Monday 31 December 2012

Power companies' staff working in government

What a nice cosy relationship.  I wonder if they also employ those that are fighting for lower energy bills.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255251/Gas-oil-giants-staff-government-payroll.html

Is witchcraft on the rise?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255220/Church-minister-Reverend-Felix-Aubel-warns-witchcraft-thriving--WALES-home-83-witches-93-satanists-site-exorcism.html

EU debate continues

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9772371/Britain-should-be-offered-second-class-membership-of-the-EU.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/31/eurozone-crisis-angela-merkel-2013-predictions

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/eu-britain-could-be-given-secondclass-membership-of-bloc-8434233.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/forty-years-on-the-benefits-of-eu-membership-are-no-longer-compelling-8433996.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255217/EU-offer-second-class-membership-stop-Britain-leaving-altogether.html

Big Brother and Police State to operate on peadophiles

May Our Lord Jesus show such people His unfailing mercy, because our state certainly is not.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255202/Paedophiles-tagged-GPS-alarms-triggered-near-school-playground.html

Daily Mail targets large families with unemployed parents

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255203/Benefit-broods-How-taxpayers-fork-150m-year-families-children.html

£150m a year seems quite small compared to the cost of bailing out banks and still paying them massive bonuses.

If companies really cared about this as a problem, they would cooperatively do something about it. But they are more interested in REDUCING how much corporate tax they pay.

So just as people who are entitled to benefits claim them, so do companies entitled to lower their corporate tax, do so.

Not sure where it says "if banks are at risk of going under, they are able to claim a huge benefit from the government".

Ryanair's latest antics exposed

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2255188/Ryanair-flies-new-cost-cutting-storm-pilots-claim-saves-money-jet-fuel.html

Independent New Language : "Equal" Marriage

For centuries we have clearly had unequal marriage.

The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales calls on followers to oppose plans for equal marriage (my emphasis)


The leader of Roman Catholics in England and Wales has urged followers to write to their representatives in Parliament to oppose the government's plans to allow gay marriage.
In a letter read to congregations over the weekend, Archbishop Vincent Nichols called for Catholics to express their views "clearly, calmly and forcefully."

Nichols says he is concerned about how a change in the law would affect what children are taught about marriage.

He says he wants members of Parliament to "defend, not change, the bond of man and woman in marriage as the essential element of the vision of the family."

Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led government plans to introduce legislation in January to allow gay marriages. Recent opinion polls suggest a large majority of the public supports the change.

A sign of the times?

Man critically ill after suspected Christmas 'trolley rage' incident at Marks & Spencer store in Kent

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/man-critically-ill-after-suspected-christmas-trolley-rage-incident-at-marks--spencer-store-8434060.html

Two men arrested over brutal murder of organist killed in 'random attack' as he went to Midnight Mass

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254640/Alan-Greaves-murder-Two-men-arrested-attack-organist.html

Rowan Williams to become Master at Magdalene College, Cambridge.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/williams-leaves-church-service-for-life-of-academia-8433694.html

Is this the end of the netbook?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/dec/31/netbooks-dead-2013

Friday 28 December 2012

How we have fewer and fewer traditional families

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254450/Demise-nuclear-family-British-children-likely-live-parents-major-Western-nation.html

A view of 2012 by the Daily Mail

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254394/2012-year-divide-people-powerful-dangerously-wide-The-tragedy-theres-proud-Britain-.html

