grumpyoldmen

Rich Tory Toffs Are At It Again!

Andrew Mitchell — newly-promoted by PM David Cameron to the cabinet position of Chief Whip lost his temper when the police who protect 10 Downing Street would not open the main gates for him to cycle through. They tried to usher him through a side gate used by all pedestrians.

A source reported Mr Mitchell as saying: “Open this gate, I’m the Chief Whip. I’m telling you — I’m the Chief Whip and I’m coming through these gates.”

The Tory lost his rag when police told him security rules mean they open the main gate as little as possible.

 

It’s reported by several newspapers that the Tory MP— dubbed “Thrasher” when he was a posh prefect at Rugby public school said “You’re f***ing plebs.”  

The Police officer targeted by the tirade reported to his superiors that Mitchell told him: “Best you learn your f***ing place. You don’t run this f***ing government.   “You’re f***ing plebs.”

Despite his fury, the officers refused to budge and warned him that he would be arrested under the Public Order Act if he continued to abuse them.

For those not familiar with the word pleb the Urban dictionary says:

Pleb: Actually defined as a member of a despised social class, a commoner, a member of the plebs of ancient Rome. Also low-born, undisinguished, vulgar, and my personal favourite: vulgar-looking.

 

The Prime Minister condemned Mr Mitchell after the The Sun newspaper revealed the outburst.

The Chief Whip apologised for his behaviour but insisted he did not use the words “plebs”.

However John Tully, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation has backed The Sun’s account after speaking to the abused officer.

Mr Tully reportedly said: “I know what the officer has told me and I know who

I believe."

He then called for Mr Mitchell to go, saying: “He should resign. As a Cabinet Minister it’s unacceptable for someone of his standing to use such disrespectful and abusive language to a police constable let alone anyone else.

"If the shoe was on the other foot and my officer had said those things he’d be out of a job now. Its double standards.

“Only a few days ago the Government was expressing support for the police in the wake of the officers’ deaths in Manchester, and then we have a very senior member of the Government saying that officers are plebs and morons.

“I know Mr Mitchell has apologised and that’s good, but it’s not enough."

The cycling Tory’s outburst came the day after two women PCs were shot dead.

An eyewitness said Mr Mitchell, 56, also branded them “morons”.

Speaking on a visit to Greater Manchester Police headquarters in the wake of the murders of Pcs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, Prime Minster Cameron said: “What Andrew Mitchell said and what he did was not appropriate. It was wrong and it is right that he has apologised.

“He has obviously apologised to me, but more importantly he has apologised thoroughly to the police and that needed to be done.

“Police do an outstanding job across our country. They do a very important job protecting places like Number 10 Downing Street and I am very conscious of the protection they give to me and my family and the work they do for everyone in public life.

DAVID Cameron says Chief Whip's words and actions towards cop were "inappropriate" and "wrong"

“I am eternally grateful for that and the police should always have our respect and our help and support and that is very, very important.

His disgraceful outburst on Wednesday evening came just 33 HOURS after PCs Bone and Hughes were shot dead in Manchester.

The Police Federation of England and Wales, which represents rank-and-file officers, today slammed Mr Mitchell saying it was “hard to fathom how someone who holds the police in such contempt could be allowed to hold a public office”.

Tourists and other members of the public looking in towards No10 heard the tirade and were left “visibly shocked” by it, the Downing St cop told bosses.

Mr Mitchell has since apologised to the PC who copped the most offensive but he is still denying using the word plebs even though the police officers reported his tirade word for word.

Ironically right-winger and keen cyclist Mr Mitchell is a former shadow police minister which tells you everything about the reality of how the Tories in government view the rest of us.

A former investment banker, he is worth at least £2.2million and owns a number of swanky homes.

He lives in one of the most fashionable squares in Islington, North London, with his GP wife Sharon and their two daughters.

He also has a house in his Sutton Coldfield constituency in Birmingham and a property in the French ski resort of Val d’Isere.

A Met Police spokesman said last night: “We have not made a complaint.”

The murders of PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes have left Britain’s Thin Blue Line feeling very vulnerable. That is on top of a deep resentment over redundancies and pension cuts.

The knives are out! 

