Are the Bishops Right to Vote Against a Benefit Cap?
To me it’s what the statistics say, but then we don’t have access to full figures. I would like to see a database on the Internet of all those who get benefits of over the £26,000 level. It would obviously be anonimised completely. We would then see how many people lived in a particular town, who got more than £50,000 for example.
But I’m interested to see John Bird, the founder of The big Issue has written in The Times, this morning.
The title of the piece is These bishops are not so Christian after all and it has a sub-title of A benefit cap is needed. You don’t help the poor by making them dependent on handouts.
You should buy the paper today just to read this article on page 20.
Aurora Borealis
This year seems to be the best in my life for the aurora borealis or northern lights in the media.
I’ve only seen it once and that was from a British Airways jumbo, crossing the Atlantic. The pilot spent a long time making sure that everyone who wanted was able to see the wonderful display as we passed down towards San Francisco over northern Canada. I suppose it keeps the passengers busy on a long flight.
I have been though to one of the best places to see the aurora in the UK. And that is in the cab of a train going from Edinburgh to Inverness in the evening. The night I did the journey, the time was wrong and anyway it was cloudy. But the driver had seen them many times, as they climbed over the Drumochter Pass, which at 1450 ft high is the highest railway line in the UK.
NuLabor Is Now Hypocrisy Labour
They’re certainly being accused of that in The Times in a front page article, entitled Hypocrisy charge as Labour cuts its pensions.
It’s one of those titles where you can skip the rest.
Cleaning Ducts
Outside my house at the moment is a van from a company that says it cleans ducts.
By this it means those big air vents you get in places like kitchens and I guess they are cleaning the ducts in the pub a couple of doors away, that is being refurbished.
It reminds me of a story about Enfield Rolling Mills.
An apprentice called Dave Howard was asked to clean the ducts in the canteen. On putting his head inside, he found that they contained quite a number of rats. As he didn’t like the thought of mixing it in the ducts with little furry animals, he decided on another course of action. He just switched everything off and made sure a lot of hot air was driven through the ducts.
The strategy worked in that it blew the rats away, but the canteen wasn’t able to sell any food for several days because of the smell.
Why Should Anybody Get More Than Average Wage on Benefit?
I suspect that those who framed our benefits rules many years ago, probably didn’t expect that years later claimants would get such high benefits, so they left this simple rule out.
So now benefits have spiralled out of control as government after government has put sticking plaster over sticking plaster to try to mend a failed system.
The proposed rule is a sensible one, that would probably be supported by most people, but like most things, managing the change will be the most difficult part.
But it is an insult to a prudent family, living on or below the average wage to have neighbours, who don’t work and perhaps never have, getting a lot more in benefits.
It is not a new problem, as in the 1970s, when we first lived in Suffolk, there was a problem family in the village, whose expensive lifestyle was completely sustained by benefits and certain interesting piecework. Many complained about it, but nothing happened.
Memories of Another Welshman Playing for Spurs
Spurs could probably claim that they were robbed against Manchester City today, as Mario Balotelli could have been sent off after kicking Scott Parker in the head. Harry Redknapp thinks he should have been according to this report on the BBC. But he would wouldn’t he! And so do I!
On the other hand Spurs second goal had a bit of familiarity in my mind. Aaron Lennon weaved inside from the left and gave a perfect pass for Welshman Gareth Bale to drill home from outside the box.
I can remember that great Welsh winger, Cliff Jones, doing the same from probably the other wing and teeing the ball up for either John White or even Danny Blanchflower to score. It couldn’t have been Jimmy Greaves, as he usually scored inside the six-yard box and the distance was too great. Also Greaves didn’t join Spurs until the 1961-62 season and I have a feeling this was earlier.
Jones in his prime was as fast if not faster than Bale, although he wasn’t protected as much by the referee. He’s one of those players, who if they played in the modern era would be so much better.
My father also saw another great Welshman, who played on the wing for Tottenham in the 1930s. He was Taffy O’Callaghan, who although not being as fast as either Bale or Jones, was in a team nicknamed the greyhounds, which won promotion in 1932-33. But by repute he could hit the heavy leather ball as hard and accurate as any.
So perhaps Harry’s team will upset the odds and win the Premier League this year or perhaps in the near future. They have the most important brick in place.
RBS Charges 2190% for Unauthorised Overdraft
The Sunday Times is reporting that RBS, or as I think it should be called, the Royal Bank of UK Taxpayers, is charging this rate for an unauthorised overdraft.
So the message is don’t go overdrawn if you bank with this wunch of bankers. But as a taxpayer, surely it is not a bad thing if a few idiots do, as they will help to make the bank profitable, so we can pass it on to another set of mugs.
On the other hand, we could bleed it dry, so it didn’t make any profits and then it might go bankrupt after which the liquidator could have their share and then pass two-fifths of five-eighths of fuck all to the government. After all Gordon Brown got us into this position by saving the bank in the first place, so that Scotland might vote for him. It was a good idea, as it looks like more voters north of the border preferred the SNP to Nulabor.
As an aside why is it always two-fifths of five-eighths of fuck all? A quarter would be simpler.
Un Petit Amusement de la France
A friend sent me this amusing clock from France.
Just click it and it changes from analogue to digital and vice-versa.
Don’t worry if your French is not up to the level that is acceptable for a Republican presidential candidate as any liguaphobe can understand it.
By the way, I haven’t found a similar nude women clock.
The App List
The Sunday Times today has a section called The App List. As I don’t even have a smart phone, should I ask for a refund?
Should we revert to the original nickname of mobile phones of a poserphone for smart phones?
Iranians Seize Barbie
This headline is in today’s Sunday Times.
Apparently Barbie has been banned in Iran since 1996 according to this article. So police are now seizing them in shops.
A mother is quoted as saying that her daughter says the Iranian versions, Sara and Dara (Ken) are ugly and fat.
I don’t think my children ever had a Barbie. But they were all boys. On the other hand, they didn’t have an Action Man either.
The Anonymous Widower 