Where will 2012 stand in history? It was not one of the outstanding, iconic years like 1945, the year World War II ended, or 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell.
It saw no earth-shattering events to stand beside the collapse of the Soviet Union, the terrorist attacks on New York or the invasion of Iraq. In many ways, indeed, the story of 2012 was simply more of the same. In Britain, the Coalition limped miserably along, while the economy stubbornly refused to improve.
On the Continent, the euro staggered blindly from crisis to crisis. In the Middle East, the festering sore of the Israel-Palestine conflict claimed the lives of hundreds more victims, while the Arab Spring slid further into bloodshed.
And across the Atlantic, Barack Obama won an unexpectedly comfortable re-election against a backdrop of bitter ideological wrangling, fiscal brinkmanship and the horrifying massacres in Colorado and Connecticut.
Here in Britain, most will remember it as the year of two glorious public celebrations: the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee and the Olympics.
After months of bad news, the summer’s events were a chance to remind ourselves that in the cultural and sporting arenas at least, British creativity and inspiration still lead the world.
It was, as one American newspaper put it, a year with a pronounced British accent, from the box-office triumphs of James Bond and the adaptation of Oxford don J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, to our cricketers’ splendid series victory in India and our rugby team’s thrashing of the supposedly unbeatable All Blacks.
And yet, if 2012 had a British accent, it was not one that Bond author Ian Fleming, or indeed Tolkien, would have recognised. Last month’s release of the latest census results showed how much our country had changed during the years of New Labour rule.
Tolkien, a deeply religious man shaped by the horrors he witnessed on the Somme, would be astonished to discover that barely six out of ten people now call themselves Christians.
And Fleming, steeped in the values of Empire and convinced the British had a right to rule the world, would have been astounded by the news that almost eight million people in England and Wales were born abroad, while in London, white British residents are now a minority.
Patriotic: It was a year with a pronounced British accent, with box-office triumphs including James Bond and the adaptation of Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
Patriotic: It was a year with a pronounced British accent, with box-office triumphs including James Bond and the adaptation of Oxford don J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
To my mind, though, the real change since the days of Fleming and Tolkien has been deeper and more subtle. It is true that to modern eyes, their era often seems intolerant and censorious.
Yet they grew up in an age that took duty seriously, prized responsibility, shrank from self-indulgence and had a profound, almost transcendent faith in the great institutions of the British Establishment.
Perhaps it is just as well, then, that they were not around to see what happened in Britain in 2012.
For there is no getting away from the fact that, as far as the country’s political and cultural establishment were concerned, this was probably the single worst year in living memory.
Almost every week seemed to bring new revelations of arrogance and wrongdoing, from the petty pilfering of some MPs such as Denis MacShane — who even invented institutions and forged signatures to help himself to Parliamentary expenses — to the appalling allegations swirling around the squalid, shell-suited figure of the late Jimmy Savile.
Shocking: Almost every week seemed to bring new revelations of arrogance and wrongdoing, including the appalling allegations swirling around the squalid, shell-suited figure of the late Jimmy Savile
Shocking: Almost every week seemed to bring new revelations of arrogance and wrongdoing, including the appalling allegations swirling around the squalid, shell-suited figure of the late Jimmy Savile
There is a grim irony in the fact that while we are facing perhaps the most difficult political and economic decisions in a generation, politics itself has never been in deeper disrepute.
Indeed, the grotesque farce of the elections for local police commissioners — which were so badly publicised that one polling station in Wales recorded no votes at all — speaks volumes about the corrosion of popular interest in politics.
It is little wonder that many ordinary people feel they have no stake in the political process. At the top, they see an unhappy Coalition riven by childish bickering, opposed by a Labour Party that often seems to have lost all gumption, guts and soul.
They see one of our best-known backbench MPs, the outspoken Nadine Dorries, choosing to abandon her constituents for the tawdry attractions of I’m A Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here! — a decision that turned politics itself into a national laughing stock.
And when many voters picture their political representatives, they imagine characters like Denis MacShane, the expenses fiddler, or Andrew Mitchell, the short-lived Tory Chief Whip who was accused of referring to police officers as plebs.
Andrew Mitchell, the short-lived Tory Chief Whip, was accused of referring to police officers as plebs
Andrew Mitchell, the short-lived Tory Chief Whip, was accused of referring to police officers as plebs
Whether Mr Mitchell used the offending word, or whether, as now seems possible, he was framed, his alleged insult was the most resonant political remark of the year.
For me, the really revealing thing about it is simply that it sounds so plausible. Sadly, it is the kind of remark most of us can imagine our privileged political masters saying, even if only under their breath.
The truth is that our institutions have never felt more unaccountable, arrogant and out of touch than they did in 2012. And that, in turn, explains why, although history is littered with largely forgotten scandals, the Jimmy Savile affair will surely echo down the years.
It had already been a bad year for the BBC. Its disastrously frivolous coverage of the Jubilee river pageant was widely regarded as one of the lowest points in its recent history, even attracting fierce criticism from the corporation’s own star performers.
But the Savile scandal was in a different league. At the very least, it suggested that for decades the BBC had been harbouring a malignant child abuser whom it then shrank from exposing because, if some accounts are to be believed, Newsnight’s revelations clashed with BBC1’s plans for a tribute to the ghastly Savile.
What was worse was that the BBC, as though punch-drunk from the inevitable storm of criticism, then contrived to smear a completely innocent man, Lord McAlpine, as a child abuser himself — a calamitous error of judgment that forced the resignation of the corporation’s new director-general George Entwistle.
What happened to the BBC, however, was not unique. Failures of leadership and loss of nerve were everywhere in 2012, which was a wretched year for institutions of all kinds. The Church of England, whose hold on our national imagination has declined so precipitously in recent years, sank to a new low in the autumn. To most sensible people, the advent of women bishops is long overdue. Yet, in its wisdom, the Church’s General Synod chose to reject it.
It was a bad year, too, for the police, whose disgraceful dishonesty after the Hillsborough disaster in 1989, when they tried to smear innocent Liverpool fans who had been crushed to death, was finally exposed by an independent report.
Or take the British security services in Northern Ireland, whose involvement in the murder of solicitor Pat Finucane was at last admitted by a government inquiry.
This was, in fact, the year of the inquiry, which has become the Coalition’s stock response to challenges of any kind. Increasingly, it seems that whenever a difficult issue arises — such as the question of a new runway at Heathrow — the Government’s only answer is to convene yet another inquiry.
Stock response: Increasingly, it seems that whenever a difficult issue arises, the Government's only answer is to convene yet another inquiry
Stock response: Increasingly, it seems that whenever a difficult issue arises, the Government's only answer is to convene yet another inquiry
Meanwhile, the most notorious inquiry of all, Lord Justice Leveson’s investigation into phone hacking and journalistic misconduct, reached a sadly predictable conclusion with his calls for state regulation of the Press.
No sane person would dispute that papers such as the News of the World behaved disgracefully. There is a bitter irony, though, in the fact that Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals would interfere with the one thing most likely to bring scandals to light and hold the powerful to account — a free Press.
Yet the past year was not all doom and despondency. And surely not even the most cussed and curmudgeonly among us could deny that there was much to celebrate.
For while 2012 may have been a terrible year for the Establishment, it showed the British people at their best. The London Olympics were widely expected to be a complete washout. Many commentators — myself among them — predicted chaos on the roads, empty seats at the venues and a general air of apathy and disorganisation.
Never have I been happier to be proved wrong. From the splendid opening ceremony, a patriotic paean to the courage and imagination that have made Britain the envy of the world, to the selflessness of the volunteers, the dedication of our Armed Forces and the achievements of our athletes, the Games could hardly have been a better showcase for our country.
Proud: Even the sportsmen and women who had so many of us cheering with full-hearted pride were reassuringly down-to-earth people, from the sardonic Bradley Wiggins to Sheffield's beloved Jessica Ennis
Proud: Even the sportsmen and women who had so many of us cheering with full-hearted pride were reassuringly down-to-earth people, from the sardonic Bradley Wiggins to Sheffield's beloved Jessica Ennis
To my mind, they were more than a sporting sideshow. For what brought them alive was the generosity and public-spiritedness of thousands of ordinary people who gave their time without any thought of financial reward or self-interest.
Even the sportsmen and women who had so many of us cheering with full-hearted pride were reassuringly normal, down-to-earth people, from the sardonic Bradley Wiggins to Sheffield’s beloved Jessica Ennis.
And, of course, there was the admirable figure of Mo Farah, born in Somalia but now delighted to drape himself in the Union Jack without apology or ambiguity.
What made men and women like these such marvellous role models — in stark contrast to our arrogant footballers or our pampered politicians — is that they embody values long thought to have fallen from fashion.
They trained for long, punishing hours, pushing themselves to the limit, determined to produce the best possible performance they could.
Admirable: Mo Farah was born in Somalia but draped himself in the Union Jack without apology or ambiguity
Admirable: Mo Farah was born in Somalia but draped himself in the Union Jack without apology or ambiguity
In our public life, perhaps the only major figure who embodies a similar spirit of sheer dedication is the Queen herself, which is why so many millions of people wanted to pay her an emotional tribute during her Diamond Jubilee.
Despite the carping of a handful of second-rate intellectuals, the indisputable fact is that the vast majority of ordinary people have enormous affection for the monarchy.
If nothing else, it is the one institution — apart from our Armed Forces — that still stands unambiguously for the notion of public responsibility.
There is, however, something terribly worrying in the fact that other institutions seem unable to learn the obvious lessons and to bridge the gap between the people and the powerful.
From Europe to the economy, the gulf between our political class and the families it claims to represent has probably never been greater.
Popular unease about the extraordinary rise of immigration in the past ten years, as reflected in the latest census, is merely one symptom of a wider malaise. And it is hard to banish the fear that, in the long run, apathy and alienation will breed discontent and unrest.
The tragedy is that there is still so much to be proud of. No other country on earth could have hosted an Olympics with the wit, imagination and flair that we showed during those memorable summer weeks.
Our popular culture remains second to none, while our scientists and engineers are as ingenious as any in the world.
We will need them in 2013, which promises to be a hard year.
The economy is unlikely to improve, the Coalition inspires little confidence and the dreadful situation in Europe may well get worse.
Yet as this summer so magnificently proved, the British people have unmatched reserves of spirit, stoicism and selflessness. Perhaps, in the next 12 months, our national institutions and our political masters might start to emulate them.
It may sound an unlikely prospect, but stranger things have happened.

How the EU knows best

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/9769526/David-Cameron-plan-to-opt-out-of-EU-policing-laws-will-allow-criminals-to-run-free.html

State school quotas for universities under pressure

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/9770472/State-school-quotas-for-universities-face-axe-following-protests.html

Tensions rise between US and Russia

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254122/Americans-banned-adopting-Russian-children-Putin-signs-bill.html

iWatch may be on its way

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2253856/iWatch-Apple-rumoured-developing-touchscreen-wristphone.html

Convictions based on Facebook or Twitter rise substantially

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253692/Facebook-Twitter-crime-sees-fold-increase-police-deal-5-000-cases-involving-websites.html

How people want the Word of God to become the Word of Man

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253902/Now-Piers-Morgan-says-Bible-flawed.html

Do less and less women want to have children?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254021/Young-women-held-belief-children-ambition-Headmistress-warns-schoolgirls-need-learn-free-make-decisions.html

12,000 people's CRBs incorrectly state they have committed crimes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2254044/12-000-people-branded-criminals-error-inaccurate-record-checks.html

Apparently if all people were paid living wage, benefits bill would be £2bn less

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2254165/Paying-workers-living-wage-save-public-purse-2BILLION-year.html

Youtube discovers billions of fraudulent viewings

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2254181/YouTube-wipes-billions-video-views-finding-faked-music-industry.html

Reminds me of how cars mileage used to be clocked.

Has this government outcast many of those on benefits or out of work?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/odd-job-uk-booming-black-market-economy-is-propping-up-jobs-figures-8432186.html

Head of TUC proposing introducing quotas for women in senior jobs

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/time-for-quotas-to-put-women-in-top-jobs-8432348.html

Bankrupt retailer 15 times brighter than the moon!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9767950/Comet-15-times-brighter-than-the-moon-to-be-visible-from-Britain.html

Very few scientists coming to research in UK

And even the photo in the Telegraph discourages people coming here! Shows you our subconscious!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9767560/Visa-scheme-to-attract-1000-top-scientists-and-artists-gets-just-50-to-settle-in-Britain.html

"Minimum alcohol price will affect many responsible drinkers"

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9768072/Anna-Soubry-minimum-alcohol-price-will-affect-many-responsible-drinkers.html

Government to support cost of childcare

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9768224/Nick-Clegg-promises-to-cut-cost-of-childcare.html

EU is clearly not founded on the cornerstone of life

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/conservative/9767877/Europe-would-unravel-if-Britain-were-to-repatriate-powers-says-Herman-van-Rompuy.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253956/UK-cherry-pick-choose-powers-claw-Brussels-EU-president-warns.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/27/david-cameron-eu-herman-van-rompuy

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/dec/27/eu-britain-european-destiny

Herman van Rompuy, one of Europe's most senior figures, said countries like Britain cannot simply "cherry pick" which laws from Brussels they wish to follow.
Mr Cameron has promised a "fresh settlement" with Brussels amid pressure from his backbenchers to give the British public a say on whether to leave the EU.
He is widely expected to make a speech in the new year outlining plans for a referendum in 2015, which would voters a choice between a new relationship with Europe and leaving altogether.
Mr Cameron will fight for Britain to stay in the EU on new terms but European leaders are worried that allowing Britain to "repatriate" powers could pave the way for an exit and encourage other countries to seek similar deals.
In an interview with the Guardian, Mr van Rompuy last night issued a warning that countries must not "seek to undermine" the EU by seeking special privileges.