From former Tory party volunteers to Mr.Mitchell's neighbors are lining up to tell all 

The Daily Telegraph have taken the unprecidented step of publishing the whole of the police log which make it abundantly clear that Mr Mitchell has been telling porkies to the Prime Minister.

And finally I saw this spoof Andrew Mitchell bicycle advert, at least I think it was a spoof?

    Has Red Nose Day Come Early?

If you need more evidence that the Conservatives are out of touch with ordinary people the Prime Minster’s advisor Lord Young A KEY adviser to David Cameron was slammed last night after he questioned whether Britain was really in recession.

Lord Young said he believed official figures that show the economy is shrinking could be wrong.

The Tory peer said: “I’ve never known a recession where employment goes up and at a time when the population is growing. I’m not sure the Government can actually measure the economy any more.”

Labour accused the 80-year-old of being out of touch. Shadow Treasury minister Chris Leslie said the Government “should be changing course and kick-starting the economy”.

Lord Young’s comments echo remarks he made in 2010 when he said Brits had “never had it so good”. He was forced to quit then as the Government’s enterprise tsar.

 

Birmingham Council Staff clock up 58,635 sick days

Can my readers please send a few get well cards to the poor little lambs at Birmingham Council.

According to my local newspaper Birmingham City Council staff took off 58,635 sick days between April and July of this year.   It is estimated that every additional day on the average rate cost the local taxpayer an extra £3 million to pay for cover or agency staff and delays to services.

Sir Richard's Smelly Toilets

Like many other Brits, I admire Richard Branson for the way he has done business, and showed that you can treat customers well and be successful.  I also think for years members of the Tory party seem to stop Virgin whenever they got the chance i.e. the lottery and now taking back his train franchise. That said I will not be sorry to see Virgin lose their Train network because I have often thought it was a step too far.  By that I mean firstly that Virgin only part own Virgin Trains (partnered by Stagecoach) and I think this move watered down the Virgin ethos. 

 

Out of all the Virgin products and services I have bought in the last 40 years travelling on his trains is not a good one, overcrowded trains and expensive tickets.

Now I am not saying anyone could have done it better or that this new company that is coming will either, I'm just saying how disappointed I have been on Virgin Trains compared to Virgin Planes.  

 

Several years ago I complained about the smelly toilets on my frequent travels down to London from Birmingham.  Of course the company line was a fulsome apology and a £5 discount on my next ticket.  Trouble was that during the half a dozen trips I made around that period an employee on the train confided that the reason the toilets were now smelly is someone in the company had cut back the frequency that the chemical toilets were emptied to save money.  

 

Fast forward to last weekend Sept 1-2nd 2012, I was up in Liverpool for the great Food and Drinks Festival and for one section of my return journey I was on a Virgin train.  Guess what, the toilets are still smelly due to this policy.   I'm sure when Sir Richard plans a train journey they amend their emptying schedule and with such a world wide umbrella of companies he can not be expected to keep up with the minutia of Virgin Trains....but maybe he should disguise himself and do a spot check.

 P.S. even the BBC mentioned the smelly toilets

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19268724

 

The Similarities between the Tories and the Ferengi in Star Trek

I recently came to the conclusion that UK Tory politicians and Ferengi have a lot in common.   Both are always looking to see what is in it for them, only prepared to support something if it brings them advantage.   Both are defined by their mercantile obsession with profit and trade, but would sell their colleagues down the river if there was a profit in it.

P.s.  I think Michael makes a very handsome Ferengi, don't you?

 

German Search Engine with a Racist Name

 Surfing the internet I chanced upon a site called ACOON, on closer inspection this was actually 2 sites Acoon.de  and Acoon.com both owned by Michael Schöbel in Germany.

Since June I have been in correspondence with Michael trying to convince him to change the name carefully explaining what A Coon means in English.

Urban Dictionary

Coon:  An insulting name for a black person. Similar to ‘Nigger’.

The Free Dictionary

1. Informal A raccoon.

2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.

 

At first the owner Michael Schöbel showed sympathy to my complaint and said he would rename the site, and that he didn’t realise the racist meaning when he chose ACoon as the name for his search engines.  Then when I followed up with further emails he said he still needed more time to make the necessary changes.

Now in September, Herr Schöbel told me that he has taken down Acoon.com but when pressed has flatly refused to change the name of Acoon.de because he says and I quote,

“Acoon.de is meant for the German-speaking audience. Acoon.com was meant for the rest of the world, but now I know that I need to use a different name for that”. 

