Haulage magnate Eddie Stobart dies, aged 56

Keep on truckin'

Eddie Stobart has died. He suffered what were described as "heart problems" on Wednesday and died this morning in hospital in Coventry. Sad news. One can't drive very far on a British motorway without seeing one of his lorries. Driving them proved far more successful than selling them! A real entrepreneur.

Eddie Stobart Members Club

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Winson Green (Birmingham) Prison to be privatised!



"I'm escaping This prison's not what it used to be!"

Winson Green Prison, known by the Home Office as HM Prison Birmingham, is to be privatised. G4S are to get their hands on it. I do hope they won't let any prisoners escape. The only reason this is being done is to cut costs. Cut too much and the inmates get ratty. One wonders what was promised to Kenneth Clarke when the tender went in. I think all Brummies should keep a watchful eye on events as this "goes forward". The Prison Officer's Association has a mandate from its members to take industrial action if any prisons are contracted out to the private sector. A recipe for mayhem?

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Salt of the Earth? Not in Stockport chip shops!

"They've banned salt in the chippy, Ada!"

The council in Stockport is the latest to get themselves all in a lather about the relationship between salt intake and unhealthy Northerners. They think fish and chip shops and takeaways in general use far too much and that customers delight in oversalting their food. So they've aked for salt cellars to be removed from eyesight in case a whole lotta shakin' goes on.

Personally I think chips without salt are rather tasteless. But I don't care for that finely ground Cheshire stuff. No wonder they had to reduce the holes in salt cellars from 17 to 5. No, I much prefer some tasty sea salt freshly ground over the fish and chips I buy. When the chippy chirps up and asks if I want "salt 'n vinegar" I demur and think of my own crystals falling over the food.

Food without salt is, well, not that tasty. Food with too much salt? Not that great, either. If slavering Mancunians (and Cheshire type Stockporters!) can't summon up self control, then they may get heart disease, palpitations and dizzy spells. They know the score. But I don't see it the business of the state, local or national, to be mother, nanny and next-door-neighbour rolled into one.

Salt shakers might have been doing too much shaking. But let's get a sense of proportion.

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BAA told to sell two airports!

Flying the flag....but for how long?

Well, well! BAA is not flavour of the month. Having been told to sell off Gatwick they now have another crusty jewel in their crown to sell. Stansted is seen by the Competition Commission as the second airport BAA should not have. But it doesn't end there. The hapless airport company is also told to sell either Glasgow or Edinburgh as well. This is all a bit like the ditty Ten Green Bottles, or, in their case, seven. They did have seven. They could end up with only four. And if Heathrow doesn't get better than Calcutta Airport, they might have none.

BAA once was the "British Airports Authority" and did have some authority. Then they were privatised and stuck with the BAA monicker, but were definitely no longer an authority. At this rate BAA could mean Bugger All Airports, but that would be terrible. They're not that bad. They just need to get a grip of things. Like many corporate businesses they put themselves first, the shareholders second and the customers come a poor third. If they don't want to have their airports picked off one by one they should figure out how to put all three - customers, bosses and shareholders - in a happy win-win situation.

Unless that happens they can expect to circle the planes as the passengers may be on the warpath!

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Jordan in Christian relics row

"I think a bit's missing!"

When I saw this headline on the BBC website I momentarily thought "what's she involved in?" and wondered what row it could be. Katie Jordan? No just Jordan it turned out to be! Another Bible busting discovery in the Hashemite Kingdom. This time a group of 70 or so "books", each with between five and 15 lead leaves bound by lead rings, was apparently discovered in a remote arid valley in northern Jordan somewhere between 2005 and 2007 by an Israeli Bedouin (I never knew there were such people!) but he claims they have been in his family's possession for 100 years or so.

Will it make any difference to Christian belief? I doubt it. But as a great find, they are probably priceless.

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Making sense of the Census!

"How many children did you say you had?"

I've filled my census form in. Fairly simple questions. However, I still think they've missed a trick. The religion question is far too vague. I put down "Christian" but they will have no clue as to what kind. I could be a backslider par excellence or a very devout churchgoer. No denominations mentioned other than a helpful suggestion that being Roman Catholic, Church of England, etc does constitute being Christian! If this is being used "to help plan and fund services for your community - services like transport, education and health" I would have thought knowing more about religious backgrounds would make sense. How many Anglicans want to start academies? Not sure, because we don't know how many there are. The health questions are vague too. Whilst prurience is to be abhorred here, a few more simple questions might help. And was I asked when I last went on a train, plain, boat or whatever? How can the census help out East Coast Mainline or Heathrow Airport?

Box 17 was "intentionally left blank". What for? Space on the page? Just to make us think? Which is what I did at Box 18. What is you main language? the form asked. If you say English then Box 19 has no relevance. But surely not all in Britain can say they speak English "very well"? I think we should have filled in Box 19 so the census compilers would get a better sense of how the English language is doing in England!

With all those questions and boxes I had visions of Michael Miles!

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Harriet Harman is outraged by the "disgraceful" Boris Johnson!

"Oh no! It's Candid Camera!"

Harriet Harman is a grade A hyprocrite when it comes to castigating people for political offence. She has been making offensive remarks most of her political life. Probably because she fits so badly into the clothes of a socialist. A wolf in sheep's clothing? More like a female polecat on the make.

Today she feigns outrage at comments the mayor of London has made about the Two Eds. That they would be "quietly satisfied" with disorder on a day of protest in London against cuts. Harman says it was a disgraceful remark. As if she has ever been full of grace herself. Who was it who likened the Chief Secretary to the Treasury to a "ginger rodent"? Why, it was the Harperson herself!

She is one to talk. A hypocrite all round!

