According to the BBC, workers thought they were making colorful flags, until they saw footage from Hong Kong of Tibetan supporters waving their flags. Since the flags aren't big sellers in mainland China, it's an understandable mistake.
Doh...
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A flag of inconvenience
In a delicious irony, a flag factory in Southern China has ceased production after twigging that the colourful flags they had been churning out to meet unexpectedly high demand from export customers were in actual fact the standard of the Tibetan government in exile.
Doh...
Doh...
Saturday, April 26, 2008
The rats jump ship
As a sure indication that The NuLabour ship is looking increasingly dead in the water, NuLab "special advisers" are said to be passing their CVs to headhunters in record numbers. Not wishing to stick around for the inevitable dousing, like the proverbial rats, Labour's spin doctors are reportedly pouring over the rails in an attempt to save their rotten little hides when Captain Brown takes the SS New Labour to the bottom with all hands.
But interestingly, sources within executive recruitment in London are saying that it's actually job hunters with sound Conservative connections that are being snapped up. Clearly, the City thinks the writing's on the wall for Comrade Brown and his incompetent hordes. The thought of the job centre queues being swelled by these poisonous Labourite vermin is gratifying indeed.
But interestingly, sources within executive recruitment in London are saying that it's actually job hunters with sound Conservative connections that are being snapped up. Clearly, the City thinks the writing's on the wall for Comrade Brown and his incompetent hordes. The thought of the job centre queues being swelled by these poisonous Labourite vermin is gratifying indeed.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
There's lies, damned lies and then there's statistics
If someone were to ask you if you thought violent crime is falling in this country, what would you say? I think most people would say "up" or perhaps a more charitable "no change". I don't think anyone in their right minds would argue that violent crime has gone down by nearly a third since Labour came to power. And yet, that's just what we are being asked to believe.
To paraphrase Victor Meldrew: I don't fucking believe it! And what a coincidence that news of this amazing reduction in youth crime comes on the same day as the Home Office released its quarterly figures, showing an even more unbelievable 31% reduction in violent crime measured over the last 10 years. And to go with it - of course - we have another initiative:
Complete and utter fucking lies. Crime is NOT falling; violence is NOT falling. It is the REPORTING of violence that is falling; It is people choosing NOT to wait 5 fucking hours in casualty to see someone. It is people who know full well that the police will be powerless to do anything to help them. It is people TOO FUCKING SCARED to go to an inner city A&E department on a Saturday night. That is the reality of Britain under Labour. Just ask flak jacket Harman.
Cardiff University's Violence and Research Group have been monitoring admissions for violence-related injuries in a representative sample of casualty units since the 1990s. Its research into 29 hospital A&E units are extrapolated to national levels.
For the past eight years, the overall number of people needing treatment has been falling.
In 2007, victims aged over 18 saw the greatest fall in violence, and among over 50s there was a 17% decline. Those aged 18 to 30 remained at greatest risk, making up nearly half of violence-related patients.
To paraphrase Victor Meldrew: I don't fucking believe it! And what a coincidence that news of this amazing reduction in youth crime comes on the same day as the Home Office released its quarterly figures, showing an even more unbelievable 31% reduction in violent crime measured over the last 10 years. And to go with it - of course - we have another initiative:
"That is why the government's recently published Tackling Violence Action Plan includes new resources for healthcare providers, local authorities and the police to share information to ensure that people at risk are protected and offenders are brought swiftly to justice."
Complete and utter fucking lies. Crime is NOT falling; violence is NOT falling. It is the REPORTING of violence that is falling; It is people choosing NOT to wait 5 fucking hours in casualty to see someone. It is people who know full well that the police will be powerless to do anything to help them. It is people TOO FUCKING SCARED to go to an inner city A&E department on a Saturday night. That is the reality of Britain under Labour. Just ask flak jacket Harman.
The rotten heart of London
The Kyodo News Agency reported that last March, Ken Livingstone launched an amazing racist tirade against the Japanese nation, inferring that the Japanese Embassy’s refusal to pay the congestion charge is somehow linked to past war atrocities. Speaking at a news conference about congestion charging, he told the LBC radio station, "I think there are several problems with Japan that we could go on about here. Admitting their guilt for all the war crimes would be one thing. So if they've not got round to doing that, I doubt they're too worried about the congestion charge."
The Embassies of around 50 nations are refusing to pay the congestion charge because they argue the charge is in fact a tax, which under diplomatic law they are therefore exempt from paying. The United States is reported to be the worst offender, notching up an incredible £891,000 in unpaid fines. Several African nations are well over the £500,000 mark, while Japan is sitting on a relatively modest £312,000 of unpaid tickets. The revolt over congestion charging was lead by the US and Germany in 2005. So why doesn’t Ken Livingstone attribute Germany’s refusal to pay to its Nazi beliefs? Or condemn the Americans for their savage imperialism in the Middle East which has left countless thousands dead and whole nations in ruins? Why is it that amongst all the countries of the world, Japan is the only country that warrants Red Ken's tarring with one collective brush?
Perhaps some people would answer that question by saying – like Livingstone – that it’s because the Japanese have never been held to account for wartime aggression. That may or may not be true, but nobody ever asks why that might be: Why is it that comparatively few Japanese wartime leaders were executed or imprisoned after the war? Why is it that Japanese people were never, and still aren’t being given the opportunity to understand and acknowledge their country’s role in the Pacific war? Why doesn’t anybody ever question why the Japanese went to war in the first place?
The injustice of Livingstone’s remarks are that they in effect accuse all Japanese people of being complicit in wartime atrocities, when in actual fact most Japanese people today have very little understanding or knowledge of the war. The US sanctioned the ripping-out that page of the history books to serve its own interests in post-war Asia. It allowed Japanese political, industrial and military leaders to escape trial, so they could help rebuild Japan in America’s image, thus providing a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia and a convenient trading post for America. Not too mention, of course, a captive supply of cheap manufactured goods, rather like the US theft of the Iraqi people’s oil wealth. Of course it could only achieve this by also changing the perspective of the Japanese people themselves, who were encouraged to believe that their own, pre-US, culture is tainted.
Nobody could seriously argue that the Japanese didn't do some pretty terrible things in the war. But let's also remember that, like Germany, Japan was under a military dictatorship at the time of the war. It’s therefore difficult to see the justification of labelling an entire modern nation as war criminals, for a war they know nothing about and in which very few citizens were actively complicit of their own free will. It would be just as preposterous and outageous to label all American’s “baby-killers” for their guilt in the Vietnam war or all modern-day Germans as Nazis.
In some ways, I agree with Livingstone that war criminals should not be allowed to hide their crimes under a cover of silence. The only problem is, he needs to start a little higher up his list of unpaid parking tickets to find the real modern-day war criminals, namely a Mr G.W.Bush of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.
The Embassies of around 50 nations are refusing to pay the congestion charge because they argue the charge is in fact a tax, which under diplomatic law they are therefore exempt from paying. The United States is reported to be the worst offender, notching up an incredible £891,000 in unpaid fines. Several African nations are well over the £500,000 mark, while Japan is sitting on a relatively modest £312,000 of unpaid tickets. The revolt over congestion charging was lead by the US and Germany in 2005. So why doesn’t Ken Livingstone attribute Germany’s refusal to pay to its Nazi beliefs? Or condemn the Americans for their savage imperialism in the Middle East which has left countless thousands dead and whole nations in ruins? Why is it that amongst all the countries of the world, Japan is the only country that warrants Red Ken's tarring with one collective brush?
Perhaps some people would answer that question by saying – like Livingstone – that it’s because the Japanese have never been held to account for wartime aggression. That may or may not be true, but nobody ever asks why that might be: Why is it that comparatively few Japanese wartime leaders were executed or imprisoned after the war? Why is it that Japanese people were never, and still aren’t being given the opportunity to understand and acknowledge their country’s role in the Pacific war? Why doesn’t anybody ever question why the Japanese went to war in the first place?
The injustice of Livingstone’s remarks are that they in effect accuse all Japanese people of being complicit in wartime atrocities, when in actual fact most Japanese people today have very little understanding or knowledge of the war. The US sanctioned the ripping-out that page of the history books to serve its own interests in post-war Asia. It allowed Japanese political, industrial and military leaders to escape trial, so they could help rebuild Japan in America’s image, thus providing a bulwark against the spread of communism in Asia and a convenient trading post for America. Not too mention, of course, a captive supply of cheap manufactured goods, rather like the US theft of the Iraqi people’s oil wealth. Of course it could only achieve this by also changing the perspective of the Japanese people themselves, who were encouraged to believe that their own, pre-US, culture is tainted.
Nobody could seriously argue that the Japanese didn't do some pretty terrible things in the war. But let's also remember that, like Germany, Japan was under a military dictatorship at the time of the war. It’s therefore difficult to see the justification of labelling an entire modern nation as war criminals, for a war they know nothing about and in which very few citizens were actively complicit of their own free will. It would be just as preposterous and outageous to label all American’s “baby-killers” for their guilt in the Vietnam war or all modern-day Germans as Nazis.
In some ways, I agree with Livingstone that war criminals should not be allowed to hide their crimes under a cover of silence. The only problem is, he needs to start a little higher up his list of unpaid parking tickets to find the real modern-day war criminals, namely a Mr G.W.Bush of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.
More Prescott comments...
As a postscript to my previous post about that fat oaf Prescott, I have to admit that my gloating has been seriously outclassed by Devil's Kitchen.
Bravo!
...and so say all of us
He is a fat, corrupt, incompetent, adulterous, lazy, good-for-nothing sex pest and "serial groper"; frankly, the idea that the talentless, deluded, malignant little shit suffered in "misery and silence" for ten years is a source of barely concealed glee as far as your humble Devil is concerned.
Bravo!
