Not content with bullying Eire, the EU are having a go at Britain. They have - at our expense of course - set up this new website. Propaganda or communication? You decide.
The video is well worth watching. No propaganda, just communication.
With thanks to Cynical Highlander
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Who's This Man?
I (Oldrightie) Had To look Him Up!
Michael Moore was born in Northern Ireland, the son of an Army Chaplain. After Strathallan School in Perthshire and Jedburgh Grammar School, he read Politics & Modern History at Edinburgh. After a year as a researcher for Archy Kirkwood MP, Michael joined Coopers & Lybrand, qualified as a chartered accountant and rose to become a manager in the corporate finance practice [1993-97]. Michael's interests include supporting local rugby teams, hill walking and films.
Not Griffin, then? (H G Wells)
Friday, 26 November 2010
A Shame Which Must Be Set Right
Sergeant Matthew Telford, 37, of the Grenadier Guards, died in Afghanistan as a result of an attack from what was described as a rogue attack from an Afghan policeman who opened fire on the compound in which they sought respite. Four other British soldiers were killed in the attack and all were acknowledged as being 'brave and courageous' by our then Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Sgt Telford was promoted to that rank in June 2009 but in November last year he was killed.
His wife will only receive a Corporal's pension because Sgt Telford had held the rank of Sgt for less than a year. He was killed on active service whilst wearing a Sgt's stripes and operating as one.
This 'flaw' in the military pension system strikes a nerve with me. I know of someone - a ranking officer - who was promoted and was operating in Ireland during the troubles as a Major, having been promoted 10 months before. The man had served in the army for over 30 years with a distinguished service. Sgt Telford's record was similar.
When my friend was back in the UK for a long awaited week's leave, he had a heart attack; in fact he had two in one day and was fortunately enough to be admitted quickly to the local hospital. They saved his life but not his job. He didn't mind, or his family, because they were happy to have him alive. Sadly, less then 2 weeks later he succumbed to a third attack. His widow was given her share of a Captain's pension because her husband hadn't been a Major for over 12 months. In 1981 the difference in the pension was over £2,000 a year. Her husband had been working as an 'acting Major' for many months prior to his official promotion. Being an 'acting' rank counts for nothing in pension speak.
What I can't discover was if Sgt Telford was in an 'acting capacity' prior to his promotion but, I do know that in conflict situations that doesn't occur for long. The military want their chain of command to be strong and those in 'acting' promotions may not hold the same authority as the accredited rank.
I'm unsure if Sgt Telford's promotion was announced in the press but I do know my friend's was in the early 80s. It looked impressive at the time seeing his promotion in print after the months he'd spent as 'acting Major'. This is another way our politicians - who are responsible for MoD websites - to opt out of taking responsibility for all they offer new recruits on their website.
Why should Sgt Telford's widow be left with a reduction in her due pension when none of the other services would tolerate that for one minute? Can you imagine the police, fire service or ambulance service allowing this insult? Of course not. But our military do not believe in unions and I very much respect that. Believe me, I've been weary over the years in my attempts to bring the inconsistencies which exist for our armed forces and other public services.
If you feel they deserve better, in the honour of Sgt Telford, I would ask you to sign this petition.
If you're in doubt, please think about these highly paid public servants who are provided with golden handshakes and pensions which are equivalent to what many earn in a lifetime.
I doubt if Mrs Telford is concerned about the money she will received for the rest of her life, she would much rather have her well-loved husband back. It's up to people who are unemotionally involved to help right this wrong.
Big Brother Gets Bigger
Back then life was simple. Your health was looked after by your family, the GP, health visitor and school nurse. The professionals were only involved when family became concerned and home remedies had failed, although it was compulsory to visit the school nurse on her visits to your school. If she found anything untoward she would pass the information to the family and perhaps the GP and/or health visitor. It worked well as far as I'm aware and my myopia, resulting in a pair of pink plastic rimmed spectacles, was discovered by the school nurse.
