Unintended consequences

 On Monday Channel 4 aired its flagship programme Dispatches Proud and prejudiced about the EDL and Muslim extremists coming to blows in Luton. It can be viewed Here for a while, it will no doubt make its way to youtube eventually.
Here's also some bits that didn't make it too the programme.

 

If the intent was somehow or other to try and equivocate the EDL with Islamic extremism, then it was a massive fail, people are not stupid, the know the EDL don't blow up buses and tubes, don't nail bomb cafés and don't burn poppies on Remembrance day or call our soldiers murderers and rapists.
If the intent was to somehow put people off the EDL then it was also a massive failure, I moderate the EDL forum, I can tell you that the membership increased from the airing of the programme by (at least) 20,000 not counting the interest shown on facebook, so again another massive fail.
The UAF have also realised this and have bitterly whinged about the programme makers

Channel 4′s Proud and Prejudiced documentary, shown on Monday 27 February, was an irresponsible piece of programme0-making that has handed a boost to the English Defence League, UAF believes.

It was clear before the broadcast that the EDL saw this high-profile TV coverage as an opportunity to recruit and raise funds for its organisation of racist and fascist street thugs.

Again though the UAF have so diluted the language that racist and fascist these days are just insults without meaning any more, the EDL are not racist (Islam is a religion) and not fascist as they are not a political party and have attracted members from all over the political spectrum from left and right, in a sense they are apolitical.
This is the same UAF who just elected, as its Vice Chair, the Islamic Forum Europe’s Azad Ali.
Just to recap:

• Azad Ali opposes democracy “if it means at the expense of not implementing the sharia”
• Azad Ali sued the Daily Mail for suggesting that comments on his blog showed that he was “a hardline Islamic extremist who supports the killing of British and American soldiers in Iraq by fellow Muslims as justified”. He lost.
• Azad Ali used to attend talks by the spiritual leader of Al Qaeda in Europe: Abu Qatada.
• Azad Ali wants Ismail Haniyeh – leader of the genocidal antisemitic terrorist organisation, Hamas – to be the Caliph of the next Caliphate.
• Azad Ali admired the Al Qaeda and recruiter Anwar al-Awlaki and had this to say about him on the Islamic Forum of Europe’s blog: “I really do love him for the sake of Allah, he has an uncanny way of explaining things to people which is endearing.”
• Azad Ali’s show on the Islam Channel was sanctioned by OFCOM for its failure to maintain due impartiality in its coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, including in relation to comments on Mahmoud Abbas. That’s because he’s a Hamas supporter.
• When an undercover reporter for Dispatches exposed Azad Ali’s political views, he threatened them on his radio show, saying: “We’ve got a picture of you and a lot more than you thought we had. We’ve tracked you down to different places. And if people are gonna turn what I’ve just said into a threat, that’s their fault, innit?”

H/T Harry's Place.

It will be interesting to see how the so called anti-fascists justify having a real fascist in a position of power, then again I doubt they'd notice, the hypocrisy of the left knows no bounds when it comes to having vipers in their midst.
So, in the end the EDL came rather well out of the programme much to the dismay of the powers that be and their footsoldiers in the UAF and the liberal left.
Seems the British people aren't so worried about the EDL as they are about whom the EDL oppose.

Retrospection

There's something particularly nasty about retrospective legislation, after all prosecuting someone for something that wasn't a crime or was legal before the legislation was voted upon is neither fair nor just. That's one of the reasons for all I did not particularly care for the defendants in the Lawrence case, they were tried only because the government rescinded the law on double jeopardy after the first prosecution failed. It's also why I disagree with this...
BBC.

Barclays Bank has been ordered by the Treasury to pay half-a-billion pounds in tax which it had tried to avoid.
Barclays was accused by HM Revenue and Customs of designing and using two schemes that were intended to avoid substantial amounts of tax.
The government has taken the unusual step of introducing retrospective legislation to end such "aggressive tax avoidance" by financial institutions.
Tax rules forced the bank to tell the authorities about its plans.
The government has closed the schemes to retrieve £500m of lost tax and safeguard payments of billions of more tax in the future.
BBC business editor Robert Peston has been told by Barclays that it is surprised by HMRC's reaction to the two schemes, which it believed to be in line with those used by other banks.
Our business editor says it is highly embarrassing for Barclays, because Britain's big banks have all signed a code committing them not to engage in tax avoidance.
However, he adds that Barclays may end up paying no more than £150m of additional tax.

Unlike the government, or indeed the BBC it seems, for all I'd like Barclays to pay all they are due to pay in taxation, I don't blame them one bit for trying to avoid paying unnecessary taxation, so all of a sudden Barclays are liable to pay extra money that last month they didn't have to pay at all and this is just wrong, I don't mind so much the governments attempts to close loopholes I do mind when they close a loophole and then demand money from before the loophole has been closed.
Sure, there are some who will say that because Barclays had promised not to engage in tax avoidance, though it does appear that what Barclays did is similar to what other banks did. However the banks duty is too its shareholders, not the taxpayer and certainly not the government.
You have to wonder what will be retrospectively applied next, seems UK governments have a penchant for introducing it...

♫ You gotta pick a pocket or two ♪

Well a taxpayers pocket certainly, the furore over benefits caps goes on and the Daily Mail in its usual style lets us know just where the cap isn't being applied yet...
Mail.

At least 100 families raking in enough housing benefits to fund a £1MILLION mortgage each
Thirty families receiving £6,000 a month and at least 60 families getting £5,000 a month
Unemployed living in luxury homes in upmarket parts of London such as Kensington, Chelsea and Westminster
Poor families should not be allowed to live 'swanky' lifestyles in postcodes beyond their means, says campaigners
Calls for the Government's £400 per week cap to be properly enforced
Housing benefit costs taxpayers £22bn a yearAt least 100 families receiving housing benefit are living in luxury homes on handouts that could fund £1m mortgages, figures have revealed.
More than 30 of those families are being given a staggering £1,500 a week to live 'swanky' lifestyles - more than three times the national average wage.
Of the 100 families, 60 have their rent paid by the state to the value of £5,000 a month, according to the Department for Work and Pensions.At a time when millions of people are struggling to get on the housing ladder, the handouts would easily cover the monthly payments on a £1m mortgage.

Just another example of why many of us call for the introduction of legislation that prevents any immigrants or asylum seekers from claiming any sort of benefit until they have paid into the system something like 10 years worth of taxation per person at the average wage level of taxation.
There are simply no excuses for the state at national or local level to house people who are not contributing, weren't born here and giving them priority over people who do. Yet here we are, year after year, the same stories come out about people who quite frankly are taking the piss and the government appear to be doing bugger all about it. In fact some sections of the government actually oppose capping benefits, usually Lib Dems, the occasional leftist and for some reason C of E Bishops. Then again, they don't live in the real world with the rest of us.
They really are driving us towards violent revolution aren't they?

Second class citizens

I've heard of Fireman Sam, in pretty much the same way as I'd heard of Bob the Builder, Being around people who have kids does that to you, though my own kids were more fans of Thomas the Tank Engine (The Ringo Starr version) So it did come as a little bit of a surprise to learn that the creator of the character, Fireman Sam, was detained at an airport for questioning why a veiled woman was not checked by security.Perhaps I shouldn't have been, though I suspect that those who did it will be feeling the heat a little, or perhaps not...
Telegraph.

As David Jones arrived at the security gates at Gatwick airport, he was looking forward to getting through swiftly so he could enjoy lunch with his daughters before their flight.
Placing his belongings, including a scarf, into a tray to pass through the X-ray scanner he spotted a Muslim woman in hijab pass through the area without showing her face.
In a light-hearted aside to a security official who had been assisting him, he said: “If I was wearing this scarf over my face, I wonder what would happen.”
The quip proved to be a mistake. After passing through the gates, he was confronted by staff and accused of racism.
As his daughters, who had passed through security, waited in the departure lounge wondering where he was, he was subjected to a one hour stand-off as officials tried to force him to apologise.
Mr Jones, 67, who is the creator of the popular children’s character Fireman Sam, said: “Something like George Orwell’s 1984 now seems to have arrived in Gatwick airport.
"I feel that my rights as an individual have been violated. What I underwent amounts to intimidation and detention. I was humiliated and degraded in full public view.
"I am a 67-year-old pensioner and have lived my life within the law. I do not have even one point on my driving licence.”
He said that when he made his initial remark the security guard had appeared to agree with him, saying: “I know what you mean, but we have our rules, and you aren’t allowed to say that.”
“It was impossible to get her to listen to reason. We were then joined by a second female security guard who stated that she was Muslim and was deeply distressed by my comment.
“I again stated that I had not made a racist remark but purely an observation that we were in a maximum security situation being searched thoroughly whilst a woman with her face covered walked through. I made no reference to race or religion. I did not swear or raise my voice.”

