Tag: government

Makes No Sense While In Lockdown


Why would you lock the country down, during a pandemic, but then allow a subset of the nation to gather in large crowds ?

To allow people to gather in large numbers, under the guise of protest, in numbers denied to the general populace, makes no sense at all.

BBC News – Coronavirus: Protests should be allowed during lockdown, say 60 MPs and peers https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56466291

These 60 politicians have their heads firmly stuck where the sun don’t shine.

We have seen, time and time again, that those that gather in protest, don’t social distance, many don’t wear masks, and many are there to cause mischief requiring intervention by the police, who are then put at risk.

If the government listens to these idiots they are asking for trouble.

Sad Times Indeed


In another time, my father, long passed now, was a police officer.

He served in the navy, became a policemen on his discharge and was initially stationed in towns such as Lewes. In those days, police officers and their families were moved around. And so, my father found himself as the “village bobby” just a few miles north of Hastings.

He was there to deal with the, seasonal, mods and rockers battles, along the south coast. He was also scooped up to provide security during JFKs visit to the UK. In between times he had to deal with gruesome fatalities, by road traffic accident, murder and suicide by shotgun. Of course there was the “bread and butter” work, dealing with thefts, burglary, drunkeness and so forth. In his latter years, until he retired, he became a highly skilled road traffic cop, where his patch was East Sussex and sometimes beyond.

Since then, the world has moved on and changed dramatically, become a more feral place.

I think, if he could see how the police are viewed and treated in our current times, he would be very sad. He would be confused by how we have come to this point. For sure, I certainly don’t understand it either

So I make no apologies for reproducing another Facebook post on the subject of the UKs police forces and the almost impossible tasks that confront them. Tasks that they carry out, despite the toxic press and the lack of support from the government and the flagrant use and abuse they receive at the hands of the opposition parties.

And so, here it is …..

Sad Times
Once we had a Police Force that was respected by all
Today they are abused swore at and spent most of their time dealing with ugly situations like drunken behavior, knife and gun crimes on the streets of the UK. A lot of their time is taken up with sorting out domestic violence and widespread shoplifting.
So called peaceful protests means the participants have the right to attack the police and when individuals are arrested there are shouts of Police brutality
Many young men and women joined the Police Force to make a difference and protect the streets from criminals and help their community’s by tracking down the thieves and villains that openly roam around causing distress and harm to the innocent.
The Police Force however have a bigger threat that causes them worry. Some will not make it to the end of a shift without injury or mental stress.
This threat is called the general public and they should be ashamed of themselves. Their behavior is splashed all over the media yet the blame for this disruption and violence is placed upon the Police Force
Did the Police Force gather in noisy swearing groups during lockdown?
Did the Police Force invite people to verbally and physically attack them?
Did young men and women join the Police Force to become human punchbags?
Once we were proud of our Police Force and their efforts to keep us safe.
Yet we see it splashed all over the newspapers condoning this kind of behavior by the General Public.
Stiffer sentences and larger fines should be issued out to these kinds of people or these situations and disruptions, they cause will become the acceptable norm
Would you want your son or daughter to Join the Police Force?
Welcome to Feral Britain!

As I said, my dad was a policeman. His time has passed but I have two grandsons, who are both serving police officers. One here in the UK, the other in Western Australia.

I fear for their well being as they carry out their service, protecting the general public.

Crass Stupidity


‘High Value’ Business Travellers’ Quarantine Exemption Branded ‘Dangerous And Elitist’ https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/business-travellers-exemption-from-quarantine-branded-dangerous-and-elitist_uk_5fc9ea49c5b63a153450c4bd

If our government goes ahead with this relaxation of rules, for “High Value” business travellers, they deserve all the vitriol coming their way.

Covid-19 doesn’t discriminate between rich and poor.

If we are going to truly protect this country then the quarantine rules need to be applied, strictly and fairly, to everyone who travels outside of the UK.

No exceptions.

Wake up Boris, this makes no sense.

Shall We / Shan’t We Defence Policy


The continuing saga of the shall we / shan’t we defense plan.

Apparently this is the plane that the Labour government had ordered but was rejected by the current government. Now, it appears, they have changed their minds on discovering the mind-boggling costs of installing a catapult system to our new carriers.

Personally, I think I would be doing some serious auditing of the costs being put forward here.

A whole carrier can be built for £5.2bn but just one catapult system fitted to one ship will cost £1.8bn !!!

I believe that the shilly-shallying of successive governments has brought the defence of this once great nation to its knees. Yet the government is still committing the support of our forces without the relevent infrastructure being in place.

This is akin to writing cheques on an empty account.

Defence of the nation, protection of the oppressed is not cheap. Face up to it and get on with the job.

Or else, let’s forget about colonialism, worldwide policing, protection of the oppressed and let’s declare ourselves neutral and rely on other nations to protect us.

