The UK Government is telling us we are going to have to tighten our belts and things are going to be uncomfortable for a while and to quote Dave Cam, cuts are coming that will 'change the British way of life'.
Sounds ominous and he cut my legs away from under me as i got out my tub and got ready to thump it regarding cutting Defence and how we should be reducing soldiers not nurses or teachers. He then said he was going to cut defence as well and that shut me up good and proper.
There are two things that raises my hackles about this belt tightening episode we are about to undertake.
The first is that the banks and bankers have not been sufficiently walloped for my liking and are now rolling in money and paying out bonuses again. They caused it, let them suffer the worst of it and if the staff threaten to go abroad, let them. It isn't as if they did such a bang up job working here, let them go destroy Americas or Japans economy. Plenty of others willing to step up.
The second thing is that the Tories make it sound as though the problems are down to Government Department waste, overpaying benefits or expensive public services. He is even giving us a say in which public services we want cut or reduced which makes it seem even more that the problem all along has been the public wanting our cake and eating it.
It wasn't, it was the financial sector so if you are going to whack us in your upcoming emergency budget, make sure you whack the people who caused it even harder because people might be more willing to accept library's closing and more of a wait at the hospital if they know the banks are being made to squeak.
Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Monday, 14 June 2010
England 1 - USA 1
To read the newspapers today you would have thought that England had been put across Americas knee and given a good spanking on Saturday evening. According to them we should all be clutching a plasticine model of Mother Teresa while saying 32 Hail Marys and Our Fathers and praying for a miracle.
Obviously the goalkeeper Rob Green is getting it in the neck and i'm no West Ham fan but i do feel a bit sorry for him. I admit at the time i called upon my extensive knowledge of Anglo-Saxon dialogue and questioned his parentage but a draw in the opening game against the side that should qualify with us in the group is no disgrace. The only concern is we may finish second and face the Germans who gave a royal tonking to the Australians last night. Got to love that especially as i have the deutschlanders in the office sweep stake.
The French bombed against Uruguay and in that great French tradition, blamed someone else. They are complaining about the fans blowing the vuvuzelas throughout the game.
"We can't hear one another out on the pitch because of them" said Patrick Evra which i would have thought was a blessing as he shanked another precision pass into the top tier of the ground.
Bit of a cheek to ask the South Africans to stop celebrating in their usual fashion. How would we like it if we held the World Cup and the African teams asked us to stop singing songs about which orifice Ashley Cole receives sexual pleasure from or questioning the referee's solo activities.
We wouldn't like it so leave the Africans to blow all the horns they like which is also another song sung at Ashley Cole.
Obviously the goalkeeper Rob Green is getting it in the neck and i'm no West Ham fan but i do feel a bit sorry for him. I admit at the time i called upon my extensive knowledge of Anglo-Saxon dialogue and questioned his parentage but a draw in the opening game against the side that should qualify with us in the group is no disgrace. The only concern is we may finish second and face the Germans who gave a royal tonking to the Australians last night. Got to love that especially as i have the deutschlanders in the office sweep stake.
The French bombed against Uruguay and in that great French tradition, blamed someone else. They are complaining about the fans blowing the vuvuzelas throughout the game.
"We can't hear one another out on the pitch because of them" said Patrick Evra which i would have thought was a blessing as he shanked another precision pass into the top tier of the ground.
Bit of a cheek to ask the South Africans to stop celebrating in their usual fashion. How would we like it if we held the World Cup and the African teams asked us to stop singing songs about which orifice Ashley Cole receives sexual pleasure from or questioning the referee's solo activities.
We wouldn't like it so leave the Africans to blow all the horns they like which is also another song sung at Ashley Cole.
Thursday, 10 June 2010
Sanctions on the wrong country
The UN has approved the "toughest ever" sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme amid fears the country is making atomic weapons. What good this will do i don't know and the other nuclear powers taking the moral high ground would be amusing if it wasn't so serious.
We do seem to have it in for Iran and the most quoted reason is the speech where President Ahmadinejad had demanded that "Israel must be wiped off the map".
Repeated many times by anyone wanting to bash Iran, if they had cared to find out themselves they would have seen that he never actually used he words words "map", "wipe out" or even "Israel" and repeated a quote by Ayatollah Khomeini that 'The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time'.
This somehow got translated as he wanted to wipe Israel from the map and has been repeated ad nauseum ever since although he has clarified it many times at later press conferences that he was referring to the Ayatollah's words on the occupation of the Palestinian land by Israel.
