The Church of England..............

The Church of England should hang it's collective head in shame.  They opened the door to Women Bishops the minute they decided to allow women to be ordained as priests.  Anyone with a modicum of foresight could see this one coming.  Women would excel as much as men do and that would mean that some of the women would put themselves in line to become member of the episcopate.  Funnily enough, this was not the Bishops fault, it was not the clergy's fault, it was the Laity's fault as they did not vote in sufficient numbers to pass this into Law.  I saw one woman on the T.V. (her name escapes me for the minute!) who argued for no change by saying, and I am paraphrasing here, apologies if I get it wrong. "traditionally the Church was led by men".  Well lets look at that statement.  The Church was founded in  A.D. 33 (very approximately).  society at that time was not the same as society is now.  So the 'tradition' grew out of a particular form of society where men took the lead, and women were definitely second-class citizens.  This is an irrelevance now.  We now live in a meritocracy that is supposed to be blind to gender, and in civil society that is the Law.  It leads to the saying that 'sometimes the best man for the job is a woman.'
What of the male leaders in the Church of England?  They voted to change the law and to start a new 'tradition.' 
Is it just me, or is there something deeply illogical, about the leaders of an organisation wanting a change, and the followers want to maintain the 'status quo'?  Answers please on a post card addressed to 'The Archbishop of Canterbury'

Readin' Ritin' & 'Rithmatic

Everyone seems to be getting hot under the collar about education, Pob wants to turn education back to the 50's, the CBI are having a go, so I thought that I would give my two pennyworth!
Education is a political football that is being kicked around for ages.  Qualifications that kids work hard to attain are one minute suitable, the next abolished as they were not fit for purpose.  The most recent example of this is Pob's ideas about I.T. encouraged by some successful computer programmers who say that all the students that start an I.T. course at University are unable to code, because they have not been taught it at school.  Pob's idea was to scrap the current qualifications and start again last September.  Has this happened?  No.  Why?  As there wasn't enough time to design and bring in the necessary information for all teachers to be up and running in the few months that this was being talked about.  On the back of this the "Raspberry Pi" was developed and put on sale to get children programming, but the demand outstripped supply massively, and I do not know the latest situation.

We are meant to be returning to O and A Levels where everything depends on a final exam, none of this modular crap!
Teachers only teach to the test is another thing that is being tossed around.  Well what are teachers supposed to do?  If they do not teach to the test, then large number of students fail, and they get the sack!
The CBI want 16 year old's that can fit into the spaces that industry has for them.  What spaces?  We are in the middle of one of the worst recessions for nearly 100 years, carefully managed by Gideon and the Bullingham Boys, i.e. the Tory Party, and youth unemployment is at an all time high!
There is one development that has arrived in Hull that might be of interest, Hull Studio School has opened its doors.  This is a school where they learn about the workplace, and their G.C.S.E.'s are embedded in their program.  It is part of Hull College.  My prediction is that the kids that go here will be much more employable than kids that go to Wyke or Wilberforce.  This is because of the links that Hull College has with industry in this city, and because of the regime that Studio Schools run.  Do a 'Google search' if you want to know more.

Evenin' All!

Having been brought up on a diet of 'Dixon of Dock Green', we rarely saw the Senior Police Officers, the stories concentrating on the exploits of P.C. Dixon. 
However, now, we are in the midst of some of the biggest reorganisations of the Police Force.  We have had the introduction of C.P.S.O.'s, un-warrarranted officers 'supporting' the warranted officers, i.e. doing a lot of  the 'basic' policing. 
Now we are going to have the elections of Police and Crime Commissioners.  In Humberside the election has made the National News only because one of the candidates got so few people turning up to his election hustings.  The P.C.C.'s are an introduction by a Conservative Government, which is strange as this represents an extra layer in the structure of the Police, in a political ideology that is anti- layers of Government, but it does mean that they can get rid of the Police Authorities, which was maybe their agenda all along.
The P.C.C.'s are going to have a hard job, as there are bound to be further cuts to Public Services, and that will be hard to manage without the cuts affecting 'Front-line Policing'.
The bookies favourite, 'ere in 'Ull, is 'Prezza', and there are your usual collection of assorted others, including Simone Buterworth (the Liberal Candidate) who plans to give up a third of her salary, if elected, to supporting victims of crime (what a good idea!).  What does 'Prezza' want with £75k anyway?  He probably already has various pensions from the Unions, Houses of Commons and the House of Lords.  How many Jags does he plan to run? 
And another thing!  In this time of double dip recession, courtesy of Gideon and his gremlins in the Treasury, how much do all these elections cost?
Conspiracy Theory alert - if the P.C.C.'s prove themselves to be an effective bunch, do you think that they will get rid of the Chief Constables, and we elect our 'Chief of Police' just like they do in the good ol' U.S. of A.?

The "Social Contract"

I am sorry if the term I used to describe this post is unfamiliar to you, let me explain what I mean by the "social Contract".  Companies set up in this country to make money, they do not do it because they are altruistic or 'nice', but to make money on the money they invested.  That is an accepted fact.
Lots of people work in the public sector and buy their shopping in Tesco, and drink coffee in Starbucks, and have mobile phones on Vodaphone, and these companies make money.
In order for the country to continue to pay it's doctors, nurses, teachers, soldiers, social workers, police, bin collectors, make sure the roads are in a good state of repair etc. etc. they need to have some income.  All (?) the workers in this country pay tax and national insurance to the Government, and so should the companies that take the money from the large number of people paid for by the public purse.  However, some companies use tax-avoidance schemes so that they do not have to pay their fair share of corporation tax and can instead pay their directors more money.  This is what I mean about the "Social Contract".  If Starbucks makes money from the tax payers in this country, shouldn't they be paying their fair share as well?
Suggestion: next time you visit Starbucks, when they ask you for your name to put on the cup, say "Angry Tax Payer!"  Or better still, do not go there at all, until they start to pay their fair share.
My final point.  If these large corporations pay their full whack, would so many doctors, nurses, social workers, bin collectors, police need to lose their jobs?

Bring on the Fat Controller!

Oh dear!  The Department of Transport seems to have created a real cock-up and poured fire on the left wingers calls to re-privatise the rail network.  The agreement with First Direct seems to have been cancelled (how?) and St. Richard of Branson has been asked, very nicely with a cherry on top, if he wouldn't mind letting his trains carry on until the Department sort this out and not give him the contract a second time.  As far as I understand it, the figures put forward by First Direct apparently did not add up.  Despite this, they were still awarded the contract!  When the poor arithmetic was discovered, the contract was cancelled!  This does not make sense!
But do not worry!  Someone from the Dept. of Transport has appeared on telly and admitted that this mess would cost some money to sort out!  Was he the Fat Controller?  He was, after all, quite a portly gentleman.  He also did apologise, so that is all right then.

What's the point of saving our heritage?

English Heritage, and similar organisations in the rest of the developed world, say that some old buildings are architecturally and culturally important and have to be saved.  When you watch some archeology programs, such as Channel 4's Time Team, when they are digging a site they often have artist's impressions of what the site looked like.  With preserved heritage, you do not need an artist's impression, as it is there, right in front of you.  Preserved heritage is also aesthetically pleasing, it 'looks nice' and certainly adds as air of authenticity to many a historical drama on the BBC or I.T.V. that a carefully designed set just does not have.  There is also the fact that some people have an interest in the history of their own area of a town or city and will search for things that satisfy this interest and make the history 'come alive'.  Preserved heritage is useful here too.  My own personal feeling is that it gives people a sense of where they 'come from', what sorts of things made their life and surroundings the way it is.
Now let me get to the point:  I am an adopted citizen of the city of Kingston-upon-Hull.  The bit of heritage that I would like to keep is Pickering Park, in it's entirety.  The Park was given to the people of Hull, in perpetuity, by Mr. Christopher Pickering, free-man of the City of Hull, and partially personally responsible for the growth of the fishing industry in the City of Hull.  The care of the park now falling to Trustees (elected officials of the City Council).  We have already 'lost' some of that heritage.  Some years ago an area was sold of to develop housing - the 'new bit of West Grove' so that the drainage of the park could be improved. This is not a model that is sustainable, as more and more of the park would be sold to preserve less and less.  The Friends of Pickering Park (I am a member of this group) have been trying, with some success, to get things happening in the park.  Proving that the park is worth preserving.  The Gates to the park, on the other hand, are in a poor state of repair indeed.  We have been trying for several years now to raise the funds necessary to have the gates restored.  But we feel that as time progresses, the gates are getting more and more fragile.  An analogy might be two heavy weight boxers leaning on each other for support, and they, in turn are supported by the ropes.  Each leaf of the gate weighs two tons, and is only being supported by the other leaf and the cast-iron pillars at either side, with bases set in concrete, and gradually rusting away over the 103 years that they have been erected.  You can support our campaign by going to our web site: http://www.friendsofpickeringpark.org.uk/park/gates or follow the Friends on Twitter or 'like' the Friends of Pickering Park on Facebook.

