New faith schools?

Female students at a new Islamic school will be made to wear head scarves regardless of their religion, it was revealed yesterday.

The Madani High School in Leicester will be required by law to accept 10 per cent of its 600 pupils from a non-Muslim background.

But girls who are not Muslim will still have to abide by a rule insisting all female pupils cover their heads as part of the uniform.

Does any non-muslim school have such strict dress codes about not wearing head scarves!?!

Courtesy of the Daily Mail and Dhimmi Watch.

Trained Monkeys!

How much training does it take for a council employee to rummage through rubbish to find junk mail with an address on it!?!

The [fly tipping] teams are trained to search through any offending waste that they have found to look for evidence of its origins - Swansea Council enforcement officer Martin Lemon.

NHS employment prospects

When the NHS is the largest employer in Europe with "approximately 1.2m staff", will anyone notice "a few hundred" job losses or even 20,000 job losses?

Fundamentally, people should be asking why the NHS is the third largest employer in the world after the Chinese Army and Indian State Railways!

The hidden five million

Does David Cameron really believe that 5m people in the UK are on the scrapheap as they are not working?

How many of the 5m would find work if benefits were cut after six months to make work pay?

Uncontrolled Terror Suspect

How can the public help Police search for a terror suspect who escaped from a mental health unit two weeks ago if they don't publish his name or photo?

How did he manage to escape if he has mental health problems!?!

Update: Another one has been missing for several months!

Raping the law?

If Ministers are concerned that "fewer than 6% of rape allegations result in successful convictions" as cases frequently collapse due to the woman's drunkeness, what is their target percentage?

10%, 35%, 60% or 100%...

Can car drivers accused of drink driving soon be too drunk to know they were too drunk to drive!?!

BA Boycott?

Will British Airways passenger volumes:

a) Decrease as Christians boycott the airline for suspending an employee who wore the Crucifix?

b) Increase as there is now less chance of meeting Ann Widdecombe MP on a flight!?!

Not gotta have faith!

What happens if new religious schools are unable to fill 25% of their classroom places to "non-believing" children?

How many non-muslim parents want to send their children to Muslim schools!?!

Too many consultants spoil the hospital?

Accountancy Age reports that the NHS "now spends more on consultancy than the entire UK manufacturing industry, and is the fourth largest market for consultants".

So why are more than half of all NHS trusts still need to improve the quality of their services or their financial management?

Have the hospitals employed too many management consultants or too few!?!

Passports for pay rises?

At the same time as the cost of a passport has risen by 50% many staff members have seen their pay rise below the cost of inflation at a rate of just 1%. - PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka.

If the Passport Service is not struggling to recruit new employees (thanks to illegal immigration perhaps!?!), why should they give their staff pay rises?

'Undervalued' can always move into overpaid private sector jobs...

Dhiren Barot

Why is the BBC unable to give any of the motivations behind North Londoner Dhiren Barot's plans to cause "injury, fear, terror and chaos" with a series of synchronised attacks across the UK?

Is he the same Dhiren Barot who was born into a Hindu family in India and converted to Islam when he was 20? The Times of India also reports that he took part in terrorist campaigns against Indian forces in Kashmir and is said to have been the main casing agent for al-Qaeda!

Poor NHS Finances

If 47% of NHS trusts are ranked 'fair' for financial management whilst 37% are 'weak', how will increased funding by the Conservative Party improve the NHS without fundamental change?

Tax cuts increase tax revenues!

How will Labour and the Conservative Party defend their policies of no tax cuts when American tax cuts have reduced the federal deficit to a four year low?

Veiled threats!?!

If Commission for Racial Equality chief Trevor Phillips tends to think that veils should not be worn in the classroom, what does he think about veils being worn at the airport!?!

The 983

Did the 983 other suicidal men in Britain look forward to 72 virgins in Paradise last year!?!

Prison bribes

Why does the Government need to bribe non EU national prisoners with a £2,500 payment for them to leave when they should be able to deport them with force if necessary?

