Evening all. So how's Britain in 2012 shaping up for you so far?
Yes it's tough while unemployment is closing in on 3 million and food prices are up and wages are stalled but as the Prime Minister explained a while back, we are all in this together which is reassuring to know.
So why you are worrying about your job or getting a job or how you are going to pay the gas, electric, television, water or rent, be assured that the people at the top are feeling the pinch also, hence the reduction in the top rate of tax to help them.
Take Lakshmi Mittal who sits on top of the Times Rich List today, the richest man in Britain lost £4.8bn last year and now only has a personal fortune of £12.7bn. He may well have to put off buying that private island he had his eye on now.
Interestingly, the list shows that Britain's 1000 wealthiest people saw their fortunes rise to record levels last year, swelling by 5% to more than £414bn, the highest ever recorded by the 24-year-old survey.
There, don't you feel better now knowing that even during a double dip recession, the rich have got even richer. No? Didn't think so.
Sunday, 29 April 2012
Friday, 27 April 2012
Communism Through Climate Change
There is a posting on the Sky News website regarding Britain sending a spacecraft to the Sun to study it and see what we can learn about how it affects us here on earth and two things made me angry.
The first was amount of commenter's who used the joke about sending it at night to make the line unusable here now and the miserable ones who complained that the £248m that the European Space Agency has coughed up to Britain to build the spacecraft is an obscene use of money in these austere times.
If i had an account with Sky i would have made the point that as we will probably have to leave this planet at some point after we have poisoned it enough so human life is no longer sustainable, that we should find out all we can about our solar system but i never, i wrote it here instead.
Now i imagine that some of the whiny Sky News posters objecting to us researching the Star that gives us life are climate change deniers and it seems that most climate change deniers are also right wing because climate change denial does seem to have become a right wing thing.
To that affect, environmentalism seems to have become associated with left wing thinking and that has led to some American deniers leaping to what they believe is a death knell to Environmentalism, linking anyone who believes the overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing with Communism.
The thinking seems to go that Environmentalism is a left wing cause and the left wing is made up of Marxists wanting to share everything and bring down Capitalism and that my sensible shoe wearing patriotic Americans is Communism.
Now i can't speak for all the tree hugging hippies out there but when i hear about desertification, floods, draughts and extreme weather patterns, my first thought is not how can we use this to bring down TSB Lloyds, it's how we really need to get a grip on this changing climate that is devastating our planet and killing tens of thousands every year.
The useful idiots of the oil companies on the right still seem to stick to the dunderheaded notion that the thousands of climate scientists with their overwhelming stack of evidence are all wrong and this latest ruse to link in their minds wanting to save the planet with the days of the USSR will probably rattle around quite well inside their heads.
Living in a clean, unpolluted World should not be turned into a political tug of war, it is far too important and if what it takes is to shave the rough edges off the Capitalist system, then it is an added bonus but it is not the aim.
Besides, us on the left have the Anarchists, Anti-Capitalists, Trotskyists and the head Communist Obama poised to bring down Capitalism anyway. Get that red flag ready comrades!
The first was amount of commenter's who used the joke about sending it at night to make the line unusable here now and the miserable ones who complained that the £248m that the European Space Agency has coughed up to Britain to build the spacecraft is an obscene use of money in these austere times.
If i had an account with Sky i would have made the point that as we will probably have to leave this planet at some point after we have poisoned it enough so human life is no longer sustainable, that we should find out all we can about our solar system but i never, i wrote it here instead.
Now i imagine that some of the whiny Sky News posters objecting to us researching the Star that gives us life are climate change deniers and it seems that most climate change deniers are also right wing because climate change denial does seem to have become a right wing thing.
To that affect, environmentalism seems to have become associated with left wing thinking and that has led to some American deniers leaping to what they believe is a death knell to Environmentalism, linking anyone who believes the overwhelming evidence that the climate is changing with Communism.
The thinking seems to go that Environmentalism is a left wing cause and the left wing is made up of Marxists wanting to share everything and bring down Capitalism and that my sensible shoe wearing patriotic Americans is Communism.
Now i can't speak for all the tree hugging hippies out there but when i hear about desertification, floods, draughts and extreme weather patterns, my first thought is not how can we use this to bring down TSB Lloyds, it's how we really need to get a grip on this changing climate that is devastating our planet and killing tens of thousands every year.
The useful idiots of the oil companies on the right still seem to stick to the dunderheaded notion that the thousands of climate scientists with their overwhelming stack of evidence are all wrong and this latest ruse to link in their minds wanting to save the planet with the days of the USSR will probably rattle around quite well inside their heads.
Living in a clean, unpolluted World should not be turned into a political tug of war, it is far too important and if what it takes is to shave the rough edges off the Capitalist system, then it is an added bonus but it is not the aim.
Besides, us on the left have the Anarchists, Anti-Capitalists, Trotskyists and the head Communist Obama poised to bring down Capitalism anyway. Get that red flag ready comrades!
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
Keep Calm And Carry On
Well there you go, the Conservatives have led the UK back into recession.
The severe austerity measures didn't work so good work George, all those people out of work for nothing.
But wait, the line of sycophantic Tories are queueing up to tell any available reporter that none of the mess that we now find ourselves in is the fault of the Coalition Government whatsoever.
The blame rests entirely with:
1) the Labour party
2) Gordon Brown
3) rich people paying too much tax
4) the Eurozone crisis
5) the Global economy
6) poor people claiming benefits
7) unseasonably hot weather
8) unseasonably cold weather
9) too many public sector workers
10) public sector pensions
11) disabled people
12) the poor
13) immigrants
Not the policies of the Coalition Government, no way whatsoever. Nothing to do with them.
