The Daily Stirrer May 2011 (for breaking news skip to News Feeds)
Today's News and Comment
5 May 2011
Bin Laden Death Pics: Pressure Grows On Obama
by Xavier Connolly
Bin Laden Death Pics: Pressure Grows On Obama
DAily Telegraph Live blogging: Latest ...
Lindsey Graham, a US senator, has waded into the row over Obama's refusual to release graphic photos of bin Laden's body. He said the decision was a mistake that would prolong rumour mongering that bin Laden was still alive.
The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death. I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.
The raid on the compound in Pakistan in which the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden was killed is rapidly turning into a public relations disaster for US President Barack Obama. As the White House is forced to back off from its initial gung ho reports of bravery by the US President (who tried to give the impression he was somehow directly involved in the action) and the team of Navy SEALS who went into the compound, admitting bin Laden (a) did not die firing an AK47 at the American commandos, (b) did not try to use his wife as a human shield and (c) the American government does not have the video footage of the bizarrely misguided 'burial at sea' they claimed to have.
As with the long running and still ongoing controversy over his elegibility to serve as President of the United States (not because of where he may or may not have been born but because his father was never a U.S. citizen nor even a resident but only there on a student visa,) Obama has once again proved himself the conspiracy theorists best friend by showing he expects the whole world to believe every droplet of verbal diarreah that drops from his lips.
Now we have Arab television news services producing eye witnesses (including one of bin Laden's daughters) who tell a very different story. It is reported, and we recommend you treat these reports with as much scepticism as we treated the initial ripping yarn from the White House fantasy fiction press office, that Osama was led out of the building and killed in a gangland style execution either before or after he had been bundled into one of the helicopters used in the raid.
Other witnesses claim no shots were fired within the compound.
The Daily Stirrer sticks with its view that Osama bin Laden has been dead since 2007.
Who, if anyone was killed by the US Navy SEALS dispatched by President Barack Hussein Obama to stage the publicity coup he hoped would save his Presidency, we will probably never know. Another thing we do know however is the report that stock markets and the value of the US$ had soared on the news. The dollar hardly moved and a slight rise in the Dow Jones index was quickly reversed as realisation sunk in that Osama bin Laden was not the leader of the Taliban and was no longer active in Al Qaeda and his death will not bring to an end the Afghan war or lead to quick settlements of the conflicts in Libya, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere in the middle east.
The lesson here is never trust anybody in a position of authority and never believe anything you read in mainstream media.
RELATED POSTS:
Obama's Loss of Credibility
Obama The Real Danger To The West
Obama and the Lockerbie Bomber
more Middle East posts
more Politics and Economy posts
4 May 2011
UK House Prices Fall In Aprilby Xavier Connolly
The average home lost 0.2pc of its value during the month, leaving it costing 165,609, according to the Nationwide Building Society.
The fall follows two consecutive months during which prices have risen, although property values have dropped in three of the previous six months, while they have increased during three of them, showing the current unsettled state of the market.
With Ian fully ovccupied trying desperately to link and categorise our posts because The Daily Stirrer has become far more successful than any of us ever imagined, and John de Roe on his retirement leave, all we can say on this is "We told you so."
White House Backtracks On How Bin Laden Died
by Ed Butt
Initial claims that the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died while firing an automatic weapon at commandos were withdrawn, with President Barack Obamas spokesman admitting he was unarmed. Another claim that bin Laden was 'a coward to the end' and a dramatic description of him using a woman alleged to be his his wife as a human shield and forcing her to sacrifice her life also proved to be false. One of Osama bin Laden's wives was in the compound but in a different room and was wounded but still alive when she was taken into custody with several of the terrorists children.
At first the claim was changed to an anonymous woman throwing herself in front of the terrorist to shield him but then the human shield story was dropped altogether.
In an embarrassing climb-down, Barack Obamas press secretary, Jay Carney, admitted that the previous version of events which came mostly from the chief US counter-terrorism adviser, John Brennan had been put out with great haste. Great haste maybe but we have to wonder about the competence or hionesty of people who, even in the heat of the moment could concoct such a wildly inaccurate story.
The about-turn left the US open to accusations of a cover-up and led to calls for video footage of the attack, allegely watched live in the White House bu Barack Husseing Obama and his cohorts as they sipped chardonnay and passed around trays of nibbles (guess which bit we made up to make the President and his stuipd sidekicks look bad) Also in response to calls for the video to be released a claim that the US military had footage of the burial at sea of Bin Laden's body were quietly withdrawn.
Not surprising really. The Daily Stirrer reported yesterday Osama Bin Ladenm has been dead since 2007.
Pakistan and US War Of \Words Over Bin Laden Death (The Guardian)
RELATED POSTS:
Beards of Terror
How Obamanomics Triggered The Arab Springby Ed Butt
And now a clue as to why the Obama Adminitration felt they had to concoct this ridiculous farce or ...How the Federal Exchange triggered the Arab Spring uprisings in two easy graphs
By Andrew Lilico, Daily Terlegraph 04 May 2011
It is possible to join the dots between the Feds second phase of quantitative easing and the revolutions in the Middle East.
CLICK HERE
.
One curious aspect of recent events in the Middle East and North Africa is how unwilling most commentators have been to join the dots between the Federal Reserves second phase of quantitative easing and these revolutions. Im less queasy. Of course, all revolutions have many causes, and I dont mean to belittle the achievements of brave non-violent protesters, desperate self-immolators, or saloon-car rifle-wielders. But, as a trigger and driver of these events, the Fed seems very clearly to have achieved more in the Arab world in six months than the Pentagon achieved in decades.
RELATED POSTS:
Middle East Archive
3 May 2011
Obama Elegibility? You Think It's All Over?
When Barack Obama, vain and arrogant to the end finally produced something he claimed was his long form birth certificate you would think from his posturing that he was the subjec6t of some monstrous imposition.
Sadly the little piece of paper he produced was such a blatant forgery I did not even have to put my scren in hi - res mode to see where the pdf had been crudely pasted together from bits cut from other documents.
A .pdf for those who do not know, is not a scan as a .jpg format file is, but a digital reconstruction of data that could come from one or several sources.
Anyway, even the forgery is incompetent and leaves clearly visible the damning evidence Obama has spent two years and millions of dolars trying to hide.
Follow my link to Obama Birth Cert, scoll down to the facsimilie of the document which is the image that was posted on The White House web site, and take a good long look in the bottom left hand corner.
If your screen is not sharp enough to see clearly, even when the image is enlarged, the printed text on the official form reads:
21: Evidence of delayed filing.
And the typed text which you should see clearly says:
Place of birth, Kenya - per Grandmother. The exact meaning of this is clarified by the fact that the signature of the person registering the birth is Madeline Payne Dunham.
If the Birthers are smart they've got him by the bollocks.
Further reference
http://www.rense.com (go to front page and search Obama)
Osama Bin Laden's Death And The Financial Markets
Not a subject we would dwell on other than to say, about time too, but go to this Daily Telegraph report Bin Laden Death open the comments and look for one by Destoyerofworlds who comments.
Benazir Bhutto revealed that Osama Bin Laden had been murdered shortly before her own untimely death in late 2007.
watch You Tube clip of Ms Bhutto
Now, it seems the news and photographs of his passing were held back by the US administration for an occasion more to their liking.
And here, for people with a strong stomach are the three pictures the OBL deth photo are photoshopped from. Left an anonymouse dead person of middle eastern origin, centre the last photo taken of OBL when we know he was alive and right the composite of the two with the top half being the anonymous dead guy and the bottom half taken from the image of the real Osama.
As the old saying goes Truth is the first casualty of war. Even a phoney war on terror it seems.
American Lawyer Attacked By Obama Supporters For Querying "Father's Race: African" On The Birth Certificate.
The story does not matter. It is just another stereotypical illustration of the hate driven madhouse the United States of America has become.
What the Daily Stirrer wants to get across is the background information necessary to make a value judgement on this issue.
Even now, in these politically correct times there is no such race as African. And Obama Snr's birthplace was not Kenya which did not exist as a legal or political entity until 1962, but British East Africa. Obie Snr. however would have given his race as Luo to distinguish him from the Kikiyu, Meru, Embu, Masai and other tribes in the colony. It would not have ocurred to him to say African.
Some other races found on the African continent, Moors, Tuareg, Bedouin, Nubian, Xosha, Matabele, Mandingo, Somali, Hutu, Tutsi, Ubangi, Ubetcha (sorry, I made that one up,) Egyptian, Arab and Watusi. There are many many more. A tribe or nation is a race of people as Celts, Scots, Finn, Norr, Rus Slav, Goth and the other old ethnicities of Europe demonstrate. All have very different cultures and many different physical attributes.
It is not even correct to give "African negro" as the catch all race because there are two distinct racial types among the people of Sub Saharan Africa, broad skulled like the Yoruba of Nigeria, Ghana and west Africa and narrow skulled like Barry and the Masai and Tswana.
Then of course there are The San, one of the last hunter - gatherer peoples in the world. There are only about 50,000 San left now and they are genetically, cuturally and ethnically quite different from any other tribe anywhere in the world.
So questioning these apparently misplaced words is not trivial nit picking. Lift one up and look underneath and you peer into the tribal history and sociology of a continent.
And African societies are very tribal.
28 April 2011
A post from one of our American friends today. We will be taking the wekend off now as the entire Daily Stirrer team are heading for the hills to avoid The Royal Wedding.
Obama Releases Birth Certificate But It Will Not Save His Presidency
by James Dahlberg
US President Barack Hussein Obama has made an unexpected intervention in an attempt to end birther campaign questioning his eligibility to serve as POTUS. The President, after being dogged by doubts about his citizenship status for two years finally released a copy of his original birth certificate which shows definitively that he was born in Hawaii. The move could easily backfire on Obama as people are straightaway asking why it took him so long.
In a speech in which he presented the birth certificate Mr Obama dismissed the long running controversy over his place of birth as silliness and a sideshow, and said the United States had more serious monumental issues to deal with such as the national debt, education and petrol prices. This demonstrates once again not only his contempt for the American people but, from one who is alleged to be a former lecturer in United States constitutional law and an expert on that subject, his appalling ignorance of the Constitution.
In describing those who have peddled the myth that he was not born in the US as carnival barkers. Mr Obama did not identify critics by name but appeared to be referring to Donald Trump, the would-be Republican presidential candidate and property tycoon. Trump, presenter of the American version of the television reality show 'The Apprentice' was widely suspected of showboating and of raising the issue as a publicity stunt. Challenges presented by lawyers such as Philip Berg, Mario Apuzzo and Gary Kreep who have all, while not discounting doubts about where Obama was born, which arose mainly out of statements made by himself and members of both his American and African families, have centered on the issue of his status as a natural born citizen, i.e. the child of two parents who were both citizens of the United States.
The production of the birth certificate which confirms that Obama's father was not American but a British colonial citizen born in the colony of British East Africa. The birth certificate also casts doubt on its own authenticity by stating Obama senior's place of birth as Kenya. At the time of the President's birth Kenya did not exist as a legal or political entity. That is one for the lawyers to argue about however. The fact remains Obama's father was never a citizen of the United States of America but merely a visitor residing there on a student visa.
Showing the prominence the issue had gained Mr Obama addressed the nation from a podium at the White House, with television networks breaking into their regular schedules to broadcast his remarks.
He said: Yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, August 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital. Over the last two-and-a-half years I have watched with bemusement, I have been puzzled, to the degree to which this thing just kept growing.
And by the looks of it Mr. President, as you have now provided proof of your ineligibility by confirming your father was not American but was legally married to your mother, the controversy will go on. The establishment has closed ranks around Obama however and so the world's most powerful nation will continue to be ruled by a usurper at least for two more years.
By the 2012 Presidential election however Obama's sorry record on economics, employment, foreign policy, education, law, immigration and social issues will discredit him so much that elegibility will not be the issue as much as incompetence, and the election question will be 'How the hell did we ever put a man so completey unqualified for high office in The White House?
RELATED POSTS:
Obama's Credibility Lost
Obama The Real Danger To The West
America's Forgotten Jobless
Obama and Deficit Reduction
New Economic Headache For O' Bummer
IMF Warns Obama - Cut Deficit Or Else As Bond Traders Short American Bonds
Michaelo Jackson and ?Barack Obama the same person?
The Tesco Riot Is No Surprise Given How Powerless People Feel
From The Guardian:
Last week's riot in Bristol's Stokes Croft has dissipated, but the debate beneath is still a crackle of irreconcilable assertions: Tesco claims that many residents wanted the store, though the company has yet to announce whether it will reopen. Residents and some councillors insist that they did not want it, and the squatters who were the focus of the police attention say they were never anything to do with the No Tesco lobby in the first place.
But even while we await the truth, there is an interesting conversation to be had about how much influence you can have over the face of your local high street: the short answer is none.
read all
27 April 2011
Britain On Edge Of A Double Dip Recession?
The eagerly awaited figures for GDP growth in the first three months of the year were published yesterday. The disappointing news was that the UK economy grew only 0.5pc in the first quarter of 2011, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed. This rate of expansion in economic activity does no more than offset the 0.5pc contraction in the final quarter of 2010.
Excluding the impact of the snow in December, the preliminary GDP figures suggest ...
RELATED POSTS:
Inflation Falls Again As Government Continue To Talk BollocksInflation fell to a 15-month low of 3.4pc in February helping ease pressure on cash-strapped consumers and Chancellor George Osborne ahead of Wednesday's Budget.
The consumer prices index (CPI) is down from 3.6pc in January as a drop in prices for housing, lower electricity and gas bills electricity, and cheaper air fare pushed overall inflation down, the Office for National Statistics said. However, the fall was not as much as expected - economist had forecast ...
Recovery in Manufacturing
Inflation a Threat To Recovery
Euro Uber Alles
Debt Crisis Posts
Syria Sends Tanks Into Daraa
On the day that William (The Mekon) Hague announced with an honesty refreshing in a politician that we are in Libya 'for the long haul' the latest news from Syria suggests that country is moving towards civil war too. Let's hope our politicans have the moust to sense what is happening in the middle east and keep us out of that one.
In addition to the unrest in the city of Daraa - where the uprising began more five weeks ago - Syriahnsecurity forces conducted sweeping arrests and raids elsewhere in the country, witnesses said. The crackdown came as opposition leaders said their "massive grassroots revolution" will break the regime unless Mr Assad leads a transition to democracy.
The statement from an umbrella group of opposition activists in Syria and abroad called the National Initiative for Change said a democratic transition will "safeguard the nation from falling into a period of violence, chaos and civil war."
"If the Syrian president does not wish to be recorded in history as a leader of this transition period, there is no alternative left for Syrians except to move forward along the same path as did the Tunisians, Egyptians and Libyans before them," the statement said.
The relentless government throttling of the protest movement showed no signed of letting up.
RELATED POSTS:
Gadaffi To Unleash A Wave Of Migrants On EuropeLibya is unleashing a wave of migrants against Europe as retaliation for the coalition's military strikes against the country. Last week The Daily Stirrer reported the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa is being overrun with refugees fleeing the troubles in North Africa. The opening of immigration floodgates came as Italy announced ...
Fear and Loathing On LampadeusaOver 6,000 refugees, mostly Tunisian migrants fleeing the troubles in North Africa have overun the Italian islan of Lampedusa in recent days, transforming the tiny Mediterranean island into a rubbish-strewn refugee camp.
Gathering arounf tiny fires or hunching beneath makeshift plastic shelters, the refugees are the start of what threatens to become a huge exodus of desperate and ...
The West Could Be Helping Al Qaeda In LibyaThe long reign of Colonel Gaddafi in Libyan staggers on. Fortunes of the rag tag army of rebels ebb and flow as the official army, loyal to Gadaffi, better trained and equipped than their opponents and able to choose their ground where they will stand and fight sure that their efforts will not be curtailed by western air strikes, easily push back every rush by those who would overthrow the Colonel. Many western leaders and opinion makers, foremost among them ...
Libya and Bahrain Crisis Threatens Weestern EconomiesOil prices rose sharply on when msarkets in the west opened on Monday morning. Air strikes on Colonel Gaddafi's military sites in Libya and news of increasing unrest from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have increased fears of a supply disruption ...
more posts on The Middle East
26 April 2011
Saudi Arabia Oil Price Fears
by Ed Butt
The world's largest oil producer, Saudi Arabia, is concerned about high oil prices and their impact on the global economy, the chief executive of state oil firm Aramco has said. Oil prices fell on Tuesday, in part after the remarks from Aramco's Khalid al-Falih. Brent crude fell 57 cents to $123.09 a barrel by 0153 GMT, but later recovered trading up 44 cents at $124.10 at 10am GMT.
There was no tightness in global oil markets, Falih added. His comments echoed those of Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi, who said last week that the kingdom had cut oil output in March as the market was oversupplied. Unrest and violence in North Africa and the Middle East and strong demand growth in Asia have pushed prices to their highest levels since 2008, triggering a series of warnings from consumers and producers that costly oil would harm economic growth.