...if you are not mature enough to understand that stuffing your porcine features with vast amounts of food and then throwing it up is a bad, stupid and pathetic thing to do, then you are certainly not mature enough to govern this country. For fuck's sake, this man was Deputy Prime Minister of Great Britain!
...and so say all of us
Monday, April 21, 2008
Prescott makes me sick (as well)
I am not normally one to gloat on the misfortunes or afflictions of others. Yet the temptation to lay into John Prescott over the revelation of his history of bulimia is pretty overwhelming. Had it been anyone even remotely civilised that had been thus afflicted, common decency would naturally stay the hand of chastisement. However, this is no civilised person. This is Prescott Two Jags, possibly the most useless politician ever to walk the Earth; a much-reviled titan of ineptitude that squandered vast amounts of our cash in a catalogue of hair-brained initiatives; a bully, a cheat and liar; a man far more interested in availing himself of every possible benefit and convenience, at tax payer's expense, than doing anything remotely useful.
Prescott is an odious human being. Against my better nature, I am curiously satisfied to learn of the corpulent northern twat's personal difficulties. Couldn't happen to a more deserving recipient. It does however beggar speculation on the size the fat arsehole would have grown to without the throwing up - such is the personal greed of this most loathsome of politicians that I bet he would have made Cyril Smith look like Barack Obama in comparison.
Prescott is an odious human being. Against my better nature, I am curiously satisfied to learn of the corpulent northern twat's personal difficulties. Couldn't happen to a more deserving recipient. It does however beggar speculation on the size the fat arsehole would have grown to without the throwing up - such is the personal greed of this most loathsome of politicians that I bet he would have made Cyril Smith look like Barack Obama in comparison.
Friday, April 18, 2008
Harman hires new spin doctor
Still smarting from the caning she received after the flak jacket incident, Harriet "Role-Play" Harman has sacked her dumbkopff press advisor. Having been caught squarely in the media's crosshairs, Harman has wisely decided to bring in someone with a bit more savvy when it comes to the sensitive issue of covering up her government's woeful record on, well, just about everything really. The new encumbant charged with preventing Harman dropping any more gigantic bollocks is Lyn Bryan - former press secretary to Margeret Beckitt and David Milliband. It transpires that the outgoing aide is actually the wife of another Labour MP with, it appears, no experience of PR or media relations. In other words, an incestuous appointment at taxpayers expense of someone wholly inappropriate to the role. Hmmm...where have I heard that before?
What is bizzare about all this is why Harman needs to employ a professional to tell her that parading around the streets of her constituency wearing a stab proof vest and surrounded by burly police officers doesn't exactly instill confidence in the electorate. Is she really that fucking stupid?
What is bizzare about all this is why Harman needs to employ a professional to tell her that parading around the streets of her constituency wearing a stab proof vest and surrounded by burly police officers doesn't exactly instill confidence in the electorate. Is she really that fucking stupid?
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Labour abolishes crime - Hurrah!
According to a report issued today by ACPO, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the percentage of criminality amongst migrant workers is no higher than the native population. Phew - I'm damn glad to hear that. So all those stories of people traffickers, cash point thieves, Romanian burglars and Lithuanian decapitators of young women were just vicious rumours after all? In fact, not only are our friends from the East a law abiding bunch, their high moral standards seem to be having a beneficial effect on our home-grown scrotes, because - unbelievably -reported crime has actually fallen in the UK.
Sniff - can you smell something? Yes it's the unmistakably whiff of Labour bullshit. Dig a little deeper and it doesn't take long before the story starts unravelling:
You're fucking right it doesn't make sense. There is no indication in this report of how are they measuring criminality? My guess is in terms of the percentage of reported crimes per head of population. But expressed in percentage terms, the fact that migrant workers have the same proportion of dodgy characters as the native population conveniently hides the fact that if you've added 1m to the population, the overall number of crimes in absolute terms must have increased. Viewed in this way, the figures don't look quite so believable. And there is plenty of evidence to back-up this hypothesis.
Last September, the Telegraph reported:
Notice these figures are based, not on some arbitrary "crime rate" calculation, but on hard, factual data. Some police chiefs have given us further insights into the real effects of Labour's policy of mass migration...
That's an increase of over 33% in just five years! Statistics show that 1 in 8 of the whole UK prison population are now foreign nationals. Figures released by 25 police forces in England and Wales indicated that one-in-five people convicted or charged with murder in the 12 months to April 2007 was foreign. Last year, Julie Spence, the chief constable of Cambridgeshire said that drink-drive figures showed a 17-fold rise in arrests of foreigners.
Then there is the use of that handy phrase "recorded crime" as a barometer of levels of criminality. This is surely the most unreliable indicator to rely upon in this situation:
So what you're saying is that there are clearly difficulties in getting reliable evidence from eastern European witnesses as well as criminals. Therefore, is it not reasonable to assume that because of these difficulties, a proportion crimes go unrecorded? Julie Spence said last year that it could take three times longer to deal with a crime involving an offender, witness or victim who did not speak English. It was more expensive because of the need for interpreters, with up to 90 languages being spoken. Is it not reasonable to also summise that a significant percentage of cases are dropped becuase of the expense involved in bringing a case to court?
Could this not provide a more believable explanation for this apparently miraculous 9% drop in recorded crime?
But, of course, none of that's going to be mentioned in Jacqui Smith's predictable response to the report. Naturally the cunt will slap our faces with this flimsiest of evidence and tell us what misguided fools we were to believe these scandalous and subversive stories of rising crime fuelled by out-of-control migration.
Well, Smith can fuck off: The evidence that Labour's open door policy on immigration has acted as a magnet to every scumbag in the A8 is absolutely overwhelming. I know it; you know it; every copper knows it and Smith fucking knows it too. How much longer do we have to put up with this bunch of lying, treasonous, incompetant shit-stains. Never mind a referendum, I want a bloody revolution.
In figures released by the Home Office in January, recorded crime in England and Wales was down by 9% from July to September last year compared with the same period in the previous year.
Sniff - can you smell something? Yes it's the unmistakably whiff of Labour bullshit. Dig a little deeper and it doesn't take long before the story starts unravelling:
Acpo's head of race and diversity, Peter Fahy, who co-wrote the report, said: "We have got...a fairly significant reduction in crime across the whole country.
"So it wouldn't really make sense that given we've brought in something like 800,000 to 1,000,000 from eastern Europe, during that period crime has actually fallen significantly."
You're fucking right it doesn't make sense. There is no indication in this report of how are they measuring criminality? My guess is in terms of the percentage of reported crimes per head of population. But expressed in percentage terms, the fact that migrant workers have the same proportion of dodgy characters as the native population conveniently hides the fact that if you've added 1m to the population, the overall number of crimes in absolute terms must have increased. Viewed in this way, the figures don't look quite so believable. And there is plenty of evidence to back-up this hypothesis.
Last September, the Telegraph reported:
More than one crime in five in London is now committed by a foreign national, raising fresh fears over the impact of immigration.
Poles, who have entered Britain in record numbers since they joined the European Union in 2004, committed 2,310 crimes in the first six months of this year to become the most prolific offenders.
Romanians, whose country became part of the EU in January, committed more than 1,000 offences — an eightfold rise on the same period in 2006, according to Metropolitan Police figures for solved crimes.
Notice these figures are based, not on some arbitrary "crime rate" calculation, but on hard, factual data. Some police chiefs have given us further insights into the real effects of Labour's policy of mass migration...
Mike Fuller, Chief Contable of Kent, said “migration surges” had contributed to an increase of more than a third in violent crime over five years to 7,800 incidents in 2007.
That's an increase of over 33% in just five years! Statistics show that 1 in 8 of the whole UK prison population are now foreign nationals. Figures released by 25 police forces in England and Wales indicated that one-in-five people convicted or charged with murder in the 12 months to April 2007 was foreign. Last year, Julie Spence, the chief constable of Cambridgeshire said that drink-drive figures showed a 17-fold rise in arrests of foreigners.
Then there is the use of that handy phrase "recorded crime" as a barometer of levels of criminality. This is surely the most unreliable indicator to rely upon in this situation:
We have had huge increases in the interpreters budget, but that's not really just about eastern Europeans being offenders, it's also about them being victims and witnesses of crime
Peter Fahy, Acpo
So what you're saying is that there are clearly difficulties in getting reliable evidence from eastern European witnesses as well as criminals. Therefore, is it not reasonable to assume that because of these difficulties, a proportion crimes go unrecorded? Julie Spence said last year that it could take three times longer to deal with a crime involving an offender, witness or victim who did not speak English. It was more expensive because of the need for interpreters, with up to 90 languages being spoken. Is it not reasonable to also summise that a significant percentage of cases are dropped becuase of the expense involved in bringing a case to court?
Could this not provide a more believable explanation for this apparently miraculous 9% drop in recorded crime?
But, of course, none of that's going to be mentioned in Jacqui Smith's predictable response to the report. Naturally the cunt will slap our faces with this flimsiest of evidence and tell us what misguided fools we were to believe these scandalous and subversive stories of rising crime fuelled by out-of-control migration.
Well, Smith can fuck off: The evidence that Labour's open door policy on immigration has acted as a magnet to every scumbag in the A8 is absolutely overwhelming. I know it; you know it; every copper knows it and Smith fucking knows it too. How much longer do we have to put up with this bunch of lying, treasonous, incompetant shit-stains. Never mind a referendum, I want a bloody revolution.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
A tax on personal freedom
I can't have been the only one to have noticed something rather obvious about the much trumpeted switchover to digital tv. Specifically, what a load of shit digital tv is. Having invested £19.99 of the hard-earned Gitt household budget on a freeview box, I was sorely dismayed to find nothing on there but endless reality tv shows about policemen chasing drunk yobs up and down the High Street, pathetic American daytime tv shows and endless re-runs of ancient episodes BBC shows like Have I Got News and Top Gear. So ancient, in fact, that they are still taking the piss out of Prime Minister Major.