 You know, I've often wondered the same thing myself, there's a damned good reason not to allow anyone in a public place with their face masked religious reasons or not. Yet here we are, a pensioner who made a remark in passing is subjected to an ordeal for simply questioning whether he would have been stopped if he tried to go through an airport with his face covered. As for the "deeply distressed" Muslim, wtf? Get another job if you're that sensitive to criticism, you don't have any right not to be offended by anyone not of your religion in this country, or at least that's the way the rules actually read.
Yet again, the state and their jobsworth underlings are pandering to the so called religion of peace (aka the religion of the perpetually offended)
This has to stop, we are all equal whether Islam believes it or not, if they don't like it, they should go.

No fuel like an old fuel

One of the main things which is driving the recession in the UK (apart from toxic debt) is the cost of living coupled to the lack of an increase in income for most taxpayers. The cost of living itself is driven by rising prices in practically all areas, though there is one common denominator in all of this, fuel. The government could in theory kick start the economy by simply scrapping fuel duty and although there would be a reluctance for suppliers to drop the price totally down to market price, the difference to hauliers and even food prices would soon become apparent. People would have more money in their pockets, so would spend more, businesses would survive, some might thrive and all it would take is one small cut.

 After all they are adding somewhere in the region of 60% (at least to prices at the pumps.
As of 15th November 2010 the price of fuel, the fuel duty and the VAT level are shown in the table below:

Type of Fuel	Total Cost at Pump	Fuel Duty	VAT	% of Fuel Cost that is Tax
Unleaded	118.7p	58.19p	17.68p	64%
Diesel	122.3p	58.19p	18.21p	62%
LPG	67.5p	31.95p	10.05p	63%

H/T  http://whatgas.com/car-finance/fuel-duty.html

In 2007 fuel duty raised in the region of £25 billion, a reasonable chunk at 5% of government income...

H/T Wikipedia

But a 5% cut in the governments spending is surely an achievable target?
Of course there are those wiser in economics than I out there, there might be very good reasons why we cannot do this, though it strikes me as being quite worthwhile.
Of course it's probably illegal to do so because of the EU or some ridiculous green laws.
Still, it's a thought isn't it?

Rubbing the taxpayers nose in it

 It was with utter joy that I read about benefit claimants getting a 5.2% increase to assist them with the "cost of living increases" caused by the current economic crisis, only apparently bankers and the higher echelons of public servants can expect such increases, most of us will have to make do with no increase at all.
Express.

SCANDAL OF 5.2 PER CENT 'PAY' RISE FOR THE JOBLESS

The jobless will pocket a bumper benefits boost while hard-working families face pay freezes. Ministers agreed yesterday that taxpayers would fund an inflation-busting 5.2 per cent for the unemployed to protect them against the rising cost of living.

The welfare boost will come as a blow for millions of workers who are struggling to make ends meet on their current salary.

The rise is more than double the average pay increase of around 2.1 per cent which workers can expect and comes at an overall cost to the taxpayer of £6.6billion.
It means ministers will struggle to argue that work pays, coming on the same day councils announced more than one and a half million local government workers would see their pay frozen for a third year running.

Announcing the increase as part of a package of changes to pensions and social sec urity benefits, Lib Dem Pensions Minister Steve Webb said: “This gives real support to protect people against increases in prices.
“At a time when the nation’s finances are under severe pressure, this Government will be spending an extra £6.6billion in 2012-13 to ensure that people are protected against cost of living increases.”

 A pay increase? Well not quite, pay implies actually doing something in order to get paid, so when benefit claimants are to get a 5.2% pay rise, according to the Express, they aren't, they don't earn it, they are given it.
This entire increase welcome as it might be for some on benefits, is however a massive slap in the face for struggling taxpayers, particularly those in the private sector (the ones who actually help their companies make money) We've gone through the last 3 or so years without getting much in the way of any pay rises and yet we've watched the cost of food, fuel, energy and food go up far more than the proclaimed rate of inflation would have you believe. Hard earned holidays have had to be cancelled, treats for the kids abandoned as household budgets are frequently revised to cope with an increase in outgoings compared to static income. And yet we have some jumped up Lib Dem crowing to the MSM that “This gives real support to protect people against increases in prices" well you utter bastard matey, how does it protect me? You're giving my money to those who don't contribute, some of whom will never contribute, some of whom have no intentions of ever contributing! I could understand it if it was an increase in sickness and invalidity benefits, though I'd still like to make sure those getting it really are sick and invalided, but if you're so set upon making work pay, YOU DON'T GIVE THOSE NOT WORKING AN EASY RIDE BY GIVING THEM MORE MONEY!!!!!
Sorry, sorry this really has me pissed off...
I thought things might get a bit better when we got rid of those New Labour mongs, even though experience warned against it. I JUST DIDN'T EXPECT THIS CURRENT BUNCH OF CORRUPT MENDACIOUS SCUM TO MAKE THINGS WORSE!!!!
Fuck it, I need a drink...

Giving money to those who hate us

The foreign aid budget never ceases to cause my blood pressure to rise when I hear about the ridiculous lengths politicians and their ilk will go too to give away my cash. I despair when it's given to countries that either don't want it, when it lines kleptocrats pockets and espescially to countries that hate us/everyone and consider those that give them cash with contempt as it confirms in their eyes that we are weak and fear them.
Such a country being Somalia an Islamic hellhole, ruled by kleptocratic warlords and who exports violence and piracy as their main forms of income/hobby.
Express.

DAVID Cameron is set to ignite fresh anger at Britain’s soaring overseas handouts bill today by pledging millions of pounds to war-torn Somalia.
He will unveil an extra £33million in aid to the country, infamous as a breeding ground for terrorism. The gift means that UK payouts to Somalia will rise to nearly £220million in the next three years.
The Prime Minister insisted yesterday that Somalia should get a “second chance” to rebuild itself after two decades of famine and civil war. But critics warned against throwing yet more taxpayers’ cash into a country described by Foreign Secretary William Hague earlier this month as “the world’s most failed state”. Tory MP Philip Davies said: “Pouring ever larger amounts of our money is never going to solve this country’s problems.” Emma Boon of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “It is crucial that taxpayers’ money isn’t lost to corruption in this highly volatile area.”

Somalia is a failed state, there isn't a government as such and about a third of the country is under the control of a group called al-Shabab, which is linked to Al Qaeda, which as they are Islamic fundamentalists without the oil revenue is why it's a failed state. As opposed to Saudi Arabia which also would be a failed state if it could not bribe its populace and use the spare cash to fund international wahhabism aka jihad.
The people who (sort of) run Somalia only recognise strength, it's part of the mind set of the area, it's why the Palestinians wont wont opt for a peace deal with Israel because the rest of the idiot west keeps telling Israel to give up more concessions whilst the Palestinians and their type never do because only the weak give things away. It's the same with Somalia and Somalians, there's a cultural mindset that equates strength with violence rather than restraint, not all of course, but enough of a majority to be a problem in and around Somalia and any place where Somalians move to live, the attackers of rhea Page were of Somalian descent, as was Said Adam a Somali man who dragged a 23-year-old woman into an alleyway and scarred her for life during a terrifying sexual attack. Their gangs are behind a lot of violence in parts of the UK as this article points out.
Once again we have the UK government giving away our cash where it will be wasted and often enough used to buy weapons for Islamic fanatics or those fighting them, either way it will be used to fuel the violence in that part of the world.
When will they learn? Charity begins (and ends) at home for the UK government, if the people of the UK want to give generously abroad, that's up to us, but the cash we give the government should stay here!