Of course it doesn't make such scary headlines and America and Israel need a bogeyman now that Saddam is twirling his moustache elsewhere and Bin Laden has gone underground.
I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons but then neither do i want anyone else to have them but who could blame him if he was after them? North Korea has shown that owning nuclear weapons is a game changer and Saddam may still be sitting in a palace in Baghdad today if he had actually owned them.
If the UN is going to be handing down sanctions, i would be turning my sights to another country in the Middle East who has been the most aggresive, broken the most laws and occupies land not their own and has covert Nuclear weapons, not the country that last attacked anyone over 200 years ago.
We do seem to have it in for Iran and the most quoted reason is the speech where President Ahmadinejad had demanded that "Israel must be wiped off the map".
Repeated many times by anyone wanting to bash Iran, if they had cared to find out themselves they would have seen that he never actually used he words words "map", "wipe out" or even "Israel" and repeated a quote by Ayatollah Khomeini that 'The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time'.
This somehow got translated as he wanted to wipe Israel from the map and has been repeated ad nauseum ever since although he has clarified it many times at later press conferences that he was referring to the Ayatollah's words on the occupation of the Palestinian land by Israel.
Of course it doesn't make such scary headlines and America and Israel need a bogeyman now that Saddam is twirling his moustache elsewhere and Bin Laden has gone underground.
I don't want Iran to have nuclear weapons but then neither do i want anyone else to have them but who could blame him if he was after them? North Korea has shown that owning nuclear weapons is a game changer and Saddam may still be sitting in a palace in Baghdad today if he had actually owned them.
If the UN is going to be handing down sanctions, i would be turning my sights to another country in the Middle East who has been the most aggresive, broken the most laws and occupies land not their own and has covert Nuclear weapons, not the country that last attacked anyone over 200 years ago.
Wednesday, 9 June 2010
Dismissing the yanks
It's Churchill against Amelia Earhart, Queen Victoria against Suzi Quatro and Ginger Spice against Barbara Bush. Even Little House on the Prairie versus Red Dwarf if you like but it's the World Cup and England's first match is against the Americanos.
On paper a team made up of players from Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham should tonk a team with defenders from Watford and midfielders from Fulham and Bolton but if there is any tonking to be done, it could very well be us on the end of it.
As usual the tabloids are getting carried away and predicting we will be returning with the World Cup in our luggage but anyone who has seen any of the recent friendlies will know that we have been poor against very mediocre opposition and when we come up against a half decent side, we will be packing our bags and flying back home.
I have drawn Germany in the office sweepstake and usually i would be making plans on how to spend my £32 winnings but like us, the Germans best days are behind them.
Rather boringly, it is hard to look past Brazil to win it with the likes of Cesar, Alves, Lucio and Silva in defence you can't see them letting in many and you just know they won't end many games with a zero beside their names.
Europe's best chance is with Spain but i secretly have a hidden wish that Argentina win it. Maradona may not be such great shakes at managerial duties but he was my hero as a player and they have an even better forward line than Brazil so if he accidentally stumbles across the right team, Argentina could do it.
For England, we have to, at the very minimum, not get beaten by the yanks and they are number 14 in the FIFA rankings, only 6 places below us, so it isn't a foregone conclusion and it will be a lot closer than most of us think, even with Jay DeMerit in the back four.
On paper a team made up of players from Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham should tonk a team with defenders from Watford and midfielders from Fulham and Bolton but if there is any tonking to be done, it could very well be us on the end of it.
As usual the tabloids are getting carried away and predicting we will be returning with the World Cup in our luggage but anyone who has seen any of the recent friendlies will know that we have been poor against very mediocre opposition and when we come up against a half decent side, we will be packing our bags and flying back home.
I have drawn Germany in the office sweepstake and usually i would be making plans on how to spend my £32 winnings but like us, the Germans best days are behind them.
Rather boringly, it is hard to look past Brazil to win it with the likes of Cesar, Alves, Lucio and Silva in defence you can't see them letting in many and you just know they won't end many games with a zero beside their names.
Europe's best chance is with Spain but i secretly have a hidden wish that Argentina win it. Maradona may not be such great shakes at managerial duties but he was my hero as a player and they have an even better forward line than Brazil so if he accidentally stumbles across the right team, Argentina could do it.
For England, we have to, at the very minimum, not get beaten by the yanks and they are number 14 in the FIFA rankings, only 6 places below us, so it isn't a foregone conclusion and it will be a lot closer than most of us think, even with Jay DeMerit in the back four.
