I so wanted the Green Party to do well, and for a moment it looked as though they were poised to come through and sweep up the left vote from the Labour Party who have shifted so far from where they should be that traditional Labour voters are shopping around for somewhere else to give their X to in May.
Unfortunately, two excruciatingly painful interviews have exposed the Greens for a party whose policies seem to fall apart immediately anyone scrutinises them.
On the back of the Andrew Neil car crash of an interview where Greens Leader, Natalie Bennett, was hopelessly caught out on Green policies, she has been similarly exposed once again on the day she launched the Greens Election Campaign.
In her fist interview of the day, Nick Ferrari, tripped her up with what should have been a gentle underarm question of how they would pay for the 500,000 new council houses she was advocating The Greens would build.
Bennett spluttered, mumbled and then fell into a fit of coughing and apologising that she had a 'heavy cold'.
Membership of the Green party in England and Wales has tripled in 18 months to 54,500, surpassing that of the Liberal Democrats or Ukip and will fight close to 90% of constituencies on 7 May and are talking of entering into a coalition with Labour but many more of these types of interviews will see the potential soon evaporate.
One totally awful interview where you are unable to defend your policies could be seen as unfortunate, but after two it looks like your policies are just indefensible.
Maybe it wouldn't be a bad thing if Green MP Caroline Lucas did the interviews from now on because sorry Natalie but you could end up costing the Green's plenty.
Saturday, 28 February 2015
Thursday, 26 February 2015
How Can We Take These People Seriously?
I don't know how we are expected to take the threat of Jihadi terrorists seriously when the we hear of the Islamic State threat that they are going to take over Rome and throw homosexuals off the leaning tower of pizza.
I don't know how they will react when they find out that the leaning tower isn't made of Pizza and it isn't in Rome but in Pisa (there is a clue in the name).
Then there were the terrorists of Boko Haram who came up with the wheeze of escaping the Nigerian Defence Forces who had cordoned off a town by attempting to sneak passed the Defence Force by disguising themselves as women but to avoid annoying Allah, they kept their thick beards.
Maybe if the Jihadi types spent more time in education and less time praying and oppressing everyone they might not look even more like idiots then they already do.
I don't know how they will react when they find out that the leaning tower isn't made of Pizza and it isn't in Rome but in Pisa (there is a clue in the name).
Then there were the terrorists of Boko Haram who came up with the wheeze of escaping the Nigerian Defence Forces who had cordoned off a town by attempting to sneak passed the Defence Force by disguising themselves as women but to avoid annoying Allah, they kept their thick beards.
Maybe if the Jihadi types spent more time in education and less time praying and oppressing everyone they might not look even more like idiots then they already do.
Wednesday, 25 February 2015
Part Time Tories
It's all turning a bit tasty as we edge closer to the May election, and on the agenda now is MPs second jobs.
Ed Miliband has accused David Cameron of failing to limit the outside earnings of MPs, after the government rejected a Labour proposal to ban MPs from having paid directorships and consultancies
Miliband, who seems to be finally finding his feet, reminded the Prime Minister of his 2009 quote that: 'Double-jobbing MPs won’t get a look in when I am in charge' which flustered the PM as yet another blow landed on his shiny, moon-like face.
This all follows on from Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind being caught offering to use their positions as politicians on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in return for thousands of pounds.
A quote from a Tory MP summed up everything that is wrong with the Conservative Party when he explained that an MP's salary (£67,060 plus £40,000 expenses) is 'not meant to be a full income'.
Remember that in May, vote Conservative and you get someone who will consider £100K part time earnings and dedicate part time hours to their constituents accordingly.
71 Days to go and Google Trends is still showing a thumping great win for Labour with Ed's party winning 4 times the votes of the Conservatives but annihilation for the Liberal Democrats.
Ed Miliband has accused David Cameron of failing to limit the outside earnings of MPs, after the government rejected a Labour proposal to ban MPs from having paid directorships and consultancies
Miliband, who seems to be finally finding his feet, reminded the Prime Minister of his 2009 quote that: 'Double-jobbing MPs won’t get a look in when I am in charge' which flustered the PM as yet another blow landed on his shiny, moon-like face.
This all follows on from Jack Straw and Malcolm Rifkind being caught offering to use their positions as politicians on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in return for thousands of pounds.
A quote from a Tory MP summed up everything that is wrong with the Conservative Party when he explained that an MP's salary (£67,060 plus £40,000 expenses) is 'not meant to be a full income'.
Remember that in May, vote Conservative and you get someone who will consider £100K part time earnings and dedicate part time hours to their constituents accordingly.
71 Days to go and Google Trends is still showing a thumping great win for Labour with Ed's party winning 4 times the votes of the Conservatives but annihilation for the Liberal Democrats.