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East Coast rail delays spark passenger anger

Last Train to Clarkesville? Last train cancelled!

I hardly know where to start! And I was not on the wretched train. It beggars belief that corporate business gets away with the mushroom treatment of customers on a daily basis. The latest company to offer its customers the "no information" line is East Coast. Passengers were left stranded by signalling problems on the East Coast Main Line and had to fend for themselves. Middlesbrough passenger Mike Oyston said, "It was just chaos, there was no information at all."

Time and time again we get this. Lame excuses from company bigwigs. It seems not to matter what industry, although the rail industry is top of the tree when it comes to lack of information. You would have thought that, with this industry being nearly two centuries old, they would have had some "robust" training in such matters by now. But, hey ho!

Grandmother Pat Feetham, of Hull, also complained of a lack of information after being stuck on a train from Scotland for almost five hours. "They ran out of food, it was very cold and we didn't know what was happening until a police officer got on the train and said there were buses to take us to York. We're not happy."

So can we stop all this nonsense once and for all. Let all companies have information officers who know what to say, when to say it and where to say it. We are all grown up. We know things go wrong from time to time. But for heaven's sake treat us better than you have been treating us!

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The death knell sounds for the National Lottery!

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

I've long since given up doing the National Lottery. I find it's a lot better just hoping to find dropped pennies in the street. The odds are against me anyway. Now if you want far better odds you'd be better off betting on the dogs or the horses. Even better than those creatures are the ones to be found on the green benches in the House of Commons. A punter received a nice pay out from Ladbrokes for betting that Ken Clarke would drop off to sleep during Osborne's speech. Clarke at first denied he nodded off, then admiited his gout got the better of him and, having had a restless night with it all, just couldn't keep his eyelids apart.

For those with a deep interest in betting odds this little story confirms that you are 30 times better off looking for a long lost relative or friend that you are doing the National Lottery. Sort of gives needles in haystacks a worrying thought they might be found.

When Sarah Kemp signed up to a website looking for love her dream was to find someone with whom she had a lot in common. So she was delighted when she found George Bentley. The pair swapped emails and photos for three months and hit it off so well that they arranged a date in London. Only then did they discover quite how much in common they really had. They were actually brother and sister! And that bookmakers say makes the odds of the reunion at around 500 million to one – which is more than 30 times less likely than winning the lottery.

So I reckon there are far better deals out there than the National Lottery. When it was suggested that more prizes should be given, Camelot said this would stop people playing. What stopped me playing was the frightful odds. But I grant you this, if my one pound made be an instant multi-millionaire I wouldn't be complaining!

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1369967/Lost-siblings-reunited-internet-date-Sarah-Kemp-meets-brother-George-Bentley.html#ixzz1Hoy88xRL

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Defecating dog sparks US shootout

A real pooper scooper!

Two neighbours in the US state of Mississippi drew weapons and fired at each other as an argument over a defecating dog ran out of control. It's not something that surprises me. Whether in the USA or in Britain, quite a lot of dog owners think it perfectly acceptable for a pooch to crap in the front garden of others. I get a similar problem. It's disgusting! My neighbour caught a woman letting her dog leave a pile of steaming excrement in his garden. She just laughed it off apparently.

In America (as they say on Little Britain) people do have an extra dimension to disputes. It's gun ownership. It heated neighbourly arguments, these can be a deciding factor. Either lasting damage is done as someone gets hurt or, as in this case, someone gets charged. This is just another example of why many Americans should not be let anywhere near a gun. The two men involved confronted one another over the crapping event and each claimed the other produced a weapon first. "He shot twice, I returned fire," said Jerry Blasingame, one of the men. All sounds rather childish.

Washington County Chief Deputy Sheriff Billy Barber said, "Homeowners and property owners need to respect each other's property... If a dog did that in your yard, call the law. Don't take matters into your own hands." Sounds like the law in Mississippi deals with such matters better than elsewhere. I can't see West Midlands Police giving such a definitive statement. Perhaps they should. I'd be very much in favour of the local dog owners who let their dogs "foul the pavement", as the law puts it, being rounded up and put in the pound with their pooches!

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George Osborne to watch fuel prices 'like a hawk'

The eyes have it!

It's good to hear that the windfall tax on oil companies announced in the Budget will not be passed on to motorists in higher fuel prices.  George Osborne says ministers will be "watching like hawks" and will be wanting to "make sure" the tax rise is not passed on to motorists. I hope his talons are sharpened. A visit to his manicurist may be in order.

The Budget was like a curate's egg. Good in parts. Still no mention of clawing back the tax that large corporations just don't pay. Maybe the hawks have diplopia like me. In which case a good pair of spectacles might help or a hawk with gimlet eyes!

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Athena tennis model girl revealed?

Fifteen Love

The BBC are saying that they have "revealed" the girl in the famous Athena poster. She's called Mrs Fiona Walker. On reading about this, I had a feeling (not for the first time about news items) that I thought this wasn't new news. It was kind of old. What I had foggily remembered was that the photographer had died and it was already known. Then I noticed a link and found that the BBC had reported Martin Elliott, the creater of the poster, dying at the age of 63. It was a picture of his girlfriend Fiona Butler.

The thing about news today is that some news is absolutely new news, but other news is not so new. Or it is revised and rebranded as new news. I suppose this is new news in that we now see a face to the name. But it got me thinking that, if I thought I already knew about it or thought it was old news, is all news really what we think it is?

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George Osborne pledges Budget growth for economy

"My box of tricks"

George Osborne is about to get up and tell us whether we are going to be better off or worse off. That's the usual stuff of budgets and chancellors. However, this budget is different, I think. We can either carry on with boom and bust or we can all be grown up and realise that the economy does not work itself but we work the economy.