He reasoned that because 90% of Germans would not know that Acoon is a racist slur it was ok.

I went on to ask him if I could open up a website in Germany and name it Nigger would that be allowed? and he said, “if you would call a German website "nigger" you would definitely be in trouble. Because people here actually know what "nigger" means”, end quote.

 

Should a search engine continue to use a racist term for its name even after it has been pointed out?  Herr Schöbel has tried to imply that only Germans would see his Racist named search engine but that is just simply not true, the internet is not a series of islands but an interconnected super highway.

It is impossible to corral a racist named search engine just in Germany.   As the world becomes ever more interconnected, Germans will learn the English/American meaning of ACoon and demand it’s change anyway.

 

If someone types in “worldwide search engine list” the very first result on google page one is a site called http://www.searchenginecolossus.com/

This is a list of search engines and directories across the globe catalogued into countries.

If you click on the list of German search engines you will find this description of Acoon.de

The largest, most powerful German language database on the web! [spinne] (Marl, Nordrhein-Westfalen)

So does racism matter on the internet?  Well it should, I know there are lots of worse things happening in the world such as wars, famine, genocide etc, but just like the beginning of the persecution of the Jews before the Second World War….Wrong is just plain wrong! 

If we don’t stand up and prevent this unnecessary racism then where does this lead?...definitely not to a better more tolerant,  inclusive world.  When the persecution of the Jews began in the 1930’s many decent Germans looked away and didn’t speak up.  And still today as the conflicts in Africa and Syria show, denial is still a major factor in facilitating racism and hate crimes.

The bad thing about Michael’s decision is seems to be based around economics rather than the morals of the issue.  Perhaps if a few thousand decent Germans wrote complaints he might rethink the long term economic down side of having a racist name on his search engine.

I could have sworn it was the glorious 12th!

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I was watching the news last night about Prince Phillip having to go back into hospital because of a reoccurrence of a bladder infection.   Having had more than my fair share of similar problems, I wish him a speedy recovery.   Just like the Queen he sets a great example for others to follow.  Of course when a member of the royal family get taken to hospital it's headline news and various people are hurriedly invited to add to the story, especially on 24 hour news channels. 

One such uppercrust “royal watcher” was asked about the Prince’s health and how only a couple of days ago on August 12^th the Prince had been grouse shooting (the 12^th August being the beginning of the hunting season for Red grouse in the UK).  The man then went on to add in a very plumy voice “It was every Englishman’s dream to shoot and then eat a grouse on the Glorious 12^th!”....which told you everything about this person’s disconnection to the real UK that most of us live in.

 

Olympic Legacy

Being a Brit and feeling so proud of the efforts of Great Britain's Olympic Athletes in the last couple of weeks, it came a quite a shock to find out from 38 degrees that the Minister for Education Michael Gove, is trying to quietly relax rules on UK school playgrounds so some of them can be sold off!         Talk about Olympic Legacy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Selling off school playing fields to developers originally goes back to the Thatcher Government, and that together with the scrapping of the legal obligation (1980 Education Act) of schools to provide a nutritious meal brought about the Turkey Twizzlers all all the other junk food served up for school dinners. These two decisions were the building blocks for Obese Britain in 2012.   Of course the Labour government that followed did'nt repeal this folly because Tony Blair was too busy trying to show how "Tory like" his party could be so the sale of playing fields continued.  Fast forward to 2012 when 1 in 4 adults in the UK are obese and school playing fields are still being sold off.  True to form the Conservatives try to push through legislation to do more sell off whilst at the same time telling the public the importance of an Olympic legacy.   According to the Gurdian Newspaper Mr Gove ignored advice from an independant panel no fewer than 5 times.Michael Gove ignores independant panel's advice    All UK people please click this link and sign the petition now.
Help stop Michael Gove's sneaky sell off of UK school playgrounds

On a different subject of Julian Assange the man behind Wiki leaks, again the Tory government have made another error of judgment. If you’re familiar with the case Mr Assange is hold up in the Embassy of Ecuador, and today he was granted asylum.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the case the Foreign Office made an almighty blunder in threatening to "storm the Ecuador Embassy" ..in writing no less. They have created a situation which neither country can stepdown from, and if British Police are made to go into the Embassy and arrest Julian Assange, surely this will give other countries a green light to storm into British Embassies all over the world.