Government Reshuffle

I really do not know what to say about this.  Many commentators have said that the reshuffle represents a lurch to the right, which I am sure it does.  So what could this all mean? 
Well the person that has become Transport Secretary (his or her name escapes for the present) does not live in the flightpath of Heathrow Airport, so we all know what is going to happen there.  Property prices to plummet in certain areas of London?  More congestion on the M25?
Jezza has been moved to Health!  Well you know that that is going to end in tears.  He should have been sacked after the Murdoch scandal, but was found not guilty by Cameron on the basis of a 25 minute interview.  You can expect him to cosy up to large private Health Providers and witness the dismantling of the N.H.S. as we all know it!
Gideon has not been shifted, if anyone should have, he should have.  He has successfully steered the economy into the first double-dip recession that this country has not seen since the 1930's, in the days of the Great Depression, which had the effect of the rise of Fascism in most of Western Europe.  We can all look forward to that happening again.  The cuts are likely to continue which will probably mean that the economy will not improve any time soon.  Taking away people's jobs does not help the economy to grow, as we have already witnessed.  What is required is a spell of public spending on infra-structure projects in order to kick-start the economy into growth again.  I bet if the Government goes down this path that a lot of Private Companies will cream a goody proportion 'off the top', and there will be an influx of cheap labour from the Eastern Europe.

Gay Marriage - what a kerfuffle!

There are certain people who are getting their 'knickers in a twist' over the idea that gay people would want to enter a loving and monogamous relationship, and have it recognised by society at large.  Indeed, today at every Catholic Church in Scotland, a letter is being read out to the congregation pointing out how sinful this event, if it were allowed, would be. 
When looking at something, I always find it useful to delve into the background of how the concept developed.
Let us look at the bible.  Nowhere can I find mention of where Joseph and Mary, Jesus' parents, were married.  Joseph took Mary 'into his home', was this a convenient way of saying something?  The marriage at Canaan, was a grand affair, all the local community were invited to the wedding feast where there were servants and wine for everyone.  This is not the sort of event that was within many people's grasp to organise.  Weddings were the preserve of those who had money, and the rest of the world just shacked up together and behaved like they were married and everyone else accepted that.  This is how marriage carried on for centuries.  It was the preserve of the wealthy, who would marry off their eligible sons and daughters to other heirs to a fortune so that social dynasties would be created or wars avoided.
It wasn't until the Victorian age that weddings became the ubiquitous event that it is today and the churches, wanting to still have their say so, would allow their churches to be used.  The grander the church, the grander the families, and the larger the fees.  But strictly speaking, weddings had little or nothing to do with religion, but had more to do with the social and political order that existed in the society.
So my response to people who are upset about gay marriage, do not allow your church to be used for a 'gay' wedding.  However, look to your bibles and see how Jesus treated the adulterous woman who was about to be stoned.  Jesus seemed to understand human frailties, shouldn't we try and do the same?

Joined up thinking

The title of this Blog is one of my favourite phrases, as I see so little evidence of it.

Yesterday, the Government announced a serious investment in the railway infrastructure, however this will miss out my home town of Kingston-upon-Hull.
The local council have had plans to upgrade the Castle Street intersection and the A62, which is one of the major roads out of Hull, from the dock area, with connections to M60, M1 and A1 further along.  Diverting this traffic will mean going through some of the most highly built up areas in the city.  The process of this upgrade will mean traffic chaos for at least two years from the date it starts, which is when?

Kingston-upon-Hull is supposed to be the site of the future of the renewables industry, with Siemens apparently ready to sign on the dotted line to build a huge factory near the Humber estuary making offshore wind turbines.

If you were Siemens would you come to Hull?  One of the prime requirements for inward investment is that it is  dependent on the infrastructure in place, all they can look forward to is poor road and rail connections for at least the next three or four years.

The Railways in Britain

In days gone by, the Tory Government, in the midst of selling off lots of things that were publicly owned to the private sector, sold off British Rail.  I would like to think that they did not like the sandwiches, but that would be just too ironic.  The way that it was sold off was unusual, as the rail companies were regionalised, but there was a different company that was responsible for the track and the stations.  I do not think that this is an ideal situation, but it is the situation that we have now.
Today, the new Tory Government have announced that the are going to insist that the private companies invest millions of pounds and turn their trains from polluting diesel to cleaner electricity.  The other advantage with an all electric railway is that costs per mile per passenger are slightly lower. The problem is that where are these companies going to get the money from?  They have already had a cut in the subsidy that they get from the Government into the pot of money that they have.  Out of this shrinking pot they have to find the money to maintain the service that they run, pay their staff to run the railways, then give handsome bonuses to the senior staff for doing such a good job, and pay a dividend to the shareholders, some of whom are our pension funds.
If the railways are having to be 'propped up' by Government subsidy, then surely this is an indication that they were not the sort of industry that would survive in the private sector, or were the terms of the deals they were offered not sufficient for them to make an operating profit.  There must have been something wrong for the subsidy to be still be on offer.  The Labour party are going to have a review of this situation  because, like me, they do not believe that this situation cannot be maintained where shrinking pots of money are being asked to pay for more things.  They have publicly stated that re-nationalisation is not being ruled out, but would not a different sort of structure be better suited to run the service that thousands of people every day rely on to get to work etc?

Russian Oligarchs

There are many things in this world that I do not understand and some of them I will write about here.  Here is one:

In the last century there was a revolution in Russia, where the workers took ownership of the means of production.  What this actually means is that the State would hold the ownership in trust for the people of Russia.  There were high levels of employment, most people had somewhere to live.  Large sections of the society were happy.  There was corruption also.  Senior members of the PolitBureau would be driven around in large, chauffeur-driven cars and lived a lavish lifestyle.

Bringing the situation up to date, there are a number of extremely wealthy Russians, Abramovic for example,  who own things like the Gas Company or the Mines, things that were previously State-Owned. 

How did this happen?  Who was involved?  Can someone explain this to me?

Lord's Reform.

We are in an interesting situation.  All three parties had Lords Reform on their election manifesto and yet there seems to be some problems with getting it passed into law. 
The Conservative party have a significant number of back benchers and junior ministers voting against this.  I do not know how they will deal with this situation but to openly defy their party in such numbers (91 at the last count) is surely a matter for concern.
The Labour party voted in favour of it at the second time of asking but they are unhappy that the Government have introduced a timetable for the discussion of this.  The Labour party are obviously not worried about the bill being 'talked out' where so much discussion takes place there is not sufficient time to make the bill law.
Finally, the Liberal Democrats, who introduced this bill have the felling that the partnership with the Conservative party may be damaged if David Cameron and the party elite cannot keep their back benchers in line. 
I do remember one senior back bencher standing up in Parliament stating that they should ditch the coalition and have another general election.  Do they seriously think that they have a chance of winning an outright majority?  They have not had the smoothest of rides since taking power, do they think they can go it alone?  There is no doubt in my mind that the Liberal Democrats will be very lucky to hang on to what they have got now, and that is speaking as a Lib Dem voter.

What a week that was!

Phew!  I do not know whether I am standing on my head or my feet.  A week past Sunday my wife got ordained as a deacon in the Church of England and I went to York on the Saturday so that I did not have to leave at silly o' clock to get there on time on Sunday.  Saturday was a terrible day for all sorts of reasons, but it rained persistently for most of the time that I was there.  Sunday morning was not good for me, I awoke really early and started panicing about what was going to be happening that day.  I had not breakfast as I set off to find a parking space to leave the car in.  Actually, I found one really easily and managed to pay by mobile phone.  They promised a text when the parking ticket ran out, but it did not arrive.  The service went well and my nephew Joe and his wife and two children made the trip from York, which I appreciated possibly more than I showed.  We then returned to Hull for a party at the church that we used to belong to.  I did not manage to get to talk to everyone, but those I talked to, I would like to thank for their time.
Monday morning I returned to work for a rest.  Lots of time spent doing nothing constructive.  Then I found a job that I thought I would like to do and the closing date was 5 p.m. on that day, so I rushed home, completed the form and got it sent in withonly minutes to go.
Tuesday was a trip to Leeds Trinity University.  What a nice, quaint, University.  One of the smallest in the country.  Lots of Wilberforce students did not turn up which was a major embarrassment for the College and we looked around and took part in some sessions that the academic staff had been volunteered for.  All of these went well, with only a minor problem in the Journalism session.
Wednesday was the post-mortem day and plans were discussed how to avoid embarrassing the College, or the staff that go with them and ensure that a decent number turn up.  Not having it compulsory was the first idea, and the second would be to have a returnable deposit if the kids turned up.  However. two out of the three people taking part in the debate were leaving in July, so their input might not carry the importqnce that it might.
Thursday and Friday were a complete washout.
Saturday was our new parish's Summer fair, and my presence was requested.  That morning I had bought a new book and I was enjoying reading it, consequently I arrived a little on the late side.
Sunday morning was the first service that Barbara deaconed.  We got an official welcome from the church and congregation, and then had a shared lunch, which was delightful.  Amanda and Caleb turned up with Nicola, amanda's mother in law, as did Denise and all her family.  Sunday afternoon was Heyop practice, and just by luck the person that should have turned up with the key did not.  So we went to Alan's house for the practice instead.  It was lucky there was only a few of us and Alan had a large room to accomodate us.  Another bit of sad news was that Hazel, our cellist, has had to leave as she does not have sufficient time to play with us.  New members was also something that was identified as a problem.
And we are back to Monday, and there is a job that I want to apply for that has the closing date of 5 p.m. today.................

