Fingerprinted?

When will fingerprinting be introduced for benefit claimants in the UK?

Where are the locusts?

Love him or loathe him, you have to admit that Gordon Brown has had a tough honeymoon since becoming Prime Minister.

"Let the work of change begin" but who'd have guessed he was referring to floods and pestilence.

When will the locusts arrive!?!

White MPs spurn mayoral bid

Can you ever imagine the BBC publishing such a headline!?!

Flying pigs?

Will the Liberal Democrat's proposal of an additional £10 tax on domestic flights to subsidise the railways also apply to politicians flying around the UK in helicopters at election time!?!

Schools out for summer!

Who is the strategic thinker within Conservative Central Office who thought David Cameron should focus on school discipline at the start of the summer holidays!?!

Meals on schools!

If the provision of free school fruit and vegetables has led to lower domestic consumption, will free nutritious meals during the summer holidays lead to poorer quality diets at home!?!

"We shouldn't be blaming poorer parents: we should be helping them meet the cost of healthy alternatives" - IPPR North director Sue Sterling.

We should be blaming poorer parents.

BBC - Beeb Bashing Cameron?

Why does BBC's article "Cameron to outline schools plan" only merit three sentences on his 'plans' before discussing his leadership for the rest of the time?

Mr Cameron is to suggest creating contracts between schools and parents that could be enforceable.

It comes amid murmurings among the Tories on his leadership. An activist who was part of his 2005 leadership campaign said he used "gimmickry".

Also on Monday, former party chairman Lord Saatchi warned "nicey-nicey" politics would not win the next election.

A survey for the Times put the Labour party six points clear of the Conservatives with 39% of the vote compared to 33%.

Quelle surprise!

The Law Commission wants to increase solicitors' businesses by giving co-habiting couples more legal protection...

When will the car garage lobby succeed in making annual professional car services compulsory!?!

Rubbing Saltire in the wound?

"The Union flag is a powerful symbol of both our heritage and modern, diverse Britain. It brings us together in solidarity and shared identity" - Culture Secretary James Purnell.

So why should Scottish Executive buildings be exempt from this!?!

"In Scotland, the Saltire will fly each day, although on 18 special days the union flag will be raised instead." - SNP Spokesman.

Asian British?

Why should 50% of British Asians be surprised that white people do not treat them as British when only 38% of British Asians consider themselves British!?!

Child benefits

Why will raising child benefit by £5 per week be expected to lift 150,000 children out of poverty!?!

It will merely give their parents more money to spend on alcohol, cigarettes, fast food and the latest fashions!

Once people start focusing on the long term rather than their immediate needs, the benefits of a good education, hard work and savings become apparent!

More benefits attack this principle.

Ghost students?

How reliable are National Audit Office figures that "one in five students starting a full-time university course in England [are] unlikely to complete it" when criminal gangs have obtained millions of pounds in student loans by enrolling "ghost students" at universities!?!

Government stealth steal tax?

When did it become acceptable for Government to steal money from unused bank accounts!?!

How many towns don't have a youth centre already!?!

If youths are bored over the summer, they should get summer jobs...

Drug vouchers?

When will I qualify for shopping vouchers if I don't speed!?!

PS Will drug dealers accept the vouchers as payment for their next fix!?!

The Railway never never?

"At least £80bn will be spent getting the UK's transport system up to speed by the year 2010, the government has announced." - BBC News Online - 13 December, 1999.

"Billions of pounds are to be spent on creating a "bigger, stronger" railway, carrying twice as many passengers by 2030, the transport secretary has said." - BBC News Online - 24 July 2007.

The goals remain the same, they just get moved further away each year!

Visa rules?

United States: Overstay your visa and you are banned from returning for six years.

Britain: Overstay your visa and your MP works hard to prevent you from leaving!

Why is Britain always the soft touch!?!

Bush v Brown v BBC

Given that the BBC revelled in the New Orleans floods being an opportunity to bash Bush, will they revel in the English floods being an opportunity to bash Brown!?!

"It surprises me that if there was that kind of awareness, why was the response so slow?" - New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.

Abandon ship!?!

Whilst so much of Conservative 'middle England' remains flooded, why hasn't David Cameron cancelled his trip to Rwanda and stayed in England to ensure the Government does all it can to help his electorate?