My health file has followed me on my travels and I never had any problems until computer systems were introduced. Several times in recent years I've had to spend time giving specialists my medical history when it should have been available prior to my appointments. On these occasions I've been convinced that the introduction of computers has done nothing to improve the NHS's modern system of record keeping.
But it has suddenly occurred to me that these systems are not for my, or your, benefit. They're for the benefit of the state. Take the eCare programme for example. It's the umbrella for electronic sharing of personal data with Single Shared Assessment (SSA) and Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) - the English equivalent is Every Child Matters (ECM) - along with other programmes. One aspect of the GIRFEC approach is it 'supports a positive shift in culture, systems and practice'. What does that mean? Why do children require a shift in culture?
Sheila Struthers has written an excellent essay in which she notes that every citizen has a unique eCare identifier, or as one EU study puts it:
In the absence of identity cards a form of information 'link' across the services is provided by the CHI (Community Health Index21) Number. 90% of residents (soon to be 100%) have the number, allocated within two days of birth, which is their date of birth plus a four-digit identifier. The CHI number functions as a 'pseudo-identity' mechanism, and at present the automated matching of records is successful in about 67% of operations, with manual matching then taking place and any data corrections being fed back into the respective databases. Thus the CHI number provides an incrementally improving mechanism to link records across the domains of social inclusion.
No wonder the UK Government decided to abolish ID cards. One of Sheila's main points is that 'eCare and GIRFEC do not fit with the sensible-sounding draft principles which state that 'only the minimum amount of personal information needed for a specific purpose is collected, used or kept'. She then analyses eCare and its associated programmes. Please do read her article, including the SHANNARI assessment, because it is very revealing.
Another snippet she mentions is Triple P Parenting which Glasgow City Council is offering to every parent. I've spent some time perusing the website of Triple P Parenting and it may well have some international status, but to think that 'practioners' can give professional advice after a few hours' training, appalled me. There is, of course, no mention of cost to the client. What do Triple P Parenting offer that is any better than what health visitors offered back in the 50s? They understood every aspect of parenting and were the confidantes of many mothers, yet they've been cast out into the wilderness to allow for the introduction of the likes of TPP.
Do I feel today that my family and myself are safer, health-wise and generally than they were in the 50s? Definitely not. Our freedoms have been eroded little by little and no matter how much we protest we're ignored. It's not in my nature to believe in conspiracies, but it's very obvious we're being much more tightly controlled than we were 50 years ago. Big brother just gets bigger and it's going to get worse.
Remember, it's the taxpayer who pays.
Thursday, 25 November 2010
FMQs 25 November 2010
No guesses as to the main topic today. The Scottish Variable Rate (SVR) took precedence. The three opposition party leaders continued their SVR attack on the First Minister, who also offered his apology for not informing the Parliament of the issues surrounding the SVR and admitted Parliament should have been informed that the HMRC were asking for millions of pounds to keep the system 'alive'. He also emphasised when the SNP took over as government in 2007 the SVR was not in a condition to be enabled within the 10 month timetable.
The First Minister, in reponse to preliminary questions told the Parliament that he had requested an urgent meeting with the Prime Minister and also the Scotland Office minister to discuss the forthcoming Calman legislation.
Iain Gray started well enough, but when he compared the SVR issue with the now defunct LIT, he started to dig a hole. It's most unfortunate he's unable to move from his script, because his third question had already been answered.
Ms Goldie's prodding produce the admission from the First Minister that he is Spartacus and he reiterated his defence of John Swinney's actions although he again apologised for not informing Parliament of the SVR process.
Tavish Scott wanted Spartacus to refer the matter to the independent advisers on the Ministerial Code, the former Presiding Officers. The response side-stepped an answer and the FM again stated the rate is not implementable unless the Parliament is prepared to pay many millions of pounds to the Inland Revenue.
I can understand the opposition parties anger at not being kept informed about issues in connection with SVR, but surely they don't think the Scottish public would approve of millions being spent on a system which was never going to be triggered by this government. Wailing that the Scots voted for the SVA and therefore their hard earned tax should be spent on keeping it 'live' shows just how out of touch they are with the electorate.