Keep calm and carry on people.
The severe austerity measures didn't work so good work George, all those people out of work for nothing.
But wait, the line of sycophantic Tories are queueing up to tell any available reporter that none of the mess that we now find ourselves in is the fault of the Coalition Government whatsoever.
The blame rests entirely with:
1) the Labour party
2) Gordon Brown
3) rich people paying too much tax
4) the Eurozone crisis
5) the Global economy
6) poor people claiming benefits
7) unseasonably hot weather
8) unseasonably cold weather
9) too many public sector workers
10) public sector pensions
11) disabled people
12) the poor
13) immigrants
Not the policies of the Coalition Government, no way whatsoever. Nothing to do with them.
Keep calm and carry on people.
Tuesday, 24 April 2012
Dilemma For Department Of Health
The Department of Health in the UK has a tough decision to make regarding something that we almost all own and use daily.Should it listen to the scientists at institutions like the the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority and the International Agency for Research on Cancer that say that the evidence is that this thing is 'probably carcinogenic' and spark a public scare or go with the scientists at Children with Cancer who say the threat is not proven.
The DoH have gone somewhere in the middle and have adopted a precautionary line of telling users to protect themselves and their children from potential, but not proven, long term health risks, especially head cancer.
There are more than 5 billion users of mobile phones worldwide but nobody can decide whether they are a health hazard or not.
The Office of National Statistics suggest a 50% increase in frontal and temporal lobe tumours in the last decade and France has banned phone adverts aimed at children while Israel requires all mobile phones and adverts to come with a health warning that heavy use and carrying the device next to the body may increase the risk of cancer.
San Francisco is currently attempting to implement the same health warning on mobile phones and the Epidemiology for Cancer Prevention Unit say that the 2% annual increase in childhood brain cancers is down to 'an electro-smog' and 'people are exposed to wireless devices that we have shown in the lab to have a biological impact'.
On the flip side the Institute of Cancer Research and the Advisory Group on Ionizing Radiation say in order to believe there is a health threat, it needs to be shown consistently and it has not yet been proven.
The UK’s Mobile Operators Association says that most health agencies agree that there is 'no credible evidence of adverse health effects from mobile phone technology' yet if you look at the small print in the booklets that come with your mobile, there is some worrying advice.
My recently purchased Blackberry advises: 'use hands-free operation if available and keep the BlackBerry device at least 0.98in (25mm) from your body (including the abdomen of pregnant women and the lower abdomen of teenagers) when the BlackBerry is turned on and connected to the wireless network and reduce the amount of time spent on calls.'
If the jury is out then the DoH must decide if it wise to loudly warn of potential hazards of mobile use and risk irreparably damaging a multi-billion pound industry or say nothing and continue the research and risk the health of the people it is meant to protect.
Sunday, 22 April 2012
Muamba Wrong About Who Saved Him
As tolerant as i try to be about religion, one thing that drives me mad is when people with belief heap praise upon the mythical man in the clouds for their achievements.
Sports people seem to be especially inflicted with this and say that it is down to God that they have won a race or a match.
Nothing to do with their trainers who put years into conditioning and preparing them, it's God who takes the time out of his schedule to decide who wins a shiny medal and who goes tumbling over the first hurdle.
I have heard students say their exam success was down to God and i tactfully explain that it was down to their own hard work and to give all the credit where it was due, to themselves.
The latest person to annoy me again with this bogus 'thank you God' nonsense is Fabrice Muamba who said: 'What happened to me was really more than a miracle. On the morning of the game I prayed with my father and asked God to protect me - and he didn't let me down'.
Rather than ask himself why God stopped his heart in the first place, he heaps praise upon him for it not killing him.
Not modern medicine or the skill of the doctors, it was God that did it.
There is a reason why heart attack victims are rushed to a hospital and not driven straight to Saint Paul's Cathedral and that is because the hospital is where the people who actually save lives are, not in a church.
Good on you Fabrice and i wish you well with your recovery but give credit where credit is due because the God you believe in and think is so great was the one who decided to stop your heart and it was only the doctors who started it again and to say otherwise is deeply disrespectful.
Sports people seem to be especially inflicted with this and say that it is down to God that they have won a race or a match.
Nothing to do with their trainers who put years into conditioning and preparing them, it's God who takes the time out of his schedule to decide who wins a shiny medal and who goes tumbling over the first hurdle.
I have heard students say their exam success was down to God and i tactfully explain that it was down to their own hard work and to give all the credit where it was due, to themselves.
The latest person to annoy me again with this bogus 'thank you God' nonsense is Fabrice Muamba who said: 'What happened to me was really more than a miracle. On the morning of the game I prayed with my father and asked God to protect me - and he didn't let me down'.
Rather than ask himself why God stopped his heart in the first place, he heaps praise upon him for it not killing him.
Not modern medicine or the skill of the doctors, it was God that did it.
There is a reason why heart attack victims are rushed to a hospital and not driven straight to Saint Paul's Cathedral and that is because the hospital is where the people who actually save lives are, not in a church.
Good on you Fabrice and i wish you well with your recovery but give credit where credit is due because the God you believe in and think is so great was the one who decided to stop your heart and it was only the doctors who started it again and to say otherwise is deeply disrespectful.
