No hole deep enough

Fabulous quote in the Mail on Sunday in its article on Gordon Brown's rage on Harriet Harman:

One former Minister said: 'When he calms down, he will know he cannot realistically kick her out of the Cabinet. That would play into her hands, with more freedom to boost her support among party members.

'But he may find another way to clip her wings and demote her. Harriet has no eye for detail so he could burden her with a job which is completely detail-driven and let her sink.'

It's not so much the touching use of the word "when" in relation to Gordon Brown calming down. It's more the cheerful cynicism of this quote.

The Prime Minister is being advised to appoint her to a major job, involving detailed work and therefore making an impact on daily life. He should do this, you understand, deliberately so that she should fail.

In other words, just to dish Harman, the Government is being urged to fail in an important area on purpose. They do well enough merely by accident.

Harriet Harlot

Brown must be sitting in his smallest room as a place of refuge with his head in his hands saying "What more Oh Lord? What more?"
I can, quite literally, not believe what I am reading here. A senior minister of the government of the United Kingdom is brushing aside the rule of law and opening the door to the rule of the wishes of the Prime Minister and/or that of the baying mob.
I am stunned. Is this what has come of more than two thousand years of British history? A bunch of spivs have walked in, brushed aside centuries-old rights and turned us into some sort of bizarre feral tyranny ... is that really it?
With an introduction like that, I have to include the words of the woman who will do anything to improve her leadership challenge:

"Sir Fred Goodwin should not count on being £650,000 a year better off because it is not going to happen," she told BBC One's Andrew Marr show. Ministers have said they would be prepared to take legal action and other unspecified measures to recover some of the money, saying the pay-out is inconsistent with the disastrous state that Sir Fred left the bank in. Ms Harman declined to say how the government would achieve this but made it clear it would not tolerate the award as it stands. "The prime minister has said that it is not acceptable and therefore it will not be accepted," she added. "And it might be enforceable in a court of law, this contract, but it is not enforceable in the court of public opinion and that is where the government steps in." (My emboldening)

What next - fellatio with the copper at the door of Number 10? "I'm a sucker for punishment" said the Labour deputy leader.
Meanwhile ................
Meanwhile, conversion of the official residence of the Justice Minister has now been finalised.

Simple economics

Hilzoy tells the truth: I have been hearing for years and years about how the financial services sector pays such exorbitant wages because the people who work there are so immensely talented that they are cheap at $50 million a year. I never particularly bought that line before. But I never imagined that all those Masters of the Universe would do quite this badly. If we had paid them $50 million a year to go far, far away and leave our financial system alone, it would have been a bargain

The way we are - update

I reported on the near miss to immortality on Sunday before last.
Having done the immediate things on the day of the collision, I went on the offensive on Monday. I had Farmer Giles confirm his full acceptance of all responsibility in an email and that he would instruct his insurer to proceed on the basis that I would not be involving my people. That got me a very nice replacement car far better than the dead basic set of wheels my insurers would have allowed. My garage confirmed that my car was a write-off, The other party assessor was not due to be in the area for another five days but I convinced him that a total write-off would not take long to assess and he went there on the Wednesday. Two days early. By midday Friday, we agreed a value for my dead vehicle. £250 over the value shown in the trade-confidential guides as I was able to prove that it had been maintained regardless of expense and was all prepared for an already booked MOT five days after the accident.
And that is where it has stuck. A week to process a cheque and get it to me. The operatives seem to have understood that time is hire car charges but the shiny arses in the administration departments have failed to keep up the momentum. I've short-circuited the process and have agreed with my garage to collect the replacement tomorrow; he will trust the insurance people to come up with a cheque in the fullness of time. I'm left thinking the admin failure to show any initiative is part of where the country has gone wrong.
Personally, I've come out a bit ahead. The replacement is exactly the same model, five months younger with 33,000 less miles and an extra of a full length glass roof.

Manpower

I sent an email to a named individual in a government department. It bounced with the explanation that his mailbox was full. Repeated 12 hours later. Same result. Using the 'Contact Us' link on their web page returned a 404. I telephoned the department and got through to the head honcho's secretary. Having explained my problem she kindly gave me her email and said she would sort things out. The guy I wrote to had left six months ago; let us hope there was nothing urgent in his overflowing mail box.
I had a reply from the co-operative secretary telling me the name of the person I should contact. It was copied to eleven ( e l e v e n) internal addressees - ten of them in the IT department. As my query was in the text of my post to the secretary, she could have forwarded it to the man named in her reply.
I suspect there might be a tad of over-manning in that department?
I had reported the problem of the full mailbox to the postmaster@the site. No reply but I just wonder how many of the Legion of the Damned he might have e-mailed?

A police full hand gets flushed

Had I not read this on a police site, I would have assumed it was just another swipe at the police.

They do not need critics - they destroy their own reputation.

New speak

This message appeared on a forum that I haunt. Shows a certain bravado as text speak is attacked and there are a lot of male posters who have absolutely no feminine side, She wrote:

heya people, im new here so please dnt b mean, id like a blokes point of view,,
ive been wi m bf for lyk 2 years n he gets sex on tap (frm me ov course) n il do pretti much owt he wants,, soooo, y is it he has to watch porn when he's away on trainin or wteva, im nt big headed bt im nt ugly at all coz i just got scouted to be a model, but him doin this makes me feel like im nt doin it 4 him even though he swears im everythin he wants,, Is this just a basic man need, that doesnt have owt 2 do wi wt i luk like or our sex lives?
Id be great full for all your comments, im oni 18 so be kind

She was, of course, savaged by the attack dogs. For her posting at all and for the daft language. She took it in good part and re-submitted the question in perfectly good English.

So, able to write 'properly' and not amongst her usual group of pals, so, why resort to text? I liked the inclusion of a bit of dialect as well. 'owt to do wi'.

Haven't seen and not really sufficiently interested to check but has anyone written a novel or whatever in the New English? I can read her text and it does not offend me at all. The purpose of communication is to communicate and she has done that. So why do so many get uptight?