Sunday, 22 February 2015
Church Telling Voters To Vote Labour
I have never read the Bible but from the little i do know about it that Jesus chap was always droning on about poverty so it is only expected that the Church of England has stuck it's head above the pulpit to say that when it comes to the election, we should vote 'with the good of others in mind'.
Although they do not directly endorse a particular party, it is obviously painting a big red arrow towards the Labour Party which has upset the Conservatives who have complained that 'There is a very definite left wing leaning to their message'.
After five years of right wing Conservative policies, most people are poorer and more worried than they were and with David Cameron upping the rhetoric recently against people who are poor, young, ill, fat, addicted or unemployed, people who were already very unlikely to vote Conservative, they can consequently be alienated and castigated without electoral cost so it is about time someone spoke up for them and the Church has stepped forward.
The 52 page letter boils down to the liberal conviction that society is better when rather than seeing an obese person or someone out of work we don't think like the Conservatives and think how can we punish them but show compassion and look for ways to help them.
Compassion for someone worse off than ourselves should always be the first emotion and not anger and conspiring ways to punish them for being worse off.
Not often i find myself in agreement with the Church and there are many sides to the Church that i find abhorrent, the treatment of gays and women for starters, but in this case they are spot on so What Would Jesus Do?
Not vote Conservative that's for certain.
Although they do not directly endorse a particular party, it is obviously painting a big red arrow towards the Labour Party which has upset the Conservatives who have complained that 'There is a very definite left wing leaning to their message'.
After five years of right wing Conservative policies, most people are poorer and more worried than they were and with David Cameron upping the rhetoric recently against people who are poor, young, ill, fat, addicted or unemployed, people who were already very unlikely to vote Conservative, they can consequently be alienated and castigated without electoral cost so it is about time someone spoke up for them and the Church has stepped forward.
The 52 page letter boils down to the liberal conviction that society is better when rather than seeing an obese person or someone out of work we don't think like the Conservatives and think how can we punish them but show compassion and look for ways to help them.
Compassion for someone worse off than ourselves should always be the first emotion and not anger and conspiring ways to punish them for being worse off.
Not often i find myself in agreement with the Church and there are many sides to the Church that i find abhorrent, the treatment of gays and women for starters, but in this case they are spot on so What Would Jesus Do?
Not vote Conservative that's for certain.
Saturday, 21 February 2015
Anyone Seen Arnie?
Watching the news brings home that there are plenty of ways that we could go to meet our maker before our time ranging from catching Ebola to be mistaken for an unarmed black person by an American policeman. There is also North Korea, Nuclear War, Artificial Intelligence rising up, stray Asteroids, Al Queada, fracking poisoning us all, drugs, Vladimar Putin, Assad, ISIS or climate change so just to make sure we don't get to chime in the 22nd Century, they have only gone and upgraded the Large Hadron Collider.
The piece of machinery that can already create black holes is due to be restarted after scientists doubled it's power so they can now smash particles into each other at just a hair less than the speed of light, a speed unprecedented in human history.
'These collisions produce a cascade of subatomic particles and radiation that provide clues about the building blocks of matter' said one scientist at CERN, adding excitedly: 'Some of these particles are new and are not usually seen outside of such collisions. The more energy in the collisions, the greater chance that something interesting will show up'.
As my scientific background consists of writing my initials in bacteria in a petri dish and burning the sleeve of my blazer on a Bunsen Burner at school, i may not be best qualified to pass comments on things of a scientific nature but won't a collision of particles that made a black hole, if smashed into each other at twice the speed, just make a twice as large black hole?
It's one thing discovering the Higgs Bosun but not much use if we are disappearing over the Event Horizon and sucked into oblivion a fraction of a second later.
Where are the Terminator types coming back in time to stop us making such a catastrophic error because if ever a leather clad man wielding a shotgun on a motorbike saying 'Hasta la vista, baby' whilst riding around Switzerland is required, it's now.
The piece of machinery that can already create black holes is due to be restarted after scientists doubled it's power so they can now smash particles into each other at just a hair less than the speed of light, a speed unprecedented in human history.
'These collisions produce a cascade of subatomic particles and radiation that provide clues about the building blocks of matter' said one scientist at CERN, adding excitedly: 'Some of these particles are new and are not usually seen outside of such collisions. The more energy in the collisions, the greater chance that something interesting will show up'.
As my scientific background consists of writing my initials in bacteria in a petri dish and burning the sleeve of my blazer on a Bunsen Burner at school, i may not be best qualified to pass comments on things of a scientific nature but won't a collision of particles that made a black hole, if smashed into each other at twice the speed, just make a twice as large black hole?
It's one thing discovering the Higgs Bosun but not much use if we are disappearing over the Event Horizon and sucked into oblivion a fraction of a second later.