The Coalition is doing some good things. It is doing some odd things. I don't think it has done that many bad things so far. However, they talk about tackling corporate sleaze but appear to be doing it through clenched teeth. It's no good talking to the bosses of big business as if one is attending an amateur ventriloquists convention. "Gottle of geer!" is no way to convince the bamboozlers we are serious.

Britain needs entrepreneurial activity, it needs new ideas for new products, it needs workers working sensible hours for good pay. It short we need to create real added value to everything we do. What we have had in recent years is fake money creating fake wealth. I saw the Bank of England officials withering under the scrutiny of the Treasury Select Committee. The Bank has a nice little video about "quantitative easing" (the 21st century's best  ever euphemism!) where they admit that money is created electronically. The female voiceover makes you think it is all so wonderful. Like a holiday in the Canaries!

THEY CREATE THE MONEY OUT OF THIN AIR!!!

So if George Osborne can turn the culture of bogus bond creation around, turn the fiddlers and fakers out and bring in the real workers, the real ideas people, the entrepreneurs, the wealth creators, then we will all be better off.

Let the bamboozlers pay their taxes, let the electronic moneymakers get a real shock from their machines, and turn the so-called tax havens into tax harvests.

If we are all in this together, we should be going in the same direction, for similar goals and similar aims.

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Energy firms bamboozle customers

The BBC reports that Ofgen thinks that energy firms are causing confusion with customers over prices. The regulator said that customers were "bamboozled" by a complex system of tariffs, which have increased from 180 to more than 300 since 2008. Maybe now the chief executives of the "big six" will wake up and realise this.

BBC Watchdog has been reporting on the business models of the energy firms for years. Nothing much gets done to change the culture of corporate sleaziness with regard to customer relations. Perhaps a good jolt of electrical voltage might raise awareness. Can they really think we think highly of them? They are only concerned with their own pay and placating shareholders. The rest of us can go hang. Well, maybe not now.

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"Of course, I'm not religious in anyway" mantra backed by humanists

What all good humanists are sending with their census forms

Two-thirds of the British people are not religious, according to a survey commissioned by the British Humanist Association. The result has sent the humanists into the stratosphere with ecstatic joy. The more they can rubbish God or more correctly put people off being "godbotherers" the happier they are. And if it makes them happy, who am I to deny them their happiness.

For pedantic reasons, the humanists do not want people putting "Christian" down as their religion on the Census form as they may not believe any of it. You should not identify as a cultural Christian, according to the humanists. However, they can be cultural humanists. In fact, they've identified two-thirds as being like them.

What I do find odd is that the Census just asks whether one is Christian. It cares not what denomination one is. If I was in charge I'd be curious to know. Not just for being nosey, but because the government spends money on schools which are RC, CofE or whatever. It certainly is not for reasons of ecumenical niceties that they ask us to say Christian only. It must be for some obscure PC reason!

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Sarah Palin curries favour with the Indians

"Ooh look! There's India"

Sarah Palin has left Alaska to visit India, a place she definitely can't  see from her kitchen window. She's been chatting up the high and mighty at dinners, galas and conclaves. The Indians seem mightily impressed, but then they are not given to rubbishing people they don't know. Mrs Palin is giving them her cookie charm offensive with such lines as "There is so much in common between India and the US" and "Our ties and bonds are deep. They are driven by free people and free markets and not just by political summits". I doubt if many Americans sit up each morning in bed and think that Uncle Sam has deep ties with India. As for free people and free markets, the vast majority of Indian people scrape by without being driven anywhere.

She loftily tells her audience, "Relations between India and the US are key to our world relations, regardless of who is president". They are expected to interpret this as putting them on the top table. But in reality it's all rather gauche. In fact, it's totally erroneous. The United States isn't going to consult India on everything. It is not key to realpolitik at all. No, far more realeconomik. But she may have thought this too crude a political step to take.

"America has long been famous for (its) rags-to-riches story. Today, India too has the same story. India is no longer a struggling economy." It's true in parts. But mostly untrue. But it sounds great, doesn't it? America has been a mixed bag of a story as has India. Certainly there were a few in rags but most Americans, whether of the colonial sort or the republican sort, have managed quite well. Indians on the other hand have two economies. One for the well-to-do, with many millionaires and the other, much larger, for the rest. Dolly Parton likes to say "we were dirt poor" and she probably exemplifies Palin's comments, but Parton is in the tiny minority. Even the Pilgrim Fathers had more going for them than rags to walk about in.

Sarah Palin means a lot to a lot of people, but does she really mean what she says, says what she means or just says it anyway because she thinks it is so? If she ever did win the presidency I can't think she would make a great president. More a homespun one with ready quip for every eventuality.

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Honours Degrees and Honours Student Loans

Following on from my post about the government student loans business, I see that DirectGov has another company involved. Namely Honours Student Loans, owned by Deutsche Bank and Nationwide Building Society. In this report from This is money.co.uk the last government was offloading vast sums of student loan debt. Billions of pounds of it, in fact. Whatever else these students learn in college let them know one thing -


DEBT IS BIG BUSINESS INDEED!

This story is two years old. New Labour was up to its neck in vicarious financial dealings. I do hope the Coalition gets a grip on this debt selling "industry".

The impression is given that the government is running this loan system. Apparently not. But the ones that are have precious little good said about them on the internet. Even now, Honours Student Loans gets a bad press so to speak on consumer forums. If this is not nipped in the bud, many students are going to be embroiled with businesses that have little empathy with former students struggling to earn a living.