I don't know who advises this bunch of morons ...but talk about shooting yourself in both feet in one day to show the world how truly mentally challenged our current Government is, when trying to make a sensible choice and keep the global goodwill generated by the Olympic Games.  I turned to Chris an he said in a plumy voice "I could have sworn it was the Glorious 12th!"

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New Coke All Over again?

For those of you old enough to remember when some bright spark within the Coca Cola Company in the 1980’s decided to revamp the Coke recipe and hence “New Coke” was born.

For several years millions and millions of dollars where thrown at advertising campaigns to try and convince the public that “New Coke” was better.  But after a short while reluctantly, original Coke was reintroduced along side New Coke.  They renamed the original Coke “Coke Classic”.

 Now with a choice, the people chose classic Coke in overwhelming numbers and inside 2 more years Classic Coke went back to being Coke and New Coke was consigned to the dustbin of bad ideas.

 

Hotmail

Just like Coke here was a product that was classic, well liked and functioned smoothly and fast. I worked out the other day I've been a hotmail user for 16 years, back then hotmail was one of the few fast and stable email services.  Whilst many others crashed and were hacked Hotmail remained the gold standard.   Then with the advent of Google and then Gmail suddenly Hotmail felt it needed to bolt on a few extras to keep its supremacy. At first by integrating MSN, then Messenger, Skydrive and Windows Live.

Of course the problems are made 10 xs worse because just like Google and facebook it is almost impossible to speak to anyone high enough in the company to actually remedy these problems.

Indeed such are the problems that several third party companies have sprung up charging a fee to

advise people with hotmail problems, which is an outrageous indictment of how far the service has fallen!  These problems have continued to reoccur for seven long years but unlike the Coca Cola Company ….hotmail and Microsoft are still in denial.

 http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/hotmail-outage-as-server-goes-down-users-unable-to-access-email/

Hotmail have gone down this egotistical path to make it all singing all dancing provider but the real result of bolting on and integrating all these other services is Hotmail has become a Frankenstein’s monster….unwieldy, a more attractive target for hackers to try and crash,

clumsy and worse of all unable to perform it’s core function in a speedy and satisfactory way.

 

The Solution

Hotmail execs must swallow their corporate pride and the financial cost of stripping hotmail back to its core before it is too late. Separate the various pieces so that if one part crashes the rest still works.   After that I suggest pinning up in the boardroom an old but very true saying….

"If it aint broke, don't fix it!".  

 

For Your Viewing Pleasure?

16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom are two TV programs that glamorise young girls getting pregnant and thus are encouraging young girls down this slippery and difficult slope.

I'm sure the producers will try to defend these retched programs and make out they are performing an information service for girls who fall pregnant.   But the trouble is its also promoting teen pregnancy as a way to get on TV. 

 

My 9 year old daughter told me a few weeks ago that she has 3 (9 year old) classmates who where discussing getting pregnant and getting on the show when they are 16.  Now for some girls from poor backgrounds with dubious parents the idea of escaping their mundane future by appearing on a TV shows is an appealing and enticing one.

Of course I was appalled and shocked on so many levels, as reality shows continue to vulgarise our lives some more.  Of course these stupid kids don’t realise that for every girl that appears on the show there are thousands who don’t make it…even though they got pregnant just to appear on your show.

 

Thankfully, my daughter has other ambitions to go to University and become a Vet, but someone needs to shout about this from the rooftops to protect the foolish from this incredibly bad exploitation TV.  

This very poorly judged TV on what used to be just a music channel and unfortunately MTV may have grown-up as a channel….but its choice of programming is still very juvenile.

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Pingates

Dating Site Pitfalls of an Older Man

Finding un-fat women in the UK is becoming harder.

It seems this country is drowning in wobbly arms, double chins and spandex jogging bottoms stretched to bursting point.

I’ve often resisted the urge to get my phone out and make a video clip of the rearview then go show her…though the temptation is growing.

De Nile is a big fat river

To make it worse many of these single and divorced jellies are in denial about

their unhealthy weight and banshee-like appearance.  The denial is plain to see in their dating profiles…..

