparing use of the comma led to seemingly embarrassing disclosures of equal note: "My interests include cooking dogs and interesting people."
From a sample of 450 CVs, researchers found that 81 per cent were laden with spelling and grammatical errors, while nearly half were poorly laid out.
A mere 6 per cent were error-free, the study by career advisers Personal Career Management (PCM) concluded.
Mistakes were not confined to applicants for menial roles either – many of the CVs riddled with errors were drafted by CEOs, professionals and recent graduates, researchers said.
Examples of CV blunders:
– My interests include cooking dogs and interesting people.
– As security guard my job is to pervert unauthorised people from coming onto the site
– I am a pubic relations officer
– I was responsible for dissatisfied customers
– My role involved coaching and mentioning
– I have excellent editing and poof-reading skills
– I relieved the conference manager
– I am a prooficient typist
– Socially I like to dine out with different backgrounds
– I get well with all types of people
– I was responsible for fraudulent claims
– While working in this role, I had intercourse with a variety of people
– Experienced sheet mental worker
– Highly adept at multi-tasting
– Left last four jobs only because the managers were completely unreasonable
So that’s why……




This one winds me up: TV classic Last of the Summer Wine among BBC targets for comedy culling - mirror.co.uk It is a vintage 37 years in the making and the worlds longest-running sitcom.But the axe may be about to fall on Last of the Summer Wine as the BBC carries out a comedy cull.It has already shelved Only Fools and Horses spin-off The Green, Green Grass.It follows in the wake of Nicholas Lyndhursts sitcom After Youve Gone and Lee Macks Not Going Out.Now, Summer Wine has been told it will not film a new run this summer sparking fears it will be axed. Creator Roy Clark said: We dont get enormous ratings these days. No one would be surprised if it goes.The shows highest audience was 18.8million in 1985. The current series the 30th gets around three million.

What is the matter with the knobs at auntie, don’t they think we want to laugh anymore, it seems that “proper” comedy without swear words or sex is now going to be confined to the bin.


I have watched “summer wine” since it started, it is a british icon, we need programmes that are decent and clean, come on BBC keep the good ones and dump the violent, sexual american “entertainment”.



This one is open for discussion- mirror.co.uk A have-a-go hero foiled a robbery by chasing a gang of thieves - wearing his wife's pyjamas.
Steve Hillier, 39, was woken by the sound of the two raiders trying to force the door of a goldsmiths shop near his home.
He grabbed the nearest clothes, sprinted over the road - and the men fled when he shouted at them.
Steve, of Lacock, Wilts, said: "I dashed after them, without realising I had put on my wife's yellow and red pyjama bottoms."
Yeah right!


