Labour MP calls for Referendum!

Gisela Stuart, Labour MP for Edgbaston in Birmingham, has appeared on BBC News Site, stating that she believes that the Treaty is the constitution by another name. Turns out this lady might know what she is talking about as she was one of the Authors!

" She told MPs: "The red lines that we now say we have secured and therefore don't need a referendum, actually those red lines were already protected in the constitutional treaty on which we were prepared to give a referendum. Nothing has changed.
"This is now a question of trust. It is a question of having given a commitment to a referendum on a document which we say is good for Britain.
"We actually should ask the people to endorse that. If we are so confident it is good, we should have the confidence to ask the people."
Ms Stuart, who was a member of the group which drew up the original constitution, told MPs: "The foreign secretary and the Europe minister, who at the moment deny this treaty is substantial enough that we should be bound by that promise, they are either being deliberately disingenuous or ill-informed.

Oops looks like the chickens are coming home to roost, I for one will be watching to see how Gordo handles this one, as no amount of spin can cancel out the fact she as good as called him a liar lol....

56 Days detention?

In the Press and news are reports that Gordo is considering giving Police an extension to the current 28 days to hold Terrorist without charge.

Now Political shyte out of the way, I am not into the Police, as far as I am concerned they have too many powers as it is. I can understand their calls that they are misunderstood and its a few bad apples etc, which I can just about wear coming from the rank and file coppers. But it gets my goat when ACPO start bouncing up and down about stuff. Because all they seem to say and want it exactly what the Government of the day want, its as if they're reading from the same hymn sheet. If they want to be political, then they should resign and run for office!

Now many of the commentors on the BBC Have Your Say (HYS) have likened the suggested request for this additional power, to the start of a police state. Well I'm really sorry to tell you, we already have one, whats more its been creeping in since NuLabour came to power, and unless you've actually had any dealings with the police you won't have noticed.

Its been insidious a slight creep here and there, one of the first things to go was politeness, instead of "excuse me blah blah blah", now its "and what the fek are you doing". The newer officer are worst for this, or maybe its just the standard of recruits at Lancashire Constabulary.

The second thing to appear is the attitude, now maybe its living in Blackpool, and having the Party conferences here, but stop to drop someone off in your car, and its a mouthful of abuse, park on yellow lines and within 20 seconds, little hitlers are there mouthing off, and champing at the bit. Look lads I know its fucking boring stood around all day, but Jeez lighten up a little, I mean do I look like a feking terrorist? If you have the temerity to answer them back, its threat time, the "I can have you down the station for wasting police time, you'll be there for hours, so lets do us both a favour and you fuck off now Right!" Yes its petty stuff, and probably is more to do with party conferences, but its still there afterwards, there is less politeness than there used to be. The threat is always a P4 or P5 what were called "Breach of the Peace", which basically is a catch all for the police to arrest you if you don't or won't do as your told.

Anyhow, the Police want these new powers in order to be able to control us, and it won't be long before they are using the threat of being banged up for 56 days, even though its supposed to be aimed at terrorists. One of my friends Dave, used to be a special and still has mates in the Force, a few of whom I have met. The consensus of opinion amongst the older PC's, the ones aged around 40, is keep your head down, do the last few years and get your pension, leave the current crop of yes men and gung ho merchants to it! Real Policing died years ago!

The older officer the one who has seen it all, knew when to apply common sense and turn a blind eye, is now leaving fed up of the shit that comes from the top, the targets, the constant alienation of the Police from the general public by the powers that be.

I would guess the following comment from HYS, is just such a copper:
From BBC News Have your Say

I am an ex police officer. If you can't garner enough evidence to charge a suspect in less than 28 days you need taking off the case and the suspect needs to be bailed. When I was a Met Police Officer during the height of the PIRA Terrorist Campaign we managed to do this in 7 days. There is a sensible case for a change in the law which permits further questioning of a suspect in relation to the same offence after charge but this is not the change I suspect the Government wants.
STEPHEN THORNHILL, United Kingdom

I suspect that having been in the line of fire, but unable to comment whilst serving, he's just glad to be out of it all.

I really do think that 7 days is too long, if they have the evidence, get him/her to court, if they don't then tough, keep working until you do have it. But to curtail someones freedom for 56 days on a "they might be a terrorist" or "the intelligence showed" is just not on. Just hink on how much shit you would be in with regards to Mortgage payment, loss of job, stigma attached etc etc, after all they name the suspects, and when they're released how many are given an apology? Would you like it to happen to you?

