Change of Address....!

Thoughts Allowed has now moved to a self hosted co.uk domain

The new site for my ramblings can be found here

I hope you will continue to follow my posts by changing your feeds (although my Feedburner link remains the same)

I look forward to continuing our discussions.......


Simon

'What You Call Austerity' - I Call A Poisoned Patient!

The Prime Minister said last week:

"What you call austerity, I might call efficiency"

He was appearing in a carefully stage managed re-launch of his badly bruised coalition with his trusty Lib Dem deputy, Nick Clegg, at his side.

For some reason, this 'show' was staged at a tractor factory in Essex. I wonder if such a strange choice of location was made because of a desperate attempt to gain street cred on the back of the much hyped TV show The Only Way Is Essex or because tractors are often used for transporting bullshit.

Either way it was nauseating to watch such a show, especially when, as if on cue, Cameron removed his suit jacket revealing his crisp white shirt before taking questions from his carefully selected audience of bored factory workers and tame journos. This sad attempt to portray an image of 'I'm just like you; I'm one of the lads' was about as convincing as The Archbishop of Canterbury opening a branch of Ann Summers.

However, I have strayed from the point.

What our PM might see as 'efficiency' has caused an ever rising number of families to face repossession proceedings on their homes, over two million workers to lose all hope of employment in the coming years, waiting times to increase (again) at hospitals and the buying power of a state pension to decrease to an all time low. Added to which, it is costing even more for companies that are struggling to stay afloat - and provide much needed employment - to deliver their goods to their customers whilst maintaining a reasonable return due mainly to the increasing cost of fuel and related taxes.

So, what I would say to the coalition is save your 'efficiencies' for another time and, instead, try something new to promote sustainable growth and employment. Medical practitioners have long ago got over the theory that an amputation is the only cure; arrogance is no substitute for common sense.

It is now time for our government to prescribe a more palatable medicine before patient UK is beyond recovery!

A Bloody Nose For The Bully At The Polls!

There are few things in life that generate as much pleasure as watching a bully being given a bloody nose.

That's how it felt last Friday as the final results came in from across the UK, following the local elections on Thursday.

The 'Tory knows best party' which listens only to the views of their own members and the self interest of big business, took a well earned, and painful, drubbing.

Their partners in our present coalition government (lib dems) who, like most gang members who follow a bully, stand back and watch while the bully does his work, took more than their fair share of the punishment too.

Of course, there are the usual lame excuses of a 'poor turnout' and it's the 'middle of the parliamentary term' but even allowing for the conveniently forgotten fact there was also a poor turnout at the election two years ago that gave them the chance to govern, the latest result was like a rabbit punch to the body of arrogance that has been lecturing us on the 'error of our ways, for the last couple of years.

Let's not, however, get too carried away by forgetting that the ones who gained most on Thursday (labour) were themselves the bullies of yesteryear. Their own attempts to make us subservient to their attacks on personal freedom and democratic process, were similarly dealt with by facing them down at the polls and removing the bully's threatening posture.

While it seems many eligible voters in our country have fallen into apathy over the inadequacy of our political leaders, there are, thankfully, still many who will not accept the threatening taunts of the bully and not hesitate to deliver him a bloody nose at the polls.

Education may be perceived to be in decline but long live the lessons once learned in our school playgrounds!

Love Lies Bleeding....

Today, my soulmate died. Oh, I don't mean the physical form that held that title but the image I had bestowed upon her.

Our relationship has been a rocky road over several years of breakups, accusations and (what I now know to be) lies, but I had never given up on the belief we could make it through the bad times, increase the length of the good times and enjoy a blissful future - together!

I learned early on in our relationship she was victim to a miserable past and suffered from issues which would take time, help and understanding to overcome. But, I loved her unconditionally and thought that feeling was reciprocated. I was wrong!

Her insecurity, self doubt and yes...even self loathing (because she did not fit the modern manufactured view of what is beautiful) all played a part, but I knew the person I saw in real life was not the same person she was seeing in the mirror. She was always beautiful to me as I was acutely aware her self perceived 'ugliness' was nothing in physical form; it came from within.

