Small Heath Blogger

London Mayoral Elections

2008-05-03T09:23:00.000+01:00

How stupid can the Londoners be to elect a right wing buffoon? He is made out to be a bit of a joker but is actually a serious politician with some very reactionary right wing views. He also pulled out of several debates because it was feared he would mess them up. He has never run anything in his life before so how will he fair running an £11 billion budget and what will he be like on the detail. Ken Livingstone was no saint but at least he knew what he was talking about and had run the Greater London Council in the 1980’s.

Twenty20 Indian Premier League

2008-04-15T19:35:00.003+01:00

I can’t understand how any cricketer is considering taking part in the Indian Premier League in 2009 just before we attempt to regain the Ashes. Are they serious about getting the Ashes back or not? The West Indian series was moved so that they had time to rest and recuperate before the Ashes in summer of 2009.

Yardley Green Medium Secure Centre

2007-09-11T20:41:00.001+01:00

I walk past the proposed site of the proposed site of Yardley Green Medium Secure Hospital every day on the walk home from work. One of the most striking signs says that people in similar medium secure units have killed 400 people in the last 8 years. Whilst that is tragic, in the same time frame roughly 28,000 people have died on our roads, therefore for every person killed by a resident of a medium secure unit 70 are killed on our roads. Now why is there not a campaign to ban driving?

Bloody cheeky banks.

2007-09-11T20:27:00.001+01:00

It is very cheeky of the banks et al to say they want help from the government when the going gets a bit rough. I thought they believed in this capitalist system where you live and die by the sword. It seems lay off our profits when times are great but as soon as we get into difficulty they go cup in hand to beg for money from the government. If they can’t take the heat get out of the kitchen, so what if you loose a few million you have always got a bit in the bank left over for a rainy day haven’t you?

Credit Crunch

2007-09-07T14:44:00.001+01:00

I think it is disgrace for the government to even be considering bailing out stupid banks unless we are about to have a full-blown recession. If these capitalists are daft enough to gamble huge amounts of money they why should the government bail them out? This is after all a capitalist country we live in the big city bankers have to take the ruff with the smooth. Also why is a two year low in big deals such big news?

Gun Crime Myths

2007-08-31T21:00:00.000+01:00

Having read Mick Hume and Brendan O’Neil’s pieces on gun crime, from www.spiked.com, I hadn’t realised how easy it was to get sucked in by the media and politicians into believing that gun crime was epidemic. When you look at the cold hard facts gun crime isn’t really out of control and in fact gun crime has been falling for the past few years with the exception of the 06/07-year where there was a slight increase.

Rhys police hunt teenage killer

2007-08-24T11:06:00.000+01:00

I hope the killers of Rhys Jones when they are caught are locked up and the key thrown away for at least 25 years hopefully longer otherwise the killer or killers will be out when they are in their late 30s when Rhys Jones’s life was cut short at just 11. The ‘gangsters’ that carried out the attack are mindless thugs and they get encouragement from videos posted on YouTube, whilst I think restricting access to the web in the main is the thin end of the wedge, YouTube should remove all violent ‘gang’ videos and such like as soon as they are spotted. I think that if YouTube thinks pornography is unacceptable on their site then violent ‘gang’ videos should also be banned.

Having said that I think the media reporting of such incidents sensationalises the violence and encourages the public to think that youth violence and disorder is rampant. I think whilst there are a sizable number of youths involved in violence I think tarring them all with the same brush is a bit unfair.

Yardley Green Road Medium Secure Unit

2007-08-24T10:53:00.000+01:00

Although the opposition to a new Medium Secure Centre on the Bordesley Green is understandable as they fear crime would rise, I think they have a bit of NIMBYism. Also it is a bit unfair on the families of the patients of this centre as they currently have to travel a long way to see their loved ones. If this centre is not developed then where will it go? It seems to me that this opposition to mental health services is because of the public’s ignorance and therefore encourages the government to ignore mental health services and allow them to become the poor relations of the NHS. The government needs to explain the benefits of mental health services, as prison is expensive and putting mental health patients in prison is no good for their health or their long-term recovery.

