Christopher Jefferies in a blue tinted frame?

Or Are All Eccentrics Suspects?

The media, Twitter and any other form of communicaton is buzzing with notions and comments about Christopher Jefferies. As Facebook would say, "Not the Christopher Jefferies you were looking for?". Depends. Google, I think, means the Christopher Jefferies who is embroiled in the Joanna Yeates murder enquiry. It's definitely not this Christopher Jefferies.

All that aside, whatever happened about innocent until proved guilty? The BBC has recently been showing Garrow's Law. It was William Garrow who pushed so successfully for this concept to be part of English law. It would appear now that for many contempt of court and other such niceties are a thing of the past. The Daily Mirror is keen to emphasis that Christopher Jefferies was a "public school teacher" and then go on to mention that a convicted paedophile lived in one of the flats at one time. What does the Mirror know about it anyway? Innuendo, mainly.

I get the impression that eccentrics are getting a hard time. Possibly they always have. If there is any other man in the country with a blue rinse hairdo perhaps he is keeping a low profile. "Ooh Brian, your hair looks just like that eccentric's in the papers!" One has to wonder if any of this would have come about if Mr. Jefferies had been "normal" in the media's eyes.

When Madeleine McCann disappeared in Portugal a young female Murdoch minion suddenly took against Robert Murat and ran around saying he looked eccentric and behaved oddly. She of course had no evidence whatsoever. Just Sun-type prejudice. But it was enough for his private life to go through the mangle as well as the mill.

Let us remember that Mr.Jefferies has only been arrested. Evidence has to be gathered against people in order to bring charges. That is unless people want to forego that and just set up kangaroo courts on Clifton Suspension Bridge. It would be a very dull day indeed if all eccentrics were to vanish from British shores, or anywhere, just because people rushed to judgement. I find eccentrics make the icing on the cake as far as British society goes. I bet that when it comes to wrongdoing, the percentage is far less for eccentrics than it is, for example, politicians. Now there's a thought!

Read More

Northern Ireland Water - logged and leaking!

Northern Ireland Water is in a terrible mess at the moment. Local people are realising that lack of water is the true cause of unrest. I see on the utility's website the response to "Who We Are" is "The trusted and reliable provider of Northern Ireland's most essential public service." Eau contraire, surely?

Read More

Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election

A local councillor in Oldham, Cllr Ken Hulme of Delph says this of the Monster Raving Loony Party candidate. "I think he might get a surprisingly high vote - folk around here are pretty fed up with politics and politicians." The ultimate protest vote, eh?

As reported in the Oldham Advertiser.

Read More

Co-op Christmas pudding matures well!

Tonight I've had a healthy portion of a three-year old Christmas pudding bought from the Co-op. Tasted very good. Well past its sell-by-date, but that seems fairly irrelevant given that it matured well and was a very good quality pud. Well done Co-op!

Read More

"Christmas is over!" Or is it?

On Christmas Eve I was toying with the idea of getting a last minute gift. I went to the retail park and thought I'd pop into Homebase. The store looked rather unlit for the season. A man was standing outside, as if on guard. "Oh, are you closing?" I ventured. "Yeah, well, er, what do you want? Do you know exactly?" "Yes, yes!" I said,. "Well, in that case, be quick". I then added some remark about them closing earlier than the other stores. "Christmas is over!" he muttered. "Oh?" I said, "Whatever happened to the Twelve Days of Christmas?". He looked at me darkly.

Retailing used to comprehend Christmas. Then it became much more of Christmas-in-Advent. Woolworths was the first store in Britain to abandon the season of Christmas. Now look where they are. All the supermarkets get agitated on the 25th September. This is the date when the Christmas season starts for them. Forget about sell-by-dates. You can have five before Christmas Day if you are keen on mince pies. When questioned about the fact that they were stuffing shelves with Christmas fayre three months before the day, supermarket spokespersons blithely replied that customers liked a treat in advance. No wonder people have given up on Christmas come Boxing Day. They've been given too much beforehand.