Can EU national prisoners claim discrimination against the Government?

Will such large bribes encourage Romanian and Bulgarian criminals for whom £2,500 is perhaps more than they would earn in a year?

Bargain of the century!

Is the UK Government more likely to under-estimate the £5.4bn ten year cost of ID cards or over-estimate it!?!

Young jail birds

The two teenage brothers who killed schoolboy Damilola Taylor have only been sentenced to eight years' youth custody as they were only 12 or 13 at the time.

Given that they were capable of such evil at such a young age, why didn't the judge increase instead?

NHS 'independence'

If the NHS is given operational independence from Ministers, as suggested by Gordon Brown and now David Cameron, will they claim credit for any good decisions made by the new NHS Policy Committee?

Despite giving the Bank of England the ability to set interest rates independently in 1997, Gordon Brown still claims credit for low inflation and interest rates!

Institutionally Racist Police? (2)

If the Israeli embassy had been attacked whilst Muslim PC Alexander Omar Basha was protecting it, what would he have done?

PC Basha was married by the extremist cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad at the officer’s family home in London.

Celebrating Diversity in the Labour Party!

When I see a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf or a hijab, I don't feel threatened, I celebrate it. - Ruth Kelly MP, August 2006.

Remove full veils - Jack Straw MP, October 2006.

Lifting the veil

Are muslim and non-muslim women expected to wear a headscarf when visiting a mosque?

Tories - "light" on policies?

Whoever said the Conservative Party are light on policies?

They have have voted for a tax cut on VAT on energy-saving light bulbs!

Minimum Labour?

How can Labour claim 'credit' for the introduction of the minimum wage when the arrival of 1.5m foreign workers will have driven wage levels down?

Millions of working people have directly benefited from the decent minimum standards we have put in place, like the minimum wage. - Employment relations minister Jim Fitzpatrick.

Institutionally Racist Police?

Will Muslim PC Alexander Omar Basha be sacked for refusing to guard the Israeli embassy in London?

If his role is compromised by his religion, should any Muslim Police officer be allowed to guard Tony Blair or provide security at major airports across the UK?

What would happen if a non-Muslim PC refused to protect a Mosque following a terror attack?

Does he run the risk of a being forced to attend a "Diversity Awareness" course?

Number Crunching

3 years: Too far from the next election for George Osborne, Shadow Chancellor, to make a commitment to reduce income tax in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

3p: How much George Osborne wants to reduce income tax by in Scotland next year.

No Hope Sunshine!

"Tony Blair explained his priorities in three words: education, education, education. I can do it in three letters: NHS. We will serve and support the National Health Service." - David Cameron

Why has no-one in Conservative Central Office highlighted the irony of Tony Blair's 'priorities' to David Cameron!?!

I can do it in three letters: NHS - No Hope Sunshine.

English language

Why should British taxpayers be expected to fund English language training for migrants so they can then compete in the labour market!?!

Why does Britain accept economic migrants without English language skills?

If "lack of fluency in the language condemns many people to poverty", migrants should expect to fund their own language training.

Update: If illegal immigrants can afford to buy their way into the UK, they should also be able to afford English language lessons!

Whatever of England schools!

Will new Muslim, Sikh and Hindu schools also be expected to "offer at least a quarter of places to pupils from outside" their faith?

Council tax

If 2 million people are struggling to pay their council tax, why don't they vote for a party that is prepared to cut services and bills at their next local elections!?!

Spend, spend, spend.

Will David Cameron adopt Labour's spending policies for the first two years of the next Conservative Government to prove how 'centre-right' the party has become?

Thought for the day

How many UK based animal rights extremists have ever refused medication on the grounds that they have been tested on animals?

Conservative tax pledges

If David Cameron is unconcerned that British tax levels are higher than in Germany and is unable to pledge tax cuts prior to the next General Election, why should anyone bother to vote Conservative again?

Tax cuts could always be funded by reducing the £100bn welfare budget and making work pay.