Man spared jail for sex attacks

2007-08-24T10:31:00.000+01:00

I cannot believe that Michael Porter has escaped jail for a string of sex offences against minors. His wife is standing by him and the Jehovah's Witness have refused to comment of the case at the very least the Jehovah's Witness should have said as soon as he was sentenced that he would be sacked, this seems as bad as the catholic church protecting paedophiles. When I heard the news on last nights news I was left dumbfounded by the judges leniency, Michael Porter may claim to be a ‘changed man’ but I don’t believe he can really have changed and how does the court know that he really is changed because there may have been other cases that were not evidenced at trial. He should be locked up for at least 10 years before being eligible for parole.

Tories Tax and Red Tape Cuts

2007-08-17T20:23:00.000+01:00

The Tories plans on abolishing inheritance tax will only aid the top 5-6% of estates that pay inheritance tax and the Tories want to be taken seriously by the poor. I like their idea of charging lorries by the mile but if it is neutral then how will the Tories pay for the damage heavy lorries do to our roads. If more private motorways are built the pricing structure could be similar to the current M6 Toll Motorway. Currently the M6 Toll Motorway only appeals to car users as road haulers are encouraged to use the ordinary M6, whilst motorists are welcomed onto the M6 Toll, thus the public sector is lumbered with the higher maintenance costs of HGV lorries whilst the toll road creams off motorists willing to pay that bit more.

The Tories say they want to cut the number of civil servants but the real expense in the civil service is the hiring of consultants to do the job of civil servants. In some cases these consultants are seconded from the companies that they are all offering contracts to.

I agree with the Tories policy on I.D. cards but their polices on moving taxation from current forms to enviremental taxes will mean a shortful in revenues for the government if these taxes are really effective.

The Trure Cost of Cheap Toys

2007-08-14T20:46:00.000+01:00

It seems after yet ANOTHER toy recall that the west’s exporting of its factories is really begging to backfire, as Chinese goods don’t meat stringent health and safety laws. This seems to be the real cost of cheap toys, Chinese companies will make toys for you which will be cheap because they skimp on product quality and exploit their employees by making them work long hours for poor wages and conditions. China says it will try and get it’s manufacturing up to western standards but with toy companies wanting lower and lower prices something has to give, and the only thing that possibly could be reduced is the toy quality.

Tory madness of 'red tape' cuts

2007-08-12T15:13:00.000+01:00

John Redwood’s proposals to reduce so-called ‘red tape’ are unbelievable as they advocate abolishing the working time directive, and reducing protections for workers. How does scrapping the working time directive fit into Cameroon’s stated aims of making the work life balance? Also how can John Redwood say that more regulation of pension funds decreased investments, the current problems were caused more by companies taking ‘pension holidays’ than any regulation or taxation. How will reducing health and safety laws help Britain become more competitive, as any cut in health and safety laws would mean going back to the old days where work place accidents were commonplace. I think that health and safety laws should be tightened, not loosened and a corporate manslaughter law introduced.

John Redwood says that the deregulation of the telecommunications industry was a good thing, and indeed it was but the deregulation of the buses outside London was a total disaster. Also George Osbourne helped form the report, but a Tory spokesperson tried to distance George Osbourne from the conclusions in the report.

Also how ould repealing parts of the Data Protection Act help businesses?
The Data Protection Act is there to protect employees and any weakening of the regulations
would put employees at more risk of personal information being stolen or mis used.

The CBI goes on about red tape affecting small firms yet is calling for the abolishing of the needs test when a supermarket is proposed for development on the outskirts of a town. Yet this is more to do with helping big business than small companies the CBI goes on about when it wants to complain about red tape affecting small firms.

Police to use terror laws on Heathrow climate protesters

2007-08-11T21:02:00.000+01:00

It’s a disgrace that the government is encouraging to Met Police to use stop and search powers on lawful environmental protesters. I think the only reason these should be used if the protestors are going to threaten the life of another human. As these protestors have said they do not intend to endanger life then how can the police legally justify using the Terrorism Act 2000 to stop and search environmental protestors? At a protest at RAF Fairford in 2003 the House of Lords eventually ruled that the police had acted unlawfully in stopping and searching two coach loads of protestors on their way to an authorized demonstration. If it was unlawful then it is surely unlawful now. This country is becoming more and more like the country Orwell described in his book 1984, in fact the only thing he got wrong was the year.

US Foreign Ownership Laws

2007-08-10T21:34:00.000+01:00

I think it is highly hypocritical of the US to block foreign companies from running domestic airlines when they expose globalisation. It seems the Americans are only interested in globalisation when it benefits them but not when it means foreign companies can buy US companies.

