Film sweeps Oscars...

One film has reigned supreme at the Oscars this year.

"The President's Speech" follows the touching and heartwarming story of a black man from Hawaii as he overcomes a rich, priviledged upbringing and struggles through Columbia University, Harvard Law School and the U.S. Senate to become the 44th President of the United States.

The film culminates in his historic speech at his inauguration promising much and yet, at the same time, saying nothing. The film gives hope to politicians all over the world, whatever their humble beginnings.

Catholic priest robs grave

Another Sunday, another first for the Kafflicks!

Father Wojciech Jasinski has been charged with ‘body snatching’ after illegally exhuming the bones of Witold Orlowski, who died aged 14 from a Herefordshire graveyard. Apparently, the Polish Kafflicks believe that Witold is a saint.

After his mysterious death in a Mexican village in 1944, he is claimed to have come to the aid of a local priest who was dying, with the boy praying for God to take his life instead. The previously healthy boy died a few days later – and the stricken priest made a full recovery.

Witolds remains were exhumed and brought back to Britain by his family ten years later. Father Jasinki took the remains and reburied tham 100 miles away. They have been recovered by police and reburied at Fawley Court in Oxfordshire at a service attended by the family.

I would like to nominate the boy for the Guiness Book of Records as the most travelled corpse. But, then again, maybe you know better?...

Play happy families with Hitler...

A Happy Families type card game caled "Fuhrer Quartett" has been put on sale in Germany.

The set of cards contains pictures and information on notorious historical figures such as Hitler, Franco of Spain and Ceaucescu of Romania. Each card features one dictator, the country he ruled, his educational background and how long he was in power.

A spokesman for the publishers said "We didn't really have a clear political idea in mind with the game but we did want to take away some of the power that these figures still have. When you can laugh at them, you don't fear them as much. I think we succeeded in finding the right mix of seriousness and fun!" Hmmm...

I get the impression that if I had invented this game myself and posted it on here, then you would have thought I was kidding, but I swear to you this is real. It never ceases to amaze me to what depths of stupidity and insensitivity people can sink to.

Strangely enough, the original game of Quartett was very popular in the Nazi era, so I suppose this version shouldn't really surprise me.

"I Like to Blog" - the blogging song!

Sorry - been a bit remiss with the musical elements of this blog lately, so to put this right, here's something for the weekend dedicated to all you bloggers out there...

Recommendations

There are couple of new blogs that I have noticed recently which appeal to my warped sense of humour and which I would like to recommend that you take a look at :

• Buzz Lightweight - The pretentious twaddle of a social wannabe
• F.U. - Prime Minister Francis Urquhart tells us how he will make Britain great again

Also, my pal Old Nick is suffering from lack of nominations on his 'Unforgiven' blog so why not take a look and lend him a hand?

AV - Blurring the issue

In my view, this poster is not worthy of the 'No to AV' campaign :

By all means let's have an argument about this issue. I have declared my 'Yes' view by the banner on this blog, but regardless of this I think that this poster should be withdrawn

The issue of whether our troops should be being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in order to support American foreign policy is nothing to do with funding or how we vote.

If we can afford billions in aid to countries better off than most, then we can afford both. And, let's face it, anyone who believes that scrapping AV will lead to increased funding anywhere else is seriously deluding themselves.

I think this debate needs to concentrate on the issues around the fairness of the voting system and not be clouding the issue by how much it is estimated (big word) it might cost to change it.

Emotive and meaningless comparisons like the one above do nothing to strengthen the 'No' vote case - and bear in mind I say this as an opponent their views...

Washington protests continue

Anti-government protests are continuing in Washington today as thousands gather for yet another day in front of the Capitol building and round the Washington and Lincoln memorials.

Protesters are demanding that President Barrack Obama step down from office and that the right wing regime move towards full and proper democracy. So far there has been little reaction from Obama although the state controlled media are reporting the demonstrations as 'dangerous and undemocratic'.

The army and the National Guard has been surrounding the demonstrators but so far show no stomach for taking direct action. Some skirmishes have taken place between pro-Presidential supporters and the protesters and last night, the fourth night of this protest, several people were injured. The government has denied that the CIA was responsible for orchestrating the violence in order to influence public opinion against the demonstrators.

Chants of "Revolution! Revolution!" and "Democracy now!" have resounded around the Capitol where the administration is in emergency session to decide what to do next.

