Taking a break

I'm travelling North up to Newcastle today to see my kids, first time in over a year.

As a result blogging will be light to non existent till Friday evening at the earliest.

Enjoy the blogger posts right and left columns, they're well worth a read.

QM

And so the truth slowly emerges

As I indicated in this blogpost here, the truth about the EDL's involvement in Bradford is slowly emerging, though again not before the initial damage is done.

BBC.

Two men are facing charges, three have been fined and eight people have been bailed after two rival demonstrations in West Yorkshire.

The right-wing English Defence League (EDL) and its Unite Against Fascism (UAF) opponents held separate protests in Bradford on Saturday.

Fourteen protesters were arrested after several skirmishes broke out.

Police said a 37-year-old Bradford man and a 23-year-old Walsall man had been charged over the incidents.

The Bradford man is charged with possessing an offensive weapon and has been bailed to appear at the city's magistrates' court on 8 September.

The Walsall man has been charged with a public order offence and has been bailed to appear at Leeds Magistrates' Court on 6 December.

Six men - five from Bradford and one from Wakefield - and two youths from Bradford have been released on bail while inquiries continue.

They were arrested on suspicion of offences including wounding, violent disorder and criminal damage.

A 42-year-old Wolverhampton man, a 23-year-old man from Birmingham and a 24-year-old man from Halifax were released from custody after being issued with fixed penalty notices for disorder.

A 32-year-old Bradford man was arrested on suspicion of assault and later released without charge.

The cost of policing the demonstrations is expected to be "several hundred thousand pounds", police said on Sunday.

Hundreds of officers from West Yorkshire Police were supported by colleagues from 13 other forces during the operation to keep the groups apart.

Police contained several hundred EDL supporters behind a temporary barricade in the city's Urban Gardens as about 300 people gathered for an event hosted by UAF about half a mile away at the Crown Court Plaza.

Now I'll admit it's entirely possible that the Bradford men were members of the EDL, I do think it a bit unlikely though. Though out of 14 arrests, 9 appear to have been locals and it's entirely possible that those from out of the area weren't from the EDL either. So I'm going out on a bit of a limb here and saying that the violence at the EDL demo was almost entirely that of the counter-protesters. Not that you'll have gotten that impression from reading the MSM or the police reports, though it does confirm to an extent that what I watched from the live feeds was what was really going on.
Even then in this report, you can see some damage limitation going on with the last paragraph, "several hundred EDL supporters behind a temporary barricade in the city's Urban Gardens as about 300 people gathered for an event hosted by UAF" Several hundred? the initial police figures released were 700, however a quick bit of checking shows this figure to have been released before 15 coaches of EDL supporters turned up, well before their static demo started. Nor is there any explanation as to why the counter protesters were allowed to come so close to the EDL demo (a stones throw away, or perhaps a smoke bomb throw away). Note the usual "Far Right" disclaimer thrown in by the BBC too as this is the MSM and state code for extremists.
Unfortunately as I said the damage is done now and these reports will not be the ones remembered save by a few of us who are interested in what really happened. The initial reports alluding to the fact that it was the EDL who were responsible will be the ones that the general public will remember, reinforcing the states position that they are football hooligans, I have to admit though that in many of the comments on the demo in the MSM, members of the public don't seem to be being fooled quite as much as the state would like, though naturally these people are derided as EDL clones.
Still, the truth will out and sooner or later a reckoning will come where the evidence against the UAF and its pro Islamist allies becomes overwhelming and no amount of cover up will be able to hide the truth. As Delingpole has skewered the global warmists, the EDL need a journalist who is interested in the truth about what is actually going on, I hope they find one soon.

The best we have, so of course they have to go...

There are days in which I look at various conspiracy theories out on the web and wonder at how some people can believe such rubbish as the fact that the moon landings were filmed on a stage (false, the number of people involved to do that something would leak, plus the moving flag doesn't ripple in the breeze but because it's on a spring) That the Twin Towers were blown up with thermite (read the engineers report here for what really happened) yes you can speculate who was flying the planes, but please don't allude to the fact that the buildings were deliberately blown up, doesn't wash I'm afraid. I also didn't believe the theory that the government were deliberately running down our military and keeping our troops abroad in pointless wars to prevent them from siding with the people over the betrayal of our nation to the EU and the NWO.
Now, I'm not so sure.

Telegraph.

The SAS is facing the greatest cuts since the end of the Second World War with veterans being forced out and a Territorial Army regiment set to close. 

The Director of Special Forces, a major general who cannot be named, will meet with reserve SAS soldiers this week to inform them that their services are no longer required.

Already more than 40 veteran SAS men have been given their marching orders after the Army said it can no longer afford to pay them. 

While British special forces are seen as one of the greatest global assets Britain has to offer and are particularly coveted by the US, they are expensive accounting for an estimated £2 billion out of the £37 billion MoD budget.

However, like the rest of defence the SAS has had to make cuts and getting rid of the “old and the bold” and part of the TA is seen as the best solution.

Under the Strategic Defence and Security Review, under with the Ministry of Defence has to make cuts of between 10 and 20 per cent, the SAS will also lose either 21 SAS or 23 SAS, its two TA battalions who also contribute to the war in Afghanistan.

“Sadly the director (DSF) is going round this week to talk to people because it looks likely we are going to lose a reserve regiment,” an SAS source said. “This is modern times and all we can really afford is the fighting young blades who deploy on operations.

“DSF is doing the sensible thing and is looking at them in the eye and saying the pot is this big and here are the options and this is why.

“It very unfortunate and inevitably will take something away from UK special forces but that is the reality of it.”

There has also been outcry that the SAS is losing its most experienced men who have served on operations since September 11th.

 The Army can't afford to keep one of our best regiments going because it's running out of cash. Yet look at the government waste going on with diversity co-ordinators, environment facilitators, the wasteful green energy rules, useless computer systems and massive bills by outside contractors. If the government were really serious about tackling waste they could easily save billions and increase the size of the armed forces, but they wont and they don't. They'd rather waste the money elsewhere, because I suspect they see the army (and the other forces) as a threat to their intentions to sell our country down the river. Perhaps it's a price they are paying to keep our multicultural minorities happy and not rioting in the streets, after all protecting the minorities seems to be far more important to them than upholding ancient rights and protections of the majority.
Something stinks at the heart of our government, we're being betrayed drip by drip into a society with a privileged elite and a massive, ignorant, ill-educated under-class without the means to tear down the prison walls they are slowly but surely being put behind.

 