Saturday, 21 April 2012
Bahrain Still Has Friends At F1
After Jenson Button was car jacked in Brazil, Bernie Ecclestone explained that muggers 'look for anyone that looks like a soft touch and not too bright. The people that look a bit soft and simple, they will always have a go at'. Two weeks later Bernie was mugged in London and £200,000 worth of jewellery stolen from him and his girlfriend.
By his own definition the Formula 1 top banana is not too bright but even he must realise that holding a Grand Prix in a country where the public are currently being killed for demonstrating against the rulers is not a good idea.
For Bahrain's Al Khalifa royal family, things were not supposed to turn out this way and hosting the Grand Prix may have proved less of a prize than they were hoping.
By persuading the sport's governing authority to stage the race after it was cancelled last year, the ruling family sought to show that the recent upheaval was over yet if anything the opposite has happened with a spotlight being shone on the regime's brutal oppression of demonstrators and rejuvenating the demonstrations.
A spokesman for the Al Khaifa's explained that the tanks and rubber bullets that have left nearly a hundred dead was needed because the demonstrators had been infiltrated by a minority bent on violence and mayhem.
Strangely, that is the same reason the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, gave for him sending out the tanks to crush any rebellion but it seems some brutal dictators get a Grand Prix and others get sanctions.
We have the Olympics here is a little under 100 days and what with the way we have been behaving this last decade with highly questionable wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, our role in special rendition and torture and support for some of the most vile dictators in power, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that there could be some uncomfortable questions aimed at Britain as was asked about China's human rights record when they hosted the last Olympics.
Would also be interesting to see how any demonstrations are dealt with by the British Government, another strong possibility, when the running and jumping starts.
By his own definition the Formula 1 top banana is not too bright but even he must realise that holding a Grand Prix in a country where the public are currently being killed for demonstrating against the rulers is not a good idea.
For Bahrain's Al Khalifa royal family, things were not supposed to turn out this way and hosting the Grand Prix may have proved less of a prize than they were hoping.
By persuading the sport's governing authority to stage the race after it was cancelled last year, the ruling family sought to show that the recent upheaval was over yet if anything the opposite has happened with a spotlight being shone on the regime's brutal oppression of demonstrators and rejuvenating the demonstrations.
A spokesman for the Al Khaifa's explained that the tanks and rubber bullets that have left nearly a hundred dead was needed because the demonstrators had been infiltrated by a minority bent on violence and mayhem.
Strangely, that is the same reason the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad, gave for him sending out the tanks to crush any rebellion but it seems some brutal dictators get a Grand Prix and others get sanctions.
We have the Olympics here is a little under 100 days and what with the way we have been behaving this last decade with highly questionable wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, our role in special rendition and torture and support for some of the most vile dictators in power, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that there could be some uncomfortable questions aimed at Britain as was asked about China's human rights record when they hosted the last Olympics.
Would also be interesting to see how any demonstrations are dealt with by the British Government, another strong possibility, when the running and jumping starts.
Thursday, 19 April 2012
100 Days To Olympics
It's 100 days to the London Olympics so the television and newspapers have been telling us all day and i'm sure that it is going to be a spectacular show of all the Worlds best runners, throwers and jumpers but i'm with the 64% who think it isn't value for money.
The original cost of hosting the glorified school sports day was £2.37bn but seven years on it is touching £24bn.
We were told that that having the games on our shores will bring untold benefits to London and the rest of the country but if there are such things as benefits from this, then they certainly are untold.
The Olympic Village, built with taxpayers money at a cost of £1 billion, has been sold to a Middle Eastern developer and a retail developer for £875 million which the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed as a 'fantastic deal' as the Government never expected to recoup the village's building costs. They never, they lost £125 million on the deal but then the Governments calculators obviously work differently to everyone else's.
A giant sandcastle costing £5000 was built on Weymouth beach to mark 100 days to the start of the Games and was demolished just hours after it was finished but that cost if piffling compared to the £81 million the opening ceremony is set to cost.
I'm not against the Olympics, i will watch it wherever in the World it is held, i just can't see how my Government can justify spending £24 billion of our money on a 3 week event when only a few weeks ago they were telling us that we are so broke that they are having to put up the VAT on pasties and claw back money from the elderly.
Our priorities are dangerously skewed if our leaders are more concerned with providing a World beating fireworks display during the opening ceremony then keeping open libraries.
I'm glad Johnny Rotten told the Olympic Committee where to go when they asked him to perform at the opening ceremony which should just be David Beckham pushing out a tea trolley and pulling up a flag with the word 'Open' on it because, to be honest, tea and David Beckham is about all we are known for these days.
That and spending obscene amounts of money we haven't got and being told it's a good thing.
The original cost of hosting the glorified school sports day was £2.37bn but seven years on it is touching £24bn.
We were told that that having the games on our shores will bring untold benefits to London and the rest of the country but if there are such things as benefits from this, then they certainly are untold.
The Olympic Village, built with taxpayers money at a cost of £1 billion, has been sold to a Middle Eastern developer and a retail developer for £875 million which the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt hailed as a 'fantastic deal' as the Government never expected to recoup the village's building costs. They never, they lost £125 million on the deal but then the Governments calculators obviously work differently to everyone else's.
A giant sandcastle costing £5000 was built on Weymouth beach to mark 100 days to the start of the Games and was demolished just hours after it was finished but that cost if piffling compared to the £81 million the opening ceremony is set to cost.
I'm not against the Olympics, i will watch it wherever in the World it is held, i just can't see how my Government can justify spending £24 billion of our money on a 3 week event when only a few weeks ago they were telling us that we are so broke that they are having to put up the VAT on pasties and claw back money from the elderly.
