Labour's not paying

The Times quotes Treasury figures showing that nearly 1.7 million people on low incomes face deductions totalling more than 60p in the pound from their pay.

It is a crazy system where you have people in poorly paid jobs, such as dinner ladies and hotel cleaners, suffering higher effective tax rates than millionaires, who pay 40 per cent higher-rate tax and 1 per cent national insurance at higher income levels - Mike Warburton, senior tax partner in Grant Thornton.

Why is the Labour Party penalising core voters for working rather than rewarding them for hard work? No wonder 5.5m people are economically inactive in the UK. They are the sensible ones!

People’s private spheres

Europe's second-highest ranking commissioner was fighting to save his political career last night over pictures showing him naked on a beach with his chief of staff. - The Times.

"People’s private[s]" should be respected - José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission!

Somalia's immigration policy

Does Somalia have a better immigration policy than the UK opposing the return of child rapists?

No doubt "Desperate to remain in the UK" to benefit the UK's economy, "A" raped a young girl at knifepoint within a year of his arrival in the UK in May 1995, yet the Government's duty to protect the public has now cost taxpayers £50,000 in damages as he was held illegally for a further twenty months as repeated attempts to deport him failed. How would naming "A" hamper further Home Office attempts to deport him!?!

If "A" is released in the UK, would Mr Justice Calvert Smith bet a child's life that "A" wouldn't remove an electronic tag? I wouldn't.

Government coffers and cobblers?

The UK economy and the government's tax receipts have been boosted massively in recent year[sic] by immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe, according to economists of the Ernst & Young ITEM club

Has Government expenditure been boosted massively in recent years by immigrants, especially from Eastern Europe?

You ASBO be laughing!

I don't accept a breach of an ASBO is the failure of an ASBO. - Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

If each ASBO costs more than £3,000 to adminster yet 55% of all anti-social behaviour orders given out in England and Wales are breached, does this represent good value to the taxpayer?

Where breaches are reported it means that individuals are being monitored - Home Office minister Tony McNulty.

Are 45% of ASBOs not being monitored properly?

What are the "serious consequences" of breaching ASBOs if 35% of holders have breached their order five or more times!?!

Ready to read books?

How will the provision of free books improve reading levels amongst the 21% of children who are unable to read after six years of schooling?

Providing free cars to seventeen year olds does not mean they become good drivers!

Knives out for knife amnesties!

Who could have predicted that knife amnesties have no real impact on reducing knife crime?

In late August 2006 - six weeks after the operation ends - offence levels tend to return to pre-operation values

"Amnesties needed to be used in conjunction with other initiatives" like tougher and longer prison sentences perhaps?

Can we look forward to a similar study looking at the impact of a gun amnesty on gun crime?

Non-polluting Scottish aircraft?

Why should airports in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland remain exempt from Air Passenger Duty?

Do they use special aircraft that don't pollute the environment or does Gordon prefer saving Labour votes to saving the planet?

Channel Fornicates You!

Will Channel Four's decision to use a veiled Muslim woman to deliver this year's alternate Christmas speech help integrate Muslims into the wider British community?

Could Channel Four be guilty of incitement to racial hatred if it doesn't!?!

Gordon's Closing Down Sale

If the UK economy is doing as well as Gordon Brown claims, why does he need to make it easier to sell £30bn of Government assets!?!

Brown hails a strong UK economy BBC News Online report, Dec. 6th, 2006.
The UK economy is set to grow by 2.75% this year

Sudden fall in UK industry output BBC News Online report, Dec. 6th, 2006.
Industrial output across the UK dropped unexpectedly in October, declining at its fastest pace in more than a year.

Money can't buy you educational results

No matter how much money is spent on education, it is all wasted if it is not accompanied with good discipline and the removal of teachers who are unable to teach.

If Gordon Brown is worried about the future challenges from India and China, should he consider copying how India and China and teach their children?

Modern education in India is often criticized for being based on rote learning. Emphasis is laid on passing exams with high percentage. Few institutes give importance to developing personality and creativity among students. [] Some schools in India practice extreme forms of corporal punishment on children, particularly those in middle school.

The People's Republic of China has a system of 9-year-compulsory education in mainland China.

Sharia Law in the UK?

