Womble on tour has picked up on this story in the Telegraph:
I am speechless. For now…
November 24, 2008
November 14, 2008
Brown the Clown
I swore at the radio on the way to work today. The Brown Broadcorpsing Castration was telling me that Gordon’s solution to Britain’s economic woes was for the Government to tax less and spend more. This sounds way too much like the Mr. Micawber principle. Quick, buy him a pair of baggy pants & new footwear.
Karen and I are off for a weekend trip to Brugge tomorrow, leaving David in the capable hands of Grandma Pat. Guest blogging isn’t on their agenda though, so it will be quiet here for a couple of days.
Brugge (or Bruges, as we Brits know it) is somewhere I’ve driven through loads of times but never stopped at. Apparently it is a beautiful medieval city, so I’m looking forward to taking lots of photos. (If I can hold the camera straight, Karen found out there is a Beer Festival on!)
November 13, 2008
The consequences are sticky…
It seems that there is a critical shortage of sperm donors in Britain. Well, there is a surprise. Why could that be? Perhaps it was the removal of anonymity, or the Child Support Agency, or the rule caps.
(Stories like this don’t help…)
Well, let me tell you another unintended consequence of righteous rule making.
12,000 lives turned upside down through Government Agency incompetence
25% of the adult population to go through these checks, & more intrusive ones
The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) has been created to help prevent unsuitable people from working with children and vulnerable adults.
We will do this by working in partnership with the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB), which will gather relevant information on every person who wants to work or volunteer with vulnerable people.
Good old Samizdata put it succincty
And people wonder why there is sometimes a shortage of volunteers for things like youth clubs and the like. The destruction of civil society, of the bonds of trust that are vital to such an organic, grass-roots cluster of non-state institutions, is remorseless and deliberate. This government, in its totalitarian way - I use that word quite deliberately - wants to make all human interactions subject to its tests. The consequences for the long term health of civil society, and of the ability of people to grow up normally, are ignored.
Well, I’ve had enough. I’ve had three CRB checks for volunteering with children but there won’t be a fourth. The school where I used to be a parent governor was happy with list 99 checks in my time but now want an enhanced disclosure. If I’d still been there I would have resigned on principle as it is entirely disproportionate to the risk and the system is seriously flawed anyway (as well as being yet another way of raising money, just ask Thunderdragon).
So, I’m quietly going to drop out of the reading scheme when it is up for CRB renewal. The community radio will also get forced down the registration route and the decision is to either only accept adults or to struggle to find people willing to go through the grief. It won’t be my decision though.
Do tou know a third unintended consequence? Fine buildings not currently in use are being demolished because it isn’t viable to let them stand empty now that the business rate relief has been abolished. Perhaps that is why the Morley Pavilion is back on the market. Yours for £2k a week or so (plus £400 rates) if you don’t have a Million or two to spare to just buy it.
(You can’t knock it down I’m afraid, it is in a conservation area).
November 12, 2008
Website problems
I have had trouble getting onto the blog this evening so have not posted. (I could get in to the host via FTP but the site name wouldn’t resolve and you need to go in the front door to post via Wordpress).
I’m also busy counting beans (of the financial kind, closing off the books for the Mercia Cinema Society that I am the Treasurer of) so whilst blogging is more pleasurable than that, it is also way too much of a distraction.
In the meantime, you’ll be pleased to hear that the parking machines are working again in Morley.
However, in an interesting twist, a Councillor shows that he is ignorant or a liar. More on that in due course…
November 11, 2008
Lions led by donkeys
90 years ago, the guns fell silent at the end of the great war. It is estimated that twenty million people died.
At the end of World War two, more than 70 million more were dead, most of them Civilians.
When I was a young man, the Royal British Legion people worried that their members were getting older and that one day, people would forget.
The Government, however, continue to send our soldiers into battle, poorly prepared and not entirely certain what they are fighting for.
Armies should protect the homeland robustly, not fight other people’s wars.
Let the guns fall silent again one day, in Afghanistan, Iraq & Kosovo.
Also remember that not all armed forces are soldiers- the Police are also sent into battle, often poorly prepared, poorly led and not entirely certain what they are fighting for.
Let the guns never sound in anger again, particularly in Stockwell.