Brains of Britain- mirror.co.uk
Alex Trelinski (Late Show, BBC Midlands): What is the capital of Italy?
Contestant: France. Alex: France is another country.
Try again. Contestant: Oh, um, Benidorm.
Alex: Wrong, sorry.
Let's try another question. In which country is the Parthenon?
Contestant: Sorry, I don't know.
Alex: Just guess a country.
Contestant: Paris.
Answers: Rome and Greece
Anne Robinson (The Weakest Link, BBC2): Oscar Wilde, Adolf Hitler and Jeffrey Archer have all written books about their experiences in: Prison or the Conservative Party?
Contestant: The Conservative Party.
Answer: Prison
Jeremy Paxman (University Challenge, BBC2): What is another name for "cherrypickers" and "cheesemongers"?
Contestant: Homosexuals.
Paxman: No. They're regiments in the British Army who will be very upset with you.
Phil Wood (BBC Radio Manchester): What's 11 squared?
Contestant: I don't know.
Phil Wood: I'll give you a clue. It's two ones with a two in the middle.
Contestant: Is it five?
Answer: 121
Richard Madeley (Richard and Judy): On which street did Sherlock Holmes live?
Contestant: Er...
Richard: He makes bread.
Contestant: Er...
Richard: He makes cakes.
Contestant: Kipling Street?
Answer: Baker Street
Question (BRMB Radio): What religion was Guy Fawkes?
Contestant: Jewish.
Host: That's close enough.
Answer: Roman Catholic
Steve Le Fevre (The Biggest Game in Town, ITV): What was signed to bring World War I to an end in 1918?
Contestant: Magna Carta?
Answer: Treaty of Versailles
Phil Wood (BBC GMR): What 'K' could be described as the Islamic Bible?
Contestant: Er...
Phil: It's got two sylla-bles... Kor...
Contestant: Blimey?
Phil:Ha ha ha, no. The past participle of run...
Contestant: Silence
Phil:Okay, try it another way. Today I run, yesterday I...
Contestant: Walked?
Answers: Koran&ran
Melanie Sykes (The Vault): What name is given to the condition where the sufferer can fall asleep at any time?
Contestant: Nostalgia.
Answer: Narcolepsy
Steve Wright (Radio 2): Johnny Weissmuller died on this day. Which jungles-winging character clad in a loin cloth did he play?
Contestant: Jesus.
Answer: Tarzan
Chris Searle (BBC Radio Bristol): In which European country is Mount Etna?
Contestant: Japan.
Chris: I did say European country... I can let you try again.
Contestant: Er... Mexico?
Answer: Italy
Paul Wappat (BBC Radio Newcastle): How long did the Six Day War between Egypt and Israel last?
Contestant: (long pause) 14 days.
Answer: Six days
Daryl Denham (Virgin Radio): In which country would you spend shekels?
Contestant: Holland?
Daryl: Try the next letter of the alphabet.
Contestant: Iceland? Ireland?
Daryl: It's a bad line. Did you say Israel?
Contestant: No.
Answer: Israel
JAMIE THEAKSTON: Where is Cambridge University?
CONTESTANT: Geography isn't my strong point
JAMIE THEAKSTON: There's a clue in the title
CONTESTANT: Leicester?
LINCS FM DJ: Which is the largest Spanish-speaking country in the world?
CONTESTANT Barcelona
LINCS FM DJ: I was really after the name of a country
CONTESTANT; I'm sorry, I don't know the name of any countries in Spain
GWR FM DJ: What happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963?
CONTESTANT I don't know, I wasn't watching it then
ROCK FM PRESENTER: Name a film starring Bob Hoskins that is also the name of a famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci
CONTESTANT Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
BEACON RADIO DJ: What is the nationality of the Pope?
CONTESTANT I think I know that one. Is it Jewish?
BAMBER GASCOIGNE What was Gandhi's first name?
CONTESTANT Goosey?
JAMES O'BRIEN, LBC: How many kings of England have been called Henry?
CONTESTANT Er, well, I know there was a Henry the Eighth.. er, er, three?
LOTTERY HOST: What is the world's largest continent?
CONTESTANT The Pacific?

DUH!





And finally- Artist creates amazing matchstick model of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts - mirror.co.uk take alook at the pics, amazing, but please Patrick Acton, get a bloody life.


“I would rather be able to appreciate things I can not have than to have things I am not able to appreciate.” Elbert Hubbard

Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Wednesday 25 March 2009

BITS AND BOBS


This first item is a bit serious:

BBC NEWS Social network sites 'monitored' there are plans afoot to monitor the social networking sites such as Facebook, Bebo and MySpace because it was needed to tackle crime gangs and terrorists who might use the sites. This is in addition to proposals to store details of every phone call, email, and internet visit made in the UK.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake said the websites contained sensitive personal details and that he was concerned information could leak from any government-controlled database. "It is deeply worrying that they now intend to monitor social networking sites which contain very sensitive data like sexual orientation, religious beliefs and political views,"


Couple of points:

This “idea” is a breach of our human rights, which gives us the right to privacy regarding sexual orientation, religious beliefs and political views that the UK Government has signed up to.

If the history of Government data security s anything to go by they have no chance of keeping the information safe.




Bradford Man follows sat nav to cliff edge

A car was left teetering on a cliff edge after the driver followed sat nav directions down a Pennine footpath.

Robert Jones continued to follow the instructions when they told him the narrow, steep path he was driving on in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, was a road.

Mr Jones, from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, only stopped when his BMW hit a fence above Gauxholme railway bridge on Sunday morning.

Police have charged Mr Jones with driving without due care and attention.