Laffer minute

The Laffer Curve is often used as an example of the theoretical representation between government revenue raised by taxation and all possible rates of taxation. Essentially it posits the higher the level of taxation, the lower the income the government will receive as it becomes counter-productive as people will actively seek to avoid taxation once it goes above a certain level, in the case of the rich it's usually getting a good accountant and/or leaving the country, with the poor it's an increase in the use of the black economy. Either way when a certain threshold is tripped, government revenue raising starts to fall. This appears to be the case in raising the income tax threshold of higher earners to 50%...
Telegraph.

The Treasury received £10.35 billion in income tax payments from those paying by self-assessment last month, a drop of £509 million compared with January 2011. Most other taxes produced higher revenues over the same period.
Senior sources said that the first official figures indicated that there had been “manoeuvring” by well-off Britons to avoid the new higher rate. The figures will add to pressure on the Coalition to drop the levy amid fears it is forcing entrepreneurs to relocate abroad.
The self-assessment returns from January, when most income tax is paid by the better-off, have been eagerly awaited by the Treasury and government ministers as they provide the first evidence of the success, or failure, of the 50p rate. It is the first year following the introduction of the 50p rate which had been expected to boost tax revenues from self-assessment by more than £1 billion.
Although the official statistics do not disclose how much money was paid at the 50p rate of tax, the figures indicate that it is falling short of the money the levy was expected to raise.
A Treasury source said the relatively poor revenues from self-assessment returns was partly down to highly-paid individuals arranging their affairs to avoid paying the 50p rate.

Pretty much as I said above, when the government started to grab half of anyone's earnings, people looked for a way to avoid paying so much to the taxman. Oddly enough most people will tolerate what they consider fair taxation, might not like paying it of course, but if they have good governance it's often seen as a price worth paying. Unfortunately, there's nothing like good governance going on in the UK with many of our MP's being corrupt to the core, wastage in practically every government dept and ministry, our taxes are wasted on junkets and irresponsible green energy schemes and we're constantly badgered by government funded "charities" telling us what we should eat, drink, or smoke.
The disconnect between the Westminster bubble and the ordinary people continues to grow, that someone in the bubble thought higher taxes might raise more money is only one sign of the unreality of the situation, but it will continue to grow until they either reform their game or we take them down by armed revolution.
My bet's on armed revolution.

Well it finally broke

Despite a judicial order silencing the MSM and blogs, despite the claims it might prejudice the trial and give grounds for appeal, despite the media free for all on the Lawrence trial being an example of the hypocrisy involved, the Daily Mail finally got around to telling us about the trial of the alleged Rochdale paedophiles in Liverpool.
Mail.

A group of 11 Asian men plied girls as young as 13 with drink and drugs so they could use them for sex 'several times a day', a court heard today.
The five girls, who were aged between 13 and 15 when the alleged abuse began, were passed around by the men 'who acted together to sexually exploit the girls', a trial at Liverpool Crown Court was told.
The offences are said to have happened in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester, in 2008 and 2009. All the girls were from broken homes and one was in care.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that some of the girls were raped and physically assaulted and some were forced to have sex with 'several men in a day, several times a week'.
Opening the case, prosecutor Rachel Smith said: 'Some of you may find what you are about to hear distressing. The events and circumstances described by the girls are at best saddening and at worst shocking in places.
'No child should be exploited as these girls say they were.'
Miss Smith said the girls were given alcohol, food and money in return for sex but that there were times when violence was used.
'There were also occasions on which one or more of the girls were so incapacitated by alcohol and/or drugs that they were incapable of having any control over whether or with whom they had sexual intercourse,' she said.
The court was told that some of the defendants paid the girls and took payments from other men to whom they supplied the girls for sex.
Kabeer Hassan, 24, Abdul Aziz, 41, Abdul Rauf, 43, Mohammed Sajid, 35, Adil Khan, 42, Abdul Qayyum, 43, Mohammed Amin, 44, Qamar Shahzad, 29, Liaquat Shah, 41, and Hamid Safi, 22, are on trial at Liverpool Crown Court charged with conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with children under the age of 16.
They have all pleaded not guilty along with a 59-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons.

 Of course the usual "Asian" label is used to disguise the fact that the men are Muslims of Pakistani extraction. No self respecting Chinese, Vietnamese, Indian, Buddhist or Hindu or any other country or religion in Asia actually does this except for those who hold Islam to be their main religion.
Yet still the state tried to gag the media and blogs through a contempt of court decree, though you can be assured patriot groups were protesting outside the courts against those alleged to have destroyed our childrens lives. Yet despite the media frenzy that usually occurs when groups like the EDL protest, you'd never know they were there, though the UAF made its usual appearance to stand in support of the accused paedophiles.
Still, finally it's out in the open, though this blog and others did mention it back in January. Though many were silenced by the contempt order, still at least the Daily Mail can probably take the heat if any is now forthcoming.
Seems the BBC have broke it too, still no mention of the M or I words though

All must have prizes?

One of the biggest mistakes of the previous government (though they don't think it's a mistake) was to declare that they wanted as many people as possible to get into university. It wasn't their only mistake by a long shot but it was probably the most costly in dumbing down the populace and diluting our academic standards as many universities offered lower entry qualifications to get people in and start charging them.
This still carries on today as the appointment of Les Ebdon as head of the university fair access body, a dept to get as many people from low pay and minorities into universities and to hell with the necessary academic standards needed.
BBC.

Les Ebdon has been formally announced as head of the university fair access body, despite the opposition of MPs on the committee examining his selection.
Business Secretary Vince Cable rejected attempts to block Prof Ebdon as the head of the Office for Fair Access.
Prof Ebdon had told MPs he would impose financial penalties on universities which failed to meet access targets.
Mr Cable said Prof Ebdon had the qualities to "deal even-handedly with all parts of the sector".
Prof Ebdon became the focus for a political storm when he was named as ministers' preferred candidate as the next director of the Office for Fair Access (Offa).
Universities wanting to charge higher tuition fees have to satisfy this watchdog that they are protecting access for poorer or under-represented groups.
MPs on the Business, Innovation and Skills select committee voted against his appointment, saying they "were not convinced by Prof Ebdon's descriptions of the root causes of the obstacles to accessing universities".
But Mr Cable stood by his candidate and has pressed ahead with his appointment.

I'm not surprised Vince Cable wants this man in place, he's basically a socialist in Lib Dem clothing anyway and a supporter of the dumbing down equality that pervades today's education as James in his excellent posts on the wreckers of our education has highlight in Orphans of Liberty.
Yet frequently we read about reports from Employers stating Can't read, can't write, can't add up of potential job candidates, even those coming their way from universities, though many of the top universities themselves have had to add extra curricular courses to bring candidates up to university entry standards.
Yet here we have Prof Ebdon, a man who has risen like scum to the top of the equalities in education tree and who is going to use his position to force universities to take in more pupils from less well-off backgrounds and minorities at the expense of students who are better qualified.
Yet what we actually need is for our universities to only take the best, the top 10% and give them an academic qualification that is second to none compared to the highest worldwide qualifications. We don't want them to be taking in 50% of the school leavers and have them only qualified as shelf stackers because they have make believe qualifications at the end of their time. We most certainly do not want our brightest and best shouldered aside by some equalities body who wants less skilled candidates from select groups in because "it's fairer that way"
Life isn't fair, but try telling that to the left entrenched in our education system, they'd rather have everybody having a third class degree so as to make those who are not so bright feel better.

The race industry in all its glory

Kids are inquisitive, it's programmed into them, it's how they learn things. Occasionally they'll ask in all innocence the most embarrassing, daft, occasionally rude questions because they simply want to know. They aren't constrained by terms like political correctness or racism and most parents realise this despite the occasional red face that this causes, sadly other parents don't and along with a rigid enforcing of petty rules by schools due to some poorly written legislation can lead to young children being accused of racism and bigotry despite the fact they don't even know what that means and aren't in the first place.
Mail (usual caveats)

The mother of a seven-year-old boy was told to sign a school form admitting he was racist after he asked another pupil about the colour of his skin.
Elliott Dearlove had asked a five-year-old boy in the playground whether he was ‘brown because he was from Africa’.
His mother, Hayley White, 29, said she received a phone call last month to say her son had been at the centre of a ‘racist incident’.
She was then summoned to a meeting with Elliott, his teacher and the deputy head of Griffin Primary School in Hull.

It's the sort of thing a kid would ask, it doesn't make him a racist, not even a future racist, it just meant he was curious enough to ask.