Retailing is a vital element in our lives. We need retailers to sell us things that we require. But do we need to be so gullible, so easily led? Can we not enjoy Christmas when it comes, whether or not we are religiously minded? I have a fear that retailing may be the last chink to fly loose. We have surrended our manufacturing capabilities. We do have inventiveness, but that is sold to the Chinese and others. I bought a pair of decent pyjamas at Asda yesterday for £6. How much went to the Sri Lankan worker I do not know, but I hazard a guess it was not much. I'm pleased I got them, but I am getting a bit of a conscience twinge. Some tell me that there's not much I can do about it, apart from not buying things. But how can I do that when so much (probably everything) in superstores is made overseas?

At one time it was only MFI that had continual sales (except when they had promotions!) and MFI is now in retailing oblivion. Retailers are mixing "driving down costs" "tax increases" and "Made in China" into a potent concoction. How cheap everything can get is far from certain. Even before Christmas shops were offering "massive discounts" that one wondered if the New Year might see them in receivership. Price rises must surely come about just to keep businesses afloat. But that may well be where the trouble begins. It's all very well having stuff made in China, but if the Chinese workers feel they are the ones getting a raw deal, costs there will increase. And workers in the UK, Europe, USA, et al in the West will also clamour for better conditions.

Maybe British retailers should take a step back and look at things long term. For instance, does it make sense to spend so much carting apples around the world when they can be grown a few miles from the local shops? And is the quality of the fruit worth it all. We just got some strawberries which have the texture of apples. Why have these soft fruits got hard centres? Oh, and we bought a load of green bananas as they passed their sell-by-date. Does any of it make sense?

Stores need to be reborn themselves. Otherwise we may all go down, fighting over the last remnants in the penny bazaars!

Read More

Daily Telegraph tries to destabilise Coalition

So the Daily Telegraph thinks we all should know what LibDem ministers really think of their Conservative colleagues in the Coalition government. Did we not think they might find it hard going? Blimey, if I was in there with LibDems I might have said a few unchoice and unguarded things. However, I'd far rather LibDems than being in there with any of Prissimiliband's bunch of political losers.

It is not up to newspapers to try to bring down governments. That is up to the electorate. But what we don't need now is a phoney election with the opposition arrogantly suggesting that they would do much different. It would be a complete waste of time.

By the way, any chance of us hearing secret recordings of what Telegraph staff think of each other?

Read More

Vince Cable, Bordan Tkachuk, Stuart Baggs and the pesky press!

I've been doing a bit of web surfing. Setting people up appears to be the new game in town. Or at least this week's Christmas present for some. Personally I think that the giggling Telegraph reporter heard on the tape setting up Vince Cable just about shows up the present mentality in reporting.

The Telegraph got some juicy bits. They don't like the Coalition and they think LibDems in general are dodgy dealers. The fact that the Conservatives failed to win outright is lost on the Telegraph editors. They have "An Agenda". An agenda which impels them to be selective in as much as they cut out the bits they feel may torpedo the agenda. Then what happens to such devious behaviour? They in turn get a whistleblower divulging the fact that they held back on stuff about Murdoch. Cynical, or what?

We all know politics is tough going. But we don't need flibbertigibbets going round sneaking on private conversations. Stupid young woman. She won't get another "off the record" remark in her entire journalistic career. She's just kiboshed that. We'll now get far less of the free speech. In fact, it's almost gone in a flash. Just tight-lipped cocktail talk without the cocktails. Oh, and what will we hear from Ed Prissimiliband the first time one of his lot says anything indiscreet?

Now to Bordan Tkachuk (pictured). Who's he some may say. He's one of Lord Sugar's trusted associates. I'm a great fan of the Apprentice and I think Bordan is just right as a TV supporting act. In the interview stage episode Bordan grills Stuart "The Brand" Baggs by asserting that Baggs has something wrong on his CV. This is usual stuff in the show. It's designed to unsettled the candidate. When I watched this I took it for granted that Baggs had overstepped the mark. But I'm no computer expert. Gimlet-eyed (and eared) techies knew instantly that Bordan was wrong on points. Apparently he doesn't know his protocols from his providers. In this case, Stuart Baggs was bombarded by a "fact" that his brain couldn't comprehend or conclusively agree with or deny. He just sat back and accepted whatever was said.