He said the whole European project could fall apart if all member states only looked out for their own interests.
"If every member state were able to cherry-pick those parts of existing policies that they most like, and opt out of those that they least like, the union in general, and the single market in particular, would soon unravel," he said.
"All member states can, and do, have particular requests and needs that are always taken into consideration as part of our deliberations. I do not expect any member state to seek to undermine the fundamentals of our co-operative system in Europe."
Mr van Rompuy's intervention comes after Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy Prime Minister, warned that Britain must not back out of Europe.
This week, he dismissed plans for a referendum on the country’s membership of the EU as “putting the cart before the horse”.
He argued against offering a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU and says that Britain should instead be exercising its leadership role in Europe.
The deputy Prime Minister insists that he is “not frightened” of a public vote but says that such a suggestion is premature given the uncertainty surrounding plans to rewrite the Lisbon treaty to try to underpin the euro.
Mr Cameron has already promised Conservative MPs that the party will fight the election on a “clear Eurosceptic position”.
He wants Britain to take a step back from Europe as the countries in the eurozone country make plans to join together in a "super-state" with closer political and financial integration.
A poll yesterday showed that most Britons now want to leave Europe, with 51 per cent saying they would vote for an exit – in a marked hardening of eurosceptic attitudes.

Thursday 27 December 2012

1 in 6 children aged 11 to 15 have taken drugs

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253575/One-children-aged-11-15-admit-taken-drugs-cocaine.html

High Court Judge attacks Government over same sex marriage proposals

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253336/Stop-focusing-0-1-cent-High-Court-judge-attacks-Government-time-spent-gay-marriage-families-crisis.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253476/It-utterly-mind-boggling-Cameron-break-vow-core-voters-pandering-tiny-minority.html

Amazon and Google brands tarnished

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253539/Amazon-Google-tarnished-brands-Their-popularity-plummets-row-tax-payments.html

The Light shines in the darkness

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253572/Julie-Keith-letter-Plea-help-Chinese-labor-camp-worker-stuffed-Oregon-womans-Halloween-decorations.html

Plea for help from Chinese labor camp worker paid $1.61 per MONTH found stuffed in Oregon woman's Halloween decorations from Kmart

Oregon mother Julie Keith expected to find Styrofoam headstones in the graveyard kit she bought at Kmart for Halloween.
What she didn't expect was a desperate plea for help from one of the Chinese laborers forced to make the holiday decorations in brutal conditions.
The 42-year-old charity worker from Portland discovered the chilling letter hidden between the two novelty headstones when she opened the kit in October.
Plea for help: The letter, pictured, came in a box of Halloween decorations purchased at Kmart
Plea for help: The letter, pictured, came in a box of Halloween decorations purchased at Kmart
'Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization,' the unsigned note, that was folded into eighths, read.
'Thousands people here who are under the persicution [sic] of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever.'
The letter's author said the Halloween product was made in Masanjia Labor Camp in Shenyang, China, where laborers are forced to work for 15 hours a day without time off on the weekends and holidays.
'Otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark. [sic] Nearly no payment,' they wrote in choppy English accompanied by Chinese characters.
The plea said workers at the labor camp make only 10 yuan per month - the equivalent to $1.61.
The China director at Human Rights Watch, Sophie Richardson, told The Oregonian that the origin or authenticity of the letter couldn't be confirmed.
'We're in no position to confirm the veracity or origin of this,' she said. 'I think it is fair to say the conditions described in the letter certainly conform to what we know about conditions in re-education through labor camps.'
China's re-education through labor is a system of punishment that allows for detention without trial.
Masanjia labor camp is located in the industrialized capital of the Liaoning Province in northeast China.
'If this thing is the real deal, that's somebody saying please help me, please know about me, please react,' Richardson told The Oregonian. 'That's our job.'
Keith certainlythinks it is genuine.
She said she analyzed the product packaging and showed it to a Chinese co-worker at the Portland Goodwill store, where she is a donations manager, and they thought it looked authentic.
'I fully believe it is real,' she told Fox News, describing how the headstones where the letter was found were sealed together and the box was closed with tape.
'It had to [have] come from where they said.'
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations is looking into the note. Keith said she had handed over the box of decorations and the letter to ICE agents to help in the investigation.
Keith actually purchased the box of decorations more than a year ago and only decided to pull them out this year because her five-year-old daughter was having a pre-Halloween birthday party.
She said at one point she considered donating the unopened $29.99 Kmart graveyard kit. But she opened it and found the letter, which had travelled some 5,000 miles over the Pacific Ocean to get to her home.
 
Keith's first instinct was to turn to Facebook to ask her friends for tips on what to do and to spread the message.
'I found this in a box of Halloween decorations,' she typed beneath a photo of the letter. The post quickly prompted a flurry of responses.
'I'm sure that person feared for his/her life to include that letter in the products, but it was a chance they were obviously willing to take,' one friend wrote, according to The Oregonian. 'We take our freedom for granted!'
'What's weird to me is someone is actually thinking about, and praying something comes of this... every day of their life since they sent it out,' another wrote. 'Makes me sad this even happens.'
Sears Holdings Corporation, which owns Kmart, said in a statement that it was also investigating the matter.
'Sears Holdings has a Global Compliance Program which helps to ensure that vendors and factories producing merchandise for our company adhere to specific Program Requirements, and all local laws pertaining to employment standards and workplace practices,' the company said.
'Failure to comply with any of the Program Requirements, including the use of forced labor, may result in a loss of business or factory termination.'

How Big Brother can switch off a source of information at the flick fo a switch

Now we can see how Big Brother could operate.

Rather than identifying those flouting the system and bringing them to justice, just close down the system for everyone!

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/bbc-shuts-down-thorn-tree-travel-forum-on-lonely-planet-website-over-uncomfortable-themes-8431501.html

Government wants more BME in government

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pm-orders-new-minorities-push-to-stave-off-tory-election-crisis-8431680.html

Pressure to make paying for sex illegal

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/26/government-pressure-review-prostitution-laws

More than 60% of people want gay marriage

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/26/voters-back-gay-marriage-poll

Most of us want to leave the EU

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9766670/Most-voters-now-want-Britain-to-leave-EU.html

Government investment into new material graphene

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9766853/21.5m-government-funding-to-develop-super-material-graphene.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253483/Chancellors-22m-boost-Britains-wonder-stuff-Osborne-announces-investment-capitalise-graphene.html

New health system in hospitals to spot child abuse

Not sure if this a good thing or not.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/9766850/Children-visiting-AandE-to-go-on-database-to-spot-signs-of-abuse.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/27/children-national-data-base-baby-peter

Liberal democrats are pro Europe

I've tended to link liberty with being liberal, but now I see this is not so.  So I have no idea what being liberal means now.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9766846/Nick-Clegg-warns-David-Cameron-not-to-back-out-of-Europe.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/dec/26/clegg-warning-cameron-britain-europe

Wednesday 26 December 2012

Gay marriage : now the ruling elite shows us its ultimate sanction

Interesting.....now we see true democracy at work!

If this act is really invoked then it will be clear we will now know how the ruling elites of Britain are the Emperors of this country. "There are no gods but the ruling elite in Britain", This act has been used before for fox hunting - so such Emperors have been around longer than I thought.

I will never be a Britianist!