Tuesday, 8 June 2010
Britain the new Canada
Days after being warned we could be the new Greece, it seems we are now to become the new Canada as the Government looks to copy Canadian tactics in dealing with the deficit.
I always associate the North American country with brightly dressed policemen, maple syrup and ice hockey but apparently in the nineties it turned a huge deficit into a surplus within 5 years and the Lib Dem Cons aim to use its blueprint.
How the Canadians did it was by cutting the budget of everything including healthcare and education which saw hospital waiting lists shoot up with thousands of nurses losing their jobs and hospitals closing. It cut 12% of the civil service workforce and didn't replace leaving teachers with the result of class sizes growing substantially and scrapping special needs classes.
I predict riots if the Con Lib Dems did that here but the overall idea of using the examples of other countries i agree with.
France has the best Healthcare so copy that system. Finland has the best education system so have a look at how they do things and apply it here. The Netherlands the safest roads, Japan the best rail system and the Canadians the world's best banking system.
It is hard to find any 'best of' list that Britain tops so if we are in the mood to borrow things from other places, look to borrow the ideas that made these places the leaders in their field rather than struggle on with the mediocre and terrible like we usually do.
Another plus to becoming the new Canada is that everyone likes Canada and modelling ourselves on a country which lives side by side in harmony with French people may rub off on us.
Erm, let's have another look at that Greek option again.
I always associate the North American country with brightly dressed policemen, maple syrup and ice hockey but apparently in the nineties it turned a huge deficit into a surplus within 5 years and the Lib Dem Cons aim to use its blueprint.
How the Canadians did it was by cutting the budget of everything including healthcare and education which saw hospital waiting lists shoot up with thousands of nurses losing their jobs and hospitals closing. It cut 12% of the civil service workforce and didn't replace leaving teachers with the result of class sizes growing substantially and scrapping special needs classes.
I predict riots if the Con Lib Dems did that here but the overall idea of using the examples of other countries i agree with.
France has the best Healthcare so copy that system. Finland has the best education system so have a look at how they do things and apply it here. The Netherlands the safest roads, Japan the best rail system and the Canadians the world's best banking system.
It is hard to find any 'best of' list that Britain tops so if we are in the mood to borrow things from other places, look to borrow the ideas that made these places the leaders in their field rather than struggle on with the mediocre and terrible like we usually do.
Another plus to becoming the new Canada is that everyone likes Canada and modelling ourselves on a country which lives side by side in harmony with French people may rub off on us.
Erm, let's have another look at that Greek option again.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Soccer Aid
From the start i had better say that i am very much for Charity. Any type of charity if it is for orphans in Romania or the starving in Ethiopia, i give it my full backing and whatever is sloshing about in my jeans pockets at the time.
That said, there is something that gets my goat about Charity events like the Soccer Aid charity match going on today.
It includes professional players such as Ryan Giggs, Henrik Larsson, Zinedine Zidane, Jens Lehmann and Alan Shearer and the rest is made up of celebrities from film and television. All to a man, highly paid and earning weekly what the average person earns annually.
Before the game they are showing the sick and dying in some of the poorest countries in the World and the player gives a solemn voice over informing us that all it would take to save this child's life is an inoculation that costs £1.50 or a £5 mosquito net. My reaction is always, well give it to them then!
Why appeal to us and then wait months for £20m to roll in when you have 60 or so multi-millionaires running around a patch of grass who could easily donate double that and buy even more injections or mosquito nets then trying to squeeze a few quid out of the other 60m of us?
The footballers alone could probably find that by rooting around the back of their sofas.
Apparently the 'stars' give their services free. Very good of them but i'm sure the starving kids would prefer it if they stumped up a few quid to buy food instead rather than score a penalty against the bloke who used to present Have i got news for you.
That said, there is something that gets my goat about Charity events like the Soccer Aid charity match going on today.
It includes professional players such as Ryan Giggs, Henrik Larsson, Zinedine Zidane, Jens Lehmann and Alan Shearer and the rest is made up of celebrities from film and television. All to a man, highly paid and earning weekly what the average person earns annually.
Before the game they are showing the sick and dying in some of the poorest countries in the World and the player gives a solemn voice over informing us that all it would take to save this child's life is an inoculation that costs £1.50 or a £5 mosquito net. My reaction is always, well give it to them then!
Why appeal to us and then wait months for £20m to roll in when you have 60 or so multi-millionaires running around a patch of grass who could easily donate double that and buy even more injections or mosquito nets then trying to squeeze a few quid out of the other 60m of us?
The footballers alone could probably find that by rooting around the back of their sofas.