The school had launched an investigation after the younger boy told his mother about Elliott’s comment and she complained.

Wonder if someone is looking out for a payout or is simply one of these people who is perpetually offended at all the racist white people who live in the UK, because we're all racist us whites, we certainly seem to be constantly told that.

Karl Turner, Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull East, last night insisted that the school and Hull City Council had a statutory duty to take racism seriously.
‘However, having spoken to Hayley, I’m satisfied that her seven-year-old son, Elliott, was not being racist in his remarks but just inquisitive,’ he said.
‘It seems the matter has been taken out of all proportion and common sense seems to have gone completely out of the window.’

Yep, got it in one, so obvious even a Labour MP can see it, schools should take racism seriously just as they should tell anyone who makes a ridiculous accusation to get a life and stop bothering them.

In a statement, Griffin Primary head teacher Janet Adamson said the school had acted ‘in accordance with the council’s guidance for schools on the reporting of racist incidents’.
Vanessa Harvey-Samuel, head of localities and learning at Hull City Council, said: ‘There is a statutory duty to report any incident that is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.’

Ah, so it's all about perception and following the rules in a jobsworth manner to the point of accusing an inquisitive, curious 7 year old a racist because the mother of another child is so sensitive that they perceive anything said to their kid is potentially racist. Except no-one except the idiots teaching at the school and the parent of the child involved seems to think this was racist in any way.
Good on his mother for not signing the form.

Compare and contrast (again)

Emma West will be known to quite a lot of you, she's the lady on a Croydon tram who was filmed for youtube for a so called hate rant aimed at various immigrants. It's noticeable to anyone who has viewed the original video that it appears to be selectively edited having no real beginning and a chunk missing from the middle. Emma was arrested, had her child removed by social services and nearly spent Christmas in prison as she was remanded in custody, such was the danger to the public she apparently represented. Yet oddly enough she never called for violence against anyone in the entire clip.
BBC.

A woman has pleaded not guilty over an alleged racist rant on a tram in south London, which has been seen online 11 million times.
Emma West, 34, of New Addington, south London, appeared at Croydon Crown Court charged with two counts of racially-aggravated public order offences, one with intent to cause fear.
She was arrested in November after footage, filmed on a Croydon-to-Wimbledon tram, was posted on YouTube.

Emma's situation along with the farcical conviction of the attackers of Rhea Page finally highlighted to many of the UK public the two tier legal system in place throughout the country where someone with a white skin would be treated far more harshly than any other skin tone or religious outlook other than Christianity.
Though it would appear that there are other protected species too...
Birmingham Mail.

A LABOUR councillor has sparked outrage after she backed calls for the IRA to bomb the Conservative party conference which is being held in Birmingham this year.
The Labour party suspended Sunderland city councillor Florence Anderson after she "liked" on Facebook an appeal for terrorists to blow up the Conservative conference in Birmingham in October.
Her behaviour was branded "disgraceful" by party bosses, after the former deputy leader of the council "liked" the comment: "We are appealing to the IRA to find it in their hearts to bomb the next Tory conference" on the Facebook group wall.
A Labour spokesman said: "These comments are disgraceful.
"Florence Anderson has been suspended from the Labour Party with immediate effect in light of this information."
In 2010 Cllr Anderson, who is a member of the Facebook Group "Margaret Thatcher doesn’t have to be dead before we give her a funeral", wrote on Facebook she hopes Lady Thatcher "burns in Hell".
At the time she insisted: "I stand by what I said."

Before anyone gets on their high horse about the fact that she might have only been joking I'd remind you of just how seriously the police have taken facebook statements in the past when they arrested 370 EDL supporters on Remembrance Day because some idiot put on his facebook page that they were going to attack the occupy London site (they weren't, they had no intentions of anything of the sort)
The most that has happened so far is that this woman has simply been suspended despite calling for the murder of not just the Tories but anyone else who happens to work at the conference venue.
Of course socialists think they are the crème de la crème when it comes to political thinking and philosophy though the fact tend to show then rather as a bunch of violently inclined political pygmies pursuing the politics of envy. So they think that when one of their own transgresses that all should be forgiven and the matter hushed up, though woe betide the Emma West's of this country who speak their mind.

Musings of a Durotrigan has a good post on Councillor Anderson, well worth a read too and a different take on her attitudes.
Prodicus also highlights the delightful attitudes of a Union rep on Margaret Thatcher being murdered

Committing electoral suicide UKIP style

I support the English Defence League, I don't necessarily agree with everything they do, but that's ok, they probably don't agree with everything I do here either, nevertheless their core aims and mission statement along with getting to know individual members through debate on their forum will soon open the eyes of anyone who believes them to be knuckle dragging, semi literate, unintelligible, football hooligans. They aren't, many are what used to be called diamonds in the rough, but ignorant, they aren't and they are quite politically savvy these days having seen what the main political parties think of them. In other words the membership will probably not vote mainstream. There has been quite a debate on their forum about which political party they could in all honesty support, not officially by any means, they know how the MSM would react to the EDL coming out in support of most parties, you just have to note the "far right" tag pretty much preceding any mention of the term EDL, far right being media speak for Nazi/fascist/racist despite the fact that it has mostly been the left who supported racist policies and advocated the so called science of eugenics.
Still, the debate eventually centred on two parties, the recently formed British Freedom Party (manifesto here) and UKIP, both parties with aims to cut immigration and lead us out of the EU, something most people on the EDL forums at least support. However UKIP seem to have taken it upon themselves to commit electoral suicide by posting an extremely divisive membership statement...

http://www.ukip.org/helpukip

Why, I do not know, the results will be that many like myself will no longer vote for UKIP, this is despite the fact that the EDL as such doesn't really have a membership, so it would be very tricky to try and prevent them joining, though because of this they probably wont go or vote where they clearly aren't wanted.
Perhaps some bright spark thought this was a good way to keep out racists? However a look through the EDL mission statement will soon tell you that they aren't racist, and Islam isn't a race anyway, it's a religion. It's also noticeable that UKIP will accept members from the extremist Socialist Workers Party and the vile Unite Against Fascism despite their history of violence and civil unrest.
Anyway well done UKIP, you've just lost several thousand potential votes through this, I hope you're happy.

Unintended consequences

The Criminal Records Bureau, brought by the previous government and tightened up after the Soham murders (as they were unlikely to have caught Huntley) is one of those weird areas which seemed like a good idea at the time, but however is now an area in which local councils have latched onto to check anyone who might come into contact with children. Not just unsupervised, but anyone, anywhere who just might come into contact.
Telegraph.

Burger sellers, tree surgeons and lift engineers are being forced to have “unnecessary” criminal record checks despite new laws to stop invasive vetting, according to a new report.
The Manifesto Club, campaign group against over-regulation, will today claim the Government’s promise to scale back vetting to “common sense levels” is not working.
It has found local councils continued to request vetting for thousands of people who rarely come into contact with children in a “frenzy" of checking by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) last year.
Local authorities are only meant to vet those who work unsupervised with children, but the report found beach cleaners, park rangers, data entry clerks and reception staff are still routinely being checked in some areas.
Some councils require any worker who enters a place of education, even during the holidays, to have checks.
This means lift repairmen, asbestos monitors, solar panel installers and sewage engineers have all been vetted before they can work on school sites.

The CRB also highlights any criminal offences, even those which have lapsed under the Rehabilitation of Offenders act in which people do not have to declare a criminal conviction if they are not asked, or have to declare it in most cases after 10 years anyway. So it's often been used to ferret out the criminal past of people who would be no danger whatsoever to children, but who have offended in the past and had them removed or prevented from doing their jobs, after all in most cases an act committed say for high jinks whilst drunk whilst embarrassing should not prevent you from eventually getting on with your life, yet if you know a prospective employer will ask for a CRB check, you might as well simply not bother applying.
You'd think that only a criminal record of violence or abuse of children would be highlighted, but you'd be wrong, even the standard disclosure which is primarily for positions involving regular contact with children or vulnerable adults, but can also be used for some other professions of high responsibility (for example, accountancy). Standard Disclosures reveal details of any convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings the applicant has received, regardless of length of time since the incidents; together with details of whether that person is banned from working with children or vulnerable adults (if these details have been requested). That's just the standard one, so you can see why the voluntary sectors are struggling a bit, one mistake on your part involving the law, and you might as well not bother trying.
Yes, we need a system to keep our kids safe from predators, but only from predators. Anything else is simply the business of the person applying for a job and doing their best to put the past behind them.