Saudi Arabia had enough capacity to meet any spike in demand and plug short-term falls in supply, Falih said.
The Kingdom boosted supply in February to more than 9m barrels a day to fill the gap in global markets left by fellow OPEC member Libya, where the ongoing civil war cut exports. This is the usual Saudi line but many independent oil industry experts have said Saudi reserves have been over estimated by as much as 40%
Saudi Oil Reserves Overestimated?
US Citizens Told To Leave Syria - BBC News
Iceberg Alley Blues
Oil Shale Will Not Provide Salvation
25 April 2011
************************* THIS IS A MARKER FOR EDITING PURPOSES *****************************
Jobs Boost From Jaguar
Some good news from the British car manufacturing industry will be a major boost for the Government. The luxury car maker Jaguar has published proposals to build a new engine plant as demand for its cars booms in Asia. According to sources close to the company, Jaguar Land Rover has identified three areas to potentially base the plant Wolverhampton, south Wales and a site in India which has not been named.
The board of the Indian car maker, Tata Motors, which owns Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), is understood to be discussing the feasibility of the engine plant, with an announcement about the location to be made within the next few months. Tata has already committed more than 1bn to the car maker since acquiring it from Ford in 2007 and a new plant would significantly add to that investment.
The UK is the most likely location for the plant, indutry sources say, which if built it will create jobs for at least 1,000 workers.
The move would be a major boost for the British car industry which has recovered during the past 20 years after collapsing during the 1970s and 1980s. The UK now produces 1.4m vehicles a year, an increase of 20pc compared with 2009, and builds more than 2m engines. More than three-quarters of the vehicles built in Britain are exported, with an annual export value of 5bn a year in the past five years, according to the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. JLR's engines are currently supplied by Ford from plants including Bridgend and Dagenham in the UK.
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Electric Car Mini Adventure
22 April 2011
Pollution Health Warning For Easter Weekend
From The Daily Telegraph
Vulnerable people, such as asthmatics, the elderly and heart patients, were advised to be particularly vigilant to any change in their conditions and seek medical help if they experience difficulties.
Officials advised people who suffer from a shortage of breath on hot sunny days to avoid strenuous outdoor activity, especially in the afternoon.
Children with asthma can play outside normally, but might need to increase their use of medicines such as inhalers.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs issued the warning, covering the whole of England and Wales, ahead of what is expected to be the hottest Easter since 1984.
It is the first smog alert in two years, the last being on July 17 2009, but such warnings are normally annual events.
How wonderfuil to us those caring, concerned leftie elitists are to us. Having made smoking a crime almost on a par with genocide they then embarked on campigns to demonise alcohol, tasty food, sex with people you don't know, sex with people you know, straight sex, cars, loud music, quiet music, music made by non ethnic people (i.e. black), anti social behaviour, social behaviour, being working class, Christianity, Christmas and Easter (both might offend non Christians you know) , chocolate and bad taste humour.
Not content with trying to ban or control all that they are now sticking health warnings on the first bit of decent weather we have had in months.
Mustn't go outside kiddiwinks, the air on hot days might poison you.
Ignore them. Do they thung they really most want to ban you from doing but dare not say so. Think for yourself !
Happy Easter.
21 April 2011
EU Demands 400 per family ransom from Britain
David Cameron is under pressure from within his own party to reject a demand from Brussels that British taxpayers stump up an extra 682 million next year to the European Union slush find stuffing bureaucrats Swiss bank accounts Budget
The additional payment if agreed would lift Britains annual EU contribution to more than 10 billion in 2012, the equivalent of 400 for every household.
The demand from the European Commission has kicked off a war of words, with Downing Street calling the request ludicrous and George Osborne, the Chancellor, accusing EU officials of having lost touch with reality. Well it's nice to know Dave and Georgie get there in the end. The rest of us have known for years that to be an EU Bureaucrats you have to be crazy as a shithouse rat and drunk on power
Last night the Government refused to say if ministers were prepared to approve any, increase in Britains contributions , prompting charges that they would eventually roll over in the cause of European Unity and tamely cough up more taxpayers money.
In 2009, Britons paid 5.3 billion to the EU budget, with the payment rising to 9.2 billion in 2010. Have these people not heard we are in a recession?
Last year, Mr Cameron promised to fight for a cut or a freeze in the 2011 EU budget, but was eventually forced to settle for a rise of 2.9 per cent, costing Britain another 450 million so his track record on resisting the Euronazis is not good.
Rise In Retail Sales As Public Borrowing Falls
From The Daily Telegraph
Retail sales rose unexpectedly in March helped by stronger food sales on the month, while public sector borrowing for the fiscal year ending in March came in below the government's target, official data has shown.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said retail sales volumes including automotive fuel rose 0.2pc last month after dropping by 0.9pc the month before.
Analysts had been braced for a weak retail sales number, after a very weak British Retail Consortium survey last week, and the figures may therefore reassure Bank of England policy makers that consumer demand is stabilising.
The ONS said the rise was driven by stronger food sales and non-store retailing, with garden centres and sports good stores helped by dry weather in March.
Year-on-year, retail sales were 1.3pc higher. Economists had forecast a month-on-month fall of 0.5pc and an annual rise of 0.9pc.
On the quarter, retail sales volumes were 0.3pc higher, suggesting the sector is poised to make a modest contribution to first-quarter GDP data due next week.
20 April 2011
British Taxpayers Face Huge Bill As E U Bueaucrats Reject Calls For Austerity
The unelected bureaucrats of Brussels who control so much or our national life have decreed that British taxpayers must stump up more than 600million in extra contributions to the European Union next year to meet a proposed 5.5billion increase in spending that ignores David Camerons repeated calls for austerity.
The European Commission will today reject pleas from the Prime Minister, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy for the EU to reduce expenditure in line with national austerity porogrammmes.
Instead of a freeze, or a cut, the EU will later today issue a request for an extra 4.9 per cent (5.5 billion) in spending for 2012 to swell the Brussels budget to 117billion despite the austerity measures being imposed by member states domestically. In other words they are saying the people who live in the E.U. have no rights and can go and fuck ourselves. All that matters is advancing the bureaucrats world domination agenda.
We have opted for investing in areas that contribute to economic growth and development: the EU budget is an anti-crisis package, said one smug, smooth cheeked cunt senior official.
This new campaign of extortion will be seen as a declaration of war against Downing Street and the other democratically elected leaders of the E.U. nationswho last year singed a a pledge to work for an EU spending freeze. These included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
The government is under pressure to cut soaring British contributions to the EU budget after the publication of official figures last month. These showed that British taxpayers paid a total of 5.3billion to the EU in 2009 which increased to 9.2billion in 2010. The proposed 600 million increase for 2012 will mean British taxpayers will be paying more than 10 billion to the EU, at a time when the British government is making cuts.
Last April, Mr Cameron rejected an EU demand for a six per cent increase and called for a zero per cent EU budget freeze.
He lost a close vote over his austerity demand last July but then teamed up with Germany and France to limit the 2011 EU budget increase to a 2.9 per cent increase.
In December, Mr Cameron signed up the German Chancellor and French President to a statement vowing to cut EU spending in 2012 with reductions stepped up progressively until the Brussels budget stops growing altogether within two years.
Anger is growing among national governments over the rocketing costs of the EU, especially with the creation of the new institutions, such as the new EU foreign service, after the Lisbon Treaty entered into force last year.
We have the anser in our hands. When we vote in local elections, vote UKIP to send a message to Brussels. And vote yes to AV which will give us a chance of putting some UKIP or otherwise anti Europe candidates in Parliament. I am not a right wing sympathiser, I have been a Liberal all my adult life and a Lib Dem voter recently.
But the Lib Dems, along with Labour and the Tories have stabbed the British people in the back by selling out to the bureaucratic dictators in Brussels.
19 April 2011
Life Expectancy Rises By 44 Days In One Year
by Xavier Connolly
This one fell to me because I'm the eldest regular contributor. Cheeky bastards.
Longevity is now accelerating so rapidly experts are talking about humans reaching 'escape velocity', with our life expectancy rising by more than a day for every day we live. A baby born this year will, on average, live for more than 90 years and nine months according to a news study published yesterday.
As a result of us lining longer more than 11 million people alive today (or 17.5% of the population) can look forward to living to be more than 100 years old. Men, who have traditionally lagged behind women in life expectancy, largely because of war, last year saw their longevity increase faster than women by 46 days on average.
The figures published by the Department for Work and Pensions suggest that one in four people now aged under 16 will live beyond age 100. Just 30 years ago, more than a quarter of boys were expected to die before their 65th birthday. Ministers said that the rapid rise in longevity had enormous implications for public policy in a range of areas from health to transport, with taxpayers facing a much bigger bill for looking after an ageing population. The news will also fuel the debate about raising the default retirement age.
Millions of workers who will only have the state pension to rely on after they stop working are already scheduled to see their retirement pushed back to age 66 by 2020 and 68 in 2046. Todays figures, calculated from data produced by the Office for National Statistics, give greater impetus to a government consultation, announced in last months Budget, to link the state pension age to longevity. This could result in the pension age rising to 70 by the mid - century.
There is a risk that by focusing on longevity to the exclusion of data which showed that many people, while living longer were not enjoying a good enough health in old age to consider staying at work. On top of this a significant number of people staying in employment for an extra five years would put more pressure on an already squeezed job market. With new technology replacing jobs and the export of factory work to low labour cost nations in the developing world the future for those seeking employment looks increasingly bleak.
Steve Webb, the pensions minister, said the astonishing figures were too stark to ignore.
What is striking is that while we all know people are living longer, we havent grasped how fast it is going. The speed of change is astonishing. There are big issues for us as a society in all sorts of policy areas, such as social care, employment and pensions, but also in terms of our attitudes to older people.
As well as the state pension, Mr Webb warned that employees with private pensions should plan to save more for their retirement. This year, 10,000 people will celebrate their 100th birthday. By 2026, that figure is due to rise to 500,000. The point Mr. Webb misses is that in a global economoy based on perpetual growth the necessary built in inflation of prices negates much of the value of savings among people who survive well beyond the end of their working life.
Neil Duncan-Jordan, of the National Pensioners Convention, said: Living longer does not equate to being able to dig a road for longer, or even to being willing and able to do a job like teaching into your late sixties. The Government keeps pushing these figures that we are living longer as a means of trying to force us to work for longer but they need to move on from this obsession with longevity and view the issue in a less black and white way.
Michelle Mitchell, of Age UK, said: Average life expectancy figures hide the fact that in many places, predominantly poorer areas, life expectancy is much slower. Before the Government further looks to raise the state pension age it must first tackle health inequalities to ensure that those who have had harder lives do not again lose out through a shorter retirement.
It is not financial hardship however that keeps me working as a part time lecturer at almost 68 years old. I'm just not ready to vegitate yet
Clearly there are not easy answers to this. Fixing one problem seems to create another.
The Father Of Radio Astronomy - The Man Who Made It Possible To Explore The Stars
by Xavier Connolly
Last week, the world celebrated the accomplishments of Yuri Gagarin who, 50 years ago, became the first human to fly into space. Yet it is also an appropriate time to pay tribute to one of Britain's own heroes of the space age Sir Bernard Lovell.
Lovell is the father of radio astronomy, the man who, 60 years ago, began the construction of the great telescope at Jodrell Bank in Cheshire. This is now one of the planet's premier scientific installations: in March, it was shortlisted as a World Heritage Site, and this month, it was announced that it will run the most powerful radio telescope on the planet, the Square Kilometre Array. Its findings will cast light on the greatest mysteries of the universe according to astrophysicists.
Today, aged 97, Lovell is physically frail. His eyesight has almost gone, and he spends much of the day in an orthopaedic chair, with electronic controls. Yet his mind is as sharp as ever; his conversation is witty and charming; and his grasp of detail is nothing short of phenomenal
Read an excellent article on The Father Of Radio Astronomy; The life and work of Sir Bernard Lovell
18 April 2011
Labour Councils Hoarding Cash As They Cut Services
by John de Roe
Conservative ministers in the coalition government have accused Labour councils of cutting local services such as libraries, nurseries, education facilities and waste management while holding onto cash reserves of hundreds of millions of pounds as they blame the coalition for cuts in frontline services. It has also been shown that Labour councils are cutting jobs in frontline services as they protect politically correct non jobs such as obesity councillors, alcohol awareness officers and climate awareness consultants.
While Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, has attacked the Coalition for cutting state spending, a new analysis of council figures suggests that Labours own local authorities are hoarding cash they should be using to provide services. Grant Shapps, the Conservative local government minister, said Labour councils are implementing totally unacceptable financial policies and urged local authorities to spend reserves.
Labour replied by accusing the Tories of attempting to divert attention from the Coalitions plans to hit local communities with the worst cuts in a generation. Reduced budgets for council run services, including road maintenance and street cleaning, are expected to be a key consideration for voters at next months local elections.
According to the Conservative Party analysis, the city authority in Nottingham is increasing its charges for adult social care, reducing highways maintenance and reducing support for jobseekers, while ring fencing cash reserves of 50.7 million. In Liverpool, the councils cash reserves have increasing to 121.7 million while nurseries, libraries and leisure centres are starved of funds.
Labour-run London Borough of Lambeth, is known as one of the poorest boroughs in the country and has announced closures of libraries and nurseries and cutbacks in social care. It has reserves of 93.7 million.
Mr Shapps said it was totally unacceptable for Labour councils to make political cuts while sitting on vast cash reserves.
People will rightly be shocked that Labour councils have billions stashed away when they hear stories of cuts to local services, he said, reminding voters that sound financial management is about setting cash aside in good times so there is a cushion to protect against falls. Mr Shapps added Thanks to Labours deficit, it is now pouring. These reserves exist to ensure councils can react to unforeseen situations like clearing up the economic mess left by the Labour Government.
The deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, said most of the authoritys 50 million reserve was already allocated for services such as education and could not be spent on other areas. Liverpool City Council's deputy leader, Paul Brant, disputed the Conservatives' figures, insisting that the council held a cash reserve of only 16 million which is not earmarked for services such as schools, rather than the 121.7 million claimed by the Tories.
The official Labour Party line is that voters won't be fooled by the Conservatives attempt to distract attention from the Tory-led Government's decision to hit councils with cuts that go too far, too fast.
Tory councils have some of the biggest reserves in the country. Even his own Local Government minister's (Bob Neill) Tory run council in Bromley has refused to spend its reserves, at the same time as carrying out 33m of cuts to local jobs and frontline services. In fact, Conservative and Liberal Democrat councils are making some of the worst cuts in the country.
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Cameron and Labour's John Reid To Present Case Againt AV - The Guardian
Cameron Claims AV Would Damage Democracy - The Daily Telegraph
Finland Election Result May Hit Bailouts For Europe's Basket Case Nations
by Ian R Thorpe
The next stage in negotiating Portugal's bailout by the EU (aka Greater Germany) start today, but are already in trouble. A strong election performance from an anti-europe party in Finland, the True Finns which has pledged to vote against financial aid to bankrupt EU nations, means whatever bailout deal in agreed could be vetoed by Finland.
Unelected bureaucrats from the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund are in Lisbon to set the terms for what would be the eurozone's third bailout in a year and thus decide the immediate economic future of taxpayers in more carefully managed European economies..
Greece and Ireland have already received multi-billion euro deals and all the indicators suggest Spain, with an economy larger that that of the other three basket cases combined, will be next. Meanwhile many other nation, including Belgium, Hungary and heavyweights Italy are in deep trouble with their sovereign debt commitments.
Initially the bailout fund is expected to total 80bn (50bn) but experience with Greece and Ireland suggest this amount will be similar to putting a band - aid on a severed limb. The structural debt problems in both Greece and Ireland have turned out to be much deeper than was at first budgeted for.
Portugal's interim government, holding power pending elections after the Prime Minister resigned when his austerity plan was rejected, is aiming to come up with a radical economic set of economic reforms including privatisation of state assets, changes to over - protective labour laws and steps to prop up up fragile banks. These proposals are due by the middle of May, just weeks before the government faces an acute funding crunch and voting is due to take place in the election.
But regardless of what happens between now and then Portugal now faces a new threat from a fellow eurozone member that lies far to the north (where the black rocks stand against the cold sea - as the introduction to Noggin The Nog stories used to say). That little aside serves to illustrate the difference between the easy going Mediterranean states and northern Europe where life has always been much harder.
In Sunday's election in Finland the eurosceptic True Finns party made huge gains and may now be in a position to block Portugal's bailout as early indications suggest the party will be joining the next governing coalition in Helsinki. Counting has a long way to go under Finland's complex voting system and it may be several weeks before the final outcome is known.
Only hours after the first results were broadcast showing his party in a neck-and-neck race to win the most votes, True Finns leader Timo Soini was already pledging the party would torpedo the Portuguese deal.