Pets.

I have/had a JackRussell terrier, it lives in Blackpool with my eldest sons. Now one of the reasons I believe in re-incarnation is the dog. Nope I don't mean the bugger can talk, or do any stupid doggie tricks.

Its just that the dog likes to have a drink, he will at a pinch drink red wine, actually nicking out of any glass put on the floor. But he prefers lager, not really a posh dog as any lager would do, usually Fosters or Carling. He hates spirits with a vengeance, and will run rather than drink whisky or vodka. The dog even has his own party trick, you remember a while back all the rage seemed to be the small bottles of French beer, Beer D'ore or something it was called, anyway the dog could actually open these small bottles with his teeth and drink the beer from the bottle. Quiet literally lifting the bottle in his teeth. Now don't get me wrong he was a clever dog because he always knew when he had had enough, usually two or three bottles. Then he would settle down for a sleep. Usually this really impressed any of Craig's mates that he had brought home with him, even the girls thought it was cute.

Now having an 18+ year old living at home invariably, he enjoys a drink, and when the pubs are emptying he brings home a curry, which as his eyes are usually too big for his belly, means the dog gets to finish whats left. Craig has on occasion been coerced by friends to eat gradually stronger and stronger curries, with no ill effects and the dog got the left overs.

After a night out Craig and his mate Ashley, being full of themselves and the beer that the Burlington sells, started an eat the hottest curry going argument, now most blokes will have done the same at some point in their lives. You know buy the hottest and just try and force the bugger down, Ashley being rather more sensible one on this occasion, settled for a Vindaloo but offered to pay for Craig's curry but only on condition that he finished it completely.

Craig ordered a Fahl, now in my youth I have had a few curries, some real bum burners, but had never heard of a Fahl. So anyway Craig and Ashley arrive back, Craig opens the cans as Ashley dishes out the grub. Being a rather nosy sod I asked what they had bought, and actually tried a forkful of the Fahl. This stuff is fucking lethal, it melts the fillings out of your teeth, you dont actually feel it going down your throat as the fire in your mouth is seeping through to your brain! It felt like my taste buds were melting! When it actually hits the bottom of your stomach, its very close to have a nuclear bomb going off, in short the stuff is fucking horrendous, you could clean drains out with it, it would decimate the Caustic Soda trade over night if they bottled it! This is not something you could ever eat sober, you would have to be really really sozzled to even contemplate trying.

They come through to the lounge with beers and food, having just tried the Fahl I am more than interested to see how Craig actually gets on with it. The first 30 to 40 seconds he appears to be doing well, then the sweat starts upon his brow, his face gains a rosy tinge and he quaffs half a beer. Much laughter from myself and Ashley, and Craig gamely tries again. Now I will be fair he managed about a quarter of the plateful he had in front of him, before giving up. So only for that he earned some kudos, but what happened next was a shocker for all of us.

Having put his plate on the floor, to gulp more beer in order to put out the fire in his mouth and belly, the dog, proceeds to eat the Fahl, words couldn't express our shock, Craig got out his mobile and proceeded to film the dog eat the Fahl! "He's got tears in his eyes!" Craig said, and he had, the dogs eyes were weeping, but he wouldn't stop eating the Fahl! The dog cleared the plate, he ate every scrap and then licked the plate clean! We were all shocked and amazed, the dog then went up on his hind legs, his front paws on Craig's knees and burped in Craig's face, honestly had you been there you would have reached the same conclusion, the dog was saying "Wimp!! that's how you do it!"

After discussion we believe that the Dog has been here before, simply because of his attitude when he burped at craig as if to say thats how you do it!

The dog now has a massive reputation amongst Craig's friends and acquaintances as being the "Curry Dog"!

Hat Tip to Bags Rants for this...

You are The Magician

Skill, wisdom, adaptation. Craft, cunning, depending on dignity.

Eleoquent and charismatic both verbally and in writing,
you are clever, witty, inventive and persuasive.

The Magician is the male power of creation, creation by willpower and desire. In that ancient sense, it is the ability to make things so just by speaking them aloud. Reflecting this is the fact that the Magician is represented by Mercury. He represents the gift of tongues, a smooth talker, a salesman. Also clever with the slight of hand and a medicine man - either a real doctor or someone trying to sell you snake oil.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

TB testing restarted

A school in Luton Bed's, Southfield Junior School, is restarting TB testing, but only for about 114 of its pupils. This has happened because one child has presented with full blown Tuberculosis (TB).