Unfortunately this isn’t a one off Police warning over sat nav use Police in Cumbria are warning drivers not to rely solely on Satellite Navigation Systems when driving through the Lake District.

A spokesman said the route-finders do not take into account weather conditions or road types.

Officers from Cumbria Constabulary have been called out to an increasing number of vehicles stranded on high mountain passes in poor weather conditions.

Drivers between North and South Cumbria have been particularly affected.


Ye, it’s called looking where you are going.




This one is bit rude, but you know what teenagers are like BBC an 18-year-old has secretly painted a 60ft drawing of a phallus on the roof of his parents' £1million mansion in Berkshire.

It was there for a year before his parents found out. They say he'll have to scrub it off when he gets back from travelling.

If he knows about it what are the odds he will come back?




From BBC NEWS America- Barack Obama has told Americans he sees signs of economic recovery, but urged them to be patient and look beyond their "short-term interests".

The US president said his draft budget would build a stronger economy which would mean America did not face a repeat crisis in 10 or 20 years.

"We will recover from this recession," he told a prime-time news conference in Washington DC.

Mr Obama said his economic strategy, and his new budget which was now being prepared, was based on creating new jobs, rejuvenating the housing market, and creating new liquidity and lending by the banks.


Methinks he listened to Gordon too much!




Boys Toys BBC NEWS Rail enthusiasts can now enjoy views of Scandinavian fjords, the Swiss Alps, and even Mount Rushmore - in Germany.

Twin brothers Frederick and Gerrit Braun have built the world's longest model railway in the city of Hamburg.

It has six miles of track, cost £8m to build and its 1,150 square metres (12,380 square feet) take in the US, Scandinavia and the Swiss Alps.

By the time the layout is completed in 2014 it will be twice as long and will take in France, Italy and the UK.

The Braun brothers, 41, began work on the Miniatur Wunderland project in 2000.
Their model railway now comprises 700 trains with 10,000 carriages, 900 signals, 2,800 buildings and 160,000 individually designed figures.

It even includes scale models of the Rocky Mountains, Mount Rushmore, the Swiss Matterhorn, and a Scandinavian fjord complete with 4ft cruise ship.

The scenery took 500,000 hours, 700kg of fake grass and 4,000kg of steel to build.
So large is the layout that 160 staff are employed to show visitors around the railway.



Wouldn’t you like an attic big enough?



And finally:


Ananova - World's untidiest car banned police in Germany have banned a woman driver's car from the road - for being too untidy.

The Vauxhall Astra was so full of junk, magazines, old clothes and even bits of furniture that they could barely see the driver at it roared down a motorway near Düsseldorf.

The driver - who has not been named by police - has been banned from taking the car on the road again until it has passed a tidiness test.

Police said the car was so full of junk the woman's face was pressed up against the windscreen as she drove.

God job they can’t see my car!



You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note. “ Doug Floyd


Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Sunday 22 March 2009

SUNDAY SECTION


A bit different today, more of a roundup on the day’s news.

BBC NEWS UK plans comprehensive terror law the Gov is updating the terror laws to include “tens of thousands of Britons such as retailers had now been trained to deal with a terror incident.”

"What we're completely clear about is that if we're going to address the threat from terrorism, we need to do that alongside the 60,000 people that we're now training up to respond to a terrorist threat, in everywhere from our shopping centres to our hotels. We need to do it alongside the 3,000 police officers now working on counter-terror, and we need to do it with international partners”.

"This is no longer something you can do behind closed doors and in secret."

Unlike the terrorists, who are here because the Gov doesn’t stop them at the borders, and keeps our armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.



Telegraph Senior Labour minister Tony McNulty has admitted claiming £60,000 of expenses on his parents' home.

The employment minister is the latest MP to be caught claiming the Common's controversial "additional costs allowance" for a property that is not strictly his home.

Mr McNulty lives with his wife Christine Gilbert in a house she owns in Hammersmith, three miles from Westminster. Yet the minister has been claiming up to £14,000 a year in parliamentary expenses to help pay for another house he owns in Harrow, 11 miles from the Commons, in which his parents live.

