Friday 31 August 2012

South Africa moves backwards

The miners who were on strike at the British platinum mine must have had their details noted on the day that 34 men died and 78 were injured. There were over 2,000 there on the day, and now have been charged with murder even though the Police did the shooting.

Unbelievable...

Thursday 30 August 2012

Cultivate an allotment in a jungle

The title is a quote from Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles on this mornings [30-AUG-2012] Today programme on Radio 4.

He was the former British Ambassador to Afghanistan and he was a guest along side Colonel Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan .

They both agreed that the primary objective 'HAD' been completed, and if you agree that the primary objective was only to remove the threat of Al Quaeda from Afghanistan, then it is difficult to disagree with them.

What they did not admit too was that all that was really achieved was the terrorist threat was moved next door to Pakistan. To deal with that position we should be aiding Pakistan to eject the terrorists rather than threatening them which seems to be the case recently.

Very soon [2014] Nato will pull out of Afghanistan and every knows that the Taliban will return to power almost immediately, and with this weeks news of the executed party goers, that cannot be good...

Monday 27 August 2012

No excuse

17 people have been executed by the Taliban in Musa Quala which is north of Lashkar Gah.

Their crime, a party with music!!

We do not need an excuse to revile a political party like this...

Saturday 25 August 2012

School exams

Teachers are whinging about some of their pupils that did not get a 'C', wot a load of tosh!

Firstly where does the expectation come from, a practice exam that happens earlier in the year. So let's get this straight. Someone takes a mock and they are told they can have a grade [for example C] what do they do for the next six months? well it isn't learn a bit more so that they might achieve a 'B'!!

Secondly the official exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), says pupils need to meet grade C standard - so-called "level two" - to function as citizens, so a huge effort is put in for everyone to achieve this, sounds rigged now!

In 2006 it was recorded "Hundreds of thousands of teenagers have such poor mastery of the three Rs they cannot scrape a grade C in the two subjects employers and parents regard as crucial, English & Maths."

Then we had a period where everyone got what they wanted, now we seem to be back to testing correctly and find they are poorly educated again, and who is complaining the most, Teachers...

Saturday 18 August 2012

Disproportionate

Out of Touch

Two year sentences for each of the three women in Russia for Hooliganism, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samoutsevitch.

When was the last time a British hooligan got two years of hard labour? Never.

It is quite obvious Vladimir Putin is appealing to the old school in the country, but it weakens his International standing.



Over the top

"Open Fire" someone shouted in the South African Police against a group of miners that were protesting about conditions in a platinum mine.

60 seconds later 34 men lay dead and 78 injured.

The media are quick to compare the event with South Africa's darker days, but back then it was black versus white, this was black versus black.


Two completely contrasting instances in two completely different countries, but the message is the same, don't stand up to your political masters. One day the political masters will realise that they are wrong...

Friday 17 August 2012

Diplomatic Immunity

I'm not sure I understand what is going on with the Foreign Office and the Ecuadorian Embassy at the moment.

Apparently after PC Yvonne Fletcher was killed outside the Libyan Embassy a law was introduced to allow the reversal of status for foreign embassies, but surely that is an oxymoron.

Either we have an agreement with others for diplomats to exists and operate or we do not. This looks a bit like "we all do the same as each other except for us" which would have serious consequences abroad for our diplomats!

I presume that the law was introduced to deal with situations that could be classed as "embassies being used for terrorism", however, I do not believe that having Julian Assange as a guest in an embassy classes as an act of terrorism...

Thursday 16 August 2012

Economical disambiguates...

It becomes more apparent as time goes on that the official unemployment figures produced by the government are false, and probably always have been.

In December 2011 the rate of unemployment was 8.3% and there were 2.4 million out of work.

In August 2012 the rate of unemployment was 8.1% and there were 2.5 million out of work.

However the story is unemployment has been falling for six months!

Now there are some mumblings in the background by analysts that the figures do not stack up, who are we going to believe over this?

Thursday 9 August 2012

No gold medals for UK economy

Yesterday the governor of the Bank of England Sir Mervyn King said "Economy faces headwinds and a black cloud of uncertainty hangs over investment".

He also said "The big picture is that output's been flat for two years, and has continually disappointed expectations of a recovery,".

"We are navigating rough waters and storm clouds continue to roll in from the Euro area,".

"Unlike the Olympians who have thrilled us over the past fortnight, our economy has not yet reached full fitness."

Apparently it's 5 years today [9th August, 1997] when BNP Paribas Bank closed or suspended certain accounts due to issues with "Sub-Prime Mortgages". BNP Paribas announced that it was ceasing activity in three hedge funds that specialised in US mortgage debt.

It took a year for the financial crisis to come to a head but it did so on 15 September 2008 when the US government allowed the investment bank Lehman Brothers to go bankrupt. Up to that point, it had been assumed that governments would always step in to bail out any bank that got into serious trouble: the US had done so by finding a buyer for Bear Stearns while the UK had nationalised Northern Rock.

Well, where are we now?

This current year growth has been downgraded to 0% and so has next year. Those still employed are still not feeling the effect of recession, never mid depression and the real cuts in the over inflated public sector have still to take effect.

Perhaps there is going to be another five years of the same...

Sunday 5 August 2012

Olympic euphoria

After all the niggles on route to the Olympics we are finally here celebrating.

The opening ceremony might have been expensive but it was impressive and a surprise thanks to the lack of leaks beforehand. A clever idea of travelling through time to show the progress of the country.

One problem I have is identity as I keep mentioning country, however, there are three countries in GB and four in the UK and all of them are partaking.

The efforts are magnificent and people are being rewarded but to me some seem to have to work harder than others. While I have absolutely no wish to take anything away from the likes of Bradley Wiggins, Peter Wilson & Greg Rutherford for the effort they have put in and achieved within their sport I have to make a special mention for Jessica Ennis and the heptathlon. She had to win seven completely different activities for her gold medal, and I think that is incredible.

Well done.