Now in the UK we had all but eradicated TB, which if left untreated can and does kill, so we ask what has caused the recent increase in cases?

Quite simply, the influx of immigrants both illegal and from the poorer members of the EU, have brought the TB virus back to the UK. Other countries who do not have a vaccination policy for TB thereby putting their own populations at risk, have now put our population at risk.

Whilst the Health Protection Agency (HPA) try and put a brave face on the cases that are arising, and raising some serious concerns about public health. They are now aiming vaccinations only to targeted people, or those most at risk "The new programme will identify and vaccinate babies and older people who are most likely to catch the disease, especially in those living in areas with a high rate of TB or whose parents or grandparents were born in a TB high prevalence country."

Yet again we as a Nation are seeing a wide spread increase of our scant NHS resources used to combat a disease we had as a Nation all but eradicated, and all due to the current NuLabour governments open door policy on immigration.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has found strains of TB that are resistant to antibiotics and drugs used to treat TB, how long will it be before our shores are home to this new strain? If it is not already here!

This problem is unfortunately all too endemic with the current NuLabour governments style of operation, the inability to think through the cause and effect of knee jerk policies, which are now beginning to seriously hit home.

Will Gordon Brown be any different? Well as someone who was chancellor for 10 years and therefore in the forefront of all NuLabour policy decisions, he is as culpable as Tony Bliar for the state the country is in. No matter how he tries to spin its a new start etc etc, its still the same old NuLabour at the helm, running round like headless chickens. Or as a more verbose person once said, "Their heads are so far up their own arses they're eating lunch twice!"

Oyston attends Labour fundraiser

The owner of Blackpool Football Club, one time owner of Lancashire Life and the Red Rose Radio Stations, attended a Labour Party fundraiser at Wembley.

The news, both BBC and the tabloids all led with the headline "Convicted Rapist Attends Labour Party Bash"

Now living in Blackpool at the time, I remember the widespread disbelief when he was convicted, letters were written to MP's, the media etc etc. It was even mentioned in the House of Commons .

Just before Oyston went to trial, the rules relating to the rape cases were changed, and when I say just before I mean literally 5 days before.

A lot of people myself included wanted to know how a person could be charged with serious sexual assault years after the offence had taken place, now these days cases such as this are becoming more and more accepted, especially with regards to the Catholic Church and abuse. But in 1996, it was virtually unheard of, Oystons case centred around allegations of assault against a model he was reported to have committed whilst she was in his car and then later at his home Claughton Hall near Lancaster.

It came out at the trial that the young lady/model gave Oyston a blow job in the back of his car, then when they arrived back at his home she went to his bedroom and they had sex. A few years later the lady then went to the Police alleging rape, her friend who was both in the car and also in the bedroom at Claughton Hall, denied any offences took place.

I don't think Oyston raped the lady/model at the time, but he was convicted in court, he appealed and lost, he went on to serve 4 years of a 6 year sentence, only being released on licence after forcing a Judicial review over the Parole Boards refusal to release him on licence, as he refused to admit to his guilt and showed no remorse for his crime. He won the judicial review and was released on licence.

Now whether he did or did not commit the crime, as far as I am concerned he has paid for it, both in terms of losing his liberty and loss of parts of his businesses, his radio stations were taken off him as he was deemed an unfit person to hold a radio licence.

He has become somewhat of a recluse since his release from prison, and rarely ventures out. Occasional outings to watch Blackpool play usually at home, the most people have seen of him.

Now his name has again been dragged through the mud, not I think in anyway to hurt him, but as a deliberate smear against the Labour party! Now I hate the NuLabour party as much as the next man, I believe they have sold this country down the river and have decimated our rights and freedoms, but to use a man who has always maintained his innocence, who did his time, who had to fight to gain parole, and obtain and win a Judicial Review to gain his freedom, deserves to be left alone in peace. Not to be used as a pawn in the medias attempts to get Brown and NuLabour.

Simple thoughts...

I've been thinking, not too hard, so please don't get worried, but I have been thinking about how we could make things simple, not just for me but for everyone in the UK.