The MP can claim the money because the house is in his Harrow constituency and so qualifies him for the second home allowance. After the arrangement was disclosed by the Mail on Sunday this weekend, Mr McNulty announced that he had decided to stop claiming the money, which he has benefited from since becoming an MP in 1997.

Not good enough McNulty, pensioners are struggling and ordinary families are struggling, you are a selfish arrogant git.



Mail Online Gord and Mandy off to party in Chile, yep, sod the recession, sod the country and sod the rest of us.

The Prime Minister, accompanied by Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, will next week join Left-wing politicians from around the world at a ‘Progressive Governance’ conference in Vina del Mar in Chile.

The event, focusing on the global economic crisis and culminating in a leaders’ summit due to be attended by American Vice-President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Lula da Silva, comes at the end of a week of official visits by Mr Brown that also takes in America and Brazil.
Makes you feel all warm inside doesn’t it?


BBC NEWS UFOs- we are not alone or are we?
A woman reported seeing a glowing, spherical object rise into the air in Norwich after meeting a man who said he came from a planet similar to Earth.

In another sighting, a triangular craft hovered then "shot off at 500mph".
The third set of UFO documents to be released by the Ministry of Defence covers the period from 1987 to 1993.

In November 1989 a "completely terrified" woman contacted RAF Wattisham in Suffolk to report her close encounter with a man claiming to be an alien.
She said she met the fair-haired man with a Scandinavian-type accent as she walked her dog on a sports field.

He then said he had spoken to her because he felt it was important to have contact with humans even though he was told not to.

As the unidentified woman ran home she heard a loud buzzing noise and turned to see a large, spherical object, glowing orange-white, rise steadily until out of sight.

In November 1990, the crews of six RAF Tornado jets reported being overtaken by a "giant UFO" while flying over Germany.

They thought it was a test flight for the then top-secret US Stealth fighter, but it turned out to be the burning debris from a Soviet rocket body used to launch a satellite into orbit.

On 31 March 1993 various reports of moving lights over south-west England and south Wales were later traced to the re-entry of a Russian Cosmos rocket body.

The files, which can be downloaded from the National Archives website, are being released as part of a three-year project

These latest documents are the first containing information written by defence intelligence staff to be made public.
Dr Clarke said they were among tens of thousands of secret files contaminated with asbestos and were in danger of being destroyed.

They were eventually saved after a campaign by historians to rescue them from the old War Office building in Whitehall.



BBC NEWS Call for school travel shake-up and about bloody time, Ministers and local authorities must do more to provide alternatives to car travel for pupils, MPs have said.

The Commons Transport Committee said it was disappointed plans had not been in place before the introduction of 14-19 diplomas, which can mean more travel.

The committee recommended a move towards more walking, cycling and American-style yellow school buses.

The Department for Transport (DfT) said it would be looking at the committee's recommendations "in detail".
Imagine, no more school run-heaven!

And finally-BBC NEWS Jade Goody dies Reality TV star Jade Goody has died at the age of 27, her spokesman Max Clifford has confirmed.

She died at home in Upshire, Essex, overnight on Saturday after a battle with cancer.


Rest in peace, didn’t like her personally, but maybe cervical cancer screening will save lives, so good on her.

“A newspaper is lumber made malleable. It is ink made into words and pictures. It is conceived, born, grows up and dies of old age in a day.” Jim Bishop

Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

NHS-THE OTHER SIDE

Thursday 12 February 2009

LATE POST TODAY


Just managed to sit down to write this, been a hell of a day, had to go to the dentist, who were an hour late, then I had to sort out some “official” pillocks who couldn’t find their arse in a dark room if they had a torch.

So I won’t be posting on the Politico blog today.

And just a few snippets on this one.

BBC NEWS A parent is jailed for their child's truancy once a fortnight every school term in England and Wales, analysis of court statistics shows.

In 2007 there were 10,000 prosecutions in England - up 76% since 2000.

The good old Gov has done their usual U-Turn-from this-The Labour government has made a priority of tackling truancy, introducing increasingly severe penalties.

To this-The government now says that it prefers to look at overall absence, including absences that have been authorised by schools, rather than to focus on truancy. On this measure, there has been an improvement.

Number crunchers of the world unite!


