London Mayoral Elections

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.