Where are the Terminator types coming back in time to stop us making such a catastrophic error because if ever a leather clad man wielding a shotgun on a motorbike saying 'Hasta la vista, baby' whilst riding around Switzerland is required, it's now.
Another UKIP Racist Exposed
Thinking of voting UKIP in the upcoming Election? Are you concerned that some of their views don't quite mesh with yours but are considering a vote for 'something different' to the main parties?
Listen to what Rozanne Duncan who is a UKIP councillor, has to say to the UKIP press officer and give some thought to the calibre of people who make up the party.
"The only people I do have problems with are negroes. And I don't know why. I don't know whether there is something in my psyche or whether it's karma from a previous life or whether something happened to me as a very, very young person and I've drawn a veil over it - because that sometimes happens, doesn't it? But I really do have a problem with people with negroid features'.
To their credit UKIP have since expelled her, a decision Mrs Duncan claimed was due to a 'hidden agenda' and insisting that there was nothing "racist or derogatory" in what she said.
She said: "I don't regret saying it. I don't regret anything, that's the truth. I still honestly believe that what I said was never at any time racist or derogatory'.
This comes hot on the heels of UKIP's Thanet South chairman Martyn Heale speaking about the media attention over his past membership of the National Front and explaining that: 'For Christ's sake, I was never a member of the Gestapo. I was not a member of the Stasi, I never served a term of imprisonment in my life'.
With members like these, we can hope that if you were considering a vote for UKIP, the Labour Party, Conservatives, Lib Dem's don't look quite so bad now.
Listen to what Rozanne Duncan who is a UKIP councillor, has to say to the UKIP press officer and give some thought to the calibre of people who make up the party.
"The only people I do have problems with are negroes. And I don't know why. I don't know whether there is something in my psyche or whether it's karma from a previous life or whether something happened to me as a very, very young person and I've drawn a veil over it - because that sometimes happens, doesn't it? But I really do have a problem with people with negroid features'.
To their credit UKIP have since expelled her, a decision Mrs Duncan claimed was due to a 'hidden agenda' and insisting that there was nothing "racist or derogatory" in what she said.
She said: "I don't regret saying it. I don't regret anything, that's the truth. I still honestly believe that what I said was never at any time racist or derogatory'.
This comes hot on the heels of UKIP's Thanet South chairman Martyn Heale speaking about the media attention over his past membership of the National Front and explaining that: 'For Christ's sake, I was never a member of the Gestapo. I was not a member of the Stasi, I never served a term of imprisonment in my life'.
With members like these, we can hope that if you were considering a vote for UKIP, the Labour Party, Conservatives, Lib Dem's don't look quite so bad now.
Friday, 20 February 2015
Rise Of The Female Ai
I have spent a lot of time with my Sat Nav this past week and the lovely, soothing female voice telling me to take the next exit and then perform a U-turn at which point i would turn to my phone and Cortana who again in a pleasant female tone would tell me she couldn't answer my question.
Although their is an option for a male voice to take you the wrong way on the motorway, the default voice for many artificial intelligence systems does seem to be female and after watching a programme about robots, it seems that most of the humanoid robots are also.
I have asked why the female form and voice are used in these types of things and the answer is that females are less threatening for the users then males which does make sense but i am sticking with my original thought that if it is intelligence, and male, if follows that it must be artificial so they use female voices instead.
Although their is an option for a male voice to take you the wrong way on the motorway, the default voice for many artificial intelligence systems does seem to be female and after watching a programme about robots, it seems that most of the humanoid robots are also.
I have asked why the female form and voice are used in these types of things and the answer is that females are less threatening for the users then males which does make sense but i am sticking with my original thought that if it is intelligence, and male, if follows that it must be artificial so they use female voices instead.
Sunday, 15 February 2015
All Together
HM Revenue & Customs say that tax evasion costs the UK economy £34bn a year and figures from the Department of Work and Pensions put the total amount of money lost to benefit fraud was around £2bn a year.
A goldfish and a bank account in your dogs name in Switzerland to anyone who can guess which of these the Government has put the most resources and media advertising into combating.
A cleaner confessed to benefits fraud of £25,000 while a wealthy property dealer and Football Club Chairman was found to have hid a six-figure sum from the taxman.
A cigar and a HSBC computer mouse-mat to anyone who can guess which one got a 7 month prison sentence and which one got a penalty of 10% of the amount in return for anonymity.
Ian Duncan Smith, the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has ordered a crackdown on 'people that take money for doing nothing from hard working taxpayers which makes my blood boil'.
A buff coloured envelope stuffed with used tenners if you can guess which politician was investigated by the House of Commons Select Committee on Standards and Privileges to have claimed money from the taxpayer for his lunches, haircuts, food for his own home, a mirror for his flat, his laundry and his underwear and dubious salary claims made on behalf of his wife that were paid out of the public purse which the Committee described as 'inappropriate'.