They will remember at election time!

Dr No?

If two of the alleged Glasgow airport terror suspects did not have enough experience to work in Western Australia, why did they have enough experience to work in the UK?

If it's not good enough for them, it shouldn't be good enough here, especially as Western Australia are "desperate to find more doctors to care for a growing, and ageing, population".

Plodding Plod?

"We know the police have had a major increase in funding over the past decade but it is much more difficult to tell what they have done with it." - David Winnick, Acting Chairman, Home Affairs select committee - 19th July 2007.

"No-one is to face charges after the 16-month cash-for-honours investigation"! - BBC News website - 20th July 2007

Bumper cars?

If too many young drivers are killing themselves and others, wouldn't it be better to prohibit them from driving cars over 1400cc for their first year, rather than simply raise the age at which they can learn to drive to 18?

They will be as unaware of driving at speed when they are 18 as they are at 17!

Breeding child poverty?

Will forcing single parents to look for work once their youngest child is seven merely encourage the poorest in society to have even more children!?!

It would be better if single parents were forced to look for work once their eldest child is twelve!

Why does it take three years to warn single parents of the changes!?!

Sir Tom Hunter

Will Britain's most generous man, Sir Tom Hunter, be giving £1bn to the UK Government as it 'knows' how to spend our money better than any charity!?!

First Daddy Longlegs Of Autumn?

June and July's weather has been so atrocious and autumnal that I've just spotted my first Daddy longlegs of autumn! They should be out in late September...

London's Poor?

If London is the second most expensive city to live in the world, how can so many poor people can afford to live there!?!

Car ladder

How does Gordon Brown propose to meet the needs of people who want cars but cannot afford to get on the first rung of the car buying ladder!?!

Recycle tax?

Why should households on council tax benefit potentially be excluded from Government proposals to penalise households that fail to recycle with an additional £30 per year levy?

Unemployed council tax benefit recipients have more time to recycle and a £30 levy should be a greater incentive to recycle than for those in work!

Fat VAT?

Has VAT be enough to stop the hordes of poor people eating Big Macs & Fries at McDonalds each day!?!

On Housing

If housing will dominate Gordon Brown's agenda, will he try to reduce demand by limiting immigration!?!

If there is a 'housing crisis', why hasn't rent increased in line with house prices in recent years!?!

Passport Control (2)

Why was Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, recently jailed for life for the 21/7 bomb plot given a British Passport in September 2004, "despite having a lengthy criminal record for robbery and violence"?

How was he expected to contribute to the UK's economy apart from supporting the security industries!?!

Money lessons

Exclusive: Subject matter for school lessons in the new subject “Economic wellbeing and financial capability”...

Work really hard at school, earn lots of qualifications and 40% of all your earnings go to the Government.

Don't bother to study at school, earn no qualifications and you will never need to work as the welfare state is so generous.

How much benefit would you receive each week if you had five children!?!

Passport Control?

Why bother checking passports against a database of stolen passports when you can always claim asylum instead!?!

Father-of-three Omar Altimimi was found guilty of stashing a library of terror manuals and propaganda on a computer at his semi-detached home in Bolton.

Altimimi, 37, of Lansdowne Road, came to live in Britain as an asylum seeker in 2002 and claimed £120,000 from the welfare state to support his wife and children while their case was processed.

"We will never know who Altimimi really is. He developed a range of identities which would have allowed him to expand his terrorist activities." - Det Chief Supt Porter.

Binge Drinking

If David Cameron wants to reduce binge drinking, wouldn't it better to cut the educational maintenance allowance that gives 'poor' youths in school £30 of beer money each week rather than raising alcohol for everyone!?!

Yawn!

"The Conservatives will put the battle against poverty and deprivation at the heart of their campaign to win the next general election."

If the Conservative Party go into battle promising to reduce welfare payments and make work pay, they will be on to a winner. However, it's more likely that they will increase the size of the welfare state only making the problem worse...

"Money would be invested spent on voluntary bodies and charities"- David Cameron.

Another reason not to vote Conservative under Cameron!

Her Majesty's Bank Raids?