"The package that is there - I do not believe it will remain," he said.
Any delay in approving the bailout deal beyond the mid-May target could leave European leaders scrambling to find other means of funding for Portugal, a country of 10.5m that has been targeted by investors during the euro zone crisis because of its high debt levels and uncompetitive economy.
The success of The True Finns in the election potentially poses a huge risk to Lisbon, which has said it will run out of funds to keep the country running in June when a huge trance of bonds must be refinanced. It also reinforces the message sent to European leaders by the heavy defeats inflicted on Angela Merkel's government in Germany and other regional elections held in Eurozone countries.
Bailout talks could be complicated further by what Portuguese weekly Expresso said were disagreements between European officials and the IMF on loan conditions.
Portugal bailout could be affected by election gains for anti-euro Finns
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16 April 2011
Labour's Economics Team Left Isolated By Obama's Cuts
by John de Roe
Chancellor George Osborne said on Friday The Labour Party has been left "entirely isolated" in its soft approach to deficit reduction, , after President Barack Obama unveiled a consolidation programme that puts the UK's in the shade. To be fair to Labour, Obama had his arm twisted by the IMF otherwise he would have continued with his loonytoons spending policy.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls has repeatedly cited the US approach of cutting the deficit gradually to accuse the Coalition of moving too fast and taking a reckless gamble with the economy. But on Thursday Obama unveiled plans to cut the US's $1.65 trillion (1 trillion) deficit over four years, a higher percentage of GDP than Britain's proposed cuts.
"It reinforces the point that Labour are entirely isolated in the international community," Mr Osborne said on the fringes of the International Monetary Fund's spring meeting in Washington. "That has left them in no-man's land."
The US President is aiming for a total reduction of 8pc of GDP by 2015. The UK plans a consolidation programme of 8.4pc, but as Mr Osborne started cutting a year earlier, the average pace of reduction is just 1.6pc a year, compared with 2pc annually in the US.
Mr Balls hit back, accusing the Chancellor of playing "fast and loose with international comparisons to score political points". He said the US was in a stronger position to cope with consolidation as a result of "putting jobs and growth first". US growth was helped last year by further stimulus.
"President Obama now has a growing economy and falling unemployment which is crucial to getting the deficit down," Mr Balls said.
Balls is lying of course. The US economy appears to be in growth only because Omana's loonytoons economic policy sanctioned the printing of money to pump into civil rights, community organising and minority support groups and spend on vanity projects. And as in Britain the number of American's out of work is actually rising but official unemployment figures only count those who are claiming jobseekers allowance. People unemployed more that two years lose that entitlement and go onto 'welfare payments' the US equivalent of Income Support.
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15 April 2011
Google shares dropped on the New York Stock Exchange after traders took fright at a sharp increase in costs at the world's biggest search engine, which uber nerd Larry Page took the helm of last month.
Expenses at Google jumped 54pc to $2.84bn (1.72bn) in the first quarter, overshadowing an almost 20pc rise in profits to $2.3bn. Revenue in the quarter climbed to $6.54bn, topping by a significant marginwhat analysts had forecast.
Page, who co-founded Google 13 years ago with fellow nerd Sergey Brin at Stanford University in California, has indicated he will accelerate spending on research and staff in an effort to tackle the challenge posed by rivals such as Facebook and Apple. He's not concerned at the inroads being made by Yahoo and Bing into his market share then?
Google, which had a workforce of 26,316 at the end of the first quarter, said it would be adding 6,000 employees this year and raising the salaries for non-executives by 10pc as the battle for talent in Silicon Valley heats up.
"Larry Page has signalled pretty clearly that he is going to be driving up expenses," said Colin Gillis.
The Daily Stirrer has always felt Page and Brin are a couple of world domination freaks who care nothing for running a business so long as they can control all the information in the world.
And when they have that they will demand (flips hand and raises pinkie to corner of mouth) one trillion dollars.
Google algorithm scam
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Internet threat to our way of life
Technology Index
14 April 2011
Cameron Pulls Vince's Cable Over Immigration Criticism
Yesterday The Prime Minister David Cameron made a speech in which he said mass immigration has led to "discomfort and disjointedness" in many neighbourhoods because some migrants have been unwilling to integrate or learn the English language .
Promising his government would work to cut the numbers entering Britain from hundreds to tens of thousands Mr Cameron said that "for too long, immigration has been too high".
The content of the speech was bound to upset coalition partners The Liberal Democrats from whom Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, described the Prime Minister's words as very unwise and suggested they could fuel extremism over immigration.
The reference to the tens of thousands of immigrants rather than hundreds of thousands is not part of the coalition agreement, it is Tory party policy only, Mr Cable told the BBC before Mr Camerons speech.
I do understand there is an election coming but talk of mass immigration risks inflaming the extremism to which he and I are both strongly opposed.
The Prime Minister later rebutted Mr Cables criticism, insisting he was dealing with an issue of high public importance in a "sensible, measured, serious tone".
He said he had never shied away from addressing the immigration issue throughout his time as Conservative leader.
"The country elected a Government wanting us to roll up our sleeves and deal with some of these issues, Mr Cameron told an audience of party activists in Romsey, Hampshire.
"This speech is, I think, a very good explanation of how we are dealing with them in an extremely fair and sensible way.
"I am very willing to be judged by the British people not only on the content of the speech and the action we are taking, but also the very measured way in which it is being described and put forward.
The Daily Stirrer commented last year that Immigration was the issue that concerned the public most but the one none of the main parties wanted to bring into the election debate. So far the coalition government has not ben winning the battle for hearts and minds. Polls suggest if an election was held tomorrow Labour would return to power. This is in spite of Labour's unpopularity with working class voters in btheir core constituencies.
Traditional Labour voters do not like where the party stands now but feel that nobody else speaks for them. Cameron's move could be a shrewd ploy to wing Labour votes over to the Conservatives. Splitting the Liberal Democrats might also work in his favour and if he is forced into an early election in which the Lib Dems were anihilated the Conservatives would be likely to gain more Lib Dem seats than Labour.
Not long ago Vince Cable boasted he could blow the coalition out of the water. He might be about to torpedo himself in the foot.
Immigration, The Elephant In The Political room.
Immigration Cap
Plans To Phase Out Cheques Should Be Bounced
by John de Roe
Cheques were due to be abolished by October 2018, a move announced by the Payments Council, a trade body representing the banks, card and cash machine industry. Naturally being a bunch of arrogant bankers the did not consider how the public felt about such a move when agreeing this policy.
The Bankers cartel argues that use of cheques is in decline and paper cheques are a more expensive way of paying for goods and services compared to debit cards or cash. What they really mean is if the force us all to use electronic transactions they have greater control over how customers manage their money.
Recently banks have been bullying customers into using the internet to pay bills and manage accounts. Our technology expert Ian Thorpe has written many times that the internet is not secure, fraud, hacking and malware attacks are on the increase and online banking services are simply "Not Fit For Purpose."
I have personally spoken to many people who have been ripped off by their own banks for paying credit card bills by cheque. This scam works by banks delaying the processing of cheques so the payment is received late by the credit card division and a surcharge can be imposed. Even people whose current account and credit card account are with thhe same company have experienced this rip off.
Cheques are still the preferred means of payment for many people, with 64 million cheques written out last December alone, and now MPS have decided to re-open an inquiry into their future. Now the Treasury Select Committee is reopening an inquiry initially launched last year, following a public outcry about the prospect of cheques disappearing for good.
Treasury Committee chairman, Andrew Tyrie MP, said: Since our last inquiry we have been inundated by letters from the public telling us that they rely on cheques.
It is good to report that the government is listening to the public and not the academics, lawyers and consultants who have had far too much influence on policy in recent years.
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13 April 2011
Number Of Jobless Falls But Are Figures True?
by Xavier Connolly and Ian R Thorpe
The total number of unemployed people decreased by 17,000 in the three months to February, according to official figures. The official number unemployed, based on those claiming jobseekers allowance stands at 2.48m. The drop was greater than the 4,000 decrease expected. The unemployment rate for all age groups also fell unexpectedly by 0.1% to 7.8%.
To put the new in poerspective and stop the government making too big a deal of it, the number of 16 to 24-year olds out of work rose to 963,000 over the same period , up 0.1pc from the three months to November 2010. The youth unemployment rate is now 20.4pc.
The number of 16 to 17-year olds out of work increased by 14,000 on the quarter to reach 218,000, but the number of 18 to 24-year olds fell by 2,000 to 745,000, the figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed.
Prime Minister David Cameron said on the Daybreak breakfast television programme this morning: "For youth unemployment, which has actually been going up for years in our country, the real change we need is actually in our education system to make sure we are producing young people at the age of 18 with a real qualification that people need in the modern workplace."
More on unemployment in The Daily Telegraph:
Number of Women Claiming Jobseeker's Allowance Reaches A High
The number of women claiming Jobseekers Allowance has reached a near 15-year high as experts expect levels to continue rising amid public sector cuts.
So Is The Jobs Market Improving
Todays mild improvement in the labour market statistics must be taken with a pinch of salt.
The question mark hanging over the jobs market is still: Can the private sector can pick up the slack from the expected job losses in the public sector this year.
Youth unemployment is on the up compared to the previous quarter and in a few months time, the UK will have a fresh cohort of university graduates looking for jobs in a crowded market place. It is true that many public sector redundancies are expected to be spread over the next four years with the later years taking the biggest hits, but tens of thousands of workers could still lose their jobs in the current financial year. .
Ministers said there were a number of positive signs to be found in the latest statistics. These included total employment rising by 143,000 in the three months to February, driven entirely by growth in the private sector, unemployment falling by 17,000 to reach 2.48m in the quarter from the previous three months.
More good news came from an increase of people in full-time work, suggesting there were fewer employees trapped in part-time work because they could not find full-time hours.
But then there was the big nasty. In spite of people slipping off the unemployment statyistics because their entitlement to jobseekers' allowance had expired and they are no longer considered economicaslly active, the claimant count edged up unexpectedly by 700 to reach 1.45m analysts had been predicting a drop of 3,000
Modest pay growth as inflation though down slighly is still running at 4% also spells bad news for hard pressed faimilies.
As Vicky Redwood of Capital Economics puts it: "The UK labour market recovery is looking a bit healthier but the continued falls in real pay do not bode well for consumer spending."
Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, said forecast unemployment would rise to rise to 2.67m by the end of this year, and peak at about 2.75m in mid-2012.
He said: "Despite the overall firmer tone of the latest labour market data, we retain the view that unemployment is headed up over the coming months.
"We suspect that likely below-trend growth will mean that the private sector will be unable to fully compensate for the increasing job losses in the public sector that will result from the fiscal squeeze that is now really kicking in.
"Indeed, we believe that private sector companies will become increasingly careful in their employment plans in the face of a struggling economy and elevated input costs."
The Guardian meanwhile concentrated on Youth unemployment.
One In Five Young People Out Of Work
Youth unemployment has remained at near record levels with more than one in five young people out of work, data released on Wednesday showed.
The latest unemployment figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the under-25s and women workers are bearing much of the pain in Britain's jobs market, while average earnings continued to lag behind inflation. But economists were encouraged by an unexpected fall in the total number of people out of work, which cut the UK's jobless rate from 8% to 7.8%.
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IMF Warns Obama - Cut Deficit Or Else As Bond Traders Short American Bonds
by John de Roe
The International Monetary Fund has warned barack Hussein Obama's administration of incompetents the US should quickly start to make a 'down payment' on tackling its budget deficit, as it emerged that the world's biggest bond investor is shorting the country's bonds.
Though Obama has just beenn involved in a tough battle with the opposition Republicans over the budget for the 2011 / 12 financial year he seems derterminted to press ahead with his loonytoons economic programme of expanding the public sector, pursuing vanity projects and throwing money at 'comunity organising' groups dedicated to subverting American society and creating divisions along racial and religious lines.
America will rack up a budget deficit of 10.8pc of gross domestic product this year, the largest of any of the developed economies, the IMF said in its latest Fiscal Monitor report.
In sharp contrast to Britain and much of the rest of Europe, the US has so far delayed any move to cut its budget deficit. Instead, through a combination of extending tax cuts and a second, $600bn round of quantitative easing, Congress and The White House have focused efforts on trying to quicken a recovery that failed to take off last year. The meltdown of the US economy under Obama's stewardship might be a cause for amusement in Europe and artound the world if it was not for the fact that the collapse of the US$, the world's reserve currency, would cause massive disruption everywhere and lead to chaose in the global trading system.
Bill Gross, head of the world's biggest bond fund, Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco), said it was the failure of politicians in Washington DC to take the country's deficit - estimated to reach about $1.5 trillion next financial year - seriously that has prompted him to start positioning the $236bn Total Return Fund to benefit from a drop in the value of US currency . In February, the fund sold its US governments bonds, or Treasuries.
"Without attacking entitlements - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - we are smelling $1 trillion deficits as far the nose can sniff," Mr Gross told investors in the firm's monthly outlook letter.
President Obama, who is facing increasingly loud calls from Republican opponents to reduce the deficit, is expected to lay out his proposals today. "Market concerns about sustainability remain subdued in the US, but a further delay of action could prove costly. The US should move "sooner rather than later", Carolo Cottarelli, the director of the IMF's fiscal division said in Washington DC on Tuesday.
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12 April 2011
Shock Fall In Inflation To 4%
by John de Roe
Top economic news yesterday was that UK inflation fell unexpectedly in March as a supermarket price war led to a fall in the cost of food that outweighed higher housing and energy costs.
The figures from the Office for National Statistics will strengthen the hand of Bank of England Monetary Policy Committe members who want to hold down interest rates. They will seize in this information to support claims that inflation is not rising out of control. This will mean interest rates are not likely to increase next month.
Annual consumer price inflation (CPI) fell to 4pc last month, the first decline since July last year. Analysts had expected the rate to hold steady at a 28-month high of 4.4pc reached in February.
"It should stave off a rate rise in May," said Philip Shaw, economist at Investec, who called the rise "a very welcome surprise".
CPI has been above the Bank of England's 2pc target since December 2009, and the central bank has warned that it may rise to 5pc this year.
Vicky Redwood, of Capital Economics, said: "Admittedly, this may be only a temporary respite, with recent rises in energy prices potentially pushing the headline rate higher in the coming months. Nonetheless, the fall in the core inflation rate from 3.4pc to 3.2pc is clearly reassuring - and perhaps suggests that retailers are reacting to the recent weakness on the high street."
So far I have not seen this month's figures for the Retail Price Index which is more reflevtive of ordinary people's weekly and monthly budget and is harder for government to manipulate.
Another news item also published this morning reveals the folly of economits hailing this blip in inflation as the turning point in the revovery of our economy.
Sales fell by 1.9pc, the largest monthly decline in the 16 years in which the British Retail Consortium (BRC) and KPMG have collated sales. Like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of stores that have been open for less than a year, fell by 3.5pc in March.
Sales in every category bar footwear fell, including food, clothing and furniture.
Stephen Robertson, the director general of the BRC, said: "This is the worst drop in total sales since we first collected these figures in 1995. Non-food retailers were particularly hard-hit. This is strong evidence of the pressure customers and traders are under. This year's later Easter is a factor but this fall goes way beyond anything that can be explained by that alone."
Mr Robertson said that "uncomfortably high" inflation and low wage growth have produced the first year-on-year fall in disposable incomes for 30 years.
"Mounting fuel and utility costs, falling house prices, higher VAT and the prospect of more tax rises and job losses left people unwilling to spend unless they really had to. These pressures aren't going away and the arrival of higher National Insurance is likely to compound them in the immediate future," Mr Robertson added.
read full story Retail Sales Record Sharp Drop - The Daily Telegraph
This exposes the false optimism created by the news on inflation. Hard pressed consumers are cutting back to the bone on spending and thus retailers, who must turn over money to pay wages, bills etc., aresaving profit margings to keep things moving.
It is more likely therefore that the inflation blip is a herald of a double dip recession than a sign things are on the way up.
More opinion and comment:
Drop In Inflation Is Only A Temporary Reprieve - Jeremy Warner, Daily Telegraph
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Gbagbo Deposed By United Nations and French Attack
by Ed Butt
News came yesterday from the African State of Ivory Coast that the Presidential Palace where former President Laurent Gbagbo had dug in after refusing to cede authority following an election he lost. Gbagbo disputes the election result but voting was overseen by United Nations moderators.
A diplomat living near the presidential residence said he could hear the celebrations of people supporting new leader Alessandre Ouattara from his window, a stark contrast to the gunfire that has reverberated around the area in recent weeks.
"People are shooting in the air, they are incredibly happy," he said.
So happy gunfire sounds different to angry gunfire does it? Diplomats always talk crap.
