Category: News

Hague snubs Arctic Convoy Russian medal – Singing The Party Song


Hague says,

‘The decision not to give permission for the Ushakov medal to be accepted was made in accordance with the current British rules on the acceptance of foreign awards and only after very careful consideration of all the information provided by the Russian Embassy.
‘However, it was found that this information did not show that the intended recipients had given specific service to Russia within the last five years as required by those rules.’

He goes on to explain that the government would reconsider any cases where it could be shown that the intended recipients had given service to Russia more recently.

Why bother to speak if all you can spout is the party line. “The Rules Are The Rules”. We have heard that time and time again. What we need to hear, from you Mr. Hague, is that the government has seen sense, has relented in this stupidly rigid stance and has decided to let the survivors collect these medals.

Change the bloody rules Mr Hague.

The rules were set by faceless bureaucrats, by people who did not have to face the conditions that the medal recipients had to face. Lets apply some common sense.

Anything less is just not acceptable.

Hague snubs Arctic Convoy Russian medal – News – Portsmouth News.

Over Reaction By Kent Police ?


A man has been arrested for posting an image of a burning poppy on a social network site.

Apparently Kent Police have said that the man was detained on Sunday night, on suspicion of making malicious telecommunications.

I find this action to be incredible, beyond belief. Surely this has to be an invasion of civil liberties. The man wasn’t arrested for burning a poppy but for posting the image online.

This persons actions are, to be honest, abhorrent but surely not a criminal offence. These poppies are used to commemorate the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people who died to ensure our freedom. That includes the freedom to do stupid things.

Nick Pickles, director of civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch said:

Kent Police need to urgently release this man and drop an utterly ridiculous investigation into something that has harmed no-one. It is not illegal to offend people and, however idiotic or insensitive the picture may have been, it is certainly not worthy of arrest.

Kent Police have responded

Officers were contacted at around 4pm yesterday and alerted to the picture, which was reportedly accompanied by an offensive comment. Following an investigation by Kent Police, a 19-year-old Canterbury man was arrested on suspicion of an offence under the Malicious Communications Act. He is currently in custody.

Why on earth would this man be kept in custody ? He is hardly a public enemy, will he abscond. The police reaction is totally out of proportion to the “crime”.

I think it is time Kent Police took a long look at their actions and get a proper sense of perspective.

myWaterlooville – Welcome


Welcome to myWaterlooville

I’d like to say welcome, happy birthday or whatever one says on the introduction of a new website.

Congratulations to the Waterlooville Business Association on a clean, fresh looking site. You have laid the foundations of what I hope will be a long-lived, vibrant site.

I for one will be a regular visitor.

Nadine Dorries ‘I’m a Celebrity’ appearance – So What !


The brouhaha over Dorries decision to take time out to appear in the ITV program will  only come back and bite the Tories on their collective bum.

Fickel as they are, much of the great British Public will get behind her just to spite her naysayer colleagues in Westminster. The rest will be voting for her to take all the challenges as a form of punishment. Almost like having a member of parliament in the stocks but getting someone else to throw the rotten tomatoes.

There is an imbalance  in the collective reaction. On the one hand there are those that believe that she is doing something wrong, that she is breaking some code by exposing herself to public ridicule  that is almost guaranteed by this program. On the other hand there are those who, perhaps not so “tongue in cheek”, are pleased that she will be off the grid and out of their hair for a month. But other MPs have stayed active despite much more serious transgressions. One has only to look back a few weeks to be reminded of a certain MP who swore at policemen doing their duty, Was he suspended ?

What use is suspending her anyway, after all she is incommunicado while sequestered in the jungle.

I suspect that the cries of anguish from her  colleagues also smack of more that a little jealousy, just a smidgen of “Why didn’t they ask me?”

Senior Conservatives are furious that Ms Dorries has brought the party into disrepute by abandoning her constituents while she earns up to £40,000 as a game show contestant.

Disrepute ? What about MPs expenses ? Many of those shouting out about Ms Dorries activities should look a little closer to home. I am sure many of them have had to change the way in which they claim expenses and how many of them can truly take the high ground and say that they have nothing to reproach themselves for.

Presumably under parliamentary rules she will declare any earnings she makes.

Surely the Tory party should be assuming “innocent until proven guilty”

The Conservative Party said Ms Dorries must “justify herself” to her constituents, but declined to say whether she has broken the MPs’ code of conduct stating they must always behave with “probity”.

There is a saying “No publicity is bad publicity”. Until this issue broke I for one had never heard of Nadine Dorries. Now she is all over our television news programs, talk shows and on the front pages of the dailies.