Good news?

It must be a slow news day over at the Daily Express, they are trumpeting that a slightly lower rise in the cost of living is somehow good news.
Express.

INFLATION fell to a 14-month low last month, providing some welcome good news for cash-strapped families.
The rise in the cost of living dropped to 3.6 per cent in January from 4.2 per cent in December, according to the Office for national Statistics.
The fall is partly down to the VAT increases of January last year, where the tax rose from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent, having now fallen out of the annual calculations. But several goods and products have also seen increases in their costs slowing.
Charges for commodities and oil have not risen by as much as they did at the same time last year. Petrol prices, for example, increased by 0.6 pence per litre in January, compared with a 5.4 pence rise in 2011.
Meanwhile, diesel was up 0.7 pence, while last January it had soared by 5.8p.
Rises in clothing and footwear, furniture and household goods and transport costs also slowed.
But alcohol, financial services and air transport saw larger price increases.
While the consumer prices index (CPI) rate of inflation fell to 3.6 per cent last month, other measures of inflation also fell. The retail prices index (RPI) dropped to 3.9 per cent in January from 4.8 per cent in December, its lowest level in just under two years.

Ok, it's not as big a rise as last year, however unless somehow or other you're actually getting a pay rise above the rate of inflation, then you're still going to be out of pocket and I see no reason to be cheerful about being out of pocket. If like me you've had no pay rise in the last 2 years, it's definitely not good news, good news would be a negative before the cost of living index such as a -3.6% drop. Fuel, food, energy all cost rose, perhaps not as much as expected, but they still rose and people still have to find the means to make up the difference, which usually means the odd little luxury has to go, though I suspect a lot of people have passed that stage and are at the juggling essentials in order to make ends meet, hence the rise in payday loans and people defaulting on them.
Of course there are the odd exceptions, people like Birmingham University Professor David Eastwood enjoyed a seven per cent pay rise in the last academic year who earned a £29,000 bonus last year on top of his £323,000 salary and £67,000 in pension and other benefits, which includes the £16,000 running costs of his grace-and-favour university residence. Nice work if you can get it and all paid for by tripling the entry fee for student courses to £9,000. There are other exceptions too, bankers etc, though in all cases it seems to be people at the top of the tree, rather than those of us struggling at the bottom and wondering whether to eat or heat the house.
So, sorry Daily Express, not good news, not good news at all.

When militant is anything but

The UK is by and large a secular society with an underpinning of religion based more or less on the Judeo-Christian faith.This wasn't always the case, in times past the Church had a lot more powers and influence hence the Bishops sitting in the House of Lords and it may change in the future if people turn to a religion of some sort or another. But, at the moment, religion plays a very much reduced roll in the life of the majority of the people of the UK, births, deaths and marriages tends to be the only times people will turn up and as Christenings and official marriages are somewhat on the wane, not so much even then. However what secularists aren't generally is militant against those who believe, though many have a distaste at the activities of some religions, either those who keep knocking at your door, or those who support blowing up people, but mostly we ignore them and in a few cases pity them, but we don't tend to plot or plan anything against them, live and let live being pretty much the secular way.
Telegraph.

British society is under threat from the rising tide of “militant secularisation” reminiscent of “totalitarian regimes”, a Cabinet minister will warn on Tuesday.
In an historic visit to the Vatican, Baroness Warsi will express her “fear” about the marginalisation of religion throughout Britain and Europe, saying that faith needs “a seat at the table in public life”.
In an article for The Daily Telegraph, the Cabinet Office minister says that to create a “more just society” Britons must “feel stronger in their religious identities”.
The minister, who is also chairman of the Conservative Party, says: “My fear today is that a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies. We see it in any number of things: when signs of religion cannot be displayed or worn in government buildings; and where religion is sidelined, marginalised and downgraded in the public sphere.
“For me, one of the most worrying aspects about this militant secularisation is that at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant. It demonstrates similar traits to totalitarian regimes – denying people the right to a religious identity because they were frightened of the concept of multiple identities.”

It seems very strange to have a follower of the Religion of Peace telling us that "this militant secularisation is that at its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant" when militant secularists have yet to fly planes into buildings, blow up tube trains and buses, set off nail bombs in cafés, (dis)honour kill women, blow up tourists, groom and rape underage girls and call for the death of anyone they think has insulted their (non)religion or its founder. Yes you get militant atheists (who are not secularists as denial of a God is not the same as indifference) such as that guy who went to court to stop prayers being said at council meetings in Bideford, but on the whole militant atheists don't tend to get violently aggressive towards religion, they simply use existing laws to pander to their prejudices.
One of the things that causes problems for religion in the UK is that the majority of us don't like to be told how to live their lives and want as little interference in it as possible, this is why numbers at churches are falling, why Islam is so brutal to anyone thinking of leaving and uses family and peer pressure to hold onto its members, it's also pretty much why people are no longer interested in politics, they're just another set of people telling us how to live our lives after all.
What I think Warsi and other religionists fear is that secularists actually will start to become militant and behave like religionists and there's more of us than there are of them...
I have no problem in people believing as they like, however I just wish they'd accord me the same respect.

No cold comfort here

Hypothermia deaths are up again from 950 in 2006/07 to 1,876 in 2010/11 almost doubled in fact, no doubt the recent cold snap will have claimed a few more. It used to just be pensioners at risk at this time of year, but the risk has moved into other age groups too as fuel prices consume a much higher percentage of a household budget than they did  10 years ago.
Mail.

Frozen to death as fuel bills soar: Hypothermia cases among the elderly double in five years

• 1,876 patients treated for hypothermia in 2010/11
• Hypothermia death toll within 30 days up from 135 to 260
• Coincides with a surge in energy prices
• Industry analyst estimates 8 out of 10 households ration energy use

Age UK says a quarter of all pensioners live in fuel poverty
The number of pensioners dying from hypothermia has nearly doubled in five years, a period when a succession of cold winters has been coupled with drastic rises in energy bills.
The official figures emerged after several days of Arctic conditions which drove temperatures across the whole country as low as minus 10C (14F).
They showed that 1,876 patients were treated in hospital for hypothermia in 2010/11, up from 950 in 2006/07.
An industry analyst, uSwitch has calculated that in 80% of home energy is being rationed, and called for a cut in VAT on energy bills. 

Some people are complaining that energy firms are making a profit, though I'd expect any firm anywhere to try and make a profit, the profit margins though come on top of government levies such as VAT (20%) and the so called "environmental or green levy" (12%) so 32% of the charges you get go directly to the government, not the supplier, yes that's right, 1/3rd of your fuel bill goes straight into the governments coffers to pay no doubt for bird mincers and expensive solar panels which are then subsidised so they can sell you back the expensive power produced and line the pockets of those who have invested in the useless "green" energy scam.
This government and the previous one have put in place measure that have killed people struggling on the margins of financial stability. They have instituted policies that have driven up the price of heating a home in the name of non existent global warming and the cost has been thousands of our elderly and infirm dying of the cold in the winters they claimed were becoming a thing of the past.
Yet they show no sense of shame, will not remove their grubby paws from out of our pockets and their influence away from our lives.
I wonder just how many would die if say we reduced their heating bills by a third?
They wont though, they'd rather have blood on their hands than give up on their cherished principles of preparing the country for something that isn't happening...

So, only criminals are allowed to defend themselves?

There's an old saying, "an armed society is a polite society" which is why I suspect the UK is no longer a polite (or pleasant) place to live, after all, successive governments have done their level best to disarm the majority of the populace to the extent that only the police, armed services and criminals have weapons, anyone else is liable to arrest or harassment for carrying the means to defend themselves.
Mail.

Police forces across Britain have been warned to beware of a flood of high-powered stun guns disguised as mobile phones which are being smuggled into the country.
Operated by pressing a button on the side of the device, the weapons can disable victims with a million-volt charge – many times more powerful than a police Taser.
Authorities fear that the stun guns – marketed as personal protection devices – are increasingly becoming the criminals’ weapon of choice, with at least 10,000 estimated to be in circulation on Britain’s streets.
They are also becoming a threat to prison guards. A Chinese-made Kelon stun gun – identical to a Sony Ericsson K95 mobile phone – was recently found at Low Newton jail, where the mass murderer Rosemary West is an inmate.
Although illegal in Britain, the stun guns can be bought via the internet for as little as £15.
The devices are marketed on websites as ‘non-lethal personal security weapons’ for defence against muggers. Claims of up five million volts are advertised for some models.
Because stun guns have very low amperage, serious or permanent injury is unlikely to result.
A security source said last night: ‘Police forces across the country have confiscated and destroyed an increasing number of these highly dangerous weapons.’