A spokesman for the Arab League said "We have demonstrated that people power in Tunisia and Egypt can bring down these authoritarian and corrupt regimes and replace them with a truly democratic process by the people for the people. We urge the American President to demonstrate his commitment to bring this about in the United States. Change needs to happen now, and it needs to be meaningful."

Sources close to President Obama commented "He is going nowhere. He has a degree in obstinacy." 

Golden Boroughs - Southampton City

Despite having around 27 per cent of its government funding withdrawn and consequently having to find £25million in savings in 2011/12, Southampton City Council has backed plans to invest more money than ever before in roads and pavements, protect its libraries and leisure centres from closure, maintain its weekly bin collections and recruit more social workers.

Meanwhile the council still plans to spend millions to bring new economic development and investment to Southampton, which will help the creation of hundreds of new city jobs.

To help find the required savings the council is proposing to cut up to 40 senior management posts, including two directors, strip out bureaucracy and reduce the pay of council workers earning more than £17,500, while protecting the pay of those on the lower pay grades.

The savings plan will protect a further 400 jobs from being lost at the council, and the services those people provide to Southampton residents.

Councillor Royston Smith, Leader of the Council, said: “This has no doubt been one of the most challenging budgets we have ever been faced with. We decided from the outset to protect as many of the front line services that our residents rely on as we can. We will keep libraries, leisure centres and weekly bin collections. We will increase the money we spend on fixing roads and pavements, recruit more social workers to protect our children and we will continue to invest in new development to strengthen our economy and create new jobs.

“This will be achieved by stripping out bureaucracy, cutting senior and middle management and finding millions in efficiency savings. We will ask our highest wage earners to take the biggest pay cuts of up to 5.5 percent, while protecting the salaries of those on lower incomes.

"Councils around the country are closing libraries and shutting down front line services to find their savings. I refuse to go down that route as our residents deserve better.”

Staff earning £17,500 to £22,000 will have their pay cut by 2%, those in the £22,000 to £35,000 bracket will have pay cut by 4.5%, salaries of £35,000 to £65,000 will be slashed by 5% and those those earning more than £65,000 face a 5.5% cut.

There will be a 2 year pay freeze, voluntary redundancies and cuts in councillor's allowances. About 25% of management will be removed.

Needless to say this has not exactly gone down well with the unions who say that the plans are unacceptable to it's members and who have already ballotted for strike action. The council says that employees wil be asked to voluntarilty accept the cuts as it will at least protect their jobs. Anyone who does not accept will be dismissed and offered re-employment on reduced terms. 
 
Steve Brazier, regional manager for Unison's south east branch, said: "The view is the council is blackmailing staff into accepting a pay cut, or accept job losses, which is not fair. This is not a choice that people voted for. These proposals prove it was a lie when the government claimed front-line services would not be affected by their cuts.  Jobs will go and people who provide jobs will be directly affected."

Life is not fair, Steve...

The union also said on the BBC breakfast programme that staff couldn't afford to live on these reduced wages and would be better off out of work - an amazing stance in any view! Presumably they can afford to live on strike pay?

Seems to me that here we have a council that actually has some balls...

Christ appears in Playboy!

Playboy magazine has run a photo shoot featuring Jesus Christ among topless models in it's Potuguese edition.

The spread was ostensibly a tribute to Nobel Prize-winning author Jose Saramago’s The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, but Hugh Hefner’s headquarters have reacted with outrage.

The pictures show a long-haired, glowing Jesus watching two models in a lesbian clinch, standing next to a prostitute and looking over the shoulder of a woman reading a book.

Theresa Hennessy, Playboy Enterprises vice president of public relations told the Mail Online: ‘We did not see or approve the cover and pictorial in the July issue of Playboy Portugal.

‘It is a shocking breach of our standards and we would have not allowed it to be published if we had seen it in advance.

‘We are in the process of terminating our agreement with the Portuguese publisher.'

Saramago’s novel is a fictional re-telling of Christ’s life, depicting him as a flawed, human character. It generated controversy among the Roman Catholic Church, who accused Saramago of depicting a ‘substantially anti-religious vision.’ However, other critics have praised it as a ‘deeply philosophical, provocative and compelling work.’