Conservative Hot Topics

Why aren't immigration and taxation 'hot topics' for the Conservative party to debate at their conference next week?

Conservative supporters could fall asleep listening to debates on "marketing to children" and "cheap flights"!

Of mice and men

If Pentonville Prison is "overrun with cockroaches and vermin" caused by leftover meals, how come there is sometimes "not enough food" for the inmates? Do the mice get served first!?!

How honest are inmates when they fill out 'customer satisfaction' surveys in prison?

The chief inspector's report revealed 43% of prisoners, down from 64% in 2005, said staff treated them with respect.

Private education, education, education!

If privately educated children earn more (and pay more tax) whilst saving the taxpayer the cost of their education, why do private schools still need to justify tax advantages worth an estimated £88m per year!?!

How can Tony Blair trumpet Labour's 'achievements' in raising school standards if many poorer families still "dream" of a private education?

Gordon's jobs

How will Gordon Brown create 100,000 jobs in 'Green' technology?

Will he create research jobs for 100,000 in the public sector or profitable new markets that the private sector could exploit?

How much will he subsidise each role by!?!

Fighting corruption?

How much cash can Romania and Bulgaria look forward to receiving when they join the European Union next year?

The EU has threatened only to give them three-quarters of the cash they are entitled to if they don't set up "agencies to handle millions of euros worth of EU farm aid".

If the agencies aren't set up, why should they receive any farm aid at all? You can be corrupt with three quarters of our money, but not all of it!

Cameron "proud to be English"?

If Gordon Brown readily admits he is "proud to be Scottish and British", will Dave Cameron ever admit he is "proud to be English and British"!?!

Party funding

Why should the taxpayer be expected to part-fund Labour Party policy development?

Raising Heckles!?!

How many Muslims are sympathetic to the views expressed by Abu Izzadeen when he recently heckled Home Secretary John Reid?

Irish talks

Were 'leading members' of the Irish community ever consulted before Police raids on IRA suspects in London during the 1970s and 1980s?

So why should the Police "consult a panel of Muslim leaders before mounting counter-terrorist raids or arrests" now?

Members of the panel will offer their assessment of whether information police have on a suspect is too flimsy and will also consider the consequences on community relations of a raid.

Could the lives of British citizens now be sacrificed for the benefit of community relations!?!

Tory tax cuts

Would £20bn of tax cuts proposed by the Conservative Party's Tax Reform Commission be more acceptable if they were funded by £20bn of cuts in welfare benefit rather than cuts to schools and hospitals?

Welsh Health Tourism

How did a Welshman, campaigning for prostate cancer patients in Wales to be offered the same treatment available in England, manage to be treated on the NHS in England?

Are English patients, campaigning for patients in England to be offered the same treatment available in Wales, able to cross the border for treatment!?!

Military homes

Will Armed Forces personnel who are given taxpayers' help to buy their first homes be expected to relinquish some of their pension rights?

Other first-time homebuyers in the South East will now be competing for expensive homes against military personnel they are subsidising!

Payment by results?

If Liberal Democrats believe that schools should be rewarded for enrolling 'underperforming children', should other pupils' parents reward the school if it keeps them out!?!

Schools do not improve by enrolling undisciplined children!

Care costs

Why should anyone in England or Northern Ireland be expected to make plans for their future healthcare costs in old age when it's free if you have less than £21,000 in savings!?!

Do Welsh and Scottish residents pay higher rates of income tax to fund healthcare provision in their old age? Does the Department of Health think that's fair!?!

Criminal Injustice System

How long had carjacker Paul Wales spent in prison for eight driving convictions prior to knocking down and killing a grandmother?

He had amassed four convictions for taking a vehicle without consent, three for driving while disqualified and one for reckless driving.

He has never held a driving licence.

He was an accident waiting to happen yet the criminal justice system insisted on giving him the benefit of the doubt rather than protect the public!

Racial inequality!