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Largest student debt is a whopping £66,150

"Don't look now, but I think we're being followed"

I'm all in favour of education being properly funded and paid for, whether private or state. However, I think the student loans business has a few snakes in the educational grass. Today the BBC reveals that a student is lumbered with a debt of £66,150. The problem is that debt is a currency in its own right. What the government does not say is that it is selling debt to companies who thrive on debt. One such is Thesis Servicing. Sounds relatively innocuous until you realise that it is really Link Financial, a company that buys debt for a fraction of its face value and then tries to extract the full whack by fair means or foul.

The student loans aspect is blithely promoted as a relatively easy option for students to gain degrees and the like and be in a position to pay the fees. But if the student gets into difficulties or cannot repay accordingly, then the debt can be sold on. Banks and credit card companies make a nice little earner selling debt on even though they may have cashed in on an insurance policy or written the debt off in order to "balance the books". It seems rather wrong for the government to be dealing with third party providers who have at best a wobbly track record in customer relations.

Perhaps something can be done to highlight this, because I fear many students will unwittingly find themselves in situations they had not bargained for.

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HSBC shanghai'd in Bernie Madoff fraud

Madoff with their money!

Banking is a murky world. HSBC started off life in the city streets of both Hong Kong and Shanghai. It may be a case of "you can take the bank out of Shanghai but you can't take Shanghai out of the bank". I don't know about that. What I do know is that I read in the Daily Mail that HSBC is being sued for £5.7billion for its role in the massive fraud by Wall Street swindler Bernie Madoff. HSBC is accused of creating and maintaining an international network of a dozen feeder funds based in Europe, the Caribbean and Central America that provided the money to help finance Madoff's 'Ponzi' sheme.

HSBC vigoruosly denies the accusations against it. However, what concerns me is that the vast bonuses paid out to bankers in London must have been as a result of creating feeder funds, if not these particular ones. The more that so-called investment banking is put under the microscope the more one finds a lot of things crawling about. Surely we need transparency? Or am I totally naive?

It is claimed that the bank was advised at least twice that there were irregularities. KPMG identified 25 'fraud and operational risks' in 2006 and 28 risks in 2008, according to copies of reports obtained by Bloomberg. HSBC says it 'did not know a fraud was being committed and lost $1bn of its own assets as a victim'. Well, someone isn't being straight.

The one good thing about the internet is that this sort of activity can be exposed for further scrutiny. Piercing scrutiny is the only thing that reveals the truth these days. HSBC is either a victim or it is something else. Either way, it has not been, in this case, very diligent and it begs the question whether those in charge are worth their vast largesse.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1336360/HSBC-sued-5-7bn-failure-spot-Bernie-Madoff-fraud.html#ixzz1H3CxrBM2

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Jet Harris, The Shadows bassist, dies aged 71

Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O

Jet Harris, the original bass player with The Shadows, has died of cancer aged 71. Sir Cliff Richard paid tribute to his former bandmate, saying, "Jet was exactly what The Shadows and I needed - a backbone holding our sound together." He may be associated as a Shadow for many, but he was also good at the skiffle music. This video neatly demonstrates his skills on makeshift instruments. For those who remember, Wally Whyton was also with the Vipers Skiffle Group. Nice record player. I had one very much like it. Things were much simpler then.......

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No gadfly zone over Libya - Gaddafi to get swatted!

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane?"

So the United Nations finally came up with a decision. A no fly zone is just the beginning. It is far better that dictators who are contemplating slaughtering their own people are dealt with by the international community instead of by unilateral action of a few or even one. In the case of Libya, we now know that Gaddafi and his henchsons are on their own.

I really think the crunch point came with Gaddafi's rambling rhetoric. Even the other Arab nations were appalled at his depiction of people as dogs scavenging for titbits. He is a total embarrassment to them. Perhaps he may be gone very soon.

As part of the action against Gaddafi, perhaps the tracking down of his ill gotten gains would be a good start. It's one thing bombing his air bases but where it hurts most for these criminal types is in the pocket. No stolen dosh and they've got no purpose in life. Gaddafi stole loads of cash from his people. He stole their freedom too. In fact he's just one giant pickpocket.

A free Libya will be a great Libya. Surely in the 21st century there is not one country in the world that wants repressive leaders schooled in the Al Capone method of politically criminal gain to rule over them. There's still an A to Z of corrupt despots that will be in the line-up for removal. From Arabia to Zimbabwe!

The best thing for Libya, though, would be for the Libyan army to drive off in the direction of Benghazi with tank turrets draped in the real Libyan flag. Now that would be a sight to see.

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Nigel Farage gives Van Rompuy some home truths

Belgian beer drinker meets Libyan camel milk drinker

This is delicious. Herman van Rompuy getting another dose of Nigel Farage's straight talking. The Belgian boss of the EU had been waffling on about what a nasty piece of work Gaddafi is. Seems that van Rumpuy knows the guy quite well. What a guy he is!

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Damian Thompson, the Catholic bishops and a revolting building

Catholic tastes?

Damian Thompson is the blogs editor of the Daily Telegraph. I read his religious affairs blog. Very good it is. Mr.Thompson has a down on the Catholic bishops. In fact, it could be said he's near to revolt on occasions. They apparently are near to revolt over the Ordinariate, yet profess blind obedience to the Pope and his initiative. There are revolts going on all over. Some of the comments on his pages are quite revolting, from those Roman Catholics who seem to despise Anglicans in the Catholic Church. Then there are revolting comments from those within the Church of England who are sniffers-out of all things papal. Damian says he has no time for the the "Hinge and Bracket" Anglo-Catholics. Neither have the liberal-minded members of Affirming Catholicism, who affirm almost everything the Pope does not. The Anglican Bishop of Truro has no clue as to what Anglican Patrimony is. The Pope apparently does. But the Catholic bishops don't. Damian Thompson does and seems to find it better than the Roman Patrimony, if I may put it that way.

