« January 2006 | Main | March 2006 »
February 28, 2006
Joined up thinking
I have been known in the past to be critical of my local council - Kennet - but I have just realised they, and their beloved masters have been actually planning it all out for our benefit.
Firstly they ban fox hunting.
Then we get news of a Global Bird Flu epidemic.
And then Kennet Council announce they are rushing to introduce Wheelie Bins for rubbish collections.
Seemingly unconnected - but:
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | German cat gets deadly bird flu
A domestic cat in Germany has become the first European Union mammal to die of the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.
Urban foxes are attacking and killing pet cats because they are struggling to find enough food to eat in British towns and cities.
Cat owners have reported an increasing number of attacks and pest control specialists say that the use of wheelie bins, rather than bin bags, for rubbish disposal is partly to blame because it has deprived many foxes of an easy source of food.
So Foxy Woxy to the rescue! Eating up all the mangy cats before they infect us all, Hurray!
Of course there is one flaw in their plan - Mr FM: No gentleman would ever admit to shooting a fox but he does, and he seems intent on cleansing Kennet of the beasts. And he admits to having worked on the shores of the Pearl River delta and the old Shanghai Bund - I sense some sinister Chinese plot, with Mr FM (Picture) as the mastermind, even as I type he is probably stroking some white pussy somewhere....
Posted by The Englishman at 10:32 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Can we go home now - please?
It is snowing, I'm cold and there isn't a bunny to chase anywhere....
Posted by The Englishman at 1:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Better go and cut those hedges today...
Cross Compliance - FAQs "you are not allowed to trim hedges from March 1st - 31st July"
So that will be me with the chainsaw rather than at the computer today!
Posted by The Englishman at 8:02 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Bird Brains
Telegraph | News | Don't eat raw eggs
Eggs should be cooked until the whites are solid - not necessarily the yolks.
The World Health Organisation advises cooking eggs until both white and yolks are solid, but the FSA has discussed this with them and it says that the WHO advice was "precautionary".
....
The scene appeared to be set for a re-run of the row over vaccination and foot and mouth in 2001...
As was shown in 2001 the authorities had learnt nothing from previous disease outbreaks and it is increasingly becoming clear that they haven't a clue what to do about Bird Flu. The idea that we may be facing the horrendous cockups of the F&M outbreak again is too awful to contemplate. Is it really so hard to draw up some concrete plans and make them known. It is not as though this threat has just erupted, they have had months, and hopefully still have a long time before it reaches our shores. Instead of arguing if you will be able to dip your soldiers into your yolks or not, what I would like to see is a solid plan - ie in case of enemy Geese arriving, all fowl within five miles will be shot, a vaccinated cordon of 50 miles will be created, etc etc. It isn't hard, but it needs someone with more balls than Ben "Hugh Grant" Bradshaw to take control.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:08 AM | Comments (8) | TrackBack
Mandy's Cobblers
Letters to the Editor The Times Sunday Times Times Online
Sir, The problem with dumped shoes from China and Vietnam is not that they threaten tough competition for European shoe producers, but that they constitute unfair competition ....Anti-dumping measures never take the form of a quota (another misunderstanding): they add a small tariff to the cost of imports to correct price distortion. The impact on consumer prices will be minimal because an import duty of less than Ł1 on shoes that retail for Ł30 to Ł90 can be absorbed across the supply chain.
PETER MANDELSON
European Trade Commissioner
Brussels
So what he is saying is that the duty he is adding is so small it will make no difference, er, so why is he doing it? Or is it that he just talking cobblers?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:54 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
February 27, 2006
One for the carnivores
Meat Identification Test
Strange American cuts though - whereas some of us want our meat " burnt like St. Joan, served with Calvin’s horseradish and mustards to pierce the tongue like Cardigan’s lances".
Posted by The Englishman at 9:07 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
In Summary
Via every other blogger I bring you my word cloud:
Oh and here is one for the old reprobate himself...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 25, 2006
The Dublin Riots - the Palestinian question
Palastinian Affinity? - gave me a surprise but it is not that odd when you remember how the Republicans like to show solidarity with the Palestinians.
As ever Slugger O'Toole gives a good starting point for understanding the Dublin Riot . (Don't even bother looking for any depth on the BBC),
Posted by The Englishman at 10:16 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
An accidental Googlewack
obscurantism petrichor - Google Search
Curious to see who visitor 333,333 was I checked the stats and noticed visitor 333,334 was a decent sort of chap from Oxford University looking for "obscurantism petrichor" - and surprisingly this site was the only one that could cater to his or her need....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 24, 2006
Live Crime Blogging.