Our priorities are dangerously skewed if our leaders are more concerned with providing a World beating fireworks display during the opening ceremony then keeping open libraries.
I'm glad Johnny Rotten told the Olympic Committee where to go when they asked him to perform at the opening ceremony which should just be David Beckham pushing out a tea trolley and pulling up a flag with the word 'Open' on it because, to be honest, tea and David Beckham is about all we are known for these days.
That and spending obscene amounts of money we haven't got and being told it's a good thing.
Wednesday, 18 April 2012
Au revoir Nicolas, Bonjour François
As Vladimir Putin settles his well toned buttocks into the top seat in the Kremlin, it's France next and the turn of the devilishly handsome Nicolas Sarkozy to face the citizens.
The wise money is going on the Frenchies turfing Sarkozy out on his ear this weekend and electing the Socialist François Hollande as President.
In truth, for those of us pay attention to these things, it has been a very boring campaign but then Sarkozy had very little to crow about and Hollande had the good sense to realise that as long as he played it safe, the comfortable chair in the Elysee Palace was his for the taking.
Of course Hollande may not have been there at all if the former Socialist and Radical Left Party leader, the sleazeball that is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had not been caught sexually assaulting hotel maids and cavorting with prostitutes.
Hollande's manifesto is wonderfully Socialist and includes policies such as hitting the big corporations, banks and the wealthy with massive tax bills, creating subsidised jobs in areas of high unemployment, creating a public investment bank, granting marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples, pulling French troops out of Afghanistan and building 2.5 million new homes to fight the housing crisis.
Oui, s'il vous plait and then it is on to the big one later in the year, the one where everyone hoping that the present incumbent will remain in power and continue his project to bring equality and fairness to the his country.
Yes, unless his fight against cancer prevents it, it should be another victory for the immense Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Following that, the bitterly disappointing Obama will usher the Mormon aside and hopefully try to do better than he did in his first administration.
The wise money is going on the Frenchies turfing Sarkozy out on his ear this weekend and electing the Socialist François Hollande as President.
In truth, for those of us pay attention to these things, it has been a very boring campaign but then Sarkozy had very little to crow about and Hollande had the good sense to realise that as long as he played it safe, the comfortable chair in the Elysee Palace was his for the taking.
Of course Hollande may not have been there at all if the former Socialist and Radical Left Party leader, the sleazeball that is Dominique Strauss-Kahn, had not been caught sexually assaulting hotel maids and cavorting with prostitutes.
Hollande's manifesto is wonderfully Socialist and includes policies such as hitting the big corporations, banks and the wealthy with massive tax bills, creating subsidised jobs in areas of high unemployment, creating a public investment bank, granting marriage and adoption rights to same-sex couples, pulling French troops out of Afghanistan and building 2.5 million new homes to fight the housing crisis.
Oui, s'il vous plait and then it is on to the big one later in the year, the one where everyone hoping that the present incumbent will remain in power and continue his project to bring equality and fairness to the his country.
Yes, unless his fight against cancer prevents it, it should be another victory for the immense Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Following that, the bitterly disappointing Obama will usher the Mormon aside and hopefully try to do better than he did in his first administration.
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Fracking
Fracking is back in the news after the Government has been advised to allow it to be extended across Britain, despite it causing two earthquakes the first time it was tried here.
Apart from creating earthquakes, i know very little about fracking apart from it involving drilling a well and pumping it full of chemicals in order to release the gas held in the rocks, but as it has been going on a long time in America, we should probably look there to see how it is working out.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that fracking may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution and Health officials have advised residents in Wyoming not to drink the water in areas where fracking is ongoing after they found low levels of hydrocarbons used in the fracking process in their water supply. The fracking also caused ground-level ozone pollution affecting the quality of life for Wyoming residents.
How about in Pennsylvania, another state where fracking is popular, any problems there? Ah, regulators ordered a cease to all fracking in Susquehanna County and advised residents to avoid drinking the water after chemicals used in fracking entered the water supply.
In New York, regulators have refused to issue fracking permits to protect water supplies while the French and Bulgarians have banned fracking altogether. President Sarkozy said: 'This won’t be done until it has been shown that technologies used for development respect the environment, the complex nature of soil and water networks'.
Not looking good for fracking is it and i would say as a general rule of thumb is that any human activity that causes earthquakes and poisons the water supply is not to be encouraged.
Ooops, too late, the UK Government has already issued the licenses to fracking companies.
I wonder if all those people who spent time and energy objecting to ugly wind turbines spoiling their views in their area are happy now with this alternative. Enjoy.
Apart from creating earthquakes, i know very little about fracking apart from it involving drilling a well and pumping it full of chemicals in order to release the gas held in the rocks, but as it has been going on a long time in America, we should probably look there to see how it is working out.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said that fracking may be to blame for causing groundwater pollution and Health officials have advised residents in Wyoming not to drink the water in areas where fracking is ongoing after they found low levels of hydrocarbons used in the fracking process in their water supply. The fracking also caused ground-level ozone pollution affecting the quality of life for Wyoming residents.
How about in Pennsylvania, another state where fracking is popular, any problems there? Ah, regulators ordered a cease to all fracking in Susquehanna County and advised residents to avoid drinking the water after chemicals used in fracking entered the water supply.
In New York, regulators have refused to issue fracking permits to protect water supplies while the French and Bulgarians have banned fracking altogether. President Sarkozy said: 'This won’t be done until it has been shown that technologies used for development respect the environment, the complex nature of soil and water networks'.
Not looking good for fracking is it and i would say as a general rule of thumb is that any human activity that causes earthquakes and poisons the water supply is not to be encouraged.