It's here already - according to Clive Davis!

The BBC Radio 4 programme Law in Action produced evidence yesterday that it was being used by some Muslims as an alternative to English criminal law.

How can a female convert to Islam possibly complain about the growth of minority legal systems? "Very often traditional forms of mediation can disadvantage vulnerable groups, such as women, within a community."

She didn't have to convert!

Plugging the UK skills gap?

Unsurprisingly, 400 further education institutions support a plan to extend education and training for everyone up to the age of 18 despite 41% of sixteen year olds not even able to obtain five good GCSEs!

Without increased skills, we would condemn ourselves to a lingering decline in competitiveness, diminishing economic growth and a bleaker future for all. The case for action is compelling and urgent. - Lord Leitch.

Does the UK need to be concerned with a growing skills gap when immigration from 10 new EU countries since 2004 has meant [an] influx of a skilled, low-cost workforce!?!

Unhappy Christmas?

Christmas in 21st Century Britain...

Bodyguard for Santa after attacks
Organisers in Tipton have taken the precaution after Santas in previous years had stones and abuse thrown at them by youths.

Mince pie danger to be assessed
Council bosses say posters will have to be displayed at the party in Embsay, in the Yorkshire Dales, warning villagers the pies contain nuts and suet pastry.
Santa may need a Criminal Records Bureau check.

Firms 'ban festive decorations'
Christmas trees and decorations may well be a thing of the past in many workplaces this Christmas as political correctness culture has spread to the workplace

Making mountains out of molehills

As so many voters are disillusioned with Tony Blair and the Labour Party, it should be straightforward for the Conservative Party to secure victory at the next General Election.

So why does David Cameron admit he has a "huge mountain to climb"?

Is it a recognition that the Conservative Party does not yet appeal to aspirant blue collar workers? Focusing on green issues may well appeal to floating middle class voters but it's unlikely to win many "working class" votes!

How many "working class" voters feel angry when they see others enjoying a similar lifestyle yet are solely reliant on the welfare state?

Community Care killers

On average, one person a week dies at the hands of a mentally ill patient.

Almost a third of the killings were by people judged to have been of "low risk".

Is it acceptable that two thirds of the killings are by people judged to be "medium" or "high risk"!?!

Would mental health staff make different decisions if their family or friends were murdered by "low risk" patients?

Who will be the unfortunate person who dies at the hands of a mentally ill patient this week?

Pay peanuts and you get MPs?

How can any backbench MP be worth £100,000 per year?

If MPs consider their pay should be comparable to GPs and council chief executives, should their holidays be comparable too!?!

Reducing traffic congestion

Would traffic congestion be cut by 10% if the estimated 1.4m uninsured drivers were forced off Britain's roads?

Uninsured drivers are typically young males living in an urban environment where traffic congestion is particularly bad...

How would road pricing be enforced for these drivers!?!

England's public service budget

"Breaking up Britain would remove billions of pounds from the public service budget in Scotland". - George Foulkes, former Scotland Office minister.

"Breaking up Britain would restore billions of pounds for the public service budget in England". - Not said by any mainstream policitian.

Scottish Conservative Party hopes scotched!

Can Scottish Conservatives ever win power when "just 163,000 Scottish taxpayers, from a population of 5m, make any net contribution to the British exchequer. The rest receive more than they pay out in reliefs, subsidies and benefits"?

Why offer tax cuts when so few people actually pay any tax!?!

'Tough' for Conservative detractors?

David Cameron suggests that if core Tory voters are upset by the direction in which he is leading the party then "that's tough."

Has he already explained the reasons for a fourth successive Conservative electoral defeat?

I suppose you could spend the next few years as leader of the Conservative Party just telling people what they wanted to hear and jolly them along and everyone would be happy — and then you would lose another election. Well, I don't see the point of that. - David Cameron.

What is wrong with offering policies that the public want to hear? The Conservatives won more votes in England than Labour in 2005 because of it!

I would rather abstain at the next General Election than endorse a man whose contempt for core Tory voters knows no bounds.

'Buy-to-jail' mortgages?

As the Government considers selling shares to fund new prisons, will it be long before mortgages are available on them?

Members of the public would receive a regular income from the "invest in a cell" scheme and would benefit from a rise in the value of their investment because of increasing property prices.