Interestingly, Bordan had his own run in with the press some years back when he was misreported. It even went to court. The trouble with the media, both TV and press is that we are all a commodity to them. Vince Cable, Bordan Tkachuk, Stuart Baggs, et al. All been in, through and out of the ringer. Some try to come back and put others through it as a form of cathartic release.

All I know is that all three that I have mentioned here appear decent, yet fallible, humans, just like almost all of us. All that's happened is they just didn't have their wits about them 24/7 (as an Apprentice contestant might say). But who on earth does? Certainly not giggling Telegraph reporters.

I hope 2011 will see an end to "setting people up" and all this sneaky stuff. Transparency, yes! But this is not the way to get it.

Read More

Vince Cable set up by Daily Telegraph "constituents"

I feel sorry for Vince Cable. He's been stitched up by some journalists from the Daily Telegraph. A bit of a mean trick, I'd say. Not really Telegraph stuff in the main. More Murdoch's minions' territory. No wonder they were always portrayed as pigs in Spitting Image. A bit unfair to pigs, I always thought.

So what if Vince Cable's got opinions. He's not said anything that outrageous. He hasn't leaked government secrets. He hasn't got a Russian mistress. He hasn't sexed up a dossier. He hasn't lied about foreigners. Not much to get bothered about really. Except the Daily Telegraph can't stand the Coalition. So why not have a go at Vince. Send some posh ferrets down to Twickenham and get the man singing like a canary. Well, in that they succeeded. But it doesn't make them look like decent people.

Sir Denis Thatcher's friend Bill Deedes used to be a bigwig at the Telegraph. If they were around today, I dare say they'd be shocked. "I say Bill, that Vince Cable chap's been done over by some of your pipsqueaks. I mean, he's a liberal wotsit, I know, but that's just not cricket. A bit below the belt, if you get my drift!"

Read More

Not much authority at Heathrow

Yet again the BBC, and ITN and Sky too, repeat the nonsense that Heathrow is part of the "British Airports Authority". It isn't, but they give the impression that somehow this snowbound winter wonderland is down to the government. The British Airports Authority ceased being years ago. The Spanish owned company that is today's operator of Heathrow is BAA plc. All they did was turn the initials into a company logo. It would have been helpful all round if they had chosen a brand new name. But they didn't. However, they have no authority as such, just the competences of their management. Now that's where we can quiz them about snow and planes and runways.

BAA chief executive Colin Matthews admits the airport has let people down. He came on the radio this morning sounding a mixture of apologetic soul and gung-ho maverick. But not enough to shift the planes. Boris Johnson says, "It can't be beyond the wit of man surely to find the shovels, the diggers, the snow-ploughs or whatever it takes to clear the snow out from under the planes, to get the planes moving and to have more than one runway going." I agree. BAA don't see it this way.

I bet it's the same at Heathrow as it is in Sainsburys, at the bank, or anywhere else you expect a service these days. Large corporations appear to be running their businesses on a minimal staffing basis. Plus the fact that customers are expected to pitch in when the going gets tough. "Unexpected item on the runway!".

Colin Matthews spun a good line. He had me thinking, "yeah, OK", but then that's not really good enough. Britain doesn't have a very good image abroad for coping with chaos. We're not exactly like headless chickens, more a kind of herd of cows in need of a good bull. The one thing that all these organisations could do is keep us INFORMED!!!! We are sick and tired of the mushroom treatment. Maybe we could have an Apprentice version for corporate bosses. "What was you thinking of?" may get some results.

How about New Year resolutions being that all the lessons we think we need to learn will actually be learnt by the end of next year? Forget the inquiry, Mr.Hammond, just get out the exercise books!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1340146/UK-SNOW-CHAOS-Heathrow-Airport-boss-admits-prepared-says-truly-sorry-disruption.html#ixzz18fV8KRa4

Read More

BBC's Brian Hanrahan dies at 61

Brian Hanrahan, a former diplomatic and foreign correspondent for BBC News, has died at the age of 61 after a short battle against cancer. For such a man in such a job, the tributes are coming in. Two quotes caught my eye. Jon Williams, the BBC's Word New editor said, "He could always be relied on to find the right word at the right moment... and he was loved by the audience". And former war reporter Martin Bell also paid tribute to a "quiet, decent man" who was "very thorough and very good at his job". "I never heard an ill word said about Brian Hanrahan," he added.