Whilst such a device might be dangerous to law enforcement in the hands of criminals, it strikes me as being odd that they think that they'd be dangerous in the hands of ordinary people, after all other than the odd idiot or kid who might think it's fun to tazer someone, the vast majority of us simply wouldn't use it unless we were attacked. Similarly with carrying a firearm, majority of us either wouldn't or would not use it in anything other than self defence.
Yet such is the fear of us that the powers that be have that they do not want law abiding people having the means to defend themselves, will arrest us often enough if we do defend ourselves and are constantly on the lookout to further restrict the right to defend ourselves in the probable fear that one day we'll simply decide to shoot them instead, after all, they are the architects of our misery.
Sooner or later though, this lack of trust will backfire, it already has to a certain extent in the popularity of political parties and their memberships and the people will wake from their slumber and decide to do something about it, after all, there's only so many of them aren't there?

Gilding the lily

Argentina must know they are onto a loser (again) when the rhetoric over the Falklands Islands reaches the stage of them accusing the UK of having nuclear missiles on the islands.
Telegraph.

The South American country's foreign minister claimed that Trident nuclear missiles were being carried on board a submarine deployed to the region by the Royal Navy.
It comes as tensions continue to rise over the islands, which are claimed by the Argentinians as their territory.
The allegation was immediately rebuffed by a senior British diplomat, who also described claims by the Argentinians that military bases on the island could be used to launch attacks on South America as "absurd".
Hector Timerman, the Argentinian foreign minister, accused the British of sending the nuclear submarine into a nuclear-free zone and lodged a formal protest at the United Nations.
He said Britain was "militarising the region" after the Royal Navy sent one of its most advanced warship to the islands, and as Prince William enters the second week of his six-week tour of duty there as an RAF search and rescue pilot.

Now whilst it wouldn't surprise me at all that the UK has at least one nuclear submarine in the area, it's most unlikely that they'll have trident nuclear missiles on board, nor given the restrictions surrounding the first use of such a weapons system should Argentina worry their silly little heads over any such inclusion. Personally I don't know who they are trying to fool over such a claim, but it certainly isn't the UK, if anything it's likely to backfire as their own people might not be so keen as their government to see the UK crack open a can of liquid sunshine over Buenos Ares anyway. (we wouldn't, but these aren't exactly sophisticates here) As an example of one-upmanship it certainly leaves a lot to be desired and wont exactly make their case (not much of a case anyway) if they go whinging to the UN over it.
I'm a bit surprised that they believe the nuclear free zone myth too, perhaps they'd better have a word with an ex Labour councillor or two to see just exactly how far that claim will get you, as in nowhere at all. I suspect the USA occasionally has a few nuc's running through the area and I doubt the Argentines would have the balls to complain if a carrier fleet were to sail round the horn either.

A protest outside the Argy Embassy earlier today.

There was a protest outside the Argentine Embassy earlier today, apparently there was one arrest for burning a flag, no doubt the charge will be “Burning a flag whilst not being Islamic”

The parasite class

Special rates for government jobs used to be a byword in the print industry, it of course meant charging a hell of a lot more for something than they would if it was for a private contract, because generally private contracts would look for the best deal, whereas the government just shook the money tree to pay whatever was asked. It's this lack of care with the public purse that often enough sets me to grind my teeth and hit the keyboard to have a rant at the government despite the fact that a) They ignore me and b) People are stupid enough to keep voting for the corrupt crooked ne'er-do-wells anyway.
Mail.

The woman appointed by David Cameron to get problem families back into work pocketed £8.6million last year – most of it from the taxpayer.
Emma Harrison - who lives in a 20-bedroom 'posh commune' with 11 close friends and their families - paid herself the huge dividend from her firm A4e, which makes all its UK income from state contracts.
The payout is up 300 per cent on the year before even though MPs say the company’s record on job schemes is ‘abysmal’.
Labour’s Margaret Hodge described the fees paid to A4e as ‘an outrage’. Another Labour MP said the dividend was a reward for failure.
Mrs Harrison was made ‘families champion’ in December 2010 to advise on getting 120,000 troubled households in work.

Not that Labour had a great track record on keeping taxpayers money out of the hands of charlatans, thieves and other assorted political friends of ministers and politicians either. Nevertheless, Hodge has a point, £8.6 million pocketed in a time of recession and rising unemployment from the taxpayer doesn't strike me as being particularly good value for money and I am to a degree rather outraged that the Prime Minister thought this was somehow a good idea.

MPs voiced astonishment at the size of the payment to Mrs Harrison, and questioned why the firm had continued to win contracts despite the ‘abysmal’ record.
The company even received a share of £63million in ‘termination fees’ when the DWP ended a previous back-to-work programme in which the firm was involved and replaced it with a new one.
MPs were told that A4e had missed its target of getting 30 per cent of people on the previous ‘Pathways to Work’ programme into a job. The committee heard the success rate was 9 per cent.
The company last night claimed a 24.2 per cent final figure.
Despite missing its targets the firm was taken on to run five lucrative contracts.

Talk about reinforcing failure, I doubt any of us would be in line for a bonus on that sort of track record, nor would I expect a contract to be renewed or expanded on that sort of success rate either.
Yet it's not just this woman or this government being so free with taxpayers or ratepayers money. Hardly a day goes by without the Taxpayers Alliance exposing yet another case of people and politicians getting rich at the taxpayers expense both at local, national, quasi national and international levels, along with the usual waste and bureaucracy, over-staffing and complete lack of shame at balancing a budget or having the auditors sign off the books.
Yet people still keep voting for them! Even today you'll hear about political tribalism with the statement that someone had always voted Labour/Tory/Liberal... Despite the fact that they know that these people are responsible for the rise of the parasite class, not necessarily as individuals, but at a party political level where responsibility for running the Country/County/District/Town was abdicated quicker than you could say chief executives bonus to unelected irresponsible greedy friends of the political class.
One of the things that needs to change is that people need to stop voting for those that allowed this to happen and that there has to be direct consequences to those who put these people in place, even if it is the Prime Minister.
But that will probably take a revolution...

Oh, a minister has twigged

Sometimes I wonder about politicians and common sense, at other times watching them at PM's questions and the legislation they pass I'm absolutely sure they posses it in a lesser quantity than most of the population. Take means testing benefits for example...
Telegraph.

Rules excluding virtually anyone with property from free personal care actively encourage people to hide their assets, the head of a Government commission on the crisis has warned.
Andrew Dilnot described the current threshold as “monumentally stupid”, leaving ordinary people with little option than to “cheat” the system.
He also warned the Coalition that he would become a public critic if an overhaul of the current “broken” system is not outlined before the summer.
Around 1.2 million frail or vulnerable people in England rely on care services provided by their local council. It is thought that almost one million more are in need but receive no help.
Last year Mr Dilnot, an Oxford economist, proposed a new system of social care, with a cap on what individuals would have to pay set at around £35,000.
He also proposed lifting the threshold to qualify for state-funded care.
At present anyone with total assets, including their home, over £23,250 does not qualify for any help with their social care costs. The Dilnot Commission proposed raising that threshold to £100,000.

So, what's the first thing anyone elderly who knows about this does? They go to a solicitor to find out how to beat it, often enough it's done by passing the deeds of the house onto a son or daughter and paying them a peppercorn rent to live in their own house, there are other means of hiding assets too, bank accounts under the maiden name of one of the partners, even a direct transfer of assets to various relatives to be held in trust (assuming there's trust to be had) I'm sure those who know more about economics and tax avoidance could shed more light on this though.
I've often said that you can judge a society by how well it treats those who are elderly and sick, judging by the stuff I get to read on a daily basis, UK society is not that civilised. There still seems to be a streak of envy running through the benefits system aimed at anyone who has done well for themselves in life but who now has fallen on hard times or illness and they face the penalty of having to sell off all they've managed to earn for themselves to pay for their care until they are poor enough for the state to take over.
Perhaps this current review will restore a correct balance for our elderly, I wont hold my breath though, even if it does sooner or later the electorate will fall for the Labour spin and vote for the party of envy and overspending to rip the pensioners off again as one Gordon Brown did early in the Blair years.