I opened the cupboard doors so the dogs could go for a mouse and that is illegal under the Hunting Act 2004
Send me cake with a file in it when I am in Gaol please
Image taken on 24/2/2006 19:30
Hunting Act 2004
1 Hunting wild mammals with dogs
A person commits an offence if he hunts a wild mammal with a dog, unless his hunting is exempt.....
I can't use the stalking exemption because it is a condition that:
a) reasonable steps are taken for the purpose of ensuring that as soon as possible after being found or flushed out the wild mammal is shot dead by a competent person, and
(b) in particular, each dog used in the stalking or flushing out is kept under sufficiently close control to ensure that it does not prevent or obstruct achievement of the objective in paragraph (a).
I am not planning to blast Mrs Englishman's kitchen with the twelve bore if the mouse appears, and I'm afraid the dogs aren't under control. And it I believe it is a mouse, not a rat so that is all the loopholes filled. So no defence, well it's been nice knowing you......
Posted by The Englishman at 6:39 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Two nations
As I get older the truth that there are two nations everywhere becomes more self evident. I think the first time I noticed this was many years ago when I first went to Boarding School. As you know British Public Schools are always intensely interested in the bottys of the boys, and that they are functioning correctly. So outside the bogs was a chart where each boy had to cross if he had been or not each day. The cure for not going, or forgetting to mark the "bog board", was a large dose of Milk of Magnesia - from Matron.
So I developed a simple habit every day of first thing crossing the box whatever. I remember being caught doing this by a friend who was horrified that I would deceive the authorities in this way. I am sure he is probably a senior Civil Servant happy as one of Gordon's Turkeys, where as I still prefer to not have to complete the shit list checking everyday. Two nations.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:34 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Lambing time soon...
Adopt A Sheep To Eat (from The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
"People can grow their own vegetables, but it is difficult for most people to grow their own meat. This way they have a little bit of control.
"It is an ideal project for schools. Children can understand the way meat is produced, how fairly they are slaughtered after living a happy life in an natural environment."
"With our system, the consumer can choose their own sheep or lamb, find out how it is raised and even come to see it grazing on the lovely Pewsey Downs."
The website www.adoptasheepformeat.co.uk
Posted by The Englishman at 10:10 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Something warming to read by the fire on this fine freezing day.
Says it all, really
A fine piece on the "science" of global warming by Dr Gerrit J. van der Lingen,
The global warming debate has left the realm of science a long time ago. It has become totally politicised. Any scientific criticism is not met with a scientific response, but with name-calling and a stepping up of the scare tactics. Some sceptics have even lost their jobs or are told to shut up or else. Many of the global warming doomsayers seem to be obsessed with a longing for Apocalypse.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:48 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 23, 2006
Ava on Cbeebies - who is she?
Stuck indoors with a poorly toddler the only ray of joy is Ava on CBeebies
- a quick Google and no one seems to know who she is - surely someone must be able to help a sad old man increase his knowledge...
Posted by The Englishman at 3:43 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Q&A: Your bird flu concerns
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Q&A: Your bird flu concerns
Concern is growing about the spread of bird flu from birds to humans and the possibility of the H5N1 virus mutating so it can pass easily from human to human.
The BBC news website has asked the experts to answer your questions on the issues.
A virologist, the BBC's medical correspondent and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds respond to your concerns.
And I have some excellent advice here from SHED....
Q: How do I avoid getting bird flu?
A: While it may seem overly cautious, various international health
authorities are advising that persons in high-risk areas such as India,
South East Asia and East Anglia refrain from fucking birds. At least
for the time being.
We understand that complete abstinence is not always a viable option,
and ask that when you do fuck birds, make sure to take appropriate
precautions, such as pulling out.
Q: Can I still eat poultry?
A: The thing is, bird flu tastes like chicken so you never know if your
General Tzo's is infected. You're at highest risk if you're eating at a
Chinese establishment that is owned by Pakistanis or a Kebab House owned
by the Chinese. Best stick to KFC, which is made
from featherless, beakless mutates that are not legally birds.
This way you can die of cancer like the rest of your neighbors.
Q: How about eggs?
A: It depends on the kind of eggs. The ones that you buy in the store
should be fine. But if you're the kind of person that goes from tree to
tree raiding nests, you're engaging in high-risk behavior.
Q: How do I protect my cockatoo or canary from bird flu?