Ooops, too late, the UK Government has already issued the licenses to fracking companies.
I wonder if all those people who spent time and energy objecting to ugly wind turbines spoiling their views in their area are happy now with this alternative. Enjoy.
Sunday, 15 April 2012
Karma for Cowardly King
Spain's King Juan Carlos has got a bit of a chequered history when it comes to guns. In his younger days he shot and killed his brother by accident although their were three versions of the accident. Either he was cleaning his pistol and it went off or the second version happened where he pointed the gun at his brother not realising that it was loaded and shot him through the forehead or his armed was knocked when his sister came through a door and the gun went off.
Being a Royal, no investigation followed but whatever way it happened, Spain had one less Prince than before and you would think that the Spanish Royals would have steered clear of guns but King Juan's grandson, 13-year-old Froilán Marichalar, is in hospital after shooting himself through the foot while hunting in Spain.
So it seems that imbecility runs in the blood of the royal Spanish family and to prove it, King Juan Carlos has been hospitalised himself after a fall while elephant hunting in Botswana.
Details are sketchy to exactly what happened but if their is a God he was hurt by an elephant falling on him.
The King had been getting his jollies by killing innocent animals at Rann Safaris which allows brave hunter types to shoot animals from the back of a vehicle for $15,000 a pop.
Responding to criticism that shooting elephants from the back of a truck was the work of evil after pictures were released of the King standing infront of a dead elephant, the head of Rann Safari's did not say that all hunters are sociopaths who enjoy inflicting pain on innocent creatures, preferring to use the line that they are 'managing the World's animal population to their betterment'.
Hunters moronic logic that by killing animals you are actually doing them a favour so that, as in this case, the more elephants you kill the more their habitat will improve.
That's true because by the time you have killed the last elephant their habitat will be absolutely immaculate.
Maybe if more hunters followed Prince Marichalar's example and blew their own foot off there may not be so many rotting corpses of animals laying around with bullet holes in them just because some sadistic halfwit got their kicks from killing things with high powered rifles from a safe distance.
Being a Royal, no investigation followed but whatever way it happened, Spain had one less Prince than before and you would think that the Spanish Royals would have steered clear of guns but King Juan's grandson, 13-year-old Froilán Marichalar, is in hospital after shooting himself through the foot while hunting in Spain.
So it seems that imbecility runs in the blood of the royal Spanish family and to prove it, King Juan Carlos has been hospitalised himself after a fall while elephant hunting in Botswana.
Details are sketchy to exactly what happened but if their is a God he was hurt by an elephant falling on him.
The King had been getting his jollies by killing innocent animals at Rann Safaris which allows brave hunter types to shoot animals from the back of a vehicle for $15,000 a pop.
Responding to criticism that shooting elephants from the back of a truck was the work of evil after pictures were released of the King standing infront of a dead elephant, the head of Rann Safari's did not say that all hunters are sociopaths who enjoy inflicting pain on innocent creatures, preferring to use the line that they are 'managing the World's animal population to their betterment'.
Hunters moronic logic that by killing animals you are actually doing them a favour so that, as in this case, the more elephants you kill the more their habitat will improve.
That's true because by the time you have killed the last elephant their habitat will be absolutely immaculate.
Maybe if more hunters followed Prince Marichalar's example and blew their own foot off there may not be so many rotting corpses of animals laying around with bullet holes in them just because some sadistic halfwit got their kicks from killing things with high powered rifles from a safe distance.
Wednesday, 11 April 2012
Shocking
In an interview this weekend, the Chancellor said he was shocked by the propensity of the super-rich to avoid tax. Having asked to see the anonymous tax returns of our top earners, he had found they were paying an average rate of 10 per cent.
George Osborne said: 'I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don’t think that’s right.'
The Chancellor then went on to express shock that the Pope is Catholic and that bears do their business in the woods.
George Osborne said: 'I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don’t think that’s right.'
The Chancellor then went on to express shock that the Pope is Catholic and that bears do their business in the woods.
Grandfather Paradox With Phones
According to the Grandfather Paradox, we will not be able to go back in time and kill our own grandfather because then we wouldn't exist so we wouldn't be here to go back and kill him. I always thought that the theory had a fault because if you went back to a time after your father was born, you could quite safely kill him because you would still be born so if you do develop a time machine and the urge to bump off your Grandad, just wait until a few days after your fathers been born.
Not that i am constructing a flux capacitor and hold any deep seated resentment for past birthdays presents from Grandpa George, but time travel is one of those tantalising ideas.
What if we could go back and talk to ourselves, what would we say?
This all came into my head when i took delivery of my new mobile phone this weekend. Of course i needed a new number and to my reckoning it must be my 5th or 6th new number since i first owned a mobile phone. So what happens to the old numbers and this is where my imagination takes over.
What if i dialled one of my old numbers and what if through some quirk of time space being warped, i answered, me from 2012 calling my Nokia 3210 in 1999. After the initial shock and if the 1999 Lucy didn't just call me a weirdo and hang up on my 2012 self, what would the 43 year old version say to the 30 year old me?
But what if i did tell myself the winning lottery numbers or something which would change my future, i probably wouldn't be sat at home that day dialling myself in 1999 from a new phone to give myself the lottery numbers in the first place so it just couldn't happen and i wouldn't win the lottery. That means i would then be at home that day with my new mobile phone and...
Blimey, complicated stuff this time travel lark, i'm not surprised nobody has worked it out yet!