Interfering

It is not just oldies like myself who are denied the solace of euthanasia.

Even the creatures of the sea have to soldier on until all vital signs have worn themselves out.

And. lest anyone query why euthanasia? Read what can happen with our Notional Health System when it takes against you. And do not expect the lawyers to help there either.

Still waiting but too timid to complain

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has conceded that there have been unforeseen delays regarding an outstanding commitment made nearly 2000 years ago. In an official communiqué, the Vatican acknowledged: ‘although it was promised that the Meek shall inherit the Earth, there have appear to have been some delays fulfilling this aspiration, and we would ask the Meek to bear with us as we look into the possible causes for this apparent hold-up.’

May you live in interesting times

Nothing here for a couple of days as I have been a bit busy.
On Monday last I spent about five hours with a couple of senior police officers from the Historic Investigation Team working in Belfast. They had asked for a meet to discuss how we dealt with incidents where soldiers shot and killed civilians in Northern Ireland back in the early 1970s.
Funny thing was that I could recall details of almost every one they covered - and this without any advance warning of the ones they brought up. When I do look back, I can get almost total recall and it is this that made Monday such fun. The short term does not seem to be a problem; what happens is sporadic. I will start a sentence full of vim and vigour and then come to a word or name and - blank! Yet, there was not a single blank when reviewing something that took place near enough 39 years ago. We had plenty of jokes that only former police officers would see as funny. Or dare to make!
Another good bit about Monday was that it followed Sunday. Well yes - so what is new about that? Sunday was a day we could have brought our shuffle on the mortal coil to an end. I was with Norma driving to the Garden Centre near Edinburgh to get niceys fit for visiting policemen. On a main A class road near Lauder, at about 50 mph - dead straight, slightly downhill, no other traffic on the road and there was Farmer Giles in his Landrover in his farmyard on my right. He was travelling slowly towards the road. Not only towards but onto it; directly in front of me. I kissed his front nearside which deflected me to the left into the end of a drystone wall at the entrance to a farm house. From 50 down to zero in less than a car's length. Cue exploding air-bags. The charge smells awful and the bags get hot but they saved us from worse. I scraped a bit off my chin and we both had bruising later from the seat belts.
Farmer Giles appeared at my window and said it was all his fault as he had not seen us. Physically, there was absolutely nothing to stop him seeing us in broad daylight on an unobscured road. I concluded it was that he made the crossing from yard to house so many times a day that he stopped looking.
He took us to the farm house where plasters were applied and tea administered. Recovery arranged. Details ad-nausea exchanged before his wife drove us home. Really, could not have been nicer. He even sent me a copy of the e-mail to his insurers in which he admitted full and total responsibility. My car is a write-off but I have already identified a Picasso of identical specification and year of registration and have suggested this to his insurers as a simple way to close the whole problem down if they put me into the driving seat of that car cost free.
We shall see.
Tuesday was spent telephoning and emailing reports. I have just reported things to my insurers and not handled it as a claim. We picked up a hire car at Farmer Giles expense. I went and cannibalised my now dead car this morning and it was a bit of a shake to see the damage in the cold light of a couple of days later. There were ditches at the side of the road and we could very easily have rolled the car which would have resulted in a very much worse situation. Once again, I beat the Devil.

Afghanistan

I have to admit I have lost track of what the heck that place is all about and just what might get us out of the country.

So, here is a primer. Long but seems to cover all bases. Short version by my précis? Walk away and let them sort themselves out. If they come into the world of me and mine - terminate them like vermin.

Virgin Atlantic - job losses

It is getting hard out there.

Virgin Atlantic has announced quite hefty job lay-offs.

So, these lovelies will just have to march on all the way to the Job Centre.

Ancient times

It all looks so simple doesn't it?

The clever bit is the woman deciding to use these techniques. She reacts very quickly and I would doubt her success were the man to follow up on his initial attack. And, if you liked that, here is another one.

Bank bonus concerns kicked into touch

A football manager is sacked because his team are not performing. Sacked. It now seems he is in line for £15 million compensation. He has been in post for seven months at an alleged £6.25 million a year.

Make some of those high flown bankers as sick as a parrot Brian?

The cost of cheap goods

Many have commented upon the results of the financial situation where imported Chinese goods are concerned. Having had some exposure to the Chinese way of doing things, I tried not to buy their stuff anyway as I was quite accepting of the allegations of poor working conditions.

Seems I was right. And I have no sympathy.

But, there is a solution.

The Invisible Man

I have written here and elsewhere of where I think the Conservative party is giving the Government an easy ride. By not being condemnatory and confrontational, they are allowing them to retain power and thereby increase the damage they are doing to the country. Damage that will take years to pay off and could well turn us into a two and a half world power.

So, nice to read a similar pov.

Bird brain

No longer a derogatory term I think?

Edukashun

A 15-year-old boy is to be reported over the discovery of a massive cannabis factory worth hundreds of thousands of pounds, police said after officers uncovered about 800 plants worth an estimated £240,000 after a raid on the secret plantation in Shore Road, Cove, near Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute, on Wednesday.

Strathclyde Police said the teenager would be referred to the Children's Reporter in connection with the discovery.

15 year old? Well, no educational qualifications then. He'll never be good at anything will he? Suppose he could take up farming.

Extending their grip

So, as well as things like c.difficile in the wards, we will now have salmonella available in Reception?

NHS launching new chain of cafes

Cafes at hospitals across Scotland could be run by the NHS, officials have claimed. Four cafes under the "Aroma" brand are to be opened by the NHS in Glasgow hospitals and two more will be opened in the Highlands.

If successful the idea will be spread out across Scotland.

The plan was disclosed when public health minister Shona Robison opened the first of the Glasgow cafes at the city's Royal Infirmary. All profits made by the cafes will be reinvested in the NHS and they will be staffed by NHS employees.

The cafes are being opened as contracts expire for existing cafes run by outside bodies. The "Aroma" cafes will boast of 50% of products having lower fat, sugar and salt, healthy recipes, and ethically-sourced coffee.