Women's traits 'written on face' -BBC NEWS it seems that a woman's personality traits may be "written all over her face", research has suggested.

The Glasgow University and New Scientist study examined whether self-assessed personality characteristics could be identified from appearance.

Dr Jenkins said “Overall the data is fascinating," he said. "It pushes the envelope in that we are looking at subtle aspects of psychological make-up.

"It also shows that people readily associate facial appearance with certain personality traits.

"It's possible that there is some correlation between appearance and personality because both are influenced by our genetic make-up."

No comment!


After my drawn out visit to the dentist, this caught my eye- Millions 'opt for DIY dentistry' Millions of people in England have resorted to DIY dentistry, a survey by consumer magazine Which? suggests.

The poll, of 2,631 adults, found 8% had tried to fix their own dental problems - and a similar number knew somebody who had tried.


Of those who admitted trying the DIY approach, one in four had tried to pull out a tooth using pliers.

Some 30% of DIY dentists had tried to whiten their teeth with household cleaning products.

Other DIY procedures people admitted to included:

• Using household glue to stick down a filling or crown (11%)
• Popping an ulcer with a pin (19%)
• Trying to mend or alter dentures (8%)
• Trying to stick down a loose filling with chewing gum (6%)

Ouch!


And finally

Our Boris loses his cool The Evening Standard says committee members were told by Mr Vaz that "the mayor used the F-word ten times".
Not so says Mr Johnson's aides he only used strong language “once or twice”

That’s OK then.

“This is a confusing and uncertain period, when a thousand wise words can go completely unnoticed, and one thoughtless word can provoke an utterly nonsensical furore.” Vaclav Havel



Angus

NHS Behind the headlines

Angus Dei politico

Friday 9 January 2009

OH DEAR!



BBC NEWS -A US man divorcing his wife is demanding that she return the kidney he donated to her or pays him $1.5m (£1m) in compensation.

This Pillock- Dr Richard Batista is demanding back the Kidney because his divorce is not going well tough, blame the lawyers, grow up and get a life.


BBC NEWS-Mixed-sex wards 'blighting NHS', this has been going on for years, in fact back in 2004 when Mrs Angus was in hospital, the “ward” she was in was mixed sex. I put ward in quotes because it was a “bay” of six beds, there were other bays with mixed sexes in as well. It is obviously beyond the “ward Manager” to arrange, or move beds so that all six beds are inhabited by the same sex after all it’s not Firkin rocket science. The excuse is always “it would leave beds empty "Lord (kahzi) Darzi tough shit, patients are stressed enough when they go into Hospital, adding to this stress by having mixed sexes in the same bay is unacceptable.


The Register-MI5 head calls for comms data access, yes it is still on the cards, they still want a database of all our phone calls and emails. Such data is currently held in varying degrees by communications providers and can be retrieved by the police, MI5 and other agencies. It is often used in court cases. The excuse of course is “national security, what about “national Privacy”?


Still on “security” The Register-the Home office denies remote snooping plan, and is denying plans to change to rules governing how police can remotely snoop on people's computers. A spokesman for the Home Office told the Reg that UK police can already snoop - but the Regulation of Investigator Powers Act and the Surveillance Commissioner govern these activities. He said changes had been proposed at the last Interior Ministers' meeting, but nothing has happened since.

Methinks they protest too much.

Still on “Government Snooping” which of course isn’t going to happen- The Register a private sector firm may be given the job of maintaining a proposed super-database tracking the telephone and Internet records of Brits.

So it seems even though the Government won’t be snooping on us, if it did happen then it would be run by a private company, as the Gov managed to lose 29 million records last year.

That really makes you feel “secure” doesn’t it?


Ask for no guarantees, ask for no security, there never was such an animal. And if there were, it would be related to the great sloth which hangs upside down in a tree all day every day, sleeping its life away.”-Henry De Bracton

Angus

Wednesday 7 January 2009

MICRO MANAGEMENT MISSES THE BIG PICTURE


The Government sems to be obsessed with “arranging” our lives for us, telling us what to eat, what not to eat, how we should recycle, so that it can be buried in a large hole when we do bother, how we should drink less, and then allows beer to be sold for less than a pound per pint.