A: If you keep a cockatoo or canary as a pet, slaughter it immediately.
The proper way to do this is to grab its body in your fist, walk it into
the kitchen, place it on the cutting board, and lop its head off with a
knife. Pretty much any knife will do. Bird necks are about as tough as
celery.
As you probably know, the head and body must be burned, separately, with
their ashes scattered in different directions. Just like you're
disposing of a vampire corpse.
Important: Be sure to rinse thoroughly both the knife and your cutting
board! How stupid would you feel if you successfully killed and disposed
of the infected bird only to later die from decrusting a Marmite
sandwich?
I bet you'd feel pretty fucking stupid.
If the caged bird is a beloved family pet, have your husband, wife or
live-in fuckbuddy take the kids to a movie before slaughtering. When
they come home, explain to them that lil' Petey flew out the window and
then surprise them with a new pet monkey. Kids love monkeys, and they're
100% disease-free.
Q: What's the difference between a pandemic and an epidemic?
A: Here's a handy way of remembering it: If your home town is in the
"-demic" part, you're probably already dead.
Q: Is this thing a genuine threat or just media hype?
A: Despite what Michael Moore might have you believe, the two are not
mutually exclusive. Michael Jackson was both a legitimate concern and
the vertex of a media circus. Know what else gets a lot of hype but is
also really dangerous? Terrorism.
Q: Is the United Kingdom prepared to deal with an outbreak of bird flu?
A: Are you kidding? Haven't you been watching the news? According to
most leading scientists, the bird flu will not only pick off the elderly
and young (which wouldn't be so bad because we fall into neither
category), but also the hale and hearty that fall in the middle.
Have you seen 12 Monkeys? It'll be like that, only we haven't yet
invented that rusty time-travel contraption through which they send
Bruce Willis to save the world. But if we do invent one, I say we send
back a scientist, and not a half-retarded convict whose most distinct
personality trait is that he always acts like he's hung-over. Just a
thought.
Q : Should individuals stock up on flu drugs?
A: Honestly, if Avian bird flu breaks out, all the drugs in the world
aren't going to save you. Which is why I highly recommend stocking up on
any other drugs you might find in your kids' drug stash (usually to the
back of the sock drawer).
Drugs like pot, acid, Ecstasy and Percocet will make the whole slow
death thing a whole lot more painless. This of course only works if your
kids are cool.
Q: But I've had the flu before and it hasn't killed me.
A: This is the bird flu, not the regular flu. Regular flu symptoms
include fever, nausea, aches and difficulty sleeping. Symptoms of bird
flu are much, much different. They include walking into glass doors and
mirrors and an urge to defecate on public statues.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:35 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Baron Bedwetter Balls
They contradict the image - and the reality - of our country as a modern, multicultural, dynamic place where the past is valued and respected and the future is approached with creativity and confidence.
For a moment I thought he might be talking about the practice of giving clapped out failures a second chance to Lord it over us by granting them ridiculous titles, ancient privileges and a tenured place in Parliament but no The Right Honourable Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock of Bedwellty in the County of Gwent, PC was only talking about road signs....
Posted by The Englishman at 9:49 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Long Live the Prince of Wales
Telegraph | News | Politicians never learn anything, laments Charles
The Prince of Wales reveals his exasperation at Tony Blair's style of government in a private travel journal released by the High Court yesterday......
"But they are all in such a hurry, so never really learn about anything. Then they take decisions based on market research and focus groups, on the papers produced by advisers and civil servants, none of whom will have experienced what it is they are taking decisions about."
The journal also reveals his growing realisation that something was not quite right about his Club Class seat on the top deck of the BA 747 flying out to Hong Kong.
"It took me some time to realise that this was not First Class although it puzzled me as to why the seat seemed so uncomfortable," he wrote.
He then discovered that other dignitaries, including Edward Heath, Douglas Hurd and "the new Foreign Secretary Robin Cook" as well as Paddy Ashdown, the Liberal Democrat leader, were all "ensconced in First Class below us".
"Such is the end of the Empire, I sighed to myself".
I'm not surprised he talks to trees, If I had to put up with our "political elite" day after day I think I would also think that a Aesculus hippocastanum would have more sense than the front bench.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:43 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Turkey Army
Telegraph | News | Labour's bulging client state now employs 44pc of people
Nearly one in two adults in Britain is now receiving at least half their income from the State, a study of Britain's burgeoning public sector shows today....