Ms Robison said: "It is important that the NHS takes the lead in making it easier for staff, visitors and patients to enjoy affordable, high quality and healthier foods."

She went on: "Run by the NHS for the NHS, these cafés will put profits straight back into hospitals, benefiting patient care and, in many cases, creating new NHS jobs."

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde chairman Andrew Robertson said: "We are constantly striving to find new and innovative ways to drive up standards while at the same time ensure good value for the NHS - Aroma achieves both."

The excellent Borders General Hospital that covers our area has a WRVS kiosk-sort of thing and it does a good job as well as giving them some income. Margins in alcohol-restricted cafe are small and the NHS does not have a good name in management terms. By the time they have appointed a handful of local managers, assistant managers, supervisors and assistant supervisors there will be damn all profit left. In addition, the diet Nazis will be determining what we can and cannot eat; this likely to drag down the customer figures.

Golliwogs and things

The Thatcher woman's treatment after her use - off air - of the golliwog word still draws a lot of comment. This is mainly focused on the clear inequality of the way she was treated as compared to Jonathan Ross and his colleague together with similar incidents where they (mis)performed on air. Now Clarkson is in the frame for his attack on Brown.
This is all fine stuff for the potential chip wrappings but I see a wider concern. For me anyway. Where are we going with this censorship stuff? I was listening to a radio programme this morning. Christine Hamilton, that paragon of all virtues and Jane Goody of her generation, said that use of the word was offensive on the grounds that some found it offensive. I find her offensive - will that keep her out of the media eye? Apparently, there are some who find the word 'pig' upsetting. Even the image has been debated. So - are we to avoid it completely? Where does this end. Just how many need to object if we are to apply democracy to a banning? The problem was even highlighted in the very same programme by the very next contributor. This was Bob Crow, a trade unionist of some repute. He was talking about the financial situation as it was causing the closure of working mens' clubs. I homed in on this - working men. What was that about? What happened to matters of gender and inclusiveness? Do women not work? The last time I was in a working mens' club (for a leek-show just to set things right) it struck me as about as female friendly as the Members Lounge of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club. Of course - my questions are merely for illustration. If someone so much in touch with the proletariat as Crow does these things, how do the rest of us determine, in advance of putting mouth into gear, what will be offensive or what will get by?
Little tale to go in here. The word 'wog' was widely used by the great unwashed of Her Majesty's Army. It appeared in written orders of a regiment based in Aden and firm and threatening orders went out that it was totally and completely banned. Centuries of tradition written off by the stroke of a pen. However, within hours and without any discernible author, the word 'golly' spread through all the brown jobs and - sure enough - 'wog' was never heard again. It was not needed.
I have to add the Governor of Hong Kong. Sir Murray MacLeHose's arrival was greeted by the Army with an issue of a document detailing how his name was to be spelled, pronounced and used. Within, again, hours he was known right down to the thickest private as 'Jock the Sock'

You saw it here first

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

No stain on their character then

The National Black Police Association had to accept an inquiry into its financial record keeping

Following an internal review and a Home Office audit of the financial management of the NBPA, in August 2007 the IPCC confirmed it would undertake an independent investigation. This examined the actions of three serving police officers, one retired police officer, one member of police staff and one retired police staff member. Ms Naseem Malik, IPCC Commissioner said: “The investigation did not find evidence of misconduct by any serving or retired UK police officer or police staff member. “However, the record keeping within the NBPA during this period was so shockingly poor it is simply not possible to account for significant amounts of expenditure. Our evidence showed that these accounting failures allowed a culture of extremely poor practice by some individuals. This poor practice involved significant public funds and a registered charity. It could have been stopped at an earlier stage if the Home Office had carried out its responsibilities as the main funder more effectively. Ms Malik's statement “The investigation did not find evidence of misconduct by any serving or retired UK police officer or police staff member." amuses me. The intent is to depict an organisation where the members are as pure as the driven snow (windblown soot?). The fact they did not find any guilty person or person is down to the way the organisation was run not because none was corrupt. So, if no one nicked it - where did the money go? A little work by a forensic accountant would have reconstituted the accounts sufficiently for someone to be caught red-handed. (black-palmed?)

Look carefully at the words that the US President used about the former prime minister Blair yesterday:

I want to thank my good friend Tony Blair for coming today, somebody who did it first and perhaps did it better than I will do. He has been an example for so many people around the world of what dedicated leadership can accomplish. And we are very grateful to him.

Those words – and they are pretty remarkable words – point to only one conclusion. They say that Obama takes Blair seriously as a centre-left leader. Perhaps what he takes seriously is merely Blair's mastery of political rhetoric and communications skills rather than his policy record – why else, some might argue, would a politician who has become president because of his opposition to the Iraq war be at ease with one who was intimately involved in waging it? But perhaps the words say something deeper. Perhaps they also say that Obama grasps that Blair's experience can have lessons for other centre-left leaders like himself who are trying to sustain coalitions of support and carry out effective political leadership in countries (of which the US and the UK are certainly two) where the record of past failure is greater than the record of past success.

Not my deduction - comes from the Grauniad

No comment needed

Stay away

The continuing efforts by Debbie Purdy to get clarification of the DPP's attitude to those who might be deemed guilty of assisting in a suicide really annoy me. She failed to get the answer she wanted and has now taken her, to me, needless campaign to the Court of Appeal. She wants to know if her husband, the Cuban violinist Omar Puente, will be prosecuted if he helps her to travel abroad to die in Switzerland, where the practice is legal. She is seeking guidelines from the Director of Public Prosecutions as to his policy on the circumstances in which a person would be liable to prosecution for helping another commit suicide. In England and Wales, aiding and abetting suicide is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

The DPP has shown his hand by not pursuing action against UK citizens who have done just what she is contemplating. He cannot state a policy all the while the aiding and abetting suicide legislation remains law but he can get around it by declaring prosecutions as not in the public interest. The risk there is that he may incite those with very firm views against self-determination to demand he justify his not in interest opinion and have his attitude overturned.