Women Bishops

Today the General Synod is voting on the proposal to allow women to ascend to the office of Bishop.  However the vote is not that straight forward.  As this is a contentious issue, there has been 'tinkering' with the proposal and amendments have been added.  One of the amendments has the effect that it enshrines sexual discrimination into Law.  This will give people the right not to believe that a woman bishop has the same authority as a male bishop.  This could have the consequence of priests being ordained by a woman bishop not being an acceptable parish priest.  And if that priest ascended to the rank of bishop, there would be some that believe that he did not have the authority to ordain other priests.  Every priest and bishop would have to carry a 'pedigree' of every member of the Church so that certain people can be assured that their authority to practise has not been 'contaminated' by the absence of a Y chromosome.
The whole problem has arisen from the problem that Jesus' disciples were all men.  However, if you think of the context, it was an androgynous society, only men were allowed to preach, so that the only way God could get his message across was to make Jesus male, and an all male disciple-ship.  If Jesus was born into a different type of society, we might not be having this discussion at all, or even having the opposite discussion!

Barclays..........

Today, Barclays Bank's outlook got worse.  Moody's the credit rating company, look to be ready to downgrade Barclays rating unless they get the problems under control by the end of the month.  The consequences of that action is that Barclays will have to pay more to borrow money, which means that they will be less profitable.  The problems at Barclays seem to be huge.  They have to replace three senior figures, the C.E.O. the Chairman and the chief operating officer, who had only recently been promoted.  Then they have to sort out the culture.  Several well placed persons have commented on the culture that pervades Barclays Bank.  This is an equally difficult thing to do and may involve more people losing their jobs, or 'falling on their swords' to further save the bank from further embaressment.  And all of this is the result of people trying to make the bank more money!

The point is, where did that money come from?  Three guesses.................................

The Glazers take control...........

The owners of  Manchester United F.C. have decided to 'move' the company to the Cayman Islands and float the company on the New York Stock Exchange.  The obvious reason for doing this is to raise more money.  American investors will purchase shares in Manchester United in the hope of gaining a good return on their investment.  Of course the money that the Glazers earn from this will be subject to Cayman Island Tax Law.  Now I am no expert, but isn't the reason they used the Cayman Islands is to avoid tax?
The next thing to consider is that out of all this money that the Glazers are going to earn, how much of it is likely to be invested in players?  On recent showings - not much, or none at all.  What did they do with the money they got from the sale of Chritiano Ronaldo?  They paid off a tax bill.
I am not a Man. Utd. fan, in fact I think that it is vaguely funny that a team that has been 'sticking it' to others for so long, might be about to get some of it's own medicine, and the chief architects are going to their own board.
Schadenfreude at its best!

Modern Industrial Realtions

Recently, I was reminded of a time in our past, under Harold 'SuperMac' MacMillan, when we 'never had it so good'.  A worker could leave a job, and easily find another.  We had high levels of employment and low levels of benefit payments (although I do realise that benefits were a lot less generous back then)  the economy was booming.
Contrast that with now.  We have rising levels of unemployment, particulalry among the younger age groups, and benefit payments are also rising, (we are also in danger of putting more people at risk by cutting their benefit).  As a consequence, the Government's intake from tax and National Insurance from the working population is decreasing, and they are having to borrow more to cover the deficit (who from?).
The effect this is having on people that do have a job is well known.  They work lunch-times, work unpaid overtime, and try not to phone in sick.  All due to fear that they might lose their jobs if they are seen as being 'unreliable'. 
The most extreme example of this, I found out about recently.  There is a fast-food chain operating in the Esat-End of London that frequently hires people whose immigration status is not clear.  Frequently pays them below the National Minimum Wage.  Sometimes has staff staying 'on site' in store cupboards, frequently involving 'hot bedding' which is where one member of staff works, while the other sleeps, and at change of shift, they change places.  Although many laws are being broken in these situations, nothing has happened to the owners of the company, because none of the staff are willing to make a complaint, because they fear that doing this will result in them losing their jobs.  I have another term that describes this situation - SLAVERY, and this has been illegal in thsi country since 1833.  However, many commentators claim that there are more people in slavery now than in the 1800's.  Here's a few more to add to the list.

What a load of bankers!

The banks really are putting themselves in a difficult corner.  All the things that have gone against them in recent time, it is really little wonder that Mervyn King has said something.  On this morning's Breakfast there were 'experts' talking about the way that the banks are organised currently have caused problems in the past.  So as an historian put it, "the only thing that studying history does is prove that people do not learn from history."  The banks being the latest examples.

Do you know the group that are the most upset about this?  The investors!  Their complaint is that they cannot trust the banks and there is no guarantee that there will not be a criminal enquiry and stiffer fines than the £290m, dished out already, to contend with.  This depresses the share price, and the investers, who include our pension funds, lose money, on top of the money that they have already lost through the illegal manipulation of interest rates.

Stephan Hester has decided, for the second year running that he will forego his bonus of some £2.4m.  Good!  he does not deserve a bonus after his latest bank cock-up meant that some people could not access funds for an extended period of time and some people suffered some real hardship!  Maybe RBS would like to take that £2.4m and distribute it among the people that have suffered.  A bit too left wing methinks!

There is a report that is supposed to sort these problems out.  Separating the investment arm form the retail arm seems to be the solution.  As was described on this morning's TV show, both of these have different attitudes and when you have them playing on the same team, it does not work.  So don't expect change to happen any time soon.  You can guarantee that there will be some serious lobbying from the people who will have their ability to earn oodles of cash curtailed by this re-organisation.

Nurse! Nurse!

Today comes the news that an NHS Trust has become 'bankrupt'.  It has been losing money at the rate of £1 million per week for the last three years, meaning that it now has debts of £150 million (yes I know that the rules of mathematics have been broken, but just run with it.).  When the NHS was set up, believe it or not, those involved thought that expenditure would shrink as the health of the population improved.  Instead it has ballooned to its present levels.  We are told that the South East London NHS Trust has some of the best mortality rates and lowest infection rates in the country.  Is that going to be put at risk by the NHS Administrators who will try to turn this Trust around so that it is financially stable?  Several teams of managers have been tried, and none of them have managed to stop the hemorrhage of funds.  So what is the solution?  The usual solution to problems of this nature is to cut expenditure, which inevitably means a cut in the services you provide.  This could mean the figures that the Trust are so rightly proud of are under threat.  The Tories have blamed Labour as there was a PFI initiative to re-build two of the hospitals which take away £61 million which equates to 14% of the Budget (using the rules of maths means that the total budget is over £450 million!).  The obvious reason for pointing this out is that without this debt, the Trust would be running with a £60 million profit!  However, they would have to look after the hospitals they had before they were replaced, and they must have been replaced for a reason! 

What is the solution?

'Tax needn't be taxing'

Oh well, everyone is getting their knickers in a twist over Jimmy Carr, Gary Barlow, and other people avoiding tax by sending their cash on holiday to a warmer climate.  There are also calls for David Cameron to have the details of his tax freely available for everyone to see.  The major problem is that he was one of the critics of Jimmy Carr's behaviour, for which he has apologised, and it is now seen as hypocritical of him to criticise someone else, whose tax affairs became public, when he is not prepared to reciprocate. 
Why should the tax affairs of someone be available to public view? 
Why should the tax affairs of the Cabinet of the Government be available to public view?
There is a Scandinavian country, I forget which one, has just that system in place.  Interestingly, their privacy laws are stiffer than ours.  A journalist was interviewed and asked if this was strange, his reply was that everyone was in the same situation, so why should it be strange?  He also made the point that no-one looks at their next door neighbours tax returns, although they were perfectly entitled to do this.
Revealing the tax affairs of public servants would avoid the expenses scandal that cost some people their jobs, and others their liberty.  The other advantage to this would be that 'we would all be in this together' which is something that the Government keeps on calling for. 
The thousands of public sector workers have done their part, by having their jobs taken away, saving the country money.  What about the rich paying the taxes that they are supposed to.  Jimmy Carr has gone up in my estimation for recognising that he had made a mistake, rectifying it and apologising for it.  Who is going to be next?