Is Chief Supt Ali Dizaei guilty of racial discrimination for claiming that drug users are known to be "predominantly white, middle class men" even though the authorities focus on young, black men?

Ironically, Dizaei opposed passenger profiling when the current terror threat is from predominantly Asian, working class men!

Holy Smoke!

Why should the Pope be expected to apologise for quoting a 14th Century Christian emperor who said the Prophet Muhammad had brought the world only "evil and inhuman" things?

English ignorance, Scottish arrogance!

Why does David Cameron think the English are "ignorant of Scots and Scotland"?

Safety first!

A new law comes into force on 18 September 2006, which the government says could save up to 2,000 children per year from death or injury in road accidents.

Ministers have rejected a proposal to reduce the blood-alcohol limit for drivers under 25 who "are more likely than older drivers both to have road accidents and to fail alcohol tests".

Office Christmas Party!

Does the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs have a riotous Christmas Party each year!!?

Some achievements, some brass!

Gordon Brown hailed Mr Blair's achievements, listing Northern Ireland, hospitals and schools, high employment and economic stability as highlights.

Schools support small business!

Should schools have exclusive school uniform agreements that support small local suppliers or let them be undercut by supermarkets that threaten "High Street choice"!?!

As consumers, we may be benefiting in the short term from the low prices and the attractive offer that supermarkets can present to us, but in 10, 15, 20 years time, the prices we pay for our... supermarket goods, may actually be rather higher than we would wish. - Philip Hollobone, MP for Kettering.

Anonymous assault

Why is the complainant whose imaginary assault led to a five year prison sentence for Warren Blackwell to remain anonymous?

Will she be charged with wasting Police time!?!

The court recommended that the complainant's details be shared with police forces across the country in case she tried to repeat the accusations.

Uninsured drivers

A teenager who killed a doctor while driving without a licence or insurance has been jailed for four years.

"I hope the sentence passed on this man will make others think long and hard before getting into a car and driving without a licence or insurance." - Sgt Pete Jell, of Thames Valley Police.

Unfortunately for the Sergeant, motorists caught driving without insurance on average receive a fine of £150 and three penalty points. Hardly enough to deter anyone!

If all motorists caught driving without insurance were jailed for four years, would Dr Margaret Davison still be alive?

Skills shortages?

Apart from driving, what skills gap does blind, eight fingered Omad Aziz fill in the UK economy?

The defendant, who has just three fingers on his right hand and suffers from leg tremors and is partially deaf, receives £520-a-month in incapacity benefit.

How many job opportunities does Omad provide to Social Services!?!

Oh no!

A national strike involving hundreds of thousands of workers is almost certain to go ahead.

If public sector workers are unhappy with a 2% pay rise, why not resign and get a job in the private sector rather than make strike threats?

The Ruth is out there!

How can "flexible working, time-share and good quality part-time work" be "worth up to £23bn to the UK economy"!?!

"My message to business is clear, this is not about political correctness, this is about improving your profit margins." - Ruth Kelly.

If such plans did improve profit margins, businesses would already have adopted the plans!

Will Ruth's plans also be available to men?

Gnome sweet gnome!

Are Police guilty of harassment if they wake a householder up at nearly midnight to warn him that a gnome in his garden is considered offensive by neighbours?

Would the Police be so concerned if the neighbour didn't happen to be a former Policeman himself!?!

Single White Men

"Most of our media, our schools and our workplaces and so on are to some extent geared to the interests of single white men." - Trevor Phillips.

Oh yeah? So how did a married black man become the first chairman of the new equalities commission!?!

Mr Phillips "had previously opposed the new commission" but clearly found a £160,000-a-year post too tempting and did a 'Neil Kinnock'...

Something to celebrate?

"When I see a Muslim woman wearing a headscarf or a hijab, I don't feel threatened, I celebrate it." - Ruth Kelly MP.

"In some areas, 70% of the population of a school can be from an ethnic background." - Steve Acklam, Chief Executive of School Governors' One-Stop Shop.

Not cricket!