When I married, I took a vow about supporting my spouse in sickness and in health. Were I in Mr Purdy's shoes, I would make it very clear to my wife that I would do anything and everything in my power to support her wishes in this matter. From such experience as I have had in life after the death of a close relative, my incarceration or not would be very small potatoes. I will not be so sanctimonious as to plead that my oath before God over-ruled my observance of the law of the land but I reckon it would make a good defence.

Were I able, I would counsel Debby to let sleeping dogs lie. If she does stir up sufficient mud as to obscure common sense, the remainder of her life will be spent in fear and worry. In addition, she will set a precedent for others in her position. She and her husband should be enjoying today and not worrying about tomorrow - seems God has already ordained what happens then.

Wal-mart woes

Back in the day, as some say, I was a heavy user of Wal-mart whenever I was in America. The range and depth of stuff they stocked was amazing. I was first attracted by the ease with which one could inspect and handle a range of shotguns and sporting rifles. Not because I would have been able to purchase one but just for the illicit thrill of getting hands on.

Whenever I mentioned these visits to my hosts or other Americans, it was expected by me that I would hear just what a terrible organisation Wal-Mart was. Exploitation of the employees, unfair work practices, harsh terms imposed upon suppliers - almost everything was wrong. It did not dissuade me from shopping there; just that I kept quiet about it in polite company.

So, interesting to read an account of an undercover but frank stint as an employee. Maybe they have improved as a result of the criticism I found or they were never that evil anyway. Just another reason for me to rue the fact that I shall never get back to visit America. Though, I have to concede that there is still opposition to my Shopper's Paradise.

"Be prepared" be buggered.

Dramatic warnings about heavy snowfall started to appear yesterday morning. Sure enough, the day dawned with that sort of translucent light through the bedroom window and, sure enough, a carpeting of snow lay all around.As is usual, a slight fall of some 2 inches (five centimeters for the cognoscente), brought almost everything to a swift halt. All London buses - off. London Underground that has open air bits - Off. Major rail networks - Shut down. Airports either closed or reduced to just one runway with consequent cancellations of flights out to allow aircraft already in the air to land. Schools are closed and police and traffic organisations are issuing dire warnings not to travel if one's journey is not essential. The news broadcasts are talking of Arctic Blizzard conditions. The country is at a standstill

I have lived in countries where the snowfall was reported in feet not inches. Vehicle radiators froze up as the vehicle was being driven. Battery acid froze and burst the battery casings. Bare skin stuck on exposed metal. None of these places could be said to be modern in terms of road quality or simple technology such as gritting. But life went on. People moved about - the oxen provided motive power. Animal furs gave protection from the wind. But, life went on. No hiatus as we have here with a dusting of snow and the best of modern machinery to cope with the cold.

I suppose we might get some benefit from the weather conditions. Wildcat strikes have spread very quickly and the protesters are on the march. Hopefully, some will decide that their journeys are not essential. The problem seems to have started after the Italian company IREM won a £200m construction contract and supplied its own permanent workforce. It is understood 100 Italian and Portuguese workers are already on site and 300 more are expected in the coming days and weeks. Doubtless, the contract was placed on lowest cost criteria and the incoming workers are cheaper that UK employees. The actual cause of the action seems confused but that has never deterred the Great British Worker. There is a ghost hovering here like something from Elsinore; fuel distribution may be disrupted. Just in time to add to the misery of the old and handicapped who have trouble meeting fuel costs.

One thing the dispute is doing is to increase disenchantment with the current Government amongst those traditionally its supporters. So, a small benefit there then. I see little chance of the Conservative party hastening the demise of NuLabour as it was dictated by Blair and as it is now under Brown. Cameron has almost the status of the Invisible Man. This was emphasised when he recruited William Hague as the Senior member of his Cabinet and old toughie Clarke to oppose Lord Meddlesome. It is almost as if he has put them into position to further opposition to Brown's team rather than be personally involved. His Party give serious - almost dramatic - accounts of the damage that Labour is doing to the future financial standing of the country but allows these to continue. Ensuring that the situation and damage gets worse by the day.

Satire

but all good satire is based upon something that could well come about.

Government officials have announced that the historic Isle of Wight town of Shanklin has been selected as Britain’s first set-aside town. During the next six months the municipality and surrounding villages will be evacuated, businesses will be closed and utilities will be cut off. The area will then be left to lie fallow for a two year period.

Set-aside is an old farming method where a field is left unused, or fallow, for a period of time to allow the soil to replenish nutrients and thus remain fertile for the next phase of crop rotation. In 2007 a government think-tank hit upon the idea of using this technique to revitalise parts of the country during recession.

‘This is a radical new form of urban regeneration,’ explained a Whitehall spokesman. ‘Once Shanklin has been set-aside, the area will no longer be subjected to the every-day wear and tear that afflicts other urban areas. There will be no demand for precious fuel resources, traffic congestion will ease and housing problems will be non-existent. In short the town will have time to draw breath.’

Purpose-built camps are being built in disused airfields across the country to house the residents of Shanklin, where they will be provided with food and water for six weeks before ‘making their own arrangements’. Opposition to the scheme has been surprisingly muted although under new legislation, Shanklin’s dispossessed lose their citizenship during the fallow period, so the town’s population are not eligible to take part in national politics. But one visitor to Shanklin found it very unsettling; ‘It is like a ghost town. Nobody on the streets, all the shops shut; nothing happening anywhere,’ he reported, unaware that the scheme hasn’t actually started yet.

Bleary-eyed Blears

From a pronouncement from the blessed Hazel

3) Make campaigning fun. Campaigning is like sex – if you’re not enjoying it, you’re not doing it right. It should never be a drudge. Make sure there’s plenty of meals, drinks, social events, and a campaign HQ with plenty of tea and biscuits. Tap into the enthusiasm of young people with blitzing and street stalls. High energy, high impact, low cost.