If Revenue & Customs persistently fail to repay overpaid tax, will taxpayers automatically be authorised to take the money owed from Treasury bank accounts!?!

Violence wins?

Was Alan Johnston released because of international concern over his fate or because Hamas warned his kidnappers that they would no longer tolerate it!?!

How will the liberal left at the BBC console themselves that the threat of violence secured his release!?!

BBC institutionally racist?

Why were the bonuses of BBC executives linked to the recruitment of ethnic minorities?

Holiday votes?

Weekend voting is new hope in the battle to reverse falling turnout - The Times

Even if I was offered a day's holiday to vote at the next General Election, I wouldn't want to use my vote to endorse any of the major political parties!

Union matters

"We will do nothing to put the union at risk" - Gordon Brown Prime Minister, on why Scottish MPs should continue to vote on England only matters whilst English MPs are unable to vote on Scottish health or education matters.

The union risks being split precisely because of these anomalies!

Brown Owl?

What is it about Gordon Brown and responsibility?

Practically his first role as Chancellor of the Exchequer was to give responsibility for setting interest rates to an independent Bank of England, and now as Prime Minister, he wants to give up his power to choose Bishops and declare war to Parliament less than one week after coming to office!

How can Gordon Brown really give MPs more powers when the European Union supposedly creates 80% of Britain's laws and regulations?

Intimidation, the best weapon?

If Home Secretary says the UK will "not be intimidated" by terrorist attacks, why weren't the Mohammed cartoons published in Britain!?!

When will Channel 4 broadcast Theo Van Gogh's film 'Submission'?

Would the UK rather live on it's knees than die standing!?!

The benefits of multi-culturalism?

"British counter-terrorism and intelligence officials are now working on the assumption that all three failed attacks have some connection to al-Qaeda - at the very least in motivation and ideology, if not in organisation.

But against a backdrop of 30 current plots, 200 suspected terrorist cells and close to 2,000 known suspects to keep under surveillance, the police and intelligence agencies were unable to pinpoint the exact timing or the targets."

English only health cuts

Will the BBC be reporting that Gordon Brown, in one of his final acts as Chancellor, cut the capital budget of the English NHS for 2007-08 from £6.2bn to £4.2bn whilst making no changes to the Scottish or Welsh NHS budgets?

White van man bomb?

Rather than carrying out spot checks for suicide vehicle bombs, wouldn't it have been easier for the Police simply to have arrested everyone protesting outside the Regents Park Mosque on the basis of incitement to racial hatred?

Hat tip: PubPhilosopher.

PS: Did the BBC report this protest!?!

Persona non grata

At least John Reid, Margaret Beckett and Patricia Hewitt can each console themselves with an £18,000 tax free bonus for resigning Cabinet Ministers as Gordon Brown doesn't want them in his first cabinet!

Rubbish joke!

Will Salford dustmen be on strike every other week!?!

Quentin Davies

Under your leadership the Conservative Party appears to me to have ceased collectively to believe in anything, or to stand for anything. It has no bedrock. It exists on shifting sands. A sense of mission has been replaced by a PR agenda. - Former Conservative MP Quentin Davies.

Whilst Quentin's analysis of the Conservative Party is on the money, it beggars belief that he should then join the Labour benches famed for spin, double dealing and contempt for the British public!

BBC Impartiality?

The BBC is "a publicly-funded urban organisation with an abnormally large proportion of younger people, of people in ethnic minorities and almost certainly of gay people, compared with the population at large" - Former BBC political editor Andrew Marr.

Gay bullying in schools 'common' - Top BBC news online education headline at 9am, 26th June 2007.

Ha, Ha, It's Harriet!

How come Labour Party members overlooked Harriet Harman's support of grammar schools when they voted her deputy leader of the Labour Party?

Her son attends a grammar school in Kent, no doubt an unwilling victim who would far rather attend an inner city comprehensive!

Harriet Harman - sent her son to a grammar school outside the borough where they lived.

Bigger Government?

If bigger Government is the preferred solution for nearly everything these days, why doesn't it work for children in care?

Driving tests

If Shazad Akhtar could have earned up to £11,000* for passing driving tests on behalf of other people, is 200 hours community service and a £500 fine sufficient punishment given the risk to other road users?

*22 tests at £500 a go!