LibDem Iain Smith asked the FM if he supported his stance that RAF Leucheurs should not be played off against RAF Lossiemouth in the Westminster governments cutbacks. Alex Salmond said Scotland should not allow itself to be divided and ruled over the issue and it was not acceptable that either closed.
Labour's Richard Baker, is his usual foot-in-mouth pose, questioned the FM about a PWC report that predicts that the number of police officers in Scotland will fall by 2000. The FM gave a brief response citing, in part, the Scottish government's 2.6% cut agreed with COSLA.
A robust and interesting session today. Worth watching if you'd like a little entertainment and to see party leaders practicing for next May's campaign.
Don't They Look Silly Now?
Up until last year climate change sceptics were vilified as 'non-believers', 'flat earthers' and much worse.
Doesn't the drivel that has been produced in the past decade look quite pathetic now? If last winter wasn't enough to encourage people to take another look at the propaganda, this year again promises to provide white landscapes. South of the border hasn't escaped either.
The photo is the first with my new camera and was taken before I went to bed. Not the best time of the day/night to be trying it for the first time.
Thanksgiving Day
In the past week my visitor numbers have greatly increased and eventually I realised it's because of this Thanksgiving greeting I posted last year. If it's so popular it's worth posting again.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.
Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Scotland's Tax Raising/Lowering Powers
The Unionists are having a ball here in Scotland accusing the SNP government of 'lapsing' the tax raising powers which were included in the 1999 devolution referendum.
I've been accused of staying silent on the matter, although I received an apology because the title of my post didn't refer to it. It's not the first time I've been pilloried by Scottish bloggers who don't take the trouble to read through my posts but prefer to read the title and, perhaps, the first paragraph but I do appreciate this one had the courtesy to apologise.
This is unionist electioneering at its best, accusing the nationalist government for 'betraying' the Scottish people. What utter nonsense and they know it.
Had the Scottish people have been informed that the cost of having 3p varying tax raising powers would have stretched into millions then I'm sure they would have decided against it. For the referendum most thought that a Yes Yes vote would ensure that we secured our own Parliament. That's what was most important and the second question regarding tax raising powers was more or less irrelevant. To ensnare any Scottish government into a £12 million down payment for this political absurd idea in 1999, followed by £50,000 per year until 2007 when the contract terminated is an atrocity on behalf of those who designed the Scotland Act.
The tax raising powers haven't lapsed. The legislation is enshrined in the Scotland Act 1998 Part V and therefore still available until Parliament vote for it to be deleted. Therefore the SNP government have not 'given away' any powers, they have decided not to pay the UK treasury for something which we all know will never be used.
Should the SNP government have informed Parliament of their decision? It would appear they wrote to the UK government in the summer asking the reasons why the HMRC were requesting £7 million to keep the legislation alive and they've had no response.
John Swinney is to face the Finance Committee tomorrow. My thought is that he won't be signing a cheque made out to HMRC for £7 million just to keep a system alive, when the UK government intend to introduce new legislation within a matter of weeks, but I have no doubt he will show the Unionists and the Greens are purely electioneering and he won't be apologising for not informing Parliament either as the issue is still ongoing with the Westminster parliament. That's politics.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Walking with Johnnie
I know this is an advertisement for booze, but I've rarely seen such an ad constructed so elegantly. Go for a stroll with Robert Carlyle as he narrates the story of Johnnie Walker in this beautifully shot and immaculately rehearsed commercial which is said to have been filmed in one take.
Without the likes of Johnnie Walker and his determination Scotland would be a much poorer place. Where are our Johnnie Walker's of today? Our entrepreneurs who believe in manufacturing instead of moving money around? Is it our education system which is failing to produce such talent or is the talent being stifled by political regulations? So many questions. So few answers.
Without the likes of Johnnie Walker and his determination Scotland would be a much poorer place. Where are our Johnnie Walker's of today? Our entrepreneurs who believe in manufacturing instead of moving money around? Is it our education system which is failing to produce such talent or is the talent being stifled by political regulations? So many questions. So few answers.
Sustainable Transport
More than 50% of Scots refuse to listen to pleas to use 'sustainable modes of transport' and the number of cars on Scotland's roads is increasing.