All in it together remember.
A goldfish and a bank account in your dogs name in Switzerland to anyone who can guess which of these the Government has put the most resources and media advertising into combating.
A cleaner confessed to benefits fraud of £25,000 while a wealthy property dealer and Football Club Chairman was found to have hid a six-figure sum from the taxman.
A cigar and a HSBC computer mouse-mat to anyone who can guess which one got a 7 month prison sentence and which one got a penalty of 10% of the amount in return for anonymity.
Ian Duncan Smith, the current Secretary of State for Work and Pensions has ordered a crackdown on 'people that take money for doing nothing from hard working taxpayers which makes my blood boil'.
A buff coloured envelope stuffed with used tenners if you can guess which politician was investigated by the House of Commons Select Committee on Standards and Privileges to have claimed money from the taxpayer for his lunches, haircuts, food for his own home, a mirror for his flat, his laundry and his underwear and dubious salary claims made on behalf of his wife that were paid out of the public purse which the Committee described as 'inappropriate'.
All in it together remember.
Man 0 Bull 1
A man has had to undergo extensive surgery in a Spanish hospital after he was savagely gored during a bullfighting festival where spectators run ahead of the rampaging bull.
The man needed a three-hour operation because of the wounds, which included injuries to his thighs and back muscles, according to surgeon Enrique Crespo who said it was: 'the biggest goring wound I've ever had to operate on'.
Hang on...maybe it i wait a few seconds....i think it's....nope, nothing.
No matter how hard i try i just can't dredge up any sympathy for him whatsoever and just think if you are idiotic enough to want to run in front of a bull and the bull manages to catch you, you are still an idiot but one with massive gores in your back and thighs.
The man needed a three-hour operation because of the wounds, which included injuries to his thighs and back muscles, according to surgeon Enrique Crespo who said it was: 'the biggest goring wound I've ever had to operate on'.
Hang on...maybe it i wait a few seconds....i think it's....nope, nothing.
No matter how hard i try i just can't dredge up any sympathy for him whatsoever and just think if you are idiotic enough to want to run in front of a bull and the bull manages to catch you, you are still an idiot but one with massive gores in your back and thighs.
Saturday, 14 February 2015
Conservative Diversion Tactics
The Tax Evasion conversation was getting a little bit too hot for the Conservatives, especially as almost daily yet another Conservative Party donor was found to have been squirrelling away funds to avoid paying tax so they have tried to deflect every ones view with yet another policy that being 'You will lose benefits if...'.
The latest plan is to take away benefits of anyone out of work who is obese, on drugs or alcoholic and has been received warmly by the Parties voters who don't seem to ever get bored with bashing and demonising the people at the bottom but are much more reluctant to condemn the people at the top denying the treasury tens of billions.
To those who think this is a good idea, just hope you never become unable to work because you just may find yourself suddenly dependent on a state that may refuse to help you.
It takes a special type of monster to turn the safety net into a stick to beat people out of safety and we can only hope that come May the nasty party won't be anywhere near power to implement their poisonous ideology.
The other parties should keep the focus on the tax dodgers, those who willingly withhold paying tax while enjoying the benefits that the rest of us taxpayers in the country pay for.
The latest plan is to take away benefits of anyone out of work who is obese, on drugs or alcoholic and has been received warmly by the Parties voters who don't seem to ever get bored with bashing and demonising the people at the bottom but are much more reluctant to condemn the people at the top denying the treasury tens of billions.
To those who think this is a good idea, just hope you never become unable to work because you just may find yourself suddenly dependent on a state that may refuse to help you.
It takes a special type of monster to turn the safety net into a stick to beat people out of safety and we can only hope that come May the nasty party won't be anywhere near power to implement their poisonous ideology.
The other parties should keep the focus on the tax dodgers, those who willingly withhold paying tax while enjoying the benefits that the rest of us taxpayers in the country pay for.
Wednesday, 11 February 2015
Hello Universe
Scientists at a US science conference have said it is now time to actively try to contact intelligent life on other worlds and are debating just what the message from Earth should be.
The first problem i forsee is that aliens would not have evolved and developed the same technology as us on Earth. We know there is no life except us Earthlings in our Solar System and the nearest solar system is Alpha Centuri which is 4.367 light years away, or a tad over 20 trillion miles, while we recently discovered the light from an 11 billion year-old star so what if life formed on one of the planets revolving around that particular star which would be so far advanced of us that our attempts at contacting them would be the equivalent of us sending smoke signals to their email account.
In the opposite direction, we will not have the technology to catch communications sent by a civilisation many millenniums further down the communications evolutionary time line than us.