Poor white boys

If poor quality schooling explains just 14% of the low achievement of "poor white boys", how will sending them to better schools change anything!?!

Stay at home on an egg?

Why haven't reruns of a TV commercial from the 1950s urging viewers to "go to work on an egg" been banned because it discriminates against the 8m economically inactive people in the UK who don't work!?!

If the slogan went against the principle of eating a varied diet, should adverts for Frosties, Shredded Wheat and Weetabix also be banned?

It's good to help?

If everyone worked more than 48 hours a week, it would help the UK economy but would people want that!?!

Embassy talk

Have the Iranian and Pakistani ambassadors in Britain been summoned to advise how they will ensure Sir Salman Rushdie's safety?

Great British Institutions?

Will ID cards become a "Great British institution" on a par with the railways in the 19th century as Home Office minister Liam Byrne claims or on a par with that other great Victorian institution, the workhouse?

Working hard?

"Migrant workers are making a substantial contribution to Britain's economy. They haven't caused mass unemployment or held down wages as some would have us believe." - Brendan Barber, TUC's general secretary.

Consumers save less as household disposable income falls - Financial Times, 29th March 2007.
Karen Ward at HSBC said last quarter's decline in household real disposable income partly reflected workers' inability to secure higher wage rises.

Number of 'economically inactive' hits record high - Thisismoney, 13th June 2007.
Unemployment has fallen and there are fewer jobseekers claiming benefit, but the number of people classed as economically inactive has reached a record high, new figures showed today.

BBC impartiality?

How can any organsiation become "more impartial"?

You are either impartial or you are not impartial!

Improving Britain

If 92% of Labour MPs believe that "the diverse mix of races, cultures and religions now found in our society has improved Britain", how can 94% of Labour MPs also believe that "one of the things that would most improve life in Britain today is people being more tolerant of different ethnic groups and cultures"!?!

Clean record?

Are private hospitals also "struggling to meet key hygiene standards"?

By recognising in an open and honest way that they need to do more, trusts are taking the important steps towards delivering excellence for patients. - Gill Morgan, chief executive of the NHS Confederation.

If a Boeing 747 crashed every month, it would not be good enough for any airline just to admit there was a problem!

Cameron knows!

David Cameron will accuse the chancellor of having a "he knows best" approach.

"I lead. I don't follow my party; I lead them." - David Cameron "knows best" about Grammar schools, 22nd May 2007!

Baaps!

If an unemployed woman can afford to spend £4,250 on breast augmentation rather than raising her two young children, is the welfare state too generous?

A website where women can raise cash for breast implants using personal photos is unsafe and degrading - BBC News website - Friday, 15 June 2007.

Pole-axed

If the European Union are troubled by Poland's intransigence over voting rights, imagine the chaos when Turkey joins!

Number Crunching

11 years - Minimum time spent at school in the UK.
11 million - Number of adults unable to add up two three-figure numbers in the UK.

Off-road driving?

What are the chances of being caught driving whilst over the alcohol limit when only 9% of British drivers were breathalysed in the last three years?

What are the chances of being caught driving with poor eyesight when 10% ofBritish drivers fail to meet the minimum standard!?!

Tax credits

Should "Tax credits treat couple and lone-parent households equally, rather than favouring one family arrangement over the other" when a "lack of father involvement and...other parenting issues" are factors in young black over-representation in the criminal justice system?

While 22% of white British children were in single-parent families, the report said 59% of black Caribbean children were in the same situation.

Advertising through the ages?

The Gatwick Girl!


The Cerne Abbas Giant

Number Crunching

16: Working hours needed for a single mother to earn £487 a week after tax credits.

116: Working hours needed for a two-parent family to earn £487 a week on the minimum wage.

Will the Conservative Party ever challenge this injustice!?!

Tolerant Islamists?

As Hamas appear to be on the verge of victory in Gaza, will it become a beacon of hope for multi-cultural living or an Islamic state ruthlessly crushing all dissent?

How will Britain's liberals excuse the human rights abuses!?!

”This is a victory for Islam and I hope we will build our Islamic state”- Abu Qatada, a masked 22-year-old Hamas fighter, standing outside the smouldering ruin of the Fatah security base.

“We must now complete the job”.