It tells us that we should use public transport to save the planet, and to reduce congestion, and then allows the companies that run the trains to hit us with swingeing fare increases.

It tells us that we should make our houses greener by installing double glazing and loft insulation, then allows the energy companies to continue their “profit at our expense” with crippling gas and electricity charges.

It tells us we should take out private medical and pension insurance, when it has poured £billions into the banks, and even more £billions into endless numbers of managers, and admin staff in the NHS. And £millions more on useless quangos, comittees and commissions.

It tells us that it has sent £millions overseas to help “poor” countries when millions of people are living in poverty in his country.

It preaches at us to save for the future when thousands of people are losing their jobs and houses, then it tells us to spend to lift us out of the recession it put us into.

I really don’t think the Government has a clue what it is doing, it contradicts itself on a daily basis, it does more u-turns than a london taxi, and is unable to make its collective mind up.

Why don’t they let us run our lives the way we want to and do the job they are paid to do, which is to make decisions that benefit the people that voted them into office (apart from Gord of course) US?

Practical politics consists in ignoring facts”-Henry Adams, 1907

Angus

Monday 5 January 2009

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE WORLD


No I am not talking about Stanislav Petrov , or even Jerome Kerviel (look them up) but our own grumpy, dour, prudent Scot Gordon Brown.

GB as I will call him has issued his latest commandment-BBC NEWS Politics PM 'to create 100,000 new jobs' to the country on how he will “create 100,000 jobs as part of a new initiative to curb rising unemployment.”

He said “improving the environment was part of the solution to the recession.
The government plans to bring forward £10bn of spending on public works, digital technology and environmental projects to create new jobs.
Investments will be made in eco-friendly projects such as electric cars and wind and wave power, which will create jobs.
Some 30,000 jobs are to be created in school repairs, in an attempt to help private construction firms who have suffered in the economic downturn.
Mr Brown also claimed his plans would be bigger than the multi-billion dollar "Green New Deal" planned by US president-elect Barack Obama.”

His mighty-ness is going to magic up 100,000 jobs, “with unemployment at its highest level for more than a decade and many workers facing an uncertain future, Mr Brown is keen to demonstrate a new focus on the problem.”


With an estimate of three million unemployed this year GBs belated attempt to turn back the clock is a bit like pissing into an active volcano in the hope he can save Pompeii.

Too little too late.

Another quote from GB-“ We are not going to stand by and allow nothing to be done when people are facing difficulties”

So when is he going to start? People are deep in the crap, no money no jobs, no prospects and probably no homes.

Many can only afford unhealthy food, which, will cost the NHS a substantial amount of money in the future because “healthy” food is now prerogative of the rich

Many still can’t afford to heat their homes properly, and are confined to one room.

Many can’t afford to buy their kids clothes, or give them “proper meals”.

Many won’t be able to afford the exorbitant rail fares to get to work, because GB thinks that we should pay more for public transport and not the Government, so they will have to cut back on other things such as food or heating (see the pattern?).

Many more will suffer mental or physical illness because of the stress.

Many more will be trapped in poverty because of the lack of action by GB and his cohorts.


The Government, (and it really doesn’t matter which party, because they are now all the same) saw the “crash” coming, they ignored it, they then decided that they would help the banks, and ignore the people.

Then they decided that pouring billions into the banks isn’t going to work, but “we” need to spend our way out of the recession.

Now they think that spending billions on “refurb” projects to create 100,000 jobs is the way forward.

I have come to the conclusion that the “Government” and GB in particular don’t really know their arse from their elbows: they don’t have a firkin clue what to do next, or which direction to point themselves.

GB, listen to the people, make the decision to reduce peoples costs, reduce the price of “good” food, reduce the price of gas and electricity, reduce the price of public transport (because it was your idea to get us out of our cars), reduce the costs of mortgages by resetting the mortgages to the actual worth of peoples houses (which will put hundreds of pounds in our pockets each month), reduce tax on small companies, reduce the commercial “council tax” reduce the amount we give to the EU.

They say that going on a diet is bad for you, but this diet on costs would help the people who put you in office, placed their trust in you, and to be honest you have not lived up to our expectations.