“Attractive tall caring man wanted by curvy cupid”… or…“Voluptuous vixen seeks understanding man” or

“Where have all the good men gone?”   And my answer would be ….“We are hiding behind the sofa”.

Someone needs to point out that the definition of the word voluptuous is provocative and sexually alluring….not whale like and covered in tattoos, with a scary pose and a large drink in your chubby hand.

 Clearly quite a few of these unloved mommas allow their bile and anger to boil into their profiles at dating sites, as they explain in no uncertain terms that don’t want a loser, a liar,married men, a layabout, a drunk, a women hater, an insensitive man, a letch, a man with tattoos, a man without tattoos, a player or a man who is insensitive to the feelings of size 16 lady.

Exposing the modern conundrum of biological urge versus the modern sport of knocking men as followed often in the media. 

The Truth Shall Set You Free!

To say that all men are bad are plain wrong and simply not true and yet some of these scary behemoths are convinced that women have no faults.

Where in truth men just want peace and quiet and rarely nag a woman about her bad habits or faults, this over time has helped grow the myth that women are perfect and somehow have to endure the endless faults of men. 

Alcohol and Cadbury’s

This fat disease that was previously the domain of the over the forties and Americans... now reared its ugly wobble in young women who should be in their prime.

When I was 20, I didn’t have the money to get shitfaced every night and yet these day’s young people believe they didn’t have a good time if they didn’t end up fall down drunk. As for chocolate, my childhood favourite Cadbury’s in recent years have departed from their Quaker roots to sell chocolate in ever increasing larger blocks.   So now you can buy the small 65p bar or the super block which could feed a starving family for a week!  

Global Warming

Also going unnoticed is the fact that Cadbury’s have changed the recipe of their revered Daily Milk lowering the cocoa fat content down to 23%.

This was done before the Americans took over and have perhaps added to global warming because the cocoa fat was replaced by palm oil. Palm oil trees are often grown after slashing and burning natural rain forests.

The Sad Truth

I guess at my age I would love to date a fit active “filly” in her 30’s but the sad truth is they like chatting to me because I remind them of their dad and they feel safe.  So I guess I have to lower my sights and get more realistic but I’m not ready just yet to get crushed in bed.  The funny thing is…. after writing politely on my own profile that I’m seeking reasonably fit and attractive women…those words seem to be a magnet for the overweight.  I wonder whether there is a connection between gaining weight and deteriorating eyesight? 

Addendum

I also wonder whether there is any scientific connection between angry fat woman and palm oil?   As for my non-existent sex life, I read somewhere that eating chocolate can give a person the same euphoria that sex can…. So ladies stop having so much sex with chocolate bars and get down the flipping gym!!

 

 

 

Greece Is The Word!

It seems like every politician these days wants to give Greece advice on how to run their government, David Cameron being the latest to stick his oar in.

If only politicians had been so ready to tell banks how to run their businesses 5-6 years ago, or the EU hadn't allowed countries such as Greece to fudge their financial figures to join the Euro in the first place.

Besides the irresponsible bankers, the gamblers on the world's stock markets have much to answer for as well.   No one blames the stock market for driving the world economy even faster down the plug hole, often with speculation on such things as oil and corn (driving up the prices further) which produces nothing except misery for the masses. 

 

The economy in my town

Took a further bashing, not because another shop on the high street closed….

But because a budding internet entrepreneur had £11,000 of his products nicked from his apartment.   The local newspaper reported that 4 suitcases containing sex toys had been stolen,

and then went on to describe the suitcases in some detail!

http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/9704013.Sex_toys_worth___11k_stolen_from_Stourport_flat/?ref=ms

Anyone with information about this theft can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555-111

 

Save Kidderminster Library Gallery and Performance Space

The campaign to save Kidderminster library Gallery is a coming together of the community in Kidderminster and Wyre Forest to defend the ONLY custom built Gallery and performance space we have got in the district.

The Gallery space was created in 1996 with funding from an Arts Council/National Lottery grant of £326,583. It combines an art gallery with a proper acoustically engineered performance space and the necessary humidity and temperature controls for the grand piano housed there.

