Excuses excuses?

How often do benefit claimants use "unacceptable" excuses when missing their appointments to sign-on!?!

Blood money?

Should compensation for rape be determined by the rapist's individual wealth or the seriousness of the crime!?!

What would have happened if Iorworth Hoare had opted for anonymity after becoming a lotto millionaire!?!

The wealth of welfare?

Why is the NHS looking to "build-in" the extra capacity needed at maternity units to cope with increasing numbers of foreign mothers giving birth rather than calling for cuts in immigration to reduce their supply!?!

Does giving birth offer foreign mothers a wealth of welfare benefits and a British passport!?!

Cheese eating bankrupt monkeys?

Is the French Government allowed to threaten action against a hostile take over of Societe Generale under European Union law!?!

Some cynics might suggest the French would ignore any EU legislation conflicting with their national interest!

Careless England

Why are the disabled and elderly struggling to receive social care in England when it's free in Scotland!?!

What are the Conservative Party doing to highlight and challenge this gross injustice!?!

Unhealthy Service?

Why would senior civil servants want the UK to provide medical treatment for an 81-year-old Islamic cleric who defends suicide bombings and the execution of homosexuals!?!

Benefit cheats

What's the point in tracking down benefit cheats if they are not imprisoned or made to pay the benefits back!?!

"The 29-year-old conned benefits staff into paying him nearly £25,000 before his lies began to unravel. "

Despite all that 'tracking' technology, "An immigration officer spotted him at the wheel of a Mercedes wearing expensive clothes with his wife in the passenger seat dressed in a fur coat."

Would the fraud have been prevented if benefit claimants were forced to have biometric ID cards?

Hat tip: The Dumb one

Gordon's jobs

Will anyone want to employ Gordon Brown when he eventually leaves office!?!

"[Tony Blair's] appointment comes less than three weeks after [taking] a similar role with investment bank JP Morgan worth a reported £500,000 a year."

Raltegravir

Will the new HIV treatment Raltegravir be restricted to NHS patients living low risk lifestyles just as certain treatments are withheld from smokers or the obese!?!

Career pregnancies

Are condoms the solution to cutting teenage pregnancies when it's a career move!?!

"Mr Bryant said he had also been told by a teacher that a girl told her she was not trying hard because she planned to get pregnant the next year and would not be returning to school."

Dreaming Arches of Oxford?

Cookery classes to be compulsory
"The move is part of the strategy to tackle obesity, as experts believe 1m children will be obese in a decade."

McDonald's 'A-level' is launched
"Fast-food giant McDonald's has become one of the first firms to offer its own nationally recognised qualifications."

Giving, giving, gone!

Why would any member of the public want to give £3,000 to a candidate in Labour's deputy leadership contest last year!?!

"Bad Apples" at HMRC

What is Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs (HMRC) doing to identify and remove staff that cannot be trusted to maintain the confidentiality of taxpayers' records?

"The system is secure. We do trust our own people but as with all things there are bad apples" - HMRC spokesman.

If online filing is not good enough for MPs or VIPs, why is it good enough for the rest of us!?!

Banking on trouble ahead?

Just as old Generals tend to "fight the last war", banking regulations will never be good enough to prevent the next banking crisis, just the last one!

Afterall, civil servants are bureaucrats, not futurologists!

Striking amount of holidays!

Will teachers be striking for better pay during their six week summer holiday, one of three week long half-term holidays or during the two weeks holiday both at Christmas and Easter!?!

Resignation

Peter Hain has resigned to spend more time with his solarium...

Was he really that worried about an incompetent Police investigation!?!

All for free and free for all!

What prevents NHS hospitals from charging private patients in advance of treatment to ensure they have no bad debts to write off?

Not all overseas patients are charged!

Spendemic

"Five million people, or one in 10 adults, [and one Government] spend more than they earn on a monthly basis".

New IDeas!

Good news for IT contractors working on national identity cards, your contracts have just been extended for another two years!

Would the roll out of ID cards exclusively amongst benefit claimants reduce benefit fraud by more than current Department for Work and Pensions schemes!?!