Despite constant reassurance, she finally manufactured an excuse to run away and I am now left wondering why I feel so bad and emotionally numbed.

The details of her departure will remain private as I am still in shock by her final performance - she hid behind the 'ugly' persona of her previously suppressed demon - but they involve betrayal, lies and of course unjustified accusations and ingratitude.

I know that this time it is final. My love is still present but my forgiveness is in the past.

I wish my ex-soulmate the best of luck in whatever graveyard of the heart she now resides; I know that reincarnation is not an option for her this time.

Love Lies Bleeding!

Just 'Cause It's Legal It Doesn't Make It Right!

Chancellor George Osborne has today announced he is “shocked” by a fact most of us have been aware of for years – the richest people hang onto their wealth by organising their financial affairs to minimise the amount of tax they have to pay.

Apparently, according to a study by HM Revenue and Customs, the richest people pay an average of only 10% of their income in tax.

However, it is also a fact they are not breaking UK law, but using it to its maximum benefit.

Instead of paying money to the country, they are employing armies of accountants and financial advisers, whose role it is to find legal loopholes, and exploit them for maximum personal gain.

Osborne said:

"I was shocked to see that some of the very wealthiest people in the country have organised their tax affairs - and to be fair it's within the tax laws - so that they were regularly paying virtually no income tax. And I don't think that's right."

Of course, it has only recently become fashionable for politicians to question the morality of legal tax planning (avoidance) measures but it really does pose the question:

Why, has it taken almost two years in office - and even longer as shadow chancellor - for Osborne, to publicly 'wake up' to the fact just 'cause it's legal it doesn't make it right?

Could it be connected to the latest dire opinion polls?

Forget April - Are We Just Fools?

Yesterday was April Fool's Day when traditionally the papers publish a fake story to tease the reader over something that isn't real.

Having scoured the online editions, I thought I had found the BBC's attempt when I read that our coalition government, who spend so much time spouting on about 'The Big Society' are planning to resuscitate a policy which was buried by the previous Labour government - following severe opposition – advocating the state monitoring of our internet usage and email activity.

Sadly, it was a genuine article!

Of course, it's all because of those nasty terrorist people who cost us so much money and provide the perfect excuse for nosy intelligence agents to expand their remit.

Much of the opposition to the previous government's attempt to invade our privacy came from a smooth talking Conservative calling himself David Cameron (he has since changed his name to Prime Minister)

In 2009 he said:

"Today we are in danger of living in a control state. Every month over 1,000 surveillance operations are carried out. The tentacles of the state can even rifle through your bins for juicy information."

Of course, his coalition partners, the Lib Dems, were at the same time just as vocal in their opposition to the proposal, but have since been seduced by the spoils of political prostitution.

It seems bizarre that politicians have recently been raising merry hell over a few celebs being phone-tapped by a group of tacky journos, but are not demonstrating too much outrage at a government that wants to sift through the electronic equivalent of a dirty laundry basket.

A spokesperson for the Home Office tried to justify the government's new stance by saying:

"It is vital that police and security services are able to obtain communications data in certain circumstances to investigate serious crime and terrorism and to protect the public."

If I was a terrorist, or a criminal, I would be insulted by the assumption I was too stupid to use avoidance tactics or encryption when communicating with others. But, we all know that in reality it is about nothing more than controlling us all through the use of fear.

Conservative David Davis, who previously ran against Cameron for the Tory Party leadership summed it up thus:

It is not focusing on terrorists or on criminals, it is absolutely everybody,"

and he continued

"Historically governments have been kept out of our private lives. Our freedom and privacy has been protected by using the courts by saying 'If you want to intercept, if you want to look at something, fine, if it is a terrorist or a criminal go and ask a magistrate and you'll get your approval'. You shouldn't go beyond that in a decent, civilised society but that is what is being proposed."

It seems Cameron's speech writers inadvertently missed a word out of his 'Big Society' speech. It should have read 'Big Brother Society'

Fuelling A Panic?

 

If ever there was an example of our coalition government's lack of understanding of 'real' people, it's the latest debacle over a possible strike by tanker drivers who deliver the much needed fuel to our forecourts.