I find it interesting that publishing full fontal and open crotch pictures of nubile young ladies is OK, but that publishing a picture of Jesus is unacceptable.
 
I am not, as you will know, a great fan of organised religion. I am certainly not outraged by this, but I do find it completely tasteless.
 
(Shamelessly nicked from here.)

Merry Christmas everybody!

Yes, it's that time of year when, once again, the Festive Season is upon us!

"Oh for God's sake!" I hear you cry. "It's February, you looney!"

Well, yes. I know. My regular reader will remember that last year I was accused of having a similar senior moment in June when I saw my first Christmas advertisement on ITV2 on the 2nd of the month!

This year I can beat that. One of my readers in East Anglia emailed me a copy of the programme for Blackthorpe Barns in Suffolk, part of the Rougham Estate who provide the Christmas trees for number 10. The back two pages contain the following items :

"The Christmas shop...offers one of the widest ranges of best qualirty decorations ... Open daily from 5th November to 22nd December."

"Christmas Trees and natural decorations... daily from 26th November - 22nd December"

"Meet the reindeer on Sunday 4 and 11 December""

"New for 2011 - Santa's Grotto!"

So there you have it. Christmas advertising now officially starts on 14th February in East Anglia. I know they have a reputation for being a bit slow up there, but even so...

Happy Christmas to you all.

Friday humour

Shamelessly nicked from here

Golden boroughs - Ipswich

It's not often that this blog has good things to say about our local politicians, so this is like bat's piss -  a little shaft of gold gleaming in the darkness.

Much has been trumpetted about how it's just not possible for local authorities to make the require cuts without them seriously impacting front line services. Well, I think that's bollocks, and apparently so do Ipswich Borough Council. And they are prepared to prove it!

On February 23rd, the council will meet to approve a 1% cut in council tax for the 2011/12 financial year. Not only that, it's going to do it again next year whist at the same time taking £3m out of it's budget. So how exactly is it going to do this?

Unveiling his budget proposals, Councillor Carnall insisted that Borough Council leaders had been "sensibly chipping away" at its budget for many years and that continuing this programme by slashing senior management costs and working with a variety of partners would mean "more for less" for council tax-payers.

Over the next 12 months, £2.1 million will be cut from Borough spending by a large number of proposed measures, including:

• Not replacing one Corporate Director and a Head of Service (£172,000 savings per year)
• Appointing a Chief Executive on a lower salary (£30,000 savings - Suffolk County Council take note!)
• Sub-letting part of its Grafton House HQ to another organisation (£100,000 income in the first year and more in the second year)
• Working with a community group at Whitton Sports Centre (£70,000 savings)
• Working with Babergh and Mid Suffolk councils on providing a more efficient benefits and revenues service
• Permanently removing a number of vacant posts across the Council
• Letting a small part of the Corn Exchange to a private company
• Introducing a new £240,000 per year budget for Councillors to have their own locality budgets (£5,000 each) for them to invest as they see fit in their local communities

The Borough Council will use just over half of its reserves (£2.4 million) over the next two years to ensure the delivery of high quality services in not interrupted. "These reserves are meant to cover us in a rainy day - and if this is not a rainy day for public finances I don't know what is", said Councillor Carnall.

The rain is indeed falling, but what I want to know is if Ipswich can do this, why the fuck can't everyone else?

And in case you are wondering, the composition of the council is Labour 23, Conservative 18, LibDem 7 - so it should be an interesting meeting!

(You can read more on the council website by clicking here)

Freegans beware

Ther's been a worrying development for all of those who believe that if food has been thrown out, then it's fair game and OK for you to exercise your moral conscience by not seeing it go to waste.

In Great Baddow, Essex, people could not believe their luck after a Tesco Express bagged up thousands of pounds of spoiled stock and left it out in the street following a power cut.

21 year old Sasha Hall, helped herself to potato waffles, pies and ham but was stunned when police arrived at her home and arrested her for suspected 'theft by finding' and took her to the station in handcuffs.

She said

There was £3,000 worth of food going to waste on the street. It had been thrown out, so I thought I could put it to better use. When the police came round I was so upset. I felt like a terrible criminal.

I would think the police have better things to be doing with their time than going after people who pick up potato waffles from the street. It's all been blown totally out of proportion.

Tesco clearly did not want the food. They dumped it and rather than see it go to waste, I thought I could help feed me and my family for a week or two.