Freedom will be shown for what it really is.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9766783/Coalition-may-use-nuclear-option-to-force-through-gay-marriage-law.html

Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, has signalled that the Government might be prepared to use the Parliament Act to get its planned “equal marriage” legislation on to the statute book if it is rejected in the Lords.
The Act, which has been used only seven times in the past century, is sometimes described as the “nuclear” option of parliamentary process to break stalemates between the Commons and the Lords. It asserts the superiority of the House of Commons by allowing Bills that cannot clear the Lords to become law, but is intended to be used only in exceptional circumstances.
The Act was last used by the Blair government to force through the ban on foxhunting after years of acrimony over the issue.
Despite predictions that almost half of Tory MPs will vote against same-sex marriage in a free vote, the proposal is likely to secure a majority in the Commons with the support of Labour and Liberal Democrat members. But the situation in the Lords is less clear, with almost equal numbers of Tory and Labour peers but a large independent contingent as well as 26 Church of England bishops.
Some peers have already predicted that the Bill could be sunk in the Lords even if it passes the Commons. Mrs Miller has been asked repeatedly in recent days whether she would rule out using the Parliament Act but has sidestepped the question by saying that she was confident the Lords would back the measure.

An official statement from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport said only: “We do not foresee that this will be the case and have no plans to do so.”
David Cameron’s popularity among homosexual voters has risen since he backed same-sex marriage, according to a poll for Pink News, an online publication for homosexuals. Just 11 per cent voted Conservative at the last general election, but this would rise to 30 per cent if a vote were called tomorrow.

Tuesday 25 December 2012

Hypocrisy exposed of our ruling elite

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252912/George-Osborne-DOUBLED-number-Treasury-staff-figure-salaries-election.html

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253160/Ten-year-old-girl-opens-family-cafe-serve-Christmas-dinner-50-homeless-people-memory-father.html

Help fundraise local government : park too far from the kerb

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253119/Traffic-wardens-given-tape-measures-fine-motorists-70-parking-19-inches-kerb.html

Something has gone terribly wrong with how we care for our elderly

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253199/Middle-class-care-fiasco-PM-backed-35-000-cap-fees--elderly-face-paying-double.html

Job 12:12 " With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding."

Proverbs 16:13 "The hoary head is a crown of glory, if it be found in the way of righteousness."

Psalm 92:14 "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;"

Proverbs 17:6 " Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers."

Psalm 71:9 "Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth."

Middle-class couples who need residential care in old age could be hit with bills as high as £150,000.
Under Coalition plans to be unveiled in the New Year, the upper limit on the amount that must be contributed towards care could be £60,000 or even £75,000 per person.
This ‘cap’ is much higher than the £35,000 suggested by last year’s independent review into England’s care funding system.
If both husband and wife end up moving into residential care, it could mean they will have to pay out up to £150,000 before the state steps in.
In addition, they will still have to meet accommodation costs – the ‘bed and board’ charge for care home stays. This could push the total outlay to almost £200,000.
Critics say setting the cap so high will do little to stop thousands of pensioners having to sell their homes each year, denying their children an inheritance.
And they are likely to accuse David Cameron of letting the elderly down, as Downing Street has previously attracted positive coverage by backing the review’s proposal of a £35,000 cap.
At present, care home residents can be landed with unlimited charges if they have assets, including their house, of more than £23,500. Those who have no savings get care completely free.
Ministers have pledged to increase this threshold to £100,000, meaning people will no longer see their savings depleted to below this level.
But the benefit could be wiped out by the imposition of a cap that is more than double the amount that was originally expected.
In addition, it is understood that the new system may not even be put in place until as late as 2017, despite promises to sort the issue out before the next General Election, due in 2015.
At least 20,000 elderly people have to sell their homes every year to pay unlimited care costs.
graphic...jpg
Last year, a Government-commissioned report by economist Andrew Dilnot concluded that a lifetime cap should be imposed of between £35,000 and £50,000, with the state stepping in to pay the rest.
At that time, a senior Conservative source told the Daily Mail: ‘The Prime Minister said “We’ve got to do Dilnot. We’re going to do this”.’
Mr Cameron said: ‘I hope to be able to announce the way forward by the next election but we’ve got to find the money first. It seems to me absolutely vital.’ He added that he was confident the funding would be found.
But Chancellor George Osborne balked at the estimated £1.7billion a year cost at a time when he is trying to bring down Britain’s deficit.
 
To bring down the cost, it seems ministers are considering a higher cap of £60,000 or perhaps even £75,000, meaning the state will not be called upon to pay as much.
The cap would be for individuals, meaning that couples could be asked to pay £150,000. In addition, the cap only covers the cost of nursing and personal care, such as help with washing and dressing.
It does not include the ‘bed and board’ cost of food and heating, which add up to between £7,000 and £10,000 a year.
Residents would have to pay this on top of their care fees, potentially pushing the total cost towards the £200,000 level.
Whitehall sources said that no final decision had been taken on the level of the cap, but that ‘the higher end of what has been speculated is most likely’.
Professor Dilnot also suggested that the assets threshold of £23,500, below which people have to pay nothing towards their residential care, should be raised substantially to £100,000.
It is likely that ministers will respect this part of his recommendations.
Last night Ros Altmann, director general of the over-50s group Saga, said such a high cap would be a ‘betrayal’ of pensioners.
‘A £75,000 cap is too high and would still mean most middle-class families, especially outside London, would lose their home and life savings because the cap excludes accommodation costs which will be many thousands more,’ she said.
‘This high a cap would not allow an insurance market to develop and is more than double the £35,000 recommended by Dilnot.’
The social care plan is one of the key parts of a Coalition ‘mid-term review’, which will also involve a commitment to introduce a single-tier state pension of about £140 a week.
The review will include measures to cut the cost of childcare, and is expected to commit ministers to new ways to fund the motorway and trunk road network, such as by handing construction and maintenance to the private sector.
A Department of Health Spokesperson said: 'We want this country to be one of the best places in Europe to grow old and that is why in July we announced the most extensive reforms of care and support in over 60 years.
'As part of the reforms, we committed to taking action to ensure people do not have to sell their homes to pay for care.
'We also agreed that the Dilnot Commission's model of the cap on care costs is the right basis for any new funding model, but given the current economic situation, we need to look carefully at how we can pay for this.'

Miracle : 15 week old unborn child survives premature birth

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/baby-born-at-just-15-weeks-1505200

A hospital's smallest surviving premature baby defied all the odds to make it home for Christmas after her older sister “asked Santa” to make it happen.
Amber-May Bass weighed just over 1lb – little more than a tin of baked beans – when she was born 15 weeks early by emergency caesarean on August 3.
But she has since made a good recovery and is well enough to spend the festive period with her family – granting her six-year-old sister Jenna-Rose’s wish.
Amber-May, now 20 weeks, was the smallest surviving baby to be born at the West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.
Her parents Nikkie Palmer, 34, and Andrew Bass, 27, of ­Stowmarket, Suffolk, feared she would not live to see Christmas.
But Amber-May, who was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, the day after she was born, now weighs a positively plump 5lb 11oz.
Nikkie said: “She’s the best present we could ever have hoped for.
"I really thought this Christmas would never come. She’s doing well.”
Paediatrician Dr Ian Evans added: “As far as I’m aware she’s our smallest baby who has survived.”

A summary of 2012 according to the Independent


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/review-of-2012-our-writers-and-tweeters-look-back-at-a-years-news-from-space-to-the-jungle-8424648.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/review-of-uk-politics-in-2012-it-was-the-seventies-all-over-again-8424667.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/review-of-the-media-in-2012-secrets-from-beyond-the-grave-8424657.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/review-of-the-economy-in-2012-this-was-not-supposed-to-happen-8424651.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/review-of-the-eurozone-in-2012-a-crisis-of-debt-and-identity-8424654.html

In General

So what was that all about? One minute you're wondering what the year might have in store; the next you're wondering what, if anything, you'll remember it for.