Severn Trent will not compensate flood victims for weeks without drinking water

2007-08-10T21:32:00.000+01:00

I think it’s appalling that Severn Trent isn’t compensating its customers directly for the service interruption in late July and early August. Although I think it is good they are donating £3.5 million to people in the flood affect region. I think this loop hole in the law should be closed and stiffer penalties on water companies to make them improve their services and prevent this thing happening again in the future.

10 Lane Motorway planned on sections of M1

2007-08-08T20:02:00.000+01:00

I’m disappointed that the government is planning to build yet more roads at the same time as cutting funding for the railways. This is despite the government claiming that they want to reduce out C02 emissions

C4 'distorted' mosque programme

2007-08-08T19:52:00.000+01:00

I think it is disgusting that West Midlands Police has reported a Channel 4 Documentary on Britain’s Mosques to OfCom, the TV regulator. I think west Midlands Police should be prosecuting the people featured in the documentary, not the film makers. I saw the said documentary and it should me how at best main stream Muslim groups were niave and let anyone use their mosques, buildings etc without checking whether they people who hire the buildings and at worse they are two faced saying one thing to the media et al whilst secretly endorsing appalling views.

Green Means Slow to the UK Goverment

2007-08-06T20:46:00.002+01:00

The government may claim to be a world leader on climate change yet this government reversed the so called ‘dash for gas’ – whereby power stations burnt gas to generate electricity, much cleaner than coal power, to support our coal industry. Too compound this we are lagging behind Germany in adoption measures that would increase uptake of renewable sources of power. They could use incentives to encourage people to put solar panels or little windmill generators on their houses if householders knew that they would be guaranteed a set fee for any surplus electricity they generate. Also the government carries on building more roads (and airports) and decreasing its investment of railways saying the passenger has to pick up the tab, meaning network upgrades will be put on hold indefinitely.

BAA wins Heathrow protest injunction

2007-08-06T20:46:00.001+01:00

I’m disappointed that BAA has succeeded in having a injunction against Plane Stupid, and three protesters - Joss Garman, Leo Murray and John Stewart in an area near to Heathrow. Whilst I don’t think direct action would have been justified the injunction inhibits the rights of people to demonstrate. I’m glad however that the injunction only covers Plane Stupid, and three protesters and a small area of land.

US House passes clean energy bill

2007-08-05T10:31:00.000+01:00

I’m glad the US House of Representatives has passed a new energy bill that will require energy firms to increase the amount of renewable energy sources they use by 2020. But I don’t think it goes far enough as it requires only 15% of energy sources to come from renewable sources by 2020, this needs to be at least 25%. Also some of the ‘clean’ sources that are recommended are biofuels whilst they may be clean when burned to produce energy they use up valuable land which, increasing food prices for the world’s poor, and the collection of the biofuels crop will also generate a lot of additional C02 emissions. Having said that I am glad to see that the House wishes to remove the tax breaks that the oil industry receives, these tax breaks are scandalous in an industry that generates huge wealth. I hope this law is amended and becomes law though I don’t know if Bush will sign it into law.

Alonso punished for Hamilton move

2007-08-05T10:16:00.000+01:00

I’m glad that the FIA have demoted Alonso for his cynical delaying tactic on Hamilton on yesterday’s qualifying for today's Hungarian Grand Prix. I think it was disgusting what Alonso did to Hamilton, so I hope Hamilton can win from pole today.

Anti-terror chief 'misled' public

2007-08-03T16:37:00.000+01:00

I cannot believe the incompetence of the Metropolitan Police (Met) in their handling of the investigation into the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes. I am dismayed that the Met's Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman hasn't been sacked from his job despite misleading his boss, Sir Ian Blair about the true identity of the man shot at Stockwell Tube station on 22 July 2005. Sir Ian Blair said if it was proven he had lied he would have resigned yet Sir Ian Blair still says he has faith in his number 2 despite the fact that he had lied about what he knew and leaked details to the press. I think Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman should do the honourable thing and resign immediately, but he should not be able to retire on a full pension until he has been prosecuted for misconduct in public office.