Not that i am constructing a flux capacitor and hold any deep seated resentment for past birthdays presents from Grandpa George, but time travel is one of those tantalising ideas.
What if we could go back and talk to ourselves, what would we say?
This all came into my head when i took delivery of my new mobile phone this weekend. Of course i needed a new number and to my reckoning it must be my 5th or 6th new number since i first owned a mobile phone. So what happens to the old numbers and this is where my imagination takes over.
What if i dialled one of my old numbers and what if through some quirk of time space being warped, i answered, me from 2012 calling my Nokia 3210 in 1999. After the initial shock and if the 1999 Lucy didn't just call me a weirdo and hang up on my 2012 self, what would the 43 year old version say to the 30 year old me?
But what if i did tell myself the winning lottery numbers or something which would change my future, i probably wouldn't be sat at home that day dialling myself in 1999 from a new phone to give myself the lottery numbers in the first place so it just couldn't happen and i wouldn't win the lottery. That means i would then be at home that day with my new mobile phone and...
Blimey, complicated stuff this time travel lark, i'm not surprised nobody has worked it out yet!
Sunday, 8 April 2012
Cold War Wasn't All Bad
Growing up during the Cold War did have its advantages as well as its disadvantages. Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Two Tribes' was a massive plus but then we had Nena and her '99 Red Balloons' which almost had you praying for a Soviet missile to land on your roof.Apart from the drawback of death to everyone and everything and having to watch 'When The Wind Blows' in school so we knew when to turn the sofa upside down and crawl into it, the biggest plus was the space race.
The competition between the Soviets in the red corner and the Americans in the red, white and blue one, pushed them both onwards and upwards to explore above the clouds.
The brave actions of Yuri Gagarin, Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Laika the dog took us to the moon where we drove around in a buggy, stuck a flag in the ground and then just forgot all about it which is a real shame because we should have done so much more once we got there so we had a launch pad for further space exploration.
Now one half of the Cold War opponents have mothballed their space programme but the Russians have made two exciting announcements this week which may get us back on track.
Firstly the Russian Federal Space Agency are sending two lunar rovers and several landing stations aimed at scoping out an eventual permanent manned base up there on the moon.
Secondly, the Russians are developing a nuclear powered engine for long haul flights to Mars and to establish a network of bases on its surface.
Ideally NASA and the RFSA will get their head nerds together and do it for mankind but if not, i wouldn't mind another Cold War Space Race to make sure the plans don't get kicked into the long grass because going out into space and colonizing other planets is probably the only solution to avoid the problems of pollution, over-crowding, global warming and 99 Red Balloons still being on a radio play list here on planet Earth.
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Ghost Ship Sunk
Stephen Fry had a great quote about the American military during the Gulf War. 'You see them riding around in wrap-around shades with music blaring out and you think nice tank, are there any grown ups around?'
The quote came back to me when i read about the Japanese 'ghost ship' which was washed out to sea in last year's tsunami disaster which has now been sunk by the US Coast Guard near Alaska.
Despite a Canadian salvage boat being nearby, the Americans decided that just chucking a few ropes on board and towing it back to a breakers yard was too much hard work, so they shot it up instead.
The ship survived an initial barrage of shells that left it ablaze but still afloat so after putting out the flames, the coastguard tried again with more powerful explosives and finally sunk it to the bottom of the sea.
So why was the ship sunk and the sea further polluted with thousands of gallons of diesel and oil?
'It's less risky than it would be running into shore or running into traffic' a straight faced coastguard spokesman said before sticking out his arms and running off making airplane noises. Probably.
The quote came back to me when i read about the Japanese 'ghost ship' which was washed out to sea in last year's tsunami disaster which has now been sunk by the US Coast Guard near Alaska.
Despite a Canadian salvage boat being nearby, the Americans decided that just chucking a few ropes on board and towing it back to a breakers yard was too much hard work, so they shot it up instead.
The ship survived an initial barrage of shells that left it ablaze but still afloat so after putting out the flames, the coastguard tried again with more powerful explosives and finally sunk it to the bottom of the sea.
So why was the ship sunk and the sea further polluted with thousands of gallons of diesel and oil?
'It's less risky than it would be running into shore or running into traffic' a straight faced coastguard spokesman said before sticking out his arms and running off making airplane noises. Probably.
Friday, 6 April 2012
Anybody Waiting In The Wings?
In May 2010, the United Kingdom general election resulted in no political party achieving sufficient support to form a working majority government on their own. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democratic Party therefore entered into a Coalition Government together with the Conservative leader David Cameron becoming Prime Minister whilst Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg became Deputy Prime Minister. Wittily they have been renamed the Con-Dems.
Governments, as Tony Blair once said, are not in power to be popular and since May 2010 the coalition have been anything but popular as widespread demonstrations and strikes have proved.
If neither the Conservatives or the Lib-Dems had enough votes to rule on their own previously, now that they have managed to anger the majority of the country with their actions since taking power, the chances of either getting anything close to a majority this time around is unlikely to say the least.
The teachers unions have now voted to strike and as jobs in the Public Service have been slashed and those that remain have seen their pay frozen, it is unlikely the pair in Coalition will be getting many votes from that direction.
The Lib Dems lost every student vote when they reneged on their 'we won't put up student fees' promise by putting up student fees as soon as they were handed the keys to the door. And then scrapped EMA for students just to sweep away any students who may have still voted for them.
The attempted privatisation of the NHS has led to massive demonstrations and the over the top internet surveillance plans, the granny tax, the scrapping of the 50% tax rate, 3 million unemployment, cash for access, plans to privatise the police and forests and the myriad of other things the Tories have done to get peoples backs up, you can't help but think just who is going to vote for either of these two next time?