They knocked at the door and said if I didn't open up they would use a battering ram. They handcuffed me and treated me like I was a hardened criminal and when we left they raided my house.

The case is up before the magistrates today. If she is found guilty then, frankly, I consider it to be a travesty for common sense as well as for justice...

(You can read the full story in the Daily Mail by clicking here)

A message from the Supreme Leader

Comrades,

The time for action is nearly upon us! Soon we will be faced with the opportunity to bring down this wicked fascist government and return power to our glorious party.

The dictatorship has played into our hands with their spending cuts. They spread the lie that we can make these cuts and still deliver front line services. It is essential that we all do our best to dispel this wicked lie and demonstrate to the people that only we are fit to run the country!

I commend to you the efforts of our comrades in Manchester who will be closing libraries, youth centres and leisure centres.

They will slash bin collections at a stroke. Many deprived families will have to find their own housing. Streets will not be cleaned. You will have to pay to park in Manchester on Sunday for the first time. Thousands of jobs will be lost. Only our essential management team will be left untouched so that the pain inflicted by the dictatorship can be managed and publicised!

Our friends in the unions have pledged that they will throw their weight behind us with protests and strikes to demonstrate that these policies must be overthrown at all costs.

Only I, your supreme leader, can make our country great again!

Your Supreme Leader

Rotten Boroughs - Wiltshire County Council

Picture this if you can...

In a Scout Hut in Wiltshire, an unpaid band of volunteers is holding a meeting. Reference is made to rumours in the NHS. The leader of the group, 70 year old Mrs. Anna Farquhar, says "You cannot help the jungle drums."

Up in the public gallery, a trouble making jungle bunny (offensive remark intended) shouts "You can't say that!" A bemused Mrs Farquhar thinks - quite correctly - she has said nothing wrong but being a polite old dear, she apologises anyway. The aforementioned junge bunny seems to be appeased and stops for tea and cakes after the meeting. No-one thinks any more about it, until...

Thump! 13 weeks after the meeting in the Scout hut — a ten-page report commissioned by Wiltshire County Council lands on Mrs Farquhar’s desk with the sinister sounding title 'Complaint Investigator’s Report'. The jungle bunny has made an official complaint!

‘The comment was inappropriate and caused offence' it says. Her colleagues had ‘failed to challenge’ her statement. There was a ‘clear lack of understanding of equality and diversity issues’ among the group. All this is, of course, total bollocks!

The bunny had been interviewed, of course, before the report was published. So, too, had members of other organisations that had dealings with Mrs Farquhar and her team. Scandalously, though, the only person who wasn’t interviewed was Mrs Farquhar herself or anyone on the 20-strong ‘steering committee’ who were present in the Scout hut. Except one, that is. And she was the one colleague who agreed with the bunny.

The story doesn't stop there and you can read more about it in the Daily Mail by clicking here.

What is clear in this case is that the Council wasted good taxpayers' money on a ridulous complaint which should, within the confines of the law, have been rejected out of hand on a test of 'reasonableness'. Because they failed to act appropriately, a decent woman has been caused unnecesaary stress and upset.

Frankly, if I were her, I would lodge an official complaint. This seems to work for everyone else!

Confession app for iPhone

As my regular reader will know, I try to set the appropriate religious tone on a Sunday, and today is no exception.

The Catholic Church has released a confession app for the iPhone.

Now be honest. You think I'm taking the piss and that I photoshopped the picture on the left, don't you?

Well, you're wrong. This - unbelievably - is real!

In his message for the 2011 World Communications Day, Pope Benedict XVI said it's not enough to just "proclaim the Gospel through the new media," but one must also "witness consistently." The developers of "Confession: A Roman Catholic App" for Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch think their product helps people do both.

The app is designed to help people to a better confession. "For Catholics who go to confession regularly, it gives the user information. They enter their name, age, their sex, their vocation and their last confession date, and it generates an examination of conscience based on that information."

"It's also for people who've been away from the church and want the opportunity to go to confession. You go to the examination of conscience and it literally walks you through, step by step, your confessions as you're in the confessional."

Well, how cool is that! All we need now is a 'te absolvo' button!

And if you still think I'm making this up, then you can read all about it on the Catholic News Service by clicking here.

The Lord indeed does move in mysterious ways....