How likely is it that Dalbir Singh, 18, will be found and deported by the authorities having disappeared whilst on a school cricket tour from the Punjab?

Why would he only be "recommended for deportation"!?!

Statements...

"British citizens who happen to be born Muslim have to accept responsibility for the anger there is against Islam."

"British citizens who happen to be born Jews have to accept responsibility for the anger there is against Israel or America."

Which statement is unacceptable?

Which statement was made by Labour MP Denis McShane?

Save our jobs!

Would Labour MPs be less fearful of losing their jobs were Tony Blair to remain as leader if they were paid the average annual UK salary of £24,000pa rather than £59,000pa!?!

Depressed Prisoners

Why should any prisoners be given anti-depressant drugs?

Prisons are supposed to be depressing places to be!

Buying Public Sector Votes?

Will an "unambiguous commitment" to increase public sector expenditure by the Conservative party lead to better public services or merely more pay for civil servants?

More vegetables?

How will pupils benefit from cooking lessons?

When 38.4% of GCSE English students earned a 'D' grade or less and 45.7% of GCSE Maths students earned a 'D' grade or less this year, they won't even be able to read the recipes!

More vegetables anyone!?!

Britain "better than 20 years ago"?

If Britain was better now than it was twenty years ago when Mrs. Thatcher was Prime Minister, would the BBC fail to mention it?

Schools out!

Why hasn't Ruth Kelly already shut down the Jameah Islameah Islamic school at Mark Cross?

Whilst Police search it as part of an on-going anti-terror investigation, the Chairman of the Association of Muslim Schools in the UK, Dr Muhammed Mukadam, reveals that:

"it hasn't been registered by Ofsted and therefore technically speaking it shouldn't be operating as a school at all."

Trouble makers!

Will Labour reduce the benefits available to teenage mums to discourage them from becoming pregnant in the first place if they are raising "tomorrow's potential troublemakers"!?!

Uniform savings!

"Expensive school uniforms cause worry for parents in low-income families and can leave their children feeling isolated and the target of bullies. - Helen Dent, Chief Executive of the Family Welfare Association.

Maybe low-income parents could save some money by giving up cigarettes, alcohol and fast food joints for a couple of weeks!

Green fingered!

If George Osborne MP, shadow chancellor, wants to increase the proportion of revenue taken from "green" taxes, he could always reduce non-green taxes!

Unfortunately, he seems intent on out-taxing Labour!

"I think the question George Osborne failed to answer is: is he really saying that he thinks taxes on motorists should be going up now at a time when petrol prices are so high?" - Economic secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls MP (Labour!)

All equal before the law?

If Keith Davis had stabbed his wife to death with a bread knife at their home in East Sussex, would he only have been jailed for three years?

Would it have made any difference if they had only been married two years, they had a volatile relationship and they had been drinking alcohol that afternoon even though they were supposed to be looking after their three year old grandson?

Prison populations

"Someone who does not know any black families would find it hard to understand the anger surrounding the over-representation of black men in jails" - Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Are these 'black men' innocent or have they been convicted in a court of law?

Have their crimes affected the local community?

"I'm sorry, but you should understand that as black men are over-represented in prison, Joel Smith will go free. We've got targets you know...."

Government extremism?

How likely is it that the Government would ever close a Muslim school that promoted "isolationism" and "extremism"?

Are such claims by Ruth Kelly merely to create good headlines!?!

Obesism

If the British Fertility Society consider that obese women should be denied IVF treatment as they "are less likely to get pregnant and more likely to encounter health problems", are they guilty of blatant obesism? They have potentially offended 13m adults in England!

Can obese women obtain a tax refund if they are denied treatment!?!

Do they withold treatment to smokers or those relying on state benefits?

Unfunded tax cuts?

If Gordon Brown can fund public sector expenditure by an ever increasing budget deficit, why should he be disturbed by "unfunded tax cuts"!?!

Health priorities?

Up to 50 children aged under two in Wales and England die from pneumococcal infections each year.