Apparently the 'stars' give their services free. Very good of them but i'm sure the starving kids would prefer it if they stumped up a few quid to buy food instead rather than score a penalty against the bloke who used to present Have i got news for you.
Saturday, 5 June 2010
Idiot BP
As the B in BP stands for British, it doesn't look good that one of our companies are so inept at their job that it has ended up polluting thousands of miles of Americas coastline with oil.
It looks even worse when the boss comes up with the insensitive line ' I want my life back' when he is being interviewed for American television. I dare say the 11 people killed on the rig have more of a claim to wanting their lives back then you Mr Hayward.
There was a great interview on the television this evening where some BP wonk was saying what a public relations disaster this had been for BP in America and it wasn't enough to say sorry to Americans, you have to apologise to them in a certain way for them to accept it.
I'm not really sure what that certain way is and he didn't elaborate so we are left to wonder just how do you say sorry to Americans for what BP has done?
In Britain the wrongdoer has to either resign or be forced out to appease us but i don't know if the Americans go for that approach.
Personally i would go for the 'hands up, no excuses, we screwed up' angle which may garnish a small amount of sympathy or even the heartfelt 'We promise to do everything humanly possible to put this right' and maybe throw in a small tear wipe at the end.
I imagine what he meant was BP will hand over billions of dollars to clean up its mess, keep it's head down and hope it's all forgotten while Tony Hayward gets his life back again.
It looks even worse when the boss comes up with the insensitive line ' I want my life back' when he is being interviewed for American television. I dare say the 11 people killed on the rig have more of a claim to wanting their lives back then you Mr Hayward.
There was a great interview on the television this evening where some BP wonk was saying what a public relations disaster this had been for BP in America and it wasn't enough to say sorry to Americans, you have to apologise to them in a certain way for them to accept it.
I'm not really sure what that certain way is and he didn't elaborate so we are left to wonder just how do you say sorry to Americans for what BP has done?
In Britain the wrongdoer has to either resign or be forced out to appease us but i don't know if the Americans go for that approach.
Personally i would go for the 'hands up, no excuses, we screwed up' angle which may garnish a small amount of sympathy or even the heartfelt 'We promise to do everything humanly possible to put this right' and maybe throw in a small tear wipe at the end.
I imagine what he meant was BP will hand over billions of dollars to clean up its mess, keep it's head down and hope it's all forgotten while Tony Hayward gets his life back again.
Thursday, 3 June 2010
Britain's drink problem
Britain has a drinking problem, go to any city centre on a weekend evening and it's not hard to notice it. It isn't a new thing, i did my fair share of getting drunk and throwing up in my youth but it just seems worse these days. Most shocking is the amount of young girls brawling and falling down drunk.
What is different now is the advent of alcopops such as Bacardi breezer and hooch which taste like squash or fruit juice and get knocked back like they are.
The latest wheeze is to put the price of alcohol up so high that it prices out the younger members so they drink less and don't get quite so inebriated.
This solution will punish all and would obviously hit the profits of the brewers so expect them to fight against this idea.
The simple solution would be to reduce the strength of the drinks. Most lagers, beers and alcopops are around 5%-6% proof. Why not just make the standard strength 2%-3% instead?
If the brewers can make it 6%, they could easily make it less and the only victim is the person determined to get off their face.
Personally, i'd raise the age limit to 21 as well as 3 years more maturity before hitting the pubs could only be a good thing.
It's a problem that needs sorting but the solution they are considering is the worst for everyone.
What is different now is the advent of alcopops such as Bacardi breezer and hooch which taste like squash or fruit juice and get knocked back like they are.
The latest wheeze is to put the price of alcohol up so high that it prices out the younger members so they drink less and don't get quite so inebriated.
This solution will punish all and would obviously hit the profits of the brewers so expect them to fight against this idea.
The simple solution would be to reduce the strength of the drinks. Most lagers, beers and alcopops are around 5%-6% proof. Why not just make the standard strength 2%-3% instead?
If the brewers can make it 6%, they could easily make it less and the only victim is the person determined to get off their face.
Personally, i'd raise the age limit to 21 as well as 3 years more maturity before hitting the pubs could only be a good thing.
It's a problem that needs sorting but the solution they are considering is the worst for everyone.
Wednesday, 2 June 2010
Cya Fergie
Good things to say about Sarah Ferguson are harder to find than good food in a branch of Little Chef but if we try really, really hard...nope, can't think of anything.