Education, Education, Education

The Secretary of State for Education, the Rt. Honourable Michael Gove, is doing what all previous Secretaries of State for Education have done, grind their political axes, put forward their politically driven ideologies, have very little experience in education, yet make policies, sometimes, it seems, on the hoof, that the education system has to follow!  However I think that education is devolved in Scotland and Wales, let us see what rabbits they pull out of the hat to keep up with the Joneses.
The present upset is the latest idea is to turn back the clock to the 1950's or 1960's and have linear exams, and call them 'O'Levels for the brighter kids and have 'simpler' exams for those of lower ability.  Plus ca change, pus ca meme chose!  Isn't that what a well designed education system designed to do?  Haven't we had that since the Tories messed around with the education system 20 years ago?
My solution is quite simple.  Make Education apolitical.  Have Education run by people who know about Education.  Once you have decided what children need to know, stick to it.  The reason that we have had 'grade inflation' in the past years may indeed have something to do with the exams 'getting easier', but everyone has ignored the fact that the teaching of these exams has improved because teachers have become familiar with what is required.  Is 'teaching to the test' a bad thing?  I guess it is alright if the test tests real learning.
We only have a few more weeks before the annual rite of "'A' Levels are getting easier", as the A/A* rates go up.  That is one of the biggest insults to young people that I have ever heard!  As an 'A' Level teacher, I know how hard students have to work to get an A/A*.  The country should be rightly proud of these young people for the efforts that they have put in.  But I know that on August 13th what the headlines in the newspapers will be...............

The Eurozone, and all that................

Currently, the leader of the G20 economic club are meeting in Mexico to talk about the current global financial crises (plural).  Most of them could be grouped under one heading and called the Eurozone crisis (singular).  The head of the E.U. has been interviewed and laid the blame of the crisis firmly at the door of the Americans for their inventive practices in some financial products.  However, is that not just a ploy to try and divert attention form the problems in his own back yard?  Greece was on the verge of becoming the first country to go bankrupt and leave the Eurozone, but there are several countries that are not that far behind.
Greece seems to be populated by people who spend most of their waking hours thinking up ways to avoid paying tax.  Obviously, with very little money raised by taxation, then it does not take a rocket scientist to work out that the Government will run out of money at some point.
Spain has had run away property inflation.  Prices of houses just kept on going up and up, rather like they do in London. (£450,000 for a two bed flat in London, would buy you a very significant property elsewhere in the U,K,). eventually, the economy ran out of money as it all became tied up in loans to buy houses.  Spain currently cannot afford to borrow money to stimulate its economy as it is being charged interest rates at over 7%, which is unheard of.
Then we come to good old Blighty.  the only country in the E.U. that has experienced a double-dip recession.  Critics of Gideon have said that he took too much money out of the economy too fast and the economy slowed down, again.  Let me give you this analogy.  In most households, a lack of money means that you cut back, fewer trips to the cinema, meals out etc.  But what you do not do is leave yourself so short that you do not have enough money to get to work!  That is what has happened here.  They pontificate about the private sector 'picking up the slack', but when people do not have the money to buy the goods and services offered by the private sector, it will be unable to pick up the slack at all.  Have they realised this too late?  Report are now coming out that the Government is offering the banks 'cheap money' (there's a concept!)  Money that the banks will lend to small businesses.  when Gordon tried this it did not work, perhaps Gideon will have more success.

Social Mobility - the path to nirvana?

So Nick Clegg has got a 'bee in his bonnet' about social mobility.  The current opinion is that social mobility is at it's lowest level for years.  7% of children are privately educated and 70 % of High Court Judges went to Private Schools.  Is this the kind of privilege that we want to enshrine or do we want a more meritocratic society, where the brightest reach the top, but the down side is that those that are not talented occupy the lower reaches of society.  Another factor to include is that earnings are too widely spread.  If a 'meritocracy' was in place, those with wealth would work to make sure that their children do not fall too far, which is where private educations comes in.  After all would you pay for something that was the same as what was freely available?  If you asked people I am guessing that most of them would consider a meritocracy a good idea.  However, if you question them, most would not realise the down sides to a meritocracy.
The real question is "What type of society do we want to live in?"  Many people, who earn more than average, have made statements that they would be prepared to pay more tax if we all lived in a fairer society.  Where were those voices when the 50% tax rate was abolished?  Instead the richest got the same percentage tax cut as the poorest, except to the poorest that meant £200 per year, to the richest that meant £40,000 per year.  There is no doubt that we do not live in a fair society, and that the policies that are being passed do nothing to make our unequal society more equal.  In years to come the rich will still be rich, the poor will still be poor, and the rich and middle classes will be providing us with our politicians, judges, oxford graduates, etc. for a very long time to come

Motorway madness?

On a recent drive down to London, the route we took was mostly motorway.  One of the most annoying things that happened was the way people occupied the middle lane, a disorder that should be called "middle-lane-itis".  The characteristics of this disorder is the obsessional occupation of the middle lane, frequently travelling at 69 m.p.h.  The most annoying thing is when this disorder takes over a driver even when the left hand lane has no traffic in.  Treatment involved is being driven in a car in the left hand lane at a series of speeds starting at 60 m.p.h and progressing in steps up to 71 m.p.h.  To apply for treatment, you should e-mail your local constabulary admitting that you have incurable 'middle-lane-itis and that you would like to be offered treatment via the C.P.S.

Get real Blackburn Rovers fans!

So, after 11 years in the Premiership, and winning it once, Blackburn have been relegated.  What I want to focus on is the behaviour of the fans.  Last night, in one of the most crucial games of the season, the fans decided to protest about the owners and the manager, and ignored what was happening on the pitch.  I hate to say this, but you are not the first club to have unpopular owners, speak to some Man. Utd. fans, or even the supporters of F.C. United of Manchester, who were formed as a protest against the Glazer's ownership, and are doing very well.  Speak to AFC Wimbledon fans who were formed after their club was transported to Milton Keynes.  There are others.  Neither are you the first club to have an unpopular manager.  Speak to some Aston Villa fans, among others.  You piled the pressure on Steve Keane and he took it on the chin, and he did not lose the dressing room.  You are fans of the football team, and the fact that you did not get behind your team last night , in my humble opinion, means that you have lost the right to call yourself 'fans'.

An alternative economic policy?

So the EuroZone has been thrown into turmoil because Sarkozy has lost the French election, and Hollande has said that he plans to spend his way out of recession.  This harks back to a previous post, , that the way to stimulate the economy, according to John Maynard Keynes, was to spend on infra-structure projects.  Gordon Brown thought the way was to invest in the banks, who would then lend it to business to kick-start the economy, and we all know what happened there.  The banks re-capitalised, and we went into a double dip recession. 
Today we also read that a report has come out that David Cameron's Big Society is not working, as people are not buying into it, and charity funding has been cut. 
Another report says that David Cameron has 'heard the message' from the recent local elections.
Can you spot the pattern?  With less money in the economy, the Big Society idea is that people will 'rally round' and take up the slack.  It is no surprise that it is not, people are hurting!  Thousands of public sector jobs have been cut and people are struggling!  This is the price that people are paying for the massive cock-up with the economy, but the top 1% are protected with their off-shore investments, etc.
If  Hollande is successful, and he spends his way to economic success, voices will then start to be raised, and ask the question, "Why was it not tried her?"

The F.A. Cup - the season's finale?

Today is F.A. Cup day.    This is usually the final game of the season.  I agree with Sol Campbell, in writing  in today' Guardian that this might have taken some of the shine off a glittering occasion.  The highlight of this week-end is definitely the Newcastle vs. Man. City tomorrow.
However, what a game in store.  Two teams, who could both be said have under-achieved, are going to slug it out for the second of the three domestic cups. 
Excuse me, I must go to the fridge and get another beer.  Enjoy the match!