Static

Travelling to work today at 5:30, I thought I saw a football supporter, draped in the flag of St George cape like on his shoulders and seemingly waiting for a lift. Thinking back on the sight, I suspect now that he was a member of the EDL and waiting for a lift up To Bradford where they are holding a demonstration today.
They were going to hold a march, but in true anti democratic form, Theresa May decided that the EDL posed too much of a risk of violence despite the fact that most of the violence comes from the middle class pseudo fascists of the UAF and militant Muslims who seem to believe that the more violent they are the better their point of zero tolerance for any view other than their own will be made, not that the EDL are saints of course, just not the aggressors in most of their past demo's.
The West Yorkshire Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison seems to have bowed to public pressure from the people living there as he was seeking a ban after considering the "understandable concerns of the community". Not it seems because he felt he couldn't protect said community, nor the march, but because he is being political in a way that his job should not permit when it comes to freedom of assembly and expression. Yes the people there might fear the consequences of the EDL holding a march in Bradford, however as I said above the real fear is that the opponents of the EDL will riot, not the EDL itself. This is, so I believe the real reason that the march was banned, the puppets and pets of state control have grown beyond the means of the state to control them, particularly under a ConDem government, though Labour itself seems to have little or no control over the vile and fascistic UAF Brownshirts either, even though they were a creation of the left.
So, the EDL have decided to go to Bradford and hold a static demonstration, something they are allowed to do (expect new laws soon banning this) the UAF are holding a counter demo along with various other groups opposed to freedom of opinion in England. I hope it passes peacefully, though somehow I doubt it will, the left have shown themselves not to be above planting agent-provocateurs in amongst the EDL ranks and are somewhat limited in their textbook responses to any situation being either shut them up or fight them (the more sophisticated types prefer to keep us down by excessive taxation, but you wouldn't catch any of them dead in the UAF). The Muslim youths I think will riot as they see it as their right to attack anyone who looks at Islam in a funny way, the police will no doubt try to keep both sides apart and blame the EDL for all the trouble, problem being the truth usually gets out (similar in a way to the so called peace fleet off Israel) where the left will claim it was the EDL until the facts prove otherwise and the left frantically change the subject.
There are some who believe that with the possible collapse of the BNP that the EDL are being groomed as the next bête noire of the chattering classes. Though admittedly the EDL's apolitical stance and genuine working class roots are making this difficult, the EDL are small c conservatives of a type who merely wish to make it known that a foreign creed (Shariah) and foreign intolerance will be countered by some of the people who live in England who do not care for barbarism or calls for them to change into something that we are not and hopefully never will be. It's interesting that it is the internationalists and Islamists who truly practice intolerance and who would attempt to prevent freedom of speech and expression on the part of the English and more interesting still that they are resorting to ever more extreme methods to try and stop this.
When they first started out, the EDL came to my attention though I doubted that they'd make much headway and I certainly didn't agree with everything that they stood for. Then I watched in amazement as the state and its hired thugs tried everything they could to stifle, smear and attack them. A quick bit of checking on their website showed them to be nothing like their portrayal in the media and on certain left of centre blogs. Gaps in the MSM reports on the marches were soon filled by accounts of what really happened and their treatment by the state and its media organs. Yes they have a problem with some of their members being racist (or tribalist) but football fans often enough are, but their concerns are genuine and haven't been debated or addressed by politicians here or anywhere. Their support is growing too as the states ability to control the media grows weaker with the rise of the internet and independent bloggers, plus people will often tend towards supporting the underdog and there is no doubt who the underdogs in today's society are, that would be the English, hated by the left and the political classes as well as the rest of the British State for simply having the temerity to be English and want what everyone else seems to get... respect. respect for their nation, respect for their past, respect for their views as politically incorrect as they may be.
The EDL are just another manifestation of this disrespect from the British state, the CEP are another, there are others, all marginalised by a state which attempts to portray the English as violent and which has attempted in the past to break our country up into regions and sublimate our national identity in that of the British one, yet sees our "British" neighbours as Scots, Welsh and Irish. They see English nationalism as a threat to the UK state, after all there are potentially 55 million of us and we dwarf the other nations of the UK population wise, there are more people living in London than there are in the whole of Scotland. So if the English decided they were going their own way, they couldn't really be stopped, which is why organisations like the EDL need to be stopped and organisations like the CEP marginalised and ignored by the British state and its EU overlords.
The next 10 years will be interesting, English nationalism whether the overt type or in the background will I believe continue to grow, if only because it is opposed every step of the way even at its most harmless in morris dancing or football supporting. Sooner rather than later it will cross to the mainstream and we'll demand respect rather than gratefully accepting the crumbs under the table, the longer however the state opposes us and the more extreme the methods used, the more extreme the version of nationalism will emerge, hopefully it will be a civic nationalism, however the way the state is treating the EDL makes me fear that it wont, still at least the EDL are currently civic style nationalists, they'll let anyone join, I hope it remains that way.

Update...
Well the demo went ahead and the usual headlines were up in the BBC.

Bottles, stones and a smoke bomb were thrown during demonstrations by a right-wing campaign group and their opponents in Bradford.
EDL supporters began throwing bottles, cans and stones over the barricade towards opponents gathered opposite Urban Gardens, shortly after 1400 BST.
A smoke bomb was also thrown over the temporary 8ft-high wall separating the two groups, landing on the ground and exploding by uniformed police officers.

And the Daily Mail.

EDL supporters began throwing bottles, cans and stones over the barricade towards opponents gathered opposite the Urban Gardens.
A smoke bomb was also thrown over the temporary 8ft high wall separating the two groups, landing on the ground and exploding by uniformed police officers.

Do not believe the reports, anyone watching the live feed can tell you that it was (as usual) the UAF and their supporters throwing the missiles and the smoke bomb, the MSM appear to be doing their usual stitch up job.

Perhaps it's time to fight fire with fire

It's the being reported in the MSM, in that our prisons are breeding grounds for terrorists, the kind of terrorists it's apparently Islamophobic and racist (despite the fact Muslims aren't a race) to mention might be terrorists.

Express.

UP to 800 Muslims in UK jails may have been turned by fellow inmates into fanatics ready to launch a new wave of terror attacks.

An alarming report by defence experts warns that the security services face a “significant challenge” in spotting and keeping tabs on possible suicide bombers and other jihadists as they are freed from prison over the next five to 10 years.

The Royal United Services Institute’s study, released today, predicts a switch from highly-planned outrages such as 9/11 and the London 7/7 bombings to attacks by lone suicide bombers with only slight links to Al Qaeda and using home-made explosives.

The authors warn: “Perhaps some 800 potentially violent radicals, not previously guilty of terrorism charges, will be back in society over the coming five to 10 years.”

The report also says that many of those caught in the anti-terror campaign of recent years were not convicted of very serious charges and will, therefore, be freed fairly soon.

Now  bearing in mind that this is the religion of peace here and we all know how harmless some out there would like us to believe they are, you'd have thought our prison service would have kept the radicals and the easily lead apart. Well in any sane society they of course would, but these are prisoners and criminals who apparently have more human rights than us ordinary folk. Prisons have long been notorious as training grounds for criminals as petty thieves mix with experts and pick up new skills, this wasn't really too much of an issue when all they were doing was being criminal, rather than potentially murderous fanatics, well save for their victims of course and often enough the local criminals were well known to the police anyway.
This however is dangerous, these fanatics if they are being allowed to indoctrinate inmates are very ,very dangerous and were we to live in a sane society would probably be in solitary, if not expelled from civilised society in the UK.
Yet as we are not allowed to do that perhaps it might be best for us to look at how other civilisations dealt with the barbarians at the gate and that is they treat barbarians barbarically. The Romans for example allowed friendly tribes to keep their kings and customs after conquest, at least until the first revolt, then they wiped your nation out, everyone knew this and everyone feared the wrath of Rome. Whilst our idiot political classes may wish to be loved by our neighbours and other races and religions, perhaps a better route might be that they fear what we may do if they attack us, it might not be civilised in the eyes of the "Righteous" but it does get results. Though admittedly the best time to do this would be after a complete military withdrawal from lands where we should not be. Then perhaps we can rebuild some bridges and if we cant...


Let them hate so long as they fear. (Oderint Dum Metuant)

Living in another world

People are quite territorial, particularly about what they own, where they live, what they do with it and most particularly their mode of transport. It's been noticed that people driving cars undergo a change of character as their personal space is now expanded by the size of the car. The most mild mannered person can become a foul mouthed, intolerant hypersensitive maniac once behind the wheel of a car. So, councils who want people to give up their own parking spaces are probably onto a loser.

Telegraph.

Motorists are to be offered a £200 bribe to surrender their residents’ car parking permits under proposals being drawn up by Brent Council in North London.
The Labour-controlled authority is hoping that the incentive will persuade motorists to enrol in car clubs, whose members will be allowed to park free of charge.
Under the proposals, motorists who give up the permit for two years will be given a £200 voucher which can be used towards the cost of a bike, public transport or the subscription to a car sharing scheme.

I may be wrong, but I suspect the take up of the scheme will be very, very low, parking permits are like gold dust in London and once you've lost it, I doubt you'd get it back.

Brent wants to promote the scheme as “incentives for residents to reduce non-essential car use and contribute to combating climate change.”

Ah yes the old climate change myth as fervently believed by politicians, socialists and enviroloons all over the land and practically no-one else.

According to Cllr Jim Moher, the council cabinet member with responsibility for transport, the proposals are likely to appeal to people who want to help fight climate change.
“It is very attractive for people who want to discard their car and help deal with a growing problem.