Following on from its attempts to promote negative public opinion on benefit claimants, students, pensioners, pasty eaters and anyone else who doesn't live in the 40 percent tax bracket, government 'spinners' thought they would turn us all against the members of Unite union who, apparently, threatened to strike over changed working terms and conditions. Please bear in mind, a strike had not been called; it had only been optioned.

I should point out, I have no knowledge or interest in the rights and conditions of the drivers, or the fact they earn a larger than average wad of money by seating themselves on top of a potential bomb whilst navigating the M25 and other possible roads to hell.

Time for the coalition's manipulators to bring on the clown....

Enter, stage right, government minister Francis Maude who, like a member of Dad's Army, told us not to panic about a possible shortage, but to go and fill up jerry cans with petrol and store them in our garages.

Personally, I don't have a garage and wouldn't know a jerry can from a tanning salon.

It seems, though, I am not the only one without a garage, as someone made the headlines today by setting themselves on fire whilst trying to transfer petrol, between cans, in her kitchen – all while the cooker was working! I should probably now be writing about the decline in the standard of science education but I am still in a state of disbelief.

Of course, when someone from the government says “don't panic” we 'real' people all DO panic. Predictably, we rush to sit in queues waiting to fill any available container we can find to fill.

Those in society above the level of 'real' people send their chauffeurs and nannies to sit in the queues on their behalf – well, this is the big society!!

After three days of extra panicking, queuing and an increase in petrol sales, it appears the tanker drivers' union is going to start negotiating, via arbitration service ACAS, on Monday and any 'strike' won't be 'struck' in the immediate future.

So... panic over?

Not quite, as the poor old oil speculators now have to worry about how they are going to manipulate their financial planning to minimise their exposure to tax, whilst our beloved coalition government will have to pay out enormous amounts of overtime to the civil servants who will burn the midnight oil counting all the additional tax revenue gained from the extra fuel sold during the 'panic'.

Prepare yourself to hear the chancellor pronounce good financial news next month.

Do you get the feeling we've all been taken for a ride?

Another Sorry Excuse For A Minister!

On the same day Dr Fox finally resigned his post in the cabinet, after realising the ‘sorry’ excuse didn’t work, another minister is forced to try the same tactic.

Oliver Letwin, a minister in the Cabinet Office was observed by the Daily Mirror, on at least five separate occasions, disposing of paperwork in the wastebins of St James Park which is nearby to Downing Street.

According to Letwin, the paperwork was not of a sensitive nature and only concerned correspondence from his constituents.

According to the Daily Mirror, whose jouralists retrieved the torn documents, he is being economical with the truth, and the documents referenced security matters, rendition, David Cameron and George Osborne.

A Downing Street spokesperson said:

“Clearly, it’s not a sensible way to dispose of documents. Mr Letwin has agreed he will not dispose of documents in this way again.”

Oliver Letwin has, predictably, activated the ‘sorry’ tactic in the hope of avoiding the inevitable questions concerning his lack of brainmatter.

Perhaps, though, now it has become common knowledge that government ministers frequent the public parks of London, their increased vulnerability to terrorist attacks will make them wish Letwin had been sorry earlier!

When Sorry Really Isn't The Hardest Word...!!

I’ve not posted on here for a long time and I just want to say ‘sorry’.

I don’t mean sorry in a genuine remorseful way but sorry in the sort of way that hopefully you will just accept I am sorry and forget to look any further into the reasoning for me being sorry in the first place.

When I was a child, I was taught by my parents that being sorry is something that is felt from within. It is a way of learning from mistakes by never making the same error again; it was normally about something I had never meant to do.

The sort of sorry I am displaying today, though, is the sorry I have learnt from watching politicians, celebrities and sportspersons (yes I am being politically correct - sorry) who apologise in public after being caught doing something they would rather have kept private and who wish to curtail any further questioning into their misdeeds.

The most recent victim of the ‘sorry’ bug is, of course, Dr Liam Fox who holds the government post (at least at the time of writing) of Secretary Of State For Defence.

He is facing questions over his personal and official relationship with a friend whom we are led to believe he met on numerous occasions during official visits over the past couple of years and in numerous cities around the world.