What more could one wish to be said about one on the day of our death.

Read More

Gloucester Cathedral flowers may wilt this Christmas

I was reading last weekend about the nonsense in Gloucester Cathedral over the flower arrangers. It's taken a week for me to calm down. It is this sort of insanity that gets my goat. Annabel Hayter is, or was, the chief flower arranger. Then the cathedral authorities decided she and her fellow flower arrangers need vetting in case they might be tempted to do some evil in the vestry. Quite rightly Mrs Hayter took umbrage. ‘Do I look like a paedophile?’ she asked, angrily. ‘Of course I don’t. It’s ridiculous. I’ve got four children, 11 grandchildren and I’m as innocent as the day is long. So why should I have to prove that I am not?" She says this in her sitting room, which is full of ­flowers. There are lilies in vases, pink and white cyclamen in Christmassy pots and silk flowers in enormous peach and white displays. The motifs on the ­curtains are enormous sprawling flowers, the cushions on the sofa have patterns of blooms - even her teapot is flowery. Sitting in one corner is Annabel, resplendent in baby-pink cashmere jumper, a double string of pearls, beautiful pink nails and a couple of corgis by her feet. I'd say she was anything other than a paedophile or pervert.

I was watching Midlands Today and some female cleric in a red jumper came on saying that "We can't be too careful. Better to err on the side of caution. Blah, blah!" and simpered along suggesting that nothing was amiss. What is amiss is the whole edifice of this frightful quango that we all have to genuflect to. Of course, Mrs Hayter is right and the female cleric is wide of the mark. It is also insulting in the extreme to suggest that these flowery women would what to mess around with choir boys. Evil be to he (or she) who evil thinks. Maybe the flowers will wilt this Christmas. The lady clergyperson will get a sign at last!

The Independent Safeguarding Authority is a quango for all quangos. The chief bottlewasher, Sir Roger Singleton, gets paid handsomely for raking in the cash but doing diddly-squat to stop paedophiles. I would like him to come on national television and tell us all how many perverts his quango has identified who are seeking to work with children or vulnerable adults. I bet he would only need the fingers of one hand to help him. Yet his organisation charges fees for 9 million plus to be vetted and probed. As Mrs Hayter says, if she had gone along with it, they would all know at this quango what she uses her money for, because the quango wants to see bank statements. I'm glad my archdeacon saw a clean set of monetary transactions! Where are all these files kept. Maybe the real perverts are those sifting through other people's stuff.

Recently in Solihull two teachers have been charged for downloading child porn. They will stand trial soon. I guarantee you that Singleton's outfit knew damn all about it. If they are convicted, some West Midlands copper will stand outside the court and say "Well, these two fell under the radar!". Hopeless, the lot of them.

And a vicar has been convicted of the same offence. What did his diocese know about it all. Did the Vetting and Barring Scheme identify him? Not a chance! Why should they? They are mainly concerned with trying to fleece old women with zimmer frames who just want to stick a few flowers up in church.

No, the real results will be when those with the inability to control unnatural desires are given every encouragement to seek help and that those who care about changing their lives are given proper support. All we get at the moment is the quango on one side and the red top media on the other. A totally hopeless situation.

Read More

Discriminating between the discriminators

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is keen on fairness. But its own version. The spat with the BNP was absurd, with both sides looking to enjoy the fight. I can't imagine many ethnic minorities jostling for the door to get into the BNP. That would give entryism a whole new meaning if they did.

Some on the liberal left desired that the Church could be defeated over female ministers' employment. They hoped that the Roman Catholics would be given a lesson. Turned out not to be the case. The EHRC has a blurb about "genuine occupational requirements". It reads like this -

"A Catholic theological college can refuse to admit women to a course which is only designed to prepare candidates for the Catholic priesthood as women cannot become Catholic priests. However, a Church of England college could not confine training for the priesthood to men since women may also become Anglican priests."

What it fails to acknowledge is that a sizeable number of Anglicans do not agree with this and are afforded legal protection for the beliefs. It would be interesting to know what the EHRC might do if the See of Ebbsfleet wished to set up a training courses for priests of traditional belief.