Wonder how many want to discard an efficient and personal transporter, only politicians, socialists and enviroloons all over the land and practically no-one else one would suspect.

“I would certainly consider it,” said Mr Moher, a car owner himself. “I would have no problem towards contributing to this sort of thing

Says the politician, socialist and enviroloon.

The council is also proposing to join the growing number of local authorities who vary permit charges according to the environmental friendliness of the car.

Money, money, money, I could understand it if they went by the size of the car and how much space it took, but I fail to see what business it is of theirs what kind of car the residents drive.
I realise that parking is at a bit of a premium in London and I can sort of see the sense of restricting second (and third) car families, I do however have my doubts that £200 will be enough unless they don't need their cars in the first place. If however they need their car, can't get a car share and public transport isn't a viable alternative (as it is with many) then the council is going to screw them for a lot of money if they happen to drive a larger car.

However the council’s initiative was welcomed by both environmental and motoring groups.

“There is huge pressure on parking spaces. It’s good that it is being offered cash as an option rather than people being forced to surrender their permits.

“Brent is showing a far more sympathetic approach than some other boroughs,” said an A spokesman.

Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport, added: “That is very innovative and it will be interesting to see if other councils follow their lead. This is a carrot rather than a stick.

Campaign for Better Transport is not a motoring group, it's a fake charity (site still down what the hell is going on?) Environmental groups are often enough fake charities too and want us all to live back in the middle ages riding horses or walking ( except for politicians, socialists and enviroloons who need efficient transport to tell us how to live)

Daft thing is, people will still vote Labour.

 

Bullying at work

Occasionally for those of us who work for a living we run across something we don't like doing and we mouth off about it, sometimes people take this to extremes and end up in the disciplinary process and if they keep it up can be sacked.
Sadly such cannot be said of our prima-donna MP's.

Telegraph.

An MP repeatedly shouted that the new expenses system was an “abortion” during a meeting with officials, according to records that disclose in full the abusive and sometimes violent reaction of politicians to the stricter regime.
Another MP hit the computer of an official at the new Parliamentary allowances watchdog and threw paper at him, while a female member warned she was “going to murder someone” during a training session.
One male MP reduced a volunteer with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority to tears as he was being told how to submit his expenses claims, and another turned up at its offices just to declare that he would “attack” the organisation at every step and to claim that its senior staff were “idiots”.
The details of “bullying” and “intimidating” behaviour towards IPSA workers and volunteers, published by the watchdog in response to Freedom of Information requests, are likely to heighten fears that many MPs have still not accepted the changes made to their expenses system since its widespread abuse was disclosed by The Daily Telegraph more than a year ago.
In order to restore trust and transparency, it was agreed that payments for second home and office expenses should be handled by a new, independent body rather than the House of Commons fees office, and that claims would have to be made by a computerised system rather than on pieces of paper. In addition, MPs are no longer allowed to claim as much as they previously could on rent nor obtain home furnishings.
Some MPs have objected strongly to the new regime being imposed on them by IPSA as they believe it is too bureaucratic and time-consuming, as well as not leaving them with enough money to run their constituency offices or homes outside Westminster.
It has been disclosed that IPSA staff introduced an unofficial football-style system of red and yellow cards to discipline MPs who were rude to them, and put up signs stating that abuse would not be tolerated.
Now IPSA has published logs of 10 “incidents” recorded by staff since the general election, which disclose the full extent of the hostile treatment they have received. However the names of the MPs involved have been – like many of the expenses claims published by Parliament – redacted.
The first states that an MP travelling in a lift described his experience of the new expenses system as “awful” and declined an offer of help, explaining that all IPSA staff were “------- idiots”.
Late last month, according to the second incident, an MP met an IPSA official with three of his staff in attendance, creating an “intimidating” atmosphere as they greeted the scheme with “ridicule and derision”.
As the member was taken through the new expenses system, he repeatedly exclaimed: “This system is a ------- abortion!”
The IPSA worker said they found this “deeply inappropriate and inoffensive” but the MP’s staff “laughed and agreed” with the term.
The MP went on to claim that only “rich people and losers” would want to be politicians as a result of the new system, and that Prof Sir Ian Kennedy, the IPSA chairman, “has no idea what we do”.
On May 10th, just days after the general election, an MP turned up at IPSA’s office to announce he would not be taking part in an induction session and “threw his personal details form across the desk”.
When told he would have to do so, he became “angry and aggressive” and “struck the laptop on the facilitator’s desk and loomed over them in an intimidating manner”.
The following day, an IPSA volunteer “burst into tears” after spending 10 minutes trying to explain the system to an MP who was “very difficult and disruptive”.
The MP claimed the system “reduced him to a cipher” and made him “not want to represent his country as an MP”, although he later brought a box of chocolates to apologise.
At another training session the next day, a female MP was “rude, abrupt, disparaging”, refusing to sign a form as required and then stating: “I am going to murder someone today.”
Another MP appeared at the door of the IPSA office just to “aggressively” declare: “I am going to attack you at every step.”
A female MP turned up stating: “I want my Travelcard!” and when told it had not arrived, declared that IPSA staff had “obviously lied to her”.
Another woman politician refused to leave the watchdog’s office until she had received her Travelcard, rang the Commons Speaker to tell him what was happening and refused to let IPSA staff answer their telephones.
An IPSA spokesman said: “These instances relate to the early days of operation. IPSA is focusing on getting on with its job which is managing the new regime governing MPs’ expenses – that means checking and processing thousands of claims each week. Last week alone, for example, IPSA handled 4,000 claims and paid £650,000 to MPs.”

 They still don't realise that the public still see them as being a bunch of crooks, they still don't realise that it isn't their money either, it comes from you and I via taxation and we now want to see value for money.
Were I to have done any of the above actions at my place of work to any of the staff there I would have been severely reprimanded, possibly even sacked. But no, our little tin gods in Westminster believe they can treat the staff who work for us to monitor their thieving ways as lesser beings.
When our MP's show a little more courtesy and respect for their fellow men/women particularly those that deal with their expenses, just perhaps the contempt in which they are held might alleviate, though I suspect it could be a very, very long time if ever that they will again be held in the respect that their positions would warrant. More honesty, more integrity and more humility would help a lot, I'm not seeing much of any of that though and until I do, I'll keep on regarding them as thieving scum and call for the system to be even tighter.

Bare faced lie

The government have said they are looking at getting rid of that unlikely badge of honour the ASBO. Labour of course want it kept, they seem to think it is/was a success, even claiming that crime rocketed under the Tories previous to 1997 and that somehow the ASBO fixed all this.

BBC.

Labour has urged the government not to scrap anti-social behaviour orders (Asbos), claiming such a move would "leave communities helpless".

Shadow home secretary Alan Johnson said the orders, introduced in 1999, had been a "success".

He accused the coalition of a lack of commitment to tackling crime.

Last month Home Secretary Theresa May signalled Asbos could be scrapped in England and Wales, with police adopting a more "common sense" approach.

Ministry of Justice figures show 55% of the almost 17,000 Asbos issued between June 2000 and December 2008 were breached, leading to an immediate custodial sentence in more than half of the cases.

But Mr Johnson insisted the orders had worked, saying: "Everyone remembers that under the last Tory government crime rocketed and anti-social behaviour was classed as low-level nuisance and not taken seriously."

"This time around, Tory Home Secretary Theresa May is wrongly claiming that Asbos don't work.

That quote seemed a little wrong to me, so I did a little checking and up popped the British Crime Statistics 1997 - 2002. as reported in the Independent.