"Studio" Schools vs. Other Schools

Here in Hull, there is a Studio School opening.  As far as I understand it, these schools will operate on a more work-based footing, while still delivering education and preparing the students for the world of work.  The way that they do that is to have the students work on projects that have relevance to the real world and teach them their English, Maths and Science, etc. through the vehicle of their projects.  Studio Schools have established in other places in the U.K. and have their own web-site where staff upload resources for others to share.  Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?  There is a down side.  The students in Years 10 and 11 have to complete 3 projects in each year, and they last for 17 weeks.  That means they will have to attend for 51 weeks of the 52 week year.  According to the Principle, they will be 'flexible' on how that works, following the lead from other studio schools.  The students will also have longer days to work, from 8 a.m to 5 p.m. again to mimic the work-place.  Students will be a allowed to go on family holidays, by arrangement with the school, and the longer time that the students stay at school mean that the families do not have child-care problems that parent of student in 'normal schools' have.

If these schools are designed to promote the work-place as the destination for these young people, does that not fly in the face of the stated aim of the last Government that 50% of young people should go to University.  If studio schools adapt students to the work-place, what is the purpose of the other schools in the country?  I am not sure of the political support that these schools get, is this not a step backwards where kids left school at 14 and started out as office juniors or apprentices in the work place, and only the very talented went to do 'A' levels and go on to University.

Britain has to decide what sort of Education system is needed, and then go for it.  I do not mean that the politicians are the only ones to decide, but everyone!

Hinchingbrook Hospital - the thin end of the wedge?

Today the details were announced of the deal that took Hinchingbrook Hospital into private ownership by Circle.  They have written off the hospital's debt of £39m and have agreed to improve services, and their stated ambition is to make it 'one of the best' district hospitals in the country.  They have been given a 10 year contract and are expected to make £10m per year for the life of the contract and 44% will be kept by Circle and the other 54% will go to the Government.  On the face of it, a nice little deal.  Circle also claim that they will 're-invest profits' back into the service.
What is the alternative?  We are in a the second dip of a deep recession.  Government has decided that the way to deal with this is to cut expenditure, which they are doing.  Already thousands of public sector workers have already lost their jobs, and more will in the future as further cuts that the Government has put into place bite.  In this environment it would be easy to see that there would be some 'rationalisation of health care' i.e. hospital closures.  Hinchingbrook was one of those hospitals that were in danger of being axed.  If the hospital closes, everyone loses their jobs.  Under this deal, there is a strong chance that some jobs will be saved, in some way.
What I do not understand is, what skills do the private managers have that the NHS managers do not?  Why not 'poach' these staff and give them jobs in the NHS?
The big danger is - if this experiment is successful, expect to see it at a hospital near you!

The post-derby situation

Well it looks like Man. City have it in their hands to win the Premier title for the first time since 1968.  It really beggars belief that a bookie has already paid out on Man. Utd. winning the title, because there were some t-shirts offered for sale on line.  Buy one! It could be a nice investment?

At work, one of the managers supports Man. Utd. and on Monday he came to the Staff Room during break and said that he had a dream that Paul Scholes had scored two goals to win the match.  As it transpired, Man. Utd. were awful and Man. City won by a single goal.  So I wrote him this poem:

Scholes’ goals

Did not materialise

It was just a dream

Or was it lies?

The game ended one-nil

Because of Kompany’s skill

That made Ferguson wince

Two games each left

The title is still open

But I know what you are hopin’

I sent it to him in an e-mail, and his response was:

"Very creative.  More creative than our midfield."

Is it a bird......is it a plane....?

The government has announced several sites in the East End of London where Surface to Air missiles will be stationed during the Olympics.  There will also be a squad of specially trained snipers that will be able to shoot the pilot of a plane that looks like it is a risk.

This is the stuff that they are telling us about, so the question is, What are they not telling us?

Thinking about it, the most likely threat will probably come from someone with a bomb-vest making their way to a sensitive area on the Olympic site.  This will probably come from the volunteers and employees used during the Olympics.  You can be sure that these people will have security checks, and there will be 'spooks' listening in to things to try and foil terrorist attempts.  The problem is that we are not told of their successes until the danger has well and truly passed.  This is usually because revealing details will place people's lives at risk.

If security is tighter during the Olympics and people may have to queue a little longer, then I hope that they realise that this is part of the attempt to keep them safe.  I, for one, will not be anywhere near London during the Olympics, as I do not have a ticket, but I do wish everybody who does go 'health and safety'.

"The Shadow of Sleaze"

My first, fatuous, comment is that title sounds like a good name for a band, particularly a politically aware band - just a thought! (Just checked on YouTube and there are no bands called it)

What is on the agenda for today?  The Right Honourable Secretary for Culture and Media, Mr. Jezza Hunt.
He is accused of not acting with due propriety when handling Mr Rupert Murdoch's acquisition of BSkyB.  As far as I am concerned that deal cannot be undone.  It would cost, probably the tax-payer, billions to buy the shares from Rupert Murdoch.  It is alleged that Jezza's assistant was too open and friendly with one of Mr. Murdoch's employee's.  Consequently, he resigned.  Mr. Murdoch's employee 'incorrectly' labelled conversations as being with Jezza, when in fact they were with his secretary.  Jezza was advised to refer the matter to the Monopolies and Mergers Commission, as the deal was so important and if allowed would allow Mr. Murdoch too big a share of the available media, but he did not.  It is alleged that Governments have altered policies so that Mr. Murdoch would not get upset and 'take his ball home'.
This is a sorry tale.  Will we ever know the complete truth?  I do not think so, but our imaginations will have no problems filling in the 'gaps'.

Is there time to save the NHS?

I received an e-mail and read an article on the Guardian web site that both asked the same question.

First, a little background.  Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health, has had a law passed which means that the NHS is going to be re-organised.  The re-organisation means that groups of G.P.'s will form Commisioning Groups who will, in essence, 'buy' the health care that they think their patients will require.  To 'sweeten' the deal, the Government have promised not to have the G.P.'s pay subject to regional variations, whereas many of the staff that they work with will have their pay varied according to their Post Code.

Last night, there were meetings where the biggest private health care companies put on some 'presentations' to groups of interested G.P.'s.  Rival presentations were put on by an organisation called 38 degrees (http://www.38degrees.org.uk/ if you want to check for yourself) whose main aim in life is to make sure that the NHS remains 'free at the point of delivery'.  They say that there is 'wiggle room' within the act so that the 'fat cats' in the private sector do not get their hands on the N.H.S. (My words, not theirs). 
The problem that I do not have experience with other forms of health care.  On the continent, doctors receive part of their money direct from patients.  What are the benefits/disadvantages of this?  I know that we do not want a system like the U.S. where patients are not taken to hospital unless they have the correct insurance forms, and where a large proportion of bankruptcies are the result of non-payment of medical bills where people have long term chronic conditions.

So save the N.H.S. and make sure that the poor and vulnerable are protected.

Doubling the Recession

It has been announced that the U.K. economy is going into the second dip of the 'double-dip recession that we are in.  George Osbourne has always rejected this idea.  I remember seeing Michael Moore (MM) on the Piers Morgan show.   MM said that when he was young rich people could have their fancy houses and foreign holidays because they would invest some of their wealth in jobs.  Now they are hanging on to it because they are worried that the recession would be longer and more severe than everyone had predicted (I am para-phrasing).  George Osbourne has long said that a double dip recession is unlikely to happen.  To explain the recent figures he has pointed the finger at the slow-down in the E.U. Zone as being responsible, as we cannot sell them our good and exporting has diminished.  That may be a factor, but it is only one.
Looking at the figures put out recently shows that manufacturing has indeed slowed, but then so has construction.  The second dip has been because George Osbourne has cut too far and too deep.  Many public sector workers have lost their jobs and will not have the money to put an extension onto their houses or buy the goods that manufacturers produces.  Many have consistently said that investment in the economy is the way out of this recession.  Gordon Brown missed a trick when he was in charge.  He put money into the banks to re-capitalise and said that this was the sort of thing that John Maynard Keanes would have advised.  That does not correspond to the things that I have been told.  J.M. Keanes would have said that the investment should have gone into infra-structure projects.  That way there would be more people working, paying tax, buying new televisions, and having extensions built on the side of their houses.
The sad thing is that there is no guarantee that either scheme would have worked over the other, except that the Keansian view would at least have people working.

One of the certainties of life - paying tax?