Does England offer every child up to the age of two the pneumococcal disease vaccine or will it only be available for Welsh children?

A duty to stamp out poor tax cuts!

A report in The Sunday Times newspaper says one in five Britons - the equivalent of 10m adults - say they are considering leaving the country because they feel they are paying too much tax.

Will they stay if Conservatives cut stamp duty on share purchases or if they propose substantial cuts in income!?!

General Election victory?

At which General election did the UK electorate vote for ever increasing levels of immigration?

High-level community orders

Why were only 21% of adults in England and Wales jailed when they were sentenced for shoplifting?

Will "high level community orders" deter them from shoplifting rather than jail?

How many of the 14,000 fines issued for shop lifting were actually paid in 2005?

Institutionally Incompetent?

Are the Metropolitan Police "Institutionally incompetent" rather than "Institutionally racist"!?!

A quote

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. - John Stuart Mill - Courtesy of House of Dumb.

Another Commission!

The Commission on Integration and Cohesion starts work in September and will tour the UK, looking at how towns, cities and communities tackle challenges such as segregation and social or economic divisions between different ethnic groups.

How likely is it that the Commission will conclude that there should be an annual limit on immigration?

Update to assuage Alfie's fears: "The Commission will be headed by Darra Singh, the leader of Ealing Council, and its 13 other commissioners include academics, youth activists, academics and representatives of the police, trade unions, business, local government, voluntary groups and the Interfaith Network.

..and no one from the wider indigenous population!

MPs' pay

Will MPs' pay be undercut by the influx of immigrants or are they safely immune to pay competition!?!

Cameron's own Pole

Will David Cameron ensure more Polish candidates are short-listed by local Conservative Associations so that 600,000 immigrants are represented in Parliament!?!

If we do not have proper representation of women and black and ethnic minority candidates in Parliament, we will be missing out on huge amounts of talent. - David Cameron

Indian Healthcare

Why should Britain commit £252m to save the lives of 1 million Indian children each year when India would rather spend $3.3bn on it's space programme?

Labour's dirty little secret?

If one of Labour's priorities is wealth re-distribution, why does the Treasury dismiss Stephen Byers' call to scrap inheritance tax as a "necessary means of raising revenue for public services" rather than funding those on benefits!?!

First choice?

It is not just Muslims who end up getting bombed or killed. Foreign policy just seems to be lacking a humanitarian dimension. - Zarina Javed of Huddersfield.

When will Zarina stop considering herself to be Muslim first and British second but rather British first, Muslim second?

US aid

Why is America bothering to help the Lebanon with $230m of aid?

No one in the Middle East will be grateful!

Benefits of prison?

How did prisoners receive £13m of jobseekers allowance and other benefits over the last three years when they should only qualify for payments by signing in every other week!?!

Travelling whilst white & working class

Did Chief Superintendent Ali Dizaei oppose the profiling of potential English football hooligans during the World Cup in June?

Grammar school success?

32.4% of all A-levels earned in Northern Ireland were 'A' grades compared to an average of just 24% across the rest of the UK.

Will Northern Ireland's performance fall when Grammar schools in the province are scrapped!?!

Not crap

"Rumours that I said American foreign policy in the Middle East is crap are crap" - John Prescott perhaps!?!

Immigrant welfare

What does the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants think about triple killer Rohan Chung who used the old "missed the flight" ruse to overstay his welcome in the UK?

Chung, 30, had been deported twice from the UK to Jamaica but managed to return using false names.

The 'I' word?

Why is the BBC unable to say what has caused "growth in the working age population" to explain the continuing rise in the UK's unemployment rate?

Could it be immigration!?!

Poor Joe

If "Joseph" fled to the Gambia to escape war-torn Sierra Leone, why was he allowed to seek asylum in Britain when he was already safe!?!

How will "Joseph" find his wife by living in a council flat in Manchester!?!

Prison release

Why is the Home Office not prepared to deport foreign prisoners early if they need to free up cells in overcrowded prisons?