In a sense, it's the same question: when someone mentions '2012' in years to come, what memories will it conjure in your mind? It's no easier to answer than it was back in January. Some obvious subject-headings suggest themselves, now as then: the Olympics; the Leveson inquiry; the re-election of president Obama; and, presumably, some aspect of the Middle East's travails. The rest is speculation.
There will, inevitably, have been deeper themes: turning-points and watersheds for which future historians will use '2012' as shorthand. But it's far too early to pick them out. Was this the year that the first nail was hammered into what would become the coffin of British press freedom? The year the eurozone crisis hit rock bottom? The year the US finally faced up to the perils of climate change? Perhaps. Or perhaps all three propositions are closer to being the opposite of the truth.
Only time will tell. In retrospect, we can look back at 1812 and recognise instantly that this was the year when the outcome of the hitherto endless-seeming Napoleonic wars was determined. It may not have seemed so obvious at the time; just as it probably wasn't obvious that the assassination that same year of a serving British prime minister would never really lodge itself in public memory. But the death of Spencer Perceval, unlike the failed invasion of Russia, didn't change history.
Sometimes, of course, years are remembered not for historic turning-points but for events that resonate on a more human scale. All sorts of things happened in 1912 that would change history, principally by helping to cause the First World War. But all that most of us can tell you about it is that it was the year of the Titanic disaster – and (if we are especially clever) of Captain Scott's disastrous race to the South Pole.
There has been no shortage of compelling human dramas in 2012. It seems possible, though, that some of the biggest – the Jimmy Savile scandals, for example, or the murder of a British family in Annecy – are simply too harrowing to make a permanent mark, and will turn out instead to be things we sweep under a carpet of forgetting as soon as we decently can.
As for the other stories that once made deafening headlines (leaving aside the Olympics, which we celebrate today in a separate sport supplement), it's alarming how quickly most of them have faded. Would you associate 2012 with the belated conviction of two of Stephen Lawrence's murderers? With the Costa Concordia disaster? With the Queen's Diamond Jubilee? With Felix Baumgartner's leap from space? Or with the 'cash for access' scandal?
Would you, asked what you remembered about the year, have mentioned 'Pastygate', 'Plebgate', 'Calm down, dear', the resignation of Fabio Capello? The shaming of Bob Diamond? Samantha Brick? Naked Prince Harry? All these were huge talking-points at the time; most already feel like obscure historical footnotes.
Perhaps it's just me, or perhaps our attention spans have grown too short for events to resonate for a full 12 months. If a news story does run and run, it's usually because it's a broad issue (the ailing economy, corporate tax avoidance, extreme weather, the Church of England's sexual difficulties) that keeps returning in a different form. Such themes are hardly unique to 2012.
I suspect that – Olympics apart – the stories that truly define the year have yet to be recognised, although in retrospect they may well seem obvious. A time may come when every schoolchild knows that the Higgs boson was found in 2012; or that this was the year when the dieback fungus arrived that would wipe out every ash tree in the UK. Perhaps this year heard the first shots fired in the great Sino-Japanese war – or the last shots fired in the Syrian revolt. Perhaps this was when Julian Assange began his 40-year stay in the Ecuadorian embassy.
History is capricious about what it preserves and what it consigns to its dustbin. Some years – 1712, for example – are remembered for barely anything. (Try it, if you run out of party games.) We can speculate all Christmas about which events of 2012 will echo through the ages, but your guess is as good as ours; which is why, in this Review of the Year issue, we don't attempt to distinguish between events that changed the world and those that simply changed the moment.
Like every year, this one has been exhilarating in its complexity. From politics to the press, fashion to foreign affairs, royalty to the environment – every category has produced contradictory messages. (Was it the great British drought that defined our environmental year, or the great British floods, or the great British freeze?) Over the next 22 pages, our specialist writers look back on the moments that meant most to them, under 14 headings. (The arts, and sport, have their own supplement.)
The overall theme is 'the long and short of it' – with each topic accompanied by a memorable image and the tweets that sometimes capture, best of all, the spirit of a particular event.
What you make of it all is up to you. What history makes of it remains to be seen. But we can make one pronouncement about the significance of 2012: it was the year the world didn't end.
For decades – some say centuries – New Age enthusiasts and admirers of the ancient Mayans have held that the end of the world would take place on 21 December 2012; a belief so popular that, until recently, it was the main result thrown up by an internet search for '2012'.
At the time of going to press, however, the world hadn't ended. If you're reading this, it still hasn't.

In Politics

After all the strange, funny and serious political dramas of the past 12 months, we are more or less back to where we started. The coalition is determinedly stable while being precariously fragile. Like last Christmas, David Cameron has cause to be worried and Nick Clegg to be alarmed about future electoral prospects. Yet for much of the year they have appeared calm, as if armed with invisible shields protecting them from the storms.
Behind the shields there was a significant shift within the coalition and in the way it was perceived. The key event was George Osborne's budget, one in which both Prime Minister and Chancellor ended up having to explain when they had last eaten a Cornish pasty, a consumption that suddenly became a symbol of the degree to which they were engaged with the electorate.
In one of the most inept budgets of recent decades, Osborne raised the taxes on pasties. An anguished cry went out across selected parts of the land: "When did those toffs last eat a pasty?". Osborne was not seen in public for weeks so he did not have to answer the question. Cameron declared that he had enjoyed a pasty at Leeds Station only to discover there was no shop selling the contentious item at this particular location. The silly furore was one of several that arose from a budget that caused chaos for months.
It also gave Labour an accessible policy to protest against: the cut in income tax for high earners. Liberal Democrats had briefed energetically in advance of the budget in the hope that they would get credit for some of the progressive measures. In the event they got no political dividend, while so much of the budget was leaked that Osborne might as well have said: "You've read it all in the newspapers. Thank you and goodnight".
The ceremonial dimension of the Olympics captured the changing political mood brought about partly by the budget. In the same way Hamlet trapped Claudius into watching a re-enactment of the latter's royal fratricide, Cameron was forced to applaud as the Olympics opened partly with a celebration of the NHS, an institution being subjected to unprecedented reform. At least he was not booed, as Osborne was when making a public appearance at the Games.
Still, Cameron and Osborne can cling to the hope that they may still win the election. Nick Clegg instead keeps his fingers crossed for credible survival at the next election. In policy terms, his failure to make progress with House of Lords' reform was a substantial setback raising further questions about how much the Liberal Democrats are getting from the coalition.
After the summer break, Clegg returned apparently fresh and ready to say "sorry" for what had happened in relation to tuition fees. It was a cleverly thought-through apology, in which he said "sorry" for the pledge not to raise fees and not for the increase that followed the election. But Clegg struggled to be heard in 2012. Within a day, a musical video mocked his apology and was soaring up the YouTube charts. It is a reflection of his fragile position that he was almost relieved to be greeted by mockery rather than the fury of the early months in power. None the less, Clegg can take comfort from the discipline of his party, some policy gains on tax and welfare and the way in which the coalition survived the storms.
There is one small difference from 12 months ago. Last January there was much speculation, in parts of the Labour Party as well as in the media, that Ed Miliband would not survive as leader. A series of solid performances since, not least his party conference speech, makes him at least as secure as the other two main party leaders. Miliband has passed some early tests of opposition, performing fairly well at Prime Minister's Questions, winning by-elections and, more importantly, framing a partially compelling story around tumultuous external events, a narrative about fairness, markets and living standards. So far he has only sketched out early chapters, some of it is incomprehensible and the bigger tests are still to come, but he can afford a degree of satisfaction.
He has made a small mark during a year that felt like the mid-1970s, a hung parliament, economic crisis, Europe a dominant issue, a fragile government plodding on and no leader sure of their fate at the next general election. Expect more of the same in 2013.
@Ianvisits If there is a petrol shortage, how will I drive to Greggs to stock up on pasties before the tax hike makes them a luxury food?
Ian Mansfield, blogger
@mrmarksteel I missed the budget. I expect he confiscated the unearned wealth of rapacious bankers to distribute among the people. I'll check later
Mark Steel, comedian and columnist for The Independent
@kevmcveigh Why did 80,000 people boo George Osborne? Because that's the maximum capacity of the Olympic Stadium
Kevin McVeigh, blogger
ChrisBryantMP Are there 249,999 others out there who will chip in a £ to persuade Cameron/Osborne to reverse #grannytax?
Chris Bryant, Labour MP for Rhondda
@frasernels Ed Miliband is certainly right on one thing: the NHS Bill "is a disaster". Must rank amongst top-10 parliamentary screwups of all time
Fraser Nelson, editor of The Spectator
@gavinshuker Gideon apologises for communication of the budget. The Titanic didn't have a communication problem. It had an iceberg problem. #osbornomics
Gavin Shuker, Labour MP
@paulwaugh Witney resident: "I looked up + realised the sky was moving in 2 different directions". Eyewitness re tornado. Not the PM on the Coalition
Paul Waugh, editor of politicshome.com
@johnprescott Would you like a cup of tea? Cameron: "Yes. No. I'll put it to a referendum. Possibly." He's not the Heir to Blair. He's Major Minor!
John Prescott, former Deputy Leader of the Labour party)
@sunny_hundal Speech finished. Ed Mili has pulled off the near impossible: impressed most people and united the party with his delivery #lab12
Sunny Hundal, blogger