The size of the so-called "client state" created by New Labour will invite suggestions that Tony Blair and Gordon Brown have deliberately built up the public sector to boost the number of people who vote Labour.
It may also fuel concern that the wealth-creating, private sector of the economy is being neglected.
"will invite" "may also fuel concern"!... even The Torygraph hasn't woken up yet, and obviously anyone who mentions Gordon's Turkey Army is a complete nutter. And remember yet again all those "voluntary bodies" that are funded by the Government aren't included, you know the ones, the ones Labour want to run local affairs rather than tiresome elected councils...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Kinnoch's vision of Britain
BBC NEWS | UK | Call for metric road sign switch
Lord Kinnock says: "Our imperial road signs are perhaps the most obvious example of the muddle of measurement units in the United Kingdom.
"They contradict the image - and the reality - of our country as a modern, multicultural, dynamic place where the past is valued and respected and the future is approached with creativity and confidence."
Kinnoch's view of how Britain should be:
The backward, non-multicultural, non-dynamic place that old fashioned road signs thrive in...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:31 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 22, 2006
Upholding academic standards in Oz
The Courier-Mail: Uni rocked by marking fiasco [21feb06]
A UNIVERSITY graduate student abandoned the institution in frustration after a marking fiasco during which a lecturer, Edwina Luck, told him to produce "more smarter writing". (A follow up email read): "I knew you would be di appointed, o what I have done i taken the middle ground. I am uppo ed to take the econd mark, but I did not want to kill you that much. I do hope that you have learned from thi . Not the point of a king for explanation, but that we a lecturer are not totally illy!! Academic writing i difficult. I hope all our comment can be helpful in the future. Edwina."
Posted by The Englishman at 10:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
I've got the gift!
Radio Times | Programme detailsBritain's Psychic Challenge...
Sitting waiting for the Grease Monkeys to fix my car this morning, that'll be Ł67 with the oil on the driver's seat included for free, thank you gov, I was subjected to hearing another's punter regaling how she had "the gift". She knew what was wrong with people, just by putting her hands on them, oh the cures, it is a worry being able to see into the future, but she couldn't help it , it is just a gift. Of course those people on the telly being tested, it wasn't fair, no one could do it if they were subjected to that sort of scepticism. But her, oh the things she knew, it was like clear as though it happened yesterday, but it was in the future, the times she had warned people, saved them...."
She tripped over a chair on the way out - I nearly pissed myself.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:02 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Pro-test and live
BBC NEWS | Magazine | The pro-test protesters
Until now, animal rights protesters have made all the noise in a dispute over a new research lab in Oxford. But this weekend the city's famed academics are planning to hit back just as loudly, as pro-testing campaigners hit the streets.
According to one Oxford academic, a war is looming over "scientific freedom" and the "future of progress", no less. And this Saturday the battle for and against testing will shift from the city's dreaming spires to its historic streets.
ALF has declared all staff and students at Oxford to be "legitimate targets"..
Well as they have declared me to be a target guess which side I'm on.
I note that the human haters - SPEAK - have attacked the Pro-testers because they were run by "a delusional penis-obsessed narcissistic youth with a penchant for guns and pornography and a liberal inhalation of cannabis " and their point is what? Obviously they failed to make the grade to become a typical Oxford student so they are simply envious!
Posted by The Englishman at 9:50 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
One to watch - and add to the blogroll
Time to start a new blog. Time to join together and do what we can to get New Labour out. Time to begin the fight for liberty while we still have some freedoms left. And just now feeling a little bit inspired by the sudden coming together in UK blogworld.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Getting ready to give her a big hand
The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: News: Pewsey
Lots of local excitement as the local village of Pewsey is getting ready to welcome Shelley Rudman back. Pewsey is a village that knows how to party with annual Pubcrawls in Wheelbarrows that close the main "A" road as well as a fantastic carnival.
The carnival used to fund the local Hospital before the NHS nationalised it - a reminder of how free health care did exist before the glories of the NHS! And it is worth recording that despite the billions of pounds the Government shovels into sport it was the locals at The Moonrakers who found the money so she could compete - cash into a pot, straight to athlete, no bureaucrats involved!
My congratulations to Ms Rudman and the people of Pewsey is especially strong as it is where I first went to school, learning to read and write. Of course in those days it was still 12 inches to a foot and 12 pennies to the shilling, but in Pewsey that came easily to most of them, it was only when it was all decimalised that they had to learn not to count on all their fingers.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Power to the people - (the right sort of people only of course).
