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?