Well, I suppose I can see what she is getting at. However, I have to admit that my experience of sex did not include all of the delights she lists. Campaign HQ? - cannot see my blonde tolerating that.

Moaning Yorkshiremen

Not the original but because we know the Python original, all the funnier.

Tough job ahead

A panel of the great and the good were asked what they saw as tasks of the new Met Police boss.
Interesting and surprisingly waffle free,

NHS Expansion

No - not a self-portrait of me. An introduction to a very perception post by a well trusted blogger.

Read it - you will be amazed. Or, possibly, not.

Cost benefit analysis

I grew up in an atmosphere where sex was rented. Luckily it did not rub off (well, not very much anyway) on me but I can see the attraction of renting. I had a look at the McCartney and Mills relationship. After 5 years of marriage, he paid her $49 Million!

Assuming he got sex every night (which us men know would have never happened), it ended up costing him $26,849 each time he had sex with his wife. A really high class prostitute (OK, sex-worker for the nervous) apparently cost $4,000. The hooker is on the right and the wife on the left. So, no great debate there then. And no risk of getting splinters under your toe-nails! Even if you threw a 100% tip in for 'specials'. you are well ahead. On the face of it, renting wins all hands down. There is a web site that assists in showing the true cost of a girl friend.

I have to admit that no all prostitutes look as good as the one in my comparison. But at $4,000 a tussle one is pretty sure to find something. And ponder this as well - there are a heck of a lot of wives who look like the Jumping Cricket.

Unto them that hath shall be given?

A Californian woman who gave birth to octuplets earlier this week already has six children, US media has reported. The eight babies were delivered nine weeks early by Caesarean section in a hospital near Los Angeles on Monday. The mother has not been named, but US media is quoting family members as saying she already has six other children, including twins.

The Los Angeles Times later carried an interview with a woman identified as the babies' grandmother, who said her daughter already has six young children and never expected fertility treatment she had received would result in eight more babies. She said that doctors had given her daughter the option of reducing the number of embryos, but she had declined.

Officials at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center, near Los Angeles, said the woman was already 12 weeks pregnant when she came to them. Despite media questioning, the hospital has declined to say whether the mother became pregnant through fertility treatments.

Well. I do not know how much of this is based on fact. I cannot imagine why a woman with six children would even share her bed with a male still less seek fertility treatment. I understand that the odds of producing that many embryo naturally are many millions to one. So, what the heck were the fertility clinic people thinking when they took her on? The woman cannot have been struck with a warm glow of maternal desire; she had six children and would have known full well what a further eight would entail. Check on that but I bet she will do very well from advertising deals. A slightly arcane point is that her husband is a civilian contractor in Iraq; a job with a higher than average risk of sudden death which would just about wipe out the security of the family.

There is now updated information about this woman. Some form of pathological condition that makes her want children. Keep her away from me please!

Sombre warnings

Was it ever more pertinent to say the following? :

I warn you that you will have pain – when healing and relief depend upon payment.

I warn you that you will have poverty – when pensions slip and benefits are whittled away by a government that won’t pay in an economy that can’t pay.

I warn you that you must not expect work – when many cannot spend, more will not be able to earn. When they don’t earn, they don’t spend. When they don’t spend, work dies.

I warn you that you will be quiet – when the curfew of fear and the gibbet of unemployment make you obedient.

I warn you that you will be homebound – when fares and transport bills kill leisure and lock you up.

I warn you that you will borrow less – when credit, loans, mortgages and easy payments are refused to people on your melting income.

• I warn you not to be ordinary
  
• I warn you not to be young
  
• I warn you not to fall ill
  
• I warn you not to get old.

Raging Bull

This is shown here to celebrate the lady getting an Award for her performance. No other motive for the video. Believe me!

Never mind which knife - which bowl?

So, you have met this incredible Japanese maiden. Not a one night stand.Not a bath-house babe. Just a very nice girl. Two or thre dates in she says "You wanna come meet my Mum Dad?" If the relationship is to continue, there can only be the one answer.

So, in best bib and tucker, you turn up at what is quite an impressive house. This girl is looking more attractive by the minute. She has told you that her parents are Old Japan so you have revised the courtesies and a few phrases in Japanese. All seems well. Then, a meal is suggested. The door rolls back and the dining room is revealed. It is an on the floor job but they have provided a low table for you to save the cramp that comes five minutes after the Japanese-kneel posture.

Then you see the meal!



So, where to start? Japanese food comes in extremes - very hot and spicy, very salted, very many things and all without any real indication of the traps set for Western palates. Luckily, Japanese Miss knows her Old Japan etiquette and selects something and offers it to you. The next trial is the sake. This, like modern-day vodka comes in many flavours. The one thing in common is that all are 200% proof alcohol. Put it in your Zippo if the lighter fuel is missing. They can down large quantities; the merest sip does for most of us.

I think I upheld the flag for the New World. I was invited back a time or two but fate intervened and I was posted to Korea. Local girls who could be described as 'nice' there were few and far between but at least they ate American food!

Auschwitz

There seems to be a mass of discussion about the fate of the infamous concentration camp complex erected with the sole purpose of disposing of human beings. Over a million of them.

I remember the wave of horror that went through the free world when reports of these places appeared on our cinema screens. There was no convention then of sparing viewers distressing scenes. Bulldozers were used to shovel piled up bodies into mass graves. The 'living' were also shown in great detail. In some camps - mostly those opened up by Americans - the locals were ordered to attend and see what had gone on in these barbed wire enclosures where trains had run in crowded with humans and out empty. I was twelve years old.

What went on then is truly history. Ancient history. Publicising them and preserving them has served it's purpose. Who now needs convincing of the inhumanity that can spring from a human mind? Those who deny the Holocaust will not change their opinions and they have no influence on me anyway. 

Let them wither away say I. Indeed, level them to the ground and plant a forest of trees. Over a million of them.

Guys over Sixty

Great work by any sky diver - to get these results from a team all over 60 is really exciting. 