Telegraph | News | Tories challenge Brown to solve Scottish paradox
David Miliband, the communities minister, outlined proposals for "double devolution" - handing power that had been devolved from central government to town halls on to local communities and voluntary groups.
As A TANGLED WEB says...
Studying the outline of what he says, it appears that Labour is concerned that perhaps too many local Councils may fall into the hands of either the Conservatives or Lid-Dems. Thus the wheeze is to move power to "local activists" and "community groups" in the guise of returning pwer to the people.....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:23 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
February 21, 2006
Yet more on the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill
rightlinks.co.uk - Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill asks some questions that need answering about this bill...
Why does the Bill change the current procedures for the enactment into our law of EU legislation?
What guarantees are there that the Bill could not be used to bring in the EU Constitution by the back door?
If the Bill is just a simplifying measure for deregulation, why does it contain no requirement for any orders to actually reduce the amounts of red tape and regulation?
Why does the Bill give the power to create new law, including new criminal offences, to the Law Commissions, which are unelected quangos appointed by Ministers?
If the Law Commissions are supposed to be staffed by impartial technical experts, why are Ministers taking the power to amend the recommendations of the Law Commissions before they are fast-tracked into legislation?
Why do protections in the Bill against new laws to permit forcible entry, search, seizure or compelling people to give evidence not apply to reforms recommended by the unelected Law Commissions appointed by Ministers?
If the Bill allows Ministers to "amend, repeal or replace legislation in any way that an Act might", does this not give them an unlimited power to ignore a democratic Parliament and legislate by decree?
If the Bill is so sensible, why has Parliament used a different way of making laws for 700 years?
If the Bill is meant to retain Parliament’s ability to scrutinise regulations and regulators, why does it not contain a provision for automatic sunset clauses in orders issued under the Bill?
If the Bill gives Ministers powers to charge fees by decree, is that not a charter to bring in unlimited stealth taxes?
As the Bill permits an order to be made by a Minister under the Bill provided its effect is “proportionate” to his “policy objective”, since when in our history as a democratic country has a Government Minister’s “policy objective” directly received the force of law?
What guarantees are there that the Bill could not be used to bring in ID Cards by the back door?
Why does the Bill give the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly a veto over Ministers’ power to change the law which it denies to English MPs?
Posted by The Englishman at 1:14 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Abolition of Parliament Bill
Who wants the Abolition of Parliament Bill? - Times Online
The boring title of the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill hides an astonishing proposal. It gives ministers power to alter any law passed by Parliament. The only limitations are that new crimes cannot be created if the penalty is greater than two years in prison and that it cannot increase taxation. But any other law can be changed, no matter how important. All ministers will have to do is propose an order, wait a few weeks and, voilŕ, the law is changed.
....
The Bill, bizarrely, even applies to itself, so that ministers could propose orders to remove the limitations about two-year sentences and taxation. It also includes a few desultory questions (along the lines of “am I satisfied that I am doing the right thing?”) that ministers have to ask themselves before proceeding, all drafted subjectively so that court challenges will fail, no matter how preposterous the minister’s answer. Even these questions can be removed using the Bill’s own procedure. Indeed, at its most extreme, in a manoeuvre akin to a legislative Indian rope trick, ministers could use it to transfer all legislative power permanently to themselves.
The writer credits "Daniel Finkelstein of The Times, and a couple more " as the only journalists to note this bill - Daniel Finkelstein was alerted to it by Tim Worstall so as British bloggers we are holding the standard and we need to keep the pressure on to continue the campaign against this monstrous grabbing of powers.
Of course we are reassured that: "The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures...The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one," - Whoops! no that was someone else on March 23, 1933 about another "Enabling Act" that removed power from the elected Parliament and handed to the Government Ministers
Posted by The Englishman at 7:16 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
The Censors at work again
BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Holocaust denier Irving is jailed
"I made a mistake when I said there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz," he told the court in the Austrian capital.
Irving appeared stunned by the sentence, and told reporters: "I'm very shocked and I'm going to appeal."
...Karen Pollock, chief executive of the UK's Holocaust Educational Trust welcomed the verdict. "Holocaust denial is anti-Semitism dressed up as intellectual debate. It should be regarded as such and treated as such," Ms Pollock told the BBC News website.
But the author and academic Deborah Lipstadt, who Irving unsuccessfully sued for libel in the UK in 2000 over claims that he was a Holocaust denier, said she was dismayed.
"I am not happy when censorship wins, and I don't believe in winning battles via censorship... The way of fighting Holocaust deniers is with history and with truth," she told the BBC News website.
