Labour's election

 Well done!  At last we have a labour Government.  I think that they have to start to turn things round before the end of this parliament or else they will be election toast.  I have been watching some interesting things on YouTube.  One of the things was a gentleman talking about tax and spending in this country.  When I was younger, income tax rates were 30% for everyone and the higher tax rate was 60%.  Corporation Tax was 52%.  There has been a lot of talk about the difficult situation that we are in, the "worst since the second world war".  That was covered in another video and it was said that Clement Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister after the war, borrowed millions and invested in infra-structure projects like Council House building, the Welfare State, the N.H.S. etc.  Where would we be now if those projects were not started?  Do you want to know what political party has the record for building Council Houses? It may surprise you to know that Harold McMillan, a Tory, has the record for building 300,000 Council House in one year.  Stunning! Keir Starmer has said that he will only spend what he can afford.  Borrowing money to build houses so that we get out of this housing crisis would be a good thing.  Borrowing money to invest in Green Energy that would require more jobs for people, would be a good thing.  There are lots of good reasons to borrow money to "get things done".  There are even better reasons to tax the rich to invest in things that would make life better.  The people with lots and lots of money have seen their wealth increase by 50% in the last five years.  Do you know anyone whose wealth has done that?  I don't!  Rishi Sunak has a personal fortune of £7 billion.  He did not need to take the salary for the job of Prime Minister.  I don't know what he gets from his wealth, but I once heard that £1 million invested carefully could get you an income of £5k per week!  A quick calculation tells me that Rishi gets somewhere in the region of £30k per week.  Lots of people say that you should not tax the wealthy as they are the "wealth creators".  These are the people whose wealth has increased by 50% in the last five years.  Apart from creating wealth for themselves, who else have they created wealth for? If the super rich leave England after we tax them, I will hold the door open for them.

Hull City A.F.C. Mr Allam and all that.............................

What a conundrum the owner of Hull City A.F.C., Mr Allam is.  He buys the club, and puts in £100m, of his own money, to secure the future of Hull City A.F.C.  Then............
He makes an offer to the owners of the K.C. Stadium, Hull City Council, to buy the stadium.  There are not many clubs of the level that Hull City A.F.C. are at that do not own their own stadium.  The council refuse Mr. Allam's offer, but we do not know any further details of what that offer was.
He makes moves to change the name to "Hull Tigers" with the F.A.  This causes some upset with some of the fans who embark on a campaign to retain the name that they have had for 108 years under the banner "City till I die"  The F.A. rejects the name change, and according to a recent statement, Mr.Allam puts the club up for sale 22 hours later.  He also announces that he has appealled the F.A.'s refusal to change the name to Hull tigers to the Council for Arbitration in Sport, and who knows what their decision might be.
In the recent transfer window, he adds to the squad, to assemble the best squad of players Hull City A.F.C has seen in it's 108 history.
Mr.Allam makes a statement where he makes it public that the club is up for sale, and that it has been up for sale since April, and there have been no takers.  He also make the point that he has appealled the refusal to change the name by the F.A. at the Committe for Arbitration in Sport, and who knows what they might decide.
Let me make it clear that I am not a season ticket holder of Hull City A.F.C.
I am not a regular attender at the K.C. Stadium to see Hull City A,F,C. play.
So, you could say, that I see things with an unclouded view................
I think Hull City A.F.C. have been very fortunate!  We have not had an owner like Mr. Vincent Tan who changes Cardiff City's a.k.a. the BLUEBIRDS, shirts from blue to red, because red is a lucky colour in the Far East where Mr. Tan hails from.  Who cares what the club is called, I don't, but that does not mean that the fans are prevented from chanting '"Come on City!"  Personally, I think the "City Till I Die" campaign have scored a massive own goal, and now City might be taken over by an Owner such as Mike Ashley, who has sold Newcastle's best players, just so that he could have an income.  I don't suppose a manager of the calibre of Mr. Steve Bruce would fancy managing a team in the lower divisions.  Depending on the new owner, I hope that "City till I Die" are happy supporting a team in League Division Two!