Surely all the Labour Party have to do is just sit quietly on the opposition benches and watch the calendar to the next election but all the latest opinion polls only just put Labour in front of the Tories.
Evidence if any was needed that the voters thinking is that the Conservatives are terrible, but Labour are only marginally better than them.
If ever there was a time for a new party to step in, it's now while the choice is either a Conservative rock or a Labour hard place.
Someone who promises to stamp on the firms that practise tax evasion as well as hit the bankers, stop sacking private sector workers, reinstate EMA for students and bring a halt to the horrendously wrongheaded privatisation agenda would be a shoo-in.
Governments, as Tony Blair once said, are not in power to be popular and since May 2010 the coalition have been anything but popular as widespread demonstrations and strikes have proved.
If neither the Conservatives or the Lib-Dems had enough votes to rule on their own previously, now that they have managed to anger the majority of the country with their actions since taking power, the chances of either getting anything close to a majority this time around is unlikely to say the least.
The teachers unions have now voted to strike and as jobs in the Public Service have been slashed and those that remain have seen their pay frozen, it is unlikely the pair in Coalition will be getting many votes from that direction.
The Lib Dems lost every student vote when they reneged on their 'we won't put up student fees' promise by putting up student fees as soon as they were handed the keys to the door. And then scrapped EMA for students just to sweep away any students who may have still voted for them.
The attempted privatisation of the NHS has led to massive demonstrations and the over the top internet surveillance plans, the granny tax, the scrapping of the 50% tax rate, 3 million unemployment, cash for access, plans to privatise the police and forests and the myriad of other things the Tories have done to get peoples backs up, you can't help but think just who is going to vote for either of these two next time?
Surely all the Labour Party have to do is just sit quietly on the opposition benches and watch the calendar to the next election but all the latest opinion polls only just put Labour in front of the Tories.
Evidence if any was needed that the voters thinking is that the Conservatives are terrible, but Labour are only marginally better than them.
If ever there was a time for a new party to step in, it's now while the choice is either a Conservative rock or a Labour hard place.
Someone who promises to stamp on the firms that practise tax evasion as well as hit the bankers, stop sacking private sector workers, reinstate EMA for students and bring a halt to the horrendously wrongheaded privatisation agenda would be a shoo-in.
Wednesday, 4 April 2012
Housekeeping
One of the things that i am guilty of when it comes to this blog is terrible housekeeping. Just how slack i am was highlighted when i decided to take a jaunt around some of the 'bloggers i like' list over there on the right.
Now i know that i hadn't added or removed anyone for a long time but even i was shocked to see that some like Under the Bridge and Hemasphere had packed up and moved on as far back as 2007!
Fez Monkey last ooked ooked at his Flinging Poop blog back in 2008 and The Vibe stopped being where it was in 2009 along with Blognonymous, Intellectual Odyssey, Courtney the Neo-Jacobin and Senior Moments had her last moment three years ago.
iMuslim is no more, my former post buddy Cody has shut up shop as has Boiled Dinner and Jeff who still holds the title of funniest comment ever made here.
The Intolerant One who was the very first blogger i discovered online has long rode off into the sunset on his motorbike while everyones favourite facially haired Jewish carpenter crucified his Golden Door blog a while back as did Cheezy so once I got around to taking these out and leaving just those bloggers still active, it's a very small list of Nogburt, q, David and Jinxi.
I have now added E.J Goldharte but i really need to go out and repopulate the list and find new bloggers to replace the fallen Jeffs, O'Tims, Marks, Cody's, Intolerant One's and Fez's.
Now i know that i hadn't added or removed anyone for a long time but even i was shocked to see that some like Under the Bridge and Hemasphere had packed up and moved on as far back as 2007!
Fez Monkey last ooked ooked at his Flinging Poop blog back in 2008 and The Vibe stopped being where it was in 2009 along with Blognonymous, Intellectual Odyssey, Courtney the Neo-Jacobin and Senior Moments had her last moment three years ago.
iMuslim is no more, my former post buddy Cody has shut up shop as has Boiled Dinner and Jeff who still holds the title of funniest comment ever made here.
The Intolerant One who was the very first blogger i discovered online has long rode off into the sunset on his motorbike while everyones favourite facially haired Jewish carpenter crucified his Golden Door blog a while back as did Cheezy so once I got around to taking these out and leaving just those bloggers still active, it's a very small list of Nogburt, q, David and Jinxi.
I have now added E.J Goldharte but i really need to go out and repopulate the list and find new bloggers to replace the fallen Jeffs, O'Tims, Marks, Cody's, Intolerant One's and Fez's.
Hosepipe Ban
From midnight tonight, seven water companies bring in hosepipe bans for an area covering 20 million people who face a £1000 fine as punishment for anyone breaking the ban.
Every day more than 3.3 billion litres of treated water, that's 20% of the nation's supply, is lost through leaking pipes in England and Wales. The water lost would meet the daily needs of approximately 21.5 million people.
Water regulator, Ofwat, told water companies that their bills were too high and to reduce average bills to customers over the next five years.
Water companies warned that they will not be able to afford to fix the leaks and drop the prices charged to consumers.
The water companies made more than £4.5bn in the last financial year, doubling their profits since 2002.
Therefore fixing leaks eats into profits, not fixing the leaks maintain profits, so they charge the same but limit how much of the commodity it's customer can use. Water companies continue to make vast profits as the same amount of water that we are short continues to be lost through unfixed leaks.