The friend was best man at Dr Fox’s wedding and has been present at meetings both in the Defence Ministry and abroad - despite the fact the friend has no official role or position in government.

Whichever way you look at the situation, Dr Fox is, at best, either guilty of complete naivety or abuse of the long standing ministerial code. Being a seasoned politician, it is hard to believe it is the former.

The question also arises of possible breaches to national security. What exactly has been discussed in the unauthorised presence of Dr Fox’s friend? Also, who paid the overseas travel and living expenses of said friend?

All legitimate questions which could have been easily answered but instead the minister decided to create a smokescreen relying on the old ‘sorry’ technique in the hope of demonstrating his public remorse to his colleagues in parliament and thereby saving his career.

Being a free democratic society, our members of the press have decided that ‘sorry’ in this case was not the hardest word and they have been digging even deeper hoping to uncover the ‘truth’.

Now we have questions concerning the government’s own complicity, for it is unlikely that no security or civil service eyebrows had been raised to stretching point over the unorthodox travelling companion of such a high ranking government minister.

Dr Fox is now forced to face the internal inquiry by senior civil servants who will report direct to the prime minister.

What is potentially much more embarrassing to all parties, however, is that investigative press hounds are seeking the answer to the most intriguing question of all: just how ‘best’ is the minister’s best man?

It seems there are now many others who could end up using the ‘s’ word over the next few weeks.

Perhaps they too, should have listened to their parents!!

Are We Just Feeding The Madness?

 

If you ever needed proof of what a mad mad world we live in, you only had to watch last night’s BBC news bulletin on TV.

The top story concerned the present crisis in Ethiopia and the plight of the thousands who are likely to die of malnutrition over the coming months, due mainly to crop failures following two years of drought.

A few stories further down the running order came the news that up to 500,000 British kids are likely to suffer from liver disease in the foreseeable future, caused by their obesity and lack of exercise.

The latter group do not have a bad diet from circumstance but from their own choices and those of their parents.

The UK government has announced it will send £38m, in aid, to help alleviate the current problems in Africa, but I wonder how much more the impending obesity crisis, here at home, is likely to cost us.

The final piece of madness is that while many in Africa are starving, much of the food that is grown there, is exported to supermarkets in the already overfed countries of Europe and the US - what the supermarkets can’t sell, is thrown out and wasted.

It seems, therefore, highly probable, that we are killing the planet by importing our food from such a distance; we are killing our own children by NOT feeding them the very food we have imported, and we are arguably killing the African people by throwing away what COULD be feeding them.

What further proof do you need?….. It really is a mad mad world!!

Is Our Value Of Life Going To The Dogs?

The news about the horrific deaths of two police dogs, as a result of being locked all day in a police officer’s car, was tragic to say the least. Despite colleagues of the officer breaking the car’s windows to save the animals (they had been suffering all day in high temperatures) animal welfare staff at the police dog training centre were unable to revive the two dogs.

Unsurprisingly, it made the headlines.

What is more horrifying to me, though, is that a story about two dying dogs has achieved far more print space than that given to the members of our armed forces, and the civilians, who have been killed in our various theatres of war.

So, why is it that we appear to accept the 'mistakes' of our politicians when they cause the cessation of human life but we are outraged when the stupid mistake of a police officer causes the death of two dogs?

It seems strange that people are calling for the officer in question to be prosecuted but are not so vocal in holding those elected officials who made such grave - and some say foolhardy and even criminal - decisions to account.

The world in which we live is definitely going to the dogs!

The BBC (unwittingly) Discovers The Answer To Declining Marine Life!

It's not often that the answer to a worrying environmental problem can be found on the same news page but, today, the BBC News website managed it without even realising it had.

At the top of the page its editors featured this:

A deeply disturbing story on the decline of the world's marine life, for which global warming seems to be the main suspect.

Just below, on the same page, came this:



Well, if I lived in the oceans and saw this bunch heading for my habitat, I would pretend to be extinct too!!

Mind you.....if it wasn't for global warming then.......!

To AV Or To AV Not?

With just two weeks to go until we all rush to the polling centres to express our wishes regarding who should be making local decisions and whether we should change the voting system, I am still none the wiser.