I get the impression that the EHRC is trying to sneak a bit more onto the scales on one side only and if their side is too much up in the air they try to do something about it. All this means is that a Roman Catholic priest can be trained in a certain way but an Anglican Catholic priest may not. Is the law an ass?

Read More

The One Ronnie

Just like old times. Ronnie Corbett's back on Christmas TV and this is a gem.

Read More

South African extradition extracts less than the truth

Ever since Norman Scott stood up in a magistrates court in Devon and said all his problems were the result of his association with Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, I’ve been very wary of the concept of truth. That is truth in a human context. Pontius Pilate had a terrible time with truth. So much so that he washed his hands to take his mind off active thinking.

Now we hear that a self-confessed murderer has implicated a man in the murder of his wife. Shrien Dewani is being held in jail because this convict blurted out in court that he was not alone in carrying out the deed. So what appears to have been an innocent honeymoon in South Africa turns into a hellish nightmare. Dewani is proclaiming his innocence. But how on earth can he do that? We hear of corruption all around modern day South Africa. If I was in his shoes I’d fight the extradition as he is doing. I’d work out a way to provide proof. But I’d not have much faith in the judicial process of the Cape. Sorry, but that’s how it is.

I’ve been watching Garrow’s Law. That shows up how corrupt the English legal system was 200 years ago. Sir William Garrow is credited with establishing that a person was innocent until proved guilty. Many in the Establishment at the time thought otherwise. In fact they blatantly stitched people up. And they still felt it was OK to burn women at the stake until 1790. Nice, wasn’t it?

What has changed? People are still being dragged off to court on the say-so of dodgy dealing types. We’ve got corruption in high places and the desire for destruction in lower places. The US government is after all who dare to challenge them. Anyone wanting to know how the American authorities can retaliate should study the case of Dr.Samuel Mudd who was framed in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Mudd had helped the real assassin by offering medical aid. The establishment needed a result, so Mudd spent time in a hellhole. It was only his wife campaigning tirelessly to get him out that ended his misery. But even today he has still not been pardoned!

How many True Movies have been made on the the tales of tragedy “based on a true story”. Injustice is all around us. I may be next. You may be next. In the wrong place at the wrong time? Fingered by Fingers Malone. Anyone saying that “if you’ve done nothing wrong you've got nothing to worry about” needs a good jolt. All of a sudden there seems to be a spate of dirty tricks about. I think we need to pass the cleaning fluids around.

Read More

Wikileaks leaking like a sieve

Apparently American politicians are getting upset over the Wikileaks. Mike Huckabee is the latest to sound off in a typically non-cerebral way. He’d like to execute Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder. Does Huckabee realise how nonsensical he sounds? Why did he not call for an inquiry as to why the Pentagon, or wherever these computer files were stored, did not have the right encription techniques in place.  I understand that any child could have downloaded these files. Huckabee is like a lot of his ilk. Don’t check the stable over. Don’t examine the stable door. Just go looking for the horse.

What politicians need to get to grips with is that many of us “ordinary folk” don’t want the same old stuff in the 21^st century that we got in the last. Basically that means cut the crap, putting it bluntly.  For example, we were told that the Lockerbie bomber was only released on humanitarian grounds and it had nothing to do with oil. Now that all appears to be a lie and it was indeed all about oil and being scared witless that Gaddafi would chuck out the Brits and their contracts and that the Scottish governmment didn’t want a dead man on their hands. Are they more concerned about being found out or about  being truthful? The saying is that truth will out. It seems to be doing just that here.

Now if porkies have been told about Libya are there more porkies about the Lockerbie bombing to come out? This is the trouble with lying, as Matilda found. She told such dreadful lies!

Wikileaks is really a symptom of the disease afflicting us in the world today.  The Afghan war seems based on deceit as the the road to democracy is still full of potholes. Do the Afghans want western democracy? Probably not. But all these wars help the arms industry, the corruption merchants and the fevered brows of politicians. I’d be all in favour of a war in Afghanistan if I was convinced the Aghans were either going to invade Britain or bomb us. I’d also be in favour of war if they’d invaded a neighbour. But neither is true. All we’ve got is a re-education programme for Taliban types who don’t really want re-educating. What they need is something else. They need to be told that the poppy crops are going to be ploughed up.  Without the drugs trade they have no power. The Islamic world would support that. But they will not take kindly to so-called western imperialism. Will we ever learn?