A Very Private War

2007-08-02T19:31:00.000+01:00

I was a bit appalled, well very appalled, that conflicts in Iraq and other countries are being run for profit by private contractors. Several companies are making millions of profits out of an illegal, and legal military interventions such as the on in Darfur, war which not only raises moral questions but also costs taxpayers billions of pounds more than it would if the services had been provided ‘in house’ so to speak. The money waste don paying private contractors could be better spent on arming our troops in the battlefield and giving them decent homes when they are not on active duty. The moral questions raised are also a minefield, excuse the pun, it seems that mercenaries are above the law and they can kill anyone without immunity in Iraq, as they seem to have been given similar powers to the US army in Iraq under Paul Brener’s provisional Iraqi government.

Middle East Arms Sales

2007-08-02T19:22:00.000+01:00

I think the Americans are being a bit naive in thinking that selling arms to Iran’s enemies will keep Iran in check. This will only bolster Iran and it’s plans to build nuclear power plants and allegedly a nuclear bomb. Also didn't the Americans try this with Saddam in 1980s and it backfired then, whos to say the same wont happen again. How can you make peace with weapons surely the Americans should be trying to de-militarise the region not create an arms race. The only way that peace can be achieved in the region is if the Americans pressurise the Israelis into retreating to 1967 borders and dropping the term war on terror, as Gordon Brown said in Washington, and what calling terrorists criminals, this will deny the terrorists the dignity of an enemy and casts them as criminals.

Children's Fight Club

2007-07-31T19:01:00.000+01:00

I think it is disgusting that sites like YouTube don't monitor what is put on their websites. I don't think YouTube et al should have to wait for someone to complain they should know what the limits are and these videos should be pulled as soon as they are spotted. I think LiveLeak's attitude is even more conteptable attitude.

Fortnightly bin rounds 'rethink

2007-07-31T18:51:00.000+01:00

At last someone has had the sense to admit that fortnightly rubbish collections are not always the best solution. Fortnightly rubbish collections encourage rats and altough we have a big enough house, and Birmingham City Council hasn't introduced it yet, to store waste for a forthnight without the smell becoming overpowering most people don't have such big houses. This goes along with an MPs report last week saying fortnightly rubbish collections don't increase recycling.

Sports Manifesto

2007-07-27T22:07:00.000+01:00

My sport manifesto would be:

Push hard for Glasgow to get the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Make drug taking in sport a criminal offence like it is in France.
Drug cheats in sport to get life bans.

Life sentence for Kiyan's killer

2007-07-27T21:55:00.000+01:00

I think it is an absolute disgrace that Kiyan's killer will ONLY serve a minimum term of 13 years. I think life should mean life. This compares to a 12 year minimum sentance for Shaun Brown, who left his victim, Garvey Thomas, paralysed from the neck down. Whilist I think Shaun Brown should be severly punished for his crime 13 years is not enough for a murder. There was a report that our prisons are full of geriatric lifers, well I think more murders should be locked up and the key thrown away. They should be denied access to TV, use comunial showers and have 1 hour's exercise a day.

BAA seeks Heathrow green demo ban

2007-07-27T21:51:00.000+01:00

I think it is disgusting that BAA wants to ban people from having a peaceful protest outside Heathrow, and as the Prince of Wales is President of the National Trust, one of the named groups he could be banned from using Heathrow to go abroad. This is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut in the most extreme case.

Le Tour de France

2007-07-26T18:10:00.000+01:00

The Tour de France is going from one doping crisis to another, 1st Patrik Sinkewitz is found to have tested positive for illegal drugs BEFORE Le Tour began and is still allowed to take part. What seems like more injustice, unlike Astana and Cofidis, the T-Mobile team isn’t asked to leave Le Tour. Then we get news Astana team leader, Alexandre Vinokourov failed a drugs test after Saturday’s time trial, which brings into question his victories on Saturday and Monday, then on Tuesday we get news that Cristian Moreni tested positive for a banned substance and his team withdraw. Then comes the news late last night that Michael Ramussen has been sacked by his team for lying about his pre Tour whereabouts. The start in London 2 and a half weeks ago seems an awful long time ago now, I just hope the last three stages are as interesting for the right reasons as Le Tour has been for the past few days for all the wrong reasons.