The chances of an alien civilisation having the equipment to not only catch our 'Hello Universe' message but to be able to decipher it and answer us in a way we would understand is less than negligible.
For all we know they may be sending us messages daily but we are not far enough advanced to know what they are and ignore them.
Secondly, do we really want to announce ourselves to a hugely advanced civilisation that would view us with as much disdain as we view an irritating insect or judge that we are a waste of good atmosphere and incinerate us on sight.
Thirdly, if science fiction films are anything to go by, the first thing the alien life form asks is to be taken to our leader and that needs sorting out if we are going to send out invites to them to come check us out because it would just be embarrassing in front of our intergalactic brothers and sisters if we just stand there scratching our heads while trying to work out exactly who the Earths leader is.
The first problem i forsee is that aliens would not have evolved and developed the same technology as us on Earth. We know there is no life except us Earthlings in our Solar System and the nearest solar system is Alpha Centuri which is 4.367 light years away, or a tad over 20 trillion miles, while we recently discovered the light from an 11 billion year-old star so what if life formed on one of the planets revolving around that particular star which would be so far advanced of us that our attempts at contacting them would be the equivalent of us sending smoke signals to their email account.
In the opposite direction, we will not have the technology to catch communications sent by a civilisation many millenniums further down the communications evolutionary time line than us.
The chances of an alien civilisation having the equipment to not only catch our 'Hello Universe' message but to be able to decipher it and answer us in a way we would understand is less than negligible.
For all we know they may be sending us messages daily but we are not far enough advanced to know what they are and ignore them.
Secondly, do we really want to announce ourselves to a hugely advanced civilisation that would view us with as much disdain as we view an irritating insect or judge that we are a waste of good atmosphere and incinerate us on sight.
Thirdly, if science fiction films are anything to go by, the first thing the alien life form asks is to be taken to our leader and that needs sorting out if we are going to send out invites to them to come check us out because it would just be embarrassing in front of our intergalactic brothers and sisters if we just stand there scratching our heads while trying to work out exactly who the Earths leader is.
Tuesday, 10 February 2015
Left Wing Atheists v Right Wing Religionists
Using the Google search facility, we can write in Left Wing Blogs and find approx 36 million of my like minded breatheren spreading the love but write in Right Wing Blog and there are almost double the amount with 70 million cluttering up the place. Probably foaming at the mouth as they exercise the few braincells they have by pounding the keyboard with their fists and ranting about how GWB was a misunderstood genius.
Writing in 'Atheist Blog' we have a choice of 18 million places we can go and read about all things Darwin but write in 'Religious Blog' and the choice is an astonishing 176 million blogs.
Giving it some thought and going with Occam's Razor, it may appear that there are just more right wing religious people with blogs then left wing atheists but let's wipe the razor for Occam and go again because it may be that right wing religious types just have more to say.
Granted what they say is mostly what we can generously call twaddle but in the best tradition of Charlie Hebdo, we may not like what they say but they are well within their rights to spout as much twaddle as they like.
Thinking it through further, it could be a case that they, the religious and the right wing, are more in need of confirmation of what they believe so there are 176 million religious bloggers all saying 'Who thinks God's Great?' and feeling the love when like minded religious bloggers say they do and they all light a candle and sing Onward Christian Soldiers.
That could be the same reason there are so many right wing bloggers, all those selfish feelings and erotic thoughts about Sarah Palin making them feel strange and they need to know that they are not alone, that there are people like them somewhere out there. 176 million right wing bloggers stroking each other into a frenzy and blaming Socialism for every ill that has befallen them since they were born.
It could also be that Atheists and Left Wingers are too busy trying to make the World a better place through drinking latte and wearing T-Shirts that say: 'No-one has been stoned to death by atheists' so just don't have the time to write a blog.
Yeah, let's go with that.
Writing in 'Atheist Blog' we have a choice of 18 million places we can go and read about all things Darwin but write in 'Religious Blog' and the choice is an astonishing 176 million blogs.
Giving it some thought and going with Occam's Razor, it may appear that there are just more right wing religious people with blogs then left wing atheists but let's wipe the razor for Occam and go again because it may be that right wing religious types just have more to say.
Granted what they say is mostly what we can generously call twaddle but in the best tradition of Charlie Hebdo, we may not like what they say but they are well within their rights to spout as much twaddle as they like.
Thinking it through further, it could be a case that they, the religious and the right wing, are more in need of confirmation of what they believe so there are 176 million religious bloggers all saying 'Who thinks God's Great?' and feeling the love when like minded religious bloggers say they do and they all light a candle and sing Onward Christian Soldiers.
That could be the same reason there are so many right wing bloggers, all those selfish feelings and erotic thoughts about Sarah Palin making them feel strange and they need to know that they are not alone, that there are people like them somewhere out there. 176 million right wing bloggers stroking each other into a frenzy and blaming Socialism for every ill that has befallen them since they were born.