Taxes. Everyone agrees we pay too much tax, and until we actually get to grips with politicians and the civil servants that run it, things are not going to change. We need proposals that are easy to manage, apply to everyone and that are simple. The biggest drain on our taxes is actually the massive civil service and government itself, so we need to reduce it, and I don't mean by piddling amounts, I believe that government and the civil service could be reduced to 25% of its current size. Without loss of service, as most of them are not really needed. We need a tax office, to collect 15% of everyones earned income. This tax rate is fixed, no increases, however, no tax to be paid on the 1st 10k of earnings. Business Tax to be set at 25%, no offsetting of tax payable to be allowed. Personal Investments from stocks and shares, interest on bank accounts/saving to all be taxed at the same rate of 15%. I think most people would like the idea of one flat uniform rate for both personal and businesses. We would all be paying the same portion of our income.

VAT. This is I think a simple tax that is used incorrectly by government, yes we need VAT, but not to pay to the EU which is the use at the moment, VAT payable on everything except food and water.
This tax would be reduced to 10% and fixed at that rate. The monies raised would not go to Central Government coffers, but would pay for the local councils, thus enabling us to abolish council tax. Each town would have have a proportion of the VAT raised based on a per head scheme, ie bigger population more funding.

National Insurance. This money is to be ringfenced and used only to pay for the NHS and pensions.The amount to be set at 7.5% of income.

Road Fund Licence. This is to be ringfenced and 70% of monies to be spent on roads, the other 30% to be spent on public transport.

Immigration. All illegal immigrants to be rounded up and deported to their country of origin, no if's or buts!

European Union. Now the only people that appear to want further intigration with the EU are politicians, so we need to know just what the actual people of the UK really want. The referendum held in the 70's was a farce, the people were lied to and told the EEC was only to be a common market, not a federal superstate. So we withdraw until a proper referendum is held.

Any further ideas come on and get commenting....

Media and words?

Since starting online back in 1999, I have watched less and less Television, sometimes even missing the news. I don't and didn't follow the soap's, not from active dislike, but they as a genre do not interest me personally.

If anything I watch mainstream TV that I assume all of us do, a little bit of House, CSI (not all of them I cannot stand CSI:Miami)Casualty, Holby City, so I suppose they are dramas, but with a factual element. I used to have sky but that was mainly for the kids, and I used to watch more factual programmes, History, National Geographic etc, than I did on mainstream TV.

Now having a youngster, at nearly 10 months old, who can crawl and move about rather quickly. Sometimes quicker than these old bones of mine are able to. I have taken a step I never took with the other kids, in order to let his food settle and to avoid horrible reddy orange stains on the carpet, (why is baby food always red or orange?) we plonk him down in front of the TV. Cbeebies is the channel he watches, channel 71 on freeview, I don't believe he understands, and it is only for 10 15 mins, whilst I clean up his meal time mess.

Half listening to the programme, half paying attention to what I was doing, I suddenly stopped, the Tweenies were talking about global warming and recycling and the need to do our bit. This shocked me, the programme is aimed at pre-school children, and they were teaching that global warming is a fact, and the comments were all one sided. Saying people that didn't recycle were bad people.

After putting Riley down for his afternoon nap I flicked back to Cbeebies, and Barnaby was on, talking about going on a picnic, the next thing a lady appeared asked Barnaby his "menu" for his picnic,then told him what was and wasn't good for him to take with him. All natural foods, 5 a day veg, less salt, sugar free etc etc, convincing the bear to adapt his diet, to a more acceptable version, or should I say a more politically correct one.

I watched the programme till the end, then came Balamory, again a similar thing all recycling, healthy diet etc etc,

WHAT THE FUCK!!! As far as I am aware part of being a pre-school kid is having FUN, learning as all about co-ordination, colours, music, nursery rhymes, words, playing with water, sand, clay etc etc.

Not to listen to propaganda, about global warming, recycling, I thought that the BBC was supposed to put both sides of any story, or does it not matter when it is indoctrinating children? Something else I have noticed, mainly on Boogie Babies, (really don't ask) how come if the muslim population only makes up 3-4% of the population, why are 45% of the stories/music on Boogie Babies are about the muslim culture?

Am I just being paranoid or is there really a form of indoctrination going on with our kids???

Professor Peto

It seems that Professor Peto is in the news again, this time the Daily Express, where he makes the following statements:

One of the world's leading experts on the effect of tobacco said the ban could prevent up to half a million deaths a year.