How can the Treasury be so short of cash that new prisons need to be funded by public subscription?

Motorists 'must pay for road use'

Are ministers the only road users who do not pay to use the road network as their fuel and road tax can be reclaimed as expenses!?!

Every other motorist already pays more the further they drive!

Last year, I posted an article at 'Oncemore' on road pricing that tragically seems just as relevant now...

Beware of old men in MACs!

Isn't it too late for a new body, the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), to consider the wider social impact of immigration when nearly 1.5m immigrants have arrived in just the last two years?

Even if the social impact was negative, could the UK reduce current levels of immigration whilst it remains a member of the European Union?

If John Reid claims there is "no systematic weighing up of the benefits and costs of immigration", how can consecutive Governments always claim that the economic benefits of immigration outweigh the costs!?!

Asylum seekers are not boomerangs!

How many of the 150 immigration offenders being released on bail does the Home Office expect to return once the present crisis at Harmondsworth has been resolved?

Wouldn't it be better to fast track the deportation of all failed asyulum seekers at Harmondsworth?

Mr Rasul faces deportation to northern Iraq after having exhausted his appeals for asylum.

Lifting the veil of double standards!

The vast majority of people...believe women should be allowed to wear what they like [such as the full veil] - Rajnaara Akhtar of the Assembly for the Protection of the Hijab.

Only a "tiny, tiny minority" are forced to wear the veil - Rajnaara Akhtar of the Assembly for the Protection of the Hijab.

Shotgun justice

If a protestor climbed onto the roof of your house and you confronted him with a loaded shotgun, could you expect to go to prison?

Answers on a postcard to Judge David Tyzack!

The modern family - mother, father and government?

Are parents or the Government to blame if one in seven children are growing up in "bad" housing?

PC Police?

If black Police Officers had distributed an email showing a white suspect decapitated in a freak accident whilst being pursued by Police, would they have faced a five month long "robust" investigation into it?

Would people perceive the email as 'racist' or just sick? Would there be calls for the Police Officers to be sacked?

It is, at best, disrespecful to the [white] people that live in Hertfordshire - Keith Jarrett, President of the White Police Association!

Inflation busting rail fares

How will increasing rail fares above the rate of inflation encourage more car drivers off the roads and onto the railways?

Can it be long before railway workers strike to get their share of the increases?

Impartial BBC?

Does anyone beyond the ITV and BBC media bubble really care that Michael Grade has resigned from the BBC and moved to ITV?

So why is the BBC's leading UK article (at 10.08 am) reporting his move!?!

Should we rejoice that the BBC was unable to match ITV's £10m offer for his services over five years?

TV Licence Tax

The BBC is now officially part of Central Government! - the TV licence fee has recently been reclassified as a tax rather than a service charge.

(Quarterly National Accounts Briefing Note: 2006 Q1 & 2006 Blue Book, p.11)

Courtesy of Raw Carrot.

Slavery

Do Africans feel "Deep Sorrow" for Africa's role in the slave trade or is it just the "white man's burden"?

Mighty black kings in the Bight of Biafra near modern-day Senegal and Benin sold their captives locally and later to European slave traders for goods such as metal cookware, rum, livestock, and seed grain.

The slaves came from many different sources. About half came from the societies that sold them. These might be criminals, heretics, the mentally ill, the indebted and any others that had fallen out of favour with the rulers. Most came from captured tribes in inter-tribal warfare. [] It is believed that capital punishment and human sacrifice in the region nearly disappeared since prisoners became far too valuable to dispose of in such a way.

For those left behind in Africa the standard of living increased substantially and the region became divided into highly centralized and powerful nation states, such as Dahomey and the Ashanti Confederacy. It also created a class of very wealthy and highly Europeanized traders who began to send their children to European universities.

Voting SNP south of the border?

In England, people quite rightly resent Scottish Labour MPs bossing them about on English domestic legislation. England has as much right to self government as Scotland does. - Alex Salmond, the SNP leader.

The last thing we need is yet another parliament with separate elections and more politicians spending more money. - David Cameron, Conservative Leader.

68% of English voters want their own Parliament.

62% of English voters want Scottish MPs stripped of the right to vote on solely English matters.