Lunacy In The Sky With Diamonds

As a former musician, this story really got to me. We whinge on about degrees not being worth the paper they are written on these days, but a Masters Degree in the Beatles!

The lady in question is Canadian, Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy - which is a lyric in itself and incidentally scans with Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Freaky or what! She has just graduated with an MA, the first of twelve students to take the course.

What can I say -

"There's A Place" called Liverpool Hope University where "Rock And Roll Music" is regarded as "The Long And Winding Road" to future prosperity. "Lovely Rita" has "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" in her "Young Blood"!

"Oh! Darlin'," life's "Magical Mystery Tour" down "Penny Lane" has "Sexy Sadie" above looking "Across The Universe" for "Money". After all, it's "Every Little Thing" that "The Fool On The Hill" could wish for.

"I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" but it's "Only a Northern Song", so "Tell Me Why" "There's A Place" that "What Goes On" is so "Nowhere --,Man".

"I'm Looking Through You" and "It's All Too Much". "I've Got A Feeling" "It Won't Be Long" before "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "For No One" "Because" "I Should Have Known Better".

"Help!", "I'm A Loser" and "I Want To Tell You" that "I'm Down"

You can read this ridiculous story - together with it's pompous soundbites - by clicking here.

"From Me to You",  "I am the Walrus"...

"I'll be back." "It Won't be Long."

(That's enough Beatles' songs - Ed.)

Rotten Boroughs : Gosport Borough Council

Apparently there is a little ray of light shining through for our cash strapped councils in their bid to cut costs without damaging front line services. Jollies are still on the cards!

In an effort to cut costs, Gosport Borough Council spent £7,350 on fact finding missions, including a trip to Madrid for a councillor and officials to investigate cutting the waste from...waste! Ironically, Urbaser, the waste management company they were visiting, has a base in the Isle of Wight - still overseas, but only a short ferry ride from Gosport.

LibDem leader Peter Chegwyn said: 'I think it's a shocking waste of public money - for a council that is considering millions in spending cuts, I am outraged that public money is being spent in this way. It's not the way public money should be spent.'

Quite right, Pete. Apparently the excuse was to blame - er - the European Union. The council said EU rules meant that it had to inspect the Spanish company in Madrid as well as its British rivals.

Mark Hook, Tory leader of Gosport, said that the visit to Spain cost about £1,000 and led to the awarding of a contract that would save the council £200,000 per year. Never heard that one before, Mark!

He said: 'These contracts are the biggest undertaking that the council has ever done. The services that Urbaser were tendering for were not being provided on the Isle of Wight and we needed a comparable service to look at. It's like buying a car - you wouldn't buy it without seeing it and talking to the seller.'

I would, however, like to point out that when I buy a Volkswagen I usually go to the local dealership not on a jolly to Germany...

Facebook - What's it all about?

I have often wondered : "Just what is the point of facebook?", so I was delighted to come across an offering from one of our transatlantic cousins,  that has given me the answers I was looking for.

Here's what it's all about in a few throwaway soundbites that I'll bet you won't see in their advertising blurb :

• facebook - Stalking. Made easy.
• facebook - A new way to abuse family and friends.
• facebook - Improving your self esteem one "like" at a time.
• facebook - All the people you ever slept with. Together. In one place.
• facebook - Relationships redefined.
  single   engaged   married  
  no-one wants me   it's complicated
• facebook - The really useful tool for telling your co-workers you're ill when you're not.
• facebook - Making your shitty life look picture perfect.
• facebook - Tell the world things no-one gives a shit about.
• facebook - Making you feel popular when you're not.
• facebook - Dig up old friends just to see how fat and old they are.

Like I said, I don't get it. Just what the fuck is it for??

Never mind the bankers...

While we were all getting worked up about the size of bankers' bonuses and whether or not these represented the payment of obscene amounts of money, we seem to have been taking our eye off the ball...(pun intended)

Monday last week marked the closure of the football transfer window, and some of the sums of money changing hands made bankers' bonuses look like petty cash!

Last year, Chelsea reported a loss of around £70 million, and yet they were able to pay £50 million to 'buy' Fernando Torres from Liverpool and £20 million for Benfica's David Luiz.

This was of course payrolled by Roman Abramovitz whose estimated fortune is around $11,200,000,000 which is a lot of wonga in any currency. I worked out that at the UK's paultry interest rates, that could earn him around £100 million a year in a building society! So let's face it, £70 million is nothing to him!