Worcestershire County Council want to throw all of this away so they can turn it into offices and cram 139 social care staff in there. This decision was made back in the middle of 2011 but they never intended to properly consult with anyone over it. This is clear from their own documents, their ‘under the radar’ planning application, and the lack of meaningful engagement with either the public or their own staff. It is only after complaints from the public, communities, and unions that they made any attempt to consult, but based it on an exercise designed to give the illusion of ‘consultation’.

If the Gallery is lost, it can never be replaced. These may be tough economic times but there are other alternatives available to the council and we believe this cynical move is being made by a council who appear to be dominated by those who know the cost of everything, but the value of nothing.  

Stephen Brown from the Green party said, "This is an accounting sleight of hand to justify cultural vandalism.   In effect, they are making the library service pay for a cut in the social services budget and trashing the ONLY purpose built PUBLIC arts/performance/exhibition space in Wyre Forest at the same time."

http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/save-kidderminster-library-gallery/4458

 

Woodwork Project

One night, Pinocchio's girlfriend says to him,

"This stinks, every time we make love I get splinters."

So Pinocchio goes to Gepetto to ask his advice.

Gepetto says, "Sandpaper, my boy, that's all you need."

A few days later Gepetto runs into Pinocchio and says,

"So how are you doing with the girls now?"

 Pinocchio says, "Who needs girls?"

 

Did we lose the cold war instead of win it?

Did large western companies ever worry about destroying Europe’s manufacturing base by out-sourcing to China?

Therefore we can’t easily create manufacturing jobs in the UK to help rebuild our economy, one that relies too heavily on the financial and service sectors.

If out-sourcing was such a great idea to save money, how come these companies didn’t outsource some of the directors of the company?   So we put up with second rate goods at cheaper prices.

Far too often buying clothes, electrical goods and many other items is a minefield of reading the fine print, a battle of wills for satisfaction and a deep rooted sense that the vast majority of companies no longer care about it’s customers being happy only about pleasing the shareholders and getting fat unwarranted bonuses.

 

Are you a 38 degreer?

Are you a 38 degreer?

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/

 In recent months….no probably a year I have signed every petition 38 degrees have asked me to.

Not because I’m an easy touch, or because I’m anti-establishment but because those causes struck a chord.

But the question I would like to ask all local and national politicians is why there is a need for a group like 38 degrees?   Could it be that the public in general feel disconnected with our leaders?

Last week in my home town the district council election had a despairingly low turnout of 28.9 percent.  Why is it politicians listen more to their spin doctors than they do to the voters?

As the Leveson (Hacking) inquiry runs into its 7^th month do you get the feeling that politicians and the press will be less corrupt at the end of all this?

I for one believe we need to do a lot more to teach children at school their civic responsibilities, particularly the children on the fringes of society.  Only when the voter turnout is back up to 70% plus will the politicians really start paying us more than lip service.  So definately in the short term pressure groups like 38 are very very necessary and applauded.

 

Can New Political Parties Rise From These Ashes?

We have already seen the green shoots of other political parties, the question is can they grow enough at the grass roots to organise themselves nationally?

  

My Home Town

I reckon my home town of Stourport is prime example of why the electorate feel robbed of democracy.  On the one hand our Tory dominated local district council Wyre Forest has often done things against the wishes of the people and mostly got away with it.

On May the 3^rd the balance of power may have shifted if only the other parties (Independent Liberals, Labour and Independent Community and Health Concern) can work together to break up the cartel.  That said the Labour party have a lot to answer for when their government changed the structure of district councils creating a cabinet (which in reality is more like a cabal). 

In recent times the local politicians have tried to close Stourport’s Sports and Leisure centre and relocate it out of town (which is both very un-green and stripping the town of much needed facilities. And for this be going on during a Olympic year and when other politicians are preaching on TV about the value of a town hanging on to it's facilities beggers belief.  Thankfully, due the protest a "stay of execution" has been granted.

 

On another issue local politicians have ignored laws and fenced in common land on Hartlebury Common, which I'm told has a very unique eco system.... being only one of the two inland beaches in the UK.

A local member of the Green Party Steve Brown is taking on the Government over the laws that have been ignored, but so far he is battling our just cause almost on his own.

On yet another issue the district council have allowed Tesco’s to begin building an unneeded supermarket on the already congested one way ring road, even though there is already a large 24 hours Tesco just 3 miles away in Kidderminster.   This store when open with further decimate the high street and lead to even more empty shops.