Britain needs more sink estates?

If the Liberal Democrats are proposing to build one million social homes over the next ten years, how will they prevent them becoming sink estates!?!

Would the homes be denied to the "poorest and most vulnerable"!?!

Cultural Briefing Packs

How many languages would "Cultural Briefing Packs" need to be translated into?

Has the Commission on Integration and Cohesion considered immigration curbs or is all immigration still good for the UK!?!

Towns and cities across the UK are expected to be far more ethnically diverse in future.

Who voted for that to happen!?!

Hide and don't seek?

How much effort will Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs put into tracing the 200,000 offshore bank account holders that they haven't got up-to-date addresses for!?! Can't they just ask the banks!?!

HMRC has details on about 400,000 accounts held with the offshore branches of major EU and UK banks. They are only sending a letter [about unpaid taxes] to about 200,000 people whose address details they can be sure of.

The Real Life of Brian?

The only people we hate more than the Romans are the f*****g Judean People's Front. - Reg, Spokesman for the People's Front of Judea. Life of Brian- 1979.

The only people we hate more than the Israelis are f*****g Hamas - Fatah spokesman?

The only people we hate more than the Israelis are f*****g Fatah - Hamas spokesman?

EU know who!

When will the British Government give our EU partners biometric data taken from the national identity card database!?!

"Criminals do not respect borders" - Home Office minister Joan Ryan

As "the UK's DNA database is reported to be the largest in the world, half as large again as the databases of all other member states put together", will UK citizens receive more European Arrest Warrants than all other member states put together too!?!

Beastliness

Was the media "like a feral beast" when Labour used it to target Tory sleaze before the 1997 General Election!?!

Age Discrimination

Would a single Equality Bill 'tackling' age discrimination outlaw free bus passes for the over 65s, senior citizen discounts at B&Q or half price hair-cuts!?!

A Wealthy Education?

If wealth is used as a proxy for parental academic achievement, is research that children from disadvantaged homes are up to a year behind in their learning than those from more privileged backgrounds by the age of 3 surprising?

How will increasing benefits change anything?

HM Ridiculous Costs (HMRC)

If a Government contract was signed for £3.0bn with estimated profits of £300m yet actual costs are £8.5bn, shouldn't Cap Gemini be nursing a loss of £5.5bn rather than a profit of £1bn!?!

A HMRC spokesman said government auditors concluded the contract was offering good value for money.

The benefits of multi-culturalism?

Honour crimes 'increasing in UK'
Miss Mahmod's father and uncle ordered the murder because they believed she had shamed the family, the three-month trial at the Old Bailey heard.

If one culture 'tolerates' honour killing whilst another values life more than anything else, which one should prevail in the UK?

Why doesn't the BBC go into more detail about why the family disapproved of boyfriend Rahmat Sulemani!?!

GCSE History

“[It is] insulting to the hard work of pupils and teachers to claim that the education system is just a political football in order to promote political or social goals” –Schools Minister Jim Knight.

Edexcel’s 2008 and 2009 Nominated Topics for GCSE History:

Conscientious Objectors and their treatment: the First and Second World Wars.
The Poll Tax protests 1990-1992.
The Tolpuddle trade unionists and the response of the Authorities.
Dealing with political protest: the Suffragettes.

Cost in Translation?

Does Ruth Kelly believe that Southall's railway nameplate should be changed to "encourage immigrants to learn English"?

Scotland The Poor

How can Scotland be the "worst small country" in Western Europe when it's been a Labour fiefdom for decades? Should they have been voting Conservative instead!?!

Does Scotland need Gordon Brown's 'Vision and leadership' more than England now!?!

Bob the Biller

If Transport for London (TfL) does not keep a record of the days worked by it's former Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley, how can the taxpayer be sure they haven't paid £737,000 (!!) for 230 days in error!?!

Biased Broadcasting Corporation?

Tory suspended over racist e-mail
A Conservative parliamentary hopeful has been removed from the list of candidates and suspended from the party over the forwarding of a racist e-mail.

Race probe over Mandela costume
A Tory councillor has been reported to the Commission for Racial Equality after he used make up to colour his face and posed as Nelson Mandela.

Racist abuse councillor suspended
A councillor has been suspended after admitting shouting racist abuse at a black footballer.