60% of English voters complain that higher levels of public spending per head of the population in Scotland were "unjustified".

How can an English electorate vote SNP!?!

Courtesy of the Sunday Telegraph.

Gordon's Highlanders

Will Labour's legitimacy to pass UK legislation be questioned if the SNP win the 2007 Scottish elections?

Labour's Scottish MPs could no longer claim to represent the views of their constituents whilst Labour won fewer votes than the Conservatives across England in 2005!

It would be an inauspicious start to Gordon's Premiership.

Vegetaballs!

If pregnant women and low income families with toddlers do not already know the importance of fruit and vegetables in their daily diet, why should the provision of free fruit and vegetables make any difference?

Will they know how to eat them!?!

NHS value for money?

A new cancer centre is to be built at Taunton's Musgrove Park hospital:

Construction costs: £12m
Specialist Equipment: £10m
Total cost: £22m

Cost to the taxpayer over thirty years: £100m

Private Jets For Everyone!

In the past we used to think of poverty in absolute terms - meaning straightforward material deprivation. That's not enough. We need to think of poverty in relative terms - the fact that some people lack those things which others in society take for granted. - David Cameron

So David, when can I have my free private jet!?!

Retirement ages

Why should private sector workers be expected to work to 68 when public sector workers will only have to work until they are 65?

Increasing the retirement age for private sector workers is effectively another tax rise.

Crime free crime!

Should criminals be given cash to deter crime?

Not Education, education, education

Nearly ten years after Labour came to power, 10% of secondary schools are still 'failing' according to Ofsted! How many more years does Labour need!?!

Given that 'the poor' are most likely to attend such schools, why has Labour been allowed to fail another generation of it's core voters?

Skills gaps

What skills and labour gaps does Immigration Minister Liam Byrne think are filled by 510,000 East European immigrants that cannot be filled by 1,710,000 unemployed British workers!?!

Overcrowding

The proportion of black and ethnic minority families living in [overcrowded conditions in London] is much worse than average, the report found.

Is this because 'black and ethnic minority families' tend to have larger families than average?

Polish Police

Is it too much to expect immigrants working in the UK to be able to speak English?

Conservative debt busters!

We should not allow people to take out that tenth credit card without the credit card company knowing about the other nine. - Shadow chancellor George Osborne.

Why aren't lenders already concerned about the other nine credit cards when lending money? The lender should decide the amount of risk being carried on their book, not some MP!

If the Conservatives really want to tackle the growing personal debt "crisis", they should offer tax cuts!

Feeling very cross?

Why are British Airways unable to change their uniform policy to allow a Christian woman to wear a crucifix in public display?

They must have changed their rules for Muslims and Sikhs at some time in the past!

Risky business?

What percentage of the teenagers given £10 loans to start a "social enterprise" will merely invest the funds in fast food or alcohol?

Should they follow the example of "Risky Business" and start a brothel?

My name is Joel Goodson. I deal in Human Fulfillment. I grossed over $8000 in one night. Time of your life, huh kid.

Fast food for over 16s only?

If the Government is so concerned about childhood obesity that it is prepared to ban junk food advertising, why not merely prohibit children from eating at fast food restaurants?

Are they concerned that too many working class people would object to such a policy!?!

Conservative education policy disaster!

How many Conservative voters will oppose a Conservative plan to break up school catchment areas!?! Parents typically pay a £25,000 premium to live within the catchment area of good schools!

It would be far better for the Conservative Party to identify what makes a good school. School discipline, grammar schools and sacking poor quality teachers!

Drinking to excess

Why should alcohol be made more expensive to deter under 18s from drinking to excess?

The ban on sales of alcohol to under 18s needs to be enforced more strictly. The price of handguns was not increased to deter criminals from buying them!

The BBC - The Big Brother Corporation

Under the [Digital Switchover] legislation, the BBC would be handed the social security and war pensions information for an estimated seven million people.

Have an 'estimated seven million people' agreed to the Government giving away their confidential infomation to a third party without consulting them?

Murdered man still murdered!

Are Jamshed Khan's family likely to welcome Mirza Tahir Hussain's reprieve from a death sentence following Prince Charles' intervention? Their son is still dead!