Most nights, I follow the same ritual: Sit down in front of the box, switch on, flick through the channels from beginning to last, pausing briefly to mutter the odd profanity, and then turn the fucking thing off again. Occasionally, I might run across something worth watching. But that's very much the exception rather than the rule. And it's so nonsensical: I used to quite enjoy UKTV History until they decided to cease programmes after 6pm. So what's the fucking point of that? Is there some graph somewhere that shows the history-loving viewing public gets up at 6am, watches for 12 hours and then fucks off to bed? I don't think so.
There's no denying it - the freeview channels that we will all be stuck with post 2012 are absolute shite of the first degree. Is it any wonder that the viewing public are switching off in droves in favour of more meaningful content?
In August last year, an IBM survey found factual evidence pointing to the decline of TV as the primary media device.
Driving this switch was consumer desire for... "consolidated, trustworthy content, recognition and community". To find it... "Consumers are increasingly turning to online destinations like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, games, or mobile entertainment vs. traditional television." So, it appears I am not alone in rejecting a brain-rotting diet of regurgitated dross and purile, piss-poor programming. But with audiences drying up, so is the advertising and therefore the programming budgets.
Surely, if you want to attract viewing audiences back then the obvious answer is to make programmes people wanted to watch. Ah...but Labour and their media bum-chums have spotted there's money to be made here. In a move that really displays what a totally cynical, fucked-up bunch or arseholes they are, new proposals to tax ISPs are being discussed. The revenue would be used to support "public service" programming that nobody wants to watch and still less people want to advertise with. For "public service" read "Labour propaganda". Bollocks.
The cost of broadband services, as the government cagily admits, "may rise as a result". In his usual restrained narrative style, Devil's Kitchen points out:
This government never misses a trick to get their fucking hands in our wallets - now it's a tax on information technology. What's next? a thought tax? Bastards.
Most nights, I follow the same ritual: Sit down in front of the box, switch on, flick through the channels from beginning to last, pausing briefly to mutter the odd profanity, and then turn the fucking thing off again. Occasionally, I might run across something worth watching. But that's very much the exception rather than the rule. And it's so nonsensical: I used to quite enjoy UKTV History until they decided to cease programmes after 6pm. So what's the fucking point of that? Is there some graph somewhere that shows the history-loving viewing public gets up at 6am, watches for 12 hours and then fucks off to bed? I don't think so.
There's no denying it - the freeview channels that we will all be stuck with post 2012 are absolute shite of the first degree. Is it any wonder that the viewing public are switching off in droves in favour of more meaningful content?
In August last year, an IBM survey found factual evidence pointing to the decline of TV as the primary media device.
The global findings overwhelmingly suggest personal Internet time rivals TV time. Among consumer respondents, 19 percent stated spending six hours or more per day on personal Internet usage, versus nine percent of respondents who reported the same levels of TV viewing. 66 percent reported viewing between one to four hours of TV per day, versus 60 percent who reported the same levels of personal Internet usage.
Driving this switch was consumer desire for... "consolidated, trustworthy content, recognition and community". To find it... "Consumers are increasingly turning to online destinations like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, games, or mobile entertainment vs. traditional television." So, it appears I am not alone in rejecting a brain-rotting diet of regurgitated dross and purile, piss-poor programming. But with audiences drying up, so is the advertising and therefore the programming budgets.
Surely, if you want to attract viewing audiences back then the obvious answer is to make programmes people wanted to watch. Ah...but Labour and their media bum-chums have spotted there's money to be made here. In a move that really displays what a totally cynical, fucked-up bunch or arseholes they are, new proposals to tax ISPs are being discussed. The revenue would be used to support "public service" programming that nobody wants to watch and still less people want to advertise with. For "public service" read "Labour propaganda". Bollocks.
The cost of broadband services, as the government cagily admits, "may rise as a result". In his usual restrained narrative style, Devil's Kitchen points out:
They "may" lead to higher charges? You think? What planet are you living on, you thick bastards? Of course they will lead to higher broadband charges, you arseholes.
This government never misses a trick to get their fucking hands in our wallets - now it's a tax on information technology. What's next? a thought tax? Bastards.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
How did this idiot end up as Prime Minister?
More dithering from Brown over his participation in the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. First he is, then he isn't. Having completely misjudged the situation and the public's mood during the torch's farcical journey through London, our chicken-livered PM has finally made a decision and categorically stated that he won't be attending the opening ceremony. Probably. Strange that Chinese state TV is saying that he is.
But after appearing to endorse the Chinese PR attempts on the steps of Downing Street - the only political leader to make such a crashing error, incidentally - the decision to stay away from Beijing now looks like pure cowardice rather than a statement of his position on China's human rights record. What an odious imbecile that man is.
But after appearing to endorse the Chinese PR attempts on the steps of Downing Street - the only political leader to make such a crashing error, incidentally - the decision to stay away from Beijing now looks like pure cowardice rather than a statement of his position on China's human rights record. What an odious imbecile that man is.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
The clot in Britain's transport arteries
I have long pondered the reasoning of the half-baked intellect that came up with the idea of the Highways Agency's army of dayglo-ed wannabe traffic cops. I mean, what did they think they were going to achieve by employing legions of pea-brained jobsworths to patrol the highways and byways of Britain. Whatever the intention was, the results have been all too predictable - even more traffic chaos, as eloquently illustrated by the sublime Barry Beelzebub writing on Devil's Advocate.
So what are they supposed to do? Wikipedia has this to say...
So the idea was to reduce traffic congestion after minor accidents. Now this is interesting. Most experienced drivers know only that the major cause of congestion is "rubber necking". So what's more likely to cause rubber necking? the sight of a dented car, or the sight of a dented car, surrounded by flashing disco lights, arm-waving pillocks in dayglo jackets and 4 x 4 pretendy police cars? Hmm...that's a tricky one.
And then there is the major cause of accidents on motorways - rear end collisions. Caused largely as a result of...you've guessed it..rubber necking.
So here we have it: More congestion, which leads to more minor collisions, which in turn leads to more congestion and so on.
The net result is - as anyone who has travelled on a motorway knows only too well - traffic congestion has become so chronic after even a minor incident, that disruption is measured in tens of hours. So who was the pillock behind this masterstroke?
Why, it's our old friend Alistair Darling - fuckwit extraordinaire.
Once the high visibility-jacketed muppets of the Highways Agency were recruited to take over many of the responsibilities of the low-visibility motorway police, the situation deteriorated into something resembling farce. Now, every time you set off on an important journey – perhaps to win a new order for your firm or negotiate a job-creating contract – the chances of you actually arriving at your destination within eight hours of the due time depend upon a sad group of men who live with their mothers, carry emergency Yorkies in their jacket pockets and who can recite clause number 72b (section C) of the 1995 Road Traffic Act verbatim.
So what are they supposed to do? Wikipedia has this to say...
In April 2004, Highways Agency Traffic Officers began working alongside police on motorways in the West Midlands. They work alongside the police in England in an attempt to reduce congestion caused by incidents. Overall it was estimated to cost the UK economy £3billion a year with the closure of one lane estimated at up to £400,000 an hour. The introduction of the officers was aimed to reduce the 25% of delays caused by collisions by around 5%. The roll out of traffic Officers was completed on 18 July 2006 and they now cover the whole of the English motorway network using high-visibility patrol vehicles.
So the idea was to reduce traffic congestion after minor accidents. Now this is interesting. Most experienced drivers know only that the major cause of congestion is "rubber necking". So what's more likely to cause rubber necking? the sight of a dented car, or the sight of a dented car, surrounded by flashing disco lights, arm-waving pillocks in dayglo jackets and 4 x 4 pretendy police cars? Hmm...that's a tricky one.
And then there is the major cause of accidents on motorways - rear end collisions. Caused largely as a result of...you've guessed it..rubber necking.
So here we have it: More congestion, which leads to more minor collisions, which in turn leads to more congestion and so on.
The net result is - as anyone who has travelled on a motorway knows only too well - traffic congestion has become so chronic after even a minor incident, that disruption is measured in tens of hours. So who was the pillock behind this masterstroke?
Why, it's our old friend Alistair Darling - fuckwit extraordinaire.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
God help us....
I like to consider myself a compassionate and tolerant human being. Yet I find it quite hard to watch programmes like BBC South East's recent "Breadline Britain" feature without being consumed by a mixture of disgust and outrage.
Sporting a fetching black eye and festooned with the regulation hoopy earings and clown pendant, a single mum muses on the shortcomings of her two-bedroom flat in Maidstone, and her plans to become a "beauty ferapist". Her flat is, of course, provided free of charge by the local council. She also doesn't pay council tax and pockets a not insubstantial £120 a week in benefits, plus free nursery care for her bastard offspring. The flat in question is full of children's toys, and the young mother has sufficient spare cash to be able to visit the pub and to smoke. Something that - incidentally - I couldn't afford to do. So far, so good - a life of leisure, paid for by the tax-payer. Nirvana, surely. Yet is she happy? alas not.
Along with the other charming single mothers from the estate, it seems that all is not well. "We 'avn't got gardens", bemoans one particularly eloquent lady of leisure. Later in the the feature, we see the young mother remonstrating with a bus driver who refused to let her ride for free to collect her weekly cash handout. "I don't 'ave any money", she wails. "I 'ad to buy fags."
Oh dear.
This, then, is the reality of Britain's underclass - a class that has thrived under Labour. Incentivised by freely available cash handouts, unencumbered by those troublesome morals and unbound by a society that has long since abandoned the conventions of acceptable behaviour, Britain's underclass has now become so established that its members are completely unable to comprehend concepts like personal responsibility. Instead, they seem to think they have a right to demand free housing, free health care, free money, simply for spawning the next generation of yobs to plague our town centres. This is the very situation highlighted by Mr Justice Coleridge in his damning assessment of the social consequences of misguided liberalism. Labour's response? Ed Balls and another fucking useless initiative.