I know this isn’t my usual style (on this blog anyway) , but I can’t find anything amusing to say about GB and his so called Government, because watching our country being flushed away by inaction, inability and incompetence is not funny.


“Everyone is entitled to be stupid but some abuse the privilege.”
Anon.

Sunday 4 January 2009

GOVERNMENT GOBBLEDEGOOK

I was really bored last night, and I mean really bored. The TV was crap as usual and I couldn’t concentrate on my book (and yes I do have more than one) so I decided to do some website hopping, it’s like channel hopping and, you can guess the rest.

Anyway, I ended up on the Houses of Parliament site; it must be the masochist in me.

Poking about with a stick I came across the UK Parliament - Bills Before Parliament page, and then I moved on to the Bills and Legislation - Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Bill [HL] bill.

Well it caught my attention, and as you do I opened the PDF file to discover this-Geneva Conventions and United nations Personnel (Protocols) bill.

So I decided to have a “butchers” as they say, I really wish I hadn’t.

Some extracts from the aforesaid Bill: -

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Explanatory notes to the Bill, prepared by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, are
published separately as HL Bill 12—EN.

EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Lord Malloch-Brown has made the following statement under section 19(1)(a) of the
Human Rights Act 1998:

In my view the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel
(Protocols) Bill [HL] are compatible with the Convention rights
.

That bits OK I could get my brain cell around it.

Then it went on- A Bill to Amend the Geneva Conventions Act 1957 so as to give effect to the Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 done on 8 December2005; and to amend the United Nations Personnel Act 1997 so as to give effect to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations
and Associated Personnel adopted by the General Assembly of the United
Nations on 8 December 2005.

Ok, still on track-just.

And then it happened, I am not sure if I had a stroke at this point but my understanding of the English language deserted me-

1 Amendments of the Geneva Conventions Act 1957

(1) The Geneva Conventions Act 1957 (c. 52) is amended as follows.
(2) In section 1 (grave breaches of Conventions and protocols), in subsection (1),
for “or the first protocol” substitute “, the first protocol or the third protocol”.

(3) In subsection (1A) of that section, after paragraph (b) insert “; and

(c) a grave breach of the third protocol is anything which for the
purposes of Article 6 of the protocol constitutes the perfidious
use of the emblem specified in section 6(1)(f) of this Act”

I had now started to sweat because I couldn’t get my brain cell to function, it was interpreting the written words as Gobbledegook.

So I persevered-

And then it hit me, they were “talking” about the Red Cross emblem! and who can wear it (I think).

Then it went on-

(5) After subsection (4A) of that section, insert—
“(4B) Subsection (4) of this section shall apply in relation to a design or
wording reproducing or resembling the emblem or a designation
specified in paragraph (f) of subsection (1) of this section as it applies to designs or wording reproducing or resembling an emblem or
designation specified in paragraph (b) or (c) of that subsection.

(4C) But subsection (4) of this section shall not apply by virtue of subsection
(4B) of this section where the use of the design or wording concerned is
such as would appear, in time of armed conflict, to confer the protection
of the scheduled conventions and, where applicable, the first protocol
and the second protocol.

(4D) For the purposes of subsection (4B) of this section references in
subsection (4) of this section to the passing of this Act shall be construed
as references to the passing of the Geneva Conventions and United
Nations Personnel (Protocols) Act 2009.”

By now I was rolling about on the floor laughing, and I nearly made my bladder implode.

With tears in my eyes I tried to carry on-

The High Contracting Parties,
Reaffirming the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12
August 1949 (in particular Articles 26, 38, 42 and 44 of the First
Geneva Convention) and, where applicable, their Additional
Protocols of 8 June 1977 (in particular Articles 18 and 38 of
Additional Protocol I and Article 12 of Additional Protocol II), concerning the use of distinctive emblems,

Desiring to supplement the aforementioned provisions so as to enhance their protective value and universal character,

Noting that this Protocol is without prejudice to the recognized right of High Contracting Parties to continue to use the emblems they are using in conformity with their obligations under the Geneva Conventions and, where applicable, the Protocols additional thereto, Recalling that the obligation to respect persons and objects
protected by the Geneva Conventions and the Protocols additional thereto derives from their protected status under international law and is not dependent on use of the distinctive emblems, signs or signals, Stressing that the distinctive emblems are not intended to have any religious, ethnic, racial, regional or political significance,
Emphasizing the importance of ensuring full respect for the obligations relating to the distinctive emblems recognized in the Geneva Conventions, and, where applicable, the Protocols additional thereto.