The Media

This has been the year in which the British media has shone a spotlight on itself as never before, exposing sinister industry secrets that had remained hidden for years.
The public, which no doubt assumed itself unshockable in this media-savvy age, now finds itself feeling gullible and betrayed. No part of the media has emerged from this year's scrutiny without its reputation being further diminished. The BBC has lost a Director General, who resigned after the shortest tenure in the organisation's history. The big beasts of the press have been hauled before a judicial inquiry to be grilled on questionable practices.
The year's biggest sensation was the revelation of the activities of Jimmy Savile. The story has besmirched the memory of an era in television and radio that was regarded by many as a time of innocence. Operation Yewtree, the resulting police investigation, has increased fears that the Jim'll Fix It host's sexually exploitative behaviour was part of a wider industry culture.
The period in which Savile was running amok, orchestrating child sex abuse in his BBC dressing room while executives gave him a free rein, was supposedly the 'Golden Age' of British broadcasting. This was a time, uncomplicated by the worldwide web, when the stars of the two big channels were guaranteed a mass audience and the fame that came with it. They did not need Twitter to amplify their public profile.
In defence of television, it was an ITV documentary, Exposure, which investigated Savile's murky past and opened the floodgates for hundreds of alleged victims to come forward.
But the BBC's own attempts to hold itself to account were mostly shambolic. Newsnight's failure to show its own investigation into Savile became a central feature of the scandal and, although BBC1's Panorama regained some pride with a critical documentary, the BBC2 show was out of control. A fresh piece on child abuse in care homes, designed to salvage Newsnight's reputation, was fatally compromised by Twitter speculation on the identity of the supposed perpetrator.
The online smearing of the former Tory party treasurer sealed the fate of BBC Director General George Entwistle, who had been trying to ride out the Savile storm. His arrival in post, only 54 days earlier, had been greeted with enthusiasm.
For Fleet Street, this was the year of reckoning for the tabloid misdemeanours exposed in 2011. After the public revulsion over the hacking of Milly Dowler's phone, the press has effectively had to submit to being put on trial. The Leveson inquiry has meant that powerful figures such as Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, Dominic Mohan, editor of the Sun and Richard Desmond, publisher of the Daily Express and the Daily Star, have faced questioning in front of the television cameras, a medium they prefer to avoid.
As the judge's inquisitors taunted them over their papers' involvement in acquiring personal data and harassing celebrities, Scotland Yard was developing its own narrative on press skulduggery. Operation Elveden led to a wave of arrests from the Sun newsroom over alleged payments to public officials. Other News International journalists have been arrested this year as part of the parallel Operation Tuleta, which is focused on computer hacking.
At the end of November, Leveson finally published his report, and called for the use of statutory underpinning to support a new independent press regulator. Some editors and newspaper barons had snarled before the judge. Suddenly they were obliged to unite with their rivals and accept the great bulk of Leveson's proposals – or face the imposition of a press law that would break 300 years of British tradition.
And neither does radio emerge unscathed. Already damaged by the scandal involving Radio 1 stalwart Savile and some subsequent arrests, the sector suffered a fresh blow this month when the heartbreaking death of nurse Jacintha Saldanha provided a cold reminder of the consequences of the medium's culture of prank phone calls. We enter 2013 with news information more plentiful than ever. But, after 2012, we have a major dilemma: just who can we trust?
@rupertmurdoch Seems impossible to have civilised debate on twitter. Ignorant, vicious abuse lowers whole society, maybe shows real social decay
Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corporation
@jonsnowC4 [to Rupert Murdoch] I find that in life one reaps what one sows…
Jon Snow, journalist
@Domponsford Like the beef industry after BSE – British journalism has to show it has taken the action needed to restore confidence
Dominic Ponsford, editor of the Press Gazette
@BBCPeterHunt Lord Justice Leveson on Heat: "it's a very different journal to my normal". #Leveson #hacking
Peter Hunt, BBC Royal Correspondent
@fieldproducer News has changed and the entire process of how a news organisation operates is now visible to viewers through social media
Neal Mann, journalist at Sky News
@rupertmurdoch I have nothing to do with Sky News
Rupert Murdoch
@campbellclaret Encouraged by Jeremy Hunt re press. New tough regulator set up by Parliament then independent of media- politics. Ownership also issue tho
Alastair Campbell, former Downing Street Director of Communications
@piersmorgan Was Abu Qatada released from jail to make room for all the journalists being arrested? What the hell is happening in Britain? Ridiculous
Piers Morgan, journalist
@alextomo K Mackenzie's response to questions about Hillsborough was to hit me repeatedly with his car door
Alex Thomson, Channel 4 News reporter

The Economy

Some years are best forgotten. And, for the British economy, 2012 is one of them. Over the past 12 miserable months Britain slipped backwards, experiencing its first double-dip recession since the 1970s. The UK's national income is now likely to be smaller at the end of 2012 than it was at the beginning of the year.
The contraction began in the final three months of 2011 and the economy did not start growing again until this summer, when output was boosted by Olympic ticket sales. But most indicators are now pointing down again and analysts are worrying about the possibility of a "triple dip".
It is true that employment has held up remarkably well given the stagnation of output. The unemployment rate has actually ticked down a little this year. But around half of the new jobs created are part-time. Under- employment – people who want to work more hours but cannot find it – is now at very high levels. Hardly cause for celebration.
This is not what was supposed to happen: 2012 was supposed to be a year in which things started to get better. So whose fault is it? The Chancellor, George Osborne, blames the eurozone crisis, pointing out that an inherently flawed single currency project and political dithering by Continental politicians have undermined demand for our exports and harmed our big banks. An unexpected spike in inflation, which has cut domestic consumer spending power, is also presented as a culprit. Yet others complain that the Treasury has not helped. The Labour opposition and a growing number of economists say the Chancellor's deep spending cuts sucked demand out of the economy at the worst possible time. George Osborne would not admit it, but the new capital expenditure projects he outlined in his latest mini Budget represent a tacit acceptance of this critique.
There was some progress in Europe this year. Greece teetered on the precipice but confounded predictions that Athens would crash out of the single currency. The Spanish government swallowed its pride and applied for a bailout for its rotten banks. And, in September, the president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, finally faced down the conservative German Bundesbank and promised he wouldn't let the borrowing costs of member states spiral out of control. Europe has stabilised. But with several Southern member states still struggling with vast national debts and levels of unemployment not seen since the Great Depression, it is the stability of a dormant volcano.
There were few sources of hope elsewhere. America re-elected Barack Obama but politicians in Washington are still deadlocked over how to balance the US budget. The country shuffles closer to a 'fiscal cliff' next year that could trigger automatic spending cuts and tax rises on a scale that would surely plunge America back into recession. The mighty Chinese economy avoided the hard landing that some had forecast in 2012. However, November's leadership transition in Beijing left reformers marginalised. China remains addicted to investment spending, storing up the possibility of a huge banking crisis in the world's second largest economy.
Weak growth is already playing havoc with our public finances. This month, the Chancellor admitted that he would miss his own self-imposed target of reducing the national debt by 2015-16. Mercifully, the 'Fiscal Mandate' turned out not to be mandatory, sparing us further immediate austerity. Yet a deficit reduction programme that was supposed to take five years will now take eight. And many people on benefits will now face a real-terms squeeze on their incomes starting next year, just as more state workers face redundancy because of departmental spending cuts.
The New Year also brings the prospect of a downgrade of Britain's AAA credit rating by one of the big agencies. In July, as the Bank of England takes on new regulatory powers, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street will have its first foreign governor in Mark Carney. The Canadian central banker, unveiled in November, has been presented as an economic miracle worker by some of his British fans, not least George Osborne. If 2013 turns out anything like as bad as 2012 for the British economy, Mr Carney will need to be.
@juliangough Lodging money into my Irish bank account feels like leaving it in a cardboard building that's only caught fire 3 times in the past 4 years
Julian Gough, author
@giles_fraser George Carey defending deserving and undeserving poor distinction in the Mail. In tough times, poor always get blamed for their poverty
Giles Fraser, former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral
@Peston Paradox for UK of eurozone's mess: growth hurt by e'zone crisis; if e'zone stabilises, UK debt looks more ugly in ugly contest #bbceconomy
Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor
@TonyTassell Surprised by the sympathy for Goodwin this morning. A lot of people have lost a lot more than a silly title as a result of the financial crisis
Tony Tassell, financial news editor, Financial Times
@Stellacreasy Youth unemployment is now 1 in 5 – highest since 1992. Not just a generation but entire society now watching potential being wasted…
Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow
@GeorgeMonbiot Tax cuts, benefit cuts, public sector pay cuts. This is undisguised economic warfare by the rich against the poor
George Monbiot, author and columnist
@Mrjohnofarrell Do Clinton Cards sell one that says 'Sorry you're going into administration'?
John O'Farrell, comedy writer