Oh dear...we are surely screwed
Sporting a fetching black eye and festooned with the regulation hoopy earings and clown pendant, a single mum muses on the shortcomings of her two-bedroom flat in Maidstone, and her plans to become a "beauty ferapist". Her flat is, of course, provided free of charge by the local council. She also doesn't pay council tax and pockets a not insubstantial £120 a week in benefits, plus free nursery care for her bastard offspring. The flat in question is full of children's toys, and the young mother has sufficient spare cash to be able to visit the pub and to smoke. Something that - incidentally - I couldn't afford to do. So far, so good - a life of leisure, paid for by the tax-payer. Nirvana, surely. Yet is she happy? alas not.
Along with the other charming single mothers from the estate, it seems that all is not well. "We 'avn't got gardens", bemoans one particularly eloquent lady of leisure. Later in the the feature, we see the young mother remonstrating with a bus driver who refused to let her ride for free to collect her weekly cash handout. "I don't 'ave any money", she wails. "I 'ad to buy fags."
Oh dear.
This, then, is the reality of Britain's underclass - a class that has thrived under Labour. Incentivised by freely available cash handouts, unencumbered by those troublesome morals and unbound by a society that has long since abandoned the conventions of acceptable behaviour, Britain's underclass has now become so established that its members are completely unable to comprehend concepts like personal responsibility. Instead, they seem to think they have a right to demand free housing, free health care, free money, simply for spawning the next generation of yobs to plague our town centres. This is the very situation highlighted by Mr Justice Coleridge in his damning assessment of the social consequences of misguided liberalism. Labour's response? Ed Balls and another fucking useless initiative.
Oh dear...we are surely screwed
Monday, April 7, 2008
Out of the mouths of babes and bimbos
I am sure the BBC will rather rue their decision to wheel out the cute but intellectually-challenged Konnie Huq on breakfast tv this morning to talk about the demonstrations in London yesterday. She said...
Brilliant. Couldn't put it better myself
"I'm quite glad that people have the right to protest in this country, unlike in China where they'd be arrested and tortured"
Brilliant. Couldn't put it better myself
The Olympics just aren't cricket
The progress of the Olympic torch through the streets of London didn't go quite as smoothly as officials would have wanted, with the torch being met with relentless protests at every stage of its journey. I am no fan of violent protest, but I can fully understand the anger and frustration that drives people to make their feelings felt in this way. Let's not forget, this is a regime that is systematically suppressing freedom through violence and is guilty of the sort of human rights violations which wouldn't be out of place in Stalinist Russia. However you dress it up, China's internal policy is about as far away from the Olympic ideals of individual human endeavour as you can get.
Far from being a "national disgrace", I am rather proud of the fact that even after 10 years of Labour brainwashing we still have people in this country with the balls to stand up for what they believe in. In fact, I think it's actually the myopic sports personalities that are the national disgrace.
At least we have the freedom to raise children in this country, Goodhew, unlike in Tibet where forced sterilisations are still being carried out.
Really? What examples of fair play do you see in China, Mr Goodhew? How is ignoring human rights abuses on a national scale a "force for good"? Which do you think is worse - a few people raising their voices in protest or troops shooting people dead on the street? You are a fucking hypocite.
I'm sure that I am not the only person who found the sight of the torch being carried through the streets surrounded by Chinese secret service heavies a powerful and disturbing image. I wonder if Dame Kelly Holmes or Duncan Goodhew or any of the other self-absorbed arseholes who are helping China cover their crimes with the veneer of respectability would have carried the Olympic torch for Hitler's 1936 games? I suspect they would. Give me the British sense of fair play over this bullshit "Olympic Ideal" any day.
Some of the high-profile sports stars who ran the relay, which was supposed to be a showcase for British sport, branded it "a national disgrace".
Far from being a "national disgrace", I am rather proud of the fact that even after 10 years of Labour brainwashing we still have people in this country with the balls to stand up for what they believe in. In fact, I think it's actually the myopic sports personalities that are the national disgrace.
Duncan Goodhew, the former Olympic swimmer who ran with the torch, said: "It shows how extreme things can get in this country and it's a great shame. It's such a bad example for children.
At least we have the freedom to raise children in this country, Goodhew, unlike in Tibet where forced sterilisations are still being carried out.
"The Olympic Games is about inspiring young people, human excellence and fair play. It's a force for good and it's a shame when it is spoilt in this scenario by a few people breaking the law."
Really? What examples of fair play do you see in China, Mr Goodhew? How is ignoring human rights abuses on a national scale a "force for good"? Which do you think is worse - a few people raising their voices in protest or troops shooting people dead on the street? You are a fucking hypocite.
I'm sure that I am not the only person who found the sight of the torch being carried through the streets surrounded by Chinese secret service heavies a powerful and disturbing image. I wonder if Dame Kelly Holmes or Duncan Goodhew or any of the other self-absorbed arseholes who are helping China cover their crimes with the veneer of respectability would have carried the Olympic torch for Hitler's 1936 games? I suspect they would. Give me the British sense of fair play over this bullshit "Olympic Ideal" any day.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Thanks Ken - bloody decent of you
Fed up with getting tickets for speeding and dallying on yellow lines? Red Ken's TfL might have the answer, according to The Register...
Brought to you by the party that wants to get your details on a national identity database...
Transport for London has provided a handy tool for those who would like to use false numberplates to fool any of the various networks of automatic numberplate recognition (ANPR) cameras now deployed across much of the UK.
Using the capital's online congestion charge payment system, anyone can swiftly check what make and colour of vehicle is recorded in the UK's national DVLA database for any given registration number. No payment or identification is necessary.
This would obviously be a boon to those intending to false-flag a vehicle, as it would be possible to keep trying different registrations until one came across a record of the correct vehicle make and colour.
Say you have a black Porsche 911 GT2. Keep trying registrations here until you get one of those. (Starting with the right year will speed things up. So will the use of an automated bot. Just to be safe, prospective villains should also route via an anonymous proxy server, or hook up via someone else's Wi-Fi or an internet cafe or something.)
Then buy or make plates or overlays showing the number which gave the hit, and put them on your 530-horsepower pocket rocket. Now you can happily drive in and out of London without paying your soon-to-be £25 congestion charge; barrel past speed cameras as fast as you like; drive in bus lanes; park illegally; fill up at petrol stations and drive off without paying. The fine demands and summonses will all be sent to someone else.
If you get randomly numberplate-scanned by human traffic cops, or eyeballed by a CCTV operator, you should be OK as their system will indicate that you're in the right type of car for the plates.
Obviously, you don't need to use TfL. You could simply wander or drive around until you saw a car of the correct type, and copy its plates. But the online method is potentially a lot quicker and less troublesome, which is a factor. You really want to change your false plates fairly often, as the authorities will soon become aware that someone other than the registered user is using them. That's where the automated bot is a particularly handy idea.
Alternatively, of course, you might not be wanting to carry out a string of motoring offences. You might simply want to move about without creating a log of your travels in the various ANPR systems. Either method of harvesting plates would do for this purpose, TfL or manual. If the cops, spooks, or other minions of the state ever ran a search using your ordinary, legit plates, they would never find out about your ghost journeys.
The TfL online payment system would come in handy there, too, as you could pay the congestion charges resulting from any London trips. Then even the real owner of your false plates would be none the wiser. (Don't use your own credit card, though, eh.)
As of going to press, TfL hadn't yet commented on this aspect of the Congestion Charging system. But they promised to get back to us ASAP - we'll keep you posted.®
for the headsup - though we really should have thought of it ourselves.
Brought to you by the party that wants to get your details on a national identity database...
Another Balls-up
I note that odious and ineffectual wank-stain, Ed Balls, has announced plans to rescue society from the blight of anti-social behaviour. In yet another poorly conceived and poorly executed initiative, £218m of our money will be spunked away trying to paper over the cracks of 10 years of abysmal failure to tackle the root causes of the problem.
On the Labour website, Balls announces that...
Well that sounds like good value for money doesn't it? £218m to tackle a thousand feral teenagers. Splendid idea. Let's read on and discover how Balls is going to achieve this worthy goal.
What? you mean the law is not currently being enforced? Surpising, but we'll let that go...
Blimey...deja-vu! I seem to remember someone saying something once about being "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime"...can't think where I heard that before. But no matter, it's clear Labour are talking tough on this subject, and as a result I think we all know where this is heading, but pray continue....
Now I'm confused...why is Labour only now talking about legislation as a "first priority" 10 fucking years after they came to power? And what is this remarkable new legislation that promises to banish drunken yobs from our town centres at a single stroke? Hmm...can't seem to find any mention of that. Let's continue...
Yawn....
Yawn...Ah - at last we get to the nuts and bolts of Balls' "Action Plan".
Erm...right: So basically, this "strong action" of which he speaks consists of having a finger wagged at you by some fucking useless social worker and then getting an ASBO. This, presumably, would be the same social worker who is failing to tackle the problem at the moment; the same ASBO that is now regarded as a rite of passage among Britain's thriving underclass. The same ASBO that has proven to be no fucking use whatsoever in tackling anything.
So, basically, the plan adds up to a big fat fucking zero, that's going to cost us £218m
But interesting that the flabby, limp-wristed wanker should mention family breakdown. Someone else - with slightly more credibility - had something to say about that this week.
The judge, who has seen at first hand the results of Labour's assault on the family unit, continued:
He then goes on to paint a picture which is all too familiar...
So, according to someone who has a lifetime's first-hand experience of the subject (unlike Balls), the destruction of the family unit is at the root of the problem. And what has Labour done to protect the family unit? Fuck all, actually. Remember the fiasco of the CSA? Another Labour initiative that swallowed vast sums of our money and achieved precisely nothing.