But it was no use, I had to stop or I think I would have had a stroke.

If you want to risk a blood clot or failure to control you bowels have a read.

I suppose the point I am trying to make (apart from the comedy value) is that the people we elected to represent our best interests, spend their days debating bills like this, and getting very well paid at the same time, actually believe that this is the way to communicate.

It brought it home to me that MPs are as far removed from our reality as a Martian would be (if they existed).

Is it any wonder that they have managed to firk up the country the way they have, because they are not on the same planet as the rest of us plebs, who have to deal with things like fuel bills, council tax bills, shopping bills and any other flavour of bill you can think of.

Unlike the politicians whose only understanding of “bills” is total bollocks and gobbledegook.


“You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding and a vulgar manner.”

Aristophanes (450bc-388bc)

Sounds a bit like me.

Angus
NHS: NHS CHOICES. BENNY PUT YOUR LEGO AWAY

Friday 12 December 2008

POVERTY, BENEFITS, THE UNDERCLASS AND THE GOVERNMENT


Long title not so long blog.

First let’s get the Psychotics out of the way.

Gordon Brown Trousers thinks he has saved the world, and Mugabe thinks that the Cholera epidemic is over.

What can you say?

Anyway back to the title- Question Time watch it, because it is very enlightening.

I watched the above program last night, as usual, but while watching it I had a “revelation”.

There were the expected questions, such as “is this a good time to “force” people on benefits into work” and the usual answers-yes and no from different panellists. Apart from the labour MP who was all in favour of it, and vomited the usual bollocks such as “support” and “preparing”, “pride” and “self esteem”.
How you prepare for a job which doesn’t exist I don’t know, because if we ever come out of this Recession the Country is going to be a very different place. And the Conservative “lady” was also in favour. (Remember that at the next election).

But the “revelation” was that all these people considered that people on benefits were in poverty and an “underclass” and that made me think.

If people on benefits are in poverty, the poverty is imposed on them by the level of benefits given, which means that the Government is responsible for that poverty.

And it is responsible because the levels of benefits are so low.

The Govs’ solution to get people out of poverty is to remove them from the benefits system and make them “ready for work” while still paying below the poverty-line benefits.

Now, I may only have one brain cell but isn’t this a bit strange?

I also watched This Week, afterwards, which is a programme I don’t usually watch because I think that the “panellists” are Pillocks and over-inflated knobheads.

But the same theme was “discussed”-benefits and the Underclass.

All present agreed that the “Benefit Reform Bill” was a wonderful idea, they even dragged in John Bird, the founder of “The Big Issue” who has plenty of money, and also agreed that the people on benefits should “pay” for those benefits, I wonder if his opinion would be the same if he hadn't become "successful"? And said things such as “People on welfare are caught in an invidious situation, because they don’t have to provide for themselves the Government becomes the breadwinner and they lose the incentive to work”.

Why is it that people with money, jobs and a bit of power, such as Mr Bird suddenly become “reformers” and spout the “PC speak” that is rife on this Island of ours instead of actually remembering what life is like for the “Underclass”?

Watch it, quite revealing as well.

My point to all this is that the Government has perpetrated Poverty by paying sub poverty benefits, has ignored the “underclass” until the financial situation which they got us into kicked them in the Bollocks, and, suddenly decides to act in their usual half arsed way when the possibility of employment is about as rare as rocking horse shit.

A bit longer than I thought, maybe I am misguided but that is the state of play as I see it.

And just to end on a brighter note-I have waited 40 years for this, the QUO has released a Christmas song, they have learned a new chord (Or maybe not) and plunged into the quagmire that is Yule Tide.

Good luck to Mr Rossi and Mr Parfitt, and lets hope there are no bloody ring tones in the wings.

Angus