Why would a Muslim want to be back in the UK in time for Christmas!?!

I have been working with the family to secure Hussain's release and was planning a last-minute plea next month which will now become a plea for his return to Leeds for Christmas - Yorkshire and Humber MEP Edward McMillan-Scott.

Racing lines

Would it be better to sieze the vehicles of boy racers in Kirkcaldy rather than reward them with free entry to Knockhill Racing Circuit?

Britain - the sick man of Europe?

Are the costs of treating migrants with TB, HIV or malaria deducted from the economic benefits of immigration!?!

Smoking rights

Will council workers forced to stop smoking during the day be able to sue their council employer for £4,000 each for a fundamental breach of their human rights even if it could save their lives!?!

Home Office employment opportunities

Our mandate is to build a safe, just and tolerant society for everyone in the UK, regardless of their race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age. - Home Office website.

No wonder a senior member of Islamist group Hizb ut- Tahrir is working as a computer technician at the Home Office!

Are BNP members allowed to work at the Home Office!?!

Spot the difference

Gang sought after racist attack: A 15-year-old Asian youth was kicked and punched in an unprovoked and racist attack in Edinburgh.

Sadistic robbers jailed for life: A gang of armed robbers have been jailed for life for kidnapping people and subjecting them to "sadistic and gratuitous violence".

Why doesn't the BBC focus on the gang's "homophobia and racial hatred [that] occasionally played a part in the selection of victims"?

Home sweet homeless?

Will a £164m package to help homeless people living in hostels and families living in bed and breakfast accommodation merely encourage more people to become homeless as the 'inconvenience' of being homeless is reduced?

If 80% of the people who sell the Big Issue magazine come from local authority support, why should local authorities be trusted to improve their situation!?!

Crime always pays!

Why is the taxpayer not allowed to know how much of their money has been paid as compensation to six prisoners and former inmates forced to stop taking drugs by going "cold turkey"?

Court TV

What is the point of allowing TV in court if witnesses, defendants and jurors should not be seen according to Lord Falconer?

Could you bet on when the judge will fall asleep or listen as a lawyer focuses on the intricacies of the case whilst wearing a Niqab!?!

Terror 'priority' if Brown is PM

Especially for the Middle classes who will be taxed until the pips squeak!

Pro-Islamic UK?

Why does Lord Falconer believe there should be "consequences" for saying that Islam is "wicked and evil"?

What are his fears if the UK is unable to demonstrate to young Muslims that this country is not anti-Islamic!?! Should Lord Falconer expect Islam to demonstrate that it is not "wicked and evil" too!?!

Would Gordon Brown, John Reid and Lord Falconer be calling for race hate laws to be tightened if Mizanur Rahman had not been found guilty of stirring up racial hatred?

The veil truth and nothing but the truth!

Does allowing lawyers to wear veils in court help integrate Muslims into mainstream UK society or is it another fillip to politicial correctness?

Are jurors and defendants already allowed to wear the veil in court? How do jurors prove their identity each day?

Labour's condom policy?

The Welsh Labour party has pledged only to spend public money if it helps end child poverty by 2020. So will they subsidise condoms for people living in disadvantaged areas!?!

No political party will ever end child poverty!

The Visible Hand?

Would would David Cameron's immigration plans identify people with "in-demand skills"?

Could civil servants be trusted to become the visible hand of the labour market?

Squaddie "not the smartest arse"!

Recently, Senator Kerry told an audience of college students in California that if they did not study hard they could "get stuck in Iraq", does this also apply to college students in the UK?

A squaddie, just back from a tour of duty in Iraq, has been injured after using his bum to launch a firework!

John Woodhead, chairman of the Firework Association, said he had never heard of an incident like it in 45 years.

Racist Conservative?

Why is Conservative Mayoral candidate Winston McKenzie not suspended by the Party for using his ethnic origin as an electoral asset in the 2008 London elections?

The fact that I am a black man will appeal to people

I'll stun the world. London will see its first ever black Mayor. The history books of politics shall be re-written, changed forever

In other news:

Good luck Ali, but I would be shocked if they didn’t pick a white middle-class male [for the safe Conservative constituency of Witham, Essex] - Bernard Jenkin, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party responsible for recruiting more ethnic minority candidates.