New Terror Laws

2007-07-25T20:30:00.000+01:00

I am totally appalled that Gordon Brown and his government is considering extending the length of time terror suspects can be held without charge from the current 28 days to a maximum of 56 days. This length of time is encroaching on interment. If we really want to protect our way of life from the terrorists then by making laws like this we are effectively saying the terrorists have won. Whilst I think intercept evidence should be used and terror suspects should be able to be questioned after being charged I think 56 days pre charge is a step too far. I think the government should bring in a law that compels suspects to open up their computers, after getting approval from a senior judge, or face a criminal charge after which the police can detain them on remand.

Dick Cheney – The Power Behind the Throne

2007-07-24T21:23:00.000+01:00

If Dick Cheney really does have the real power in the White House then why didn’t he become president? His views on Iran are deeply worrying as he thinks the only solution is military action. But if we can get Russia on side by agreeing to include them in the missile defence shield and letting them join the WTO there could yet be a peaceful end to the Iran crisis.

Jodie Marsh

2007-07-24T20:44:00.002+01:00

I can’t believe how vile and nasty Jodie Marsh was to Radio One reporter Jody Thomson. I seems that she can’t stand anyone that criticises her. I think it is totally despicable what Jodie Marsh said to Jody Thomson, I thought we lived in a fairly tolerant society but on hearing of this I am begging to wonder if this is true. Having read some of therealjodiemarsh I am beginning to wonder what hope impressionable teenage women will do to get into the so-called ‘fame’ industry. I am also wondering why Beat Bullying consider her an appropriate spokesperson on bullying.

Shakeel Ahmad Bhat

2007-07-23T21:16:00.001+01:00

The rage directed at Shakeel Ahmad Bhat, by right wing American bloggers, seems totally unjustified as he seems quite a mild mannered person how demonstrates against injustices he sees in the world against Muslims. I don’t know what his views are but whatever he is saying I don’t think it’s anything particularly violent, he may have been a militant in the past but he doesn’t seem to believe in violence anymore. I these right wing American bloggers are trying to drown out any opposition to their worldview. I though America was meant to be the land of the free where anyone can say anything within certain boundaries.

My Manifesto for 20?? General Election

2007-07-21T08:50:00.000+01:00

Taxation and Economy

Raise starting level for tax to £10k.
Tax rate to be 30p in the pound on earnings of £10,000-£100,000.
Tax rate to be 50p in the pound on earnings of £100,000-£1,000,000.
Tax rate to be 60p in the pound on earnings of £1,000,000-£10,000,000.
Tax rate to be 70p in the pound on earnings of £10,000,000+
Tax cars and aeroplanes more heavily.
Tax big polluters in industry.
Abolish VAT on items under £1,000 in value.
Raise Stamp Duty on houses to at least £120k or the average house price in each region whichever is the higher.

Abolish Private equity’s tax breaks, including using the debt they take on to avoid tax and make them pay income based tax as opposed to saying that their earnings are a capital gain and so only pay 10% tax. Make private equity disclose details of the fees they charge and how much personal risk they take on. Also make them disclose more information on how much debt they use to buy the company.

Minimum to be £7 an hour rising with inflation.

Home Affairs

Re-merge Home Office and Justice Ministry
Change murder laws so that life means life for those that fired the fatal shot/stabbed the victim.
Those that are convicted of murder but didn’t actually fire the fatal shot/stab the victim should serve at least 20 years for each life taken consecutively.
People convicted of manslaughter should serve a minimum of 10 years before eligible for parole.
Lock up rapist/paedophiles for 10 years per rape/child abuse incident.
Lock up paedophiles for 1 year for every image stored on their computers.
Stop sending to people to prison for minor criminal offences like robbery from shops, they should be put to use cleaning our streets and other community sentences.
Abolish ID cards, money could be better spent on training all current PCSOs into proper police and expanding prison places for violent/dangerous criminals

Foreign Policy

Whilst keeping the special relationship with the US we shouldn’t just limply follow what the yanks tell us. Encourage the world to curb carbon emissions. Increase aid to Africa etc. Put pressure on US to put pressure on the Israelis to withdraw to the 1967 borders, this is done by backing the Palestinians and saying to Israel we accept your right to exist but you should do so within the rule of law. If the US stopped aid to Israel or threatened to do so then Israel would seriously come to the negotiating table.

Transport

Re-nationalise the railways and the buses (well at least regulate them).
Re-create BR as the private shareholders are profiteering at the expense of hard up passengers.
Get rid of PPP on the tube.
Create more tram networks.