The problems with the way the wealthy pay their taxes is still causing a rumpus in the News.  Recent reports suggest that "some millionaires pay less tax than their secretaries"  The question that should be answered is 'how do they do it?'
One method of paying less tax is to have your income paid into a company that you have set up, so that the income attracts 20% tax instead of the 45% that used to be 50%.
Donating to charity.  Those with significant incomes could pay half of their income to charity and their tax rate is halved, or pay 75% of your income to charity and you will only pay 11% on the remainder.  There have been reports that Lord Fink has told a group of wealthy individuals that the main reason to give to charity is because of all the interesting places you will get invited to, even No. 10.  Anything that is done to harm wealthy people giving to charity will affect charities severely as 50% of charities income comes from just 8% of their donors.  There was a suggestion for wealthy people's giving be treated the same as the majority that give to charity.  When I give to charity, I usually 'tick the box' to say that I want the donation Gift-Aided.  What happens then is the Treasurer of that organisation has to write my name and address on a form, along with others that have 'ticked the same box' and send it to H.M.R.C.  These names and addresses are checked against the list of tax-payers in the U.K.  Then H.M.R.C. send a cheque to that organisation for 25% of the donation.  The main criticism is that this system creates a lot of work for little money, less than a wealthy person sending the appropriate forms to H.M.R.C. saying that they have given a large wedge of cash to a charity.
I think that I agree with another commentator, perhaps rather than George trying to 'iron out' the anomalies, one at a time, why not scrap the lot and start again?  Then you could devise a tax system that could be fair and could be seen to be fair. 
Will this lot do it?  They may try, but they will screw it up!

Evangelical Christians - a school disco view of heaven?

In case there is any doubt, I must tell you I do not agree with the view taken by Evangelical Christians.  At Church this morning, the vicar gave a sermon that was basically the manifesto of Evangelical Christians.  The basic theme is that 'unless you believe that Jesus died for your sins', and salvation is only through this belief.  He then went on to say that in the tomb of Mohammad, Mohammad is still there, but if you go to the tomb of Jesus Christ, he is not there, proving the philosophy.  He also said that followers of any other religion, other than Christianity, would not 'be saved'.  He also quoted several bible verses that support the Evangelical view.

What an arrogant view to take!  This is the same attitude that I met at school at the disco, unless you had a 'stamp on the wrist' they would not allow you in.  This is the same as the Evangelical Christians belief of heaven, that unless you believe that Jesus died for our sins, then you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  A joke - Gandhi was being shown around heaven, and kept seeing a high wall.  He asked St. Peter what the wall was for, and the answer was, 'It's for the Evangelicals, they like to think that they are the only ones here.'

My view is that God is more forgiving than that!  In my view the most important thing is the way that you live your life, not your beliefs.  Believers of other faiths can access heaven depending on how they have lived their lives.  "My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?" John Chapter 14 verse 2.

George Osbourne - Own Goal?

Gorgeous George, the chancellor of the Exchequer has removed tax relief on donations to charities.  It is his attempt to stop tax avoidance.  Good call!  Give away some money to avoid paying tax on it!
Some of the major charities in the U.K. have been lobbying to have this rule overturned, and there are reports that some donors have already told their charities that their donations will not happen due to the rule change.  It strikes at Delicious Dave, the Prime Minister's pet project - Big Society.  This is the idea that philanthropists will put their hands in their pockets and support charities that will take up the slack caused by the cuts in public expenditure.  Brilliant thinking George!
You know it is a shame that the Conservative Party is not a charity, because if it was, this stupid rule would not have found its way onto the statute list.

The Met. and Race

In today's paper, there are more revelations about the Metropolitan Police Officers and some young black people that were abused, physically and verbally.  As an ex-Psychology teacher (more about this at a later date) let's see what psychology has to say about this.
The study that could shed some light  on this situation is Sherif's "Robber's Cave" study.  In this study they 'took over' a boys summer camp in America.  They arranged one group of boys to get better things than the other group.   For example, at a 'party' one group of boys arrived earlier than the other and ate all the nicest sandwiches, etc. leaving the dried up, curled up sandwiches and the flat Coke for the other boys.  Not surprisingly, when the boys' attitudes were investigated one group of boys said  that they did not "like" the boys in the other group.  Interestingly, Sherif and his team attempted to undo the damage that they had done to the boys' attitudes.  They achieved this by arranging mis-haps that could only be undone if all of the boys worked together.  For example, they arranged for the van carrying all of the boys to break down in a remote situation, and the only way to get to safety was if all the boys pushed the van, which they did.  Following several events of this type, the team again investigated the boys' attitude towards the other group, and they found that they "weren't that bad after all."
This is  not the only study in this area, you can investigate "Brown Eyes, Blue Eyes" on YouTube, or do an internet search for "Henri Tajfel's" study.
Sherif's study is interesting as it shows how discrimination may occur.  One group in society receives preferential treatment in comparison to another group, or at least there is a perception of preferential treatment.  It can be 'treated' by making sure that both group share a view that 'we are all in this together' (where have I heard that before?).   You can draw your own conclusions about how this is reflected in how groups in society are treated.

The Premier League, and all that.........

Growing up in a family that had a rugby playing father and a cousin who played for Ireland and the Lions, and having played rugby at school, to quite a high standard, it is somewhat surprising that I follow football as closely as I do, and tend to not follow the Six Nations.
There has been enough already written about the goings on in the Premier League, and I have had my own tuppence worth (see earlier posts), but we re getting to the end of the season and it is still 'Game On'!
At the top, it is obvious that one of the Manchester clubs will claim the title.  Personally, I hope it will be the blue half of the city that is celebrating.  What are the odds on Carlos Tevez scoring the winner in injury time in the Derby later on this month?
Further down the table it gets a bit more interesting.  How high can Swansea and Newcastle finish?  Swansea have delighted everyone this season with their style of football, and Brendan Rodgers has been rightly hailed as one of the outstanding mangers of the season.  But hang on a moment, Alan Pardew has not done too badly either, having bee written off as the 'bosses friend' and expected to lead Newcastle into a relegation fight.  But he has bought well, his strikers, if they remain at Newcastle will certainly light up the League next term, but there is the difficulty, they have played well and it has not gone unnoticed.
Chelsea seemed to have hit on a winning formula with RDM at the helm, what price on him keeping his job?  I would also suggest that the main reason is the astute man-management that he has employed leading to the 'senior players' not spitting their dummies out when left on the bench.  He has communicated his reasons to these players and they all seem to have bought in to his philosophy.
Arsenal, my wife's favourite team (she also has the hots for Arsene), have seemed to have done enough recently to claim a Champions League place, whereas Tottenham's wheels seem to have come off, and it is touch and go whether they will deny Chelsea their space in the top four.
Down at the bottom, I think that Wigan, Wolves and QPR (sorry James) will be the teams to go down, although one of those might successfully swap places with Bolton, a team that I thought would do better than they have.  Blackburn, I hope, will be safe and a just reward for Steve Kean, who has been given dog's abuse that he did not deserve.  If they do stay up, it will be interesting who they buy, and who they can hold on to, as some of the better players will be easily persuaded to jump ship.
Anyway, I have written enough, and I am sorry to have said so much, but you know.........

Disturbing Image...........

Sorry all, but I have been having an unpleasant image going round and round in my head, rather like a bad song that you keep hearing.  The image I have is of a group of very fat pigs with their snouts in a trough.  It used to be that these were faceless 'bankers' (I took special care typing that word) but after reading that some 50% of members of the commissioning bodies that will be commissioning health services for you and me, have external financial interests in private health companies.  It looks like the trough will be getting very crowded during the course of this Government.  Some of these are not for profit, like the Virgin Care Group, but others are not.  So your GP may have a conflict of interest:  his/her Hippocratic oath saying that he/she should do no harm, against giving you a lot of 'unnesscessary' treatments to make him more money.

Just to add to the image, GP's salaries are not on the list for regional pay deals, but nearly everyone else in the NHS is on the list for regional pay deals.
The plot thickens............................

Selling off the family silver.

Greetings!
As you are aware, we all own an 82% share of the Royal Bank of Scotland.  We paid £45.5 billion for the privilege.  We had to 'step in' when RBS ran out of money and was in danger of collapsing and leaving the management with very red faces indeed.  The price we paid was when the bank shares traded at approximately 50 pence a share.  Currently, we have been rumoured to be in negotiations with Abu Dhabi for them to purchase up to a third of the Governments share of RBS at the current price of about 25 pence a share.
The Government has long stated that it is not in the bank-owning business and would like to dispose of the RBS shares back to the private sector, where they belong.  Nationalisation has not been in fashion for a long time.
If this deal goes through, the Government will get back 1 million pounds for every 2 million pounds it invested in RBS on our behalf.  Any way that you look at this deal, the figures do not add up.  They make even less sense when you think that we are in a recession and lots of people have lost their jobs.
Of course the Government is hoping that once they signal that RBS shares are being sold, that will mean that the price of the shares will rise.  Hopefully, that will be true, but will they rise to such a point where they are sold at a break-even price?  That is more than double the current price - I think not!
The other benefit to this Government of selling the RBS shares is that the management of the bank can pay themselves fantastic bonuses for working for RBS.  Remember the noise that was made about Stephen Hester's (CEO of RBS) £1 million bonus, and there was the probability that the issue would be discussed in Parliament! When RBS is in private hands we will be told that is is 'none of our concern'.
So once again, this Government is selling off our assets at knock-down prices to their 'buddies' in the private sector.
Champers all round!