First the obligatory condemnation of Irving as a poisonous dwarf and the confirmation in my belief in the Holocaust. (As it happens when my father was shipped to Germany as a prisoner of war he was mistakenly placed in the wrong camp, the one for the Untermensch on the other side of the valley, before the week was up he was moved to the Aryan camp with profuse apologies, he never doubted the Holocaust and neither will I, nor will I support those who do.)
But but but - Firstly he has apologised and admitted he was wrong, but even if he hadn't so what? - when another odious toad Eric Hobsbawm can answer whether 20 million deaths would have been justified if the proposed Communist utopia had been created as a consequence by saying "yes" and is made a Companion of Honour; and every day we see other communist sympathisers, other IRA apologists, other Muslim Fascists, and so on given space in once respectable newspapers.
You know the sayings, free speech really is indivisible. And when Austria disgraces itself like this then shame on it.
(Of course an additional rant is needed when you consider that Austria and us have both surrendered our sovereignty to the EU, common arrest warrants, Europol - you can write the post yourselves!)
Posted by The Englishman at 12:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 20, 2006
Someone needs a good kicking
BBC NEWS | UK | Reid urging sympathy for troops
"I ask that we try to imagine what it must be like on the battlefield," he will say.
If this happens "we may be a little slower to condemn and a lot quicker to understand... the best fighting force in the world".
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday ahead of the speech, Mr Reid said the troops' circumstances were the toughest in history because "they face an enemy that is completely unconstrained".
"Yet our troops are increasingly constrained not just by international law and conventions, the standards we want to keep, but by media scrutiny, by videophones, by mobile phones, by satellite dishes."
While it was right to disapprove of abuse, it should be kept in proportion, he said, and out of nearly 100,000 British troops who had served in Iraq, there had only been five sustainable allegations of the mistreatment of civilians, he said.
With the Maysan council joining its counterpart in Basra in registering a protest over the video footage, most of British-controlled Iraq is now not co-operating with the Army.
For once I can totally agree with "Dr" Reid - and wonder what justification the cowards at the "NOW" have..
Posted by The Englishman at 7:32 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Flyover Britain Zoo
Wet weekend, what to do with the kids? I note that a local zoo has some Rhinos recently arrived. Now I like Rhinos, not just the Spearmint flavoured ones, so I track the place down on the web: Noah's Ark Zoo Farm, Wraxall, Bristol, Somerset
Looks good but there is something odd down the bottom - Creation Biology We are also keen to expose inadequate or even fraudulent parts of Darwinism . Oh no! the Creationists have started a Zoo. I am not sure I can face an afternoon of preachy labels and exhibits when i just want to see the animals - Sundays aren't made for religion. But then again when you go the other zoos in the area the smug environmentalist preaching can be just as grating.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:26 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
February 19, 2006
A Bug in the System
On my little day out at Bisley I was embarrassed to have the Marlin jam on me twice - the very nice guys at Fulton's the Gunshop there sorted it out both times and I bought some degreaser (actually Clutch and Brake cleaner) as it seemed to be caused by a build up of gunk under the lever. Thanks to Google and Full Disassembly/Re-assembly Instructions for Marlin 1894 Lever Rifle and Carbine I have now sorted the problem. It was a bug. A housefly was in the mechanism - must have got into the cabinet and then settled in the dark workings. So now with bug cleared I really need to do some testing.....
Posted by The Englishman at 9:40 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
The Emperor's real clothes
Brown's true colours (mainly red) as revealed in Scotland - Sunday Times - Times Online
He may be chancellor, architect of new Labour and prime minister in waiting, but Brown is foremost a Scottish Labour MP. A biographer of the great Red Clydeside hero James Maxton, he is marbled with the passions and instincts of the Scottish Labour party.
For anyone living south of the border, this poses some uneasy questions: just how far removed from the needs and instincts of middle England are the needs and instincts of socialist Fife? Can Brown truly claim to be equally in tune with both? And when he becomes prime minister, which instinct will be to the fore?
...
To see what government might look like were Brown’s instincts given full throttle, one need only look north of the border. Scottish Labour governs there without the compromises new Labour deems necessary in England.....
Scots pay a heavy price for such ideological Labour purity.One in 10 Scots seeking treatment at accident and emergency departments waits more than four hours to be seen. This compares with one in 20 in England. While waiting times have shortened dramatically in England in recent years, in Scotland they have actually lengthened in some cases. The lack of modernisation means the vast sum of money pouring into the Scottish NHS — spending on health is 20% higher per head than in England — is having less impact.