Well done blokes!

Sara Payne

The murder of little Sarah Payne was an event that had a great effect upon me at the time. The photograph of a very pretty child was everywhere and the inquiry attracted great attention. However, what really got to me were her parents Sara and Michael. They presented what I thought of as faces of bravery. No mawkish sentimentality; dignity shone through their loss. The broke up some while later but Sara continued to press for changes in the law.

Now she has been appointed Victims Champion. This is a Government post which sees her representing all victims of crime, giving them a voice at a national level. Mrs Payne, who campaigned for a "Sarah's Law" to reveal information on where paedophiles live, said she would challenge "whatever needs to be challenged" in her discussions with ministers.

She said: "Over the last eight years I have been asking for victims to have a louder voice, and for the Government to listen more closely to what they have to say. I am proud I will now be their champion, and welcome my appointment to this very important role. I look forward to bringing the voice of victims and witnesses to the heart of Government."

I hope she gets the support and results she deserves. There can be no better memorial for that lovely little child.

Fings ain't what they used to be

Criminal immigrants?
Police chases?
Police inefficiencies?
Level of crime?

Think these are modern day concerns?

Not a lot new under the sun.

Matthews and an another

The summing up by the Judge in the Shannon Matthews case is a fine example why our justice system, in the main, works. A careful and precise examination of the facts presented and reference to other decisions in similar cases.
What I found especially interesting is his statement about the two offenders at paragraphs 26 to 30 inclusive. All the while the State ends up with the finished products of education as revealed here we stand little chance of making much improvement.

The way things are

Polly is not a favourite of mine. I certainly would not want her on my shoulder declaring how pretty she is. Sometimes, she does a good report and analysis and deserves my support there. So it is when she looks at an AGM. The fat cats are identified; named but not, one suspects, shamed. For my money; and thanks goodness none of it is involved, her comment on the bonus arrangements and the lack lustre attitude of shareholders explains just why we are where we are. If the owners and directors of an enterprise are allowed to reign untrammelled they will act in their own interest. That is where the financial controls let us - the great unwashed - down. The fat cats were observed by others with fat feline characteristics and standards.
I never really studied the Russian Revolution but it is something akin that we need to change systems in this country. Not a move towards Communism (surely now seen by all as a failed concept) but adopting a root and branch survey and change in the way things were run by those who, even if they did not end up with their hands in the till, certainly had the keys to the cash box.

The War on Terror

When put through the currently fashionable process of initialisation, we get TWOT. Not so far away from the street cred name for the primary female sexual characteristic. When one reads about police concerns at music gigs, it seems appropriate. The costs of such procedures - financial and in terms of police/public relationships - must be immense. To me, it demonstrates the way in which counter-terrorism is handled. We spend large amounts of time and money on arcane measures to prevent something that has a minute possibility of occuring. I cannot now recall the actual term for such conduct - the law of diminshing return is the nearest I can get. Something like the cost of preventing theft from motor vehicles being £1 million per year but the total loss from such offences is less than half a million. Conclusion? Do away with the publicity etc. campaign and give the losers full compensation. Saving of £500K.
The other aspect is possibly not so apparent. If it is thought that a certain class or genre of music leads to problems, it means that the followers of that style are deemed more likely than others to be disruptive. Prejudice anyone?

Where are they now?

Back in the early 70s, there was a active IRA gunman operating against the British forces in Belfast. He had a strange nose and, with that humour only the British army enjoys, he was known as "F*ck Nose". The only man who used condoms instead of Andrex hankies.

Wonder what happened to him?

Our police are wonderful

I think I am permitted a snide comment now and then. So, here we go 

Two of Greater Manchester's most senior police officers were caught up in an attempted armed robbery at a McDonald's.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson and Chief Superintendent Janette McCormick - in charge of the Trafford division - were in the fast food restaurant in Eccles at 7.30am when two men armed with a knife and a machete struck.

Mr Thompson, the joint-third highest ranking officer in GMP, spotted one of the masked pair behind the counter trying to kick in a locked door. He stood up and challenged him shouting `Oi' while Ms McCormick dialled 999. 

Mr Thompson said that the raider pointed a knife at him before throwing a chair. The attackers escaped empty-handed. The two officers did not give chase although Mr Thompson got the registration of the getaway car. 

Mr Thompson, who was not in uniform and was wearing jogging bottoms because he was later due to attend a self-defence class, said: "We made an assessment of the situation to see if it was safe to disarm them. I let them walk out of the front door, then ran to the door and shouted the vehicle registration to Chief Superintendent McCormick. Our priority then was then to secure a crime scene and gather as much evidence as possible.

"I was stood there in my track suit bottoms with no protective equipment. I would not have expected any of my officers to have intervened."

The devotion to duty of these two is examplary. But just whose example are they following - a senior Manchester officer was in the news recently and, by all accounts, he may have had an early morning meeting or two or three - or even ten. 'Methinks he doth protest too much' comes to mind when we have the repeated explanation of his informal attire. The claimed attendence at a police self-defence class is ironic. My memory is that such instruction included dealing with assailants armed with knives? Why do we have to spend money on such classes when it seems that the measured response is "Oi"?  Given Mr Thompson's rank he will have attended any number of self-defence classes; perhaps he was doing an advanced Oi-shouting class?

What would be interesting is a Google map showing the addresses of these two and the Mac. Who knows - he may have left his 'protective equipment' in the bedside locker?

Hot stuff

This is the French Minister who returned to her office less than a week after giving birth. She has now resigned to er um 'pursue other interests'. Whether this is related to the furore about her refusing to divulge the name of her bed-mate or not is not explained. However, whilst I do find her very attractive and worthy of being seen here, my main attention was drawn by the caption to this image. Smoothy Sarkozy had just announced that the position of Examining Magistrate was being abolished.
I was frequently involved in legal cases in those countries where the Napoleonic Code was followed. The Examining Magistrate was a very significant figure. In the atmosphere where we citizens fear government involvement in directing legal outcomes, his being abolished must cause concern. Losing her and him is a double blow!!