Olympic sized VAT bill

If the Treasury is prevented from waving VAT on the 2012 Olympic construction costs due to EU regulations, there is a simple solution.

Ignore them!

Police Protection

If 81% of British Muslims describe themselves as Muslim first and British second, should any British Muslim be allowed to guard Tony Blair?

Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assasinated by Sikh members of her bodyguard who presumbaly considered their faith to be more important than their duty.

Ripping England out of the UK?

If the SNP are promising a referendum on Scottish independence within four years, will the English electorate be promised a similar referendum on whether they want Scotland to remain within the UK?

Why should such decisions be left solely to the Scottish electorate!?!

"To end up having a separate Scottish currency, separate Scottish armed forces, separate Scottish economy when we are so integrated together would be disastrous for [the Labour Party?]" - Tony Blair.

Dhiren Barot (2)

Was Dhiren Barot "venting [his] frustration" when he plotted "another black day for the enemies of Islam and a victory for the Muslims"?

Will he "feel almost ashamed" when he is no doubt imprisoned for just a couple of years for plotting the murder of thousands!?!

Has Liberal Democrat campaigns chairman Edward Davey reported Dhiren Barot to the Commission for Racial Equality!?!

Why hasn't Dhiren been charged with incitement to racial hatred!?!

Freedom of speech?

Not on your nelly!

It should be for the electorate to decide whether a Conservative candidate is out of order, not Liberal Democrat campaigns chairman Edward Davey.

Death sentence double standards

If the UK government supports Saddam Hussein's death sentence as he is being "held to account" for his crimes, why don't they support the death sentence for murderers in the UK?

It's ironic that the only the Liberal Democrats oppose Saddam's execution!

Feral Children

Why should the taxpayer love 'feral children', when it's their taxes that have raised so many of them rather than their parents' wages!?!

Skills deficit?

How does the skills base of the 1,500 immigrants arriving in the UK every day compare to the skills base of the 1,000 emigrants leaving the UK every day?

In a global labour market, is Gordon Brown making life too expensive for high earners to remain in the UK?

University of life

Who would have thougth that being a University lecturer was so tough. It's so bad that 52% have even considered leaving the profession for the private sector!

So what stopped them? Did they discover work is even tougher in the private sector!?!

Religious Traffic Police!

Rather than receiving three points and an £80 fine for breaking traffic laws in the UK, should drivers be lashed and have their heads' shaved!?!

If the roads of Somalia's lawless capital Mogadishu can be tamed with public punishments and humiliation, it can be applied to London's lawless roads too!

NHS Strikes

Are NHS workers protesting against job cuts that would damage the provision of care to patients or to protect their own jobs?

How can any organisation with 1.3m workers possibly be well run!?!

Another benefit of the European Union?

The UK faces the threat of increased crime when Romania and Bulgaria join the EU such as cash machine crime, sex trafficking, street violence and fraud.

Some UK residents have welcomed the news as they can now look forward to reductions in their council tax bills!

Of Paedophiles and Terrorists

Would Ken Livingstone be as happy for paedophiles with foreign convictions to work with children in London as he is for terrorists with foreign convictions to work on the Underground?

"Has [Mohammed Kamel Mostafa] broken any law here in Britain? [No, so] we are happy to have him working for us" - Ken Livingstone

Reasons for tax rises:

The polluter should pay for damage to the environment.

Tax on alcohol should rise to reduce binge drinking.

Road pricing to cut car congestion.

Council tax to rise for living in a good area.

Burning Issues?

If Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris opposes the criminalisation of flag burning as "an unacceptable restriction of freedom of expression", would he also oppose future legislation that criminalised anyone burning the Qu'ran!?!

Covering up Camilla

Will Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, be expected to wear a headscarf whilst visiting Pakistan even though she is not Muslim!?!

Some might argue that she should be covered up regardless!

Long term health care costs!

Will it really cost £45bn to clean and maintain £8bn worth of hospitals over the next thirty years?

Would it be cheaper to knock them down and rebuild them every 10 years!?!

On the basis that all the major political parties support the NHS, these hospitals should never have been mortgaged.

Trouble ahead!

How does the Government explain that more children than previously thought cannot write their names or recognise words like "dog" and "hat" by the age of five?

