Category: News

Councillor leaves meeting to avoid Islamic prayer – Politics – The News


Councillor leaves meeting to avoid Islamic prayer – Politics – The News.

My view, for what its worth, is that the councillor should show due respect and he should have stayed for the prayers.

Walking out is tantamount to sticking ones finger up.

Why is it that Councillor Hey, if he is such a devout christian, doesn’t actually demonstrate much in the way of christian spirit.

Unfortunately this is the kind of thing that I have come to expect from supposedly christian folk. They don’t actually follow the teachings of the bible. Rather they follow a path dictated by their own biased interpretation.

RIP Nimrod


Here we go again.

The British Government, hell bent on ripping the UKs defence forces apart.

They have now scrapped the latest Nimrod variant. This high tech plane would have been the most advanced of its type. It has now been dispatched to join our carriers and of course ther Harrier.

Soon we will be seen as a 3rd rate force. We will be totally dependent on other nations for our defence. We will be totally impotent especially should we need to deploy forces the other side of the world.

Time to don the black arm bands Englands military heritage.

Explanation Please


Can somebody explain to me how our governments cost cutting & expenditure slashing activities is helping.

All I keep reading is how many jobs are being cut as both private industry and the public sector react to the reduction and in some case total removal of government subsidies.

Who is going to support all the families who cannot support themselves due to job losses ?

Won’t all these folks end up on the dole alongside all the current lead swingers and benefit cheats ?

So the government will have to pay out additional benefits in place of the subsidies.

Wouldn’t it be better to keep these folks in employment so that we get a return for our taxes. In addition the folks that still have jobs won’t join the millions of disheartened people currently dependent on benefits ?

Mountains From Molehills


So Richard Keys & Andy Gray made comments, “off air” which were inappropriate.

I agree they should get their knuckles rapped but should they lose their jobs ?

This is typical of the overreaction that is forced along by media hype. The media hype foists these people on us in the first place and makes then into celebrities. And then the first sniff of some wrong doing and that same media hype pushes them off the pedestal.

Talk about a self fuelling debate. Now the media turns this crappy discussion into being a newsworthy item. It is now being shown, dissected and discussed on all TV news programs and most of the radio news broadcasts too.

To be quite honest I am sick of it. This debacle has already taken up too much of my life.

Nuff said

Pooling Resources – Flaming Good Idea


Sorry about the heading but I couldn’t resist it.

It seems that there has been a bit of flack aimed at Redditch Borough Council who have proposed that the excess heat generated by the local crematorium be used to heat the local swimming pool.

This innovative idea will potentially save them, and the tax payer, over £14,000 in heating bills each year.

It is being said that some folks might find the idea of  heating the pool due to the death of a loved one as being a “bit eerie”.  What is it with this country. We seem to go out of our way to be squeamish about the one sure thing in this life…..or rather out of it. I am sure that most folks would only be too pleased to think that their last action is going to benefit other people.

So come on Redditch Borough Council, full steam ahead. Be the first in the UK to implement this scheme and hopefully lead the way to other councils using this wasted energy.

Read more here

Goodbye Susannah


Susannah York
Susannah York Pictures

British actress Susannah York died on January 15, aged 72.

She was, along with Julie Christie and Sarah Miles, one of the most memorable faces of the 1960s and pin-up for “boys” of a certain age.

Although she appeared in many many films throughout her career my strongest personal memories are of her performances in Tom Jones, Kaleidescope, The Killing of Sister George, Gold, They Shoot Horses Don’t They and Oh What A Lovely War.

Susannah, Thanks For The Memories.

The Round Up


Anyone who has read my previous posts regarding Facebook, or farcebook as I prefer to call it, know what my thoughts are regarding what I believe has become a pariah of our techno-world. So I direct your attention to the   silicon.com Weekly Round Up newsletter – 15th January 2011

For those of you who cannot be arsed to follow the link you can, without their posh fonts and hyperlinks, read it below………

Do you sometimes feel intimidated by other people’s Facebook friends lists?

Does an impressively large number of friends make your tiny circle of mates seem insignificant?

Relax. Just because you only have ten friends on Facebook, doesn’t mean your life is a failure – although connecting with silicon.com  would undoubtedly be a step in the right direction.