I must be getting old.........

Today, for the first time in a number of years, I went to the dentist.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be: some extractions of 'root retained', I think there are three of them, and one filling.  The point I would like to make is that the dentist looked like she was twagging from school.  I expected an older lady come in and berate her for not being at school.  Anyway, Rachel, was very professional and definitely gave the impression that she knew what she was doing, it is just my prejudices.
It is like the experience I had some years ago when I re-visited my primary school.  I have distinct memories of standing in front of a mirror, which was head height when I was at school.  Now, it is waist height, things that I remember have 'grown up' with me, so I expect dentists to be older than me, just like they were when I attended regularly with my Mum.

George Osbourne - The Game's Up!

Yesterday was Budget day, and there were lots of people with more time and intelligence than me pouring over the figures and working out what it meant for people in various situations up and down the country.  I am sure that you have your favourite 'sound bite' and fact that arose from this momentous occasion.  I tried to read a number of articles so that I could get a bablanced view.  There were a number of findings that were reported that stuck in my head.  Poor families could be up to £220 per year worse off, whereas rich people, earning over £150,000 per year have received a tax cut of £10,000 per year.  Yes, George, we are all in this together.  This tax cut for the wealthy comes from the fact that the top rate of tax will be reduced from 50% to 45%.  George felt that he had to do this so that the 'wealth creators' would not leave the country.  However, if they did, when they sold their house, would not the income be taxed?  Then, when somebody else bought it they would have to pay stamp duty at the increased rate of 7%! Ker-ching!!! 
There is one group of wealthy individuals that I would like to leave, can you tell who?
Anyway, to the point.  On the Guardian website, Polly Curtis has a Blog called 'Reality Check' (check it out, it is fab!).  In yesterday's blog she had a graphic which sums it all up, which I have 'borrowed' and posted here:

Need I say more................................................

It's never Dull in 'Ull

For those that do not know, I moved to Hull in 2000, and I have stayed here ever since.  The city of Hull has its problems, like many other inner cities, but the Council and Business have been working together to try and improve things for the people of Hull.  We have had new shopping centres added to our city and although some shops have come and gone they are pleasant places to visit.  The Bus Station has also been modernised, but there was a design feature that might not have been foreseen.  There is a road that the buses use to enter and leave the bus station.  Because bus drivers get moaned at by customers and supervisors alike, they used to drive quite quickly into and out of the bus station.  The road they use is on the route between one shopping centre (St. Stephan's) and the Train Station, and the main town centre and the other shopping centre (Princes' Quay).  Not surprisingly, some people are in a rush to get from one side of the road to the other, and there have been many 'near misses' on this road.  The main cause is that people do not wait for the 'green man' before crossing. 
It is thought that people use a 'cost/benefit analysis' when making their decisions.  In this case it would involve and examination of the costs of crossing against the 'green man', and the costs of not crossing against the 'green man, etc.  and all sorts of information goes into the making of a decision.  The Council have decided to add a further piece of information into the 'mix'.  They will install a display, linked to the traffic signals, that displays the amount of time until the next 'green man' indicates that it is safe to cross.  If this displays a significant time until the next 'green man' then this will decrease the benefits of waiting for the next 'green man'.  Obviously a shorter time will decrease the costs of waiting. 
Overall, I would expect it to not influence the amount of 'near misses' on this very busy road, as it will not affect the biggest benefit of crossing against the 'green man', looking 'cool'. 
Personally, I would allow natural selection to have a full influence in the operation of this crossing, and those too stupid or too impatient to wait for the 'green man' to get what is coming to them.  The pity of it is, the poor drivers will probably suffer as well.

'Drivin' along in my automobile'

The latest piece of Government tomfoolery has been announced over the week-end.  The Road Network is going to be privatised.  The reason for this is that the Government do not have enough money to upgrade the road network, so they are going to give the roads to the private sector and they can spend money on the roads, and we shall all benefit.  So, wake up and smell the coffee!
The current situation is that drivers of cars and trucks etc. pay the Government a fee, the Vehicle Excise Duty, to use the roads.  You would think that the Government would us all of this to keep the roads in tip-top condition.  That is not the case at all.  Once the Government get their hands on the driver's money, they can do whatever they like with it.  Build hospitals, schools, give it to the banks etc.
So what are they proposing?  The private sector will upgrade the roads, and on the 'new' roads that they build, they can charge tolls, or they can earn 'shadow tolls' where the private company will be paid according to the number of cars that use the new road from the Vehicle Excise Duty 'pot'.  From this money, they have to keep the roads in good order and pay their share holders a dividend.  Another thing that the private company can do, given that it will have a regular income is to borrow money from the banks, which means that another lice of the money that they Government gives them will be paid to the banks as repayments and interest.  So once again we have the transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich, a kind of anti-Robin Hood.
The most obvious solution is to create an organisation that acts 'at arms length' from the Government that will have the responsibility for the roads, and will have income from the Vehicle Excise Duty money that is collected.  This organisation will have strict accounting oversight so that a) it does not run out of money and b) the money that is is given is spent efficiently.  Is that too much to ask?

Dr. Rowan Williams

Well, Dr. Williams has stood down from the position  of the Archbishop of Canterbury after 10 years in the post.  I do not mean to be overly critical, but he never seemed to have the force of character to carry off the role.  An interesting comment that he made was that he said that no matter how much he worked at some problems, they never seemed to improve.  Also many commentators say that there will be a schism in the Anglican communion.  For me this will be a great pity, as what I consider the greatest strength of the Church is it's diversity.  This diversity embraces those that are at the 'Catholic' end of the spectrum, those at the 'Evangelical' end, and those who describe themselves as 'Charimatics'.  Having this diversity also means that people will disagree, if you have lived in a large family you will know what I mean, but most families keep in contact despite the problems.
What 'problems' are there that threaten the cohesion of the Anglican Church? 
One problem is the ordination of women bishops.  This problem was predictable, as after ordaining women as priests, it would have been obvious to many that women bishops would be the next step.
Another problem is that of openly gay clergy.  Clergy that remain 'in the closet' are not a problem, however.  That is a hypocritical stance, and one that is not worthy of the Church. 
Another comment that could be made is that 'society has moved on' with regard to the role of women and homosexuality, but the Church has not. 
It is incredibly sad, but unless someone can come up with a solution to these problems the Anglican Communion will probably split, and will be weakened as a result.

North and 'Sarf'

Today we have another suggestion allegedly going to appear in the Budget in a few days time.  The Right Honourable George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the is Exchequer, is going to introduce regional variations into public sector pay.  On the face of it, this appears very fair.  After all, why should a Staff Nurse in Hull have a better quality of life than a Staff Nurse in London? Why should a Teacher have a worse quality of life in London than Hull?  However, there are other things that vary throughout the different regions of the U.K.  I am sure that inhabitants of the Hebrides would like to fill up their cars for the same costs as in the South of England.  Another regional variation is the number of applicants per vacancy.  In Hull it is over 30 per job, and much lower in London and the South East.  This high ratio of applicants per job has the overall effect of lowering wages, and vice versa.  So when you look at the differences in Public Sector vs. Private Sector for the regions, you could argue that it is not the Public Sector pay being too high, but Private Sector pay being too low.
The Government are going to achieve these regional differentials in pay is by 'freezing' Public Sector pay until Private Sector pay catches up.  The long term effect will be to take money out of the regional economies.  Assuming that the numbers of Public and Private Sector employees in Hull and surrounding areas are equal.  Then there will be a 6.5% reduction in the amount of money circulating in the local economy, whereas the figure for Surrey will be 0.25%. The regional impact will be another thing that varies.
For the regions outside of the South East of England to come out of the current recession, choking off the flow of money will also choke off the chance of recovery.   George Osbourne is showing his true colours: anti-North, anti Public Sector, and pro-the Rich!