HOMICIDE
Position in 1997: Murder, manslaughter and infanticide accounted for 611 deaths in 1997, of which 133 were carried out with a sharp instrument.
What has Labour done? Home Office has brought tougher sentences for carrying illegal firearms. Crown Prosecution Service is cracking down on causing death by dangerous driving.
Position in 2002: There were 858 offences initially recorded as homicides in 2001-2002, compared with 849 last year. May be revised downward slightly but trend is upward.
Verdict: A problem. Home Office minister John Denham admitted the figures were "an area of real concern". Number of men fatally shot rose by 41 per cent last year.
VIOLENT CRIME
Position in 1997: Violent crime was tumbling when Labour came to power. The British Crime Survey of 1998 shows that violent offending fell by 17 per cent between 1995 and 1997.
What has Labour done? After criticisms over falling police numbers, Labour has bankrolled recruitment campaigns for more police officers and has backed growth of CCTV schemes.
Position in 2002: Quarterly crime figures to last September show a 23 per cent increase (2 per cent when adjusted for recording changes), but the long-term trend is downward.
Verdict: Mixed. Since 1997 the British Crime Survey suggests that violent offending has fallen by 27 per cent. But large sections of the public remain convinced otherwise.
FIREARMS
Position in 1997: The use of firearms in crime rose during the 1980s and early 1990s, peaking in 1993, after which it began to fall. By 1997-98 it had dropped to the same level as 1990.
What has Labour done? Faced with frightening levels of gun crime, the Home Secretary has announced five-year jail terms for gun possession and a ban on carrying replica weapons.
Position in 2002: Gun crime offences have risen sharply during the past two years, climbing by 35 per cent last year to a record high of 9,974 offences.
Verdict: A major failure. The annual rise in gun crime was the fourth in succession and ministers are only just realising the havoc being caused by drug wars.
BURGLARY
Position in 1997: Improvements in household security had begun to take effect by 1997 election. 1998 BCS shows burglary offences fell by 17 per cent between 1995 and 1997.
What has Labour done? Labour has not prioritised this area of crime but has claimed credit as the effects of security measures have continued to drive burglars into other areas of crime.
Position in 2002: The BCS shows that since 1997, burglaries have fallen by 39 per cent. But recorded crime statistics show burglaries rose by 5 per cent in that period.
Verdict: Mixed. The BCS shows that there has been a significant fall in the fear of burglary as public concerns have shifted towards being attacked on the streets.
ROBBERY
Position in 1997: An area that was rising when Labour came to power. Muggings increased by 1 per cent, with 390,000 offences reported to the BCS between 1995 and 1997.
What has Labour done? The growth in use of mobile phones has helped fuel a surge in robberies since the last election. Anti-Street Crime Initiative introduced in 10 urban police forces.
Position in 2002: Robbery went up by 13 per cent in the year to last September. But the last quarter of that year had a 10 per cent fall compared to the same period the year before.
Verdict: Still a major problem. Robbery remains a key area of concern and although the overall numbers are falling, only six of the 10 big city forces hit their targets.

A Mixed batch, however the records appear to show in many areas that crime was actually falling in some areas under the Tories, particularly robbery, firearms and homicide and increased under Labour. So crime hadn't rocketed at all and Alan Johnson is lying and trying to kid us, When it comes to anti-social behaviour though a quick google produced these results

1. Anti-social behaviour on the increase - News - getreading ...

   21 May 2009 ... A surge in anti-social behaviour saw more than triple the usual number of 'yellow card' cautions being handed out to yobs in Reading last ...
   www.getreading.co.uk/.../2051144_antisocial_behaviour_on_the_increase - Cached - Similar

2. Criminality, aggression and antisocial behaviour - Second Opinions, UK

   1 Aug 2008 ... Criminality, aggression and antisocial behaviour ... degeneration — and, an equally marked increase in antisocial behaviour and criminality, ...
   www.second-opinions.co.uk/criminality.html - Cached - Similar

3. Big increase in complaints over antisocial behaviour - Press & Journal

   Big increase in complaints over antisocial behaviour. north-east communities made almost 1000 additional reports over 12 months. By Cameron Brooks ...
   www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1868075 - Cached

That's just the first 3, there are more, you don't even have to look too hard to see that Alan Johnson is being a bit flexible with the truth again.
I can't see any reason at all to keep ASBO's, they clearly don't work, it's probably Alan Johnson just trying to feed on peoples fears, but most folk I know, know ASBO's don't work either, they're just another layer to keep the crime figures massaged and looking down and give the appearance that something is being done, when it isn't.
ASBO's were a typical New Labour con, they were worthless, they were ignored by the real thugs and hooligans and were often handed out to people such as Edward Harris - A 76-year-old who suffers from severe arthritis threatened with "anti-social behaviour action" by Bournemouth council for allegedly slamming doors in his house (August 2009)

So, Alan Johnson, you're a liar, the facts speak for themselves.

Unbeatable?

The English FA are attempting to get FIFA to allow us to host the 2018 World Cup. It's a good attempt and we're about due to get a go at it, though the favourites remain Russia.
However Cleggy boy has clearly jinxed the whole process by saying "I believe this is an exceptionally strong, unbeatable bid. We in this government believe in it, we hope that you will believe in it."

BBC Sport.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has told Fifa inspectors England's bid for the 2018 World Cup is "unbeatable".

The Fifa delegation, which will write a report on England's bid to host the World Cup, began their four-day visit with a reception at Downing Street.

Mr Clegg said: "I believe this is an exceptionally strong, unbeatable bid. We in this government believe in it, we hope that you will believe in it."

The hosts for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups will be revealed on 2 December.

England face stiff competition in the battle to stage football's premier tournament in eight years' time, with Russia, considered by many to be one of the favourites to succeed.

Well, there's always 2026 I suppose.

Traitor

Graham Watson MEP is a traitor to the British people, though quite obviously he wont see it that way, yet this man is behind the misery of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW) in which British men and women can be dragged off abroad and held in foreign prisons on the most frivolous of charges.

Telegraph.

"The European Arrest Warrant should not be feared," says Graham Watson, the Liberal Democrat MEP who piloted the legislation through the European Parliament (as so often with things that really annoy Euro-sceptics, their authors turn out to be British.) "It is a crucial tool in ensuring criminals cannot hide behind national borders. It has brought justice to the perpetrators of murder, rape and terrorism."

I wonder what Edmond Arapi thinks of this claim?

Edmond Arapi, a Staffordshire waiter, was seized under an EAW issued by Italy after being sentenced to 16 years in absentia for a murder in Genoa in 2004. Yet he never left Britain in 2004. He spent time in Wandsworth prison before the Italians finally admitted it was a case of mistaken identity.

Or Deborah Dark.

Deborah Dark, who was cleared of drugs charges in France in 1989, found herself detained whenever she tried to travel. Unknown to her, French authorities had won an appeal against her acquittal in 1990. Fifteen years later, they issued an EAW, which was only dropped in May.

Colin Gabriel.

Colin Gabriel was demanded by Spain after a passport with his name on it was found in a boat that had been carrying drugs. He denied it was his and British judges said the evidence against him was "thin", but could not halt his extradition.

There are others.

Michael Turner, from Dorset, and Jason McGoldrick, from Plymouth, were extradited on an EAW and held without charge in Hungary, accused of owing business creditors £18,000. They spent nearly three months in tough jail conditions before police even interviewed them. They were freed after five months and have never been charged.

Even foreigners staying here have problems.

Dimitrinka Atanasova, a Bulgarian legal secretary, fled to Britain after threatening to expose her boss – the country's chief prosecutor – for misconduct. That same chief prosecutor then personally requested her extradition from Britain on what a British judge agreed were "bad-faith", or trumped-up, charges of murder. Crucially, her case predated Bulgaria's EU membership and adoption of the EAW. She was freed, after several months in Holloway Prison, but could be rearrested under a warrant at any time.

And there is a regular flight back to Poland from Biggin Hill in Kent of handcuffed Poles arrested and deported at the request of the Polish legal system often for such things as smoking cannabis, stealing a bicycle, or receiving a stolen mobile phone. The defendants will have been seized from their homes by a special police unit. They will often have been held in British custody, and will continue to be held, sometimes for months, until their appeals against extradition are dismissed, as they almost always are.
Yet the worst case is that of Andrew Symeou
hauled off to Greece on flimsy evidence obtained by assaulting witnesses none of whom appear to have correctly identified him as actually being where an assault took place, nor describing what he was actually wearing. So far he's was extradited last July.