But does this make it right?

My regular reader will know that I am not a football fan. In fact, I consider it to be a boring game which is just a surrogate for tribal warfare. Nevertheless, even if I was the greatest fan in the world I would have to question whether you could ever justify paying £50 million plus an huge salary just to employ a bloke to kick a ball around a field. On that basis, what's a consultant surgeon worth?

This week, the European FA issued a statement saying that it was considering barring any club who posted a loss three years in a row from playing in the Champion's League. On that basis, Chelsea would be ineligible. Almost immediately on this being pointed out, they modified the statement to 'any club which was insolvent' which would let Chelsea back in because of it's sugar daddy owner.

And who says money doesn't talk.

But the most obscene thing about all this is that these ridiculous transfer figures can only result in one thing : higher ticket prices. So at the end of the day, it's the ordinary fan who loses out...

The Dear Gill letters (6)

The lady of the house is revolting...

Dear God, sometimes I just get so hopping mad, you know. I wish I was a student or something so I could go out and break things! Go back to my uni days when we could sit around and smoke pot and sing protest songs!

Since Dave got the 'big job' - that's what we call it because sometime it's just so shitty! - I've been trussed up in Downing Street like a turkey. I mean, the place is positively claustro-bloody-phobic. And it gets worse...Every time I go out, there's a policeman with me with a gun in his pocket. Either that or he's just pleased to see me, which wouldn't be so bad if he looked even remotely sexy! Oh lummy - I'm even beginning to envy Alan Johnson's missus...

Seriously, though, did you see that silly billy Sally in the papers? Old Bercy must have really pee'd her off for her to do that. I wonder what Dave would say if I did something like that, not that I would of course. No-one would want to look at my stretch marks, eh? Not quite so 'Glam Sam' after all...

I'm going to be hitting the big 4-0 in April though of course I'm only admitting to 35, so Dave wondered how I'd like to mark the occasion. I'd quite like a party but Dave says we've got enough trouble with the one we've got haha! Anyway, can you imagine the problems we'd have deciding who to put on the guest list and who to leave off? Actually, that could be quite fun come to think of it!

Plan B has gone out of the window as well as we've had to drop the idea of a romantic cruise up the Nile, bugger it. I really fancied a peek at old King Tut's des res but that's not going to happen now is it? And I know your sense of humour, so don't suggest Tunisia either or lunch is definitely orf next week, yah!

So it looks like a quiet romantic dinner somewhere if we can sneek out of the back door - or tunnel actually, but shhh - don't tell anyone. Nancy came out with a cracker, though. She thought Daddy could buy me some of that woodland that they're selling off and that it would be cool to go for nice long walks in it at weekends. Isn't that sweet? But then of course Arthur reminded her that Grandad already has several thousand acres of his own, and the moment passed rather.

Like I said, sometimes I could just throw something!

Rotten boroughs : Norwich City Council

The UCATT construction union is pursuing employment tribunal cases for unfair dismissal, failure to transfer and failure to inform and consult on behalf of it's 125 members who worked on social housing maintenance contracts in Norwich.

Connaught went bust in September 2010. The company's £125m five-year deal with Norwich – which covered waste and recycling, street cleaning and council house repairs – was only announced in December but sparked controversy at the time. Morrison, the previous holder, won an injunction against the council awarding the contract after claiming Connaught had agreed to do the work at an "abnormally low" price. Morrison eventually settled out of court.

The Norwich contract employed 500 people but 200 jobs were set to be saved by the council and KPMG, the administrators, moving the waste collection and cleaning services from Connaught Partnerships to Connaught Environmental, which is not in administration. An interesting manoeuvre!

Last September, Councillor Steve Morphew, leader of Norwich council, said he would be "moving urgently to let emergency and temporary" social housing contracts. Morgan Sindall, which is paying £28m for all but 13 of Connaught's social housing contracts, will deliver emergency repairs in the meantime.

Now this transfer is complete, it is alledged that the company and council took advantage of the situation to dump staff and re-employ some of them on reduced terms. If this true, then it is scandalous and the union has a fair case.
 
It will be interesting to see what happens in court and what precedents will be set.

No uprising here!

Sorry, but at the risk of going against the flow here and whilst at the same time expressing admiration for the artistry of Max Farquar's excellent uprising video, you need to get a grip on reality.