Last year the Scottish Government pumped £60 million into schemes promoting public transport, cycling and walking with my own council contributing their fair share. Figures released this week show that fewer than 1% of Scots use a bicycle as their main mode of transport, while bus use has plummeted to its lowest level in a decade with only 8.6% of people relying on them. Recently, ministers pledged more than £17 million of public money to fund a 'cycling action plan' over the next year while £4.4 millions being spent on a 'green bus fund'.
A Transport Scotland spokeswoman said: "We are fully committed to reducing road congestion whilst continuing to provide people with real alternatives to the car.
I live in a rural area and car is my choice of transport. Buses are every hour to Dundee or Perth during the day and the last one is 8pm. To visit my hairdresser in Perth by bus would take around 90 minutes. By car it's less than 30 minutes. I expect to need a car as I live in a rural area. It's part of everyday life and the freedom to go wherever and whenever I choose is important to me. I've never applied for a bus pass and don't intend to do so unless I'm unable to continue driving.
When I've lived in cities I've used public transport as it seemed the more suitable, and sensible, form of transport. No parking worries, a frequent service and a reasonable cost. Whether the bus was a more sustainable mode of transport to my car was irrelevant. The ease of travel was my priority.
Critics say the Scottish Government is 'wasting time' on green schemes as they fail to persuade the public to give up cars. A spokesman for the Association of British Drivers (ABD) said:
“When are these numbskulls going to realise that people pay out a lot of money to buy a car and pay for tax, repairs and petrol and do not want to leave it to sit there doing nothing just to stand in the freezing cold waiting for a bus?
“Having a car gives you freedom, but I can’t understand why so much is spent on attempting to remove this freedom from people.
“It’s socialism gone wrong. And as the winter comes in, they’re wasting time trying to get people to give up their cars, as most people would rather brave the cold in the comfort of their vehicles.”
I've no objections to money being spent on cycle lanes and other matters concerning road safety, but to continue to squander millions on persuading the public to leave their cars at home is foolish.
Update: I see Kenneth Roy is writing about two wheeled transport today and the excesses of NHS Education for Scotland.
source
Monday, 22 November 2010
Knickers or Not?
I'm sure most of you have seen the above photograph. There's always one who doesn't get the message of how to sit isn't there? Even today so many pose (men and women) for photographs without the knowledge that we look slightly better with one foot in front of the other - instead of a military style stance such as above - yet we only remember once the shutter has shuttered. The kilted military appear to have been taught to pose knees akimbo but without instruction as to where to place the sporran - if the above photo is to be believed.
Kilt wearers are being pilloried. They're a filthy lot. Kilt hire companies are complaining that kilts are returned 'in such a dirty state that they were too unhygienic for staff to handle'. Tut tut. The Tartans Authority director Brian Wilson said kilt wearers should have the 'common sense' to realise they should wear underwear beneath our country's national dress.
Does it surprise me as a Scotswoman? Auch no. Men aren't known to use provided toilet paper to dry their willies or, in emergencies, other waste producing orifices. I include men from many cultures not just Scotsmen in that comment. But I admit the smell from kilts in my family is not that of human waste but beer that has missed the spot. Many kilts have had to be dry-cleaned because beer stiffens wool into a firm cement and makes them more or less unwearable.
All things considered I'm on the side of choice. If men prefer no knickers under their kilts then they should know not to use the metres of yarn as they would use torn up pieces of the local rag.
As for the kilt hirers, I suggest they are more thorough in examining returned kilts upon return and fine the offenders. A packet of these may emphasise the message and ensure the wearing of underwear in customers with less than perfect pelvic muscles.
I can't see men who have never worn knickers under their kilts being brow-beaten into changing. Can you?
Let's not discuss the perfume from sporrans...
source
Eire and Exports
Ireland has been forced to accept an EU and IMF bail-out thought to be worth up to £77 billion in a deal designed to save the euro. British taxpayers now face paying a bill of up to £7 billion as under a deal signed by the last Labour government, British taxpayers are liable to share in the cost of any EU bail-out.