Andrew, who, cannot speak Greek, spent almost a year in some of Europe's least civilised prisons. At Patras, he was unable to wash, and was taunted by the guards as an "English ------." They made him pack his kit with handcuffs on, laughing at his inability to manage it, then squeezed toothpaste into his bag, so he got to his next prison with toothpaste all over his clothes.
At Korydallos, he witnessed three riots. He would lie in bed, said his father, "and cockroaches would be dropping from above. He'd wake up in the morning with them crawling on him''.

So yes, Graham Watson MEP who guided this odious and dangerous bit of legislation through the EU, you are a traitor, you're ultimately responsible for the arrest and detention of scores of your fellow countrymen (then again he's a Scot so might not care all that much about the English) who are often held without trial for years in foreign prisons and you tell us that the European Arrest Warrant should not be feared. You've forced our legal system to hand over our people on the most flimsiest of evidence and prevented them from fact checking the evidence, nor of preventing flagrant abuses of the warrants themselves. It costs us money to hold the people that have been arrested under the EAW and if or when we hand them over, there are few safeguards as to how quickly they will be dealt with.
EUrophiles like you make me sick Graham Watson, even now I doubt you can see the harm you've done and the people now living in fear over your folly.
Sooner we leave the monstrosity of the EU the better, though it looks as if we'll have to bring down the government to do it, perhaps hanging a few like Graham Watson pour encourager les autres will remind the next generation of politicians to be more protective of the British people.

Drinking might lead to having sex shock...

Seems like the states never ending attempt to either scare us into behaving or make it too expensive to misbehave has turned to the fact that women who binge drink are more likely to have an abortion than women who stay sober and sensible (for a given degree of sensible one assumes)

Telegraph.

Women who drink to excess are almost twice as likely to need emergency contraception, such as the morning pill, than those who remain within safe limits, a study found.
British researchers found women who exceeded their weekly alcohol limit were also far more likely to have an abortion.
The study of 25,000 individuals also found the proportion of teenage girls who blamed alcohol for losing their virginity more than doubled over the past 60 years.
The University College London study, published on Friday, also found the number of people drinking to excess had tripled in 10 years.
The study, reported in the Journal of Public Health, suggested that increased alcohol use was linked to a rise in women engaging in unprotected sex.
The study’s conclusions come amid growing concerns about the rise of binge drinking following the relaxation of drinking laws.
Government figures have shown that one in four people – a total of 10 million – is estimated to be putting their health at risk by drinking more alcohol than the recommended limits.
In their study, UCL researchers examined the alcohol consumption and sexual activity of individuals aged 16 to 44 over a ten-year period.
They found that women who drank to excess, which experts say is more than 14 units a week, were 1.8 times more likely to have taken emergency contraception such as the morning after pill at least once over the past year.

Ok, we'll take as read the right of people do do with their bodies as they wish so long as they aren't harming others. It should not be the business of the state to tell us not to drink and not to have sex when drunk, nor do the invented 14 units a week impress any more, we know it's a lie plucked out of thin air by the BMA in a report and yes we've noticed that it's getting smaller every year too.
However they have a far bigger problem on their hands if they want to control the human urge to breed, it's fun for a reason, that reason being we wouldn't do it if it wasn't fun and people have taken "relaxants"  like alcohol to help take away the tensions and make it easier to break the mood and get to know someone intimately for generations, all the way back to the orgies of ancient times. Men oddly enough have deliberately tried to get women drunk or spike their drinks so as they can have sex with them, that's rape, but it has been known. Which is why warnings about looking after your drink are useful and reports like this aren't.
The righteous have over the last few decades brought about a society of sexual freedom, birth control has helped reduce the risks against pregnancy, though obviously not std's. People often enough these days no longer team up together for life (aka marriage) and the bonds that hold society together that way have been weakened so that you have large numbers of men and women looking for sex or love without strings as that's all they can expect.  They've also made life so hard workwise that people often see the need to totally unwind at the weekend and try and forget all the shit that society throws at them whilst they work to earn enough to have fun. So at the weekends they drink and to hell with how expensive the state makes it, if booze becomes prohibitively expensive, they'll find something else. Drinking loosens inhibitions, so they have sex, drinking also affects birth control, so ladies get pregnant and/or take morning after pills. Altering the drinking hours wont stop this and we can't turn back the clock either, anything the state or its minions can do wont stop it happening they are just scaremongering and still trying to control us by fear.
The best thing the state can do is to simply butt out of the situation and let it sort itself out, arrest the violent and patch up the broken. Offer advice but stop trying to control, people have managed for generations to sort out their own problems, it's a solution that normally works unlike many tried by the state.

Sorry, but you're wrong

Speed cameras, two words that polarise opinions to a certain extent from those that see them simply as revenue raisers to those who think they reduce speed and save lives.

Express.

A bereaved mother will lead a protest against a county council's decision to axe speed cameras.

Claire Brixey's son Ashley, 20, was killed in a crash in Limpley Stoke, Wiltshire, in 2004 when the car in which he was a passenger landed upside down in a swimming pool after the driver lost control.

Ms Brixey, who lives in Standerwick on the Wiltshire/Somerset border, has been a road safety campaigner since the crash.

In the protest on Friday in Trowbridge, she will urge Wiltshire County Council to reverse a decision to end its road safety partnership scheme.

Yet government statistics reveal that speed cameras are totally ineffective at preventing the vast majority of accidents. Exceeding the speed limit was attributed to only 3% of cars involved in accidents. 97% of car crashes have nothing to do with breaking the speed limit.

Ms Brixey said: "I cannot just stand by while the council puts an axe to vital road safety services that save so many young lives here each year. They need to know how appalled local communities are about this. Most people fully support cameras and feel safer with them turned on.

"When I heard in the news the Government saying they were ending a 'war on motorists', I thought that all they were doing was enabling people to break the law and endanger lives by speeding.

You would think that Ms Brixey, as the loss of your son is colouring you view, however as for public support for speed cameras, well, there are two parts to this lie (and yes it is a lie, though Ms Brixey clearly believes it)...

In the first place the government and various supporters and vested interests have put huge resources into trying to convince the public that speed cameras are a good idea. It's not at all surprising that the non-driving population accepts the claims at face value - why would a non driver question the claims at all? Obviously they have convinced some drivers as well. What a shame they didn't put those resources into a real method for improving road safety. It is highly illogical to suggest that road safety can be improved by lying to the public about specific road dangers.

Part two of the lie involves the survey methods (and particularly the survey questions) which have been designated by the Department for Transport. The questions are quite obviously loaded to elicit the desired response.

With loaded questions and a misled public it should come as no surprise that they are able to claim that public opinion supports speed cameras.

SafeSpeed: analysis of official surveys of speed camera approval (click here)
Admiral Insurance: (independent survey)

Ellen Booth, campaigns officer for road safety charity Brake, said: "Increasingly, decisions being made on speed cameras are more about politics and less about facts.

"The fact is that speed cameras reduce speeding and save lives."

BRAKE is a fake charity with its own entry at fakecharities.org ... unfortunately, the fake charity site is down at the moment, however it is known BRAKE spend 50% of its income on salaries and the majority of its money comes from public funding, to no doubt tell the government what it wants to hear. However speed cameras actually appear to cause more accidents than they prevent, as speed cameras have triggered at least 28,000 crashes since 2001, according to new research.Anyone who drives will have noticed that people on seeing a speed camera will automatically brake, even if they are going below the speed limit, putting the vehicle behind in occasional danger. Accidents were reducing before speed cameras came along, cars were being made safer for drivers and pedestrians if hit, so speed cameras were not really a major cause in road safety, though most drivers had them twigged as revenue raisers early on in their lifespan.
So, sorry for your loss Ms Brixey, but you're wrong, speed cameras may save some lives, however as a cost effective solution to road safety, they make no sense at all, they don't reduce speed save in the narrow area they cover, they don't reduce accidents (and seem to cause a good few) and now that government funding is being removed from them, it seems councils don't think they are that effective either. Speed is not the problem, unsafe driving is and always will be the problem and artificial limits on speed are not the solution, some drivers can be perfectly safe driving at 100 mph on a motorway, yet others can frighten the life out of you at 30 mph on a built up area, it's down to ability and concentration, usually not speed.