Green shoots

Maybe the Money Tree is the one that the noble lady was referring to in her recent mouth swallows foot moment?

I am told that Badger Darling has two of these in his office and places great faith in their influence.

Fred writes

When it comes to identifying the 'I wanna be like that' personalities in my life, for writing I aspire to be Fred Reed. His latest example exhibits all that I find attractive in his style and range.

So - 'I wanna write like Fred Reed'

Isn't our Government woderful?

The government is to be asked to pay £12,000 to the families of all those killed during the Troubles - including members of paramilitary groups.

The families of paramilitary victims, members of the security forces and civilians who were killed will all be entitled to the same amount.

The payment is expected to be recommended by the group set up to advise on how to deal with the past.

So far, this is just a leak from what the report may contain. Of course, this has not deterred the politicians from The Green Latrine rushing in with the outrage volume turned high.

Ulster Unionist MEP Jim Nicholson warned against implementing a proposal he condemned as "immoral".

"The proposal endorses the morally flawed notion that a terrorist killed while undertaking a mission of murder has the same status as an innocent civilian murdered in a bomb attack or a member of the security forces murdered in front of their family," he said.

TUV leader Jim Allister described the recommendation that £12,000 is paid to the families of all those killed during the Troubles - irrespective of how they met their deaths - as "nothing short of outrageous".

If the recommendation is accepted by the government, the cost would be an estimated £40m.

The group, co-chaired by Lord Eames and Denis Bradley, is expected to say there should be no hierarchy of victims and that everyone should be treated in the same way.

That would mean the family of the IRA Shankill bomber Thomas Begley would receive the same for his death as those of the families of the nine civilians he killed.

Likewise, the families of two UVF members killed while they planted a bomb that also killed three members of the Miami Showband in 1975 will be entitled to the same payment as those of the victims.

The Consultative Group on the Past is also expected to recommend the creation of a five year legacy commission, appointed by the British and Irish governments, to deal with the past - and to say there should be no further public inquiries.

The Consultative Group is a Peter Hain initiative and when launched he said,  

“The Government cannot tell the people of Northern Ireland how they should deal with the past – only the people themselves can try to answer that question.

“This consultative group provides a platform for people to express their own views on how to address the violent legacy of the Troubles which impacted on so many across all sections of society.

“I know that this will not be easy. I understand that many do not want to discuss the past. It is too painful and personal and I respect those views. But I believe that with the historic political agreement that was implemented only last month, it is time to pause and ask how a society that went through a violent and long conflict wants to deal with its past.  

“The question is how Northern Ireland might approach its past in a way that heals rather than poisons, that enables everyone to focus on building a shared future, not looking constantly over shoulders to a divided past.

“Only the people of Northern Ireland can answer, I hope with the help of the consultative group headed by Lord Eames and Denis Bradley – who are highly respected across both communities.”

Given the initial response, it seems that a significant portion of the Irish Psychos do not have a view shared with those happy to hold out their hands for the proceeds of murder. I cannot see just what good these Truth & Justice-type activities achieve. There is a good essay from a researcher which details the background to such iniatives in NI. Pages 100 and 101 are especially relevant. This posits that the Bloody Sunday was the first such process related to The Troubles. If that be the case, it only adds to the condemnation due to the Hain Effort. Costly - over £400 million so far and delayed "Maybe late 2009" and already with absolutely no credence from the Republisan side before a single page of the report is released.

Whilsy I do not like (no - really I don't) hitting a man when he is down, Hain seems to have problems in his abilities and honesty. 

Not just the police

Whilst I am in a crusading frame of mind, let me share this post with you.

It shows what rubbisn reporting can occur and makes a nonsense about MOD claims that the Army has the finest equipment that is allowing us to defeat the terrorists in Afghanistan.

Thus when, on Sunday morning the Viking armoured personnel carrier was caught in an explosion outside the town of Lashkar Gah injuring three and disabling the vehicle, Cpl Deering dismounted from his own Viking and approached the stricken vehicle to assess the damage. A second device went off killing him instantly.

The tactic, writes Harding, shows that the Taliban are now capable of not only defeating the armour of the Vikings but are also aware of the British tactics in dealing with disabled vehicles. It appears that the second device was deliberately planted to target troops who would have to deal with the damaged vehicle

.

And a sum-up reads

As it is, when the Army and the MoD have allowed a few more men to die and are casting around for a replacement for the Bronco, we can only hope that Force Protection, which produces our current range of mine protected vehicles, will have been able to design a tracked vehicle which will keep our men safe.

Of one thing we can be sure though. Our geniuses will not do it. It appears they would rather see men die than use their brains. They would sooner kill than cure.

More police woes

While I am wandering about amongst The ThinBlue Line, let me introduce you to a post made about Government claims as to what it is doing to enable Commanders to get away from the form filling and out onto the street.

Don’t let the Home Secretary ‘blind you’ by talking nonsense. On one hand she makes grand claims regarding ’stop and account’ and how she is reducing the burden of paperwork on operational policing by removing this burden in a trial 10 forces - oh don’t rush there are 43 forces you know. Lets not forget that this is the same Government of which this would be minister belongs that introduced ‘Stop and Account’ in the first place. As is usual with ‘Nu Labour’ this was contrary to the fears of the service (or as I preferred to call it in it’s heyday ‘Force’). Why did they introduce this process initially? It was to appease some unproved belief that the police were somehow institutionally racist. Do me a favor; nobody other than the author of that ‘famous report’ even knows what that term means.

The fears about the introduction of this ‘paper form’ were well founded. Stop and search encounters reduced and knife crime increased. A coincidence? - I don’t believe in coincidences. Now I am sure that if I was a ’spin doctor’ I could produce some correlation between the two but I think even common sense must say that the two may be related. We now have a situation whereby individuals feel they can carry weapons with abandon without fear of being bothered by the police. The loony liberals have taken over the asylum and seem more intent on worrying about how policing is done than the actual criminal acts that we are trying to prevent.