Politics and fear

Recently, I read an article, in a newspaper, that said that advertising is turning to make people afraid in order to get them to purchase things.  For example, you will put your families health at risk unless you use this type of cleaner that kills 99% of all known germs. 
As an aside, I was told the 99% bit was because, on tests the cleaner kills 100% of bacteria, it was possible that a new bacteria might come along that this cleaner is not active against, and their 100% claim would be wrong.
Anyway, back t the fear thing.  Isn't politics working on the same strategy?
UKIP advises that unless you vote for them, the EU will send hoards of Europeans into this country, and take away your jobs!
The Tories say that unless you vote for them, you will let Labour back into power, and you know what a mess they made of things the last time they were in power!
Labour say that unless you vote for them, the Tories will continue to persecute the Working Class, and make them pay for the mistakes of the bankers!
Liberals say that unless you vote for them the same to-ing and fro-ing of the political see-saw will continue, which does not help anybody!
I think that appealing to people's sense of fear is a mistake.  For those of you that know a bit of Psychology will realise that Freud said that if you make the Ego anxious, Ego Defence Mechanisms will kick in, and the one that is most likely to be used is Denial.  "I can't be afraid, because there is nothing to be afraid of (the argument is blotted out of their conscious altogether)".  This could also be one of the reasons that people do not engage with politics.
Another reason for people not engaging with politics could be the farce called Prime Minister's Questions, where the House of Commons collectively behave like a bunch of unruly yobs.
And of course the final reason is that nobody trusts politicians any more, they are too interested in what they can get for themselves.  Expenses rows etc have made sure of that.
So unless there is a total change in the behaviour of politicians, 30% turn-outs at elections will be something that the political class will have to get used to.  The Government being voted in by a minority of the electorate will be a feature of our politics for a long time to come.
Maybe we should change the system and make it a legal requirement that people vote, with fines to those people that do not vote.  The question then becomes who would be most harmed by this?  Answers please on a post card to me.  However, that has got to be easier than getting politicians to be trusted again.

I Got into trouble..........

In my job, we were called to a meeting where were were told that our services would no longer be required.  We were told that we had "done nothing wrong."  We were told that the decision was based on financial considerations.  We were told that the College would try and be helpful in finding us alternative employment.  We were told that a bus company would want to employ us, as we were used to doing the school run.  This turned out to be incorrect because of a lack of communication.  Not surprisingly, the possibility of becoming unemployed once more was not an appealing one.  I got very angry and wrote a nasty letter to the college.  I was called to a meeting to explain myself.
Several weeks later, there was a job advertised, for a post that I was more than suitable. Did I get it?  Did I hell!  Am I angry?  You betcha!  I am tempted to release the contents of the letter, but I do not think that would be a good idea.  Sort of like pouring petrol onto a fire to put it out.
Anyway, the upshot of all this is that on  1st September, I become officially under-employed again.

Ukraine

I have been thinking...................

After WWII there was a meeting at Yalta, in Ukraine, where the Americans, English, and Russians decided to 'carve up' Europe.  Russia ended up with everything East of Berlin, the rest was left to it's own devices.  The person that managed to get so much ground for Russia was none other than Josef Stalin.

Go forward to the 21st Century..............

We have already seen the 'fall' of Crimea to Russian control.  But history tells me that Crimea has nearly always been under Russian control.  WE fought then for it when the Light Brigade rode valiantly into the valley of death!  There are also things going on in the East Ukraine where some of the 'natives' are agitating for Russian rule once again.  Obviously they are feeling nostalgic for the olden days when Russia was in control.  Some people have been saying that there are Russian Soldiers in Ukraine, stirring things up,  That may be so, but the problem is that people are now beginning to be killed, and I wonder is this the start of the slippery slide into Civil War?

Another point to take into consideration is that the person that the present Russian premier admires most?
Josef Stalin - the same man that got most of Eastern Europe under Russian control.  Is Putin trying to emulate his hero?

Humber Bridge

I drive a minibus for Wyke College 'ere in 'Ull.  The route I drive takes me across the Humber Bridge four times a day that I am at work.  There are several things that puzzles me.  There has been work carried out on the bridge for the past few weeks and it is now very difficult to know what speed to cross the bridge.  Prior to the work, the speed was 50 m.p.h. and there were several signs as you crossed the bridge that reminded you.  Now the signs that were there have mostly been blacked out.  So the assumption is that the last speed sign you see is the one to follow.  That is the sign, before the toll booth, on the south bound route, is 30 m.p.h.  On the north bound route there is a 50 sign shortly followed by a 30 m.p.h. sign.  So the legal speed, both ways on the bridge is 30 m.p.h.  Problem solved!
This leads to my second problem.  Yesterday, I drove at 30 m.p.h. south bound over the bridge. The car in front of me had disappeared from view as I approached the half-way point.  Even before the works started, very few drivers adhered to the speed limit of 50 m.p.h.  I would suggest that the Bridge Board install speed cameras on the bridge, like on the M4 to slow down the traffic as it approaches the Bridge and/or Tolls.  Are there any other suggestions?

Public money to private pockets

There have been several schemes devised by the Government of the day that were designed to help the working class, but have not had that effect.  Let me explain, after the deregulation of the rented housing market, the amount of Housing Benefit paid has ballooned, principally to private landlords.  My first example of the title.
Another example is Tax Credits.  Rather than pay a Living Wage, businesses are allowed to pay lower rates of pay, and the Government tops up the pay packet of the workers, saving the business money.  Another example of the title.
Finally, the story that started off this train of thought appeared in yesterday's Guardian.  You can read about it  yourself by going to this website: http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jan/12/taxpayer-funded-academy-paying-millions-private-firms-schools-education-revealed-education

Anyway, it is nice to know that we are indeed "all in it together"