Cooking the lessons?

Will school children be stealing knives from cookery lessons to avoid school metal detectors!?!

How many school children be able to read the recipes and calculate when different ingredients need to start being cooked if they are all to be ready at the same time!?!

School of Northern Rocks!

How is spending £825m of British taxpayer's money on India's poorest children "protecting British taxpayers"!?!

"He [Gordon Brown] said the money would be used to train 300,000 new teachers and build 300,000 new classrooms, meaning 4m more children would receive an education."

In other news: "UK public borrowing surged last month to show the biggest deficit since records began a decade ago."

Gordon, steady as she sinks!

Real world policing

How many private sector jobs provide a full pension after just thrity years of service and don't base pay levels on "skills or performance"!?!

Knives in the playground

What will the punishment be for pupils found carrying knives into school, a thirty minute detention or is that a breach of their human rights!?!

Holiday commitments

I'll be on holiday until January 20th so the lack of incisive or witty comments on the current state of British politics will continue for another week...

Hain the Olympian?

An Olympian is disgraced, imprisoned for six months and loses five gold medals for cheating the system despite "winning".

A politician is not disgraced, imprisoned or loses his office for cheating the system but has the Prime Minister's "full confidence"!

EU knows!

Is the 5% increase in EU students at British Universities last year when the number of English undergraduates fell 2% because the chances of EU students being tracked down to repay student loans in a couple of years are so low!?!

Ticket tape

Why should a secondary market in entertainment events be any different to the secondary market in stocks and shares?

Passing off failure?

How many schools would be below the "floor target" for GCSE attainment if GCSE pass rates could not be manipulated!?!

When the best school at GSCE level nationally last year was a grammar school, why are no politicians promising to create more of them!?!

Unhealthy Muslims!?!

A little alcohol 'can be healthy'

Low vitamin D heart health risk
"There are concerns that many people, including the elderly, pregnant women and those who wear all-concealing clothing do not get enough of the vitamin."

Beggars can't be choosers

If the stock market currently values Northern Rock at just 89.75p per share, on what basis can hedge fund SRM "warn" the Chancellor that he should only consider nationalisation at 400p per share!?!

"UK taxpayers are now exposed to the troubled bank to the tune of £57bn in direct loans and guarantees."

Thought for the day

Should Police Officers be expected to serve as Prison Officers for ten years rather than retire after just thirty years of service!?!

Their experience would be relevant, they would save the taxpayer a fortune in pensions and would reduce the risk of striking prison officers!

The University of British Life?

Why is the BBC worried about a "fake university" when the foreign students may also be fake overstaying their educational visas without consequence!?!

Benefits of Inaction?

How does Kate Green from the Child Poverty Action Group know that the level of benefit fraud is low when condemning Conservative proposals to reduce the number of benefit claimants?

Fraudulent claimants are caught not counted.

Public sector pay regression?

How many private sector workers knows their pay rises for the next three years!?!

As the economy sours, many private sector workers will get no pay rise at all!

"Mr Darling is expected to argue that the new longer-term agreement will guarantee earnings growth for 5.5 million workers [in time for the next election!?!]"

Sour sixteen?

If young people "can't know what they'll want at age 20 when they're 16" about a military career, why should they be allowed to vote at 16!?!

Student non-visas

Why bother issuing student visas when they can expire without consequence!?!

Are immigration officers allowed to choose which parts of Government legislation they wish to enforce!?!

"He [Border and Immigration Agency, director of enforcement Jonathan Lindley] said the policy on dealing with out-of-time applications was currently under review and asked that officers did not proceed with enforcing any student refusal cases unless "deemed to be a priority".

PS Is that better Mark!?!

Britain - the new Pakistan!?!

Would any 'white' bishop be allowed to say that "Islamic extremism has turned some communities into no-go areas for people of a different faith or race"!?!

Will such areas become the new 'Pakistan' to Britain's 'India' in future!?!

Where is Dr Michael Nazir-Ali's evidence to support his claims!?!

UK's oldest emigrant

Lived through two World Wars, Ted Heath, Jim Callaghan, the winter of discontent and even Maggie, but after just six months of Gordon Brown......

