Will LulzSec Target the UK Legal System Over Jailing of Joanne Fraill?
LulzSec are a group of hackers, who have broken into various computer systems all over the world, including a web site linked with the CIA.
I do wonder whether the jailing of Joanne Fraill for discussing a case where she was a juror on Facebook, will get a response from LulzSec. Especially, as some reports say all jurors who use Facebook to discuss cases will be jailed.
How long before the idiots on Facebook start a “Free joanne Fraill” campaign?
I can’t help feeling, that this one will run and run and in a direction that the government and the judges won’t like.
What Joanne Fraill did was wrong, but then it was also incredibly stupid. So are we now jailing people for doing things, they don’t have the intelligence to realise are wrong? In Joanne Fraill’s case, she should have been given a community sentence. Perhaps one working with the victims and problems of drug addiction, that her actions have inadvertently made worse, by stopping a trial of drug dealers.
A Thought About Pensions
Are the Unions attacking the wrong target in the Government over pensions?
If I look at my pension, it’s not as big as it could be and that is probably because the advice I’ve received over the years about it could have been much better in places. It has been managed by three or four providers, a couple of whom have been taken over. It is now being managed by a friend, who works for a respected institution, but getting it there involved large amounts of paperwork and slowness on the part of the previous company.
But I’ve been lucky compared to some of my friends, who have suffered downright incompetence, or were unlucky enough to have chosen the likes of Equitable Life.
So is the problems with paltry pensions, not so much the rules, but the management by the companies and individuals involved? I know this doesn’t apply to pensions provided by the government, but poor private pensions, must mean that there is pressure for everybody to come in line.
Remember too, that when pensions came in, it was expected that those receiving them would only live a couple of years at most. Now most live a lot longer.
But if you think the problems are bad here, then just look at some European companies, where pensions are funded totally from taxation.
Justice By Facebook
I think that this is the biggest threat to justice, I’ve seen in the last thirty years. In this case for example, according to the Guardian, a juror contacted the defendant and the trial collapsed at a cost to taxpayers of £6,000,000.
I don’t know how you stop it, unless you ban those who know about the Internet from juries.
So it might be the end of the jury system in many cases, and we go to a system, where defendants are tried in front of a panel of judges.
I hope not.
Belgians Break the Record
Belgian has just broken the record for the longest time a country has gone without a government.
So does it prove that often, when you are in a real hole, the best thing to do is stop digging.
I feel that one solution to the problem of political parties that have their own opposite agendas, might well be to agree how the taxes are raised to keep the country going and then let everybody get on with it. So many things in this country perform quite well, without any political interference. In fact, in some areas like food, as I showed with the bread story, that interference actually makes things worse.
Cambridge Busway to Open on August 7th
It would appear from this article, that an opening date has been set.
I’ll believe it when it opens!
Waking Up In Cloud-Cuckoo World
I woke at about five this morning and put the radio on to listen to the news. One of my favourite books is The Wages of Destruction: The Making and Breaking of the Nazi Economy
I felt that I’d woken up in a world where everyting was being run by idiots, who had lost their sense of where they were supposed to be, but were still of course getting all of their perks and salaries. Or in the case of various dictators were still milking all their subjects for ever cent they’d got.
The first story was the problems in Syria, where all sane people agree that President Assad must go. The president used to be an opthalmologist, which in my book is a sort of doctor, so why is he blinding some of his people and killing others in an effort to cling to power? And why were we still supporting this despot until recently?
Then there was the story about Greece having a referendum on cuts. Turkeys and Christmas come to mind. Of course they’ll vote yes to the cuts!
The Germans are supposed to be efficient. But they can’t seem to find the source of their e-coli outbreak. So what does the EU do about it, have a meeting?
I could add other stories, where those in charge are going one way and doing their utmost to keep their high-salaried jobs.
Don’t get me going on the NHS, where at present I just need a repeat prescription and it seems to take days at my GP. At the previous one, I sent in an e-mail and either collected the drugs or the signed prescription on the next working day. How many highly-paid civil servants does it take to not impliment that very simple policy?
And now to cap it all, BBC Breakfast is talking about the lack of cuckoos this year. They’re all alive and well and living in politics and government, all over the world!
Waiting For Beckett
For those who love the work of Samuel Beckett, this news must be very heartwarming.
Yorkshire Has Its Own Ways of Dealing With Unwanted Noise
After the problems with swearing in Barnsley, we now have a story of how a group of over-excessive bell ringers were locked in their belfry by an irate pensioner.
Don’t get me wrong, I quite like bells, but they have a time and a place. And in this case three hours was probably too long a time, especially as they weren’t for a particular celebration like a wedding, but just for fun.
Sepp Blatter is in Favour of Women Wearing Stockings
The following paragragh is from this page on Sky News.
One of his stranger roles was as president of the World Society of Friends of Suspenders – a male group that wanted women to give up tights and return to wearing stockings and suspenders.
Doesn’t that say a lot about the Great Administrator. Rumour has it, that Fred, Max, Peter and Dominique are also members of the same society.
I’ve Got Some Olympic Tickets
I originally applied for £3234 worth of Olympic tickets, but in the end I only got £785.
This is just over twenty-four percent of what I tried to get.
No-one seems to know how the ballot has been organised. In many cases I applied for two tickets, as I’m not keen on going by myself.
I hope I haven’t got loads of single tickets!
As an engineer with a stromg statistics training, I think there might be more to this than we think. I just sent this e-mail to BBC Radio 5.
But the figures on what people have got, don’t add up.
It will be interesting to look again, after people know the events they’ve got.
I do wonder though, if the method of the ballot process has leaked out and speculators and ticket touts have made a killing.
After all, I’ve not heard of anyone, who’s got all they asked for. On the law of averages, that should have happened quite a few times, and some would be crowing with delight.
I do suspect though, that some will make a killing. Touts and criminals always find a way to make money.
The Anonymous Widower 