Meanwhile, on council estates up and down the land, Britain's underclass views the act of procroation as career move, opening as it does, the door to hundreds in benefits each week and hordes of cardiganed social workers at your beck and call; free dental care; free health care; free council tax; free housing; free clothing etc. Is it any wonder that these people - who Justice Coleridge identifies as the major factor in social breakdown - are breeding like fucking rabbits?
Labour has created the problem of anti-social behaviour by incentivising irresponsible parenting. It's going to take more than an incompetent, camp fuckwit with another vacuous initiative to solve that problem, alas.
On the Labour website, Balls announces that...
A thousand of the most challenging young people in England will be targeted for non-negotiable intervention as part of a drive to prevent future antisocial behaviour.
Well that sounds like good value for money doesn't it? £218m to tackle a thousand feral teenagers. Splendid idea. Let's read on and discover how Balls is going to achieve this worthy goal.
• Tough enforcement where behaviour is unacceptable or illegal;
What? you mean the law is not currently being enforced? Surpising, but we'll let that go...
• Non-negotiable support to address the underlying causes of poor behaviour;
• Better prevention to tackle problems before they become serious and entrenched, and to prevent problems arising in the first place.
Blimey...deja-vu! I seem to remember someone saying something once about being "tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime"...can't think where I heard that before. But no matter, it's clear Labour are talking tough on this subject, and as a result I think we all know where this is heading, but pray continue....
The Children’s Secretary said: “It is right that our first priority has been to put in place legislation to stop antisocial behaviour in its tracks to bring respite to communities.
Now I'm confused...why is Labour only now talking about legislation as a "first priority" 10 fucking years after they came to power? And what is this remarkable new legislation that promises to banish drunken yobs from our town centres at a single stroke? Hmm...can't seem to find any mention of that. Let's continue...
The Action Plan will go further to tackle antisocial behaviour by making sure we take strong actions to tackle the underlying causes such as substance misuse and family breakdown.
Yawn....
"Recognising these problems doesn't condone bad behaviour - nor is help a soft option. In the end where young people and families don't accept help to change their behaviour then the right thing to do is to use Antisocial Behaviour Orders and Individual Support Orders."
Yawn...Ah - at last we get to the nuts and bolts of Balls' "Action Plan".
Erm...right: So basically, this "strong action" of which he speaks consists of having a finger wagged at you by some fucking useless social worker and then getting an ASBO. This, presumably, would be the same social worker who is failing to tackle the problem at the moment; the same ASBO that is now regarded as a rite of passage among Britain's thriving underclass. The same ASBO that has proven to be no fucking use whatsoever in tackling anything.
So, basically, the plan adds up to a big fat fucking zero, that's going to cost us £218m
But interesting that the flabby, limp-wristed wanker should mention family breakdown. Someone else - with slightly more credibility - had something to say about that this week.
Mr Justice Coleridge, one of the country's most senior judges, yesterday accused Gordon Brown of prioritising the abolition of plastic bags over support for families, and preciding over a Government that is "fiddling while Rome burns".
The judge, who has seen at first hand the results of Labour's assault on the family unit, continued:
"We are experiencing a period of family meltdown whose effects will be as catastrophic as the meltdown of the ice caps."
He then goes on to paint a picture which is all too familiar...
Judges are witnessing a "never-ending carnival" of human misery, and almost all of society's social ills can be traced back to the collapse in family stability, he says. Many single mothers do a good job, but thousands of children are being raised by women who have several children by several fathers, none of whom stick around.
So, according to someone who has a lifetime's first-hand experience of the subject (unlike Balls), the destruction of the family unit is at the root of the problem. And what has Labour done to protect the family unit? Fuck all, actually. Remember the fiasco of the CSA? Another Labour initiative that swallowed vast sums of our money and achieved precisely nothing.
Meanwhile, on council estates up and down the land, Britain's underclass views the act of procroation as career move, opening as it does, the door to hundreds in benefits each week and hordes of cardiganed social workers at your beck and call; free dental care; free health care; free council tax; free housing; free clothing etc. Is it any wonder that these people - who Justice Coleridge identifies as the major factor in social breakdown - are breeding like fucking rabbits?
Labour has created the problem of anti-social behaviour by incentivising irresponsible parenting. It's going to take more than an incompetent, camp fuckwit with another vacuous initiative to solve that problem, alas.
Saturday, April 5, 2008
Initiative is the new fascism, apparently
Some time ago, yours truly had cause to visit a trade exhibition for companies involved in every aspect of the events business, from portable toilets to lighting systems. The events business is an exciting one, and is a field (excuse the pun) in which I can claim some modest experience. Safety has always been the top concern for people involved in putting on events, and rightly so. However these days -as in virtually every other aspect of human endeavour - it seems safety has become less of a concern and more of a pathological obsession. Not with the people who are actually doing the work; people who, for the most part, are hugely responsible and capable experts in their respective disciplines. No. The obsession lies with the incompetent buffoons at the Town Hall, who spend their time thinking up ever-more ingenious methods of curtailing people's enjoyment. Not to mention their personal development.
On the tube heading back from the show, I ended up standing next to a couple of these individuals as they were discussing their latest battles with the vicious forces of evil, attempting to overwhelm their administrative regions with fetes, bouncy castles and bring-and-buy sales. With predictable efficiency, the District line train broke down at Earls Court, however this did provide ample opportunity for some serious ear-wigging into the daily goings-on with the Risk Assessment brigade.
The main thrust of the conversation concerned the misguided attempts of an individual member of the public to run a community project with local children. The basic idea appeared straightforward enough: Get some wood and paint and let the children build things. Ah, but there was a problem. "He wasn't a qualified carpenter," shrilled the first official to her shocked colleague. This then necessitated this community project having to find a qualified carpenter, willing to donate their time for free. Which, apparently, they did. "Ah but we couldn't allow the children near tools, of course", continued the bespectacaled soap-dodger, "Far too dangerous." So now the act of actually making things now had to take place in a workshop, presumably surrounded by 20 foot high fences with sirens and flashing lights warning everyone within an 8 mile radius that someone was about to pick up a screwdriver. The role of the children in all this was now subsumed to that of assembly worker - taking things that somebody else had made and sticking them together, thereby removing the entire point of the exercise, which was surely the act of creating something from nothing.
Nevertheless, with qualified carpenters beavering away in fortified workshops, creating risk-assessed, non-toxic components, from sustainable wood using low-carbon production techniques, and transported to the children's non-judgemental activity space by bio-fuelled, recycled, ethically-sourced bicycle-powered tuk-tuks, you'd think we'd be home and dry. But no. "So what was he planning to do with the things the children made?" asked the second official. With barely contained incredulity, the first answered "I think he intended the children to take them home!"
"Oh dear", smirked the second, tutting into her ethnically-woven, bio-degradable cardigan, "He just hasn't thought this through,has he?"
The net result was, of course, the community project was cancelled, thereby freeing the children to continue engaging their time in less edifying pursuits, such as mugging and graffiti. Thanks to the attentions of these patronising and arrogant individuals, the good-hearted efforts of people who just wanted to do something constructive for their communities were strangled at birth. In Town Halls up and down the land, arseholes such as these are stifling innovation, suppressing initiative and attempting to turn the world into brainless regurgitators of doctrine, just like themselves. Rather than accusing the well-meaning individuals trying to make a difference of "not having thought things through", I wonder if they themselves have ever taken the time to consider the consequences of a generation of children raised with every original thought regulated out of their heads.
Or maybe that's the plan.
On the tube heading back from the show, I ended up standing next to a couple of these individuals as they were discussing their latest battles with the vicious forces of evil, attempting to overwhelm their administrative regions with fetes, bouncy castles and bring-and-buy sales. With predictable efficiency, the District line train broke down at Earls Court, however this did provide ample opportunity for some serious ear-wigging into the daily goings-on with the Risk Assessment brigade.
The main thrust of the conversation concerned the misguided attempts of an individual member of the public to run a community project with local children. The basic idea appeared straightforward enough: Get some wood and paint and let the children build things. Ah, but there was a problem. "He wasn't a qualified carpenter," shrilled the first official to her shocked colleague. This then necessitated this community project having to find a qualified carpenter, willing to donate their time for free. Which, apparently, they did. "Ah but we couldn't allow the children near tools, of course", continued the bespectacaled soap-dodger, "Far too dangerous." So now the act of actually making things now had to take place in a workshop, presumably surrounded by 20 foot high fences with sirens and flashing lights warning everyone within an 8 mile radius that someone was about to pick up a screwdriver. The role of the children in all this was now subsumed to that of assembly worker - taking things that somebody else had made and sticking them together, thereby removing the entire point of the exercise, which was surely the act of creating something from nothing.
Nevertheless, with qualified carpenters beavering away in fortified workshops, creating risk-assessed, non-toxic components, from sustainable wood using low-carbon production techniques, and transported to the children's non-judgemental activity space by bio-fuelled, recycled, ethically-sourced bicycle-powered tuk-tuks, you'd think we'd be home and dry. But no. "So what was he planning to do with the things the children made?" asked the second official. With barely contained incredulity, the first answered "I think he intended the children to take them home!"
"Oh dear", smirked the second, tutting into her ethnically-woven, bio-degradable cardigan, "He just hasn't thought this through,has he?"
The net result was, of course, the community project was cancelled, thereby freeing the children to continue engaging their time in less edifying pursuits, such as mugging and graffiti. Thanks to the attentions of these patronising and arrogant individuals, the good-hearted efforts of people who just wanted to do something constructive for their communities were strangled at birth. In Town Halls up and down the land, arseholes such as these are stifling innovation, suppressing initiative and attempting to turn the world into brainless regurgitators of doctrine, just like themselves. Rather than accusing the well-meaning individuals trying to make a difference of "not having thought things through", I wonder if they themselves have ever taken the time to consider the consequences of a generation of children raised with every original thought regulated out of their heads.
Or maybe that's the plan.