Now there is on offer a church that does indeed have an ugly look about it. This is being touted as a suitable place for converting Anglicans to worship. I detect more revolts. Even the building might turn on itself. If the inside is anything like the outside, then an Anglican High Mass would seem very muted in there. Is that the idea? It would appear that the Church of England is huffy about the Ordinariate as much as the Catholic bishops. We've heard all manner of threats about leaving, not using buildings and such.

Christian charity is short on the ground right now between many. Feelings are running high. But surely we should all take a back step, a deep breath and ask ourselves "Are we being nice to each other? Is this what Christ expects of us?"

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Wolverhampton mayor arrested after cannabis raid

The Pick of the Cop!

There was a time when the police would accept the word of someone like the mayor of a town. But we live in very changed times. A gentleman may not seem all that he appears. A policeman may not appear all that he seems. We've lived through MPs having their parliamentary offices raided, MPs in court and subsequently sent to prison. We've had CEOs of large companies telling porkies. We've witnessed football managers outdoing each other on the expletives. Is it any wonder the police are not prepared to accept the word of a gentleman?

The mayor of Wolverhampton, a Liberal Democrat, has been arrested after cannabis plants were found by police at an industrial unit. He says it's nothing to do with him. Malcolm Gwinnett was detained by Staffordshire Police on Saturday on suspicion of growing cannabis after the raid in Wombourne. He said he had been "temporarily" arrested and strongly denied any wrongdoing. He has been bailed by police. Mr. Gwinnett said the plants were found in an annexe near a unit he rents out.

So he told the police that the plants were not in his unit, they are nothing to do with him and that he does not smoke. He also says the police found it funny. Found what funny? It seems arrests are made in some cases not because the police necessarily have correct evidence, but because they just don't believe the answers given. Could it be that they thought all LibDems smoke pot so why not just arrest him anyway? Or are they now so suspicious of politicians that a firm NO is mistaken for a maybe or a might be?

I do hope that the arrest procedure is not now just a simple technique in trying to prove prejudices correct.

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Kraft chiefs quizzed on Cadbury takeover by MPs

"I've always loved chocolate!"

MPs have said the absence of Kraft chief executive Irene Rosenfeld from a hearing over the firm's Cadbury takeover was a "slap in the face". The Commons Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee was following up a report in which it said Kraft acted "irresponsibly and unwisely". Ms Rosenfeld's team insisted she was interested in the hearing.

Ever since Kraft took over Cadbury the feeling seems to be that Kraft is up to something. Maybe they are or maybe they are not. But I think they come across as slightly shifty. Large corporations do themselves no favours by being unnecessarily secretive and defensively indignant. One thing is certain, though. Kraft need to create a better public image in the UK as far as their corporate affairs are concerned.

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Newspapers facing decline as web media interest increases

"I don't believe it!"

According to the Pew Research Center’s Project For Excellence in Journalism the likelihood of newspapers as we know them surviving is slim. They say local news is going mobile. Nearly half of all American adults (47%) report that they get at least some local news and information on their cellphone or tablet computer. They look at news websites like I do. But I also like reading newspapers. It would be a crying shame if they all went. The Birmingham Post gave up and is now a weekly digest of local news. Not the same at all.

It's all got to be immediate. Phones are with people all the time. Listening into conversations is commonplace. Watching thumbs move over cell phones with such dexterity is a marvel. However, I can't imagine how it is to read an online newspaper in such a way. I doubt if much real news is retained. Reading pithy commentaries is hard going on a hand-held device. I detect we are becoming a people of instant news gratification but little or no sound thought reception. Where are the deep thinkers? Jamie Oliver is trying to re-educate 20 dropouts. According to Oliver 50% of British school children get virtually no GCCEs. Would dumbing down have something to do with it?

The survey shows that quite a few wouldn't be bothered if the local newspaper faded into history. Sad, really.

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Midsomer Murders? No Gay, Black, Asian or Minority victims or perpetrators portrayed!

Shock Horror! Midsomer cops confronted by strange PCs

The producer of ITV1's Midsomer Murders has been suspended after saying the drama "wouldn't work" if there was racial diversity in the show. ITV's Political Correctness Unit has gone into an outrage of humbug over it. Quite OK for them to produce the show for so long, but NEVER EVER say there are no minorities. Talk about being in the closet!

Brian True-May, who co-created the series, told the Radio Times the long-running drama was a "last bastion of Englishness" and should stay that way. Of course, he is utterly right in his comments. This is all fictional fare that keeps many amused as they watch. Bemused too, no doubt. It isn't really serious. Yet you can't speak the bald truth in England anymore if it has anything to do with race, sex or a religion other than Christianity. You have to be sure not to offend the Stasi-like PC brigade.

Every sane person knows that Midsomer Murders is not set amongst the leafless lanes of East London. If you want Eastenders meets Poirot create something. So long as it's watchable, we'll watch.

Mr True-May added, "We just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them. It just wouldn't work." Asked why "Englishness" could not include other races who are well represented in modern society, he said, "Well, it should do, and maybe I'm not politically correct. I'm trying to make something that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed. And I don't want to change it."

The BBC says that a study in 2006 found the programme to be "strikingly unpopular" with viewers from ethnic minorities. Well, excuse me, if a load of Bollywood movies was stuck up on the screen, I'm sure that they would be "strikingly unpopular" with the vast majority. Not because that majority is made up of bigoted racists all foaming at the mouth, but because they genuinely may not like such TV.

Given the way the country is going, I'm sure that this may get some clamouring for Midsomer Murders to have a Taliban type hacking old ladies about, but I'm quite happy as it is. I watch the show. It doesn't make me a racist, or anything else.

It's just a television programme!

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Birmingham police are not to retrain as postmen!