Professor Sir Richard Peto made the forecast based on the experience of the Republic of Ireland, where cigarette sales fell by around 17% after its ban.

A similar trend in England could lead to 1.5 million people quitting smoking, he said, adding: "Half of all smokers are going to be killed by tobacco. If a million people stop smoking who wouldn't otherwise have done so then maybe you'll prevent half a million deaths."

Joe Jackson I believe has done his research well, and I have copied a relevant portion for you to read.

Lung cancer is the disease most strongly associated with smoking, though even this is a statistical rather than a causative link. In other words, it has been statistically shown that smokers are more likely to get lung cancer, rather than scientifically shown that the cancer is specifically caused by the smoking. This is a more important distinction than it might seem. Much of the antismokers’ case is based on statistics, and statistics is not science. It does make sense - so long as you don’t mind bullying people out of their pleasures - to try to bring down the rate of lung cancer by getting people to quit smoking. But the evidence linking smoking with lung cancer is much less convincing than we are led to believe. For one thing, there is much disagreement about what the actual risk factor is.

The general consensus seems to reflect the pioneering studies of Professor Sir Richard Doll in the 1950s and 60s, which are still regarded as ‘benchmarks’. Doll reckoned that about 160 in 100,000 smokers developed lung cancer as opposed to 7 in 100,000 nonsmokers; so you have about a 24 times greater risk if you smoke. This can also be expressed as ‘2,400%’. But beware of estimates of ‘increased risk,’ especially when expressed in percentages; they’re a good sign that someone is trying to frighten, rather than to inform. If you buy 25 lottery tickets instead of one, your chances of winning go up by 2,500%. But though the number sounds impressive, your actual chances of winning are still minuscule.

Likewise, if Prof Doll was right, you still have a 99.8% chance of not getting lung cancer. This is nothing more or less than a re-presentation, or re-packaging, of the same data. But it immediately sounds a lot less scary. Especially if smoking is something you love.

For a fuller picture please go to his site here!

For those that wish to know how Mr Howitts stand on the smoking ban, the Blackpool Gazette has a small piece.

Smoking again !!!

The majority of people reading these comments are obviously online, I would ask them to read and research upon the supposed effects of passive smoking. Use the internet in the way I believe it should be used, to inform and enlighten!

There is or appears to be little correlation between passive smoking and illness, they (anti smoking campaigners) have tried and tried to find a link. They cannot, all there is, is statistics, which as everyone knows are not reliable and can be changed to suit ones way of thinking.

I find it rather strange that Professor Robert West, who is vehemently against smokers, who produces article after article, has had his work funded by the NRT (Nicotine Replacement Therapy) manufacturers, now I am not suggesting he has done anything wrong, but surely, any investigations and research, should not be paid for by companies that have an agenda.

LORD WAKEHAM of the Economic Affairs Committee has made the following comments:

"The foremost authority in this area - Sir Richard Peto, professor of medical statistics at Oxford - told the Committee that the risks from passive smoking are small and difficult to measure.

"Given the miniscule level of risk, the blanket ban on smoking in public places is a case of using the proverbial sledgehammer to obliterate, rather than crack, a rather small and insignificant nut.

"As the risks from passive smoking are tiny, the direct impact on public health is likely to be so small as to be immeasurable.

Yet the same Professor Peto, quoted by Lord Wakeham, has released a statement

"Cigarette smoke is the most important cause of cancer in the world and so the exposure of non-smokers to it is going to cause some risk of death.

"But there is reasonable disagreement as to how big that risk is: smokers kill more smokers than non-smokers.

"However, if this ban helps people who want to stop to manage to do so then it could save a lot of lives and prevent a lot of premature deaths.

"Smoking is still responsible for about 20-25% of all deaths in middle age, and most smokers who die in middle age wouldn't have died if they hadn't smoked.

"Half of all smokers are going to be killed by tobacco. If a million people stop smoking who wouldn't otherwise have done so then maybe you'll prevent half a million deaths.
Now if he made both statements, which one is true, or is he doing as most of the other researchers do, jumping on the band wagon to ensure his funding, ie. towing the party mantra? Or maybe it is as I suspect, he is scaremongering, he doesn't know, has no idea, and he will be long dead and buried before any conclusive evidence comes to light!

I would ask that people go and read a very good piece written by Joe Jackson, who has some interesting views on the smoking debate!