Privatisation, don't you just love it?
Every day more than 3.3 billion litres of treated water, that's 20% of the nation's supply, is lost through leaking pipes in England and Wales. The water lost would meet the daily needs of approximately 21.5 million people.
Water regulator, Ofwat, told water companies that their bills were too high and to reduce average bills to customers over the next five years.
Water companies warned that they will not be able to afford to fix the leaks and drop the prices charged to consumers.
The water companies made more than £4.5bn in the last financial year, doubling their profits since 2002.
Therefore fixing leaks eats into profits, not fixing the leaks maintain profits, so they charge the same but limit how much of the commodity it's customer can use. Water companies continue to make vast profits as the same amount of water that we are short continues to be lost through unfixed leaks.
Privatisation, don't you just love it?
Monday, 2 April 2012
Orwell Got His Dates Wrong
When George Orwell began his most famous book with 'It was a cold, bright day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen' he may have got the month right but he was 28 years out with his estimation of when the Big Brother Society would come into existence.
He thought 1984 but it was April 2012 when the UK Government put forward its plans to monitor the public's internet usage, email and social media communications.
Already the UK population has the most CCTV cameras per head of population than any other country in the world and now they want to read your E-mails, monitor your social network chats and check on what you choose to look at on the internet.
Even former Tory David Davis is against the plan, warning that: 'What is proposed is completely unfettered access to every single communication you make' but Government mouthpiece Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, used the recent killings in Toulouse, France as grounds upon which to support the measures, saying it needed to be done because 'in the year of the Olympic Games and the Queen's diamond jubilee. Terrorists could be monitored and attacks dealt with'.
Another Downing Street spokesman said: 'It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public' so as with all the other proposals which chipped away at our freedoms since 9/11, it is for our own good.
Expect the old 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear' fallacy to be wheeled out and maybe a terrorist alert in the upcoming weeks and months wouldn't hurt because a frightened society is a more compliant society looking towards the Government to keep us safe.
I would have thought that any decent terrorist would know how to hide their IP address, how to use fake E-mail addresses or route communications through someone else's computer (especially as the Government has announced they will be checking emails etc), so if these proposals won't do anything to stop determined terrorists, who will they monitor?
Will anyone spouting political opposition to Government policies be placed on a 'watch' list along with anyone in a Union or has ever appeared at a demonstration or is organising one?
When i was a kid growing up during the Cold War, it was the Communists who were the bad guys, who snooped and monitored their citizens and the internet monitoring in Iran and China are frequently held up as signs of an authorative regime but we are slowly evolving into the same people we attack over lack of public freedoms.
But then...just as i'm wondering just why we align the democratic practices of the UK with China and Iran i remember that the Conservative Government, in the past couple of weeks, have been getting a right kicking from all quarters for the Granny Tax, links to News International and the £250,000 donations to have dinner with the Prime Minister and influence Government policy and it made sense, the good old political trick of generating a story to shift attention away from the real bad stuff.
So if it is something they will abandon at a later date under some guise of 'listening to the concerns of the people' then all is good because the real stories will then be long forgotten but just in case it isn't, and they will soon be reading all my emails then i state clearly so some civil servant at GCHQ doesn't misunderstand, you all suck and we should do everything possible to rid ourselves of this corrupt, pathetic Government!!
He thought 1984 but it was April 2012 when the UK Government put forward its plans to monitor the public's internet usage, email and social media communications.
Already the UK population has the most CCTV cameras per head of population than any other country in the world and now they want to read your E-mails, monitor your social network chats and check on what you choose to look at on the internet.
Even former Tory David Davis is against the plan, warning that: 'What is proposed is completely unfettered access to every single communication you make' but Government mouthpiece Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, used the recent killings in Toulouse, France as grounds upon which to support the measures, saying it needed to be done because 'in the year of the Olympic Games and the Queen's diamond jubilee. Terrorists could be monitored and attacks dealt with'.
Another Downing Street spokesman said: 'It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public' so as with all the other proposals which chipped away at our freedoms since 9/11, it is for our own good.
Expect the old 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear' fallacy to be wheeled out and maybe a terrorist alert in the upcoming weeks and months wouldn't hurt because a frightened society is a more compliant society looking towards the Government to keep us safe.
I would have thought that any decent terrorist would know how to hide their IP address, how to use fake E-mail addresses or route communications through someone else's computer (especially as the Government has announced they will be checking emails etc), so if these proposals won't do anything to stop determined terrorists, who will they monitor?
Will anyone spouting political opposition to Government policies be placed on a 'watch' list along with anyone in a Union or has ever appeared at a demonstration or is organising one?
When i was a kid growing up during the Cold War, it was the Communists who were the bad guys, who snooped and monitored their citizens and the internet monitoring in Iran and China are frequently held up as signs of an authorative regime but we are slowly evolving into the same people we attack over lack of public freedoms.
But then...just as i'm wondering just why we align the democratic practices of the UK with China and Iran i remember that the Conservative Government, in the past couple of weeks, have been getting a right kicking from all quarters for the Granny Tax, links to News International and the £250,000 donations to have dinner with the Prime Minister and influence Government policy and it made sense, the good old political trick of generating a story to shift attention away from the real bad stuff.
So if it is something they will abandon at a later date under some guise of 'listening to the concerns of the people' then all is good because the real stories will then be long forgotten but just in case it isn't, and they will soon be reading all my emails then i state clearly so some civil servant at GCHQ doesn't misunderstand, you all suck and we should do everything possible to rid ourselves of this corrupt, pathetic Government!!
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