At least when her sister in law Princes Diana got caught out she had the decency to arrange being photographed coming out of a children's hospital afterwards, Fergie hasn't even got that much cunning.
Instead, she runs off to America to appear on Oprah and blame alcohol for being such a money grasping basketcase.
Drink affects people differently but whereas i tend to laugh a lot and tell jokes really badly after a few, she obviously tries to sell access to her ex-husband for half a million pounds.
Maybe she was drunk when she was pictured having her toes sucked that ended her marriage or hiring the woman her father was having an affair with so they could continue there affair.
The Duchess commented, "I love the fact that Americans embrace me. I said I was sorry for whatever I had done in the UK, and they embraced me and said, 'OK, we'll give you a second chance.' And they have given me my life back, the American people."
You can keep her American people and if you give her a couple of dollars she will let you suck her toes.
At least when her sister in law Princes Diana got caught out she had the decency to arrange being photographed coming out of a children's hospital afterwards, Fergie hasn't even got that much cunning.
Instead, she runs off to America to appear on Oprah and blame alcohol for being such a money grasping basketcase.
Drink affects people differently but whereas i tend to laugh a lot and tell jokes really badly after a few, she obviously tries to sell access to her ex-husband for half a million pounds.
Maybe she was drunk when she was pictured having her toes sucked that ended her marriage or hiring the woman her father was having an affair with so they could continue there affair.
The Duchess commented, "I love the fact that Americans embrace me. I said I was sorry for whatever I had done in the UK, and they embraced me and said, 'OK, we'll give you a second chance.' And they have given me my life back, the American people."
You can keep her American people and if you give her a couple of dollars she will let you suck her toes.
Tuesday, 1 June 2010
Condemning another Israeli atrocity
It has always amazed me what Israel can get away with. It seems that because of what happened to the Jews 60 years ago, they now have a free pass to go around doing whatever they like to whoever they like. What especially gets my back up is the way people try to defend the Government of the country who cause these atrocities.
The treatment of Palestinians is one of the greatest crimes of the last 60 years but they continue to go on dishing out massacres and inhuman treatment and still they get billions of pounds worth of aid while Gazans are digging through the rubble of their former homes struggling to rebuild after the last wave of disproportionate attacks.
Now it has stormed an international aid convoy bound for Gaza, killing 19, and blamed the ship passengers for attacking them with sticks and metal bars. A reporter on the ship said the commandos had began firing before they had even landed on the vessel and as Israel is well known for attempting to cover up it's misdemeanours, we have no reason to believe the Israeli version of events. It recently admitted that two demonstrators who we were told were accidentally killed by rubber bullets were actually shot dead with live rounds but they only came clean after the press exposed them. It has already been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its inexplicable attack on Gaza 18 months ago.
Israel needs to be reigned in, it likes to paint itself as the victim in the Middle East but it has instigated more conflicts than all the rest put together and is making noises about starting up another one with Iran.
The United Nations needs to get its act together and if America uses its veto to block any action, the rest of the World need to impose their own sanctions.
If it was any other country their would be uproar and resolutions flying about the place but Israel have the holocaust trump card and play it at every opportunity.
It is about time we stopped falling for it and told it to begin acting like a responsible state because something needs to be done regarding bringing Israel to book for its deplorable actions.
The treatment of Palestinians is one of the greatest crimes of the last 60 years but they continue to go on dishing out massacres and inhuman treatment and still they get billions of pounds worth of aid while Gazans are digging through the rubble of their former homes struggling to rebuild after the last wave of disproportionate attacks.
Now it has stormed an international aid convoy bound for Gaza, killing 19, and blamed the ship passengers for attacking them with sticks and metal bars. A reporter on the ship said the commandos had began firing before they had even landed on the vessel and as Israel is well known for attempting to cover up it's misdemeanours, we have no reason to believe the Israeli version of events. It recently admitted that two demonstrators who we were told were accidentally killed by rubber bullets were actually shot dead with live rounds but they only came clean after the press exposed them. It has already been found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its inexplicable attack on Gaza 18 months ago.
Israel needs to be reigned in, it likes to paint itself as the victim in the Middle East but it has instigated more conflicts than all the rest put together and is making noises about starting up another one with Iran.
The United Nations needs to get its act together and if America uses its veto to block any action, the rest of the World need to impose their own sanctions.
If it was any other country their would be uproar and resolutions flying about the place but Israel have the holocaust trump card and play it at every opportunity.
It is about time we stopped falling for it and told it to begin acting like a responsible state because something needs to be done regarding bringing Israel to book for its deplorable actions.
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