It ain't going to happen!

And I am going to tell you why...

The average Brit basically doesn't give a flying fuck. You can yell at him all you like, he'll just shrug and say "whatever" then he'll go down the pub for a good moan and a few beers with his mates. Or he'll go home, slob out in front of the tellie, sink a few beers and moan at his girlfriend.

Put up his taxes, he'll have a good whinge. Petrol at £1.50 a litre, short petrol protest maybe, then business as usual. Expenses scandal, good moan about MPs being a bunch of crooks. General election - can't be bothered to vote because they're all the same. Immigration? Bloody disgrace but so what! Europe? Crap but we're in now...

Let's face it - this ain't Tunis or Cairo. This is London, the whingeing capital of the world. Whatever happens here we just sit on our arses and moan, then forget all about it! About the only bloody thing that gets us worked up is the weather - the one thing we can actually do sod all about.

The only uprising there will be in this country is the one being planned by Milipede's union masters to bring down the government. And what will we do about the summer of discontent? Have a bloody good moan and then just get on with life.

If the world ever ends, the only thing the British will be worrying about is the effect it has on the football programme.

Britain is fucked - but who cares? Nobody!

Powell was (almost) right!

Enoch Powell was a great man. Possibly the greatest politician this country ever had not to become Prime Minister.

Like Winston Churchill before him, he was cast into the political wilderness. He was a vehoment campaigner against immigration and against the erosion of our sovereignty by the Fourth Reich. He was right - almost!

In 1968, he blew his political carreer with his infamous 'Rivers of Blood' speech. Now 43 years later, the general timbre has come to pass. Only this week Britain was branded as a 'safe haven for terrorism'. Let's look at what Powell actually said :

There are among the Commonwealth immigrants who have come to live here in the last fifteen years or so, many thousands whose wish and purpose is to be integrated and whose every thought and endeavour is bent in that direction.

But to imagine that such a thing enters the heads of a great and growing majority of immigrants and their descendants is a ludicrous misconception, and a dangerous one.

Powell is right to be concerned. Here, of course, he is talking about Commonwealth immigrants - black in particular, which is where he went wrong.  No-one could have seen the threat from Islamic extremists all those years ago, but he should certainly have seen the insurge from the then Common Market countries as it took in more and more countries. Colour is not the issue; it is culture which is the problem.

He is right that the vast majority of immigrants want to be part of this country and are law abiding. They should be embaced and welcomed - space permitting. But more worryingly he seems to hint at the threat from within that gave rise to the 7/7 attacks in London. Here his foresight is almost miraculous.

He goes on :

...we are seeing the growth of positive forces acting against integration, of vested interests in the preservation and sharpening of racial and religious differences, with a view to the exercise of actual domination, first over fellow-immigrants and then over the rest of the population.

Well, not so much racial, Enoch, but certainly religious differences have become one of the greatest menaces we have ever had to deal with. Enoch was right about the threat but wrong about the source, but then it is easy to say this from our perspective in his future. Let's close with his most famous words...

As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

You can read the full text of Powell's speech by clicking here.
(Please note that I do not support violent demonstration, racism, the EDL or the BNP)

Superbug pandemic confirmed

Back in April last year, I revealed that the world was in danger of being overrun by the latest superbug Americanus 4nPolyC.

Well, I am sad to have to announce that in recent weeks the disease has reached pandemic status.

The bug has already been responsible for thousands of deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there are unconfirmed rumours of an outbreak in Iran.

The recent events in Tunisia indicate that there may be the start of an outbreak there, and over the past week there have been many cases reported in Cairo. The authorities in Egypt have confirmed that there have been a number of deaths reported.

A spokesman for the international health organisation 'Mediciens sans Scrupulo' says that nothing much can be done under the prevailing circumstances and believes that regimes must change in order to bring this bug under control.

So far, the only country that seems to be uneffected is the United States. A White House representative told us : "4nPolyC has so far not worried us in the US. We believe that we have the finest system in the world for dealing with things and if everyone else did it our way, then the world would be a better and safer place."

Doctors warn that there may be a danger of the disease mutating into something far more worrying. Already another strain 4nCIA may already be in situ in other countries...

Get us out of Europe

Well done, the Daily Express.