Another brilliant proposal from Jacqui Smith
This week saw another thoughtful set of proposed regulations from the towering intellect of Home Secretary Jacqui Smith. In a single stroke, Smith plans to sweep paeodophiles off the internet.
Apart from the obvious fact that one of the big failings of the Labour adminstration is that thanks to stifling bureaucracy and obsession with targets, nobody IS actually patrolling our streets anymore, this proposal displays a stunning ignorance of how the internet works. Any paedophile who can't work out how to get around this slight inconvenience in under 10 seconds is probably so stupid that they'd be caught instantly anyway.
As reported on the BBC Scotland website, internet security specialist Phil Worms viewed the proposals as a waste of time.
Clearly, she does. In case you're reading this Ms Smith, the helpful Mr Worms will explain the rather obvious flaw in your plans.
Not completely foolproof? I think the phrase you are looking for is "utterly fucking pointless", you fucking moron, Smith.
On one level, it's another example of hysterical knee-jerk regulation designed to capture headlines without delivering anything of substance. Another example is the recent ban on so-called samurai swords. Big words, tough talk and absolutely no fucking effect on the levels of violent crime in this country whatsoever.
Underlying it, proposals such as these are the top of an extremely slippery slope into full scale monitoring of the internet. Read again what Smith said on GMTV:
Naturally nobody wants their offspring to come to the attention of kiddie fiddlers on the 'net. But in reality, the chances of that happening are remotely small. This must be offset against the much greater risk to our liberty represented by restrictive and intrusive state intervention in our lives.
The problem is that there is so much bullshit about internet safety being propogated by fuckwits like Smith, that the levels of paranoia thus generated play straight into the hands of those who would happily throw away our rights to intellectual freedom so that their little darlings can remain wrapped in cotton wool. A recent example is the school that decided to replace the faces of children in its school photo with smily faces. Such an irrational and bizarre action could only have come about through fear, whipped up by people like Smith. The danger is that the freedom of information agenda will become driven by a load of hysterical, paranoid fat-arsed yummy-mummies who - like Smith - don't understand the internet and care nothing for the loss of civil liberties
For more lively debate, head over to th excellent Devil's Kitchen The Devil's Kitchen: Grooming kids (and I don't mean just brushing their hair)
Sex offenders' e-mail addresses are to be passed to social networking sites like Facebook and Bebo to prevent them contacting children.Under government proposals, offenders who do not give police their address - or give a false one - would face up to five years in jail.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she wanted children to be "free from fear".I have never heard such shit in all my life.
"We need to patrol the internet to keep predators away from children in the same way as we patrol the real world," she told GMTV.
Apart from the obvious fact that one of the big failings of the Labour adminstration is that thanks to stifling bureaucracy and obsession with targets, nobody IS actually patrolling our streets anymore, this proposal displays a stunning ignorance of how the internet works. Any paedophile who can't work out how to get around this slight inconvenience in under 10 seconds is probably so stupid that they'd be caught instantly anyway.
As reported on the BBC Scotland website, internet security specialist Phil Worms viewed the proposals as a waste of time.
This is great news - or at least it would be, if it was in any way enforceable.
Online predators learn to cover their tracks and get around security measures, so does the home secretary really think it is as simple as asking for their e-mail addresses?
Clearly, she does. In case you're reading this Ms Smith, the helpful Mr Worms will explain the rather obvious flaw in your plans.
Anyone, anywhere, can set up an e-mail address, so even if paedophiles give a genuine address to police, there's still nothing to stop them setting up five new accounts with which to log on to Bebo and carry on regardless.
Jacqui Smith has admitted these measures could never be 'completely foolproof,' but frankly they are barely even worth bringing into force.
Not completely foolproof? I think the phrase you are looking for is "utterly fucking pointless", you fucking moron, Smith.
On one level, it's another example of hysterical knee-jerk regulation designed to capture headlines without delivering anything of substance. Another example is the recent ban on so-called samurai swords. Big words, tough talk and absolutely no fucking effect on the levels of violent crime in this country whatsoever.
Underlying it, proposals such as these are the top of an extremely slippery slope into full scale monitoring of the internet. Read again what Smith said on GMTV:
"We need to patrol the internet to keep predators away from children in the same way as we patrol the real world"
Naturally nobody wants their offspring to come to the attention of kiddie fiddlers on the 'net. But in reality, the chances of that happening are remotely small. This must be offset against the much greater risk to our liberty represented by restrictive and intrusive state intervention in our lives.
The problem is that there is so much bullshit about internet safety being propogated by fuckwits like Smith, that the levels of paranoia thus generated play straight into the hands of those who would happily throw away our rights to intellectual freedom so that their little darlings can remain wrapped in cotton wool. A recent example is the school that decided to replace the faces of children in its school photo with smily faces. Such an irrational and bizarre action could only have come about through fear, whipped up by people like Smith. The danger is that the freedom of information agenda will become driven by a load of hysterical, paranoid fat-arsed yummy-mummies who - like Smith - don't understand the internet and care nothing for the loss of civil liberties
For more lively debate, head over to th excellent Devil's Kitchen The Devil's Kitchen: Grooming kids (and I don't mean just brushing their hair)
The only thing getting cheaper under Labour is the cost of life
What is the cost of an innocent life in Britain under Labour? The answer appears to be 18 months judging by the laughable sentence meted out yesterday to the so-called "chocolate bar killers". This case, you may recall, was the brutal killing an innocent young man who had confronted two feral yobs who had thrown a half-eaten chocolate bar into the car in which he was travelling. After threatening him with a knife, one of the teenage scumbags hit the victim so hard that he suffered a head injury that resulted in his death 8 days later.
The family of the vistim, Mr Anil, were understandably dismayed by the shockingly light sentence handed down for the ultimate crime.
Mr Anil's cousin Mehmet Aray said:
He then goes on to say;
He is absolutely right. But I fear, that's exactly what can and does happen. Violent crime like this is now so rife in our society that people have just given up complaining about it. Just finding this story on the BBC website took me a good five minutes - murders, stabbings and the brutality of Britain's sub-human underclass doesn't even make the news anymore.
The reality of inner city life, as clearly and depressingly illustrated by this sad case, is why lying Labour politicians have to wear stab-proof clothing to go out on the streets. It's shame Mr Anil wasn't given the same protection by this morally bankrupt adminsitration.
The family of the vistim, Mr Anil, were understandably dismayed by the shockingly light sentence handed down for the ultimate crime.
Mr Anil's cousin Mehmet Aray said:
"We expected five or six years to tell you the truth. We were prepared for that. But four years with good behaviour, out in two. In time for the World Cup I suppose.
He then goes on to say;
"But you know, if that's the message that we want to send out to our kids then we should stop moaning about people being stabbed all the time."
He is absolutely right. But I fear, that's exactly what can and does happen. Violent crime like this is now so rife in our society that people have just given up complaining about it. Just finding this story on the BBC website took me a good five minutes - murders, stabbings and the brutality of Britain's sub-human underclass doesn't even make the news anymore.
The reality of inner city life, as clearly and depressingly illustrated by this sad case, is why lying Labour politicians have to wear stab-proof clothing to go out on the streets. It's shame Mr Anil wasn't given the same protection by this morally bankrupt adminsitration.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Bog Off, Busby
So BT thinks it acceptable to snoop on the browsing habits of 18,000 of its customers. The company wheeled out some ugly prat of a talking head on breakfast tv this morning to try and put a positive spin on it, along the lines of how it will make the browsing experience more personalised for its customers. But in reality, it's probably more likely that they've been caught out in their voyeuristic marketing activities and have been forced to go public. Unlike Talk Talk and Tiscali, who have also been trialing the same software but haven't (yet) been outed.
While it's always fun to see a big company like BT put on the spot, I think the media reaction has been a little hysterical. Every website you visit invariably leaves behind a cookie on your computer, and every search you make is similarly stored - often for marketing purposes. Nevertheless, there is a subtle difference in what companies like Google do and what BT and others are trying to do. With the former, this profiling occurs only after you have requested information by using a search engine or visited a website. In the latter, you have no choice about how this profiling occurs. While it's conceivable that the former could be quite useful (and lucrative - it's where Google makes its cash) the BT approach is restrictive, intrusive and just plain stupid. But luckily, it's also easily defeated:Swap ISPs, or if that's not an option, simply get into the habit of clearing out cookies after every session. The more useless the system becomes for advertisers, the quicker it will be dropped.
While it's always fun to see a big company like BT put on the spot, I think the media reaction has been a little hysterical. Every website you visit invariably leaves behind a cookie on your computer, and every search you make is similarly stored - often for marketing purposes. Nevertheless, there is a subtle difference in what companies like Google do and what BT and others are trying to do. With the former, this profiling occurs only after you have requested information by using a search engine or visited a website. In the latter, you have no choice about how this profiling occurs. While it's conceivable that the former could be quite useful (and lucrative - it's where Google makes its cash) the BT approach is restrictive, intrusive and just plain stupid. But luckily, it's also easily defeated:Swap ISPs, or if that's not an option, simply get into the habit of clearing out cookies after every session. The more useless the system becomes for advertisers, the quicker it will be dropped.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Truth will out
When I go for gentle stroll around the neighbourhood, I generally don't wear a biological warfare suit or full plate armour. The reason being - should I have to spell it out - is that the chances of me being assailed by a marauding dragon or accosted by a cloud of anthrax during my perambulations are remarkably small. Anyone who has had to wear armour or protective equipment of any description will probably agree that it is awkward and restrictive, and not something that you'd do unless you had to. So why on earth do the police bother with protective vests? Simply - and obviously - because they need to.
Or at least, they thought they needed to. However, that was until Harriet Harman assured us that protective vests are merely a stylish, but optional, accessory item. Well that's alright then. Council tax payers up and down the country will surely be delighted by the fact that police forces will no longer have to buy those expensive stab vests; unencumbered police officers will rejoice in their ability to flit effortlessly from mugging to burglary like care-free spring lambs.