Scottish education, once revered around the world, is unable to deliver even the basics to young Scots. Take, for example, a primary school’s ability to send more than 50% of its children to high school with the basic requirements in reading, writing and arithmetic. In Glasgow more than half of the city’s primary schools are failing to reach even this undemanding standard.
....Brown does not like to talk about England. He prefers to talk about Britain. The problem is there is no such thing as a British education system or health service. Once Brown becomes prime minister he will have no responsibility for Scottish health and education, which are the preserve of the Holyrood parliament in Edinburgh. Brown will be in charge of English schools and hospitals, which because of Blairite reforms are very different to the statist institutions found in Fife.
.....
If Brown does carry on down the Blairite path in England it will be because he deems it politically necessary, not because his heart is in it. It will not chime with his deepest convictions. In a very real sense, and for all his talk of a new definition of Britishness, Brown will be governing a foreign country.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Local Democracy - the new order imposed
Telegraph | News | Christopher Booker's notebook
A storm has blown up in Wales over an order issued to a Powys county councillor who opposes the council's pro-wind turbine policy. He he is not allowed to attend any debate on the issue ...A letter to Councillor Bob Mills from Jeremy Patterson, Powys's "monitoring officer" (and "executive director for organisation and governance"), notes that he has written a letter to the local paper critical of windpower as being not "cost effective". Furthermore, writes this official, "I am also advised that you expressed very strong views at a meeting here in County Hall on 26 January". Mr Patterson informs Mr Mills that, because he has a "pre-determined position" on this issue, he cannot be allowed to speak or vote on it, and "must leave the Chamber" whenever it is discussed....
(Of course) Powys council and many of its councillors are just guilty as Councillor Mills, because they have made no secret of their support for the Assembly's policy. ... (but) councillors seem only to be disqualified for "prejudice" when their views run contrary to those of their council's ruling group, or of the Government itself.
It seems it is not just the sheep that are sheep in Wales...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:51 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 17, 2006
Mr FM beating the smoking ban.
Image taken on 17/2/2006 14:53
Posted by The Englishman at 4:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Live BisIey Blogging
Bang
Image taken on 17/2/2006 12:4
Posted by The Englishman at 11:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Grigori Aleksandrovich Prescott
Telegraph | News | Prescott upholds 'social cleansing' of 500 homes
Architectural campaign groups and local residents have condemned the Edge Lane scheme in Liverpool as an act of "social cleansing" that is at odds with the city's imminent status as European Capital of Culture.
The city council has now been given approval to oversee the destruction of almost 500 homes and businesses. They are being flattened to make an easier route into the city centre from the M62.
While Potemkin only maybe had hollow facades of villages constructed along the desolate banks of the Dnieper river in order to impress Empress Catherine II during her visit to Crimea in 1787, Prescott and the Scouser Council really do want them on the link road to the Town Hall from the motorway - I hope they will also add a Zil lane for important visitors.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:42 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Branded at birth
Telegraph | News | DNA data on innocent children to be retained
Police can keep storing the DNA profiles of thousands of innocent children, the Government said yesterday.
The Home Office rejected a call by the Tory MP Grant Shapps for the details of 24,000 under-18s never cautioned, charged or convicted to be removed from the police database. He had accused the Government of creating a DNA database by stealth.
What does he mean "by stealth"? Looks fairly blatent to me that they won't be happy until they have as all tagged and branded with our DNA details and ID cards from birth....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
February 16, 2006
Wiltshire’s answer to the film Cool Runnings?
OK, I'm sorry I have been rude about a local village called Pewsey - but let me congratulate the village for raising the money to send Shelley Rudman, born and bred in the Wiltshire village, to the Olympics to pick up a medal for sliding down a hill very very fast on a tea tray. I certainly wouldn't have the guts or determination to do it so huge congratulations to her as well. Though I do wonder if the extra fingers help her hold on....
Posted by The Englishman at 11:12 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Churchill's forecast
Thanks to Blognor Regis for bringing us Churchill's chilling and accurate forecast from 1945 - a snippet:
Here in old England, in Great Britain, of which old England forms no inconspicuous part, in this glorious Island, the cradle and citadel of free democracy throughout the world, we do not like to be regimented and ordered about and have every action of our lives prescribed for us. In fact we punish criminals by sending them to Wormwood Scrubs and Dartmoor, where they get full employment, and whatever board and lodging is appointed by the Home Secretary.