 

They also made a compulsory purchase of the only Garage in town because they wanted to redevelop part of the canal basin, so far the site now stands empty has stood empty for a year.

Even when the funds are found to redevelop the site we don’t need more shops given how many that are currently vacant on the high street.  Now the town’s people have to drive out of town to get their cars repaired.

In a time of budget austerity the Tories also choose to close our local civic center and relocate the district and town council offices out of town.  Refurbishment of the existing civic centre would have cost £5 million but building the new one is costing £10 million.  To me these things just don’t add up and go against common sense and at the very least smacks of favouritism towards certain building companies.

Someone should remind all local and national politicians that serving your country or community is an honour not a gravy train?

 

Of course there is always the press, if it works

Circulation of newspapers continue to fall, in main because we get our news from many different sources, but for years this has been aided and abetted by the press lowering of standards.

Filling our newspapers with gossip and sex scandals, instead of real news.

Trying get the local newspaper to champion the wishes of the locals against the politicians is of course a none starter…that would be too much like serving the community.  Instead it serves the narrow interests of its Conservative parent company even though its mission statement says

““Newsquest's objective is to have market-leading brands disseminating local information in a number of different and simultaneous ways, which reflect the views and aspirations of the communities they serve. Our multi-media brands must be the authoritative source of information that customers can trust; being willing to listen but not afraid to question.

 

Wacky times need Wacky government?

Here is a thought!!! Place the elderly in prisons. They will get a shower a day, video surveillance in case of problems, three meals a day, not have to worry about paying their heating bills, access to a library, computer, TV, gym ... Put criminals in nursing homes. They have cold meals lights off at 8 o'clock, one bath a week, live in a smaller room and pay 4,000 a month!    It's pretty sad that we treat prisoners better than the elderly!!!!

 

Guess What

U-turn Dave is at it again!  After saying the current government was going to scrap the planes planned for the UK’s 2 new Aircraft Carriers… he has changed his mind.  It seems that redesigning the ships so they could have American style catapult system is more expensive than just sticking with the Vertical take off planes planned by the previous government.   For good measure a lot of extra money was spent to figure this out

 

The Doctor Who Party

I know it sounds wacky because it is supposed to……

It is rumoured that the Independent Community and Health Concern Party, which was founded

by former Independent MP Dr Richard Taylor (to save Kidderminster Hospital from closure), has thoughts about becoming a new national political party. I’ve read that they are thinking putting up many doctors as candidates to reverse the much hated chances to the NHS.

I have met one local ICHC politician who just got elected to the district council.  He seemed like a very decent and reasonable man and I found during our chat we held very similar views on a lot of local issues.  I wish him all the best in bringing back common sense into the district council, but I do wish his party would think of a less lengthy name than the Independent Community and Health Concern party…so perhaps The Doctor Who Party might be a winner?

UPDATE:

As predicted on the 13th May here!!!!

Guess what the BBC reported on the 14th May

Former MP to lead new national party

 

Feckless, greedy immoral looters need bringing to justice!

 No, I’m not talking about the mindless gangs of young people smashing and looting English cities, although they do indeed need tackling and given prison sentences instead of a being fined and told off. 

I’m in fact talking about the other end of our social spectrum.

The so-called investment bankers; who more than anyone else gambled most of the Western World into debt, which we are still dealing with 3 years on.   No one person or institution has been held to account and made to pay for their criminality.  Why is it that because their stealing and thievery was on a much larger scale, their sins go unpunished?

In the 21st century, surely there must be more done to hold those at the top of society to account if we want to lecture those at the bottom about honesty, decency and fairness.  The miss-selling of insurance on loans by UK banks, for which no bank executive has been held to account for sanctioning or allowing these criminal acts.  Yes, the banks are now being forced to pay the money back but no one is going to jail or losing their job, or their bonuses for such immoral behaviour.  It's just accepted...oh well there are bankers after all.

In my lifetime there have been numerous national scandals, like Mad Cow disease, where dishonest and immoral behaviour (to save money and increase profit) saw cows (who are naturally vegetarian) fed meat by-products from diseased sheep.  And yet I never saw any individual or company prosecuted for causing this.