It could also be that Atheists and Left Wingers are too busy trying to make the World a better place through drinking latte and wearing T-Shirts that say: 'No-one has been stoned to death by atheists' so just don't have the time to write a blog.
Yeah, let's go with that.
Monday, 9 February 2015
Australia Does Eurovision
Once a year the best and brightest of European songwriters get together and have a competition to see who can write the best song and in one marvellous night of music we all get together and watch the United Kingdom's entry crash and burn but this year we have come up with a wheeze to avoid finishing in the wooden spoon slot because for one night only, Australia is European.
With a list of decent Australian bands that starts and ends with INXS, Australia isn't the first place you would turn to to make up the numbers in a song writing competition but the invite has gone out and the Aussie's have accepted so we can't take it back now.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the event, which will be held in May in Austria and Ola Sand who holds the title of the contests executive supervisor called it: 'A daring and at the same time incredibly exciting move'.
It does throw up the possibility that it could become a regular thing with a non-European country being invited to try its luck against the best songsmiths Estonia and Belarus have to offer but i hope whoever the Australians pick to represent them, they come armed with a wobble-board and a didgeridoo and someone who isn't Kylie.
As there are over a million Brits in the land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder, we must quite fancy getting the twelve points from our former colony but if they dish out the null points to us, i vote for ditching them and asking Canada next time.
With a list of decent Australian bands that starts and ends with INXS, Australia isn't the first place you would turn to to make up the numbers in a song writing competition but the invite has gone out and the Aussie's have accepted so we can't take it back now.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the event, which will be held in May in Austria and Ola Sand who holds the title of the contests executive supervisor called it: 'A daring and at the same time incredibly exciting move'.
It does throw up the possibility that it could become a regular thing with a non-European country being invited to try its luck against the best songsmiths Estonia and Belarus have to offer but i hope whoever the Australians pick to represent them, they come armed with a wobble-board and a didgeridoo and someone who isn't Kylie.
As there are over a million Brits in the land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder, we must quite fancy getting the twelve points from our former colony but if they dish out the null points to us, i vote for ditching them and asking Canada next time.
Saturday, 7 February 2015
No Help Required From You Blair
Tony Blair has said that he will do what it takes to help Ed Miliband and Labour win the upcoming general election and will do whatever the Labour party wants.
I assume, the Labour Party will tell him to feck off because every time he pops up his vile head above the parapet, it's just a reminder of what he did when he was Labour leader which caused a record number of Labour supporters to leave the Party.
Don't go there Ed and tell him to back off, preferably to another continent at least until the polling booths close and the hated Conservatives are consigned to a bad memory.
I assume, the Labour Party will tell him to feck off because every time he pops up his vile head above the parapet, it's just a reminder of what he did when he was Labour leader which caused a record number of Labour supporters to leave the Party.
Don't go there Ed and tell him to back off, preferably to another continent at least until the polling booths close and the hated Conservatives are consigned to a bad memory.
Europe Sidelines US Over Ukraine
Interesting that during peace talks in Russia, the US and UK have been kept well away and its the French and Germans doing the jaw-jaw.
The five hour-long talks was said to be 'constructive, informative and substantive' although no details of any peace plans have been released except a press release that: 'On the basis of proposals made by the French President and German Chancellor, there is currently on-going joint work to prepare the text of a possible joint document on the implementation of the Minsk agreements – a document that would include proposals made by Ukrainian President Poroshenko and proposals put forward today by Russian President Putin'.
Unsurprisingly, considering that while they were talking peace, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, was holding talks with Kiev officials concerning the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons, the US reaction was that they didn't particularly see it as a positive sign, their solution is to pour £2 billions of weapons into Ukraine and force tougher sanctions against Russia which is a strategy the EU disagree with, failing to implement the last round of economic sanctions.
The British Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, said that supplying more weapons to Ukraine would escalate the ongoing conflict and it was just such a scenario that forced Hollande and Merkel to take matters into their own hands and swerve the US and take the White House by surprise by announcing on Thursday that: 'Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative', a ploy that has been described as Hollande and Merkel’s attempting to 'get ahead of the Americans who are trying to impose their solution to the problem on Westerners: a transfer of weapons to Ukraine'.
Diplomatic speech for not trusting the Americans to do anything other than make a bad situation, a situation they created with their meddling in Ukraine's affairs, much, much worse.
The penny seems to be finally sinking in as we see the global mayhem caused by Americas and the UK's wars this century, that hot heads and more weapons is not the answer and ramping up the violence should never be the solution.