And as for those show-offs who apparently have hundreds of best-friends-forever?

Don’t worry: chances are they don’t know many of their ‘friends’ and are simply adding strangers to make themselves appear more popular than they actually are – the social media equivalent of stuffing a pair of rolled-up socks down your trousers.

Research has revealed that many Facebook users don’t know as many as one in five of their Facebook friends.

There is that old saying that ‘a stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet’ – but too much of that kind of  thinking and you’ll be one of those characters who smiles at people on public transport while patting the seat next to you.

The study, by phone-comparison website goodmobilephones.co.uk, asked 1,500 Facebook fans how many of their friends they had actually talked to via the site, and the majority admitted they had never spoken to at least half of them.

In addition, the majority admitted they no longer knew at least 20 per cent of their Facebook friends. A surprisingly honest four per cent admitted they didn’t know at least half of them.

The majority also admitted they only talked to about 20 per cent of their Facebook friends, which means Facebook is a great way of connecting with old friends you haven’t spoken to for ages – and then ignoring them.

When asked why they had kept ‘friends’ online who they did not know, over half admitted they did ‘so as not to appear rude’. Almost one in four wanted to artificially boost the number of friends they had, so it’s perhaps not surprising that two thirds of the Facebookers surveyed admitted they had accepted a complete stranger as a friend in the past.

This is the reason the Round-Up is proud to cultivate a small Facebook friends list that only includes close acquaintances.

At least that’s the excuse the Round-Up’s got, and it’s sticking with it…

The Langstone Ark – Get Snapping


Brainchild of Louise MacCallum, environment officer for Langstone Harbour the Langstone Ark will be an online pictorial catalogue of every species seen in Langstone Harbour, from Eastney, to Farlington Marshes to Hayling Island.

All users of the harbour area are being encouraged to join in, get snapping and become part of what will become an amazing record of our local area.

Those wanting to participate can find out how HERE

Lets get started.

Surgery Closure Petition


If you live in Locks Heath hopefully you will know about this.

The Locks Heath doctors surgery in Locks Road, which has been in operation for around 100 years, is set to close. Current Locks Road patients will be transferred to the newer joint practice surgery in Whitely,  a seven mile round trip.

Hundreds of people have signed a petition opposing the planned closure of the Locks Road Surgery and a worried resident has placed forms protesting about the closure in local shops. So far just under a thousand people have signed on behalf of themselves and their family.

Anyone who knows the area will know that the distance is not the only issue with the surgery move. To get from Locks Heath to Whitely one has to negotiate one of the busiest roundabout/junction complexes in the region. This route is the main interchange between the M27, A27, local business parks and residential areas.  It is a complete log-jam at peak times and very busy the rest of the time.

Anyone who is sick and having to visit the Whitely surgery will find this quite stressful. It is also not a route to walk, for those who do not have a car.

There has been some suggestion that a shuttle bus could be run to get folks to the new Whitely surgery. Of course that makes perfect sense….NOT.

Will the shuttle be available all day or at least for all of the normal surgery hours ?

And how much will that cost ?

Couldn’t such money be made available to upgrade the current surgery to make it “fit for purpose” ?

When does a surgery that has been in operation for nearly a century suddenly become unfit for purpose ?

Just another example of  what is good for the bean counters taking precedence over what is good for the community.

If you are a user of the Locks Road surgery I suggest you look out the petition and get your name on it.

Nuisance Telephone Calls


For the last couple of days we have been receiving nuisance calls to our landline. Always around the same time of day and when you answer the line is dead, sounding  like the pause you get before an automated message starts. But it never does.

So the initial nuisance is that having hauled yourself out of  your chair, away from your work or even worse, away from your meal,  it is all for nothing.

The additional irritation is that when you try to initiate a call back (1471 in the UK) to find out who called you receive the message

” You were called…..blah … blah…. blah. We do not have the callers number”

Why Not ? Isn’t it your telephone network ?Why is this allowed ?

Why is the caller allowed to disturb your peace, allowed to invade your privacy but you are not allowed to respond. The caller obviously wanted to speak to someone at your number so why are they being so secretive.

I think the rules should be changed. If you call someone then they have the right to know who you are.