Education

Abolish National Curriculum
Abolish G.C.S.E.s and ‘A’ Levels and replace with them with either an academic based qualification etc or a vocational based qualification.
Abolish tuition fees.
Hand back control to teachers
Make private schools genuine private enterprises or justify their charitable status.

Health

Hand back control to doctors and nurses.
Get rid of PFI and Independat Treatment Centres.
Abolish payments by results.

Liberal Democrats Environment Taxes

2007-07-20T21:29:00.000+01:00

Whilst I agree will most of the Lib Dems tax policies, their environmental taxes don’t make sense as they say their tax plans are tax neutral but how will that help the environment? To make the books balance they will require people to use their cars and airlines more, if the environmental taxes have the desired effect then there will be a shortfall in tax revenues, which will have to be filled somehow.

I think green taxation should be used on top of ordinary taxation otherwise its effectiveness will mean that there is a revenue shortfall. Increasing tax on cars and planes etc should be used to re-invest in public transport, which should be government, owned and run. Once there is a viable alternative to the car and plane then people will use public transport more and the environment will be improved.

Bush ‘bans’ torture

2007-07-20T21:12:00.000+01:00

Its all well and good for Bush to ban torture techniques but the US is supposedly signed up to the UN treaty on POWs but that didn’t stop the US creating Guantanamo Bay and denying the occupants of Guantanamo Bay their day in court. So I fear this will be no more than empty rhetoric coming from the last days of a Bush presidency.

Nuclear Warheads

2007-07-19T20:43:00.000+01:00

Why has Gordon Brown committed his government to fork out £25 billion pounds for a nuclear warheads etc to maintain our so-called ‘independent’ nuclear deterrent. It is so INDEPENDENT, that we cannot use it, if we ever wanted to without the Americans letting us do so. That money could be better spent on arming our military forces with better weapons and protective equipment etc and providing decent homes for our hard working soldiers. The government has also sold off some of the military’s top assets in a lease back deal with the private sector which is probably going to cost the tax payer much more than keeping hold of them. To top it all off when the lease back deal ends in 35 years the government wont get the land back as the private companies have a 150 lease on the land so more money will be wasted buying back the land etc. Brown said that he wanted to move away from the Blair years yet he was behind much of the privatisation of our public services, which often mean a good deal for the private companies but not such a good one for taxpayers.

The Great Green Smoke Screen

2007-07-17T20:30:00.000+01:00

I watched the ‘The Great Green Smoke Screen’ last night on Channel 4 and it confirmed everything I thought about off setting namely it doesn’t make a blind bit of difference and that the only way to save the planet is to reduce our carbon emissions. All these companies that claim to be carbon neutral aren’t really reducing their carbon emissions at all they doing is paying someone in fairyland to ‘offset’ their carbon emissions whilst pumping more and more C02 into the atmosphere.

If companies like Sky and HSBC really want to be carbon neutral then maybe they should think about switching off the office lights at night and not fly around the globe. I’m sure HSBC could have video conferencing of all of it’s top executives and so they wouldn’t need to fly to meetings wherever they are. And what is the point of Sky putting a helicopter in the air to film the Chancellor going from Downing Street for his last Budget then cut to an ad break as soon as he is in the car!!! Come on if that wasn’t a needless waste of C02 then I’m the pope.

I also think it is highly hypocritical of one T. Blair – Former PM – to appear in an advert saying we need to reduce our carbon emissions whilst at the same time jetting off on foreign holidays to spend with his super rich friends.

Tube Public Private Partnership

2007-07-17T18:30:00.001+01:00

The state that Tube Lines finds itself in proves that financial risk isn’t transferred from the public to the private sector and that the liabilities should appear on government balance sheets. It is a total lie to say that without PFI/PPP then a raft of public expenditure wouldn’t have happened. It could well have happened if Gordon Brown hadn’t set an arbitrary upper limit for government borrowing. The PFI/PPP deals are said to be delivered on time and to budget but this is AFTER the contracts are signed. The initial costs are much lower but are increased to encourage the private sector to take the ‘risk’ but as Tube Lines demonstrates they don’t take the risk and the cost of borrowing is much higher than if the chancellor had borrowed the money from the usual sources.

