What Would Jamie Oliver Think of This Rubbish?
A report on the BBC has said that so-called ‘pink slime’ is being withdrawn from school dinners in the United States.
No wonder the country has so many problems, if this is considered an acceptable food for children.
They make the dreaded turkey twizzlers, so hated by Jamie Oliver, look perfectly edible and wonderfully nutritious.
Chelmsford Becomes A City
It has just been announced that Chelmsford is to become a city.
It’s funny but the football club has always been Chelmsford City.
The Four Tops and The Temptations
At present both these iconic sets of soul singers are on BBC Breakfast.
I suspect that once the program moves to Manchester, it will be more difficult to get some stars to go up north.
So why did the BBC decide to move its flagship program, which has the largest number of viewers at that time in the UK?
As it was Blair’s government who decided hey would go, was it punishment for something they said?
Buy Your iPad From Tesco
You can get one for £49.99 from Tesco according to this story on the BBC.
But you had better hurry, before they rectify their mistake.
I shall not be buying, as I don’t like apple products or Tesco.
This Landlady Had Better Be Careful
This story on the BBC, shows how the United States seems to go out of its way to get everybody’s back up.
It would appear that the pub has been called the Hobbit for about twenty years.
But then, she had better conform, otherwise she’ll be whisked off to the United States to face unlimited fines and a long sentence in some awful jail.
This case is calling out for some good honest British justice.
I used to know one of JRR Tolkein’s cousins and he did a lot of business in the old Soviet Union, where his cousin’s books were very popular. In those , he always took several with him, as they always opened doors.
So I suspect there are quite a few things named after Tolkein characters in Russia. Why don’t these American lawyers go and annoy Putin?
FT Says Afghans Want Local Trial
The shooting of Afghans by a rogue US serviceman, is absolutely awful and I dread to think where it will lead. I think if I was a soldier out there now, I’d be watching a few Black Adder Goes Forth videos, to get myself invalided home.
The FT this morning is claiming that the Afghan government want a local trial.
I hope that Afghanistan doesn’t have the death penalty!
Getting The Wife On The Board
We all know that we need more women on the board of both public and private companies. But is Volkswagen Chairman Ferdinand Piech taking this a bit too far, by getting his wife, Ursula, on the board, as reported here on Bloomberg?
I’ve served on committees with board husband and wife on them and they are a nightmare. You spend all the meeting trying to get a concensus and wo-betide you, if the wife has been outvoted by the group including her husband. She will then spend all night changing his mind, so you have to go through the process all over again.
So do Volkswagen know what they are getting themselves into?
Surely, there must be another woman in Germany, who would do a better job than the Chairman’s wife!
America Has Too Many Lawyers
This must be true as lawyers are now suing the law schools for producing too many lawyers and it’s reported in today’s Times.
I think we’ve had the same problem here for some years, as C always said that when she retired, the new barristers wouldn’t or couldn’t afford to do the important work she used to do with respect to sorting out children, as there was no money in it.
She always said that fewer and better lawyers, might produce some, who had the conscience and ability to do the work she did.
There is always the old joke.
Q. What do you call a 1,000 American lawyer at the bottom of the sea?
A. A good start!
Zopa And A European Transaction Tax
There has been a lot of talk and some would say hot air lately from politicians about a European Financial Transaction Tax. This morning I heard on the radio, that such a tax would reduce the value of pensions dramatically, as every time your pension provider bought or sold a share or bond, you’d pay tax on it. It would probably mean that annuity returns would drop significantly.
On the other hand, if you look at Zopa, which gives me similar returns to what I would expect from my pension or annuity provider, I would hope they are outside of a European Financial Transaction Tax. Unless of course, the tax means that every time we make a transfer from our bank account, 0.01% goes to a central fund in the EU to bail out countries like Greece and Italy.
I would think that if any British Prime Minister allowed that, we would see riots, like we’ve never seen before.
So one of the advantages of an investment like Zopa, is that it should be outside any proposed European Financial Transaction Tax. On the other hand, this just might get the EU to make companies like Zopa illegal or ensure that every lender was registered with some new bureaucracy. Remember that a civil servant’s first duty is to create more jobs for others of his ilk.
So my advice to those who want to have a safe place for their savings, might find Zopa and the other peer-to-peer lenders, a safer place than stocks and shares.
Council Employees Tax Avoidance Schemes
I have been amazed for some years at the enormous salaries trousered by some top council employees. After all, you can’t say that they do a creative job that adds value. Now it appears that many of these employees are paid through companies to avoid tax, according to a report by the Public Accounts Committee. The chair of this committee Margaret Hodge is quoted on the BBC as saying.
This is a tax avoidance scheme which is totally wrong. Where you are a public servant it’s not right you should be paid in a way that avoids tax
I agree! If George Osborne is looking for a place to raise money in the budget, he could declare these contracts illegal and raise perhaps a billion or two.
It would appear that my council, Hackney, is one of the worst offenders, with 39 employees being paid this way.
The Anonymous Widower 