The diplomat warned that Ouattara, who won 54 per cent of votes the election held in November which Mr Gbagbo refused to honour, will struggle to reunite his nation following allegations of mass atrocities in the west. This is something of an understatement. Eye wintesses reported they saw soldiers and militiamen fighting for Ouattara carrying out mass killings and going on rape amd looting sprees.
The power struggle between Ouattara and Gbagbo, both nasty pieces of work from all accounts, reflected deep tribal and religious tensions which have pitted the mainly-Christian south against northern Muslims. Throughout the conflict until now western media have been very coy about mentioning the religious aspect to the civil war.
United Nations talking heads are saying the hard part is just starting for Ouatarra; reconstruction, reconciliation, bringing back law and order and dealing with the grisly, racist events of recent weeks in the west of the country, where there are still Muslim death squads roaming around carrying out summary executions on those they suspect of supporting Gbagbo (i.e. anyone wearing a cross or who has a Bible in the house) are bound to provoke a backlash against Muslims.
In this conflict as in Libya the United Nations, clearly suffering from that plague of wide eyed stupidity known as The Obama Effect, has set a dangerous precedent by not just appeasing Muslims but taking sides and actively getting involved in a civil war. This is a total violation of the UN Constitution and international law (but when did Obama fans ever care about any written consitution or laws or anything that get's in the way of the Obamessiahs plans to create a New World Order?).
We foresee conflicts pitting Christian and Muslim factions against each other spreading throughout Africa, Asia and even affecting Europe.
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11 April 2011
Investment Banks To Be Split From Retail Banks To Protect Savers
A new review of the Banking industry carried out for the government has recommended British banks should have to have to separate their retail (current account) deposit and savings and investment banking arms to ensure that ordinary savers money is not put at risk as it was before the 2008 'toxic debt' crisis plunged the leading economies into the global slump that is still affecting world trade.
The preliminary report published this morning by the Independent Commission on Banking, suggests a separation of the retail and investment sides of banking businesses operations, as well as measures to force future losses on bank bondholders rather than the taxpayers picking up the tab as we did in 2008..
Speaking to BBC news this morning, Sir John Vickers, chairman of the Commission, said the report would ensure taxpayers are off the hook. If a bank got into trouble in future savers money would be ringfenced creating a system for safe failure. As part of the proposals put forward by the Commission, large banks will be required to maintain a minimum equity capital base of 10pc - or 10 of shareholder equity for every 100 the bank lends to business customers. This is 3pc above the level required by the Basel III rules introduced last year.
The report also addresses the need for more competition in UK retail banking. In the wake of the 2008 crisis Lloyds Banking Group, Britains largest retail bank, was elbowed into a merger with the failing HBOS group by the Labour government. This move while grossly unfair to Lloyds shareholders created a high street banking giant able to dominate the UK retail banking market. Under the new rules Lloyds would be required to dispose of some of its branches if the Commissions recommendations are enacted.
In a statement to the market, Lloyds said it was currently assessing the full implications of the report and would provide an update later when it had had the opportunity to review the report in detail.
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Bin Fines Binned By Coalition
The coalition continue to alternatly encourage and frustrate us. One minute they are expanding Nanny State's role in telling us what we can eat, drink, ingest for recreational purposes, who we can have sex with and when and in what position we can do it or handing the sovereignyu of our proud nation over to a bunch of unelected paper shufflers in Brussels.
The next they are showing a willingness to tackle the worst excesses of Labour's Orwellian Politically Correct Thought Police.
The latest assualt on the power of the Thought Police comes in the news that Councils are to be stopped from imposing heavy fines on residents who fall foul of complex and contradictory waste and recycling rules.
Coalition environment ministers will present a bill to outlaw fines for petty infringements of bin rules in a shake-up of local authority powers next month, we hear on the grapevine.
In a major victory for libertarian campaigners, ministers say they will limit local authorities' power to impose unjustifiable charges and penalties for minor infringements to do with recycling and rubbish.
Councils will no longer be able to fine people for failing to close a bin lid; leaving bin bags next to a bin; putting a bin out on the wrong day; failing to move it back inside the boundary of a property; or making minor mistakes relating to sorting waster for recycling.
Only severe cases of fly-tipping will be subject to penalties.
The law change comes after a long campaign against bin charges and repeated promises by ministers that they would act.
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Councils Still Advertising Non Jobs
Meanwhile irresponsible and subhumanly stupid Labour councillors who run most of our big cities and urban areas are pressing ahead with their plan to put us at the mercy of the New World Order financiers by continuing to recruit shitloads of people to fill politically correct 'non - jobs' while pleading the government cuts are forcing them to lay off staff providing front - line services.
The first survey of local authorities since the coalition came to power last May has found that town halls created more than 4,000 new posts during the period.
Read the full post Councils Still Creating Non Jobs in a new window
Our satirical companion Boggart Blog covered this isue in A Career In Substance Abuse. In that article some of the crazier jobs created in the name of politcal correctness are highlighted. Below we show you some of the latest non - njobs dreamed up by tree hugging weirdie - beardie council executives. Most of these were collected from The Guardian public service recruitment supplement published every wednesday.
Community Development & Equalities Officer - Tewkesbury; 24,646 to 26,276
"An exciting opportunity.... to develop and implement the Council's role in community development with a particular focus on communities of interest. You will also be required to assist in the monitoring and other activities associated with the Council's duty to meet appropriate Equalities Standards
Healthy walks co-ordinator - Forest of Dean; 14,733 to 15,444
"Promote and increase physical activity levels through healthy walking ... targeting the socially excluded, the inactive and people living in areas of high deprivation. Work with the Lifestyle Coach to expand the 'Fancy a Walk' scheme. Ensure all duties and responsibilities ... are carried out with due regard to health and safety best practice, equal opportunities procedure and follows financial regulations
Project support worker (Voice of My Own) - Scottish Borders, 19,024.64 to 21,135.84 pro rata (fixed term contract)
"Video empowerment project aimed at, and led by, young people aged between 11 and 25 ... It combines creative film-making with social inclusion aims. Assist in developing fund-raising bids and liaise with participating groups and individuals."
Family Lifestyles Officer - Rugby; 19,126 to 21,519 pro rata
"Reduce childhood obesity in various ways including the provision of evidence-based structured nine-week family-based workshops promoting the benefits of exercise and nutrition. The programmes will support families with overweight and/or obese children to maintain a healthy weight using a holistic approach."
Active villages co-ordinator - Teignbridge, 10,228;
"Provide long term sustainable sports participation opportunities. The Active Villages concept is positioned in the introductory/informal sport segment of the market ...neither as a specific 'public health' initiative to deliver health-based physical activity interventions, nor a 'sports excellence' programme aimed at identifying talented performers who wish to engage in serious competition."
Life Skills and Positive Activities Officer - Ryedale; 19,000 to 21,500 pro rata (fixed term contract)
"Assist the promotion of positive activities and healthy lifestyles to clients of the housing options team, especially those residing in temporary accommodation. Provide practical assistance for basic living skills such as: washing, ironing, cleaning and shopping etc."
Workplace travel plan coordinator - Havant; 20,198 to 22,221, part time, pro rata (fixed term contract)
"Raise awareness of transport issues and the alternative means of accessing and providing services to both staff and customers. This is a new, high profile role within the Council and you will be responsible for the development, promotion and implementation of our Travel Plan."
Gypsy Romany Traveller Community Cohesion Officer - Herefordshire, 22,221 to 26,276
Council's vision is "To create in Herefordshire an environment where different communities, the traditionally nomadic and the traditionally settled, live in harmony and where all have access to the basic needs and benefits which characterise an inclusive society."
New media improvement assistant - Perth and Kinross; 16,086 to 17,587
"Support the development and operation of the council's website and intranet in line with the council's Corporate New Media Strategy. Assist in ensuring the council's website conforms to legislative requirements (Disability and Discrimination Act) and established web standards (W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)."
Woodfuel development officer - West Sussex; 32,800 to 35,430
"You will be required to operate as a stimulus for the expansion of the woodland products market and to make a substantial contribution to the establishment of a wood fuel supply chain through positively influencing key policy makers, suppliers and end users."
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9 April 2011
Two Thirds Of Universities To Charge Top Fees
by Xavier Connolly
Two Thirds Of Universities To Charge Top Fees
The Coalitions flagship policy on tuition fees looked to be descending into chaos yesterday after it emerged that two thirds of universities would be looking to charge the maximum 9,000 a year for degree courses.
Ministers were accused of losing control of their higher education reforms as growing numbers of vice-chancellors unveiled plans to almost triple fees in 2012. What is happening in higher education is a closing ranks by the largely Labour supporting academic community with the aim of wrecking the reforms and hoping to bring down the coalition so that Labour could return to power and resume its loonytoons economics. This would mean the government throwing money at the kind of pointless vanity projects so beloved of the academic community.
In the biggest survey of its kind so far, 65 per cent of higher education institutions in England were found to be intending to charge the maximum for some courses, with half saying they would charge 9,000 for all degrees. When we looked at some of the degree courses on offer, History Of Feminism In Film is one tht springs to mind, the question why would somebody pay 90 pence for such and idiotic qualification let alone 9,000 a year over three years.
For all but a few in highly specialised and highly rewarding subjects to take up a university education is to hang a millstone round their neck. The resultung debt will enslave them for many decades.
Yesterday, Keele University in Staffordshire and Londons City University neither of which are ranked in the top 40 became the latest to set fees at the top level. University College Falmouth, a specialist arts institution in Cornwall, will also charge 9,000 across the board.
The Government had said fees of more than 6,000 would be levied only in exceptional circumstances. Last night David Willetts, the universities minister, said he now estimated the average fee would be pitched between 7,500 and 8,000.
The universities decisions mean the Government may have to provide significantly more money than it had expected to fund student loans. Labour claimed the black hole could be as large as 1billion over four years. Alternatively the coalition could simply refruse to cocoon these waste of space academics any longer, let the uinversities sing and make the professors face up to the harshreality of how little academic qualifications are worth in the competitive environment of business.
US Government Shutdown Averted
With a midnight deadline looming after which funds for the US government's operations would run out and government departmens be forced to close down, the hard-fought compromise reached between Obama's Democrats and opposition Republicans requires lawmakers to approve stopgap funding to keep federal agencies running into next week until the budget agreement can be formally enacted.
A shutdown, as we reported yesterday, would have meant enforced leave for much of the federal work force, suspension of some key government services and the closing of many national monuments and parks, while potentially undermining the U.S. economy.The biggest incentive for a deal however may have been the risks that failure to move forward would have posed both for Obama and his fellow Democrats and for the Republicans who hope to win back the Presidency in 2012. The mood of the American public is ugly, with anti - politics and antu - Washington feeling running high. Public frustration with the rancorous budget fight as the 2012 presidential election campaign gathers steam has increased the people's alienation from government..
Without the compromise, money to operate the federal government for the next six months would have run out at midnight on Friday and agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service would have begun a partial shutdown.
Despite the apparent resolution of the impasse, the bitter political fight raised questions about the ability of Obama, whose claim to be the great conciliator already lies in ruins, and a bitterly divided U.S. Congress to deal with bigger issues looming down the road, from raising the federal debt ceiling to reining in budget deficits, coping with inflation and continuing America's role as the world's peacekeeper in times of increasing unrest..
"They've got to be laughing at us right now" in China, said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry. "How terrific that the United States of America can't make a decision." Other commentators point to the resurgence of Colonel Gadaffi in the Libyan civil war and Obama's efforts to find a loophole in the UN resolution that would have premitted him to arm the rebels who we now know to be supported by Al Qaeda, the avowed enemy of the west. The sum total of this, they allege, is firther proof that Barack Hussein Obama is unfit for office.
Read more:
US Government Shutdown Averted
Obama Administration Paralyzed By Budget Deadlock
The Wisdom Of Urgent Deficit Reduction Reaches Obamaville
Ivory Coast Civil War Descends Into Tribal Massacres
News organisations with staff on the ground in Ivory Coast and foreign aid workers still in the civil war riven country where Laurent Gbagbo continues to defy attempts to oust him are reporting mass killings being carried out by both sides in the conflict.
Their reports document a trail of death and destruction carried out by rebel forces who have swept through the country and are now fighting on the streets of Abidjan to secure the presidency for Alassane Ouattara. Mainstream media are being very careful to avoid mentioning that Outtara's supporters are predominantly Muslim while those loyal to Gbagbo are predominantly Christian.
As Ouattara, backed by the UN and the international community, is reported by many global media organisations to be close to victory, the left leaning but humanitarian Guardian newspaper has provided evidence of atrocities committed by militias acting in his name. Refugees who scrambled through the rain forest to safety in neighbouring Liberia have described children being burned alive during rebel attacks and bodies littering the streets. People are also talking about systematic rape being carried out by Outtara's supporters. Because of certain primitive tribal beliefs, rape is used as a weapon of genocide in many African conflicts.
Recent civil wars in which rape was deployed as a weapon have ranges right across the continent from Ivory Coast in the west through Congo, Rwanda to Sudan in the east. The term adultery derives from the verb adulterate, to make impure. In African tribal societies tribal purity id afforded great importance. If a woman has been penetrated by any man who is not of her tribe her womb is considered to have been made impure by him and she has no value as a tribal wife. Her children can never be full members of the tribe.
Women who are victims of genocidal rape have little future, if they are lucky they might find work as labourers. Otherwise the only options are begging and prostitution. Their children, should they have any are even more unfortunate as job opportunities are subject to tribalism. The out castes, having no tribal identity, are unlikely ever to be given fair opportunities. HRW is calling for an investigation into massacres carried out by both the rebels sides. It is unlikely there will be any response, whichever side emerges victorious.
Hundreds of non combatants have been killed by forces loyal to Ouattara, according to reports. Human Rights Watch says that summary executions of perceived Gbagbo supporters have been carried out, and reported eye witness accounts of mass rape. Matt Wells, HRW's Ivory Coast researcher, said: "In village after village, Ouattara's forces terrorised civilians perceived as supporting Gbagbo, killing hundreds and raping dozens more. In committing to move Ivory Coast out of its longstanding crisis, Ouattara must ensure that the perpetrators of these heinous crimes are brought to justice."
Pro-Gbagbo forces are also accused of having carried out atrocities, killing more than 100 presumed Ouattara supporters as rebels advanced.
The latest reports on the fighting suggest that Gbagbo loyalists are regaining the initiative as active support of the rebels by UN forces has ceased in the wake of reports about genocidal slaughter.
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8 April 2011
Gadaffi To Unleash A Wave Of Migrants On Europe
Libya is unleashing a wave of migrants against Europe as retaliation for the coalition's military strikes against the country.
Last week The Daily Stirrer reported the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa is being overrun with refugees fleeing the troubles in North Africa.
The opening of immigration floodgates came as Italy announced that it would grant travel permits to more than 20,000 Tunisian refugees who have reached its southernmost islands in recent weeks.
The Italian government said the temporary permits would grant the refugees freedom of movement within the visa-free Schengen area, but in reality most want to head to France.
Paris reacted angrily to the move, with Claude Gueant, the interior minister, saying the country would not tolerate "a wave of immigration" and warning that migrants without appropriate identity documents and sufficient funds would be prevented from entering.
The Schengen zone excludes Britain and Ireland, but migrants could attempt to enter the UK illegally from the Continent.
The Tunisians are among nearly 26,000 migrants who have managed to reach the tiny island of Lampedusa, Italy's southernmost territory, since January, when president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled by a popular revolt.
Libyan Civil War Will Unleash A Wave Of Migrants On Europe
Midle East Crisis Live Blog - The Guardian
Libya: NATO Air Strikes Hit Rebel Tanks
LIVE: Nato admiral says accidental strikes on rebel forces were because they had been unaware that they had equipped themselves with tanks.
And in the other war ...
Ivory Coast Civil War: Bodies Pile Up
Ivory Coast Civil War: Bodies Pile Up
Casualties are mounting the the Ivory Coast civil war. While mainsteam media voices are suggesting the regime of President Gbagbo is on the verge of collapse, that is not the way it looks to westerners on the ground in Ivory Coast. Gbagbo is entrenched in his bunker in the capital but while reports said he only had a few loyal troops left, eyewitness accounts tell of fighting going on between rival Christian and Muslim groups all over the city.
Gbagbo Stays In Bunker and Will Not Surrender
Ivory Coast's embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo is protected by a rump of just 200 soldiers in his bunker beneath the presidential palace, the French defence minister said, but he is refusing to surrender to advancing forces.
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Factory Gate Inflation Hits Two Year High
The so called 'factory gate index', the price of goods leaing British factories hit its highest rate in more than two years in March, official figures showed, raising fears about inflationary pressures feeding through into the general economy.
Factory gate prices what manufacturers charge for their products rose 5.4pc over the year, the sharpest inflation rate since October 2008, said the Office for National Statistics. The month-on-month jump was 0.9pc, while economists had expected a 0.6pc leap.