Ofsted

Further to my post yesterday about The Honourable Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, it transpires that political interference in education continues.  Up until recently, primary education was trumpted as the success story in British education.  However, that seems to have changed as it now transpires that the children leaving primary education with the expected grade of Level 4, 45% of them do not get the bench-mark 5 A-C G.C.S.E. passes, whereas obvioulsy 55% of children do.  Is it fair to point the finger at Primary Schools for this 'failing'?  It shows that G.C.S.E.'s are doing their job!  Separating the academic children from those that would be better suited to folowing a more vocational path.  (It is not quite as simple as that, however).
However, this post is about one of the tools that the Government use in their interference in the British Education system.  My wife's youngest daughter works in a Primary School in London.  75% of children do not have English as their first language.  She has told me how many Nationalities are at her scholl, but increasing age means that I have forgotten.  They had OFSTED this week and the school was rated as 'Good'.  The Head Teacher, however, was not pleased.  An I.C.T. lesson that was observed would have got an 'outstanding' but for the fact that the children 'swivelled' on the chairs in the Computer Room.  As someone mentioned to me: "swivel chairs were useful in a Computer Room so that the children can turn round and look at the teacher as they explain something on the board".  Not so, these items of educational distraction cost that teacher an outstanding grade.  There were other examples where teachers were marked down, but I think you are get my point.  OFSTED seemed to be looking for excuses NOT to give an outstanding, even if it appeared to be justified.
All this is sounding very familiar, and it seems that political interference will continue, at least for the life of this Parliamnet, and Britian will continue to fall down the Global Educational League Tables.  Someone else has said that there seems to be a negative correlation between Governmental Interference and Educational Standards.

Michael Gove - Social Engineer

 So Michael Gove has been meddling in the education of our young people.  His latest idea is to remove the effect social deprivation has on the targets that young people are set.  I cannot quote any relevant research to you, but is it not a well known fact that children from council estates do not do as well as children from leafy suburbs?  This is a massive generalisation, but you get my point.  What might a possible outcome be?  The children from council estates will not make their targets, which will chip away at their confidence and enthusiasm for education.  On the other hand, the children from the leafy suburbs will probably meet or exceed their targets which will give them more confidence in their abilities.  Over time this will mean a separation of the middle and upper classes from the lower classes, and a reduction in social mobility, which is already very low in this country compared to others.  Isn't 'keeping the poor in their place' one of the main policies of the Conservative Party's?  Well done Michael Gove for bring Tory Nirvana that much closer.

Carlos Tevez

So, Carlos Tevez is nearing full match fitness and may return for the match between Manchester City and Chelsea F.C.  You can only guess at what has gone through Tevez's mind recently.  He was accused of refusing to warm up for a European Cup game in Germany, in September of 2011.  He was disciplined for this and then took the mature step of 'spitting his dummy out' and went home to Argentina to'sulk'.  The whole process has cost Tevez an estimated £10 million.  I hope he thinks it was worth it.
Since his return to Manchester City, he has been supported by many of the players.  Micah Richards said in the press recently that Tevez 'carried' the team.  This may give the reason for him being so well liked by the playing staff at Man. City.  He hides their blushes and turns games that they would have lost/drawn into wins, so they all get their win bonus.
However, as cynical as I am about professional footballers, there is no doubt that Tevez is a fine player, and has the ability to 'carry' a team filled with stars such as Man. City.  Other clubs recognised the quality of Tevez while he was on strike in Argentina, and some tried to buy him.  The problems were that none reached Man. City's valuation of Carlos Tevez and then there was his wages.  He is reportedly earning £250,000 per week at Man. City, which other teams will struggle to match.

In these days of player power, it is heartening to see a situation where a payer, even of Tezez's quality, was 'brought to heel' by the owners and managers of the club that paid his wages.  It would be good if this was a Universal faced by all professional footballers.

The England Job

What a mess!  The F.A. have said after Fabio Capello walked out that it was time to have another England Manager that was born in England.  That's fine, but most of the managers in the Premiership are not English, bar  Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, and Terry Connor of Wolves (I think).  Terry Connors can be discounted as he does not have enough managerial experience.  English managers that are not in the Premiership is a very restricted list of one - Steve MacLaren (tried it before and got sacked).  The F.A. have also stated that they do not want to disrupt any club's season.  All the likely candidates are gainfully employed by clubs, and the season still has a number of weeks to run.
The current incumbent, Stewart Pierce, has changed the plans put forward by Fabio Capello, to put his own in place, and the obvious question is Why?  He has already stated that he would be prepared to continue into the role through the European Championships, that is unless the F.A. 'parachute in' the permanent replacement.
Harry Redknapp has come out and said that he is currently unsure if he would take on the England job.  He is probably the most successful club manager that was born in England around at the moment.  He also enjoys a lot of support from the players (see previous posts about player power - it is not always a good thing)
Roy Hodgson has probably the most managerial experience as he has already experienced managing a national team with managing Switzerland.
So what would be the ideal solution?  The honest answer is that the F.A. have seriously mucked the situation up for an ideal solution to be impossible, or at the very best, extremely difficult.  Surely, the manager, whoever they are, cannot be expected to take over the reins at the end of a season,  with a short time to go before we enter an important competition.  How are the F.A. going to fix this mess that they have created?  The press were hopping up and down at the way that the Wolves owners dealt with the sacking of Mick McCarthy, surely the F.A. have done the same thing?  Should they be trusted with the management of the National Game?  Only time will tell.

P.S. Sorry about the time lapse since my last post.

"We are all in this together"

I do not profess to be an expert, but I would like to tell you my view of the causes of the current financial situation her in the U.K.  When I was young, there was a common saying, and it was: "America sneezes, Europe catches the cold". 
This is relevant as I think the roots of the problem started in the U.S.A.  Do you all remember the term 'sub-prime mortgages'?  These were mortgages sold to individuals who little or no chance of paying the loan back.  Why were these sold?  The reason was greed, the salesmen would be paid commission for every loan that they wrote up.  These mortgages were then combined together in such a complicated way that even some individual banks financial experts did not understand how they worked, and the were then traded around the world.  When the people that owed the money on the mortgage defaulted, the financial products lost value, and the banks that bought them lost money.  Some banks around the world lost so much money that they folded.  In the U.K. these banks were bailed out by the Government.  The idea of giving the banks money was so that they could lend it to small businesses and therefore stimulate the economy, instead they 'sat on it' and re-capitalised .  Gordon Brown got this so drastically wrong that he lost the next election.  Consequently, there was not much money to pay for things and things had to be cut back, and the current Government have to be watched like the proverbial hawk so that they do not sneak any of their more 'hair-brained ideas' under the radar.
That, as I understand it, is how we came to be in such a mess.  My wife's job has gone, but she has got another one, and my job will end in July, for a number of other reasons (see later postings).  So things in the Ryan household will have to change.

The Auld Firm

Today's topic of conversation is Glasgow Rangers Football club and the fact that the are likely to go out of business, at least that is the current thinking.  As a general point, why is it that rich individuals, who have succeeded in business, do not follow the same methods when they take over a football club?
Anyway, the point.  I have read a lot of comments by people who seem, on the face of it, to be absolutely delighted that Rangers are at risk of going bust.  My response would be to say 'Be careful of what you wish for.'  The current deal with Sky has four Old Firm derbies at the core , presumably because these are the most watched games North of the Border.  If these matches did not take place, what would Sky T.V.'s reaction be?
The other point is what would the effect be on Glasgow Celtic.  Not having a close competitor will mean that Celtic will not have to play at a high standard week in week out.  Then, when they get to European games, they will be on the losing side as they do not have the necessary skills to complete on the same level as the European clubs.  On solution would be for Celtic to petition to join the English League.  The easiest way for this to happen is to buy a current club, there are many that would welcome the influx of cash and players that would result from being taken over by Glasgow Celtic.

Anyway, that's all for today.  More tomorrow!

Part deux

Well today I have been thinking about Chelsea Football club.  What has been going on there?  On Sunday they sacked one of the most promising mangers in Europe 8 months into a 3 year deal.  Results have not been good, but apparently there was unrest in the dressing room.  Normally, when a manger comes in the players all try to impress, the so-called 'manger-effect'.  This did not seem to be the case at Chelsea, in fact it could be argued that the players played worse.  What would make a professional footballer do that?  Obviously they must have thought themselves pretty 'bomb-proof'.  Roberto di Matteo is now in charge and for the moment has a 100% win record, but it is rumoured that some of the Senior Players do not like him.  Is this a case of highly paid employees thinking that they know better than the employer?  Anyway, does anyone know what Abramovich is thinking?  As far as I can tell, he plays his cards pretty close to his chest, but surely employees claiming they have influence over the employer is not a healthy situation and is something that all Chelsea fans (I, alas, do not support them) should be very concerned about.

Thank you for reading so far.

The First Post.

Greetings!
I shall use this blog to write about 'burning issues' of the day that I think are important, for a diverse variety of reasons.
This morning I had a conversation with someone that knew an awful lot more about the issue that I raised than I did.  I started a discussion about 'gay marriage' thinking that it was a simple issue.  It was pointed out to me that the word 'marriage' was a sacrament in the eyes of many religions and to use this word may be an insult to those people.  Gay people can currently have a 'civil partnership' which is not the same thing as a 'marriage', how, I do not know.  A simple solution then seems to be to make a 'civil partnership' the same as a marriage but continue to call it a 'partnership' which is what a marriage is.  However, I do believe that there will be people that do not agree with my analysis or conclusion.