Friday, March 30, 2007

Beating NHS waiting lists!

When two thirds of NHS staff wouldn't want to be treated at their local hospital and only 45% consider that patients are their top priority, is it really any surprise that a third of NHS staff were attacked last year!?!

Asylum seeking wisdom

Are fewer asylum seekers arriving in the UK because they face "deliberate use of inhumane treatment"?

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Desperate Measures!

If fifteen Royal Navy personnel are not released by the Iranian Government within the next twenty-four hours, should the British Government publish the Mohammed cartoons!?!

Another bright idea?

If the Welsh Conservative Party are offering every Welsh family £20 worth of energy saving lightbulbs, what can English families look forward to at the General Election!?!

Cultural Sensitivities?

How would the "Muslim world" react to pictures of a kidnapped Muslim woman paraded on British TV without her hijab!?!

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Number crunching

100,000 "hardcore" criminals who commit half of all crime in England and Wales.

80,000 Prison capacity in England and Wales.

Child poverty

There are fears that the target of eradicating child poverty in the UK by 2020 will be unachievable. - BBC news website.

As Government defines poverty as ‘household income below 60 per cent of median income’, child poverty can only be eradicated in the UK by 2020 by discouraging low income households from having children!

How will last week's budget increases in benefits and tax credits achieve this!?!

Monday, March 26, 2007

£2.29 - The cost of a good education?

How does Government propose to help low income families attend the schools of their choice when average travel costs are £7.29 per week?

By investing spending £21.4m and charging low income families £5 instead!

No young person should be prevented from going to school of their choice simply because of travel costs. - Lord Adonis.

The DfES says a survey showed four of out of 10 parents living in social housing cited travel convenience as the most important reason for choosing a school.

Local authorities will be able to charge [low income families] up to £1 a day [or £5 per week!] for the transport.

PS Will school bus bullying rise as more 'disadvantaged' children use them!?!

Sins of our fathers

If the Church of England is considering distributing the £9,000 compensation it received when slavery was abolished to descendants of slaves, should it also ask for a refund from the African chiefs who sold them their slaves!?!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Macavity Brown

If Labour deputy leader hopeful Peter Hain feels it's appropriate to raise his concerns on the kidnapping of 15 Royal Navy personnel by Iran, why doesn't Gordon!?!

The chancellor has a Macavity quality. He is not there when there is dirty work to be done - Lord Turnbull.

Friday, March 23, 2007

All work and no play!

Will unemployed people ever face fines, prosecution or even prison for not working!?!

Shouldn't "end[ing] up on the streets or in the criminal justice system" already be enough of a motivation for teenagers to remain in education or training without the need for fines!?!

Knives out for Ming!?!

With fifteen knife deaths in the two weeks to March 15th, does Police use of "Stop and search" need to increase or decrease?

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Kitchen sink politics!

How is Gordon Brown reducing the benefits trap by increasing income tax for Britain's lowest paid workers!?!

Scrapping the lower 10% income tax rate on the first £2,230 of taxable income means that anyone earning less than £13,380 of taxable income will now pay more income tax than before even though the headline tax rate falls by 2p!

What will Gordon Brown need to sell next year to keep income tax rates if £36bn of assets are being sold this year!?! Having previously sold the family silver and gold, only the kitchen sink is left!

Will income tax rates increase next year!?!

Post-slavery society

How can school exclusions, gang culture, knife and gun crime, and mental illness that disproportionately affect black boys be blamed on "being born into a post-slavery society"!?!

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Uncle Gordo!


Friend of the people Uncle Jo Gordon Brown has been accused of "Stalinist ruthlessness".

In other news:

Pope is Catholic.

Photo: Courtesy: http://www.g8russia.ru

Healthy pay rises!

Would the NHS still be in financial crisis if pay agreements were decided locally rather than nationally?

Work to veil?

If schools can ban face veils on security or safety grounds, can companies do the same!?!

Monday, March 19, 2007

Health jobs!

If Government wants to improve GP access in some of the most deprived parts of England, why not locate GP surgeries in Job Centres rather than supermarkets!?!

Going Green?

Does increasing the fixed cost of owning a high polluting car encourage some people to use them more often to reduce their average cost per mile!?!

Green taxes are most effective when they focus on the variable per mile costs!

Benefit reforms!