The data will stoke concerns about spiralling prices for consumer goods and essentials like food in the UK, as the rise in factories output prices is likely to help propel the headline inflation rate, currently well over target at 4.4pc, even higher.
Manufacturers are raising their prices in response to the squeeze on their margins as the costs of raw materials and energy prices climb higher.
Input prices fo the comodities manufacturers use in their processes, rose 14.6pc in the year to March, just off the previous months 28-month high at 14.9pc, mostly reflecting the rising cost of crude oil. The leap was 3.7pc on the previous month.
Chris Williamson, senior economist at business analysts Markit, said: Worse may be yet to come, as oil prices have since hit a record high in sterling terms and supply chain disruptions from the Japanese earthquake could also drive up prices for certain highly sought-after components.
The producer price data also underlines the cost pressures on manufacturers. The sector has emerged as the success story of the UK recovery, but the latest monthly PMI survey indicated its growth stopped in February.
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Obama Administration Paralyzed By Budget Deadlock
Obama Administration Paralyzed By Budget Deadlock
Failure to agree a budget for the coming year with the Republican controlled House of Representatives plunged American President Barack Obama's administration into crisis last night. With only hours to go before the deadline at which funding to US Government operations will be cut off the gap between team Obama and it's loonytoons spending plans and deficit economy and the fiscally conservative Republicans look to be unbridgeable.
The shutdown would see as many as 800,000 government workers asked to stay at home because their departments did not have funds to pay them and could cost taxpayers more than $100 million (61 million) a day.
The 'great non - communicator' Obama called for a sense of urgency as America sought to avoid the first such shutdown since 1996 when Bill Clinton was president.
The last time this failure to agre a budget paralyzed Washingtoin was under Bill Clinton in 1996. Rrepublican instransigence then was blamed to the party's humiliation in the 1998 Presidential election when Clinton won a second term. Things are different this time. Public anger about the debt and deficit is much deeper than it was 15 years ago, and many voters who supported the Republicans in the 2010 mid-terms because of its commitment to cut spending might feel betrayed if the leadership compromised that principle too much.
Democrats meanwhile are putting their faith in another president with exceptional communication skills carrying the day. Anmd who would that be we wonder. Is Obama's autocure running for the Presidency in 2012?
Failure to reach agreement by midnight on Friday would mean that Washington would essentially run out of money.
The budget battle is a clash between resurgent Republicans, who scored a huge win in last year's midterm elections, and Mr Obama's Democrats over the size of government, debt and deficits. With the country almost bankrupt at the time of his election, Obama went on a cazy spending spree, throwing ridiculous amounts of money at minority groups, his pet causes nd vanity projects.
All-night talks among aides failed to break the deadlock on Wednesday so Mr Obama summoned Representative John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives and a Republican, and Senator Harry Reid, a Democrat and Senate Majority to The White House, for the second time in just over 12 hours.
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7 April 2011
Portugal Asks For Bailout
by John de Roe
Onle days after assuring the financial community that debts could be serviced domestically, Portugal's government has been forged to seek help from the E.U. amd IMF. Caretaker prime minister Jos Scrates said the measure had been taken after the stricken nation had exhausted all its options.
Economists last night put the cost to Brtish taxpayers of UK's involvement in a Portuguese bailout at up to 4.4billion.
After months of existing in a state of denial having about the need to seek relief from its debts, Portugal's government admitted the cost of borrowing to fund its public sector deficit has reached unsustainable levels. Addressing the nation last night Mr Scrates, said: "I have always said that asking for aid would be the last resort but we have now reached that point."
Experts suggest the rescue fund could be as high as 70 billion, or 80 billion.
European shares were up in Thursday's early trading, led by banking stocks. Traders remained wary however ahead of an expected interest rate increase by the European Central Bank (ECB) later today. There were also worries that the latest bailout may not signal the end of Europe's sovereign debt crisis.
Jos Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president who at the end of 2010 was talking about extenting the E. U. to include middle eastern and African economic basket case nations, said last night that Portugal's request for help would be dealt with as quickly as possible. He assured Mr Scrates that Portugal's request would be "processed in the swiftest possible manner, according to the rules applicable". Fuhrer Barroso also said he had "confidence in Portugal's capacity to overcome the present difficulties".
That is typical bureaucratic bullshit iof course, as The Daily Stirrer reported las month German taxpayers are ready to rebel against any further dumping of sovereign debt on their broad shoulders.
Media commentators were last night wondering whether contagion from the Portugese crisis would spread to other eurozone countries such as Spain, whose economy is significantly larger than that of Portugal, Ireland and Greece combined.
Portugal had earlier sold bonds committing them to pay investors high rates to take up government bonds due to be repaid in six and 12 months. It was the second such bond auction in less than a week.
The new economic crisis confronting Europe comes weeks after an EU summit to confirm a new permanent 700 billion euro bail-out facility for eurozone countries in trouble.
Will Portugese Disease Spread To Spain
UN Again Abandons Neutrality To Take Sides In A Civil War
by Ed Butt
Only last week The Daily Stirrer was the first news blog to point out that the efforts of President Barack Hussein Obama and the United Nations leaders to find ways of supporting Libyan rebels fighting to overthrow the tyrant Gadaffi were in breach of the United Nations charter and international law. The UN Charter and the the Geneva Convention forbid outside forces taking sides in domestic conflicts yet that is exactly what Omama has tried to do. He may have succeeded had not the US security services warned the Libyan rebels are led by Al Qaeda activists.
Even the anti - western, pro Muslim, terrorist loving, whitely - hating President Barack Husein Obama (real name Barry Soetoro) dare not go as far as to openly support Muslim extremists who want to replace a brutal pro - western dictator with a brutal, anti western theorcratic junta.
Now however another UN Coalition is taking sides against a pro western, Christian dictator and supporting an anti western, muslim unknown quantity in Ivory Coast. We know little about Laurent Gbagbo other than that he disputes the election result in hich he was defeated by an exclusively Muslim opposition. We know little about the people who claim victory in that election.
We should by rights take action only to protect civilians. Protecting civilians does not extrend to providing air support to the people fighting to oust Gbagbo who still refuses to relinquish power.
At last it seems others besides The Daily Stirrer are noticing what is going on with the UN.
Adrian Hamilton, the Independent's comment editor, makes a point today which suggests the blatant infringements of neutrality have ben noticed by the Russian foreign ministry:
"The fact is that Monday's direct rocket assault on Gbagbo's base marked a sharp escalation in the UN mission and one that has effectively made it - as in Libya - a direct participant in the war. France and the UN have been accused by Russia of illegally picking sides in Ivory Coast, by breaking with the terms of the peacekeeping mandate.
A statement from Moscow's foreign ministry said: It is necessary to understand the legal aspects of UN peacekeepers and the French contingent. Russia accused the two peacekeeping forces of getting "involved in an internal conflict, acting in defence of one side when they had to observe neutrality and be acting in strict accordance with their (UN) mandate.
So this is the Obama effect swivel eyed lefties around the world were so excited about, the betrayal of western civilisation, culture and people by our own governments. Well amid all that worship and the iconisdation of his skin colour, some of us did try to warn you what the shit wreally stood for.
Ein reich, ein welt, ein Obama.
Gbagbo Under Seige
Libyan Rebels Should Get Training
Economic Troubles Linked To Depression Epidemic
The Daily Telegraph
Economic worries are the suspected cause of a rise in the use of antidepressants. New figures showed prescriptions for the drugs have risen more than 40 per cent over the past four years.
The number of prescriptions for drugs like Prozac has risen from 16 million to 23 million since 2006 with many GPs saying patients are increasingly expressing concern about the recession, economic worries and job security.
Figures obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act found the number of prescriptions for the most common group of antidepressants rose by 43 per cent during the period from the start of the banking crisis and housing crash to the present.
Around one in five people in the UK will be affected by depression at some point and the rise in the number of prescriptions is thought to be partly down to better diagnosis.
But Dr Clare Gerada, head of the Royal College of GPs said some of the rise could also be explained by concern over worsening financial conditions.
She said: Of course in times of economic problems we would expect mental health problems to worsen and GPs are seeing more people coming in with debts racking up, or who have lost their jobs and are cancelling their holidays.
read allEconomic Troubles Linked To Depression Epidemic The Daily Telegraph
6 April 2011
Bit boring and rushed today. There have been a lot of connectivity problems in this area and we only got online a couple of hours ago.
Fall In Industrial Output Dents Recovery Hopes
Shock economc news today was a fall in industrial output in the three months to February 2011.
While the decline was led by a 7.8pc fall in oil and gas extraction, due mainly to routine maintenance work, economists were more troubled by the figures for manufacturing which has been leading the recovery and was expected to continue.
"February's stagnation in manufacturing output suggests that GDP growth in the first quarter may not be as strong as currently expected," said Nida Ali, economic adviser to the Ernst & Young ITEM Club.
Manufacturing output - which does not include utilities or oil and gas extraction - showed no growth in February, after January's downwardly revised growth of 0.9 percent, the Office for National Statistics said.
The government and Bank of England were relying on export-driven growth in manufacturing in 2011 to fill the gap created by cuts in government spending and belt-tightening by consumers.
Factory output has also stagnated.
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The Real Story Behind Obama's Job Creation
by Ian R Thorpe
Last week's announcement by the U.S. labour department that the American economy had created 216,000 jobs in March was seized on as cause for celebrations by sychophantic Obamessiah cultists desperate for something to praise "The greatest human being who ever lived" for. Obama cult inhouse newssheets The New York Times, the Washington Post reported that Obama's loonytoons economics had beaten the recession and the economy was storming towards a new age of American prosperity. .
Those who understand how governments manipulate statistics were a bit more sceptical. If the economy sustained March's rate of job growth, sceptics pointed out, it will be more than seven years before the USA is back to pre - 2008 rates of unemployment. But even that is optimistic. Some of the March growth is due to a bounceback from weaker economic performance in the previous two months. The average rate of job growth over the last three months has been just 160,000. At that pace those 'normal' rates of unemployment will not be hit until after 2022.
That's a lot of suffering in the country because the Washington suits who run the economy are shit at their jobs.
In addition to the job growth numbers, the March data also showed that the unemployment rate slipped down by another 0.1 percentage point. It now stands at 8.8%, almost a full percentage point below its year ago level of 9.7%. This, too, was hailed as cause for celebration. It may sound like progress but a more careful look at how the fiures are worked out makes the number less impressive. The percentage of the population that is employed has actually fallen by 0.1 percentage point over the last year.
In order to be counted as unemployed, you have to oficially be counted as looking for work. People who have not had a joib for 99 weeks are considered no longer economically active. The unemployment rate did not fall because of the Obama administration's economic success but because people have 'officially' given up looking for work and dropped off the radar. Only in the cockeyed world of bureaucrats would this be hailed as good news.
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Globalisation can work, but only with a unified international plan says Will Hutton. WRONG!We need global economic and social institutions working across national borders economist Will Hutton who now appears to have been re educated and started working for The New World Order argued recently. If only it were that simple. Unfortunately globalization is the enemy not the trigger of the kind of economic recovery we need.
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Portugal Pays More For Credit
The credit reating of the Portugese government was lowered by Moody's rating agency yesterday ahead of a bond auction in Lisbon.
Debt due for redemption in June 2012 was issued at an average yield of 5.9%, compared with 4.3% at a sale of twelve month bonds on March 16.
Portugals decision to sell the securities is confusing because the nation could get similar rates for longer-term loans through an international bail-out, said ING Groep financial strategist Alessandro Giansanti commented in an note to the press.
Its difficult to see why Portugal would pay the market yield of 6pc for a one-year loan, when you can have for the same rate on a 7.5-year loan from the European Union and International Monetary Fund, he said referring to the interest Portugal will pay on its government debt..
Portuguese bond yields have climbed to record levels after Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned on March 23 following a parliamentary rejection of a deficit-cutting plan that aimed to prevent Portugal from following Greece and Ireland in seeking a European Union rescue. After consulting political parties, President Anibal Cavaco Silva yesterday announced early parliamentary elections on June 5. The timing of the election may have something to do with yesterday's sale.
Portugese political commentators have predicted if the country goes to the EU / IMF for a bailout before the election the move may prompt voters to support nationalit parties.
Portugese Bailout Edges Closer
Death Of The Eurozone
Euro Bond Crisis Deepens
Euro Uber Alles
5 April 2011
This Hopeless Coalition Are Still Takling About Child Poverty
by John de Roe 5 April 2011
In the first weeks of the coalition we hoped we had said goodbye to all Laboutrs ridiculous spin and politically correct nonesense. Sasdly no, Conservative and Liberal Democrat politicians have caught the Political Correctness bug and are talking about emotive mnonesence like abilishing child poverty (they might as well promise to abolish death) and a fair chance for all children.
Clegg & IDS Talk About Fair Starts And Child Poverty
Millions of middle-class children are being denied the chance to get on in life because their parents are not wealthy enough to insulate themselves against lifes misfortunes, senior Coalition figures say today.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, say that many hard-working families are seeing their aspirations for their children dashed because they cannot afford private education and lack the right connections.
Mr Clegg and Mr Duncan Smith pledge to open up the top universities and professions to those on moderate incomes, promising to deliver mobility for the middle, not just the bottom.
The Deputy Prime Minister told BBC Breakfast he wanted to end the culture of people given internships because of "who they know, rather than what they know".
The Liberal Democrats are putting their own internship system "on a much more transparent footing" so that young people have the same opportunities, he added.
He said: "All of them will have a fair chance of getting these internships, and it's not just because someone has met someone in the tennis club or the golf club, and they've had a whisper in their ear."
What we are seeing is the inevitable consequence of allowing people to run the country when after a privileged childhood they have gone from University straight into politics and thus are toitally lacking life experience. Idiots like Clegg and Cameron truly believe the politically correct claptrap spewed by their Marxist lectureres who had also only known the privileged life of those cocooned in academic faculties had something to do with reality.
Poverty is relative. We will never abolish it, nor will we rid the world of privilege, nepotism, bullying and greed. To an African or South East Asian child the poorest British kid has an embarrassment of riches by simply having enough to eat, clean water to drink and a safe bed to sleep in.
To the children of a family earing twice the average income in Britain, the offspring of an oil Sheik and unimaginably wealthy.
To talk about abolishing child poverty if as futile as trying to pass laws commanding a change in human nature. Ah but I nearly forgot, Cameron, Clegg and Co, along with Obama, Sarkozy, Merkel, Blair in his day and many others of this new elite are trying to do that as well.
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4 April 2011
GM Cows Cannot Give Human Breast Milk.
A story in yesterday's Sunday Telegraph outraged us all. Not because we are fanatically anti GM, not because we are medievalists or religious types but because of the sheer dishonesty if the 'science' community that is revealed once again.
Scientists breed 300 genetically modified cows to give "human" milk. The Sunday Telegraph
scientists have successfully introduced human genes into 300 dairy cows to produce milk with the same properties as human breast milk.
Human milk contains high quantities of key nutrients that can help to boost the immune system of babies and reduce the risk of infections.
The scientists behind the research believe milk from herds of genetically modified cows could provide an alternative to human breast milk and formula milk for babies, which is often criticised as being an inferior substitute.
They hope genetically modified dairy products from herds of similar cows could be sold in supermarkets. The research has the backing of a major biotechnology company.
The work is likely to inflame opposition to GM foods. Critics of the technology and animal welfare groups reacted angrily to the research, questioning the safety of milk from genetically modified animals and its effect on the cattle's health.
Now I and my friends who contribute to The Daily Stirrer do not suggest there is any health risk here. Babycare companies have been modifying cows milk to make it good for human babies for many decades. There has been a lot of screaming from the rope sandal wearing fringes of the medical professions in recent years about mothers' breast milk being best but the studies supporting that used some, to say the least, questionable techniques to gather data in support of their claims.
Certainly no physical harm has come babies fed on 'formula' milk, dried enriched milk that is rehydrated and it is exteremely unlikely any would come to babies fed on the milk from cloned cows. But cows are never going to give us human milk, what these genetically modified cows will give us is modified cows milk. As ever when assessing another claim of a great scientific breakthrough which will facilitate the interference of scientists where it is not needed we mut ask as Marcus Tullius Cicero did 2000 years ago, "Cui Bono?" Who benefits, who gets rich from this
What must be questioned here is the determination once more of the scientists who want to play God, the neo nazi idiots who wish for the day when the young of every living creature are manufactured in the laboratory rather that by the tried and trusted methods that have served nature for millions of years.
We have no need of cloned cattle. Bulls and cows are perfectly capable of doing the job without interference from control freak scientists. We have no need of cloned humans and the best excuse for carrying on experiments in the genetic modification of human beings, to eliminate hereditary diseases and defects, while specifically a worthy aim, is just a thinly disguised excuse the resume the Nazi eugenics programme.