Absolute and utter bollocks, of course.
Inner city estates, like those around North Peckham, are not much short of war zones, as everyone - including that lying bitch Harman - knows only too well.
Far from being an innocent bit of dressing up, I think it far more likely that Harman was advised to wear protective clothing. And being fully aware of the danger she was in, she leapt at the chance.
As Philip Johnston in the Telegraph points out
And indeed it is. The defining image of an administration that has precided over an explosion in violent crime and anti-social behaviour; an administration that survives by peddling lies and meaningless statistics. But the reality of an MP so afraid of venturing onto the streets of her own constituency without being surrounded by burly police officers and wearing body armour cannot be denied.
Or at least, they thought they needed to. However, that was until Harriet Harman assured us that protective vests are merely a stylish, but optional, accessory item. Well that's alright then. Council tax payers up and down the country will surely be delighted by the fact that police forces will no longer have to buy those expensive stab vests; unencumbered police officers will rejoice in their ability to flit effortlessly from mugging to burglary like care-free spring lambs.
Absolute and utter bollocks, of course.
Inner city estates, like those around North Peckham, are not much short of war zones, as everyone - including that lying bitch Harman - knows only too well.
Beatrice Smith, 63, said despite regular trouble on some of the neighbourhood's estates, locals were never issued stab vests. "There were two stabbings nearby earlier today, and I'd rather see her spending time sorting the crime problem out than posing in such a ridiculous outfit"
Far from being an innocent bit of dressing up, I think it far more likely that Harman was advised to wear protective clothing. And being fully aware of the danger she was in, she leapt at the chance.
Incidents of violent crime in the borough of Southwark, which includes Peckham, have increased by 6.9 per cent in the last 12 months.
As Philip Johnston in the Telegraph points out
The picture of Harriet Harman touring the mean streets of her inner London constituency, wearing a stab-proof vest and surrounded by police officers should be a defining image of Labour’s term in power.
And indeed it is. The defining image of an administration that has precided over an explosion in violent crime and anti-social behaviour; an administration that survives by peddling lies and meaningless statistics. But the reality of an MP so afraid of venturing onto the streets of her own constituency without being surrounded by burly police officers and wearing body armour cannot be denied.
Another immigration smokescreen
Like a persistent turd that refuses to be flushed, the topic of immigration has inconveniently bobbed to the surface once again following the publication of a report by the House of Lords economic affairs committee which challenged the fundamental claims of Labour's open-door immigration policy.
Brown is still sticking to the ridiculous claim that we are all somehow better off thanks to the tidal wave of East European migrants that has flooded over our borders unchecked. Reported in the Telegraph, Mr Brown said that
Because they work for less money, even the migrants that are working legally and paying taxes - by no means all of them - do so at a lower rate than our native counterparts, thus devaluing the work market. Speak to any plumber or carpenter if you don't believe me. The money they earn is invariably sent back to their home country anyway, so it does little to benefit our economy. Meanwhile, British workers are being priced out of the market. Several tradesmen of your correspondent's acquaintence have decided to throw in the towel and emigrate to the colonies because they can't make a living here anymore.
But despite the lower revenue income from the migrant population, we still have to pay the same money for their healthcare, we still have to educate their children, police them and build the roads for them to drive their uninsured BMW's on and carve up vast tracts of the countryside to build social housing for them. So...even with my shaky grasp of maths, it's quite clear that someone is going to be out of pocket. That someone, dear reader, is of course us.
To be more precise, it is families like us Gitts that have to pay the price. The mehmsahib, bless her, is from outside the EU. And if you are from outside the EU, you'd better have very deep pockets indeed if you want to stay here under a Labour government. We've spent £2,500 in Home Office "fees" in the last 3 years just to keep our family together, despite the fact that we are married. We've been subjected to ever-more ridiculous legislation, means testing, pointless "Life In The UK" tests, forced to pay for useless English lessons that weren't needed and had arseholes from the IND peering into every aspect of our private lives just to keep our family together.
Smith and Brown love to talk about how they are safeguarding or borders: While they steal the headlines with tough talk about immigration, law-abiding and valued contributors to our society are crippled by punitive legislation, subjected to points-based admittance or deported with no good reason. Meanwhile, the tsunami of unskilled East European immigrants continues unchecked.
It's a classic bit of sleight of hand from this government: distract the public with a bit of finger pointing and tough talk, demonise a minority group while completely ignoring the real problem.
Brown is still sticking to the ridiculous claim that we are all somehow better off thanks to the tidal wave of East European migrants that has flooded over our borders unchecked. Reported in the Telegraph, Mr Brown said that
...the arrival of foreign workers, increasing the population by around 190,000 every year, had aided important sectors of the economy. He added:"Most people in the City of London know they have benefited very substantially. "Not just from the inward investment from international companies, but the number of key
workers who are coming to join them and are making a huge contribution."
Oh really? So why did the economic affairs select committee find that...
...the influx had delivered no significant economic benefit for UK residents.
The reason is, of course, that Brown's argument is absolute bollocks. Along with 99% of the country, I absolutely reject the idea that mass migration from East Europe is delivering any kind of benefit to this country. Aside from all the arguments about law and order, the strain on the NHS and the cultural impact that migration is having, it simply cannot be true that we are "benefitting substantially" from the Invasion of the Polish Plumbers. Why? because of one simple fact:
Taxation works on a percentage basis.
Let me spell it out for you Mr Brown as you clearly haven't grasped this point: If you earn less, you pay less tax. If you earn less, you buy fewer things and pay less sales tax as a result. The net result is...less money to pay for the services that we all need. Still with me? Let's take the argument one stage further.
Because they work for less money, even the migrants that are working legally and paying taxes - by no means all of them - do so at a lower rate than our native counterparts, thus devaluing the work market. Speak to any plumber or carpenter if you don't believe me. The money they earn is invariably sent back to their home country anyway, so it does little to benefit our economy. Meanwhile, British workers are being priced out of the market. Several tradesmen of your correspondent's acquaintence have decided to throw in the towel and emigrate to the colonies because they can't make a living here anymore.
But despite the lower revenue income from the migrant population, we still have to pay the same money for their healthcare, we still have to educate their children, police them and build the roads for them to drive their uninsured BMW's on and carve up vast tracts of the countryside to build social housing for them. So...even with my shaky grasp of maths, it's quite clear that someone is going to be out of pocket. That someone, dear reader, is of course us.
To be more precise, it is families like us Gitts that have to pay the price. The mehmsahib, bless her, is from outside the EU. And if you are from outside the EU, you'd better have very deep pockets indeed if you want to stay here under a Labour government. We've spent £2,500 in Home Office "fees" in the last 3 years just to keep our family together, despite the fact that we are married. We've been subjected to ever-more ridiculous legislation, means testing, pointless "Life In The UK" tests, forced to pay for useless English lessons that weren't needed and had arseholes from the IND peering into every aspect of our private lives just to keep our family together.
Smith and Brown love to talk about how they are safeguarding or borders: While they steal the headlines with tough talk about immigration, law-abiding and valued contributors to our society are crippled by punitive legislation, subjected to points-based admittance or deported with no good reason. Meanwhile, the tsunami of unskilled East European immigrants continues unchecked.
It's a classic bit of sleight of hand from this government: distract the public with a bit of finger pointing and tough talk, demonise a minority group while completely ignoring the real problem.
To err is human; but to really screw it up you need a civil servant and a computer
Posted Wednesday, 20 February 2008
Hot on the heels of the Child Benefit data disaster and the foreign prisoner fiasco, we have another digital cock-up. This time it's the CPS - a CD containing the DNA details of 2000 wanted criminals sent by the Dutch police was left unactioned on some idiot's desk for over a year. Checks carried out recently reveal that 15 of these suspects are in the UK and 11 of them have gone on to commit further serious crime here. Well done CPS.
I think we've all become somewhat immune to hearing about civil service and government blundering, but coming so soon after similar high-profile incidents, it is quite amazing that nothing seems to have been done to sort the problem out. The reason being, I suspect, is that the management culture in government and in the civil service has been allowed to flounder to such an extent that change is now impossible.
To put it bluntly, we are not only being led by idiots but also administered by them too, through systems which perpetuate a culture of failure.In this latest incident, the useless recipient of this vital data decided to go on sick leave for a year. What does it say about the management of this section that apparently nobody was given the task of covering this role during their absence? If such measures were not deemed necessary, then why does this role even exist in the first place? I strongly suspect that the reason for absence is something suitably pathetic, like "stress", but even if this individual had good reason to be absent for such a long period, surely any half-decent manager would have either covered the role with a short-term contract or replaced them altogether, moving "sick note" into a new role upon their return.
What this case reveals in stark detail is the total ineptitude of those charged with administering this country; a culture where the individual rights of those within these organisations takes total precedence over their responsibilities. I despair that even if we manage to get rid of Brown at the next election, we're still saddled with his legions of incompetent monkeys running the country.
Hot on the heels of the Child Benefit data disaster and the foreign prisoner fiasco, we have another digital cock-up. This time it's the CPS - a CD containing the DNA details of 2000 wanted criminals sent by the Dutch police was left unactioned on some idiot's desk for over a year. Checks carried out recently reveal that 15 of these suspects are in the UK and 11 of them have gone on to commit further serious crime here. Well done CPS.
I think we've all become somewhat immune to hearing about civil service and government blundering, but coming so soon after similar high-profile incidents, it is quite amazing that nothing seems to have been done to sort the problem out. The reason being, I suspect, is that the management culture in government and in the civil service has been allowed to flounder to such an extent that change is now impossible.