For the local part, I don’t see a problem with the present ‘system’ as I have become used to casting my cross against the names of people who only want to listen when it’s time to be voted into office.

As to whether I should be voting in favour of the Alternative Vote I have not, as yet, been sufficiently seduced by the arguments of either side - added to which I just don’t understand the logic for change.

Just like Communism and Capitalism AV is a wonderful theory. But, like all theories, it is dependent on the vagaries of human nature.

The idea that whoever gets elected into office has to hold a majority of 50 percent of the votes is, on paper at least, a good thing. In reality though, it is flawed.

The present first past the post system means the winner is the person with the most votes. With AV we would list the candidates in order of our personal preference, and if no-one gets 50 percent, the one with the least votes gets knocked out of the competition and the others have the loser’s votes distributed between them. If no-one still has the required percentage, the same thing happens again.

Well, my initial problem is that I do not want to have to rate the candidates in order of preference; I don’t want to go into the polling booth with the possibility my vote is already being diluted into a second rate compromise. I want the one candidate who has convinced me of his/her credentials to represent me for the given term.

My second and main problem, is that even with AV working to the theory, the main criticism of the present system is still applicable. The overall winner will still not be representative of the total electorate as most who are eligible to vote are either too apathetic, too lazy or just plain disillusioned by the cupboard love shown by wannabe politicians at election time.

Until politics can be a) interesting b) trusted again, or c) we are legally obliged to make use of our vote (just as when completing the recent census) it is, for me at least, a case of ‘back to the drawing board’.

MPs Just Clowning Around!

I was playing around with an idea of comparing the antics of parliament with a circus, when I came upon a website called clown-names.com

I just couldn’t resist the temptation to feed the following names into the clown name generator to see who their clown alter egos would be:

• David Cameron = Baron Noogstein
• Nick Clegg = Sir Blink
• Ed Miliband = Miss Hoggins
• Ed Balls = Doctor Tulipa

Suddenly, the images I carry in my head, of those normally dreary faces, have taken on a new dimension.

Everyone loves a clown.............

Try it for yourself!

Pensioning Off Our Right To Retire...!

The Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, has unveiled details of his plan for reform to the welfare system.

While he is correct that the present system is ridiculously complicated and needs simplifying, he is wrong in his assumption that most people want to stay in work indefinitely.

He claims that most people want to work up until, or past, the age of seventy when what we all really want is the choice to work beyond the present retirement age and not to be forced into a longer working life.

Of course, it is convenient for members of the government to take this view, as the longer we all work, the longer we are paying taxes and the longer they can delay paying out the pension. Mismanagement of the pension pot, the increase in our expected lifespan and the larger numbers of those of us who are eligible to claim, means there is a huge black hole in said pot.

Employers, though, do not want to be forced to keep people employed at an age when they are often not as productive as they once were. Healthy business needs new blood, with new ideas and enthusiasm. Most employers will, therefore, work around any legislation by finding loopholes like misdemeanors as a method of dismissing the aged employees. This will cause understandable friction and lack of trust in what were once loyal workforces and happy companies.

If people stay working for longer, the young remain unemployed - and often on benefits - for longer. The assumption there are jobs for all is totally flawed.

So, at one end of the equation we have people paying taxes for longer, while at the other, the government are paying out benefits for longer.

With a reduction in benefits also becoming part of the reforms, it is less costly to pay young people the benefit than it is to pay retired people the state pension. It is nothing more than spreadsheet politics.

Labour MP Stephen Pound summed it up by saying:

‘Forcing people to work on indefinitely condemns young unemployed people to the dole and destroys the life chances of older people who have spent 30 or 40 years working for a productive retirement – it is pretty cruel.’

and

‘Perhaps if you are a hedge fund manager you do not have the same level of exhaustion as a panel beater, but most people have had enough after 40-odd years.’

Well, I am neither of the above but I definitely know when I have had enough!!