The Policeman Always Rings Twice

As the chief constable of West Midlands Police checks up on the coppers he's going to make redundant, he'd be well advised not suggesting the Post Office as alternative employment for them. When it comes to identifying roads in Birmingham, names can have a disastrous effect on the detection system. Matthew Jillard, of Bordesley Green, said he had been visited by police more than 40 times in the past 18 months, often in the middle of the night. He said police confused his house in Repton Road with a nearby address in Repton Grove. Road or Grove? Sounds similar, I'll grant you, especially said quickly in Brum. But Mr. Jillard has told them about this simple error many times.

"When my girlfriend rang Police HQ at Lloyd House the gaffer there said he knew all about it because they had seminars about not getting it wrong. We used to get post for the address in Repton Grove but that has stopped after we contacted them. We've put up signs, we've tried to get them to change their records. Some officers have said it is their sat-nav because they're not always that accurate. I really don't know what more we can do."

This may be a one off but I get the impression it's what is really wrong with Britain. Nobody takes responsibility, passing the buck is normal and government institutions are rendered virtually incapable by paralytical political correctness. What did he say? Had seminars? Their sat-nav wasn't working? David Cameron is probably bang on getting them shaken up.

In reply a police spokeswoman said, "West Midlands Police can confirm that officers have attended an incorrect address in Repton Road on several occasions. Officers have been in regular contact with the occupier to apologise for the mistakes. A number of measures have been put in place to stop this from happening again." A number of measures? Half measures, no doubt! Come off it, dear. One measure would be quite enough. Full and brimming with thoughful, reasoned effort.

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Innocent until proved guilty?

What's in a name? What's in a word, in fact? Words. Humpty Dumpty, as I've said before, made them mean what he wanted them to mean. In the world of business, names mean a lot. But do words mean as much as names, or less?

A mother of two, Dawn Reid, is facing a ‘David and Goliath’ battle with an international drinks company over the name she has given to her vitamin capsules for children. Innocent Drinks objects to her selling a food supplement called Innocent Vitamins, and has asked her to cease trading under that name. But the small-business owner insists the drinks market and the vitamin are totally separate and accused the British-based firm of over-reacting.

This is Dawn's company logo:

All green and very innocent looking. Seems to me it's all about vitamins. Innocent Drinks' logo looks very different. Not only that, but their smoothies tend to sell in stores around the milk section and not in the pharmacy.


Innocent Drinks say people have been calling them up asking whether these are their vitamins. Is that because these callers are genuinely confused, or are they thinking vitamins don't go with smoothies. Would people get confused? Even if they were, they can now know with complete clarity that these two innocents have never had any relationship whatsoever!

The Innocent Drinks "brand" appears very different. But this may not be as innocent as we are led to believe. After all, there are plenty of businesses trading with similar names to other businesses.

Can Continental Airlines be confused with Continental Tyres?


Or can EasyJet be confused with EasySpace?



I don't think the public is that dim. And even if they don't know, would it really bother them? Mostly business is about "brands going forward" to use the jargon. If a brand has a similar name, but is in a dissimilar market place, does the customer care? EasyJet flies people to places and EasySpace gets them on the web. Easy really. Or am I just too innocent?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365443/Innocent-Drinks-set-inot-battle-Dawn-Reid-Innocent-Vitamins.html#ixzz1GQmlwGYg

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One man dies in 3ft of water, the other is saved after jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge

Britain is still suffering from the New Labour regime's politically correct (incorrect) meddling. They left a legacy where Sodom & Gomorrah met up with the Temple of the Pharisees and the Courts of the Moneychangers. A mish-mash of greed, self-righteousness and arrant hypocrisy. The chief of the regime, Tony Blair, is now acting as some kind of moral trojan horse within the Roman Catholic Church. Quite a few have spotted his low level of acceptance of Catholic belief.

One aspect of the legacy is the dimwitted adhesion government lackies have to health and safety. Most are moronically wedded to the concept. The Daily Mail reports that a charity shop worker was 'left to die' in 3ft of water because rescue workers were worried about their own health and safety. As one person said, "They just all seemed to be standing around".

It beggars belief that sanity can escape the minds of people working in the rescue services. Common sense has given way to a craven desire to genuflect at the altar of political correctness. I still think many put "good at being moronic in difficult circumstances" as skills on their CVs. It seems just what the recruiters are looking for. In response to the death of the man, the fire service and police say they did not enter the water as their regulations ban them from doing so – only specially trained water unit firefighters are allowed to go in.
Hampshire Police’s corporate communications officer Neil Miller admitted that the officers’ actions were for ‘health and safety reasons’, but defended their decision.

HE DEFENDED THE DECISION?

Totally outrageous. Mr.Miller is an utter disgrace. A man died and all he can do is defend the blasted regulations. He should hang his head in shame.

Across the pond and continental USA another, totally different story emerges. A young schoolboy falls off the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and survives. It was as if he had just dived into the local swimming pool. He was helped to shore by a surfer who was already in the water. Frederic Lecouturier, 55, said he was surfing under the bridge when he saw the boy jump. "I thought, 'Well, he’s going to die' and then it was a miracle when he popped up alive. I padded out there and he told me he jumped “for kicks”. That’s when I lost it and told him what he did was wrong, that life is precious and he should not take risks like that."

The difference is startling. In Britain, lethargy get's the better of the rescuers. 3ft of water gives them the habdabs and they act as moral cowards. Life is less precious than the regulations. Maybe Mr. Lecouturier could pay a visit to Britain, where he can lose it and tell Hampshire Fire and Rescue that what they did was wrong. Life is precious.

So why are we being encouraged to stand on the sidelines, watching it expire for no other reason than stubborn pigheadedness?

