Prescott in irrelevant book deal

Nothing shows the utter irrelevance of John Prescott than the £300,000 deal he has made for his memoirs. A few days ago it was being reported that he is going to sell his story for £500,000 but he probably found out that no one will buy his memoirs because he is irrelevant so he had no choice but to lower the asking price.

Alastair Campbell, Blair’s spin doctor sold his story for £1 million while Blair has sold his story for £8 million. Even David Blunkett received £385,000 for his book and John Prescott is getting less even though he spent longer in the cabinet and was Deputy Prime Minister. He is of course getting so little because he was a total irrelevance. He never did anything worthwhile in his political career.

Does Heathrow need another runway?

Secret plans showing how Britain’s biggest airport is set for a massive expansion have been leaked to the Mirror.

Thousands of houses will be bulldozed to make way for another terminal and runway at Heathrow, the document reveals.

Detailed drawings never previously published show the land earmarked for the expansion.

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It would mean the demolition of 700 homes, a primary school and a 900-year-old church.

The revelation comes in the midst of a series of public protests against the West London airport's fifth terminal, now being built.

The secret plans are for a mammoth sixth terminal and a third runway to be the same size as the two strips already there.

Does Heathrow really need another terminal and runway? I don’t believe it does. This is not just about climate change. It is also about safety. The more planes you have in the sky the more likely planes are likely to crash into each other. The Civil Aviation Authority wrote a report which can be read here. On page 90 you can see that near misses for civilian aircraft stood at 109 in 2004. The year before the number was at 87. Unfortunately the report only goes up to 2004. This means for the numbers in 2006 I have to look elsewhere. According to The Times there were 566 incidents where passengers’ lives were put at risk in 2006.

Our skies are already the most overcrowded in Europe and the government wants to double the number in our skies by 2030 which is madness. We should be reducing the number of flights in this country and I have a solution which I have already laid out here but I will go through it again.

In 2004 there were 3,670,000 flights (see page 93 of report). My proposal would be put a cap on the number of flights each year. The first time we could cap the amount of flights at 3.5 million which isn’t decreasing it much and it would be putting it to around 1999 levels. After that we would decrease it by around 1% each year.

Once the cap has been put on it you then auction off these journeys in 5%s putting a cap at around 15% so as not to create a monopoly. The bidders would of course be aeroplane companies. Once 85% of them have been auctioned off another 10% would be auctioned off to the smaller aeroplane companies in 2%s. The last 5% would not be auctioned off at first until the year started. When it did the 5% would be traded per journey and sold for the market price (whatever the average price was for each journey at the auction). After 1 month the other companies can sell off the journeys that they had bid on in a journey trading scheme.

Reducing the number of journeys would decrease CO2 and it wouldn’t harm the airlines because they would decide on their own tax which would be what they could afford.

The treasury would get a lot of money from this. Consider that each journey was sold for £5,000 (which isn’t much especially when there are about 300 seats on a plane which would mean £16.66 ‘tax’ on a plane ticket) and that there were 3.5 million journeys. This would mean that £17.5 billion would be taken in tax revenue which is a lot of money. This wouldn’t count the VAT on journey trading.

Clean aircraft that contributed less CO2 would be given a tax rebate but most of the money would still be taxed. Companies that based themselves in this country (which would create jobs) would also get a rebate. This would encourage innovation in the plane industry to either develop greener aircraft or develop aircraft that were bigger to get more passengers on.

This would also be beneficial to other industries too. If the price became high then it might become cheaper for Brits to holiday in this country meaning that our leisure industry would see more money flowing into it and more jobs created.

The ship building industry might see the benefit too. The plane industry has a limit of journeys but the shipping industry won’t meaning that there might the ships might be used more to take people to close European countries like France and Spain.

More multicultural propoganda

The multicultists seem to be forcing multiculturalism down our throats more lately. It is of course mostly in an attempt to appease the Muslims before they start anything but it isn’t just about the Muslims. Oxo has got in on it and decided that they are going to bring back the Oxo family advert for the 21^st century meaning the family will be a multicultural one. Oh goody. I can’t wait…

Now, back to the good old Muslims. Hospital staff in Scotland have been told to eat away from their desks to avoid offending Muslims during Ramadan.