Idiots

Two utter idiots were captured on a speed camera as they took turns to set it off whilst riding on a motorbike.

Sky.

Two teenagers have been banned from driving after they repeatedly rode past a speed camera on a stolen motorbike.

Lewis Farmer and Sam Giess (right) turn to look at the camera

Sam Giess and Lewis Farmer, both 18, were caught on camera five times as they took turns to trigger the speed trap in Nuneaton, Warwickshire.

Officers in the town recognised them from the images.

The pair were disqualified from driving for a year after appearing at Nuneaton magistrates' court charged with a total of 22 offences.

Farmer, who pleaded guilty to speeding and driving with no licence and insurance, was also fined £200.

Giess, who pleaded guilty to a total of 14 charges, was ordered to pay £100 in compensation and given a 120-hour community order.

Speaking after the case, Detective Sergeant Owen Fell said: "We are delighted with these convictions.

"Giess and Farmer behaved in a reckless manner and it is fortunate that neither they nor any innocent road users or passers-by were injured."

Didn't they think to wear a mask?

I despair for the English these days if this is the best we can do for cocking a snook at authority. Don't they know the rules?
Rule 1 = Don't get caught,
Rule 2 = If in any doubt, refer to rule 1.

As for the fines and the community order, really I wouldn't have bothered, it's not like they'll take much notice of them and it certainly wont make them any more wary of the authorities. Soft sentencing and lack of respect over the last 40 years have made sure of that. Hard labour if caught might help, but that's not going to happen either as they have human rights, though you'd think anyone breaching the so called social contract would have abrogated them to an absolute minimum of not being shot on sight.
Things will have to change before they get better and no I'm not advocating birching offenders or for that matter flogging or hanging them, at least not for a first offence. But unless the thugs and idiots running riot in our housing estates learn to fear getting caught and it starts to affect their behaviour, then things wont get better, they'll just carry on the same as before, there's no need to understand them either, they just need punished.

Always check, even if you think you know

A toddler was shot in the neck by an air rifle fired by his Dad...

Sky.

A two-year-old boy who was shot in the neck with an air rifle has been described as "critical but stable" after surgery.

The toddler was hurt at his family home in Winthorpe, Skegness, in Lincolnshire.

His 29-year-old father, who was arrested and quizzed after Monday's incident, was released on bail to be by his son's bedside, police said.

It is believed the person who fired the gun did not know it was loaded.

The boy was initially taken to Skegness Hospital before being transferred to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester.

He then underwent surgery to remove the air rifle pellet from his neck.

A spokeswoman said: "Glenfield Hospital have confirmed that the child is critical but stable following surgery."

Now I don't know if his Dad is an idiot or not, it might be that this is just a tragic accident, however one of the rules about any type of firearm is that you never assume it's not loaded and you never under any circumstances point it at people, for the reasons as shown above.
It will be interesting to see what if anything comes of this, the UK already has the toughest firearm rules in the EU, yet the temptation to make them stronger or go for an outright ban is there with some people in government and the political classes. After all, if their side has all the weapons, it will be far more difficult to overthrow them if or more likely when they finally push us too far.
Accidents will happen all the time, but any kind of weapon has special risks, though It's amazing the damage you can do with a set of hedge trimmers and yet some people insist on treating them as toys (guns, not hedge trimmers) For the sake of the boy, I hope he doesn't lose his Dad to a prison sentence, however for the Dad, I hope he's learned a hard lesson in the harshest possible way, guns are not toys and you should always make sure they aren't loaded and you should never aim them at someone unless you actually intend to use it on them. That's why the police will shoot after giving you one warning, even if it turns out you're just carrying a table leg. They don't take chances, neither should anyone else.

Not before time

Seems the government are going to stop firms clamping cars on private land.

BBC.

Wheel clampers are to be banned from operating on private land in England and Wales, the government has said.

The legislation, to be introduced in November, will introduce penalties for anyone clamping a vehicle or towing it away on private land.

Minister Lynne Featherstone said motorists had faced "unscrupulous tactics" by some firms for too long.

Motoring groups welcomed the news, but parking firms said regulation rather than a ban was the answer.

In one case on Monday, a nurse was clamped while visiting a patient and told to pay £350 to get her car released, with another £50 charge for every hour she delayed payment.

The planned legislation, announced by the Home Office, will be introduced in the government's Freedom Bill in November.

More than 2,000 existing clamping licences will be revoked as a result, with towing also set to be outlawed, but private firms will still be able to ticket parked cars.

Most of this makes sense, a ticket at least can be challenged whilst having your car immobilised until you pay was a license to print money for some companies.

BBC.

A nurse's car was clamped for five hours when she used a patient's private parking space in Essex.

Hannah Bannock was in uniform and had displayed an NHS permit when she was clamped in Clacton on Monday, the North East Essex Primary Care Trust said.

Spokesman Peter Richardson said it "beggared belief" that Mrs Bannock was forced to postpone visits.

These stories are unfortunately all to common, indeed people have been charged up to £850 at a time and been frogmarched to cashpoints to pay these licensed thieves. I know parking can be a problem, but there has to be better solutions than immobilising a vehicle in the place where it is actually parked or risking damaging said vehicle if it is towed away.

BBC.

A man sat in his car for 30 hours to prevent it being towed away after it was clamped.

Haroon Zafaryab began the protest in Wembley on Wednesday when he returned from Ramadan prayers to find his car clamped and was asked to pay £365.

He said that, as he sat in the vehicle, all four wheels were clamped and about 40 tickets were stuck to its window, amounting to £3,565 in fines.

In the end he paid £100 to be released, the tickets were a scare tactic, yet some people would have been desperate enough to pay the initial fine, even the £3,565 if the bullying had succeeded, such is the tactics used by rogue clampers.
Sooner this freedom bill is passed the better, though it wont go nearly far enough, it's still a good start if it prevents this kind of thing.

No, we're not struggling to understand

Cleggy boy has condemned the international response to the floods in Pakistan as well as having a snide go at charitable giving at home.

BBC.

The international response to the devastating floods in Pakistan has been "absolutely pitiful", Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says.

He said the UK was "doing a lot", but donations may still be less than hoped for because the public was "struggling to understand" the scale of the crisis.

Mr Clegg spoke as the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) said the total raised by Britons was now £15m.

At least 1,600 people are known to have died in the monsoon floods.

The Pakistani government says up to 20 million people have been affected and some six million are estimated to need urgent food aid.

Aid agencies say survivors, especially children, were also at risk from diseases such as cholera.

'Lamentable'

Last week, the United Nations launched a $459m (£294m) appeal for emergency aid for Pakistan, and said that billions of dollars would be needed in the long-term.

The UK government has pledged £31.3m, nearly £17m of which has so far been allocated.

The British public can be generous to a fault, take a look at various charities such as children in need, or even the tsunami in the Indian ocean which devastated Indonesia et al. However we only tend to give when the victims are seen as being "deserving" not that the tragedy in Pakistan doesn't have its innocent victims, however it's the nation of Pakistan that is disliked (often intensely) by the British public. It's an Islamic state and Islam has done itself no favours recently in this country, however that alone would not be enough to stop the giving, Indonesia after all is an Islamic state and we gave a lot of aid to the tsunami victims there. Pakistan is also a nuclear power despite having a population with a lot of people on the breadline, yet that wouldn't quite cut it either, when hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the British again emptied their pockets to help, the USA is after all the premier nuclear power. it might be the recession, but again when times are hard, the public still often finds a way to help.
The problem I believe lies in the fact that elements in Pakistan (including their government) are aiding and abetting the Taliban in Afghanistan to kill our troops, and the British public are very aware indeed of this, there have even been grumblings about the government giving our money away to help. The public also noted the dress of the Muslims against the Crusades when the Royal Anglian regiment marched in Luton, these people protesting were mostly of Pakistani descent judging by their look. The public also know because they are constantly told that all Muslims see themselves as Muslims first and look to see how many Islamic nations have generously given to their brothers and sisters in Pakistan, they could count on the fingers of one hand exactly how many.
So, no Clegg, the British public aren't struggling to understand the situation in Pakistan, from their point of view it's the same as giving charity to your enemies, they'll take it anyway, sneer at us, attack our way of life and despise us to the core of their beings, whilst trying to get here to live a better way of life whilst keeping the old prejudices going against the kuffar.
We know who our enemies are, it's not the flood victims per se, it's their government and their religion and the actions they've taken against us in the past and present.