Daily Mail stories -
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365272/Emergency-services-left-man-floating-face-lake-half-hour-health-safety-reasons.html#ixzz1GOg83Djs
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1365211/Teenager-jumps-Golden-Gate-Bridge-suicide-spot-dare-LIVES.html#ixzz1GOiktE47

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Gay couple end hotel payout claim

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is supposed to be about equal rights but, as in George Orwell's Animal Farm, some are more equal than others in this Brave New World. In the second decade of the 21st century, gay rights completely trump Christian belief in their eyes. However, even they can see that grinding a Christian's nose in the mud is taking it a bit far. The homosexual couple who successfully sued the Christian owners of a hotel who refused them a bed are withdrawing a claim for more compensation, the Equality and Human Rights Commission said today. Legal director John Wadham said, "This morning we withdrew our cross appeal in this case. It was filed initially because of an error of judgment on the part of our legal team." Error, eh?

Mrs Bull, one of the hotel owners, said, "It is obviously a relief that we are not being pursued in the courts for more money. But I can't imagine this taxpayer-funded 'error of judgment' happening to anyone other than Christians." Exactly. John Wadham wouldn't dare try it on with Muslims. Or any other group. Christians are fair game for giving the other cheek a proper smacking!

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Ron Paul says Leave Libya Alone!

This is a great speech to the House. Straight from the heart. Ron Paul is only saying what is true. That a no fly zone is an aspect of war. As General Sherman once said "War is Hell!" and it certainly is. No right thinking person wants war except despots and arms manufacturers. The Libyan rebels don't want outside intervention. It may seem  like we know it all, but the past twenty years or so have clearly shown that we don't.

Ron Paul 2012 Campaign Site

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When is a banker not a banker? When he's called Fred Goodwin!

Fred Goodwin got to be known as Fred the Shred for his activities whilst he was the semi-piratical captain of the ship at Royal Bank of Scotland. He took a once great institution so close to the rocks that it nearly broke into tiny pieces. For his ambitious greed, or maybe greedy ambition, he got given the boot. Now the cheeky knight in tarnished armour has the affrontery to suggest that calling him a banker is all wrong. He has gone so far as to get a judge (one in a stupor, no doubt) to grant him an injunction banning the media from calling him a banker. Well, if he isn't a banker, what is he?

He must have got out of the wrong side of his bed one morning. Thought to himself "I'm not a banker!" and then gone running round the house telling his family and then running into the street telling the good folk of Edinburgh "I'm not a banker". Well, we all knew that anyway.

FRED GOODWIN IS NOT A BANKER!!!

I'm glad to join in telling anyone who may care to know it that Fred is not a banker. I'm not sure what he is now, but no doubt he will tell us in good time.

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Bob Diamond bags a diamond tipped bonus from Barclays.

The banking business is now a computerised casino for making money out of bytes. Touch the button and zeros become prime numbers with alacrity. Bob Diamond is the chief of Barclays Bank. He gets a salary of £250,000 for his day job. For his croupier activities he gets a whopping £6,500,000!

Now I'm firmly behind David Cameron's notion that the entrepreneurial community is going to get Britain out of the mire. But what did Bob Diamond do entrepreneurially last year to get his salary paid 26 times over in ONE YEAR?

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Prestwick Airport sees drop in winter passengers

Prestwick Airport has suffered a sharp decline in passenger numbers this winter, down by 40% in recent months. So reports the BBC.

This airport used to be the tourists' airport, but its fortunes have waxed and waned like the moon over the years. Maybe a return of Elvis Presley might do the trick! We need airports but the sure certainly is this. If we don't use them. we will lose them.

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Landlord Chris Jefferies is not a suspect in Jo Yeates murder case

So after a protracted time whilst he has had to endure innuendo from the tabloids, a disgraceful episode whereby police leaked his name and the fact that he has been on police bail for over two months under suspicion, Christopher Jefferies is unceremoniously dumped back into the world to get on with his life.

All the whisperers who thought "he was the one what did it" can spend a day looking at themselves in a mirror. A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police said, "We can confirm that a 66-year-old arrested on suspicion of murdering Joanna Yeates was released without charge on Friday 4 March" and with that he went back to his desk.

My grandmother had a saying, "Life is real and life is earnest". It certainly is. One can only wonder what the next phase of this murder case will reveal. Anyone watching The Killing on BBC4 will be accutely aware that not everything is at it seems. There may be uncanny parallels here.

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Independent candidate hits out at public sector greed

Tony Devoy, Independent candidate in the Barnsley Central by-election, yesterday gave the civic bosses a blasting for greedy goings-on. Here he is featured on Barnsley Cronicle Online. He and his supporters at least realise that New Labour was a greed culture, made up chiefly with slippery eels and fickle ferrets (the human variety!). The sort Saif Gaddafi got to know!

And here's a nice video on the thoughts of the by-election candidates -

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Barnsley Central clobbers the Coalition

The voters of Barnsley Central Central gave the Coalition a drubbing in the polls yesterday. Not so much by the fact that they voted in a neatly turned out ex-soldier, but by the sheer weight of their indolence. The Apathy Party took over and seduced them. Those that did turn out did so for a variety of reasons. Those that actively voted Labour wanted to clobber the government for the perceived cuts. They had conveniently forgotten the election of last year and the previous years of Labour profligacy. Or more accurately, forgot about the consequences.

It used to be said of those in West Riding Yorkshire that they had thick soles and thin uppers. The fact that they voted Labour yesterday is neither here nor there. The real interest is in the opposition to Labour in this constituency. Almost 9,500 people voted against Labour but were split eight ways. Seasoned commentators are saying that the LibDems have lost much because of their participation in the Coalition. Dominic Carmen lost his deposit. But he only lost the battle, not the war. I don't think the LibDems will lose much here. I think the greater losers are the Conservatives. They have a grinning Nigel Farage to contend with. He could do far more harm. This is a good result for him and UKIP. They got a good lead over the Conservative to come in second. If UKIP can sustain by-election success, then they could do to the Tories what the SDP did to Labour in the early Eighties. Defecting MPs, dwindling membership - it's a bigger problem than that for the LibDems.