ITV has decided to appease the Muslims too, with a documentary about Jesus not actually being the son of God but being a prophet of Allah. I don’t think ITV would dare create a documentary claiming Muhammed was not the last prophet but there ya go. Multiculturalism and Islam in particular is being forced down the throats of people who are sick of it but this will continue for a long time.

Shakespeare dumbed down in comic strips for bored pupils

Shakespeare's plays are being rewritten as comic strips for pupils who find his poetry boring, it emerged today.

Thousands of teenagers are to study cartoon versions of famous plays such as Macbeth which reduce finely-crafted passages to snappy phrases.

The publishers hope the comics - illustrated by artists who have worked on the Spiderman series - will inspire disaffected readers with a love of the Bard's plays.

This is just stupid. A third of 14 year olds fail to reach targets in key subjects and this is only going to make it worse. We dumb down the exams and now we are dumbing down the rest of the work. When will it end?

MoD to conduct Afghan medal review

A senior officer is to head a committee to review whether a special honour should be given to soldiers fighting ferocious battles in Afghanistan, defence sources said yesterday.

While the MoD initially refused to consider the idea, Army sources said the ministry was now "taking this matter seriously".

A committee, chaired by a three-star ranked officer, a lieutenant general or equivalent rank, "has been formed to look at the issue".

This is atleast a step in the right direction from a government who normally can’t do anything right but then again they were bound to get something right eventually. I can’t see a senior army officer refusing to give his men a medal.

News roundup 20

Householders told NOT to put rubbish in dustbins – because bin men might hurt their backs lifting them. These people are crazy.

Biofuels switch a mistake, say researchers. Can we stick to oil then?

EU Commission pays group to lobby Brussels. So they pay groups which they like to lobby (bribe) them to make decisions that they were already going to make?

Oxo family advert is re-cast for 21^st century. Just what we need. More multicultural propaganda.

Baby dies after mother is forced to deliver it herself in hospital toilet. Disgraceful!

We are doing our best for armed forces, say minister. I hate to see what it would be like if they weren’t.

Eviction threat after paying care home £40k. Shoot the council employee who decided not to pay.

Death of great grandfather left screaming in agony by care home was ‘preventable’. Shoot the heartless bastards!

Father left in coma after refusing to buy alcohol for underage teens. Lynch them!

We need a separation of powers for education

The A level pass rate has reached an all time high with more than 96% of people passing. Are we actually surprised at this and if you are why are you surprised? One of the reasons we elect the government is to give children a good education. One of the ways to show that they have given children a good education is by children getting good grades.

If they get your children good grades then you think that they have done a good job and you will elect them again. They don’t exactly have an incentive not to dumb down education do they?

Most politicians have never worked in the education sector yet we think that they know what to do to make children have the best education. Why is this? Would we let a plumber give us open heart surgery when they have zero experience?

The way to change this is simple. Take away the government’s power to govern education and place it in the hands of education commissioners elected for each county who will control education in their county. These commissioners will have to have worked in the education system for about 5 years before they can stand for the education commission.

The commissioners will not control exams. This will be done by a third party, maybe the government or maybe the exam boards.

If the government doesn’t control the education system then they have no incentive to dumb it down. Eventually the education commission could be given more power. Maybe give them authority over adult learning to get people back into work.

What does it take to be sent to prison?

What exactly do you have to do to be sent to prison these days? It seems every piece of human garbage can go free while the easy targets are punished at the first given opportunity.

Yobs have it easy. If they are ever punished it is frequently with an ASBO but now ASBOs are useless. Judges have been told not to jail those that disobey their ASBO. How exactly will this discourage the thugs from terrorising communities and making peoples lives hell?

You may as well commit benefit fraud too. You won’t be sent to prison any longer. You will also be let off if you con old ladies out of their precious possessions.

When will the government realise that they are supposed to be stopping crime and now encouraging criminals to continue their ways?

Warden arrested after he confiscates bicycle

A PARK warden has been beaten up and arrested after his attempts to control antisocial behaviour in Great Hollands.

The warden for the Wooden Hill recreation ground aims to prevent disorder breaking out and frequently encounters rowdy teenagers disturbing other visitors.

The situation reached breaking point on Wednesday last week when one teenager was caught urinating into the paddling pool. The warden confiscated his bicycle and said his parents could come and collect it.