The BBC merely implies David Phythian is a Labour Councillor in the fourth paragraph!

The local Labour group at West Lancashire District Council said Phythian was suspended.

Drunk PC

Given that a Police Road Safety officer should know more about the consequences of drink driving than other drivers, shouldn't PC Andy Walker be sacked immediately?

The court was told he had consumed two pints of beer and a glass of wine at the party. He waited for 30 minutes in the car park of the hotel for a taxi but when one did not arrive he decided he was fit enough to drive home.

How many other times has he driven whilst over the limit in his twenty year career without being spotted!?!

Labour isn't working?

The [Conservative] party was contacted several times during the writing of this article [about unemployment] but eventually declined to comment, saying it was still researching the issue.

It is probably happy not to remind voters that unemployment subsequently rose above 3 million after Margaret Thatcher won that 1979 election.

Never doubt the BBC's ability to attack the Tories whenever they can!

Is unemployment no longer an issue as the welfare state is now so generous!?!

Home sweet Hain?

How can Peter Hain be "needlessly inoffensive " to Labour's core supporters when he believes their needs should not have priority over foreign nationals for housing or healthcare!?!

E-petition

Could we petition for a vote of confidence in David Cameron!?!

"I would like to see a system whereby, if enough people sign an online petition in favour of a particular motion, then a debate is held in Parliament, followed by a vote - so that the public know what their elected representatives actually think about the issues that matter to them." -David Cameron.

Independent Asylum Commission (2)

How independent is the "Independent Asylum Commission"?

It consists of eight individuals; Revd Dr Cannon Nicholas Sagovsky, Katie Ghose, Dr Shammit Saggar, Lord David Ramsbotham GCB CBE, Dr Sylvia Casale, Earl of Sandwich, Zrinka Bralo and Jacqueline Parlevliet.

Muslims have a good deal to complain about, but no more than do young black men, the worst-treated pariah group of all - Professor Shammit Saggar

The G-word?

Is gingerism as bad as racism? - BBC News website.

When will mocking the middle or upper classes be as bad!?!

Mercury rising?

How many Europeans have died of mercury poisoning in the last twenty years?

If even US states, the latest being New Hampshire, are passing laws banning mercury devices in a country where environmental issues are not usually a priority, I cannot see why the European Union should carry on allowing their production. - British Labour MEP, Linda McAvan.

Capital punishment is a legal form of punishment for the crime of capital murder in New Hampshire, when will Linda McAvan be proposing this in the European Union!?!

Tax crackdown

Can it be assumed that MPs 'employing' their spouses or children are exempt from the Treasury crackdown "on married couples who create companies based around one spouse’s work."

Independent Asylum Commission

Any bets on the conclusions of the 'Independent Asylum Commission' trawling the UK for "first-hand accounts of dawn raids on asylum seekers" when the "panel of experts includ[es] peers, a former judge and a bishop"?

Drink to that!?!

Ministers proposing 'Britain Day'
A national day to promote a stronger sense of British identity, and prevent communities from becoming more divided, has been suggested by two ministers.

English 'booze culture' targeted
Ministers want to change the "English drinking culture" and the willingness to accept drunkenness and anti-social behaviour as a "normal" part of life.

Trident Replacement

Who opposes a replacement for Trident now ?

2012 Olympic logo

How could it cost £400,000 to design this logo for the 2012 London Olympics?

It looks like one of those stupid puzzles you might find in a cheap Christmas cracker from Woolworths!

Update: Theo Sparks has the low down...

History Lessons!

Did King James I offer to fund the training of Catholic Priests following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605!?!

Prison board & lodging?

If prisoners ‘can claim thousands of pounds’ over delays to their parole due to incompetence within the Prison Service, will the Prison Service remember to deduct the additional costs of board and lodging incurred?

Islamgeld?

Why will £1m of taxpayers money really "improv[e] community cohesion and its contribution to preventing extremism" by training Imams in Britain rather than relying on overseas Imams?

Shouldn't the Muslim community be funding it!?!

Can the £2bn annual cost of the UK's anti-terrorism security be reduced by £1m to compensate the taxpayer!?!

Conservative Policy development

"Grammar school policy will now be...."