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2127957,00.html

Benitiez’s Goatee

2007-07-08T18:12:00.000+01:00

I think Benitiez’s goatee is the most ill advised football hair fashion statement since the Romanians shaved their heads during France ’98.

Live Earth Gigs

2007-07-07T08:23:00.000+01:00

I am not watching these Live Earth Gigs as I believe that they are creating a lot of CO2 transporting the stars around the world. Instead of having US acts perform in the US, UK acts in London etc, Al Gore et al have flown around the world, which not only costs a lot but also generates loads of additional CO2 emissions. Also do the stars that are performing really care about the environment or are they doing to boost record sales? How many of the stars are going to reduce
their carbon foot print? They will still be flying around in their private jets and driving their 4x4s?

Youth who killed nurse given life

2007-06-29T16:05:00.000+01:00

Stuart Harling has been jailed for only 20 years for killing a nurse despite physiatrists saying he would kill again if he was ever released and he showed no remorse. I think murders should be locked up for life and the key thrown away. Although I don’t agree with the death penalty, as I think that makes the state no better than the criminal, murders should have no hope of release. If Harling is released in 20 years time he will be 40 and yet his victim will have her life cut short. She wanted to have kids in the future.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/6253024.stm

2012 London Olympics

2007-06-12T20:24:00.000+01:00

If the Olympics aren’t already costing too much (even allowing for Mr Brown not waving VAT) the social costs are as big if not bigger than the financial ones. Having just read George Monbiot’s column in today’s Guardian about how the Olympics makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. Also how minorities are often moved out of the way to allow the Olympics to be built and that very little of the housing is reserved for the poor most of it going to rich buy-to-let investors who can make yet more money. The IOC doesn’t care that minorities are kicked out of their homes and that democratic processes (where they existed, in Seoul – a military dictatorship at the time of the games – and Beijing, a free market but not so free people) are being over ruled in the name of the Olympics all they care about are a four week games where all the athletes have wonderful accommodation and the venues are shinny and new.

You can check out the full article here, Someone else's legacy.

Carbon Netrual Companies

2007-06-12T20:21:00.000+01:00

How can companies like Sky claim they are carbon neutral when they don’t take into account if their suppliers are also carbon neutral? What about advertisers are all the advertises on Sky carbon neutral, I some how think not and Sky News weather is sponsored by an airline, which although they only make up a small proportion of Co2 levels, the Co2 is released at a high altitude and therefore more damaging to the environment and also is the fastest growing source of pollution.

Enviromental policy

2007-06-11T20:09:00.000+01:00

All three main political authorities talk the talk on the environment but none are willing to say that people need to radically change their ways to avoid climate catastrophe. All three say they want to tax polluters but to compensate they will reduce taxes on other things but this doesn’t make sense as if the environmental taxes are successful then the government will face a short fall in revenues.

Giovanni di Stefano v Wikipedia

2007-06-08T22:03:00.000+01:00

I am annoyed after reading in Private Eye that Wikipedia has removed controversial comments on Giovanni di Stefano' career such as his fraud conviction in 1986, to his failed attempts to buy various football clubs and doubts about whether he really is a lawyer at all. Giovanni di Stefano theatend to sue wikipedia if they failed to remove the offending pieces yet as this can pretty much be defended in a court of law I don’t really understand why wikipedia backed down and removed these items from their website.

Paris Hilton

2007-06-08T21:48:00.000+01:00

Bloody rich and famous getting off jail sentances lightly. I hope she is given additional days on top of her 45 day sentance for cheek of trying to get out of jail for a non-existent medical condition. If she has a medical condition then should be in hospital under arrest, hand cuffed to the bed so she cant escape ala pregnent women were allegedly detained in hospitals in the past in the UK.

British politics

2007-06-08T14:50:00.001+01:00

There is no one on the left for me to vote for. I have always voted Labour since i was able to vote in May 2000. But the way they keep privatising public services and let the rich get even richer and the poor poorer.

Gordon Brown will be no better he is as much an American file as Blair is, favours privatisation and wont tax the rich anymore than he has done in his 10 years as chancellor. The depety leadership contenders are saying fine words about how they think that labour should move back to the left but most of them were in the cabinet or junior ministers in Blair's goverment and have voted for such things as PFI, the Iraq war etc so its a bit rich to say that labour move more to the left.

PFI is runining the NHS with its requirements of the debts to be paid before any other debts to the detrement of front line services.