The EU

To the discomfort of great financial brains such as George Soros or Boris Johnson, the euro has survived another year.
This was the year when the euro was finally doomed; when eurozone governments could no longer "kick the can down the road" at "last-chance summits". It was the year when the markets would finally foreclose on Greece, Spain and Italy.
It was the year when the contradictions at the heart of the euro – a single currency without a single economy or a single political purpose or even a proper central bank – would rip apart the whole project and plunge the world into an economic ice-age.
In June, Mr Soros said that the euro had "only days to live". Surprise, surprise, the euro is still here. It remains quite strong against the dollar and the pound on financial markets. Eurozone governments have proved that, yes, they can kick cans down roads.
In 2012, the new European Central Bank governor, Mario Draghi – candidate for European Hero of the Year – discovered that Frankfurt had hitherto unsuspected, independent powers to bail out floundering eurozone banks and nations. In other words, the ECB now claims the right to a form of the Quantitative Easing (or open-ended printing of money) deployed by the Bank of England and Federal Reserve to keep the British and American economies afloat since 2008.
Since the beginning of the eurozone crisis in 2010, markets have been pushing two ways. There are some investors who believe that it is a smart idea to shove all of us over a cliff and pick our pockets on the way down. There are some who feel this is not such a good plan.
Mr Draghi's innovations have helped the second to win the battle against the first, for now. He has given financial markets a reason not to destroy the euro and cripple the world economy. He has given eurozone governments a breathing space.
The longer-term questions remain unanswered: can the euro survive? Does it make sense?
In 2012, eurozone governments have pushed ahead with their fiscal pact, which forbids them to build up large new debt mountains in the future. They are still examining ways of creating an "economic government" for euroland. This would, in theory, give the eurozone a single political direction. It would not immediately bridge the gulf between, say, the German and Spanish economies; or even the growing competitive gap between the German and French economies.
The crisis in the eurozone is more than just a crisis of debt. It is a crisis of diverging economic models within one currency zone – something that goes well beyond the differences that also exist between, say, Mississippi and Connecticut in the 'dollarzone" or between Country Durham and Surrey in the 'poundzone'.
The eurozone crisis is also an existential crisis: a crisis of identity. Having created a single currency without the political machinery to make it work, how far are eurozone countries prepared to dissolve national decision-making into a de facto federal government to run, and create, a single economy? What democratic legitimacy would such a "European government" have?
Another event in 2012 rearranged the three-dimensional chess-board of eurozone politics: the change of government in France. President François Hollande came to power in May saying that he would shift the game away from "all-austerity" and towards "growth with discipline".
President Hollande has marginally amended EU policy in this direction. In return, to the fury of his own left-wingers, he signed up at the "last-chance summit" in Brussels in June for the Angela Merkel-inspired deficit-squeezing fiscal pact.
As the year ends, huge differences remain between Paris and Berlin Рperhaps greater than at any time since the EU (n̩e EEC) was founded.
Paris speaks of solving the crisis though "solidarity" between eurozone countries. It has become the de facto leader of a "southern" bloc which wants the Germans and other rich northerners to use their relative prosperity to reflate the whole European economy.
Berlin speaks of solving the crisis through a single European government which would, implicitly, impose a German approach to fiscal discipline and economic competitiveness.
The French – both Right and Left – reject the idea of an all-powerful, federal government for the eurozone. Final decision-making on taxing and spending and labour policy (the 35-hour week) must remain with national governments.
Berlin may be right economically but it is wrong politically and democratically. There is no popular support for a fully federal eurozone, not in Germany, not in France, not anywhere. There is no obvious way that such a government could be democratically elected or controlled.
Paris may by right politically and democratically but it is on weak ground economically. The French version of "eurozone governance lite" would, at worst, be an amended version of the present, can-kicking muddle. It would be unlikely to persuade the markets that solid, new foundations have been constructed under the eurozone.
The years go by. The euro is still with us. So is the crisis.
@peston Hollande + Merkel = Homer. Merkel + Hollande = Merde
Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor
@DMiliband Greek election result far more "dangerous" than Francois Hollande
David Miliband, Labour MP for South Shields
@chris_coltrane I'm a firm Eurosceptic. I don't even think Europe exists. Has anyone actually ever *been* there? Not that I know of. It's a pack of lies
Chris Coltrane, comedian
@Owen Jones84 The Euro-zone is plunged back into re-cession. Aus-terity has sucked out growth, demand and jobs, and devastated millions of lives
Owen Jones, columnist for The Independent and i
@nigel_farage I think the EU flag should fly over the Palace of Westminster. That would at least reflect what is going on
Nigel Farage, UKIP leader
@faisalislam And the €zone officially NOT in technical recession. But we in UK officially are. But its the €zone's fault that we are in recession # logic
Faisal Islam, Channel 4 News Economics Editor

Christmas Day is most likely time when adultery is found out

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/9763827/Adulterers-beware-Christmas-Day-the-peak-time-for-text-message-bustings.html

Roman Catholic Church very angry with Government over plans for gay marriage

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9765509/Gay-marriage-plans-are-totalitarian-says-Archbishop-of-Westminster.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/9765682/Catholic-leader-accuses-Cameron-of-Orwellian-tactics-on-gay-marriage.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gay-marriage-public-say-church-is-wrong-8431263.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/25/archbishop-attacks-david-camerons-same-sex-marriage-plans

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253043/Leader-Catholic-Church-Archbishop-Westminster-Vincent-Nichols-attacks-Governments-plans-gay-marriage-undemocratic-shambles.html

Full Transcript of Queen's Speech 2012

"This past year has been one of great celebration for many. The enthusiasm which greeted the Diamond Jubilee was, of course, especially memorable for me and my family.
"It was humbling that so many chose to mark the anniversary of a duty which passed to me 60 years ago. People of all ages took the trouble to take part in various ways and in many nations. But perhaps most striking of all was to witness the strength of fellowship and friendship among those who had gathered together on these occasions.
"Prince Philip and I were joined by our family on the River Thames as we paid tribute to those who have shaped the United Kingdom's past and future as a maritime nation, and welcomed a wonderful array of craft, large and small, from across the Commonwealth.
"On the barges and the bridges and the banks of the river there were people who had taken their places to cheer through the mist, undaunted by the rain. That day there was a tremendous sense of common determination to celebrate, triumphing over the elements.
"That same spirit was also in evidence from the moment the Olympic flame arrived on these shores. The flame itself drew hundreds and thousands of people on its journey around the British Isles, and was carried by every kind of deserving individual, many nominated for their own extraordinary service.
"As London hosted a splendid summer of sport, all those who saw the achievement and courage at the Olympic and Paralympic Games were further inspired by the skill, dedication, training and teamwork of our athletes. In pursuing their own sporting goals, they gave the rest of us the opportunity to share something of the excitement and drama.
"We were reminded, too, that the success of these great festivals depended to an enormous degree upon the dedication and effort of an army of volunteers. Those public-spirited people came forward in the great tradition of all those who devote themselves to keeping others safe, supported and comforted.
"For many, Christmas is also a time for coming together. But for others, service will come first. Those serving in our armed forces, in our emergency services and in our hospitals, whose sense of duty takes them away from family and friends, will be missing those they love.
"And those who have lost loved ones may find this day especially full of memories. That's why it's important at this time of year to reach out beyond our familiar relationships to think of those who are on their own.
"At Christmas I am always struck by how the spirit of togetherness lies also at the heart of the Christmas story. A young mother and a dutiful father with their baby were joined by poor shepherds and visitors from afar. They came with their gifts to worship the Christ child. From that day on he has inspired people to commit themselves to the best interests of others.
"This is the time of year when we remember that God sent his only son 'to serve, not to be served'. He restored love and service to the centre of our lives in the person of Jesus Christ.
"It is my prayer this Christmas Day that his example and teaching will continue to bring people together to give the best of themselves in the service of others.
"The carol, In The Bleak Midwinter, ends by asking a question of all of us who know the Christmas story, of how God gave himself to us in humble service: 'What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a wise man, I would do my part'. The carol gives the answer 'Yet what I can I give him - give my heart'.
"I wish you all a very happy Christmas."