It seems the rule of thumb… if the scandal is big enough and the prosecution of high-end wrongdoers will bring politicians and leaders into disrepute, then heaven and earth are moved to prevent this.  Look how much David Cameron and his government tried to protect Rupert Murdoch until the dam broke?

Currently, all around the western world, stock market bond investors and speculators are causing havoc, increasing the bad debt situation by driving down share prices…just to make a killing.    I’m all for a capitalist system but one that still has a moral compass.  

I believe speculating on the price of oil, corn and other futures are morally wrong.  It manufactures nothing but misery for ordinary working people.   Every aspect of our lives is dominated by the unreasonable greed of others….the power companies….the price of petrol and so on and on.  When is enough enough?

The divide between the rich and the poor grows ever wider because rich thieves have powerful friends.  In the words of an old rude British rugby song,  “ain't it all a crying shame, it’s the rich what get the pleasure and the poor that takes the blame.”

U-Turn Dave

U-Turn Dave

If times were not so serious a lot of the current government shenanigans would be laughable. A comedy scriptwriter couldn’t make it up.   Let’s first skip past the pre-election promises they did U-turns on because let us face it politicians would promise you a night of passion with their mum if it got them elected.

David Cameron showed great reluctance for an inquiry into the hacking scandal and also resistance to calls to put the Murdoch purchase of BSkyB on hold.   But thankfully U-Turn Dave as I like to affectionately call him realised much later than the rest of us, that no action was not an option.

 

Eye of the storm

So here we are several weeks later as this story moves faster than I can type, more questions have been thrown up as each tornado hits. Like a twister tossing over everything in its wake, and a look of shock and surprise as each “important” person is spit out of its mouth, trying to stay composed as the rest of us laugh.   I definitely think born again Christians should seek an early meeting with Rupert and offer him sackcloth and ashes as suitable attire for his upcoming hearings.

 

The Governments-end of year school report

Having just read the glowing school report of my young daughter, I wonder what kind of an assessment the current government would get? On issue after issue David Cameron and his ministers have made some breathtaking mistakes squarely choosing to be on the wrong side of many important issues again and again.  

The thread that runs through all of these important decisions is their lack of morality, honesty and frankly common sense.   But worse than all of this is their arrogance….. born not out of incredible talent but out of their elitist roots that convince them they know better than the rest of us.

Important decisions including trying to sell off our ancient forests (as if the Tories or any government had the right to do so).  

Then, of course, it’s the NHS and trying to reform it (albeit privatise it through the backdoor) without listening to the doctors and nurses who work in it.

Then there's the recent Bombardier train fiasco where a contract to build new trains was awarded to Siemens (a German company) and the net result will be thousands of jobs lost in and around Derby from Bombardier and its suppliers. The German government would never award a contract to a British Company at the cost of German jobs, nor would I expect them to.

Of course, let us not forget our Aircraft Carrier capabilities, the Tories have in store for us which will see us have a Carrier but no aircraft to put on it (at least for a while). Suggesting the French might somehow cooperate and provide stop gap plans for the Carrier…since when have the French (God bless them) ever put their aircraft in harm's way for Britain?

 

Where the buck stops?

We know now that Mr Cameron was advised by Vince Cable and Nick Clegg not to hire Andy Colson, and sooner or later just like the other bigwigs the Prime Minister will  have to answer fully for his actions.    Why couldn’t he see that hiring News Of The World Andy was a bad move for his press secretary, after all, Andy had been forced to resign from a sleazy rag, what kind of a recommendation is that, and what does that say about Mr Cameron's judgement?

Some people say that that U-Turn Dave modelled himself on Tony Blair, which if true shows the biggest lack of judgement of all.    A union friend of mine once told me he had met Tony Blair a few times before Blair became Prime Minister…. so I asked him what is he like and my friend answered “A Used Car Salesman”.

In my lifetime one can often accuse the Labour party and some of its governments of incompetence. But on the other hand unfortunately since the rise of Maggie Thatcher the Conservatives are often connected to making laws or deals that benefit their chums… Selling off many of the nationalised industries for a song, including the railways which we the taxpayer still subsidise to the tune of billions and our railways are still a bad joke.. just more expensive.

Indeed it was because of Margaret Thatcher’s changes in the law that Rupert Murdoch was able to take control of so much of Britain’s media, talk about Déjà vu.