The five hour-long talks was said to be 'constructive, informative and substantive' although no details of any peace plans have been released except a press release that: 'On the basis of proposals made by the French President and German Chancellor, there is currently on-going joint work to prepare the text of a possible joint document on the implementation of the Minsk agreements – a document that would include proposals made by Ukrainian President Poroshenko and proposals put forward today by Russian President Putin'.
Unsurprisingly, considering that while they were talking peace, US Secretary of State, John Kerry, was holding talks with Kiev officials concerning the possibility of supplying Ukraine with weapons, the US reaction was that they didn't particularly see it as a positive sign, their solution is to pour £2 billions of weapons into Ukraine and force tougher sanctions against Russia which is a strategy the EU disagree with, failing to implement the last round of economic sanctions.
The British Defence Secretary, Michael Fallon, said that supplying more weapons to Ukraine would escalate the ongoing conflict and it was just such a scenario that forced Hollande and Merkel to take matters into their own hands and swerve the US and take the White House by surprise by announcing on Thursday that: 'Together with Angela Merkel we have decided to take a new initiative', a ploy that has been described as Hollande and Merkel’s attempting to 'get ahead of the Americans who are trying to impose their solution to the problem on Westerners: a transfer of weapons to Ukraine'.
Diplomatic speech for not trusting the Americans to do anything other than make a bad situation, a situation they created with their meddling in Ukraine's affairs, much, much worse.
The penny seems to be finally sinking in as we see the global mayhem caused by Americas and the UK's wars this century, that hot heads and more weapons is not the answer and ramping up the violence should never be the solution.
Friday, 6 February 2015
The Reason For Antisemitism In UK
There has been rising anxiety in parts of Britain’s Jewish community and figures show that anti-semitic attacks in 2014 have reached the highest level ever recorded in the UK.
The data from the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, reflects a spike in reported antisemitism in July and August during last summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
It would be plain idiocy not to acknowledge that the Jewish communities problems are directly related to Israel's persecution and periodic mass killing of Palestinians, the theft of their property and occupation of their land.
Being Jewish does not make you an Israeli as being Roman Catholic does not make you Italian so it disappoints me that some people are incapable of engaging the few braincells that they possess and cause mindless violence against an innocent population just because of their religion.
It is much the same ignorance that saw Muslims targeted after the June 2007 and Charlie Hebdo attacks and there are still many completely innocent, peaceful Muslims that are feeling very frightened and intimated in the UK right now.
Don't take out your anger on innocent people who are probably as disgusted at Israel or Islamic State as you are if you only bothered to ask but the Jewish community do not have a monopoly on feeling insecure because Muslims have been feeling it from knuckle scraping idiots who think they are somehow vindicated in showing their anger against a group whose acts they disagree with but who have nothing to do with them except a shared religion for much longer.
The data from the Community Security Trust, a Jewish charity, reflects a spike in reported antisemitism in July and August during last summer’s conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
It would be plain idiocy not to acknowledge that the Jewish communities problems are directly related to Israel's persecution and periodic mass killing of Palestinians, the theft of their property and occupation of their land.
Being Jewish does not make you an Israeli as being Roman Catholic does not make you Italian so it disappoints me that some people are incapable of engaging the few braincells that they possess and cause mindless violence against an innocent population just because of their religion.
It is much the same ignorance that saw Muslims targeted after the June 2007 and Charlie Hebdo attacks and there are still many completely innocent, peaceful Muslims that are feeling very frightened and intimated in the UK right now.
Don't take out your anger on innocent people who are probably as disgusted at Israel or Islamic State as you are if you only bothered to ask but the Jewish community do not have a monopoly on feeling insecure because Muslims have been feeling it from knuckle scraping idiots who think they are somehow vindicated in showing their anger against a group whose acts they disagree with but who have nothing to do with them except a shared religion for much longer.
Thursday, 5 February 2015
Blame The Parents
Bobbi Kristina Brown remains in a medically induced coma as doctors say that they don't see any hope for
change after she was found unresponsive in a bathtub at her home.
Echoes of Peaches Geldof’s pathetic drug induced death and yet another young life ruined by a parent or both parents in Bobbi Brown's case. Tragic.
Echoes of Peaches Geldof’s pathetic drug induced death and yet another young life ruined by a parent or both parents in Bobbi Brown's case. Tragic.
Wednesday, 4 February 2015
This Trio Won't Be Missed If They Go This Year
Since Hugo Chavez shuffled off the scene, there are not many World leaders you can look at and think they are doing a great job, almost all you just find yourself just shaking your head at.
Although we can't replace them all, we may well be shot of three of them shortly with our own David Cameron widely expected to be tipped out of his seat shortly after Israel dispose of Benjamin Netanyahu and Australia wave goodbye to Tony Abbot.
The first to go could be Tony Abbot who faces a challenge of his leadership from his own party who have publicly declared that a change in leadership is necessary. With his talk of shirtfronting other leaders and other macho nonsense, his being a knuckle dragging dinosaur jerk won't be missed, the loss of the other two should be widely cheered.