And apart from those argument which are rather sensationalised I admit but no more so than the unrealistically exaggerated claims of the science lobby, we are allowing these highly politicised, self serving, research grant phishing charlatans use our tax money to make a case for replacing a low cost, highly effective process with a high cost process that offers no tangible benefit to the wider community but only serves to swell the profits of biotech companies and expand the empires of a few biology academics.
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2 April 2011
Armed Forces Serving In Libya and Afghanistan Face Sack
by Ed Butt
Service personnel on acitve duty with the Army and Navy in Afghanistan and Libya will be informed by their commanding officers on Monday that they might possibly be among more than 2,000 people who will be made redundant in September. Those eligible for the redundancy programme which begins next week will include some soldiers presently completing tours in Afghanistan. Seamen aboard warships and submarines in the Mediterranean supporting operations in Libya will also be told they could well be included.
The prospect of making redundant people who are involved in current operations will be highly controversial and will be seized by the opposition as evidence ministers repeated promises to protect the front line are worthless. Although not certain that those deployed in the Mediterranean and Afghanistan will be sacked, commanders fear morale will be seriously harmed if front-line personnel are identified eligible for redundancy.
It is inevitable there will be discontent when you are making targeted sackings, said a Navy spokesman.
Armed Forces Serving In Libya and Afghanistan Face Sack
In view of the pressing need to reduce the military budget it is worrying to hear that another Islamist inspired uprising, this time in sub Saharan Africa is escalating into a full scale civil war.
Islamic discontent spreads to Ivory Coast
Rival forces in Ivory Coast are continuing their battle for power as it emerged that more than 800 people were killed this week in inter-ethnic violence in the town of Duekoue.
Soldiers backing the country's UN-recognised president, Alassane Ouattara, clashed with forces loyal to the voted-out president, Laurent Gbagbo, in the country's main city and former capital, Abidjan.
As usual the lily libered bureaucrats of the United Nations and the U.S. State Department of the wimp and allegedly Muslim President, Barack Hussein Obama, have adopted a policy of appeasing the Muslim extremists.
More posts on Middle East conflict.
Hopes Of Recovery Raised By New Job Figures
by John de Roe
Stock Markets and business confidence in the USA received a boost yesterday when it was revealed employers in the private sector hired 230,000 people in March, building on the 240,000 staff taken on in February.
It was the best back-to-back growth in new hirings since early 2006 and proved enough to drive stock markets higher in London, Freankfurt and Paris as well as New York.
Unemployment has so far been the Achilles heel of the US recovery, but the latest figures suggest an upturn in a number of industries which are now are now hiring new staff. Jobs gains were recorded in services, retail, leisure and manufacturing. This pushed the unemployment level to a two-year low of 8.8pc, down from 8.9pc in February.
"Some time will have to pass before one can say a trend has truly developed," Kevin Logan, chief US economist at HSBC commented. He added there "are enough signs to suggest the labour market has reached a turning point and further improvements may continue."
The news will be welcomed in the White House and on Wall Street as increases in food and petrol prices have begun to dampen hopes that US growth would show a significant improvement on last year's 2.9pc. The most recent public opinion surveys on consumer confidence which has been the key has been key to a revival in demestic spending, have shown growing concerns about inflation which is running well ahead of growth.
On the downside, as a result of the news Brent crude prices extended gains to $119 a barrel in post-settlement trading on Friday, after ending the day at its highest since August 2008.
Hopes Of Recovery Raised By New Job Figures
US Jobs Data Boosts Wall Street
More on the Debt Crisis
RECOMMENDED READING
Muppet Science by James Delingpole, Daily Telegraph
Congratulations to Simon Singh. Not only is he Britains third most famous celebrity mathematician after Carol Vordermann and Johnny Ball but he is also, it seems, a supremely persuasive debater. His fluent performance in last weeks Spectator global warming debate was adjudged by both Andrew Neil and Spectator editor Fraser Nelson to be the best of the evening.
1 April 2011
Schools Failing To Promote Classics
Less than one in 100 teenagers who took the most popular English literature course and sat the A level examination last year chose to answer questions on novels published prior to 1900, says Michael Gove, Education Secretary in the Coalition government.
Only 1,236 out of 300,000 students read Pride and Prejudice, 285 studied Far From the Madding Crowd and just 187 completed Wuthering Heights as part of their course, he claims.
At the same time, more than 90 per cent of answers were based on the same three books Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies and To Kill a Mockingbird. How strange that although the political left denies having hijacked the education system in order to use it for the purpose of advancing an anti - western agenda heavy on civil rights so many pupils chose books that areapproved by the poeople who support that agenda. And how unsurprising that book predicting what life might be like in a dystopian soviety ruled by an oligarchic collectivist regime such as those described in Orwell's 1984, Huxley's Brave New World or Anthony Burgess' A Clockwork Orange made it onto the top choices list.
Writing in The Daily Telegraph today, Mr Gove says the finding underlines the extent to which Englands constricted and unreformed exam system fails to encourage young people to read.
He says Britain also has some of the best modern childrens writers in the world, including Philip Pullman, JK Rowling, Michael Morpurgo and Anthony Horowitz, but many young people are growing up in ignorance of their work having been taught that reading is 'uncool' and intelligence a social stigma.
Gove's remarks are inspired by the publication of a major international study in December showing that reading standards among British teenagers had slumped from 7th to 25th in a decade.
Were not picking up enough new books, not getting through the classics, not widening our horizons. In short, were just not reading enough, the Education Secretary says.
Mr Goves comments were made after a tour of independent charter schools in American last month.
He claims that a love of reading is promoted in many schools opened in tough inner-city areas, praising one that issued children with a challenge to read 50 books in a year.
But in a dig at the teaching establishment in England, Mr Gove says many children in Britain are held back by an anti-knowledge culture that prevents them from fullfilling their potential.
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Universities Should Not Be Asked To Repair SocietyShould university education provide therapy for damaged children from deprived homes, a teacher asks as the politically correct though police demand the system be skewed in favour of the fuckwits and under achievers in the name of 'equality.'
Top Public Schools flunk A Levls - Questions Too EasyMany of the most famous schools in the world including Eton, Marlborough, Harrow and Dulwich College registered lower results than some of Englands worst-performing comprehensives because of technicality. According to the tables, no pupils at 142 schools achieved five A* to C grades including English and maths, while a further 26 scored below 10 per cent. The rock-bottom ratings come because most independent schools have dropped conventional GCSEs in some subjects and ...
Children encouraged to gove up academic study at 14Tens of thousands of children will be able to abandon academic study at 14 to undertake vocational training under plans unveiled last night.Up to 70 technical schools teaching youngsters practical skills from bricklaying to fashion are to be opened within the next five years. The scheme is one of the most radical shake-ups of the education system since ...
Dumbing Down Has Destroyed Respect For AcademicsAcademic inflation is as dangerous to any country as its financial equivalent. When university degrees no longer represent a genuine assessment of a graduates abilities, the whole intellectual currency is debased. In Britain, as we report today, this insidious process has reached
UK Education Falls Behind Third WorldUK schoolchildren today plummeted down a major international league table after being outscored by pupils from countries including Estonia, Lichtenstein and Slovenia.
Teenagers slumped in worldwide rankings comparing standards of reading, mathematics and science in 65 developed nations. Figures published by the respected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development showed the UK fell from ...
Selection By Stealth Or Simple Common SenseThe comprehensive education system has become one of the sacred cows of the "progressive left" in spite of its very obvious failure. The old Grammar School system only segregated on grounds of intelligence whereas the system now with its postcode lottery and the growth of private schools for the rich segregates on grounds of parental wealth, social class and geogrphic location. Intelligence does not enter the equation. So the selective way was more egalitarian, what are the leftie whiners on about.
More Graduates, Less Graduate JobsVince Cable the coalition government's minister responsible for business and higher education has kicked off the biggest shake up in University financing in the past four decades. Since the vast and rapid expansion of higher education begun bt the Wilson government in the 1960 there has been constant growth in University funding, the number of University places available and the ...
The Pursuit Of MediocritySATS test, introduced in 1993, were supposed to meaure a pupil's progress through the education system from junior to senior school and ensure every child was fulfilling their potential. Now we see the government constantly lowering standards in order to ensure enough pupils from each school are reaching government imposed targets.
more posts on Education
Fear and Loathing On Lampadeusa
Over 6,000 refugees, mostly Tunisian migrants fleeing the troubles in North Africa have overun the Italian islan of Lampedusa in recent days, transforming the tiny Mediterranean island into a rubbish-strewn refugee camp.
Gathering arounf tiny fires or hunching beneath makeshift plastic shelters, the refugees are the start of what threatens to become a huge exodus of desperate and displaced people fleeing the turmoil sweeping the Arab nations of Mediterranean's southern coast..
"England, France, Belgium, Switzerland I don't care where I go as long as I can find work and earn money. I need to help my family because they don't have enough to eat," said Saber Khadraoui, 29, from Tunisia, as he bit into a bread roll. "I'll do anything I've worked as a painter, a plumber and a gardener."
He is just one of an estimated 18,000 Tunisians who have landed on the island since Tunisia's dictatorial president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled from power by a popular revolt in mid-January.
An estimated 2,000 Eritreans, Ethiopians and Somalians have also arrived from Libya the first influx since the revolt against Col Muammar Gaddafi erupted last month presaging what the Italian government fears could be an exodus of "Biblical proportions" should the Gadaffi regime collapse. Gadaffi had welcomed migrant workers but sub Saharan Africans are intensely disliked by Arabs.
Lampedusa's inhabitants, who live closer to Africa than Italy, say the island's infrastructure is on the point of collapse. The sole refugee centre can only accommodate 850 people. Thousands of migrants have landed but simply been ignored by the authorities and left to fend for themselves.
The inevitable consequence of this is a breakdown in law and order.
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The West Could Be Helping Al Qaeda In LibyaThe long reign of Colonel Gaddafi in Libyan staggers on. Fortunes of the rag tag army of rebels ebb and flow as the official army, loyal to Gadaffi, better trained and equipped than their opponents and able to choose their ground where they will stand and fight sure that their efforts will not be curtailed by western air strikes, easily push back every rush by those who would overthrow the Colonel. Many western leaders and opinion makers, foremost among them ...
Libya and Bahrain Crisis Threatens Weestern EconomiesOil prices rose sharply on when msarkets in the west opened on Monday morning. Air strikes on Colonel Gaddafi's military sites in Libya and news of increasing unrest from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have increased fears of a supply disruption ...
John Major Supports Call For military Intervention In Libya As the uprising against the rule of Muammar (Mad Dog) Gadaffi looks increasingly likely to turn into full scale civil war and a humanitarian crisis former UK Prime Minister Sir John Major has joined current leader David Cameron and other European leaders in calling for military intervention ...
Will America Cope With The Fall Of It's Middle East EmpireAmerica has suffered a second traumatic blow to its global political hegemony as the regimes it has propped up for decades in the middle east crumble. Mubarak in Egypt and Gadaffi in Libya were unsavoury tyrants to be sure but they were pro America and willing to collaborate with the west. Now on the heels of the financial meltdown we face a global oil crisis.
The Downfall Of Lybian Tyrant Poses Another Threat To The WestAnd as Gaddafi's 40 year rule draws to an end in what increasingly appears to be a bloodbath we offer a roundup of the best comment from foreign correspondents in the national press about the world's reaction ad particularly that of the man in the White House who only two weeks ago was preening himself as he posed as a liberator of the ...
Food Price Crisis
Food Crisis Control Freakery
Trouble Brewing In Egypt
Crisis In Egypt As Murbarak Regime Crumbles
US Says Obamanomics and Quantitative Easing Is Not To Blame For Food Prices Rising
Middle East Peace Process Endangered By Egypt Crisis - The Daily Telegraph
Egypt Crisis Beginning Not Ending
Egypt's Military Rejects Swift Transfer Of Power - Leaders Resistant To Change
Libya defectors explosive evidence on Lockerbie
David Cameron under pressure to ensure Libyan defector co-operates with authorities investigating the Lockerbie bombing, the murder of Pc Yvonne Fletcher and potential war crimes.
Britons Warned To Get Out Of Yemen.
All British nationals have been urged to leave Yemen in the run-up to protests planned for Friday which could result in violent clashes.
The Foreign Office has advised travellers, "in light of the rapid deterioration in the security situation", people should get out of Yemen while commercial airlines were still flying.
A communique said it was highly unlikely the government would be able to evacuate British nationals in the event of a full scale insurrection.
The statement read: "In light of the rapid deterioration in the security situation in Yemen and likely protests on Friday 1 April which might result in violent clashes, we strongly urge all British nationals to leave the country now while commercial airlines are still flying.
"Given the situation on the ground, it is highly unlikely that the British government will be able to evacuate British nationals or provide consular assistance in the event of a further breakdown of law and order and increased violent civil disorder. British nationals should therefore plan accordingly.
And bearing in mind the date is April 1.
Top story for the day must go to The Currant Bun:
Planet of the Apps Not quite the same as gibving a million monkeys a million typewriters and expecting them to produce the woks of Shakespear, but Gorillas with iPads is a start.
Close behind is the BBC which announces the imminent launch of 3D Radio. Imagine that, The Archers in 3D. Or worse, Chris Moyles.
Royal Wedding goss in the Daily Mail (where else) which has a report on Kate Middleton shopping for baby clothes. Oh dear, has prince William been a careless boy?
Still on the subject of Weddings we learn from the Daily Telegraph that Labour's National Executive Committee have ordered party activists to celebrate the wedding of Ed Miliband and Justin Hawkins Jusine Thornton by putting out bunting and organising street parties.
Spock's Ear To Be Auctioned
31 March 2011
The West Could Be Helping Al Qaeda
by Ed Butt
31 March 2011
The long reign of Colonel Gaddafi in Libyan staggers on. Fortunes of the rag tag army of rebels ebb and flow as the official army, loyal to Gadaffi, better trained and equipped than their opponents and able to choose their ground where they will stand and fight sure that their efforts will not be curtailed by western air strikes, easily push back every rush by those who would overthrow the Colonel. Many western leaders and opinion makers, foremost among them Barack Hussein Obama, the President who wants to make America the primary sponsor of terrorism, a title previously shared among the nations George W Bush dubbed The Axis of Evil, are calling for the West to arm the opposition forces.
Fortunately US intelligence agencies are on their closet Trotskyist President's case. Intelligence reports have picked up "flickers" of an al-Qaeda presence among the rebels and this has set off a fierce debate between the Obama administration's terrorist tendency and it's saner member such as Hilary Clinton, backed by The Pentagon and finding support among the wider coalition. With the prominence of the Muslim Brotherhood becoming more and more obvious in Egypt and the emergence of leaders in Tunisia who are self confessed Al Qaeda sympathisers and may well be activists, with Al Qaeda heavily involved in Yemen, the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia there is a very obvious risk that giving the rebels weapons may help the enemies of the West.
Part of the problem in Libya, according to a senior US intelligence official, is that the American government is largely flying blind when it comes to the exact make-up of rebel forces. So how legitimate are the worries about al-Qaeda opportunistically inserting itself into the civil war?
Barack Husein Obama, the man with no past, may be happy to deliver to the west's deadly enemies a handy operations base on the Mediterranean from with they can attack Europe but should our elected leaders allow themselves to be swayed by the voices of the Politically Correct Thought Police.
Much of the concern about the nature of the Libyan rebellion centres on the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a jihadist organisation founded in the mid-1990s that has waged a low-level guerrilla war against Gaddafi's regime in the years from 1995 to 2006. The LIGF publicly rejected al-Qaeda's ideology and entered into a ceasefire with the government, as a result of which 700 militants have been released from jail over the past four years.
Many of these terrorists have now joined up with the rebels, therefore we know Islamist militants make up a proportion of their forces and being trained and experienced are probably among the leaders. Noman Benotman, a former LIFG leader based in London justifyably asserts that the LIFG "never carried out attacks against the West nor against civilians", suggesting that its members are more interested in regime change in their own country than a global jihad.
The fact that al-Qaeda's overall number three is a Libyan must be set against this. Abu Yahya al-Libi, who has recently appeared on a half-hour videotape on jihadist forums claiming that the West has been supporting Arab dictators for decades and encouraging his countrymen to take up arms against Gaddafi. A cache of al-Qaeda documents recovered in Iraq in 2007, contained information about some 700 foreign fighters, many of whom had volunteered to be suicide bombers. Around 20 per cent were from Libya, one of the smaller Arab countries in terms of population, and of these a majority were from around Benghazi and the east of the country, the centre of the opposition to Gaddafi.
Muammar Gadaffi is a very unpleasant character to be sure, in fact the extent to which Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and other senior figures in the Labour government with probably do irreparable harm to the party, but no matter how repugnant we find Gadaffi's regime it would be insane to contribute to its replacement with something worse as well as a total violation of the United Nations charter which states that any intervention in the domestic affairs of a sovereign state is unacceptable.