UK's oldest emigrant sails to NZ

Migrant lessons

What are the economic benefits of allowing immigrants into the UK who have "low levels of literacy" in their own language or "without a secondary education"?

Why employ immigrants when you are expected to pay for everyones English language lessons!?!

Global Fellowship Programme

Will the new £1.4m "Global Fellowship" programme merely become a taxpayer subsidised recrutiment scheme for Shell, HSBC and Tesco amongst others?

"School and college leavers in England are to get the chance to compete for six-week educational trips abroad. "

"It has the support of some businesses, including Shell, HSBC and Tesco, which will show successful students their operations in the chosen countries."

PS Each trip will cost £14,000!!

Sharp Elbowed Middle Classes?

Will Michael Gove's "sharp elbowed middle class parents" use the new league table of gifted pupils to identify the best schools for their little darlings!?!

Can we assume Michael Gove doesn't want the "sharp elbowed middle class" to vote Conservative!?!

Number Crunching

'No two-tier NHS' under reforms.

NHS 'now four different systems'!

Protecting the Public?

"Those figures show that the murder rate is not soaring as a result of the abolition of capital punishment but remains remarkably stable." - Then Home Secretary James Callaghan on the abolition of hanging in the UK - December 1969.

"The rate of homicides peaked in the mid-1990s. In 1995 14.5 homicides were committed per million of population. Since the early 1960s the number of homicides per million population has more than doubled." - Page 15, House of Commons Research Paper, 'A century of change, trends in UK statistics since 1900.'

Kenya

Is Kenya another example of multi-culturalism not working!?!

"Most of the victims were members of the same Kikuyu ethnic group as the newly re-elected President Mwai Kibaki."

"Eldoret, in the Rift Valley, has witnessed some of the worst violence since Sunday's controversial poll and has a history of inter-ethnic tension."

Constitutionally speaking?

Why don't supermarkets need constitutions so that customers know what to expect?

Would Northern Rock have been saved if it had had a constitution!?!

Provocative!

When will the Government follow Richard Branson's lead and tell public sector workers threatening to strike over pay levels that they should get stuffed resign and get a job elsewhere if they want a pay rise!?!

I might even end my self-imposed ban on buying Virgin branded products!

Pork barrel education?

How are the best state schools in middle class areas continuing to improve compared to poorer areas when schools in 'disadvantaged' areas have received the biggest funding increases?

Have the increases been wasted!?!

Is discipline more important than money!?!

University of life?

Will lecturers sacrifice some of their recent pay increases so that English undergraduates don't face tuition fees of upto £7,000 per year!?!

"Around 12,000 staff earn top salaries [ of more than £50,000] compared to just 2,000 a decade ago."

Number Crunching

75,000 - CIPD net forecast for new jobs in 2008.
275,000 - CEBR forecast for jobs taken by migrant workers in 2008.

Good vibrations?

Which "Tory policies are resonating with the public"!?!

'Green coal', a "Progressive Alliance " with the Liberal Democrats or no new Grammar schools!?!

Teenage pregnancy

Would the Government have more success in reducing the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe if it removed services and welfare benefits that make life easier for teenage mothers and force them to be more of a burden to their own families?

Teenagers need to be responsible and held accountable for their own actions.

Cowboys and Native Americans!

After ten short years in power, some educational common sense from the Government!

"Boys in nursery schools should not be discouraged from playing with toy guns and other weapons".

When will the Government shoot sack the teachers who oppose this!?!

"I think this is a clear example of gender stereotyping." - Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT.

Soar-away super-rich

Is Brendan Barber, the TUC General Secretary, attacking the "soar away super-rich" as they don't have to endure the public services his members 'offer' to the rest of the nation!?!

Cowards afraid of democracy?

The murderers of Benazir Bhutto are "cowards afraid of democracy" - Gordon Brown.

Brown rules out autumn election - October 2007

Pour encourager les autres?

How many schools would improve only if more weak teachers were sacked!?!

"Failing schools improve fastest when they are "twinned" with successful ones [ ] but may first involve removing weak teachers"

250,000 qualified teachers no longer work in England's schools!

"In this country, it is wise to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others" - Voltaire.

EU feeling faint?

How much power has Britain given away following the signing of the Lisbon Treaty just last week!?!

Plans to end health queues in EU
"The European Commission will propose that any EU citizen should be entitled to care elsewhere, if the treatment is allowed in their own state."

BBC - Britain's Benefit Culture?

Is single mum Carol Jackson really below the official poverty line of £265 when her weekly income of £219.63 is topped up by free rent (£50), free council tax (£22.95), free school dinners, free dental costs and "several other expenses"?

Why isn't she able to work 40 hours per week like most people!?!
"At the razorblade factory, they were offering 27 hours' work a week on the minimum wage of £5.52 an hour. This meant Carol's weekly wage would be £149.04."

Would she have had fewer children if the state didn't pay her to raise them? It would be a far more effective way of reducing child poverty!

Despite the BBC profile, does Carol get a discount on her TV licence!?!

Change is in the air?

Good to see that Liberal Democrats are as decisive as ever....

20,988 votes for Nick Clegg.
20,477 votes for Chris Huhne!

"We want to change politics and change Britain" - Nick Clegg.

"I said when I launched my campaign that we needed to change in order to win." - David Cameron.

"Let the work of change begin." - Gordon Brown.

It's dark up north!

Lung cancer 'link to lack of sun'

North West cancer deaths 'higher'

Food for thought?

Will large increases in world food prices lead to large cuts in European food subsidies!?!

Why aren't farmers the greatest beneficiaries of 40% price increases rather than the greatest victims!?!

"Without support for poor farmers and their families in the hardest-hit countries, they will not be able to cope" - FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.

Mugged by Labour?

If parts of central London are blighted by high crime rates, why do the residents keep voting Labour!?!

"It's a terrible area for crime, the police don't seem to do anything about it. I'm afraid to walk around the streets late at night because you just don't know what will happen." - Resident John Lutchman, 60

National Health Socialism (NHS)

The NHS condemns anyone who dares to improve their chances of surviving breast cancer by buying additional drugs!

Hospital Gourmet?

Would hospital food be better if patients had to pay for it!?!

Restaurants providing poor quality food rapidly go out of business!

No Go4 Hajj!

"I am ashamed to say to my friends that these are Muslims who have taken our money." - Fake visa scam victim Dr Nadim Nayar, £25,000 out of pocket.

Would Dr Nayar have found it more acceptable if Christians had taken his money!?!

Good news for Labour!

Bright poor children 'slip back' - BBC News online

"It's a terrible thing that children from poor backgrounds, who are bright, end up actually not getting a very good start in life.

They end up in schools that aren't very good and end up poor as adults and that's a terrible waste of talent and it's also basically wrong, it's just unfair." - Sutton Trust chairman Sir Peter Lampl.

Poorer adults tend to vote Labour...

Lightsabers to be banned next!?!

Why aren't existing laws enough to prevent the murder of five people with Samurai swords in recent years!?!

"Anyone breaching the ban [on Samurai swords] will face six months in jail and a £5,000 fine."

Number Crunching

£450m - UK "Development funding" for Afghanistan announced today.

£30m - Unaffordable cost of funding Police pay rises agreed through arbitration.

Scotched Police?

If Scottish Police have received the full 2.5% pay rise as agreed through arbitration, why do they need to consider strike action!?!

"Every police officer in the UK is to be balloted over whether they want to lobby for the right to strike."

Straw man statistics

How can Jack Straw be sure that only 1% of the 11,000 early release prisoners have committed a further offence when 2m crimes are never investigated and more than 50% of criminals reoffend overall?

Reasons to torture?

60 reasons why "water-boarding" should be used in extreme cases?

"These are crimes that targeted innocent people. Students and school children were among the victims. Nothing can justify the crime" - Algerian Prime Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem.

Buying votes with other people's money?

If David Cameron really wants to help householders facing sharp increases in their mortgage payments next year, why not offer the electorate tax cuts!?!

Ball Games here?

Will the Government pay for damaged cars or broken windows when ball games are played in residential areas!?!

"No Ball Games" signs exist for a reason!

Police pay rises please?

Do Police forces in England and Wales deserve higher pay rises when they can track down Welsh rugby international star Gavin Henson and arrest someone who walks into a Police station but ignore 2m other crimes!?!

No Balls games!

When will Ed Balls introduce job centres at schools so that 'disadvantaged' parents can drop their children off at school, collect their benefits and ignore local vacancies each day!?!

"Social services information and welfare support for parents will be located in school buildings, along with counselling and advice for helping with their children's behaviour or health problems."

Conrad Blackened?

Why does the BBC consider that the most important currently in the UK is Conrad Black's six-and-a-half year prison sentence?

Is it because he defrauded shareholders or that he used to own a right-leaning newspaper!?!

Education, Education, Education?

After one decade in power, why aren't schools already "world class" under Labour especially when they now cost the taxpayer £49.5bn per year!?!

Is Labour doomed to failure by encouraging the "disadvantaged" to have more children when they have neither the motivation nor the knowledge to help in education of their own children!?!

Cost in translation?

"Councils urged to translate less" - BBC News online.
"Sometimes translating big annual reports into lots of languages which very few people read isn't the best use of money." - Hazel Blears

"News and audio in 33 languages" - BBC News online language translations!

The Rise and Fall of the House of Threadneedle Street?

Where was the pressure on the Bank of England to curb house price increases by raising interest rates in the last couple of years?

The Bank of England should resist pressure to cut interest rates to protect housing wealth as it is responsible for keeping non-asset inflation at 2%.

Even so, it will be difficult for the MPC to ignore house price declines when the committee all own houses!

Department of no workers or pay?

If Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) staff are unhappy about their pay and conditions, they should resign and get a job elsewhere rather than go on strike.

No one forces them to work at the DWP thanks to Labour's record employment levels. Other employers are bound to recognise their good work ethic, low abseentism and ability to cope with change in an endless bureaucracy!

"29.07 million people were in work in April to June, one of the highest figures on record" - Source: DWP!

Panic, I'm Islamic!

With 1.6m Muslims living in the UK, what were the chances that the BBC would make a programme, "Don't panic, I'm Islamic" featuring Mohammed Hamid who is now accused of Islamic terrorism!?!

"The BBC paid for Mr Hamid and fellow defendants Muhammad al-Figari and Mousa Brown to go on a paintballing trip at the Delta Force centre in Tonbridge, Kent, in February 2005. The men, accused of terrorism training, were filmed for a BBC programme called Don’t Panic, I’m Islamic, screened in June 2005. "

Prison lottery?

Should similar crimes receive similar prison sentences or should the punishment vary depending upon whether there are any prison 'vacancies'!?!

"Lord Carter of Coles will advise jail sentences in certain cases should be given only if there are empty cells - in a bid to balance demand with supply."

Educational nightmare

Would a "growing proportion of middle-class parents" be giving up on a state education if secondary schools were rising up an international league table of reading and maths standards?

How many working class parents would want their children to be educated privately if they could afford it but are condemned to a state education!?!

"In 2000, the UK was placed eighth in maths and seventh in reading - the UK in the latest table is in 24th place for maths and 17th for literacy."

"In 1996 the government spent £27.2bn in the UK on education, by 2006 yearly spending had risen to £49.5bn, the ONS said"

Return of the Do-gooder?

"The Sudanese people I found to be extremely kind and generous and until this happened I only had a good experience. I wouldn't like to put anyone off going to Sudan." - Gillian Gibbons.

Has Gillian learnt nothing about the Darfur region of Sudan!?!

"The United Nations (UN) estimates that the conflict has left as many as 450,000 dead from violence and disease"

"The Sudanese government has suppressed information by jailing and killing witnesses since 2004 and tampered with evidence such as mass graves to eliminate their forensic values"

Unfair?

How many of the 1.92m traffic fines issued in 2005 were not paid as the drivers were unlicenced, unregistered, uninsured and untraceable?