The Lame Excuse For Action In Libya

Announcing the commencement of military action against the Gadaffi regime’s refusal to capitulate to the wishes of the UN our PM, David Cameron, said:

“We should not stand aside while this dictator murders his own people”

It seemed to be a rather strange and weak reasoning for entering into what could well escalate as a long and full blown military occupation, given that successive UK governments have been happy to ignore similar unsavoury behaviour from Robert Mugabe or China or Syria (the list goes on and on) for decades.

Of course, creating an air exclusion zone is a good thing if Gaddafi is using air strikes – but he is not. His followers are still free to launch ground attacks on their opposition or to knock on the doors of rebels and ‘disappear’ them like so many brutal regimes do.

To stop such actions, we would need troops on the ground, and haven’t we been there before?

It seems politicians are slow to learn from historical fact (perhaps we should blame our education system)

The PM finished his address by saying:

“I believe we should all be confident that what we are doing is in a just cause and in our nation’s interest.”

I guess we'll have to wait to hear to whom the cause will be ‘just’ and exactly how it will be of direct interest to our country.

Personally, I shall not be holding my breath!

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Respect To The Survivors In Japan!

If the recent events in Japan were the plot of a Hollywood disaster movie, we could all be forgiven for laughing at the lack of credibility in the story and suspecting that the scriptwriters had been sniffing too much apple juice.
 

Sadly, they are reality!

Five days after the initial earthquake and the devastation of the tsunami that followed, the estimated body count keeps rising and over 400,000 people are now homeless. With well over ten thousand officially unaccounted for, it is now claimed to be the largest death toll, ever, from a natural disaster.

I find it, even now, so hard to take in the sheer scale of the carnage. If the sight of ships laying on top of buildings and buildings being moved hundreds of yards from where they were built is not enough, there is still the ongoing possibility of a massive nuclear incident following the explosions at the power plants that we have already witnessed.

One thing, though, has been just as noticeable as all the other sights. It is the reaction of the survivors and their fellow countrymen. 

Despite the unbelievable structural damage, the queues for fuel and the lack of food on the supermarket shelves, I have not heard one report of looting, violence or other opportunistic crime.

I wonder how many other countries in the world would be able to claim the same thing if they had suffered as much as parts of Japan?

Let’s hope we never have to find out!

Respect!

Driving Down Taxation Street!

Have you ever wondered just how much you spend on ‘fuelling up’ your car each year?

If you are like me, you deliberately don’t keep a record, as you know it’s going to be a frightening amount of money.

Let’s take it a stage further and work out how much of your hard earned wages you are paying in tax, to the government, on that fuel each year.

According the the FairFuelUK campaign, if you drive 10,000 miles per year:

• Total Cost of fuel to you = £1702

Of which:

• Excise duty = £766
• VAT = £284
• Total Combined Tax = £1049

If you can bear to look, you can find comparable figures for differing annual mileages here

Happy motoring!!

The Power Of Modern Dissent!

Yesterday’s paper had a good quote from Alastair Campbell which highlights the power of global communication in today’s world and its effect on the way governments and regimes control dissent:

“There are governments and leaders who continue to believe that they can shut down networks and keep dissent in its box. They can shut down websites, but they can’t shut them all and they can’t shut them forever, and nor can they silence all communication.”

The full article can be read on his blog here

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A Moment To Reflect On Japan...

I doubt there can be anyone who watched today’s events unfolding in Japan, who was not moved by the sheer scale of what they were witnessing,

It seemed unbelievable that an unstoppable ten metre high wall of water, caused by the earlier record breaking offshore earthquake (measuring 8.9) swept everything out of its path as it rolled across the shoreline. Cars, boats and even whole buildings were simply crushed and carried along by the Tsunami, as it drove ever onward across the land.

As I write this, it has been reported that at least 350 people are dead, a cruise ship is missing and two trains have been completely washed away. The final death toll can only be a guess, as many will probably never be found.

Perhaps, it is a timely reminder, to us all, that whichever religions we follow, however powerful our weapons or strong our armies, and whatever the political ambitions of the world’s feuding nations, we are not the ultimate controllers of our own destiny.

There is a much more powerful force at work than we can ever hope to invent. When it decides to demonstrate its power, we are all left helpless in its shadow.

My thoughts, this weekend, are with all those affected in Japan.