Sunday Section

Woke up with the hump today, I don’t know why, it may have something to do with the cat sitting on my chest at 3.30 this am and screaming in my face because her “dirt tray” needed emptying.

Something slightly different as well with this mornings post:

Rubbish

It seems our latest export to Brazil is “toxic waste”: syringes, condoms and bags of blood.

Roberto Messias, president of the Brazilian environment agency, Ibama, declared that Brazil was "not a big rubbish dump of the world".

The agency also said the arrival of the toxic cargo had violated the Basel Convention on the movement of hazardous waste, of which both the UK and Brazil are signatories, which came into force in 1992.

Ingrid Oberg, regional chief of Ibama, later told the BBC the cargo mainly consisted of domestic waste.

"It's a lot of food containers and cleaning product containers. We found old clothes, shoes, papers, a lot of old newspapers.

"In some of the containers recently found there were also some technological products, like DVDs, pieces of computers, plastic stuff. But mainly it's domestic garbage."

The waste will be returned, but it may take a “few weeks”.


Nice.

Would you pay £20 charge to see a doctor?

The latest “brainwave” from the knobs at The Social Market Foundation (It champions policy ideas which marry markets with social justice) have decided that we should pay to see a doctor.

And said “forcing people to pay a fee for an appointment could help the NHS cope in the tight financial times ahead.”

Sorry, but absolute bollocks, it would deter the low paid from seeking medical attention, and could spread diseases such as TB and STDs.

If they want to save money in the NHS, then get rid of a couple of layers of management, put a cap on CEOs salaries, and do away with the £350 million being spent on management consultants.

But both the government and doctors said they were against such a move.

Yes.

Henry Allingham dies

A bit of old news, but there was an interesting quote on radio four yesterday, “he lived at a time when duty was a part of life” a sad reflection on the world today.

R.I.P

Cutting costs in Government

Jack straw the “Minister for Justice” has 3,680 people in his department, the strange thing is that 970 of them are in HR (which used to be called personnel in the good old days) a similar-sized private company would employ around 40.

The Justice Ministry is not the only offender. Four hundred of the Department for Work and Pensions's 5,650 staff work in HR. A similar-sized private company would employ around 60.


Way to go Gord.

Carbon Footprints

Everyone seems to be “talking” about Carbon footprints at the moment, and it seems that the Middle Class neighbourhood are the worst offenders.

“People in wealthy areas eat more exotic and environmentally unfriendly food, such as prawns flown from Malaysia, green beans from Kenya and organic pears from New Zealand.

They fly more often and take foreign holidays in more distant locations, drive more "gas guzzling" 4x4s, and live in bigger houses which cost more to heat and light.

The most polluting area in Britain around Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire produced more than 36 tonnes on average. Other affluent areas that performed badly such as Woldingham, Surrey, Shiplake, Oxon, and Gerrards Cross in Buckinghamshire were also in the heart of the commuter belt.

The average household in Britain produces around 28 tonnes of carbon per year.”

“In contrast the most "green" areas of Britain were in built-up inner city areas or where people cannot afford to consume so much, take less holidays and use public transport.

In Stockton-on-Tees near Middlesbrough the average household only produces 14 tonnes per household while parts of St Pancras, in London, and areas of Birmingham and Portsmouth were also less than half the national average.”


No surprises there then.

And finally:

Porkie Flu

With Porkie Flu high on everyone’s agenda (apart from mine), the rarely photographed piglet squid was captured on film at a rescue aquarium.

Its tentacles and skin patterns have formed an adorable shape of a small smiling face with what looks like curly locks on his head.

The piglet squid (Helicocranchia pfefferi), named because of its rotund shape, is normally found in the darkness more than 320 feet (100m) below the surface of the ocean.

Measuring just 3.9cm (10cm) in length, this squid species has light producing organs to help it navigate the depths.

So at least there is something of the porkus, porcine or sus, suis variety that can make us smile.


Angus

Angus Dei politico

Angus Dei-NHS-THE OTHER SIDE