With the Wikileaks still leaking, politicians are getting jumpy.  If they think that trumped up charges are a good way to deal with this then they will get it back in double doses. Whatever one may think of Julian Assange and his motives, it will look very bad indeed if the rape charges against him are found to be the work of “operatives in the field”. That will just make matters worse. In fact, it will be a calamity all round. Nobody will feel safe from such draconian ways which will inhibit free speech and democratic discussion.

Most people concur now that the House of Commons did wrong in having an expenses culture that they had. Nearly everyone concurs that they were wrong to try to suppress it in the devious way some of them tried to do. Now we see the possibility of the American government going after Assange. If they do it illegally or in an underhand way then many more will rise up to vent against them.

In Britain the coalition government pledged honesty and transparity as its hallmark. Is it tarnished already?

Read More

Public should help clear the snow

Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, has suggested that the public could or should turn themselves into good neighbours and help clear the snow. I’m all in favour of that. However,  the British have grown up with the idea that the “government” does things like that. The welfare state has become something of a great fat sloth trying to shift from here to there. Labour have always seen the state as the benefactor. But under New Labour it became something of a malefactor. It’s all poking your nose in stuff. They couldn’t leave well alone.

I remember my father shifting snow. The neighbours took turns too with their bit. Nobody thought it insanity to do anything in snow. But then along came some terrible nanny and said you can't do this and you can't do that. Walking on ice? The council could get sued. So eventually, with all this tripe emanating from quango queens, the British decided to stop the neighbourly attitude and let it all freeze over.

I remember once going to the aid of a woman skidding and sliding in her car. She gave me a look as if to say don’t come any closer. Can’t think what she was thinking. Oh, yes, possible pervert. I wasn’t going to let that bother me. She was causing her tyres to create boiling water. Steam seemed to be coming from the road. "You need a good push", I said valiantly. She wound the window up after being given rudimentary instructions. One good heave and she was on better ground. She gave a limp thank you look and drove off. In today’s society you have to be bold and brave not only to withstand the cold of the weather but the cold of some peoples hearts. It’s not their fault. The real perversion is the crazy way we treat each other.

If Philip Hammond wants good neighbours let him encourage it with good grace. We need a sense of decency back into neighbourliness. Today it has been said it is OK to take photos of school nativity plays. If any group has done more to pervert the course of true neighbourliness it is the quago queens of the educational establishment.  Maybe they are seeing the light and eventually coming to their senses.

Good neighbours are relatively hard to find. Plenty of potentially good neighbours. I’d rather think most people would like to think they were a good neighbour. But many I speak to don’t speak to their neighbours. All we need to do is say hello once in a while and just say “If you need any help” and when it snows who knows what may happen.

Shovelling snow is a far better thing for neighbours to do than shovelling the soft-centred rubbish that we’ve been encouraged to accept of late.

Read More

Naughtie slips up on Today show

All I heard this morning was some terrible coughing. Sounded like James Naughtie had a biscuit stuck in his throat. On radio coughing sounds far more dramatic. However, I never heard Jeremy Hunt's name muddled up with an expletive. Countless others did apparently. As Dudley Moore might have said to Peter Cook "It was a very rude word, I can't repeat it, but if we go down the Vallance Library we can find out what it means".

I'm not sure what the BBC thinks about rude words. My guess is that they are quite happy for this particular word to slip out every so often so that they can repeat it and then tell everyone that it is a very rude word. Andrew Marr repeated it on his programme that followed Today. I didn't hear that, but no doubt there was conversation about it being a very rude word.

This topic is currently top story on the BBC website. I can't believe anyone there is complaining. "Good work, Jim! Great ratings for us. Pity you've got all those grumpy emails coming in".

I thought I did hear another slightly rude word. I thought Nick Robinson said that it was Vince Cable's "bloody policy" when talking of tuition fees. I thought I did, but maybe not. The thought that a rude word on the Today Programme can outweigh all else in the attention of public opinion must say something about us as a nation. It's all a matter of priorities, I suppose.

Read More