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Libya and Bahrain Crisis Threatens Weestern Economies
Oil prices rose sharply on when msarkets in the west opened on Monday morning. Air strikes on Colonel Gaddafi's military sites in Libya and news of increasing unrest from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have increased fears of a supply disruption ...
John Major Supports Call For military Intervention In Libya
As the uprising against the rule of Muammar (Mad Dog) Gadaffi looks increasingly likely to turn into full scale civil war and a humanitarian crisis former UK Prime Minister Sir John Major has joined current leader David Cameron and other European leaders in calling for military intervention ...
Will America Cope With The Fall Of It's Middle East Empire
by Ian R Thorpe.
America has suffered a second traumatic blow to its global political hegemony as the regimes it has propped up for decades in the middle east crumble. Mubarak in Egypt and Gadaffi in Libya were unsavoury tyrants to be sure but they were pro America and willing to collaborate with the west. Now on the heels of the financial meltdown we face a global oil crisis.
The Downfall Of Lybian Tyrant Poses Another Threat To The West
And as Gaddafi's 40 year rule draws to an end in what increasingly appears to be a bloodbath we offer a roundup of the best comment from foreign correspondents in the national press about the world's reaction ad particularly that of the man in the White House who only two weeks ago was preening himself as he posed as a liberator of the ...
more Middle East posts
Crying Before They're Hurt
by John de Roe
A campaign was launched yesterday to derail the Coalition government's efforts to cut the crippling public sector deficit by reducing government spending. The arts community of freeloaders, tax eater and grant bludgers has reacted with predictable angst to some not unreasonable proposals to reduce the grants of some organisations that have a track record of failing (or not even trying to put bums on seats, eyes on paintings and money in the till. Adversity makes strange bedfellows and among those getting into bed with Tracy Emin, Damien Hirst, the Royal Ballet and English National Opera folk is Her Majestys Chief Inspector of Constabulary, Sir Denis OConnor. H.M. Top Cop warned that the police will have a lot of difficulty finding the savings required without affecting front-line services like handing our speeding tickets or fining people for smoking in pubs.
Neither makes a persuasive case against the cuts.
For the left, arts spending is a totem, symbolic of just how civilised a nation we are. The Arts Council's grant-in-aid budget is actually being reduced between now and 2015 by 14.9 per cent, which works out at less than 4 per cent per year. These figures say we might be heading back towards barbarism. The arty farty brigade do not live on Planet Reality of course. A walk round the centre of any industrial town at around throwing out time on a Friday or Saturday night would convince anyone with eyes and ears we stopped being civilised a long time ago if we ever were. Some of the pain for the arts is eased by a significant increase in Lottery funding. On top of that the process of making the required savings has led to a change in the way the council hands out taxpayers money. For the first time in its 65-year history, there was an open application process, with each organisation required to submit a bid explaining why it deserved public funding. This is a much better way than decisions being made behind closed doors by members of a self styled academic elite.
For the police, Sir Deniss proposals claimed that savings of 20 per cent over four years will be difficult to secure without hitting front-line services. He then demolished his own case by admitting that a third of all police officers have no front-line role at all. The polices special pleading was also undermined by the results of a Freedom of Information request to Surrey Constabulary, which revealed that it spends more than 2 million a year on fuel for its officers personal use. It is hard to believe Surrey is unique in the way it spends public money, so Sir Deniss whines should perhaps be treated with the same respect as a Labour MP's expenses claim.
Shroud-waving is part of every public expenditure review, as is the relish in reporting it of the Left-wing press, and the BBC, which has surrendered its right to be described as an unbiased news source. It is important however for some of the myths surrounding what are routinely described as the deepest spending cuts since the war to be debunked. The figures tell a different story. According to the Treasury Red Book, total managed expenditure this year is 694 billion; that will rise every year until 2015/16, when it will hit 763 billion 69 billion more than today. Over the same period, net public sector debt will climb from 875 billion to almost 1.3 trillion. It is worth bearing those figures in mind in the months ahead, as the protests from the vested interests grow ever louder.
The public secor is a bottomless pit into which those who eat from the public sector table expect the taxpayers to pour money. One would hope someone in a freespending sector of 'The Arts' would have the nous to provide us with some entertainment by employing a couple of well muscled guys in studded leather jock straps and gimp masks to shovel money into the pit while a couple of nubile dominatrices in fetish gear whipped and goaded them. We deserve something for our money.
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Milliband Backs Criminals
There are no such injustices to explain the behaviour of the rent - a - mob types who occupied and trashed Fortnum & Masons grocery store (even if it is where The Queen and other post people get their goodies), attacked the Ritz Hotel and smashed shop windows in London's Piccadilly last Saturday? What was the extent of their oppression, the denial of their civil liberties, that caused them to launch such an assault on private property?
Shock inflation numbers ahead of UK Budget
TODAY: John de Roe analyses the likely consequences of rising inflation announced today and the budget measures introduceb by Chancellor George Osborne on the financial prospects of individuals, families and retired people.
Supermarket Rip Off Causes Food Price Inflation
Supermarkets are ripping off British shoppers by ramping up food prices ahead of inflation, the investment bank UBS has warned in a new report. It is not long of course since the leading supermarkets faced a government inquiry into allegations that they were operating a cartel.
The Absolute Necessity Of Curbing State Spending
The left, already laughably styling themselves "the opposition" even as Labour splits into tiny factions including the "old left" the traditional party of the working class, the people with traditional Labour values who recognise there are no magical solution, the "progressive left",
more posts on Money and finance
30 March 2011
Hope you did not miss us too much yesterday. The biggest news story that has not been reported and commented to death was about a house in Swansea that looks like Hitler. No doubt there is a lot of bad news being buried inder the nuclear fallout and the conflict in Libya.
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28 March 2011
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26 March 2011
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25 March 2011
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24 March 2011
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23 March 2011
We are not reporting the budget today because there will be saturation reporting elsewhere. Try these links
There is a contrarian look at the looming energy crisis below however.
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Also have a look at this analysis of the nuclear power scare in Japan, written by Xavier Connolly.
The Nuclear Accident And The Elimination Of Risk
In the wake of the world's worst nuclear accident at Fukushima, Japan; the pusillanimous poltroons of the international fear and panic industry, aka the green movement and the progressive left, are once again demanding that all risk nbe elimiated from human life. And if that means no nuclear electricity, no energy from oil or coal and no light when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow - well they haven't though thst through yet.
22 March 2011
The failings of education, thoughts on world water day and the multipe environmental crises that are disrupting the world and an analysis of the lastest leap in the rate of inflation today.
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21 March 2011
Libya dominates our news today. The Nuclear crisis in Japan is still dominating the mainstream media but The Daily Stirrer focuses on the things most likely to affect our readers lives. And an oil crisis, which looks increasingly likely as the unrest in the Arab world look set to spread to Saudi Arabia, will hit us a lot harder than a reactor core meltdown in Japan.
Gadaffi Compound Hit By Air Strike - The Daily Telegraph
Gadsaffi Not The Main Target Say Military Chiefs - The Guardian
Crude Oil Prices Leap After Libya Air Strikes
Oil prices rose sharply on when msarkets in the west opened on Monday morning. Air strikes on Colonel Gaddafi's military sites in Libya and news of increasing unrest from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have increased fears of a supply disruption.
Brent crude futures for May delivery leapt $2.21 to $116.14 at noon as Gadaffi vowed to repel attacks of the UN-mandated coalition which has been using missiles and warplanes against military installations. The Libyan leader responded by threatening: We will not leave our oil to America or France or Britain or the enemy Christian states. We will fight for every inch of our land and liberate every inch of it. His words were interpreted as a threat that Libyan forces may sabotage oil wells and strorage facilities. Some traders worry that if facing defeat, Gaddafi might lash out in a last stand that disrupts regional tanker traffic in and out of Libya's oil ports.
The Markets have also been concerned that a crackdown on Shi'ite protesters in Bahrain by the nation's Sunni rulers could trigger sectarian violence in major oil producing areas of Saudi Arabia and Iran as tensions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims increase.
Iran, a non-Arab state with a Shi'ite theocracy in power has attacked the use of violence in Bahrain, where Sunni-controlled Saudi Arabia has sent troops to help crush protests among the Shi'ite minority.
Bahrain is less than 100 kms distant from the main centre of the Saudi oil industry at Dhahran. This region on the Saudi Gulf coast includes the world's largest oil fields, oil terminals and refineries. If it all kicks off there petrol prices at the pump will be a minor problem for the west compared to the impact on commerce and industry.
"The demonstrations in Bahrain are a potential threat to Saudi Arabia," said Thorbjorn Bak Jensen, oil market analyst at Global Risk Management. The deteriorating situation in North Africa and the Middle East prompted investment bank UBS to increase its Brent crude forecast for this year and next.
Saudi Intervention In Bahrain Will Fuel Sectarianism
Obama's Failure; Of Leadership, Humanity And Americanness.
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First Libya. next Syrian then The World for The Emperor Obama?
Led by The All Conquering Emperor Obama, jingoistic calls for military invervention are gaining volume if not support. Well OK we know the great peacemaker hopes a middle east war will save his Presidency as Iraq saved Bush's but just as more than half of Libyans supported Gadaffi so, according to polls conducted by western firms, more than half of all Syrians support Assad. The only justification for war then is Obama's need to inflate his ego.
Petrol Hits 6 a Gallon At The Pump
John Major Supports Call For military Intervention In Libya
Will America Cope With The Fall Of It's Middle East Empire
The Downfall Of Lybian Tyrant Poses Another Threat To The West
Flight Tax Increase Ditched
Chancellor George Osborne has abandoned plans to increase air passenger duty in this week's Budget .
The Chancellor will announce that the measure could save families up to 40 when they fly on a holiday. Under plans introduced by the Labour government the Treasury was to bring in the tax increase next month.
Airlines and passenger groups welcomed the news at a time when spiralling oil prices are putting a huge strain on finances and the effects of global economic instability are hitting both business and leisure travel.
Under the Labour plans a family of four would have faced a 351.90 tax on a long-haul holiday, an increase of 11.90.
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Interest Rates Must Start To Rise Very Soon
Sarko Calls For Action Against Inflation
18 March 2011
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17 March 2011
The Japanese nuclear meltdown continues to push all other news to one side. We have not even seen much written about the most recent rise in unemployment. The escalating Libyan Civil War and brewing croses elsewhere are all pointing to a very rough time ahead over the next few months. We already face an oil price shock, nuclear power having breifly looked like a contender again is now tetering on the edge of the abyss one more while wind and solar continue to surprise us only by being even less practical that even the most sceptical voices predicted.
There is one bright not however. Development of tidal and marine current generating schemes are living up to their promise and developments are forging ahead.
World Energy Crunch As Oil And Nuclear Go Into Crisis
The worsening crisis for global energy supplies could hardly have come at a worse moment. The epicentre of the world's oil supply is disturbingly close to its insurrection as civil conflict spreads throughout the Gulf States and around the Arab nations thet border the eastern Mediterranea.
Nuclear Power had begun to look like a realistic prospect again as sustainables like wind and solar were found wanting but now the nuclear industry faces an existential crisis due to the idiocy of the Japanese engineeers and scientists who approved the building of the nation's biggest nuclear plant close to a highly unstable geological fault.
Nuclear is still the most realistic option for meeting a developed nation's enormous appetite for energy but will face hysterical opposition from the pusillanimous poltroons who manufactured so much fear and panic about carbon driven global warming.
Libya's civil war has reduced the global supply of crude oil by 1 million barrels per day (bpd), eroding Opec's spare capacity to a wafer-thin margin of 2m bpd, if Goldman Sachs figures can be believed.
Events in the Gulf have taken on an even worse aspect after Saudi Arabia sent military forces into Bahrain to help the Sunni monarchy suppress the rebellion of largely Shi'ite dissenters, risking a showdown with the other contender for the title Arab regional superpower Iran.
Russia's finance minister Alexei Kudrin warned on Wednesday that the coincidence of events in Japan and the Middle East could push the price of oil in the spot markets to $200 a barrelwhich would snuff out global recovery.
While there has been no reduction in oil output from the Gulf so far, the crackdown on protesters in Manama on Wednesday left four people dead and risks inflaming the volatile sectarian politics of the region. The assault on of protesters at the Pearl roundabout had echoes of China's Tiananmen massacre.
The risk group Exclusive Analysis said such heavy-handed methods may give Iran an excuse to launch a proxy war by arming insurgents. Since the theocratic revolution of 1979 ousted The Shah there had been little love lot between Saudi Arabia and its predominantly Shi'ite neighbour across the water. The trouble in Bahrain could rapidly cross the border, fuelling Shia resentment of the Sunni supremacy in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province. Any threat to Saudi control over the 5m bpd Ghawar oil field nearby would really see big trouble kicking off.
Oil prices have fallen from a peak of almost $120 a barrel over recent days but it may not be long before the effect of the nuclear crisis in Japan and Germany's decision to shut down seven of its oldest reactors starts to spill over into oil and gas markets.
The shutdown of 11 reactors in Japan has cut 10 gigawatts (GW) of power, forcing the country to seek supplies of other fuels to keep its economy going. "We think they will need an extra 200,000 bpd of fuel oil and light crude, as well liquefied natural gas," said Eduardo Lopez from the International Energy Agency.
The Fukushima reactors are write-offs. Japan's local authorities are unlikely to permit other reactors to reopen for a long time. The closure of seven German pre-1980 reactors will cut energy supply by a further 6.2 GW, according to Daniel Brebner at Deutsche Bank. Where Japan goes from here is anybody's guess. Germany will have to cover its shortfall by importing more gas and thermal coal, playing havoc with CO2 greenhouse targets and ausing another rift in the European Union..
Radiation Fears Spread Across Asia
Japan Begins Water Drop To Cool Stricken Reactor
World's Largest Tidal Turbine System For Scotland
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Iceberg Alley Blues
Oil Shale Salvation
Recent discoveries of huge gas and oil bearing shale deposits in the USA, CAnada, Russia and under Britain's territorial waters as well as off the Falkland Islands and in the Antarctic are raising false hope of an early end to the energy crisis and food price inflation. What is the reality of these new oil and gas reserves, do they really offer the economies of the developed world salvation and a return to business as usual.
Coal Fired Power Stations Win ReprieveIn what looks like a u-turn on green energy policy the coalition government have abandoned plans to support and subsidiese operators of sustainable energy generating plants. While environment activists and green campaigners are calling this a betrayal the case may well be that in the harsh reality of governing claims made by green energy firms look totally unrealistic ...
How Our Creature Comforts Are Baking The World
As the arguments rage on between the Climate Science Wankers lobby and the sceptis, realists and out and out deniers we observe that still nobody who gets media coverage, nobody who is talking sense about climate chaos, carbon based fuels, deforestation or over population is really being heard. Quite simply there are too many of us and we want too much. Who needs science or politics to understand that?
The Futility Of Wind Farms.In some ways the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition has made quite a good start in government. One area they are set to fail badly however is energy. Driven by politically correct thinking the coalition are set to follow Labour down the road that goes through wind power and eventually leads nowhere. Wind turbines look fine on paper. If they generate at their optimum output for 365 days a year the contribution to energy needs looks like a viable business proposition. The problem is due to the limitations of the technology and the vagaries of the weather wind farms are doing well if they operate at a quarter of their potential output.
Renewable Energy Con
Climate Change Science Scam
Germany's Wind Farm Policy Looks Like Hot Air
The promise was clear and the path leading to an ambitious goal well defined. The German power industry planned to install wind turbines with a capacity of about 10 gigawatts off Germany's North and Baltic Sea coasts by 2020 [ ... ] This is three times as much as the price of electricity on spot markets, and more than twice as much as the operators of windfarms on land receive for .
UKIP Man Confronts EU Leaders On Libya
There was a delicious moment in the chamber just now. Herman Van Rompuy made a sonorous statement to the effect that Muammar Gaddafi was a frightful chap who really ought to stand down. Then Nigel Farage stood up and brandished an excruciating photograph, taken as recently as four months ago, of the two unelected leaders
Why Are We Still Obsessed With The Third Reich by Guy Walters
Its long been a truism of publishing that putting a swastika on the front of a book will guarantee healthy sales. (Yes, yes, or indeed a healthy readership for a blog post.) I have direct experience of this, as most of the books I write feature swastikas, or eagles, or similar pieces of Third Reich
Jobs Are Not Enough - Quality Of Work Counts TooThe coalition's emphasis on 'creating jobs' fails to take into account whether they will actually improve quality of life says another leftie trying to blame the Coalition for the fact that Labour destroyed millions of real jobs and replace them with candy - floss jobs in the public sector or work involving telephone sales cold - calling...
Once again we see the terrible price that must be paid for trying to make humanity redundant.
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Jobless Economy
99ers - America's Hidden Jobless
Jobs Crisis Posts
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Document Title
State Pension Reform: 140 a week for everyone?The Daily Telegraph
Pensioners are to receive a flat-rate universal retirement payment of 140 a week that will end the injustice of working mothers being penalised for taking a break to raise children, under reforms to be signalled by Iain Duncan Smith today.