What harm will she have done to her party, very little to my way of thinking. What harm will she have done to politics in general. None, politicians are all in it for self and the power over us “the plebs”.

What harm will she have done to her own reputation, very little. She will have gained more exposure. More people will know her name. Some will try and say that she has let her constituents down by being absent and not dealing with their problems. In one month it is questionable how much she would have done when you split her time between constituency and Westminster.

The ones that have done the most harm in my view are the chief whip and supporters who have shown how petty they can be with this knee jerk suspension. Don’t they realise that there are real issues that they should be dealing with.

Conservatives mocked over Nadine Dorries ‘I’m a Celebrity’ appearance – Telegraph.

They Don’t Like It Up Em


Actor and entertainer Clive Dunn has died, aged 92, in Portugal from complications following an operation.

Dunn is best known for his role as Lance Corporal “Jonesy” Jones in Dad’s Army, with fellow actors Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Ian Lavender, Bill Pertwee and John Laurie. He is famous for his catch phrases “Don’t Panic” and “They Don’t Like It Up ‘Em” His career spanned over 50 years and he appeared with many of the best of the British acting stock. My earliest memory is seeing him in “Bootsie and Snudge” where he played “Mr Johnson” alongside “Bootsie” played by Alfie Bass and “Snudge” played by Bill Fraser. He also appeared in the TV shows “My Old Man” and “Grandad” as well as over a dozen films between the years 1935 and 1980. His latest screen performance was in 1984 as the Shakespearean clown Verges in a TV version of Much Ado About Nothing.

Many of you will remember his performance singing “Grandad” on “Top of the Pops” with which he topped the charts for three weeks. How many of you know that he released many more singles following “Grandad” though none with the same degree of success.

He spent his later years as an artist working from his home in Portugal.

I think the best way to bid Clive farewell is to let him leave singing “Thank You and Good Night”

Proposed 2 Tier Road Tax – Unacceptable


According to The Sunday Times Whitehall officials are investigating changes to the UK road tax system.

Under the new proposal the tax could be split into two tiers – all drivers would pay the first charge. This would  allow them to use local roads and A-roads but then motorists wanting to travel on motorways and major A-roads would fork out for a second charge.

I can see how this might swell the governments coffers but ultimately this will be an unfair tax. Forcing those who cannot afford the additional taxation onto the minor roads. This in turn will increase congestion and cause delays and lengthen journey times.

My understanding is that road taxes do not currently pay for the UK road system, rather it is paid for by our general taxation. If that is true then we have all contributed to our road systems and should have the right to use any part of it.

If the government wants to introduce a taxation scheme that is variable but fair then they should scrap the road tax system and collect their taxes purely through the levy on fuel. In that way the heaviest road users would pay the most taxes.

Watch this space.

When Mr and Mrs Is No Longer Politically Correct


Apparently Brighton and Hove City Council is proposing to ban formal titles such as Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms from their official letters and documents.

Why ?

In case they offend the transgender community !!!

It seems that the Brighton councillors are actually going to waste time and have a vote on this proposal. It is said that there have been complaints that the use of traditional titles on council paperwork “forces people to ‘choose between genders'”.

I wonder what percentage of the Brighton and Hove population is made up of “transgender” folks. I’m sure that the number doesn’t warrant such a change. Certainly I am in agreement with the opposition councillors who have branded this proposal as ‘political correctness gone too far’ and that the idea is ‘ludicrous’.

They, the council, already have the ability to differentiate between male and female to determine Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms. Surely it isn’t beyond the wit of their staff to also determine how transgender residents wish to be addressed. They could do this by asking their resident population to let them know how they would like to be addressed.

Then it would be down to the individual and there would be no reason for anyone to get bent out of shape.

The Wreckers Move In


Following the arson attack, which hammered home the final nail in the derelict buildings coffin, demolition teams have moved in to start work on The Curzon Rooms. One time cinema and function rooms this building has been an eyesore for well over a decade.

The fire has finally triggered some action. Various plans for the site have been proposed but none have made it from the drawing board into reality. The building has been classified as dangerous and is being demolished. The work is scheduled to take about a month and permission has been given for the site to be turned into a car park.

Presumably this will bring in some revenue for the owners but will not do much to inject some life into the town as a shopping centre. The expectation was that this site would be developed into both retail and residential premises to instill a bit of life into Waterlooville.

A car park is hardly the result that Waterlooville residents would have hoped for. Does this mean that plans for flats and shops will now go on hold indefinitely ?

It’s the end for old cinema as wreckers start – Environment – Portsmouth News.