The Trure Cost of Cheap Toys

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.