Capello Quits

Fabio Capello has quit as England manager
BBC.

Fabio Capello has resigned as England manager, the Football Association has confirmed.

Capello quit after a meeting with FA chairman David Bernstein and general secretary Alex Horne at Wembley.

An FA statement read:  "The Football Association can confirm that Fabio Capello has today resigned as England manager."

On Monday, the Italian, 65, publicly challenged the FA's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy.

The FA's statement continued: "The discussions focused on the FA Board's decision to remove the England team captaincy from John Terry, and Fabio Capello's response through an Italian broadcast interview.

I've avoided the Terry case here on the grounds that for all I suspect that he's being hung out to dry by the race industry he is like Joey Barton a bit of a thug who happens to be a halfway decent footballer.
However I do believe that Capello had the right to field the team he wanted and that the F.A. had no business telling him who he could and couldn't play, bad publicity or not.
I wonder who they'll pick next to take up the poisoned chalice that is the England football managers job?

The silence of the MSM

 Back in January I blogged about the upcoming trial of 47 men from Rochdale accused of grooming under age girls out side their own community. I mentioned also that there would be a media blackout of the trial, but that various patriotic groups intended to at least protest about the fact that what should have been a media frenzy was deliberately being covered up in order to maintain community cohesion. Which was rather hypocritical considering the Stephen Lawrence show trial and the priming of the press with various details before during and after the trial.
Well, currently the trial is going ahead and the silence other than in a few blogs such as Ambush Predator, Old Rightie and various online forums and patriotic groups has been deafening. There was even a joint EDL/Casual/BFP/BNP protest outside the court on Monday, normally this would have been headline news considering all the negativity and hostility in the press towards those organisations. In fact it was only the appearance of 25 UAF counter-protesters that even got the matter into the local media, though still not the national ones.

The patriots protest

UAF defending the (alleged) right of Muslims to be paedophiles

Yet this silence from the MSM is slowly turning out to be counter-productive, the news is getting out there as more and more people choose to get their news (and views) away from the MSM itself. Sooner or later this will make the light of day in the mainstream and people are going to want to know just what and why did the government and the police want to cover this up. I don't think a "we wanted to give them a fair trial" will wash either, certainly in the light of the Lawrence case, though the appeal there seems to have taken them aback a little.
Again and again the powers that be go to great lengths to hide the facts that the followers of the religion of peace behave in a manner inconsistent with living in a civilised society. They are storing up a great deal of trouble for themselves in the future, you can rely upon that.

Corruption

I've often suspected that corruption, both moral and venal is a part of the race industry and those who work within it, to be sure the intentions when they were set up were (probably) good, but these days it's an industry of itself and pretty much a closed shop to the mainstream indigenous community unless of course they run foul of it. Unfortunately it's not nice in this case to have your suspicions confirmed.
Wales Online.

A publicly-funded charity whose chief executive has admitted using its funds to pay off a £9,000 personal credit card debt is facing an Employment Tribunal claim from the ex-employee who told trustees about the irregularity.
Awema (the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association) is in turmoil following our revelation earlier this month that chief executive Naz Malik had been given a written warning after using a cheque pre-signed by the charity’s treasurer to pay off his credit card bill of £9.340.36. Mr Malik said he considered the money as advance expenses.
The Welsh Government has launched an inquiry into this and other alleged irregularities at Awema, which has received £8.4m in European aid to run projects aimed at increasing the employment chances of people from ethnic minority communities.
Mr Malik was also given an oral warning after failing to make declarations of interest “on all relevant occasions where he, or members of his family stand to benefit from trustee and board decision making”.
The chief executive’s daughter and daughter-in-law are both employed in senior roles by Awema, while his wife and son have acted as volunteers at the charity.
We have now confirmed that Sylwia Bobrowska, a former finance officer with Awema, has lodged an Employment Tribunal claim against the organisation. Her case, due to be heard in April, is being pursued on four grounds – unfair dismissal, breach of contract, discrimination and a breach of her rights under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.
It is known there were serious causes for concern about the way Awema was run, that an intimidating atmosphere had been created at Awema by the chief executive, that a number of staff had been dismissed in contravention of Awema’s disciplinary procedure, and that there was evidence that Mr Malik was guilty of bullying and harassment. He recommended that Mr Malik should be suspended pending a disciplinary hearing.
In fact a disciplinary hearing was held swiftly at which it was decided that although he was guilty of gross misconduct, Mr Malik could keep his job.
Awema’s finance director Saquib Zia is currently suspended on full pay pending a disciplinary hearing into unspecified acts of alleged misconduct. Mr Zia gave evidence to Dr Dunn’s inquiry about the £9,340.36 payment made to clear Mr Malik’s credit card debt.
Seven of Awema’s trustees have resigned because of the decision to keep Mr Malik in his post.

How many of us if found guilty of gross misconduct could expect to keep our jobs? How many of us if in charge of some department would try to get family members onto the staff? Only in the public services would you expect to find this sort of thing going on and only there in the multicultural race industry where jobs for the "minorities" seem to have a gold plated untouchable get out of jail free card to play with every accusation of misconduct aka the point and scream racist approach.Already started of course and the line being promoted by the BBC (who else)
Anywhere else, the miscreant would be suspended pending a proper enquiry, anywhere else anyone using the companies expenses to pay off a personal debt would be sacked so quickly there would be scorch marks from their swift passage out of the door.
You'll also note that it is a publicly funded charity too getting £8.4 million off the EU and known to have receives £3 million off the Welsh government plus other funding from the lottery, in other words it's a fake charity.
Once again members of the ethnic minorities are abusing public funding from taxpayers, being defended for doing so by use of the "race" card and would appear to be safe in their jobs because of this.

Is there place for Islam in a civilised society?

Sorry if that offends, but it has to be said, more and more reports are coming into the light of day which suggest that we have more than a serious problem with radical Islam and that this problem goes right back to the core of its beliefs. It seems to believe that violence and aggression are the only forms of legitimate response when criticised or when it feels that it is being ridiculed or mocked. In our prisons more than 12% of all prisoners are Muslims, compared to a 5% of the normal population and their numbers are growing. Recent court cases one being held in Liverpool today shows that Muslim men are involved in and cover up the mass grooming and sexual abuse of young women pretty much exclusively white and outside their own community, they are know to attack anyone not a Muslim even talking to their own women and have been known to murder their women for simply not acting in a Muslim way. They have demanded (and gotten) a barbarous dietary method accepted by mainstream stores and food outlets (halal meat) where the suffering of animals is secondary to the method used and a prayer to some pagan god said over said suffering animal. They flout our marriage (and bigamy) laws and have used their minority status to gain a privileged and protected place within our state where often enough the police will overlook crimes committed by Muslims, meet a wall of silence in a Muslim community or (it is rumoured) have member of the Muslim Police Association cover up the crimes in the name of community cohesion. Even when caught and sentenced, a Muslim would appear to get a lesser sentence than anyone of the majority indigenous group would for a similar crime.
Its members have been involved in homophobic propaganda and attacks on gays in areas it considers to be its own, they have even demanded female shop assistants (non Muslim) cover up in these areas and have attacked teachers who have taught other religions as part of the school curriculum in one case hospitalising the guy. Egged on by Muslim preachers many from abroad who have travelled into this country to preach their vile intolerance invited by various mosques who appear to act with no fear of sanction from the UK government or border controls. Muslim gangs run free in our prisons and radicalise anyone they can get a hold of, one such guy recently went off to Yemen to train to be a terrorist, fortunately he was caught. Others were recently sentenced for planning to set off bombs in the Stock Exchange.
These are but the tip of the iceberg, this religion and its adherents are being treated with kid gloves by the powers that be whilst the fears and the worries of the majority are being fobbed of with misleading platitudes such as "The Religion of Peace" and frightened with screams of racist, bigot, islamophobe etc and it's starting to fracture our society.
That's not to say all Muslims are terrorists, nor that all wish us harm, though telling which from which is a massive problem facing our security services, it's just that it strikes me that we can no longer ignore the problems Islam brings whilst praising the few benefits.
Nor does it strike me that there is any place for this religion and its adherents in a civilised society, my problem stems from not knowing how to resolve the problems it brings without resorting to a massive ethnic style cleansing of the followers of Islam from the UK. Yet where could we send them and would we be setting up a civil war in our own country if we tried. If we place sanctions upon it, would we simply drive its followers underground and increase its radicalisation by adding to its already deep seated and misplaced sense of persecution by anyone not of Islam.
Is there any way we can allow these followers of a vile totalitarian political method wrapped up in the trappings of a religion to live amongst us though?
I somehow think not and it's not going to be a particularly pleasant time until the problem is resolved, hopefully before Islam decides it can assimilate us by the sword as it did to the non Muslims of Lebanon, as it does to the Copts in Egypt, as it does to the Assyrians in Iraq and Iran as it is doing in Nigeria and the Sudan.
We can live with Islam only so long, eventually it returns to its central ethos, submit or die.