Socialism is, in its essence, an attack not only upon British enterprise, but upon the right of the ordinary man or woman to breathe freely without having a harsh, clumsy, tyrannical hand clapped across their mouths and nostrils. A Free Parliament - look at that - a Free Parliament is odious to the Socialist doctrinaire. Have we not heard Mr. Herbert Morrison descant upon his plans to curtail Parliamentary procedure and pass laws simply by resolutions of broad principle in the House of Commons, afterwards to be left by Parliament to the executive and to the bureaucrats to elaborate and enforce by departmental regulations?
Posted by The Englishman at 8:20 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Guardian Calls for a Nanny Government
Monday February 16, 1880 The Guardian
It is clear that it is not only against the cruelty and cupidity of employers who compel women and children to expose themselves to such a risk as that we have described for the amusement of a vulgar crowd that protection is needed.
Check the date again!
Posted by The Englishman at 7:20 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Dangers of non-smoking
Letters to the Editor The Times - Plenty of perils remain in our hygienic, smoke-free Britain
Of course the biggest danger in pubs comes from the fact that all those self-satisfied sandal-wearing totalitarian freedom-hating killjoy anti-smokers will now start coming into our pubs. I'm in big trouble with Mr FM for being rude to him and his gaily dressed friends the other night; I think I must of had a head cold and the half of Wadworth's IPA I sipped interfered with my medicine. And while I am glad to publicly apologise for my boorish and loud behaviour to them I can assure them, and you, that it was a mere whimper compared to the wrath that will erupt at the first matching sweater couple who simper into the snug and explain how much nicer and modern the place is without that nasty smoke.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Private reminder to the Young Englishmen
Britain, UK news from The Times and The Sunday Times - Times Online
SIXTEEN-YEAR-OLD children may come across as sullen, monosyllabic depressives with acne and hopeless love lives, but it is their parents who are really suffering.
A survey has confirmed what parents had long suspected: children get more expensive as they get older. The average cost of maintaining a 16-year-old in your home for a week is now Ł64, or Ł3,328 per year, while 15-year-olds and 11-year-olds cost Ł62 a week. ...
So when I become a soup-dribbler and you are choosing a home for me, remember all that money spent, please.....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
The Disadvantages of Being Educated
Telegraph | News | Fall in history and classics no bad thing, says minister
A sharp fall in the number of university applicants wanting to study such "non-vocational" subjects as history, philosophy, classics and fine art was "no bad thing", Bill Rammell, the higher education minister, said yesterday....
"There is some evidence that students are choosing subjects they believe will be more vocationally beneficial to them," said Mr Rammell, who read French and politics at University College, Cardiff.
"If that's what they are doing, I don't see it as necessarily a bad thing."
Pity he didn't study plumbing and go off and do a useful job instead of bing a nuLabour minister. But he has a point, there is far too much "education", and the stigma attached to training an d apprenticeships compared to educating is harmful and wrong.
As Albert Jay Nock put it a long time ago when talking about American Education in the 1930s.
In his essay "The Nature of Education," Nock explained, "When you want chemists, mechanics, engineers, bond-salesmen, lawyers, bankers and so on, you train them; training, in short, is for a vocational purpose. Education contemplates another kind of product..." (The Book of Journeyman).
Nock's did not mean to denigrate those who should be trained, rather than educated. He wrote, "Education, property applied to suitable material, produces something in a way of an Emerson; while training, properly applied to suitable material, produces something in the way of an Edison" (Memoirs). Thus, to Nock, science was a matter of training and many of the world's most eminent men were not educated, but trained. He wrote, "Training is excellent, and it can not be too well done, and opportunity for it can not be too cheap and abundant... (Free Speech and Plain Language).
The main problem with the American educational system was that, in attempting to educate everyone equally, it encountered Gresham's law and ended up educating no one adequately. Instead, it provided only training, even to those who were educable. Under the current system, he believed that "the study of history, like other formative studies, does not even rise to the dignity of being a waste of time. What with the political, economic and theological capital that has to be made of it...it is a positive detriment to mind and spirit" (The Book of Journeyman). Indeed, "Following the strange American dogma that all persons are educable, and following the equally fantastic popular esti- mate place upon mere numbers, our whole educational system has watered down its requirements to something precious near the moron standard. The American curriculum in 'the liberal arts' is a combination of bargain-counter, grab-bag and Christmas-tree" .
See also : http://www.solarvoid.com/index.php/about/the-disadvantages-of-being-educated/
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack