If reforms costing £540m have failed to improve the CSA, and in some aspects even worsened it (!), on what basis does the Government think that spending another £560m will improve the CSA by 2010?
Is it the same logic that suggests spending just another £x bn will reduce poverty in Africa?
Friday, June 30, 2006
Where did the electorate go?
Labour party chairman Hazel Blears has described the Bromley by-election result as an "absolute disaster" for the Conservatives, even though they retained the seat despite haemorraging 12,000 votes!
Despite Hazel's claims, tactical voting appears to have broken down in Bromley, Labour lost 8,000 votes yet the Liberal Democrat vote only increased by 1,600.
The real disaster in Bromley is that not even half the electorate were sufficiently engaged with politics to vote, nearly 20,000 voters disappeared!
Despite Hazel's claims, tactical voting appears to have broken down in Bromley, Labour lost 8,000 votes yet the Liberal Democrat vote only increased by 1,600.
The real disaster in Bromley is that not even half the electorate were sufficiently engaged with politics to vote, nearly 20,000 voters disappeared!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
No remission
Murderers do it, thieves do it, rapists do it but those imprisoned for non-payment of council tax or fines don't...
Qualify for parole half way through their sentence.
Courtesy of Laban Tall.
Qualify for parole half way through their sentence.
Courtesy of Laban Tall.
Institutional religious intolerance
Is the UK government guilty of "institutional religious intolerance" if it prevents children possessed by witchcraft from being 'cured'!?!
If such cases are acceptable in Africa, should the UK make an exception for them here!?! What a delicious dilemma for white, middle class liberals...
Whatever happened to the Christian missionaries who were supposed to convert them!?!
If such cases are acceptable in Africa, should the UK make an exception for them here!?! What a delicious dilemma for white, middle class liberals...
Whatever happened to the Christian missionaries who were supposed to convert them!?!
Net pay
Now that Tony Blair endorses "equal prize money" at Wimblemdon and Roger Federer considers the disparity to be "so small that you might as well just make it equal", will he be troubled if the men's prize is reduced by £30,000 to the women's level!?!
Why should men be expected to play an extra set in future if their pay is the same!?!
Why should men be expected to play an extra set in future if their pay is the same!?!
Institutionally racist prisons?
Would prison staff have been guilty of 'racism' if they have only allowed white prisoners to share a prison cell with psychopathic killer Robert Stewart?
Stewart "should have stood out" two years before he attacked Zahid Mubarek but apparently a tattoo, "RIP", on his forehead didn't suggest anything untoward in his personality!
I certainly wouldn't want to share a cell with him!
Stewart "should have stood out" two years before he attacked Zahid Mubarek but apparently a tattoo, "RIP", on his forehead didn't suggest anything untoward in his personality!
I certainly wouldn't want to share a cell with him!
So what!
Are Britons really so stupid that they listen to what two washed up singers, Bob Geldof and Annie Lennox, think about whether promises made in haste last July about Africa have been kept or not?
KKK
If no official complaints have been made about two members of the public gate crashing a carnival dressed as members of the Klu Klux Klan, why has Cumbria Police decided to investigate whether any race hate laws have been breached?
Would Police time be better spent focusing on violent crime in Cumbria?
Would Police time be better spent focusing on violent crime in Cumbria?
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Euro apologies
Will people who called for the UK to join the Euro "otherwise foreign direct investment will dry up" apologise for the error of their ways!?!
The UK received more foreign direct investment than any other country in the world last year.
Naturally, the BBC can't let this story pass without praising Gordon Brown - "It's a vision of Britain that Gordon Brown has promoted."!
The UK received more foreign direct investment than any other country in the world last year.
Naturally, the BBC can't let this story pass without praising Gordon Brown - "It's a vision of Britain that Gordon Brown has promoted."!
Easy porridge!
If nearly half of all Scottish prisoners are back in prison within two years of their release, does this show that prisons are not working or life inside should be harder if prison is to act as a deterrent?
Why not increase all prison sentences by an extra two years!?!
Why not increase all prison sentences by an extra two years!?!
Smoking pays...
Why is a healthy baby not a sufficient reward for pregnant women in Tayside who stop smoking? They will be rewarded for not smoking by being offered cinema tickets and grocery vouchers.
Will non-smoking mothers be penalised for being sensible and be denied the cinema tickets and grocery vouchers!?!
Will non-smoking mothers be penalised for being sensible and be denied the cinema tickets and grocery vouchers!?!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Positive protest
If a proposed National Front march has been banned in Bedfordshire "as no positives can be taken from [it] being allowed to go ahead", what "positives" did Police expect from a certain protest in February?