To put it bluntly, we are not only being led by idiots but also administered by them too, through systems which perpetuate a culture of failure.In this latest incident, the useless recipient of this vital data decided to go on sick leave for a year. What does it say about the management of this section that apparently nobody was given the task of covering this role during their absence? If such measures were not deemed necessary, then why does this role even exist in the first place? I strongly suspect that the reason for absence is something suitably pathetic, like "stress", but even if this individual had good reason to be absent for such a long period, surely any half-decent manager would have either covered the role with a short-term contract or replaced them altogether, moving "sick note" into a new role upon their return.
What this case reveals in stark detail is the total ineptitude of those charged with administering this country; a culture where the individual rights of those within these organisations takes total precedence over their responsibilities. I despair that even if we manage to get rid of Brown at the next election, we're still saddled with his legions of incompetent monkeys running the country.
British Gas humbled
While the news of British Gas's record profits is pretty galling in the light of their recent 15% hike in prices, it could have been worse had it not been for the valient efforts of yours truly. Through a combination of BG's fuck-wittery, a lot of water-muddying and sheer bloody mindedness on my part, I can report victory in my long-running battle with the energy giant. Having reduced BG's profits by a mighty £100 and earned myself a handsome 67 pence refund (yes, really!) I feel a positively Robin-Hoodesque glow of satisfaction.
Am I missing something here?
As of last month, new immigration restrictions came into force in the UK. Not content with persecuting those who have spent a fortune for the dubious privilege of coming here and have abided by all the rules, [your humble scribe's battle with those bastards at the IND just to keep the mehmsahib in the country being just one example] the government has now decided that even skilled immigrants to this country, that's the doctors, teachers, scientists and engineers - you know, the people with something to contribute - now have to amass "points" to retain the right to stay here or be thrown out. Meanwhile, a jobless Romanian teenage mother who has generously decided to allow the British taxpayer to feed, clothe, educate and care for her bastard offspring in perpetuity can enter and stay for as long as she wants.
What a brilliant bit of policy making that was. I'm sure that as some point I must have missed some vital piece of information in this whole immigration saga, because it seems to me that the whole system is totally upside down. How can it be right that skilled and valuable people are thrown out, while the scum of Europe are given the keys to the front door and told to make themselves at home.
What a brilliant bit of policy making that was. I'm sure that as some point I must have missed some vital piece of information in this whole immigration saga, because it seems to me that the whole system is totally upside down. How can it be right that skilled and valuable people are thrown out, while the scum of Europe are given the keys to the front door and told to make themselves at home.
A dirty joke....
Spotted scrawled across the back of a grubby van on the M40 - "Cleaned by the NHS".
Being British still means something
The mehmsahib and younger Gitts are presently travelling in foreign climes. Before departure, to avoid the stress and adversity of tackling the M25, I booked a hotel in Windsor and we took the opportunity for a wander around the town and the castle. I know I spend most of my time railing against the British government and the state of the country. But at my heart, the pride of being British and being part of that great heritage is something that even Brown and his marxist jackals can't erase. Windsor, with its history and its associations, is almost like a tangible expression of that collective pride. Being a lady of foreign pursuasion, I'm really keen to try and get across to the mehmsahib that sense of what being British is all about. It's not all drunken yobs, high taxes and third-world health services; there is still some thing special here.
Windsor is a very pretty town. Although it suffers from the same identi-kit high street syndrome as every other town in the land, there is enough uniqueness to make it an interesting place to wander around. Even more so, crossing the bridge into Eton was like stepping into another world. The cash machine is Coutts & Co.; the shops sell morning dress, handmade shirts and all sorts of gentleman's finery. I was struck by the influence that this little place has had on the history of the country - from the long line of ex Prime Ministers to today's great and good. Elitist? Probably. But in the recent words of Ed Balls, "So what?" I am glad that such bastions still exist against the rise of Brown's marxist utopia.
Of course, no trip to Windsor can be complete without a tour of the castle. The state rooms are an absolute treasure trove of armaments and booty liberated from the oily grasp of Johnny Foreigner over hundreds of years and a good proportion of the globe. The staggering opulence of the rooms and their decor serves to remind the visitor of the very real power that this country once exercised over the world. As we walked around, I couldn't help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction about what we as a nation have achieved; about a history and heritage unmatched by any other nation on Earth. [ and we didn't get lost, unlike that clueless pillock Brown]
Perhap the position of Britain in today's world is a bit comparing Eton High Street with today's universal UK high street; seemingly, rather old-fashioned and anacranistic, but cradling within it a set of values, knowledge and culture that have survived centuries of change and will continue to do so. Despite the corrosive efforts of traitorous politicians, despite the cultural confusion created by multi-culturism, and despite a changing world order, each of us can feel proud that we all share within us a little bit of Eton and a little bit of the riches of Windsor castle. We can feel proud that we have contributed something to the world of lasting value. Proud, not in a nationalistic sense, but with the humble satisfaction of a job well done. I really hope that by exposing the mehmsahib to our heritage, she might pick up a sense of what being British means to me. But I think maybe it's something that, like a place at Eton, remains the preserve of the few.
Windsor is a very pretty town. Although it suffers from the same identi-kit high street syndrome as every other town in the land, there is enough uniqueness to make it an interesting place to wander around. Even more so, crossing the bridge into Eton was like stepping into another world. The cash machine is Coutts & Co.; the shops sell morning dress, handmade shirts and all sorts of gentleman's finery. I was struck by the influence that this little place has had on the history of the country - from the long line of ex Prime Ministers to today's great and good. Elitist? Probably. But in the recent words of Ed Balls, "So what?" I am glad that such bastions still exist against the rise of Brown's marxist utopia.
Of course, no trip to Windsor can be complete without a tour of the castle. The state rooms are an absolute treasure trove of armaments and booty liberated from the oily grasp of Johnny Foreigner over hundreds of years and a good proportion of the globe. The staggering opulence of the rooms and their decor serves to remind the visitor of the very real power that this country once exercised over the world. As we walked around, I couldn't help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction about what we as a nation have achieved; about a history and heritage unmatched by any other nation on Earth. [ and we didn't get lost, unlike that clueless pillock Brown]
Perhap the position of Britain in today's world is a bit comparing Eton High Street with today's universal UK high street; seemingly, rather old-fashioned and anacranistic, but cradling within it a set of values, knowledge and culture that have survived centuries of change and will continue to do so. Despite the corrosive efforts of traitorous politicians, despite the cultural confusion created by multi-culturism, and despite a changing world order, each of us can feel proud that we all share within us a little bit of Eton and a little bit of the riches of Windsor castle. We can feel proud that we have contributed something to the world of lasting value. Proud, not in a nationalistic sense, but with the humble satisfaction of a job well done. I really hope that by exposing the mehmsahib to our heritage, she might pick up a sense of what being British means to me. But I think maybe it's something that, like a place at Eton, remains the preserve of the few.
IND guilty of "atrocious barbarism"
Regular readers will no doubt be fully aware of the low regard in which I hold the idiots in charge of immigration in this country. But this week, even I was astonished to discover the depths of inhumanity that these slimy jobsworths have now reached. In a decision labelled "atrocious barbarism" by no less a publication than the Lancet, our friends at the Home Office Immigration & Nationality Directorate forcibly expatriated a Ghanan woman dying of cancer. The life-saving treatment she desperately needed was not available in her native Ghana, and so the victim, Mrs Sumani, died shortly afterwards. Mrs Sumani is survived by two children. Friends in the UK had raised over £60,000 to bring her back to the UK for the treatment she so desperately needed, but unfotunately the help came too late.
Mrs Sumani had apparently come to the UK to study, but had stayed on illegally. Unluckily for Mrs Sumani, and unlike the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have disappeared since arriving, the IND knew exactly where she could be found and so she presented an easy addition to this month's deportation tally. We have to meet those targets, after all.
Lin Homer, the agency's chief executive, is reported as commenting: "The case was carefully considered by both trained caseworkers but also through the independent judicial process, which is better and fairer than a decision by me as chief executive or by the minister."
Irrespective of the legal technicalities, how any human being can carefully consider the pros and cons of this case and conclude that condemning another human being to death is the correct course of action to take completely elludes me. I fervently hope that heartless cunt Lin Homer and all her lackies at the IND suffer the same agonising and undiginified deaths that they consigned Mrs Sumani to. Furthermore, I hope the bastards rot in hell for all eternity afterwards - a fate they so richly deserve.
Mrs Sumani had apparently come to the UK to study, but had stayed on illegally. Unluckily for Mrs Sumani, and unlike the hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants who have disappeared since arriving, the IND knew exactly where she could be found and so she presented an easy addition to this month's deportation tally. We have to meet those targets, after all.
Lin Homer, the agency's chief executive, is reported as commenting: "The case was carefully considered by both trained caseworkers but also through the independent judicial process, which is better and fairer than a decision by me as chief executive or by the minister."
Irrespective of the legal technicalities, how any human being can carefully consider the pros and cons of this case and conclude that condemning another human being to death is the correct course of action to take completely elludes me. I fervently hope that heartless cunt Lin Homer and all her lackies at the IND suffer the same agonising and undiginified deaths that they consigned Mrs Sumani to. Furthermore, I hope the bastards rot in hell for all eternity afterwards - a fate they so richly deserve.
Barefaced cheek
From the Terminal 5 website:
"At London Heathrow Terminal 5 we’ve created a natural, logical journey that’s so calm, you’ll flow through. It should only take ten minutes to get from check-in to departures ".
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Well, they've got some conkers putting that up on their website, I'll give 'em that
"At London Heathrow Terminal 5 we’ve created a natural, logical journey that’s so calm, you’ll flow through. It should only take ten minutes to get from check-in to departures ".
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Well, they've got some conkers putting that up on their website, I'll give 'em that
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Hello world
Having recently arrived in this neck of the woods, I shall be uploading some of my more venomous commentaries of recent months over the next few days. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any easy ways of changing the posting dates, so the context of some of these posts might be a bit obscure. But bear with me...it'll be worth the wait.
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