Sloe, sloe quick quick sloe

Being an ardent forager has some advantages (and a few pitfalls involving trespass and carrying knives and scissors) but it essentially means I can find something edible growing wild out in the countryside which is free and in abundance. Even nettles if you know what you're doing are quite edible and make a very nice soup, look up the recipes online there are quite a few of them, just wear all over clothing and gloves when picking.
However as August is now midway through my thoughts turn to fruit and what I can add to alcohol. Blackberry picking will probably start at the end of this month and will go into some cheap French brandy to make a very tasty winter warmer, this is the recipe I use, but there are others

450g/1lb blackberries

225g/8oz caster sugar
1 litre/1¾ pint brandy (no need for quality)
You can add a couple of cloves and some cinnamon too, but not strictly necessary

Mash up the blackberries and put them into a jar (parfait type if you can get them cheap) add sugar and brandy, shake every day till the sugar dissolves, then once a week for 2 months. Strain using a muslin filter (or fine nylon) and drink till you fall over, it does mature I'm told, but I've never made enough of it to find out.

However I was lucky the other day to spot these bushes growing near one of my dog walks.

Sloe berries and growing in abundance too, though probably not ready to pick till after the middle of October, still sloe gin here I come, just so happens I'm off to France on a booze cruise middle of next month, so I'll get a few litres of gin on my trip.

Best recipe I've found is here at the cottage smallholders site, there are others.

My good friends also have a plum tree growing in their garden that they'll give me some fruit from, there are also hedgerows full of bullace plums around here too, you can make bullace vodka from it, never tried it yet, but I'm going too.

The problem is of course, buying spirits even abroad is expensive, buying in this country really isn't worth it, besides I am averse to paying anything more in duty to the government than I already do. Anyway buying several litres of gin can get you funny looks from supermarket till people, I haven't been asked for I.D. yet, but it's coming. A thought did occur to me though, it's easy enough to make wine from the fruit, but after that there is the possibility of distillation (probably illegal) still as it would be for home consumption it's worth investigating, (though again the law frowns on this too). All I'd require are a stainless steel pressure cooker, some copper tubing, a drilled cork, plastic bucket some bluetack and a lot of ice and a little bit of time (probably a thermometer too)... just saying.

Seems crime does pay

Actually I don't think there's any real doubt about it in some instances where light sentencing and sheer bloody mindedness of some parasites on society are concerned, however this is about the state making crime pay, rather than the criminals themselves.

Express.

CRIMINALS are to be handed stolen bicycles by police...to help them find jobs and go straight.

Bikes which would previously have been auctioned under the Police Property Act will be “loaned” to offenders by Suffolk police.

But critics slammed the idea as an insult to crime victims.

Fiona McEvoy, for the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “This absurd scheme just legitimises the initial bike theft, with offenders benefiting directly from crime. Suffolk police could even be handing the bike to the very person who stole it, which isn’t much of a deterrent to would-be thieves.”

Cyclist Dave Brady, 29, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, said: “Why should thugs who chose to lead a life a crime get any extra help? Give them a pair of trainers and they can walk.”

Police say cycles given to persistent offenders will be returned to their owners if they are identified.

So... nip up to Suffolk, commit a crime and get a free (stolen but impounded) bicycle?
Are these people mad in the Suffolk police?
My stepson finally managed to find temporary work for Medway council, he doubts he'll be kept on when the contract runs out and is currently filling in forms to join the army. We bought him a second hand bike to get to work and back on and he has spent his wages fairly wisely too, he's never been in trouble with the police, rarely drinks, doesn't smoke and generally is a credit to himself and us. The look on his face when I showed him this story was a picture, he honestly couldn't believe that criminals were benefiting from the idiocy of the state and asked why he bothered trying to be honest. I was lost for words to try and explain the situation, because I couldn't believe it myself.
This decision is a slap in the face for honest people everywhere.
As with my stepson, words fail me.

Paraskevidekatriaphobia*

Culled from a lot of sources but mostly Wikipedia 

It's weird the things that bother people, superstitions abound particularly in this country over Friday the 13th. It dates back to the French/Papish extermination of the Knights Templar back on Friday 13th October 13, 1307, though there is some suggestion that it was on Friday the 13th of October 1066, that the decision was made by King Harold II to go to battle on Saturday the 14th of October, rather than allow his troops a day of rest (despite his army having made a long and arduous march from a battle near York just 3 weeks earlier), thus making it a bad day to make decisions. 

Even crossing the road can have consequences, though only if you're female and Scandinavian, Finnish researchers in 2004 claimed that men are no more likely to die in traffic accidents on Friday the 13th than on other Friday, but Finnish women have a two-thirds greater chance of getting killed in a Friday the 13th crash. Mind you, if you're Dutch it appears to be safer as the Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) on June 12, 2008, stated that "fewer accidents and reports of fire and theft occur when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday than on other Fridays, because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home.

Still, thanks to the vagaries of the Gregorian calendar the 13th of the month is more likely to fall on a Friday than any other day of the week.

In fact, in any 400-year period, there are 685 Monday the 13ths, 685 Tuesdays, 687 Wednesdays, 684 Thursdays, 688 Fridays, 684 Saturdays and 687 Sundays. 

(Each Gregorian 400-year cycle contains 146,097 days (365 × 400 = 146,000 normal days plus 97 leap days), 146,097 / 7 = 20,871 weeks, and 400 × 12 = 4,800 months. Thus, each cycle contains the same pattern of days of the week (and thus the same pattern of Fridays the 13th), but no day of the month up to the 28th can occur the same number of times on each day of the week (because 4,800 is not divisible by 7). The 13th day of the month is slightly more likely to be a Friday than any other day of the week.On average, there is a Friday the 13th once every 212.35 (212 and 241/688) days.)

 Personally I believe you make your own luck, however if the day is of significance to you, be careful out there.

*Paraskevidekatriaphobia, fear of Friday the 13th

At least they want to work

Senior ministers are said to be astonished that almost 80% of newly created jobs in the last 2 months went to foreign workers.

Telegraph.

Nearly four out of five new jobs in Britain have gone to foreigners over the past three months, official figures show. 

The figures show that a record number of non-Britons started work in Britain between April and June.

Senior MPs described the jump, which threatens to reignite the row over 'British jobs for British workers', as "astounding". 

Labour market figures showed that 186,000 people started work – of which 145,000 were foreign and just 41,000 were British - in the three months to June 30.

The total number of foreigners in employment – 3.85million - is also at a record high, and amounts to one in seven of the workforce, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The rise reverses a series of declines since the number last peaked in December 2008 as the impact of the recession deterred economic migrants. It will raise fears that local workers are poorly placed to capitalise as conditions improve.

Immigration was a major issue during the election and the new Government introduced a cap on the numbers of foreigners from outside the European Union who can work in the UK last month.

Under the cap, the numbers of skilled and highly skilled workers who can come to the UK was limited to just over 24,000.

However yesterday's figures cast doubt on its effectiveness as more than half of the foreign workers – 77,000 – would have been exempt because they come from within the EU.

Of those who came from outside the EU more than half - 37,000 - came from India. 

Last night, Keith Vaz MP, the Labour chairman of the Commons’ Home Affairs committee, said his committee would investigate the sharp rise.