"We are not going to put our money from the Republic into Northern Ireland unless there is a benefit, a mutual benefit, but a benefit particularly for our tax payers in the Republic" - Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Dermot Ahern on funding the Northern Ireland Assembly.

When was the last time you heard a British Minister concerned about the benefits for taxpayers in Britain!?!

Gordon Brown is set to give a sharp boost to Britain’s aid to the world’s most troubled countries, despite growing controversy about how the cash is spent. - The Times.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Great expectations?

Should public expectations of the criminal justice system ever determine prison sentences?

Friday, March 16, 2007

The Great Escape of Stalag Basra!

If ten Iraqi prisoners have escaped from a British military prison in southern Iraq by 'swapping' with visitors, will the authorities continue to be detain them until the original prisoners are caught again!?!

University of Social Engineering

As white males are "significantly under-represented in medical school", will they now have an advantage over Asian applicants when applying thanks to social engineering by the Universities Admissions Service!?!

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Faster, Higher, Poorer?

Whilst the motto of the Olympic Games is "Faster, Higher, Stronger", should the motto of the 2012 Olympic budget be "Faster, Higher, Poorer"!?!

Olympics budget rises to £9.3bn within just one year!

At what point will the costs outweigh the benefits of holding the Olympic Games in London?

Labour's not working

Why is the BBC focusing on last month's decline in unemployment headcount of 3,000 to 1.69m rather than the 42,000 increase in the "economically inactive" to 7.88m!?!

One in three households across Britain is now dependent on the state for at least half its income - Daily Telegraph.

See no fat, hear no fat, speak no fat!

If parents "can't recognise obesity", how can they be expected to recognise good schools!?!

Selective racism?

Why are Pakistani, Bangladeshi and black Caribbean women absent from 3 out of 10 workplaces in areas where they are a significant part of the workforce but not Indian women?

Are ethnic minority women excluded from the workforce or do they prefer to remain at home raising their children rather than trust someone else to do it for them!?!

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Government Leasing Company!

Why will the Government be responsible for buying 1,000 railway carriages only for them to be leased to the train companies from 2014?

It should be for train companies to decide future carriage requirements rather than mere civil servants!

How will this help rail using taxpayers? Not only are they expected to fund the carriages but will have to pay even more to use them as the train companies will want to cover their leasing costs!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Principle pay!

Does Nigel Griffiths resignation from the Government over Trident still seem principled when he will receive a quarter of his salary tax-free as severance pay!?!

Monday, March 12, 2007

Shooting the messenger?

Would Patrick Mercer be guilty of racism if he saw evidence that "a lot" of "idle and useless" ethnic minority soldiers used racism as a "cover" in the army but chose not to report it as it portrayed ethnic minority soldiers in a bad light!?!

Does the use of racism as a "cover" explain why it took thirty years to discover that Gene Morrison was a bogus forensic psychologist!?! Who challenged him!?!

Sunday, March 11, 2007

Conservatives flying into turbulence...

Does the Conservative Party oppose a new European Union "open skies" agreement that could boost trans-Atlantic passenger numbers by 26 million, create 80,000 jobs and create 12bn euros (£8.1bn) of economic benefits if they want to penalise frequent fliers with higher green taxes to discourage air travel!?!

How will the Conservative proposals discriminate between frequent fliers and families "taking their annual holiday"!?!

Trial by attendance?

If defendants not turning up for their court appearance were automatically found guilty in absentia, would this encourage court attendance more than mere Home Office "targets"?

The Magistrates' Association said 8.2% of people did not turn up for their trial in magistrates' courts in 2006.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

On holiday!

I'll be on holiday for one week from today so there will be no new posts until I'm back!

Friday, March 02, 2007

Pay now, pay later!

If public sector staff want more pay now, why not sacrifice some of their gold-plated taxpayer funded pensions!?!

All current members of the NHS pension can retire at 60 whilst the total liabilities of the NHS pension scheme are £165.4 billion!

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Schools up for Labour!

Why is competition for the most popular schools “greater than ever” after ten years of Labour’s education policies?

Are there fewer good schools now!?!

How can months of council work to allocate pupils to secondary schools be a fairer allocation than entrance examinations!?!

New Road Congestion Scheme?

Is contaminated petrol a secret Government experiment to get more car drivers off the road and onto public transport!?!