For once, a crusade launched by a national newspaper has actually produced a result. Whether this will prove to be a valuable result remains, of course, to be seen.

On Monday, the Express delivered a petition with 373,000 signatures demanding that the UK be given a referendum on whether we should remain part of the Fourth Reich. Mr Cameron did say during the course of his election campaign that he wanted a Big Society which reflected the will of the people. Now he has the chance to prove that he means what he says.

The petition has the support of several MPs including Kate Hoey (Vauxhall), Peter Bone (Wellingborough) and Douglas Carswell (Clacton).

Kate Hoey said "This shows that a huge number of people believe we should leave the EU. Politicians of all parties need to take note." Not often I agree with a Labour politician, but this issue transcends party politics.

What should happen now is that there is a debate in the House leading to a Bill for a referendum. I'd like to think they could hold a vote alongside the additional vote referendum later this year, but just look at the way they are arseing about on that one.

I sincerely doubt that anything will come of this. So much for democracy - but then Third Reich was never big on that either...

You can read the report in the Daily Express by clicking here.

Westminster complicit over Megrahi

If ever you wanted proof that you can't trust a word a politician says, you need look no further than the revelations about the Westminster government's collusion with Libya to obtain the release from a Scottish prison of the Lockerbie bomber.

Most disturbing of these revelations to my mind is the document published on the WikiLeaks site which states in a cable that "The Libyans have told HMG flat out that there will be 'enormous repercussions' for the UK-Libya bilateral relationship if Megrahi's early release is not handled properly"

Now that's fair enough. We expect the Libyans to be pissed off if Scotland didn't let him go. But the document then goes on to say that "HMG is also adamant that, despite devolution, London controls foreign policy for the UK, not Edinburgh" whilst at the same time saying that any decision on the release must be made by the Scottish government.

This seems to me to be a case of dumping the blame on the Scots so that Westminster gets off the hook. To a foreigner, it must be hard to understand exactly how a national government absolves itself from responsibility and accepts it at the same time! A prime example of doublespeak...

It is clear that Megrahi's symptoms made a long term prognosis difficult. These things are not always exact and precise. However, the document goes on to say that Scotland "has never before granted compassionate release to a foreign national" so one is forced to ask what influences were brought to bear on this occasion.

To make things worse, a secret US diplomatic cable, obtained by the Wikileaks website and shown to the Daily Telegraph, cites details of a letter sent by then Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell to his Tripoli counterpart. Sent within weeks of Megrahi being diagnosed with cancer in 2008, it outlines "the procedure for obtaining compassionate release", the newspaper said.

Of course, the Foreign Office's stance on this is that it does not comment on leaked documents.

I can understand why...

You can read the full documents on the Daily Telegraph website by clicking here.

Osbourne's petrol U-turn

Incredible as it my seem, the Mighty Milipede's mouthpieces are accusing chancellor George Osbourne of doing a U-turn on petrol duty!

Their bleet relates to the Consevative promise to introduce a fuel price stabiliser mechanism in their election manifesto. They accuse the government of going back on this promise.

The price of petrol has hit £1.35 a litre due to the price of crude and the increases in VAT to 20% so Osbourne - as far as I can see in an effort to keep his promise - is considering reversing Alistair Darling's increase of 1p per litre due to come in in April.

It will come as no surprise to you to know that the Milipede is not anxious to describe this 1p change as a U-turn!

The scrapping of Labour's post dated tax rise is seem as an opportunity to be shown willing to find a working system and to allow time for the mechanics of that system to be ironed out. Business Secretary Vince Cable told reporters at Westminster that while a fuel stabiliser ‘could be made to work’ it would be difficult, ‘because what is the price around which you set the ups and downs (of the oil price)?’ He added: ‘There are real technical difficulties in operating such a system.’

Mr Osborne is determined to use his Budget on March 23 to respond to public disquiet about petrol prices.

For Labour, shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said: "The Conservative-led government is all over the place on fuel prices. Each week ministers raise expectations of action but they've still done nothing. Warm words from George Osborne about a 1p change on fuel duty are all well and good, but families are paying 3p a litre more at the pump because of the VAT rise he chose to bring in."

Here at least is one senior Labour figure who fails to remember that it is Labour's 1p it is proposed to scrap and that Labour intended to raise VAT to 19%.

People who live in glass houses, really shouldn't throw stones...