Plenty of solar activity, even more lack of warm, much less atmospheric
movement and nary a whimsy of skywater at the Castle this morn.
In response to overwhelming public demand (thanks AK Haart) you are still going to be
subjected to my pointless rambles for a while yet (see yestermorn’s post).
And the interweb thingy seems to be going tits up-spotted the theme yet?
And the interweb thingy seems to be going tits up-spotted the theme yet?
It seems that the Royal Norks thingy was legit after all,
and being a bit of a breast man I still can’t see what all the fuss is about
she doesn’t really have much to boast about, her minor Maj didn’t mind cavorting
about in nearly nothing whist at Uni, but what really intrigues me is: What the
hell is the tall, thin bald bloke doing
in this pic? It isn’t about Norks but if this Piss Poor blog disappears
overnight you will know that “they” don’t want snaps of the Royal arse bandied
about the Blogosphere.
Still it seems that the mob at Buck House have pre-empted the
problems by sending the pair out to places that are not very happy with non
Muslims, a bit like sending dirty Harry out to Afghanistan after his photo session in Vegas-much less suspect
than a car crash....
Despite the Coalition's promises that councils' powers would
be curbed thousands of people are still being fined over their household
rubbish.
Ministers have repeatedly promised to stop councils levying
fines of up to £1,000 on householders for minor infractions like leaving bins
out on the wrong day.
But evidence from a survey using Freedom of Information laws
by campaigners suggests that thousands of households are still being fined
despite the pledges.
A report by the Manifesto Club, to be published on Monday,
found that 88 out of 358 councils across the UK had issued “waste receptacle”
fines in 2011/12.
Josie Appleton, director of the Manifesto Club, said: “Bin
fines have become a money-making operation, rather than a last resort to deal
with real offenders.
Under the current system, councils have the power to issue
fixed penalty notices of up to £110, or push for criminal convictions and a
fine of up to £1,000.
In one instance, a woman from central London was fined when
she threw away one of her company’s bank statements into her household
collection.
Sabine Guerry, who lives in Westminster, said she was fined
for post relating to her own private company at her home address.
She said: “Westminster Council agents opened and searched my
rubbish bag in front of my door, and found one bank statement from my company
together with my personal waste.
“They deduced that this was “commercial” waste, took some
pictures, and sent me an £80 fine for illegal commercial littering.
“They said I should have used a dedicated commercial bin
bag, labelling who was collecting my rubbish. They seem to be suggesting that I
employ somebody separately to take away my company’s bank statement.”
Westminster council said that it "would not fine a
resident for simply putting rubbish in a bin", adding: "The only
reason we would look through waste is if it has been dumped illegally, and to
look for evidence of who dumped it.
Ah the old fly tipping ruse.....
Anna Soubry, a health minister, has said that the Coalition
“screwed up” over its controversial reforms of the NHS according to the
Torygraph.
Miss Soubry, a junior health minister, made the frank remark
in a private discussion with health service managers about reforms that will
give GPs control of £80 billion of health spending.
It is the second outspoken statement Miss Soubry has made
since her appointment ten days ago.
Last weekend, she angered some Conservative MPs by
suggesting that euthanasia laws are “ridiculous” and should be changed to make
it easier for the sick to end their own lives.
In a private question-and-answer session, she was asked
about the way the Government had dealt with medical professionals and the Royal
Colleges representing them over the reforms.
“We screwed up,” she replied, according to sources at the
event.
Many of the colleges initially supported the reforms drawn
up by Andrew Lansley, the former health secretary, but gradually withdrew their
support.
That helped ensure the Health and Social Care Act had a
bruising passage through Parliament and attracted significant public protest.
Some Conservatives fear the reform package has cost their
party the public trust over health David Cameron tried to win in opposition.
And most of the voters...
According to Verenice Gutierrez, principal of Harvey Scott
K-8 School Portland, Oregon peanut butter and jelly sandwiches carry racist
connotations.
“Take the peanut butter sandwich, a seemingly innocent
example a teacher used in a lesson last school year,” “What about Somali or
Hispanic students, who might not eat sandwiches?” Gutierrez asked.
“Another way would be to say: ‘Americans eat peanut butter
and jelly, do you have anything like that?’
The Tribune noted
that the school started the New Year with "intensive staff trainings,
frequent staff meetings, classroom observations and other initiatives," to
help educators understand their own “white privilege,” in order to "change
their teaching practices to boost minority students’ performance."
"Last
Wednesday, the first day of the school year for staff, for example, the first
item of business for teachers at Scott School was to have a Courageous
Conversation — to examine a news article and discuss the 'white privilege' it
conveys," the Tribune added.
Totally bleedin bonkers and this daft mare is in charge of a
school!
Peter Capaldi and
Alastair Campbell were left embarrassed when their sponsored swear-off for
charity was accidentally broadcast to a crèche.
The Thick of It
star and the former Downing Street press chief were appearing at a charity day
at the headquarters of City trader BGC.
They were talked
into the ‘swearathon’ in order to raise money for the Leukaemia and Lymphoma
Research team, and their diatribes were broadcast across the entire building
until organisers realised that they were audible in the children’s crèche
downstairs from the trading floor.
Mr Campbell
apologised to “the kids and their mums and dads, and anyone else who took
offence”.
“Our only defence
is that the traders looked in need of a laugh after a day spent trying to
humour celebs, and we were raising money for our respective charities,” he
added.
Campbell won his
swear-off against the Glaswegian actor by managing to cram eleven uses of the
f-word into a one-minute speech.
Only eleven, fucking useless...
Wonder if they did one for chaps...
Comes an amazing Hubble bubble pic of the Rose Galaxy known
as UGC 1810, it has a disk that is distorted into a rose-like shape by the
gravitational tidal pull of the companion galaxy below it, known as UGC 1813.
Cool....
And today’s thought:
That’ll teach her to have her nipples pierced
Angus