The LibDem leadership is firm in its resolve. It is also in a no lose situation as the tail wagging the dog. If they do badly as yesterday, they can force the Tories to accept more liberal stuff. If they do well, they can take the credit for taking tough decisions for the betterment of the country. But if the LibDems get more say, it is likely that Tory MPs will mutter in front of their hands and maybe go off for more cosy chats with Farage. UKIP's leadership knows that it needs to unsettle MPs. Forget Rumpy Pumpy and his Eurocrats. It's votes for Westminster that count and UKIP counted 954 more than the Tories! And couldn't just one more have voted Tory to make the 2,000?

UKIP have also won on another front. They have seen off the BNP as a repository for right and centre disenchantment. This was supposed to be the big one for the BNP. No wonder they fancy regional lists. Just getting 5% plus would be OK.

And finally, as they say, a word for Tony Devoy. It's not easy being an independent but he succeeded in saving his deposit. He should not feel dejected. Who knows, if Dan Jarvis trips up, he might get to give Barnsley Central real Labour instead of the fake stuff.

The Result

Dan Jarvis (Lab) 14,724    60.79%
Jane Collins (UKIP) 2,953    12.19%
James Hockney (C) 1,999    8.25%
Enis Dalton (BNP) 1,463     6.04%
Tony Devoy (Ind) 1,266     5.23%
Dominic Carman (LD) 1,012     4.18%
Kevin Riddiough (Eng Dem) 544     2.25%
Howling Laud Hope (Loony) 198     0.82%
Michael Val Davies (Ind) 60     0.25%

Labour Majority 11,771

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MBNA in the doghouse again!

The credit card issuer MBNA finds itself yet again on the receiving end of a judge's sharp tongue. Not that such remarks will give them the slightest feeling of shame. Such companies carry on regardless. They have a nice business model based on slick selling backed by precious little customer care. This latest episode is about a man taking them to court or more correctly the outfit that MBNA sold the debt to. (Debts get passed around like a tray of biscuits!). Namely Link Financial. If you google Link Financial you will get a pretty good sense that they are at the bottom of the heap when it comes to debt collecting integrity.

In court Keith Harrison argued that, contrary to the explicit requirements of the Consumer Credit Regulations 1983, the bank had failed to send him the necessary terms and conditions for his card, either when he applied for the card or when it was issued to him by post. MBNA said it would have done so. But the bank could not prove to the court that this had occurred.

"I find that neither with the application pack nor with the card was the claimant sent the MBNA terms and conditions," said the judge. "It is perfectly clear that the legislature regards it as desirable that such documents should be provided. It seems to me that a total failure to supply the required documents will prima facie call for some reaction from the court," he added.

It is amazing that organisations such as MBNA can carry on with such sloppy record keeping. They have a poor view of consumer laws. They think there is very little on the side of the consumer and everything on their side. One wonders what on earth it will take for MBNA to shape up.

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The busty substances of Jane Russell remembered

Jane Russell has died at the grand age of 89. Remembered as she was for Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I have an abiding memory of her as a topic of conversation for Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. If the three of them should meet up in the next world, I wonder if the talk will be about busty substances as it was in this London Palladium sketch of 1965.

(For the bit I mean, it's at the end around 9 minutes in!)



Pete and Dud London Palladium 1965 from DC Morgan on Vimeo.
And here's a different tribute to the lady.

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Breast milk ice cream gets boobed by authorities

Ice cream made from breast milk has been removed from a central London restaurant on health grounds following complaints by members of the public. Surely not those who tasted it. The owner of the ice cream parlour says the stuff is very fine indeed. It's pasteurised and excellent. The ice cream was churned with donations from London mother Victoria Hiley, and served with a rusk and an optional shot of Calpol or Bonjela. Each serving costs £14. All very enterprising in a less than enterprising year so far.

Along comes Westminster City Council to scoop the confection off the counters and experiment with it in their laboratories. Tory Westminster Councillor Brian Connell said, "Selling foodstuffs made from another person's bodily fluids can lead to viruses being passed on and, in this case, potentially hepatitis. As the local authority we will support small businesses and applaud innovative ideas wherever possible, but must protect the health of consumers." Pity he's not so hot on hospital filth or catering establishments with rats as inhabitants.

I'd think that "bodily fluids" of another person which had been pasteurised were far more efficacious than some of the so-called food fed to animals. Mad cow disease didn't come from breast milk ice cream! I think this is more about the sensitivities of a couple of Brits unable to see the funny side of this enterprise. If people want to pay £14 for an ice cream delight that's their business. What if the council finds out that this ice cream is 100% virus free and hepatitis negative? Maybe they will go to the Council of Europe for a verdict, from the fallen madonna with the big boobies.

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Derby City Council free to discriminate against Christians

The Supreme Court (supremely something!) has ruled that it is not acceptable for traditional Christians to be foster carers. Derby City Council, which took against a traditional Christian couple over their beliefs on homosexual activities, are free to discriminate against those they feel go against the secular teachings of the state. It may well mean that Derby will go after schoolteachers, doctors and any manner of person. We live in an intolerant society because only the views of a few mean a hell of a lot to the likes of Derby City Council.

We should be on our guard. This attack on Christians should not mean that freedom of belief for those perpetrating the attacks should be diminished. Far from it. We just want a level playing field.

Archbishop Cranmer has an excellent take on this.

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