But when police were informed they arrested the warden on suspicion of theft.

This came less than two weeks after the warden called police saying he had been assaulted and racially abused by youngsters.

Why are the law abiding public arrested while the scum of the earth are allowed to walk the streets committing crimes whenever they feel like it? It’s about time these thugs were arrested and the park warden given an award.

Gurkha given £100 and told to piss off

It has only been a few days since I last blogged about our military but they are still being treated with utter contempt, not that I thought anything would change in just a few days.

While they seem to do everything they can to destroy the British military they seem to have a special hate for the Gurkhas. After 18 years of service you would think that our government would be grateful to this Gurkha. No such luck I’m afraid. He was given a payoff of a measly £100 and a pension of around £130 per month. This is despite being badly injured and living in this country. He was also evicted and made homeless after the Ministry of Defence told him "We need your room back." Such callous disregard for those who have served this country for us is disgusting and we should be ashamed.

The ministry of defence decided to close the military hospitals and then some bright spark came up with the idea that it would be a good idea to give them their very own ward in a hospital. Sadly it’s only one ward in the entire country which is now official overcrowded, but it would be if there are only 14 beds in the entire country and there have been 145 servicemen flown back from Afghanistan and Iraq. There are bound to be more wanting one of those 14 beds in the future especially as ministers have been accused of covering up the real casualty figures in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If I was thinking about joining the military I would think again. The government have shown that they couldn’t give a shit about military personnel. They have also shown that they are idiots as they have sold their hospitals while there are wars going on.

US food aid is wrecking Africa

Critics of US food aid subsidies say they help cause obesity among Americans and starvation among Africans.

Now Care, one of the world's biggest charities, has announced that it will boycott the controversial policy of selling tons of heavily subsidised US produced food in African countries. Care wants the US government to send money to buy food locally, rather than unwanted US produced food.

This is a better idea than sending food but we already know what happens when we send money. The corrupt African leaders take it and spend a big chunk of the money on themselves.

Africa will never be a decent place as long as we are giving them any kind of aid. We should stop all aid now and only charities should focus on small scale projects like building schools or wells for water which is something that will last for the long term.

News roundup 19

Judges told: Don’t lock up yobs who flout ASBOs. How exactly is this going to discourage criminals?

Former addict fled open prison to escape the drugs. We should be helping prisoners get off their addiction and not sending them to places which will just start the cycle all over again.

Police radios issued in the wake of 7/7 don’t even work in supermarket. When will the government take policing seriously?

Prison officers vote to strike over pay. They should do. The amount of crap that they have to put up with is unbelievable, and that’s just from the government.

Ministers accused over casualty figures cover-up in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened.

Half ‘are smoking less’ since ban. Headline is a bit misleading. They are actually only smoking less in pubs and clubs. It’s not really surprising when you ban it though is it?

One in four Britons is out of work. If this is the case we do not need immigration.

Tories set to announce plan to cut inheritance tax. It’s about time someone did.

Blogger proves Nasa wrong on climate change. It doesn’t look like their arguments were that good if a blogger could disprove them.

Wikipaedia ‘shows CIA page edits. It also shows that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams.

Yobs are in control

Mindless yobbery is making this country into a disaster and the police won’t do anything because the government have completely destroyed any authority that they once had.

In this country we now have gangs of youths who think that they can do anything and they will get away with it. In today’s liberal society they are right. They will get away with it. If you attack an ambulance that is in the middle of saving a life it won’t matter. You will get away with it.

If you stand up to these thugs who make communities hell you will regret it. You will be beat up just for asking grown adults to turn the music down in the early hours of the morning even if you are an elderly pension whose wife has just died.

If you have the cheek to confront yobs for throwing litter into the car you own you have a very good chance of being murdered.

These are all examples of how the government have completely lost control of this country. The policies that they have used have only made crime worse. Labour is not fit to govern this country.

Refugees in gang warfare during first day

We seem to be having a lot of problems with illegal immigrants and asylum seekers lately. This is mainly the fault of the government and the police. The police should know illegal immigrants are not going to go to an immigration detention centre by themselves even if you give them a map and tell them where the immigration detention centre is. It’s just not what people do.

