Does UKIP Allow People To Express Their Prejudices?
We all have prejudices. This philosophy was first expressed to me by a postman in Ipswich, who happened to be black. He told quite a few tales how racial prejudice and the fact that he was a postman, got some strange reactions, which on balance were positive. This was all thirty years ago and he said if you scored all your prejudices and added them up and the sum was negative, you are a sad bastard.
I have three major prejudices; Imperial weights and measures, smoking and any supposed science, that is accepted or rejected without scientifically-correct review.
With Imperial weights and measures, I grew up with feet, inches and pounds, but as I was trained as an engineer, it wasn’t long before I realised what a stupid system they are. When I worked for ICI, I was told by someone, who knew the truth, that one of the partial causes of the Flixborough disaster was that it was a plant that was copied from a European one, by converting it to Imperial units. And someone got a calculation wrong. It is interesting to note, that ICI went totallyto SI units in the mid-1950s. The worldwide use of SI units is described like this in Wikipedia.
The system has been nearly globally adopted. Only Burma, Liberia and the United States have not adopted SI units as their official system of weights and measures. In the United States metric units are not commonly used outside of science, medicine and the government; however, United States customary units are officially defined in terms of SI units. The United Kingdom has officially adopted a partial metrication policy, with no intention of replacing imperial units entirely. Canada has adopted it for most purposes, but imperial units are still legally permitted and remain in common use throughout a few sectors of Canadian society, particularly in the buildings, trades and railways sectors.
It’s about time we changed fully. My son, who is in his forties, doesn’t understand Imperial units.
Incidentally, I won’t allow a rule with Imperial units into my house.
My Everyday Rule
The picture shows my everyday measure. It is metric only and I bought it in France.
My prejudice against smoking is obvious and is shared by many. My father was a heavy smoker and was it one of the causes of my childhood ill-health, that haunts me to this day.
As a scientist and engineer, I’m always wary of something that doesn’t stand up to close scrutiny, like homeopathy, faith healing,non vaccination of children for MMR, capital punishment, creationism and religion.
But a lot of prejudices we have are not rational and some are quite frankly sexist, racist, anti-immigrant or homophobic and rightly against the law.
So do people with these type of prejudices and other ideas, that have been proscribed by Parliament, vote for UKIP, as they think the party might do things, like lift the smoking ban in pubs, bring back capital punishment, allow people to keep hand guns?
After all the party seems to have changed its policity on HS2 to get votes in Buckinghamshire, depending on what web site you read.
I would love to have definitive UKIP answers to the following questions.
- Would they cancel HS2?
- Would they allow smoking in pubs, clubs and restaurants?
- Would they allow full use of Imperial measures?
- Would they bring back capital punishment?
- Would they bring in heavier prison sentences?
Simon Barnes On The Environment
On the way up to Burnley yesterday, I read my copy of The Times. Saturday’s edition is always graced by the nature notes of Simon Barnes, who is one of my favourite journalists and firmly in the tradition of great reporters.
Yesterday, he talked about the banning of the pesticides, that may be harming bees and finishes his piece with this.
Politics is based on short-termism — what politician ever thinks beyond four or five years?
But such thinking is hopelessly inadequate for the big questions that involve the fabric of the world we live in.
Well said, as ever! But politicians only want power, not legacies.
The Largest Case C Ever Did!
I went to the retirement party in Ipswich, for a judge who was one of C’s best friends, in Ipswich tonight.
It was good to meet old friends and have a drink and some nibbles.
I was also introduced to someone, who as one of the Court Clerks, played a part in the largest case C ever did.
She would tell this story with gusto and lots of actions. I’m sure many who heard it, didn’t believe all of the tale.
She always called the case, the Thorpeness Affray and although she didn’t do crime in the later part of her career, she was persuaded to defend someone in this case, which took place at Ipswich Crown Court.
The size was enormous, in that there a hundred and eight defendants, which my informant said they split into two separate trials. I think once, she said the clerks were scraping the barrel, which is why she got roped in.
It became obvious that the dock wasn’t big enough, so it was decided that each defendant should have a number and these would be placed above their seat. Each of the barristers would carry a flag identifying their clients.
Concerns were raised, as this numbering might not be conducive to a fair trial.
The judge was the well-respected and mildy-eccentric Bertie Richards. He thought, that if the defendants were to be numbered, so should he as the judge. So a number one was placed above where he sat.
At this point in the story, C would get all agitated and would make an action of holding up her flag and saying something like “Your Honour! I represent number 4!” Once the substitute flag in the telling, was a numbered wooden spoon in the restaurant of the pub, much to the delight of everyone.
Whatever happened to her client, I can’t remember. But tonight, I was told that many of the defendants, were part of a gang called the Bramfield Budgies. Bramfield is a village in Suffolk on the A12.
I think it is true to say that in the 1970s and 1980s, the conduct of justice was sometimes a little out of the ordinary.
Good News For Thurrock
C occasionally used to make appearances in the County Court at Grays, which is part of Thurrock. She used to say it wasn’t the best part of Essex and I’ve heard people say there is only one near-World Class buildimg in the town, and that is the disused State cinema.
But today, it has been announced that the station at Stanford-le-Hope is getting a big makeover, courtesy of London Gateway. It’s all here in the Thurrock Gazette.
David Aaronovitch Blames Journalists Over MMR
In a hard hitting opinion in The Times today, he effectively blames journalists for stoking up the MMR fiasco. Here’s the final paragraph.
The MMR scare was the fault of journalists of all stripes. With honourable exceptions, notably Brian Deer, hacks combined to mislead the public, and now those same journalists want to deny responsibility for it. They shouldn’t be allowed to. Forget phone hacking and paparazzi, MMR is the Hillsborough of my profession.
We need quality journalism in the UK, not scare and celebrity stories that sell papers to the gullible.
Justice Gets Attacked In Marion, Indiana
This is a rather funny story, about a drone that went AWOL.
Zopa Goes Automatic
Zopa has introduced a product called Safeguard. Read what Which says about it here. Here’s the first paragraph.
Zopa, the UK’s leading peer-to-peer (P2P) site, has today announced it has created a ‘safeguard’ to pay out to lenders even if a borrower defaults on the money owed.
Having just put some money into the new product, it would appear that the process is now totally add money and accumulate the interest.
The most interesting thing about this product, is why if an independent company can give a rate of return of 5% or so, why can’t the banks?
Go figure!
More Spanish Practices
This story from the Daily Mail, asks if it is the biggest scandal in doping history. Even Andy Murray is laying into the row, as the first paragraphs say.
Andy Murray last night hit out at a Spanish judge who ordered evidence relating to one of the biggest doping rings in history to be destroyed.
Britain’s No 1 tennis player called the decision to dump more than 200 blood bags from stars in a number of sports as ‘the biggest cover-up in sports history’ and said it was a ‘joke’.
Sometimes you think that there is one law for Spain and one law for everybody else.
An Event Driven Life
Yesterday, when I went to Bognor, it was a spur-of-the-moment decision, when I saw the weather forecast, which said that Bognor would be the warmest place in the UK. The hotspots today are Heathrow, Salisbury, Birmingham, Harlow and Barnsley. I hsven’t been to Salisbury for years, but I don’t think I’ll be going today. But who knows?
So every day, I look at the news and the weather and decide where I might go, if I feel a trip coming on.
I also try to sign up to offers, I get from places like Liverpool University.
It is a mildly exciting way to live.
Waitrose ‘Can Add 50 % To The Price Of Your Home’
The Standard also reports this.
I’ve got three within a simple bus ride, but I have a feeling that one will turn up nearer in the next couple of years.
The Anonymous Widower 