Which group of drivers are the greatest risk to other road users!?!

Number Crunching

64.1% - Vladimir Putin's share of vote in Russia.
35.3% - Tony Blair's share of vote in 2005.
0.0% - Gordon Brown's share of vote in 2007.

"Merging of the state and a political party is an abuse of power and clear violation of international standards." - Goran Lennmarker, head of the OSCE’s Parliamentary Assembly.

Crony row as Labour peers grab lucrative quango posts.

Rewarding illegality?

Are politicians wanting publicly funded political parties to avoid more illegal donations like tax evaders who want to be exempt from paying tax because they've been caught!?!

Parliamentary them and us?

"This is a case which is unfortunate, unintentional, innocent misunderstanding, and as British Muslim parliamentarians we, Baroness Warsi and myself, we feel proud that we've been able to secure Gillian Gibbons's release." - Lord Ahmed on the release of Gillian Gibbons

Why was Lord Ahmed unable to describe himself as a mere British parliamentarian!?!

Child Poverty

Why do people who cannot afford to raise their own children keep producing more!?!

"The [Joseph Rowntree Foundation] report is also concerned that the number of children in working families that need to escape poverty is rising."

Do Government targets to reduce child poverty encourage poorer people to have more if they know the state will pay for their upbringing!?!

When in Rome?

Why should any immigrant expect that local laws and customs will not apply to them!?!

Number Crunching

3.2m People working more than 48 hours per week.

so that

8.0m Economically inactive people don't have to!?!

Dodgy Dossier Donation

Is there a greater penalty for breaking electoral law than merely repaying a dodgy donation!?!

Trevor Phillips

How can Trevor Phillips stand up and say that good schools "should consider limiting places for middle-class pupils to admit more children from poor homes" when his own children are being educated privately?

"The goal is to ensure that no school has more than a certain percentage on free school meals, or more than a quarter under-performing on regular tests."

Freedom of speech?

When will the Oxford Union invite Gillian Gibbons and the editor of Jyllands-Posten to talk about freedom of speech?

Where are the anti-fascist protestors!?!

2020 vision?

3m extra homes to be built by 2020.

80% of English teenagers will get five good GCSEs by 2020.

Equal pay for men and women by 2020.

Britons to "work longer" by 2020.

What's Gordon's 'vision', apart from keeping power!?!

Fuelling resentments?

Should we welcome news that fuel costs could rise by 10% in January if it reduces energy consumption, helps to save the planet whilst reducing the amount of money that can be spent on cigarettes and alcohol!?!

The Government clearly thinks it's good news as it's just promised an additional £700m in aid to Uganda to "fight poverty"!

PS How can the Government continue to offer aid to the Third World when it's seriously overdrawn!?!

Buy-to-lose mortgages?

When Northern Rock has received a £25bn loan from the British taxpayer to keep it running, why should shareholders expect any return on their investment or have a say in who should be allowed to buy it out!?!

Northern Rock should have been allowed to fail, shareholders should have lost their shirts!

Correct Grammar?

If Grammar schools are "ghettos for the advantaged" that are "potentially beneficial" for those attending from higher and lower income groups, when will the Conservative Party offer to create more of them?

Consulting the masses?

Has better pay for MPs translated into better legislation and a better quality of life for the UK's electorate!?!

"A Committee of Public Accounts report says consultant pay rose by 27% in two years to an average of £110,000, after a new contract was introduced in 2003. But working hours decreased, and figures suggest productivity fell by 0.5% in the first year of the contract."

MPs' £87.6m expenses claim bill

Ex-MPs 'struggle to find new job'

'MPs should cut summer holiday'

Every cloud...

After Northern Rock and the HMRC debacle, some good news for Gordon Brown...

England fail to quailfy for Euro 2008!

At least Gordon is no longer the least popular man in England!

Security Improvements

Would security improve at HMRC if more people were sick more of the time!?!

PS How many fraudsters will use news of this security breach to 'defraud' their own accounts and blame it on parties unknown!?!

PPS Are the chickens coming home to roost for Polish parents fraudulently claiming child benefit both in the UK and Poland!?!