New Labour Varnish
"In fact, we have done exactly what it said on the tin." - Tony Blair.
New Labour Varnish - Applied to the UK in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Gives everything a smooth, new appearance that looks great for a couple of years but does nothing to prevent the decay beneath the surface.
With apologies to Ronseal.
New Labour Varnish - Applied to the UK in 1997, 2001 and 2005. Gives everything a smooth, new appearance that looks great for a couple of years but does nothing to prevent the decay beneath the surface.
With apologies to Ronseal.
Real life maths lessons
To keep England's teenagers more interested in maths, new "real life" lessons are planned using examples about football, fashion and the Olympics, not that teenagers are one-dimensional stereotypes or anything...
Liverpool are playing Manchester United, if Liverpool score one goal, what is the minimum number of goals Manchester United need to win the match?
If a football game lasts 90 minutes and the teams have been playing for 33 minutes, how many minutes of the game remain?
300 hooligans riot following a football match, if Police only manage to arrest 1% of them, how many escape to riot another day?
With the UK having the highest level of teenage pregnancies in Europe, would it be more appropriate if lessons were focused on the welfare benefits available...
You are 19 years old, unemployed with one child, how much extra benefits will you receive if you have a second child?
With the UK having the highest level of teenage pregnancies in Europe, would it be more appropriate if lessons were focused on the welfare benefits available...
Top heavy top shelf!
Claire Curtis-Thomas MP wants magazines like 'Zoo' and 'Nuts' to be restricted to the top shelf as they are "repulsive" and "degrading to women".
Does she also want magazines such as New Woman - currently featuring a guide on kinky sex, "Spanking paddles at the ready, girls" - moved to the top shelf?
Would any magazines be left on the bottom shelves!?!
Does she also want magazines such as New Woman - currently featuring a guide on kinky sex, "Spanking paddles at the ready, girls" - moved to the top shelf?
Would any magazines be left on the bottom shelves!?!
Monday, June 26, 2006
Number crunching
3 month prison sentence for:
Hit and run driver who killed a three year old girl and admitted careless driving, having no licence or insurance, failing to stop and failing to report an accident.
Not paying your council tax.
The Respect Squad
If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the Respect Squad.
However, unlike the A-team, they will not spring into action but "offer the chance of a swift resolution" by coming up with "recommendations" to tackle anti-social behaviour that "will be passed to the chairman of the crime disorder reduction partnership (CDRP)"...
What can the CDRP do next? It has to be assumed that the Respect squad would only be used when existing agencies, including the CDRP, have failed to achieve anything.
John Reid is simply adding another layer of bureaucracy destined for failure. Meanwhile, discipline in many schools is in freefall.
However, unlike the A-team, they will not spring into action but "offer the chance of a swift resolution" by coming up with "recommendations" to tackle anti-social behaviour that "will be passed to the chairman of the crime disorder reduction partnership (CDRP)"...
What can the CDRP do next? It has to be assumed that the Respect squad would only be used when existing agencies, including the CDRP, have failed to achieve anything.
John Reid is simply adding another layer of bureaucracy destined for failure. Meanwhile, discipline in many schools is in freefall.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Formula politics
Why is there no mention of the Liberal Democrat's review of the Barnett formula on the BBC's England section?
If The SNP warn[s] that changing the system would result in Scottish spending cuts, it should mean there is more money to waste / spend in England!
Why has the Labour Party got no plans to review the formula when a Scottish Labour Party spokesman recognises the "£11bn black hole at the heart of the nationalist plan to divorce Scotland from the rest of Britain" if the English subsidy was scrapped?
If The SNP warn[s] that changing the system would result in Scottish spending cuts, it should mean there is more money to waste / spend in England!
Why has the Labour Party got no plans to review the formula when a Scottish Labour Party spokesman recognises the "£11bn black hole at the heart of the nationalist plan to divorce Scotland from the rest of Britain" if the English subsidy was scrapped?
The white man's burden?
Has the Education Department really delayed publishing a report into "witch child" abuse amongst African children as they are more concerned about upsetting race-relations than preventing child cruelty?
I think it is almost as crude as white, liberal, middle-class people thinking they can’t be seen to be telling black people what they are doing wrong. It is ridiculous when you are dealing with children’s rights. - Richard Hoskins, visiting research fellow in the sociology of religion at King’s College London
I think it is almost as crude as white, liberal, middle-class people thinking they can’t be seen to be telling black people what they are doing wrong. It is ridiculous when you are dealing with children’s rights. - Richard Hoskins, visiting research fellow in the sociology of religion at King’s College London
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