David Cameron pledged to help Ireland as a close 'neighbour and friend' but refused to discuss how much aid we would be contributing or whether the bulk of it would come via an Anglo-Irish agreement or a wider EU deal. Is David Cameron suggesting an extra loan directly to Ireland? He may well be because British financial institutions have £140 billion of assets tied up in Irish banks and Irish banks are broke. It was only on Friday that the Prime Minister was admitting that the UK would have to borrow even more this year if his government decides to lend directly to Dublin.
Ireland receives over 7% of our exports - more than Brazil, Russia, India and China combined. David Cameron seemed proud to state that fact this weekend. What does the UK have to export? The following graphic answers the question.
click to enlarge
Notice the large drops in petrol, cars and other oils as well as the decreases over the 2009/2010 period. What is David Cameron doing about it? The UK can't survive on financial services and tourism any longer. The UK government has to start concentrating on improving our manufacturing base. Maybe this idea is a step in the right direction. It's certainly worth a try.
Sunday, 21 November 2010
Long Johns or Thermals?
The picture was taken in County Durham earlier today. It's not a record of the first snowfall in the UK this winter - I think that belongs to Scotland as the A93 was blocked a couple of times in recent weeks - but it's predicted that temperatures will drop as low as -10 later this week in rural parts of the country.
But that wasn't what caught my eye in the article. It was the comment from the Met Office forecaster Alex Fox:
of March this year at the top of Braemar, a mountain in Scotland that's 1,000ft abov
.'The last time temperatures reached that low was on the night of the 9th and 10th of March this year at the top of Braemar, a mountain in Scotland that's 1,000ft above sea level.
Braemar isn't a mountain in Scotland, it's rather a pretty town nestling in the Grampian mountains and at the northerly end of Glenshee. The highest mountain is Lochnagar at 3,786ft with Beinn a' Ghoi and Beinn Dearg following closely behind at 3,671ft and 3,304ft respectively. Braemar town is just over 1,000ft above sea level.
For all its faults the Mail usually gets quotes correct and it's no surprise that the Met Office employs those who know little about the topography of north Scotland. After all, it's the Met Office who are responsible for some of the nonsense we're told about man being responsible for climate change.
Anyway time to dig out the boots and gloves. Winter is on the way.
Lisboa
As thousands of protestors marched through London against the war in Afghanistan the great, the good and the incompetent strutted their stuff in Lisbon.
I wondered why Dmitry Medvedev, representing Moscow, chose to become involved. Most probably it's because Russia is concerned about the Afghan opium trade and without the assistance of NATO Russian efforts to curb the corruption would not succeed. Moscow is looking long-term at the problem because it knows how damaging the poppy fields are to its economy and it needs the assistance of the west. In return Moscow was invited to participate in a US-led missile defence programme intended to intercept long-range attacks launched from Iran. This agreement also has implications for the Afghan conflict, because Russia will allow greater use of its territory for transporting NATO supplies to Afghanistan as well as help fund more transport helicopters.
Our Prime Minister, like many of our modern politicians, is looking no further than the next election. By announcing that the transition deal would 'pave the way for British combat troops to be out of Afghanistan by 2015', he considers he is sticking to a pledge to take British forces off the frontline before the election. Is his insistence upon setting a date sensible? Do you tell the local burglars when you're going on holiday? Much as I would like to see our armed forces out of this war, this is a move which could put the lives of our soldiers at risk because all this does is tell the Taliban exactly how long they have to hang on and gives them a psychological boost.
By contrast US officials insist that the NATO transition plan did not guarantee an end to American combat operations. US forces could go on fighting the Taliban even after transition. Barack Obama said he is pretty confident that US troops will still be maintaining a counter-terrorism capability after 2015.
David Cameron's firm stance has jarred with NATO's conditional plan as NATO's secretary-general insisted: "This process must be conditions-based and not calendar driven."
So who came out of this summit smiling? Russia it would seem and of course Karzai, as he must be delighted to hear Britain will continue to pour billions of aid into his country long after our soldiers have left.
source
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