"They might want more British workers to get jobs but membership of the European Union mean that non-Brits will get those jobs"

Unusual to find a bit of honesty from Vaz, but I guess now he's in opposition he can say things the previous government would have went into convulsions of spin over. Fact is though, these jobs are going to those who want them, who are prepared to work at fairly poor rates of pay and work all the overtime God sends so they can send money home, more money per month than some could earn in a year. When I worked in a sausage factory, we had a lot of Poles working there including I was surprised to find  the equivalent of a junior doctor, his English wasn't so great, but it seems he was happy to earn more making sausages than he could make as a doctor in Poland, it would apparently pay for a good nest egg before he went home to do the job he was trained for. The company itself loved polish workers, they worked damned hard and kept the costs down, English workers couldn't really get a look in, wasn't worth their time and didn't want to work the hours to make up the difference either.
Seems we have two choices, we either make staying on benefits so uncomfortable that people will do anything to get off them, or we incur the necessary price increases as wages are weighted at levels where it pays to work, even then the dead hand of the EU will allow workers in to take those jobs as well, classic catch 22 situation.
Of course if we just left the EU, set up a proper border force we could cure the problem ourselves, our way. But the Lib/Lab/Con party ruling us doesn't like that idea at all, they'd rather we were subject to Brussels than actually take note of what might be good for the country, and no the EU is not good for the country, never was, never will be.
So unless we can force political change, British jobs for British workers is just a pipe dream.

 

One for the road

It's apparently very rude to tell a Pole that they drink too much or heavily, one of those interesting factoids where different people from different nations can cause offence if you aren't careful. others can be

:: Winking is considered a rude gesture in Hong Kong.
:: The Chinese are very suspicious - talking about poverty, failure or death could cause offence.
:: Visitors from the United Arab Emirates don't take kindly to being bossed around.
:: When accepting thanks, Koreans will typically say "No, no." The remark should be interpreted as "You are welcome".
:: The term "Poms", which is used by Australians and New Zealanders, is a term of endearment, rather than a insult.
:: Snapping your fingers in the presence of a Belgian is regarded as impolite.

Well according to Sky anyway, though they say British, they are apparently talking about the English as this is the London Olympics being held up as a potential embarrassment.
That's as maybe, doesn't seem to stop foreigners telling us what to do or how to behave, though it seems harder to actually insult an English person by gestures, mostly because we tend not to recognise the obscene when it's thrown in our face, or merely find it funny.
That said, there is the case today of a Polish driver really having a drink problem.

Express.

LORRY DRIVER SPILLS 25,000 BOTTLES OF BEER

A LORRY driver spilled 25,000 bottles of beer over a busy highway as he led police on a wild goose chase.

Driver Krzystof Lewandowski, 44, was trying to dodge police in Chojnice, Poland, who had clocked him speeding, when he took the exit too quickly and flipped his truck.
 
Police spent hours clearing up the mess while keeping other motorists away from trying to salvage the wreck.
 
One officer told the Austrian Times: "People were convinced there must be some unbroken bottles but it was too dangerous to let them look. There was broken glass everywhere."

Typical cops keeping people away from salvaging something, wonder how the party at the local station went though :-D

quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes essentially means "who will guard the guards themselves" and is mostly used in debates about law enforcement. However in this case I'm pointing it right back at our troughing MP's and the attitude they are taking towards the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority. Now IPSA is supposed to be monitored by a committee and that committee is supposed to have 3 lay members of the public on it. However the committee which is supposed to be run by speaker Bercow (trougher par excellence) hasn't even advertised for any members of the public to sit on it, merely stuffed it with MP's instead.

Telegraph.

MPs have broken a promise to allow members of the public on to the body which has ultimate authority over their expenses. 

The committee overseeing the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority, which took over responsibility for expenses from the discredited Commons’ fees office, is supposed to contain three “lay members” as well as serving MPs.

But three months after the supposedly tough new system became operational following the general election, there are eight MPs on the Speaker’s Committee for IPSA, and no lay members. 

And even though its own website says that three lay members should be appointed, the Committee, chaired by John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, appears to have taken no steps to advertise for or recruit for public appointees.

Despite not containing lay members, the Committee has already begun sitting, and last month threatened to refuse to sign off IPSA’s budget – leading to warnings that it was seeking to undermine the new system.

The threat came as relations between IPSA and MPs reached a low point, with many Members in open revolt about the tough new rules they are being forced to abide by.

A number of MPs who were not members of the Committee packed into the public hearing to approve the budget, where they heckled and swore at IPSA staff.

 Right bunch of charmers our elected thieves are turning out to be, don't like the rules, swear at the staff and try to stuff a committee with their own kind ignoring a promise to have members of the public on it, not like they haven't had the time to do so either.
They really do think the public will stand for the fact that they want things back to the old ways where they were ripping us off with duck houses and flipping mortgages. These people might be elected, but they are not to be trusted especially trusted to monitor themselves. The performance by some MP's at the open meeting last month should have lead them to be censured by the speaker and the committee, however as Bercow was/is one of the biggest thieves at Westminster it seems he is deliberately trying to bring the new system down by neglect and breach of promise if nothing else.
It really is time to tear down the system, get rid of the current crop of professional politicians, ban the existing political parties in Westminster and start from scratch. Then and only then might I start to trust a politician anywhere near money.

Welcome to the real world

Pretty much anywhere you go now involving public services or receptions dealing with the public such as doctors and dentists, you'll see a small (sometimes not so small) sign stating that the staff their are not there to be abused and action will be taken against those who do so.
Seems our troughing MP's have now run into a similar system at Westminster over the new expenses scheme and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority.

Telegraph.

Staff at the new MPs’ expenses quango created a football-style system of red and yellow cards for politicians who were rude to them. 

Officials working for the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority have had to endure shouted insults and threats of legal action from MPs angry at the strict rules now imposed on their parliamentary allowances.

IPSA employees put up a sign stating that “abuse of staff will not be tolerated” after they were repeatedly harangued by members complaining that they had not been paid money they were owed, or that old entitlements had been withdrawn following last year’s scandal. 

It has now emerged that under Nigel Gooding, IPSA’s original operations director – who left “for the sake of my health and sanity” earlier this summer – staff also devised a system similar to that used in football to deal with misconduct.
Under the unofficial scheme, any MPs who were rude to staff in telephone conversations or face-to-face meetings would be given a warning – equivalent to a “yellow card” caution.
Those who were deemed guilty of repeated or particularly serious verbal abuse would be restricted to communicating in writing with IPSA staff – a “red card” – rather than being allowed to argue with them in person or on the phone.
“Having an email trail makes it hard for people to deny what’s been said,” a Whitehall source told The Daily Telegraph.
It is believed that under the old expenses system, exposed by this newspaper, some MPs would ring different members of the Fees Office staff until they found one willing to agree to their demands.
A spokesman for IPSA denied a card system of warnings and punishments had been in operation but admitted: “It’s fair to say some MPs have been more forthright in expressing frustrations than others.”

Well if MP's are looking for sympathy, I doubt they'll get any from the public most of us who do have to claim any sort of expenses and the staff at IPSA have my sympathy as they are only trying to do their jobs and keep MP's honest (never an easy task). MP's if anything have it easy when it comes to claims, they are on a good salary and can claim for stuff that the rest of us could only dream about, second mortgages, furniture for second residences etc. They are also subsidised by the taxpayer in their restaurants and bars too, many also hold down second sources of income via non executive directorships which gives the companies involved access to parliament via the back door too.
In short MP's should put up and shut up, the system is designed to keep them honest and if they can't live within their means then perhaps they should be in another job, not that they'd ever find anywhere else as cushy, save perhaps the EU parliament. They brought this upon themselves and they only have themselves to blame. The majority seem to have abused the old system, sometimes to excess, the public view them as a bunch of lying thieves and their status in society has never been lower, perhaps a degree of silence and remorse might have done some good, as it is, they are showing themselves to be the same as ever.
If I'd had my way not one MP who'd abused the system would have been allowed to stand for parliament or public service ever again, many would have been charged and if found guilty ended up in prison. That's how seriously the business was, they robbed the public, the taxpayer. If they carry on like this, they'll think the last outburst over their expenses was a storm in a teacup.