Read on however… There is clearly not a problem with stop and search but headlines portray ‘Stop and Search Complaints Increase’. Is this headline deliberately chosen to somehow justify the Governments ‘concerns’ about police constables using the powers bestowed upon them by the Crown and the forms introduction. I think so to, so I looked closely at these figures, 955,000 stop and searches in 2006/2007 - a good ‘turn out’ despite Government Interference, maybe it would be higher if we weren’t filling in lots of forms. The interesting thing is that of the stop and search ‘grievances’ only 169 needed to be investigated and 88% of these were shown to be unfounded. Why then are we producing a mass of paperwork that is clearly unnecessary whose only purpose is to keep a few bean counters employed. Answers on a postcard please, Good old ‘Liberty’ think the figure is low because the ‘young and vulnerable’ lack the confidence to complain - wrong , come out with me on a Friday and Saturday and I will show you how ‘timid’ this group of people really is.

I digress but I could not let the stop and search issue pass after today’s ‘report’, and it is related to the topic that I wanted to blog about, that old favorite, unnecessary paperwork and stop and account was a good start. It’s only purpose after all is to provide statistics. I was really ‘heartened’ by the claims that the burden of paperwork was being reduced when I first heard it and thought Jacqui actually had a brainwave, but alas as you can see from the above, hollow words.

There is no real commitment to reducing paperwork, and I know this because the dreaded spectre of activity sampling rears its head again this year - what an absolute waste of police time, effort, resources and tax payer’s money. Two weeks of recording my every move, every fifteen minutes of the day. It’s been blogged about ad-infinitum but the only effect there seems to have been is that a smaller number of staff are being sampled, not insignificantly small, and too many in an operational role whose core task is to protect you - the public. The anger I felt when this ‘tosh’ arrived in my work tray prompted me to blog again as we seem to be making no progress in returning policing to the police.

If you only take one message from this post, then that should be ‘don’t believe anything that this Government tells you about reducing paperwork’. For each form taken away two seem to take their place. It’s about time ACPO actually earned their rather inflated salaries and stopped sitting on the fence and supported the front line staff by actually saying no in the dying months of this Government

Animals loose on our streets

This is from a police officer's blog. A true story.
A 16-year-old girl with a mental age of eight is lured to an empty house in London by an 18-year-old man.
Once in the flat, the man calls his mates and a group of them turn up.
Then three of them rape her, giggling and filming the attack on their mobile phones.
When they are finished, they pour caustic soda over her body in an attempt to destroy forensic evidence.
The girl screams with pain - later, on some of the mobile phone footage, the attackers can be heard laughing at this - and eventually lapses into a coma.
For a while, doctors think she will die.
She survives, but the skin has 'sloughed off' her face and body, and has permanent scarring to 50% of her body. A year on, she cannot control her own temperature and suffers from depression, flashbacks and suicidal thoughts.
When arrested, her attackers plead not guilty, so she has to sit, trembling, in the witness box to relive her ordeal for a jury.
When the three men are found guilty, Judge Shaun Lyons talks mighty tough.
"The victim has been left with severe post traumatic stress disorder and many, many physical difficulties," he says. "It is doubtful what form her life will take and whether she can operate fully as a young woman in the future."
According to press reports, at least one of them Muaimba can 'be seen smirking in the dock'.
Then Lyons hands down the sentences.
Rogel McMorris, 18, from Tottenham, North London, is jailed for nine years for rape and grievous bodily harm.
Jason Brew, 19, from Haringey, North London, and Hector Muaimba, 20, from Waltham Forest, East London, receive six years for rape.
Has there ever been a more disgraceful set of sentences than these?
If you live in London, you could find yourself standing next to Brew and Muaimba on the Tube in three years, and next to McMorris in four.
Does anyone think this is remotely akin to justice?

Oh no - not them

 

Suspected of bringing aircraft to crash in the Hudson River. A new war on terror targeted at quacks will ensue

Easy mistake to make

When I said meet me in the park and wear protection, I didn't mean this!

Grazing for me

I think it is called serendipity? Getting a result by accident that is not the one you set out to achieve. I was looking for grouse but dodgy fingers and Google offered me Graze. I liked the précis and made a neat discovery.
Graze is a sort of up-market Meals on Wheels. One can identify one's favourite foods and also specify when you wish to have these sent to you by Royal Mail. One needs to read through the site to see why I say 'up market'
I got my first, free, box yesterday and was gob-smacked. Great attention has been paid to presentation; the packaging and the food itself.
I do not know who the target audience was. From my time as a worker, I see it as ideal for those days when the M & S sandwich palls. It would come right to your desk. I would have pushed it to be used for catering for meetings. I was in charge (roughly) of about 80 people making sure that the Corporate HQ in London was fit for purpose and that the staff had all they needed to do their work without any problem from the services or the building fabric. I used to reward any especially good work by any of my people by ordering them up one of the three course meals that were delivered to offices. The 'done good' individual had the main course. Tradition was that the starter and pudding went to their colleagues. Graze would have taken over from that idea. A healthier alternative and, I suspect, less food miles.
I hope that their business plan was flexible enough to deal with the possible reduction in demand due to staff losses and pressure on personal finances. I hope this does not harm what is a most innovative enterprise.
I'm convinced and have made a regular order. This may seem strange given that I am retired and now live in the centre of a well-serviced village and just a totter from a well-stocked fridge. Truth is, my self-appointed carer goes off regularly to her Quilt or embroidery groups. On those days, I shall Graze at midday.

The only fly in my share of the ointment is the name. Graze. When my BMI was North of 40, my fatman consultant identified my problem as being due to grazing as in sheep or cattle. I was eating all day; main meals, snacks, comfort food, checking the kitchen's output, whatever kept my mouth in motion. He cured the problem with some nifty embroidery and very large staples. I think I'll call my box Snax.

Right On!

What are you wearing right now?

This is a phone sex worker. Guys get off exchanging dirty talk with her. If only they knew eh?