You might think that illegal immigrants and asylum seekers are only here to better their lives but when they riot and fight other gangs of violent refugees on their first day here you know they are not going to lead a crime free life.

News roundup 18

’Hidden army’ of jobless means nearly ten million are unemployed – despite official figures. Why do we need immigration again?

Cops launch Paedophile Hunt. Find them and then lynch them!

Revealed: The hijab-wearing 17 year-old Muslim girl hired as a community officer. It’s stupid. I hope she doesn’t become a real police officer.

Day-old piglets killed by raiders. What exactly was the point of this?

Asylum Seeker Cheat Is Jailed. What does it take for them to be deported?

Presenting the £1bn warship that can defend London single-handedly. The government is finally doing something right.

British legion accuses Government of ‘failing its historic duty of care’ towards frontline soldiers. They are right of course.

A third of 14-year-olds fail to reach target in key subjects. Can the government do anything right?

Empathy can spark contagious yawning. That’s just weird.

UK government agency to monitor blogs. Is this good or bad?

First smoking martyr to be created

The smoking resistance is getting bigger. Hamish Howitt is about to become the first martyr for the cause of freedom. The local council are to take him to court for defying the ban and paying the fines his regulars received.

If more pub owners were like Hamish Howitt the law would become unenforceable and the government would lose but I don’t think this is going to happen any time soon. Gordon Brown hates any resistance and will do his best to crush it. Hopefully if he does get sent to court the jury will be filled with people who will find him innocent.

Police try to be cool for kids

We all know that they are changing education to make it ‘more relevant to today’s youth’. It seems that they are trying to do the same with law and order. We can thank Labour for our new community support officers. It seems that they are trying to be trendy because they have started employing those that have only just left school. I am sure that drunken teenagers are going to take a lot of notice of them.

These teenagers are too young for this stuff. They should be hanging around with mates and maybe skateboarding like these police officers are being paid to do so that they can look cool in front of their peers… uh… I mean in front of the children so the children will be nice and not do anything criminal like because they think the police are more relevant to them and cool at the same time.

Labour's policies have made crime worse

Labour has lost control of the streets. Their policies for dealing with crime have only made it worse. The country wasn’t safe to begin with but now it is even unsafe to be in school where knives are frequently used against classmates who have done nothing wrong. Parents and children know how bad it is which is why parents are now buying stab proof school uniforms. I have never heard of anything like this before which means that crime is so bad now that children are not safe in schools. Is it any wonder education levels are so bad? Does anyone not think that it’s because of the stress of constantly looking over your shoulder and wondering whether you are next?

Most of this is happening in London where knife attacks are common (just watch the news). There are 170 different gangs in London all stabbing each other for ‘respect’ and yet Labour does nothing. All Labour can think of is sending them to prison and letting them out early which isn’t working because prisons are at bursting point once again.

Labour’s next policy was to allow 24 hour drinking. This has turned out to be an utter disaster as pub violence has soared by 56%. If it is just being drunk and disorderly they will probably be issued with a fixed penalty notice which are issued once every 3 minutes.

Labour said that they would be tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime yet they are failing to show this. All that they are showing is that they have completely lost control of the crime in this country and they have no idea how to solve it.

News roundup 17

Green belt threatened by house-building blitz. So much for our green and pleasant land.

Stab-proof school uniforms go on sale from knife attacks. It has come to this? How bad are our schools?

Pub violence has soared by half since 24-hour licensing. What a surprise.

Tory grassroots blast Cameron’s ‘part time’ frontbench as second jobs revealed. No wonder they are not an effective opposition. The country is a secondary concern to them.

Government reject new medal for Afghanistan vets

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown the heroism of our armed forces and the length that our soldiers will go to so that they can help out their comrades. Army captain David Hicks continued fighting a Taliban attack despite suffering agonising injuries that would later kill him. He showed true heroism, refusing to abandon his men and doing his best to keep them alive.

There have been calls for a new medal to recognise the heroism of British troops in the Afghan warzone. The government have rejected this which is probably a kick in the teeth to many who are fighting for their lives in Afghanistan. This can’t be good for morale which is already low. The government won’t even do the little things that might improve morale. Some think that families of soldiers shouldn’t have to pay to send food parcels to troops and I think they are right. This might improve their morale but they would have to stop losing the food parcels first.