The Department for Education and Skills said more rigorous and accurate marking this year was likely to have caused the drop in results...

English students protest over higher fees

English students are set to march in central London on Sunday to protest over higher tuition fees.

English students who started degree courses in September this year, have to pay up to £3,000 a year towards tuition costs.

The government says the new package is fairer as the fees are no longer paid upfront and grants are available to disadvantaged students.

Courtesy of the BBC.

English students protest over higher fees

English students are set to march in central London on Sunday to protest over higher tuition fees.

English students who started degree courses in September this year, have to pay up to £3,000 a year towards tuition costs.

The government says the new package is fairer as the fees are no longer paid upfront and grants are available to disadvantaged students.

Courtesy of the BBC.

Focused Alcohol Policy?

If Patricia Hewitt wants to reduce binge drinking amongst teenagers, why should all drinkers be penalised by a general rise in the tax on alcohol?

How about raising the drinking age to 21 or reducing the minimum wage for teenagers!?!

Is the Government more concerned about raising additional tax revenue!?!

Number Crunching

£130,000: Biggest theft from the Houses Of Parliament in 2005/6.

£131,000: Average expenses per MP in 2005/6.

Dig for money!

If local councils are to be bribed with millions of pounds for local services if they allow nuclear waste to be buried locally, will Scotland lose it's multi-billion pound English subsidy if nuclear waste is not stored in Scotland?

That's Richmond!

It's good to see that the cost of residents' parking permits in Richmond will rise when they are linked to the 'pollution' caused by their vehicles soon.

It serves them right for deserting the Conservatives and voting Liberal Democrat!

Foreign stereotypes

Are Police and the BBC allowed to stereotype foreign lorry drivers!?!

"Foreign lorry drivers are putting lives at risk by overworking, using vehicles with serious faults and overloading their trucks" - Chief Superintendent Geraint Anwyl.

Impartial BBC news?

If ITV has been banned by the Ministry of Defence from filming frontline troops for "inaccurate and intrusive reports about the fate of wounded soldiers", how reliable are BBC broadcasts from the frontline?

The Great Escape failure to return!

Murderer Mark Ryder has not escaped from Highpoint Prison, Suffolk, during an escorted trip to Cambridge, he has merely failed to return!

This is not an escape or an abscond, it is classed as a failure to return. An internal inquiry into this incident is already underway. - Prison Service Spokesman

Racist head of the CRE?

In 1963, the great African-American writer James Baldwin quoted an old spiritual in a famous essay, correctly predicting the civil strife that was to come: God gave Noah the rainbow sign. Said no more water, but the fire next time - Trevor Phillips, chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality.

Why does Trevor need to highlight the racial background of James Baldwin!?!

In 1968, the great White-British politician Enoch Powell quoted Virgil's Aenid, correctly predicting the civil strife that was to come: Like the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood’.

Conservative tax cuts and rises!

The Times reports that "George Osborne [Shadow Chancellor] has categorically ruled out any promises to cut overall taxes before the next election campaign, insisting that any cuts would have to be matched by tax increases elsewhere."

Does George really believe that copying Gordon Brown's policy of giving with one hand but taking more with the other will lead to electoral success!?!

Will the electorate categorically rule out any promises to vote Conservative ever again!?!

Muslim opposes Sharia law?

On what basis should Tony Blair or Prince Charles intervene in the case of Mirza Tahir Hussain, awaiting execution in Pakistan for the murder of Jamshed Khan in 1988?

His conviction was overturned in Pakistan's High Court but he was later retried by an Islamic court, which sentenced him to death.

Relatives [of Jamshed Khan] said they "wanted justice" and "would never compromise"

Do the 40% of British Muslims who want Sharia law introduced into parts of the UK support the execution?

English tax cuts?

How many of the proposed Conservatives' tax cuts are only for people living and working in England?

Tories plan lower income tax rate for Scotland

The Last Post?

If Post Offices are so valuable to people living in rural areas, perhaps they should pay more for the service!

Why should 'townies' subsidise their lifestyles when they are prevented from moving there themselves!?!

It's in the post!

Why is a petition with 4m signatures to save rural post offices being delivered to 10 Downing Street by hand?

Are organisers scared it could get lost in the post!?!