Cameron has decimated the UK in a right wing ideological whirlwind but on the world stage he has been as warmongering as Tony Blair although he has stayed on the legal side if not the moral one.
The Libyan conflict was a con, gaining UN approval for an air corridor and then immediately contorting that into acting as the airforce for the anti-Gadaffi crowd who was riddled with the very people we had just spent the last decade fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was gung-ho for attacking Syria until he lost the vote in the Commons and has puffed out his chest in his dealings with Russia over Ukraine. When what is needed are cool heads and less rhetoric, we need less of what Cameron offers but even he pales into insignificance when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, probably the worst person to have in charge of a nation as trigger happy as Israel.
His actions against the Palestinians since he became Prime Minister in 2009 has been abhorrent amidst cries of 'war crimes' from almost every institution that has looked into his actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
His relationship with his only real ally, America, has been in deep freeze for most of Obama's administration and Israel has become a pariah in most of the world with the Jews worldwide feeling the blowback from such a vile leader.
We are at a time when it seems the legacy of Bush's and Blair's misguided wars in the early part of the century has ignited a tinderbox in the Middle East and Europe and leaders such as Abbot, Cameron and Netanyahu who think greater violence is the answer to violence are not the answer and hopefully all three will be knocked off their perches before the start of summer.
Although we can't replace them all, we may well be shot of three of them shortly with our own David Cameron widely expected to be tipped out of his seat shortly after Israel dispose of Benjamin Netanyahu and Australia wave goodbye to Tony Abbot.
The first to go could be Tony Abbot who faces a challenge of his leadership from his own party who have publicly declared that a change in leadership is necessary. With his talk of shirtfronting other leaders and other macho nonsense, his being a knuckle dragging dinosaur jerk won't be missed, the loss of the other two should be widely cheered.
Cameron has decimated the UK in a right wing ideological whirlwind but on the world stage he has been as warmongering as Tony Blair although he has stayed on the legal side if not the moral one.
The Libyan conflict was a con, gaining UN approval for an air corridor and then immediately contorting that into acting as the airforce for the anti-Gadaffi crowd who was riddled with the very people we had just spent the last decade fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He was gung-ho for attacking Syria until he lost the vote in the Commons and has puffed out his chest in his dealings with Russia over Ukraine. When what is needed are cool heads and less rhetoric, we need less of what Cameron offers but even he pales into insignificance when it comes to Benjamin Netanyahu, probably the worst person to have in charge of a nation as trigger happy as Israel.
His actions against the Palestinians since he became Prime Minister in 2009 has been abhorrent amidst cries of 'war crimes' from almost every institution that has looked into his actions in Gaza and the West Bank.
His relationship with his only real ally, America, has been in deep freeze for most of Obama's administration and Israel has become a pariah in most of the world with the Jews worldwide feeling the blowback from such a vile leader.
We are at a time when it seems the legacy of Bush's and Blair's misguided wars in the early part of the century has ignited a tinderbox in the Middle East and Europe and leaders such as Abbot, Cameron and Netanyahu who think greater violence is the answer to violence are not the answer and hopefully all three will be knocked off their perches before the start of summer.
Tuesday, 3 February 2015
Three Parent Babies
The three parent babies headlines may be a bit misleading but i do find the outcry about 'playing God' a bit confusing regarding the creation of IVF babies with DNA from three different people.
MPs have today voted to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three different people in order to prevent inherited diseases, a process which sees unhealthy DNA removed from a fertilised egg and healthy DNA from a donor spliced into the parents DNA.
We have the technology and know-how to do it so it seems a no-brainer to eliminate suffering and a child's early death if we can, so i can't see why some people are upset about it.
As the part being 'swapped' does not govern anything about what makes a person that particular person, the warning from critics that it could lead to designer babies is moot, it can't.
The whole idea of designer babies is a whole other argument, that's vanity on the part of the parents, but this a life saving procedure and to argue that someone should be born with genetic defects and a painful, early death when they don't need to be is just deranged and dangerous thinking.
MPs have today voted to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three different people in order to prevent inherited diseases, a process which sees unhealthy DNA removed from a fertilised egg and healthy DNA from a donor spliced into the parents DNA.
We have the technology and know-how to do it so it seems a no-brainer to eliminate suffering and a child's early death if we can, so i can't see why some people are upset about it.
As the part being 'swapped' does not govern anything about what makes a person that particular person, the warning from critics that it could lead to designer babies is moot, it can't.
The whole idea of designer babies is a whole other argument, that's vanity on the part of the parents, but this a life saving procedure and to argue that someone should be born with genetic defects and a painful, early death when they don't need to be is just deranged and dangerous thinking.
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