Royal Navy jet’s future up in the air – Local – Portsmouth News.

Localism Act – Your Chance To Get Involved


For some time I have been getting “unsettled” by the changes that are occurring in my local area, becoming more concerned about the way that planners seem to be taking our local community. Just take a look at some of my other posts to see my thoughts on the matter.

A few days ago I attended a meeting at which there was a presentation on the Localism Act and the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). To be quite honest I wasn’t quite sure why I was there. I do know that I have been shooting my mouth of about the lack of involvement there appears to be between the community, meaning  me, and the planners.  In recent times I had seen articles which referred to Community Board meetings. To be more specific the articles typically were referring to meetings that HAD taken place, past tense. Then I saw in the paper that a meeting was to take place at Horndean Technology College so I made a note in my diary and then forgot all about it. That is until the reminder popped up a few days before the due date.

So I took myself along and it soon became clear that I was there, somewhat under false pretenses, as a resident of Waterlooville. You see, this meeting was called by the East Hampshire District Council with focus primarily on Horndean, Cowplain and Rowlands Castle but nothing to do with Waterlooville which comes under Havant Borough Council.

The really sad thing is that there were only, including me, perhaps 3 or 4 members of public in attendance. The bulk of the attendees were local councillors. Yet, the subject of the meeting, The Localism Act, is all about pushing the responsibility for planning decisions away from central government, down to the local community.

Thats you and me folks.

I  really knew nothing of the subject matter prior to the meeting.  I just saw it as a point of entry for my interest in local planning affairs. Also I was hoping that I would be able to identify some contacts and sources of information.

The meeting ran along the usual lines reading of planned agenda, acceptance of previous minutes etc. etc.. Then the presentations began ….

The Localism Act came into being 15 November 2011. The intent of the act is to  shift power from central government back into the hands of individuals, communities and councils.

The act is a recognition that central government has become too big, too interfering, too controlling and too bureaucratic. This has undermined local democracy and individual responsibility, and stifled innovation and enterprise within public services. The intention is  create a shift in the balance of power and to decentralise power as far as possible.

“Localism” isn’t simply about giving power back to local government. Rather it shows the government trusts people to take charge of their lives and is prepared to push power downwards and outwards to the lowest possible level, including individuals, neighbourhoods, professionals and communities as well as local councils and other local institutions.

There are five key measures core this new approach to decentralisation.

  • Community rights
  • Neighbourhood planning
  • Housing
  • General power of competence
  • Empowering cities and other local areas

You can read about the detail behind these bullets here

The other key item presented was CIL.

The Community Infrastructure Levy (Amendment) Regulations 2011 came into force on 6 April 2011 and is a levy on new developments over 100 square metres in size. The money raised by CIL will be ring fenced for local infrastructure.

In other words it is a tax.

Who is supposed to benefit from this tax ? Supposedly the community that has to suffer the new developments is the community that reaps the benefit from the moneys raised by the levy.

The money can be used to support development by funding infrastructure that the council, local community and neighbourhoods want – for example new or safer road schemes, park improvements or a new health centre. The system is very simple. It applies to most new buildings and charges are based on the size and type of the new development.

As I said earlier, he sad thing is that there were only a few members of public at the meeting. The whole point of the Localism Act and CIL is to put power back into the hands of the community.

Unfortunately, the community on the face of it doesn’t seem to care.

Personally I don’t think that is true. I think that people do care but they are not engaged by local council. The local councils don’t, in my opinion, do a very good job of communicating what is going on in their parishes and boroughs. From my own personal experience, when you do try to get involved it is difficult.

There are, apparently, Community Forums where this stuff is discussed. I tried to find out about the local Waterlooville forum and sent emails to the contacts published on the Havant Borough Council website. Either the links are dead or the owners of the email address choose not to respond.

Which is how I ended up as an interloper at an East Hampshire Community Forum meeting in Horndean.

My thanks to Cynthia Haveron who took the time to discuss the meeting set up with me, to introduce me to the Horndean representatives during the discussion period and also to send me contact names and email addresses for the Waterlooville Community Forums.

Localism Act will not stop new homes plan – Politics – The News.

Nanny State Reaches An All Time High, Or Do I Mean Low ?


I heard today that the act of wolf-whistling may be “criminalised” in the UK. This is the nanny state running wild.

Does our government have nothing better to do than worry about a typical builders yard response to a pretty woman walking down the street ?

It strikes me that the UK government would do better concentrating on the real issues in this country. Have they not noticed that we have an economy that is falling apart. An economy where every man woman and child is finding it increasingly difficult to put food on the table, fuel in the car and clothes on their children’s backs.

We live in a country where 4 million children, that’s one in three, are living in poverty.

If our government is more interested in wolf-whistles then it is time they were ousted.

 

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