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Elite Universities Must Double Access FundsThe Guardian
England's most prestigious universities will have to double the amount they spend on widening access to poorer students if they charge the maximum tuition fees, government guidance has warned. MPs voted in December to raise fees from 3,350 a year to 6,000 in 2012, and up to 9,000 in "exceptional cases".
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North / South Housing Divide Grows The Independent
The property market showed signs of improving last month but prospects for house prices in the south of the country appear far stronger than in northern regions. The number of surveyors reporting house price falls dropped for the fourth consecutive month to a balance of 26% - the lowest level since July last year ...
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Why Aren't Any Schools Asking Obama To Speak This Year?by Allahpundit
Is there any sadder testament to the fading magic of Hopenchange than this? Reading it, I actually felt sorry for the guy.
Any high school principals out there in the HA audience have time to throw together an application and reassure The One that kids still love him? And by love him, I mean will happily sit through a speech/photo op in lieu of having to go to class.
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Wine Merchant Oddbins To Close 39 StoresThe Independent
Wine merchant Oddbins has announced it is to close 39 stores as it moves to secure the future of the loss-making business. The off-licence, which will cut its stores from 128 to 89, made the decision following a review by a restructuring specialist brought in to help the company as it faced cashflow problems.
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BBC Hires Atheist To Present Bible ProgramThe Daily Telegraph
The BBC's new face of religion is an atheist who claims that God had a wife and Eve was "unfairly maligned" by sexist scholars.
Dr Francesca Stavrakopoulou has been given a primetime BBC Two series, The Bible's Buried Secrets, in which she makes a number of startling suggestions.
She argues in the programme that Eve was not responsible for the Fall of Man and was not even the first woman, as the story of the ...
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Miliband Admits Labour Got It Wrong On Crime
Tony Blair's mantra tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime cemented itself in the public consciousness very deeply more because of the Labour governments obsession with criminals rights that because of anything they did towards actually tackling crime and its causes. Releasing Labour's Politically Correct Thought Police from Blair's attempt to hoodwink the middle class was something that had to be done if the party was ever to have any credibility on law and order. Ed Miliband who is turning out to be a more politically astute leader than many of us expected has set about tackling the problem of Labour's perceived preference for perpetrators rather than victims.
In a speech last night, Sadiq Khan, the shadow justice secretary, admitted that Labour was wrong to play tough on crime, sending many people to prison for trivial offences, instead of tackling rocketing rates of reoffending. The party should, he argued, be striving for a lower prison population. throwing people in jail was meant to give the impression that Blair's government were actually being tough on criminals but the prison regime was so soft prisons were not so much a punishment as a privilege.
Once inside, prisoners - many of whom were mentally ill rather than criminally inclined - enjoyed a better lifestyle than they had when free. Added to that many young criminals found an opportunity to hone their criminal skills under the guidance of old lags.
Mr Khans bleak assessment of his partys role in allowing the prison population to rise to 85,000 is not only the renunciation of an of one of the New Labour dogmas. It is also a slap in the face to Labours hard line former the Home Secretaries; John Reid, David Blunkett and Jack Straw. These three will find their political legacy is undermined by Mr Khans implicit condemnation of their tenure.
One can only guess at the reaction of Tony Blair, who appeared to be obsessed with crackdowns, ordering new crackdowns on drugs, crime, anti social behaviour, binge drinking, dysfunctional families and all sorts of other problems that are notoriously difficult to police buy easy to talk about. Crackdown Compulsive Disorder complex led Blair to include six Home Office Bills in the 2004 Queens Speech.
The former prime minister has said in interviews that dysfunctional families" who produce 14-year-old kids stabbing one another to death were making peoples lives hell. Britain, he said, could learn from developing countries which just dont accept criminality. Far from informing us which nations could supply a useful template for British justice (Saudi Arabia? Iran? Uganda?), Mr Blair simply repeats his incantation about being tough on the causes of crime.
Mr Khans speech, hosted by the Fabian Society and the Prison Reform Trust and staged with little fanfare, was not a wholesale renunciation of Labours record but it does show Mr Miliband intends that under his leadership there will be a break from the New Labour Politically Correct orthodoxy. That is a sign that the Labour leaders is listening to Labour voters in the industrial heartlands rather than Guardian writers who live in the most expensive suburbs of north and west London and gain more of theory income from family trusts that from their day job.
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03 March 2011
TheYoung Must Hope For A Housing Crash
It Makes Sense To Hope For A Housing Crash
by John de Roe
The burden of student debts imposed on young people by a misguided education policy that has left the nation with a surfeit of media studies graduates and a shortage of practical skills is also having dire social consequences in other ways. The Labour government's student loan system which accompanied their insane push to get 50% of school leavers into ~University education is making it virtually impossible for many young people to even hope to earn sufficient to enable them to pay off student loan debts let alone think about buying a house. This trend could push the average age of first time buyers up to 44, according to mortgage provider Scottish Widows.
Even if you suspect the insurer of alartmism because less saving is bad for its business -this forecast is deeply worrying not just for people relying on a recovery in the housing market but for the economy as a whole. While the Coalition Government emphasises
that student loans will not need to be repaid until earnings exceed 21,000, anyone who believes these debts are any less debilitating for being deferrable is living in cloud cuckoo land.
While the parents of todays students bought their first home at around age 27, the graduates of tomorrow will find that the Student Loans Company has first call on any savings they may accumulate. And, lest they forget who has first claim on their money before they even see it, HM Revenue & Customs will take it from their salary at source..
Will these young couples be able to think of starting their own families given the burgeoning cost of raising children? And, seeing as the government is always telling us to save fort retirement what will student debts do to people's hopes of building up a pension fund. Serious saving for retirement typically begins in early middle age, money paid into a scheme too early will be eroded by inflation, but graduates in future will be lucky to get started much before the age at which many of their parents retired. On top of that, due to rising life expectancy employers are washing their hands of pension provision and various Ponzi schemes run government are already reneging on promises and talking about raising retirement ages.
If we are creating a generation of people who simply do not save it is clear that people who want to get onto the property ladder will not be able to make the commitment to saving at an early enough age to make paying off a mortgage a realistic proposition. It is not practical for people today to put aside huge amounts of money given their commitments and material expectations but even so it is vital for society that saving does not become a lost art.
That may turn out to be a forlorn hope when economists as diverse as the Governor of the Bank of England and the Resolution Foundation report declining disposable wealth and the worst economic outlook for decades. The best survival strategy for students in future will be to avoid degree courses that do not offer a high probability of a lucrative career. They will face a much tougher employment market than any their parents faced after graduation.
So who would blame young people for hoping the housing marker will collapse further from its current low. Only lower real prices in an inflation ravaged economy that will reduce in real terms the burden of debt can improve their prospects.
It is a consummation devoutly to be wished. No wonder websites such as housepricecrash.co.uk are proving increasingly popular and are now, perhaps somewhat counter-intuitively you may think, supported by advertising from leading house builders.
Free market solutions are unfashionable among many students who tend to be supporters of Labour and even further left parties on the ideological fringe. The market however may still offer their best hope of knowing the security of bricks and mortar so many of their parents benefitted from.
Millions Will Never Be Able To Save
by John de Roe
Four out of ten people in the age range from 45 to 54 have found themselves unable to save any money in a retirement fund because of the twin financial burdens of aged and infirm parents and young adult 'boomerang' children who have set out to make their own life and because of poor career prospects, housing costs and job insecurity have boomeranged back to the shelter provided by Mum and Dad. This age group is becoming known as the "sandwich generation". They are failing because of financial pressures to take advantage of tax breaks and make additional voluntarty contributions to their pension savings according to the an insurance industry Savings and Investment Report.
The 45 - n54 age bracket has the highest number of non-savers across the whole spectrum according to the report, an estimated 3.5 million people across Britain.
It is not just the middle aged who finding it difficult to save in the current economic climate however. Despite common preconceptions, it is not those on the lowest incomes that are struggling most to save, but people on middle incomes between 20,000 and 30,000.
A third of these middle income consumers are failing to save anything at all, in fact many are falling deeper into debt and of those that are saving, more than half are tucking away less than 5% of their salary. Rising living costs are cited as the reason that middle income earners are unable to live within budget and save money. The the added burden of recently withdrawn benefits has eaten into the surplus of many families with young children.
In the past year child tax credits have been cut and the situation will only worsen as child benefit is withdrawn for families with a higher rate tax payer even if the other parent receives a lower or no wage at all.
Ian McGowan, Head of Savings and Investments at Scottish Widows said: "It is unsurprising that the financial crisis has impacted upon people's savings behaviours, but the concern is that this has created a generation of people who simply do not save. It is vital that this new group of non-savers are made aware of the serious impact that this could have on their quality of life."
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21 February 2011
They are out to make us angry again.
Acohol Abuse Will Kill 250,000 A Year Unless Governmnt Acts say Control Freak Doctors
by Ed Butt
As many as a quarter of a million people will die from alcohol abuse over the next two decades unless the Government takes the problem as seriously as it did smoking, health experts have warned.
Deaths from liver disease have doubled in Britain in recent years while other countries such as France have seen profound falls thanks in part to strict rules on marketing drink, a strongly-worded article in The Lancet claims.
Academics say that total deaths from the wider harms caused to society by alcohol.
Read all:Acohol Abuse Will Kill 250,000 A Year
Quarter of a million a year (a fantasy figure pulled out of thin air) or quarter of a million over two decades, 12,500 a year. Whoever wrote the press release on this is a tad lacking in basic numeracy. If you need an idea of how bogus and fraudulent these figures are justy think the estimated number of deaths from alcohol is around half the total number of deaths per year. So get this nuber the crooks and liars of the medical fraud industry must have ascribed every death from old age as being a direct reslt of that person's drinking no matter how moderate a drinker they were.
The point about scare stories like this is we know excessive drinking does us no good but with individuals having such widely different levels of alcohol tolerance who can say what is harmful. Also alcohol is not the only cause of liver disease so we can never point to a single factor as a cause. Scientists are fond of parroting 'correlation does not prove causation' when anyone quentions their sweeping assumptions and wild guesses. so one would hope they'd display a better understanding of cause and effect.
If there are several environmental factors known to cause a fatal condition it is unscientific to point that the one that will serve a political agenda to put blame on.
We will all die and should be free to choose how we live, even if those choices shorten life. Anyone of us could have our lives sniffed out at any time. For scientists to pretend that if we all comply with their diktat we can live forever is both dishonest and shows they lack the intelligence to understand the implications of eternity if they think anyone would want to love forever.
The enlightenment philosopher David Hume nailed it when he said on learning of his terminal illness, "Then I seek a speedy dissolution. It is better to die while in posession of one's faculties than endure a few more years of increasing decrepitude."
As we have predicted along with many libertarian bloggers, the control freak wing of the highly illiberal 'progressive liberalism' movement, that section of society we have dubbed populist authoritarians, having succeeded in demonising smoking, a habit 20% of the population indulge in are now setting out to do the same with drink.
Using their favourite techniques of cherry picked and misrepresaented statistics they are trying to instil fear and panic into an increasingly deaf public about the imminent apocalypse 'alcohol abuse' (to these pusillanimous puritans an occasional small sherry is binge drinking) is set to bring upon us.
Sir Richard Thompson, President of the Royal College of Pedagogues Physicians, said: How many more people have to die from alcohol-related conditions, and how many more families devastated by the consequences before the Government takes the situation as seriously as it took the dangers of tobacco?
We already know from the international evidence that the main ways to reduce alcohol consumption are to increase the price and reduce the availability of alcohol, yet the government continues to discuss implementing marginal measures while ignoring this evidence.
What utter fucking bollocks this pompous quack is talking. We know that the French, Spanish, Germans, Portugese and Italians are all bigger drinkers than the British with the Czechs people of the slavic nations and Russians in a different leauge. People get one life, it is up to them how they live it. More and more the medical professions are showing themselves to be in the service of the New World Order whose social engineers would enslave us and whose scientists would turn us into unthinking automatons.
Do we ever see any fear and panic stories from The Royal College Of Quacks and Charlatans about how many people die from over prescribing of approved pharmeceutical drugs every year. I think not. Paracetamol is known to cause liver damage yet my doctor has been trying to bully me into taking the maximum dose every day for years despite the discomfort I experience being mostly manageable so I only need ocasional pain relief from medication.
We should say to this self serving physician, "Fuck the fucking fuck right off Dr. Fucking Thompson. It is not long ago the medical profession were suporting schemes of Big Pharma to put drugs such as cholesterol lowering statins and anti depressant drugs in drinking water to medicate the entire population whether they have a medical need for such drugs or not. Many of us are willing to fight to retain our right to decide for ourselves what poisons we put in our bodies."
Fortunately since the demise of the authoritarian Labour government we have heard no more of these plans. With the coalition's grip on power is so fragile public opinion can call them to heel a lot more effectively.
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Scientists And Politicians Attack The Food We Love, But Is It Science Or Just Control Freakery
A sustained campaign of misinformation by politicians, scientists, bureaucrats and the media have tried to brand fat and salt as the twin demons of the modern diet. Both however are essential to our wellbeing. So what are the bureaucrats, government and science lobby up to. What is the politics of food fascism. Are they just behaving as control freaks must or are they softening us up for extra taxes and government regulation of our dinner plates and the food we eat.
Proud To Be PissedBoggart Blog has always been a staunch defender of drinkers rights.
Alcohol AwareThe government has launched one of those nanny state campaigns to raise public awareness of alcohol. This Boggart Blog in depth report finds the public don't need their awareness raising, they know all they need to know about every kind of booze and drug on the market and drink, smoke or snort what they like best...
Cardiff To Pioneer Drunk Friendly StreetsThe news that Welsh capital city Cardiff is to expreriment with making its streets drunk friendly gave us plenty to speculate about.
Drunk Friendly Streets - Why Not Driver Friendly RoadsNews that the Welsh capital city, Cardiff is to create drunk friendly streets to prevent rat arsed revellers hurting themselves as they stagger from pub to bus station full of drink and alcohol fuelled bonhomie prompted petrolhead fatsally to ask 'Why not driver friendly roads?
Every Day In Every Way Tyranny Creeps A Little CloserThe NHS has come up with a scheme to deny care to people whose behaviour has contributed to their ailments. Smokes lung problems will go untreated, alcoholics livers will remain enlarged and fat people's bad backs will get no sympathy or pain killeres. But how far will this health tyranny go. 'No, you can't have a midwife, you got yourself pregnant, deal with it. We've got paperwork to do?
Five A DayA recent survey on our understanding of a portion of fruit and veg shows that 25% of the surveyed adults thought orange squash counted as a portion of fruit. A can of Tango must count as two portions then. Add a portion of lemon meringue pie and you're almost there! Somehow we supect Nanny State's nagging about the health benefits of five a day ae falling on deaf ears
Before The Pubs CloseWith religions having such a downer on sex one might think they would be in favour of booze, I mean if you drink enough alcohol you are going to be too busy choking on your own vomit to bother about shagging. In spite of that religious leaders continue to promise hell and buggeration to people who like a bevvy...
A Career In Substance AbuseThere are some weird jobs advertised in the government and public sector but a full page in a newspaper recruitment supplement dedicated to careers in substance abuse deminded investigation. Did they mean you get paid for yelling at a lump of lard 'You're a horrible, greasy disgusting substance' or did they mean recreational use of substances such as alcohol, pot and speed? (drink, booze)
Childhood Drinking Put Us On The Slippery SlopeWill the odd sip of booze, wine or beer from the parents glass for young children or a small glass of watered wine or lemonade shandy for older ones lead to moral decrepitude, alcohol dependency, living in a carboard box and early death as a government survey claims or will children included in this adult activity develop a heathier attitude to drink
Murder: I Suspect The Drunken Elk In The Orchard With The ApplesStories of drunk animals, booze raddled badgers, sozzled squirrels and maunged moose reported at this time every year by Boggart Blog, are usually amusing. Now however, in keeping with the degeneration of society in general we must report a darker side to alcohol related animal behaviour problems. This story, from Sweden, will make even the fearless think twice about confronting the most docile of species .
Decadent Exam Results DayWhere do the television people find those wussy, goodie goodie A level students who come over Anthea Turner (oops, pardon) on a level results day. It just does not present a realistic picture the booze and sex lifestyle of modern youth. Here our cub reporter recounts his own exam results day of alcohol and drug abuse...well school's out forever.
We're All Going To Die, WTF?Another seasonal rebellion from Boggart Blog against the annual crop of killjoy health warnings from government nanny state departments. Avoid alcohol, cigarettes, recreational drugs, salt, saturated fats, tasty food, sex, anything that might put you at risk. Why should we give uip booze and ciggies we know alcohol and tobacco are not good for us, whose life is it anyway. And let's face it, we're all going to die so WTF?
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