Geography

Yes it's lazy journalism, yes there's kind of a point to it but bloody hell does it grate at times...
Mail.

A Hadrian’s Wall-style border might have to be built to stop illegal migrants flooding into England if Scotland gets independence.
Other dramatic possible consequences would be David Cameron having to give up part of his £3 billion EU rebate, and the UK’s voting strength in Brussels being slashed.
The potential side-effects of Scotland breaking away are outlined in a Foreign Office memo leaked to The Mail on Sunday.
The document refers to the remnants of the UK, were Scotland to go it alone, as the Orwellian-sounding ‘remaining-UK’.
The phrase has echoes of ‘the former Yugoslavia’ name given to the elements of the ex-Balkan state, such as Serbia and Kosovo, which became independent after a bloody civil war.
The briefing contradicts Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond’s claims that after independence the border could stay completely open.
The Foreign Office experts raise fears that a fully-fledged international border would be necessary because Scotland could be required to join the ‘Schengen’ open-borders system used by 25 European states which Britain has opted out of.

Ok, lets get the geography thing out the way first...

Hadrians Wall is not on the Scottish border!!!!! It never was the Scottish border!!!!!

It's well inside the English borders of Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and Cumbria, it actually runs through Newcastle upon Tyne at one stage and terminates at the aptly named town of Wallsend where presumably the river Tyne was just too wide to cross easily.

.
Yes I know it conveys an image of some sort of border on side of which is civilised (for a given value of civilised) and the other side barbarism (it wasn't but that's sloppy thinking for you) and fanatical raids from kilt wearing picts (Kilts apparently invented in Lancashire, England)
I just wish for once that the journalists at the Mail and elsewhere would get their facts right rather than going into allusions and jingoism.
I know, I know I'm wasting my time, but just once it would be nice to see them get something right.

Justice for Rhea

Rhea Page was the young lady brutally attacked by four young Somali Muslima's in what appeared (to everyone else but the police and CPS and various unwashed lefties) to be a racist attack, how else would you describe the witness reports of the women screaming kill the white bitch? The sentence was a travesty when using the fact that they weren't used to drinking they got 6 month suspended sentences, had it been the other way around, I'm fairly sure it would have been prison for any white women attacking a Muslima.
The EDL marched in Leicester today to protest about the pathetic sentencing given out to the four Muslim women and to highlight what does appear to be a two tier system of justice applied in the UK. On one of the coldest days of the year up to 1200 patriots marched through Leicester to demand that the government and the judiciary apply the same rules to all no matter the colour of your skin or your religion, particularly the religion of (so called) peace.

 

They were opposed of course, the police number the UAF counterprotest at 200, EDL sources put it at 50. Then again the police had the EDL numbers at 700, something I know for a fact not to be true, eyewitnesses having the EDL and Casual numbers in the region of 1000 to 1200. There were also reports of a Casual group roaming freely around Leicester refusing to be corralled by the police.

The EDL support team have indicated that this isn't the end of the matter, the EDL plan to return until justice is seen to be done.

Not goodbye, good riddance

So Huhne the buffoon the green loon finally bowed to the inevitable and resigned his cabinet post for bolloxing up the UK's energy supplies. Not because the environmental lunacy of the policies he was promoting, but because he'd been caught out by telling porkies to plod over a driving offence given to his ex when it was fairly obvious after her admission to being somewhere she could not possibly have been on the day of the incident.
BBC.

Chris Huhne has quit as energy secretary after learning he was to be charged with perverting the course of justice over a 2003 speeding case.
His ex-wife Vicky Pryce will face the same charge in relation to claims she accepted his penalty points.
Mr Huhne, Lib Dem MP for Eastleigh, said he was innocent but would stand down to "avoid distraction".
Business Minister Ed Davey will replace him but Nick Clegg said he hoped Mr Huhne could return to government.
Essex Police have been investigating the speeding points claims for eight months.

Sadly though the envirolunacy that seems to believe that it has a right to wreck lives and industry carries on...

Friends of the Earth's executive director Andy Atkins said Mr Huhne had championed the environment in an administration that had "shown little enthusiasm" for keeping David Cameron's pledge to be the greenest government ever. He added: "The new energy secretary must stand firm against Chancellor George Osborne's anti-green agenda and make the case that protecting our environment is a way to boost not hinder our economic recovery."

Sadly Huhne has been replaced by another Lib Dem so we cannot expect much in the way of reform or common sense when it comes to power generation or a removal of the green levy which adds 6% on to our power bills as we all sit here shivering in the cold winter some of us looking at the snow which was supposed to become a rarity and wondering why the government insists on us paying through the nose for inefficient power generation schemes that clearly don't work when the wind doesn't blow or the sun doesn't shine.
The enviroloons simply don't get it, if it becomes a choice of being warm or feeling smug that we're helping the environment, the vast majority of us will opt for feeling warm and throw another endangered species on the fire.
Yes we do care about the environment, no we don't want mass pollution, but we know a fraudulent lie in the name and shape of global warming and climate alarmism when we hear or read it. It's getting colder, we know it, the records show it, we're likely heading towards a mini ice age as happened in the 1600's when the Thames froze in winter. So we look to the government to lead the way towards power generation schemes that actually work and don't cost us an arm and a leg to pay for.
The environmental movement by attaching itself to global warming shot itself badly in the foot, perhaps they should simply put up and shut up for a while.

What's in a name

There's a beer around, a real ale beer I presume and it's called Top Totty, I've never tried it, though I possibly would depending on the mood, the moment, the cash flow or the wind direction, there's a hell of a lot of choice out there.

The beer, made by Staffordshire company Slater's Ales, was introduced to The Strangers' Bar in 2007

It's been sold in the House of Commons Strangers bar since 2007 so is probably a decent pint and quite popular. Well, it was popular until a female Labour MP decided she didn't like the name or the image.
BBC.

A beer named Top Totty and advertised with a picture of a scantily-clad woman has been withdrawn from a Westminster bar after a Labour MP complained.
Shadow equalities minister Kate Green said she was "disturbed" to hear it was on sale in The Strangers' Bar, which is where politicians can bring guests.
Commons Leader Sir George Young said "appropriate action should be taken" if "offensive pictures" were on show.
A barman confirmed that an hour later the beer had been removed from sale.
The beer, brewed by Staffordshire company Slater's Ales, was introduced to The Strangers' Bar in 2007.
It sells for £2.70 pint and one barman told the Press Association: "We haven't had any complaints raised with our bar staff."

Personally I suspect the decision to withdraw it for the reasons stated have more to say about the mentality of  Kate Green than any picture of a woman in a bikini top pictured on the label. One wonders how she copes with the fact that a lot of women wear similar outfits whilst on the beach when surrounded by an equal number of men, then again I'd probably better stop that train of thought, it might give them ideas.
Is the picture offensive? I think not and Lady QM isn't particularly bothered about it either, so what we have is some sort of politically correct faux outrage as Kate green gets offended for 51% of the population most of whom will not be bothered in the first place.
Don't get me wrong here, Kate Green is entitled to her opinion, what she shouldn't have though is the right to be offended for the rest of us and have something removed because she can't cope with an image. There's no chance of children being involved here and if the politicians were so offended in the past then the sales would have slumped, as it is the only reason it's been removed is because some idiot prudish politically correct female MP cannot cope with the real world.
Why do we let people like this get into positions of authority over us?