Has the BBC's entrusted independence become self gratuitous?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/9761921/BBC-faces-official-investigation-after-giving-200-managers-100000-pay-offs.html

Monday 24 December 2012

Bentley employees seek to re-instate the company chaplain

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252657/Bentley-axes-company-chaplain-case-upsets-non-Christian-workers-Employees-start-campaign-reinstated.html

Bentley axes its company chaplain in case he upsets non-Christian workers: Employees start campaign to have him reinstated
  • Rev Francis Cooke made redundant just days before Christmas
  • Company says too many people of different faiths to warrant chaplain
  • Mr Cooke says his role provided counselling for all not just Christians
  • Staff have started petition to bring the chaplain back
 
Every week for ten years the Rev Francis Cooke visited the shop floor at Bentley, offering counselling and advice to the luxury car maker's workers.
But only days before Christmas he has been made redundant because the company says he might offend non-Christians.
It said there were too many religions represented among the 4,000-strong workforce at its factory to warrant a Christian chaplain.
Mr Cooke called the decision 'ridiculous' and said he spoke to workers of all faiths.
Staff have started a campaign to reinstate the vicar, who they said was an 'important figure' who had even helped one employee who had been on the brink of suicide.
Mr Cooke was directly employed by Bentley – it would pay the Diocese of Chester, which would then transfer the funds to the chaplain.
He had outside roles, but this was his only paid work.
He said: 'It is just beyond belief. The reason I have been given is that there are too many people of different faiths to warrant a Christian chaplain. Everyone thinks it is quite ridiculous. There have been no complaints against me and my position is to help people and not just those who are Christians.'
He said he had been told to leave immediately after bosses said they needed to take a 'multi-faith outlook'.
He would visit the factory in Crewe, Cheshire, once a week for six hours, and also ran Christian courses and wrote a message in the firm's newsletters.   'It is not just about offering religious services,' he said. 'I provide counselling to workers who have stresses at home such as broken marriages. I would spend a few minutes with each person which would be enough to help them feel better.
'I feel that there is something else behind this.'
Mr Cooke said there had been a change since the appointment of new personnel by German firm Volkswagen, which took over the British brand in 1998.
'There have been many new faces around recently and I noticed I was being watched when I was talking to some of the staff even if it was just for a matter of seconds or minutes. I knew something was going on and that there was trouble ahead.'
Yesterday one worker said: 'We have started a petition as we want him back. Everyone is really angry about it.'
Retired employee John Austin, 67, said: 'He was there for a lot of people. I know one individual who was feeling suicidal, but Francis turned him around.
'He was a very important man at the factory.'
A Bentley Motors spokesman said: 'We have a wide range of faiths and want to take a multi-faith outlook. It would be very difficult to have somebody from each faith.
'This now gives us the opportunity to look at this and recognise the range of faiths we have here.'

Schools to be banned from taking children's finger prints without parents consent

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252708/Schools-banned-taking-pupils-fingerprints-parents-consent.html

How some people record almost every aspect of their life

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2252690/Say-cheese-Youre-snapped-lifelogger-.html

Possible revolt over Tory plans for more toll roads

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252663/Osborne-faces-Cabinet-revolt-road-toll-plans-Ministers-fear-repeat-pasty-tax-fiasco.html

The Enemy exposes himself more : NHS Senior staff have pay rises, while nurses have pay freezes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252522/NHS-wages-Executives-enjoy-2-pay-rise-taking-average-salary-74-600.html

How many of us believe in angels

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2252593/Ever-felt-someones-watching-As-survey-reveals-41-cent-believe-heavenly-guardians-meet--The-women-talk-angels.html

Senior Catholic Bishop to criticize government over implementation of gay marriage

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252699/Senior-Roman-Catholic-Bishop-links-push-gay-marriage-Nazi-attack-religion-controversial-Christmas-sermon.html

PM tries to appease Christians; actually he is beguiling them

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?" Matthew 7:16

Even Satan quoted the Bible to Jesus when he was tempted.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252685/PMs-Christmas-bid-calm-Christian-anger-gay-marriage-David-Cameron-quotes-Gospel-St-John-annual-message.html

QE2 sold to China for £20m

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252580/End-era-QE2-Iconic-cruise-liner-sold-scrap-Chinese-20m.html

Overcrowded homes on the rise

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/23/households-uk-overcrowded-shelter

Economy predicted to worsen in 2013

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/dec/24/households-gloomy-2013-survey-economy

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2252558/More-million-pensioners-just-200-away-going-debt.html

Government wants to encourage more people to adopt

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/dec/24/adoption-parental-leave-national-register

How divide and rule is potentially being used via our internet use

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/9761852/Personalised-pricing-driving-prices-down.html

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has recently launched a ‘call for information’ on online personalised pricing. Personalised pricing is the use of data relating to a specific user (purchase history, browsing history, demographic, hardware, operating system, etc) to deliver a bespoke price offering.
This data could come from a retailer’s own database, be enhanced by third party data or be data offered up by the user’s computer/tablet/phone (including via cookies).
This is the second time the OFT has turned its attention to online personalisation. In May 2010 it published its Online Targeting of Advertising and Prices report, where it said that it could find no evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the market, but said it would keep a watching brief as technology developed. This report was originally triggered by suspicions about online advertising targeted by browsing behaviour – which has in fact become the norm today, despite consumers original reservations. Indeed, there is now some anecdotal evidence to suggest that consumers would rather see relevant adverts than ‘spam’ adverts.
The concern of the OFT in launching its call for information is a suspicion that these types of personalisation technology are somehow being used to hoodwink consumers into spending more money – the question asked by the OFT is “if this is harmful, where are the boundaries of acceptable conduct, and is consumer protection legislation being breached”?
Notwithstanding that tone of suspicion, the OFT admits that it does not have any evidence that retailers are doing this, but says “we are aware that there is a lot of concern about this practice”.
As with most new uses of technology, a knee-jerk reaction seems to be that the technology is bad. If we look at this in context, retail is a very competitive business – consumers are empowered, know their rights and have access to information to make price comparisons. So it would be an ill-advised retailer who deployed personalisation technology to materially drive up prices. That retailer would very soon find themselves with fewer customers.
On the contrary, let’s look at how pricing personalisation can really drive sales. For example, if I wanted to buy a new television I could either do the research myself (via retailers’ websites) or I could use one of the many well known price comparison sites. If I wanted to go even further, I could look into research by Which? All of this would give me a good idea of the price for the television without even visiting a shop.
Now imagine that one of the websites I have visited to research the price of the television had actually deployed personalised pricing. That retailer would have sufficient data to enable it to make me a discount offer I might accept – the offer that brought it below the prices being shown on the various other sites I have looked at for research purposes. The offer that actually achieves the sale, rather than no sale.
So rather than this technology driving prices up, the more obvious use of personalised pricing is personalised discounting. (But that doesn’t sound so controversial, does it?)
This type of personalised discounting is, after all, what many retailers’ loyalty schemes are all about – what we have with online personalised pricing is that kind of data but enhanced with external information. It also works for customers not enrolled in loyalty schemes.
Remember too that there is also no obligation on a retailer to charge the same price for everyone. A jar of Marmite will cost significantly more in the premium food store than in a local supermarket. Why? Because the customer base is different, based on data around regional demographics. Online personalised pricing is no different – it is merely hyper regionalisation, to a region of one person.
But of course, there is one key difference. Standing in the premium food store (or the local supermarket) I cannot easily make a choice between the two – if I want Marmite at that precise moment, I have only one choice of seller. Online purchasers are not so constrained and can easily divert to any number of other sites to make a purchase. And that’s the reason why personalised pricing is more likely than not to drive prices down rather than up.
Of course, as in the bricks and mortar retail world, there will be anomalies and sharp practices. We cannot avoid this – but let’s not judge something as suspicious, just because of that.
I predict that this will boil down to transparency. We already have all the right laws in place to do this: the Data Protection Act and its quiver of regulations already ensure that retailers must be transparent about how personal data is obtained and used.