Cash For Scrap
No wonder we get so much metal thefts with big screen adverts like this at football grounds.
Where to Sell Your Scrap Metal For Cash
I took this picture at West Ham last night!
If I was the Transport Minister, I’d get them banned.
BT’s Copper Is Worth More Than The Stock Market Value
According to The Times today, BT has 75 million miles of copper cable, which at £5,000 a tonne is worth £50 billion.
Compare this to their stock market value last night of just £14 billion.
This figure came from an article on the massive amounts of metal theft in the UK.
Cable Theft Halts Stansted Express
That’s what the Evening Standard is reporting.
Every day there is more of these thefts and the BBC South East News every morning, always contains several stories that could be down to cable theft.
The Second Hand Clothes Racket
The Times on Friday had an article obout gangs collecting second hand clothes and then selling them in Eastern Europe. But it’s not just here, that it happens! Here’s a story from Dubai of all places on a related theme.
When I get bags asking for clothing to be donated through my door, they go straight in the recycling bin. If I have any clothes to go to a good cause, I take them to the Oxfam shop on my way to the station.
G4S Tags Offender’s False Leg
I like this story.
The offender’s surname was Lowcock, so perhaps G4S should have realised he wasn’t your normal customer.
Perhaps they should tag criminals round the neck, with an electronic sign on the front, detailing their offences!
The Facebook Two
Two men have been given substantial prison sentences for trying to organise a riot in Chester by using Facebook. as the BBC reports here. But they must have been two of worst riot organisers in history as no-one turned up.
Perhaps, the good people of Cheshire, have more morals, than these two have common sense.
You don’t send people to prison for this type of crime, especially when it would appear that nothing got damaged and no-one got hurt.
What they need is some form of creative community punishment. Perhaps, there is a derelict site that could be converted into a garden! Or some coal that needs painting white!
One is certainly appealing, and I’ll be very surprised if the sentence stands.
DLR Extension Delayed By Thefts
According to this article, the new extension to the Docklands Light Railway has been delayed by thefts.
Hopefully, it will open at the August Bank Holiday.
I have a feeling that this is the first section of the DLR, that hasn’t opened on time, so that’s not a bad record, considering of all the bits of the railway, this is one of the least important and won’t really be needed before Eastfield opens.
China’s Fake Apple Stores
It would appear Apple has a problem.
Let’s Get Scientifically Correct About These Riots
Everybody is making all sorts of statements about the riots. Many of them are based on idle speculation or entrenched views and quite a few are racist.
We need to have scientifically correct facts.
Let’s start with a database of all the arrests, where suspects are listed. Perhaps a database could contain the following data for each arrest.
- Sex
- Age Range – say 15-24, 25-34 etc.
- Ethnicity
- Education Level
- Suspected Crime
- Post Code of Crime
- Employment Status
- Relationship Status
- Housing Status
- Distance between Crime and Place of Abode
Only when we properly analyse data like this can we make appropriate judgements.
If you think this is all very cloud-cuckoo thinking, I know that the Metropolitan Police have analysed all vehicles stops, where the vehicle was missing one of excise duty, insurance or MOT. The results were interesting and have been used to modify police methods to cut crime.
Are Our Riots Just The English Way of Protest?
Over the weekend, there were massive protests against the cost of living in Israel.
So they weren’t violent, but that may be the Israeli way.
There is no doubt there is a lot of disaffection in this country. So are the young just doing what they’ve always done and protest violently? In my lifetime we’ve had Teddy boys, Mods and Rockers and football holligans, all of whom came from the very violent tendency.
So now the poor are struggling with job losses, benefit cuts and pay day loan sharks, they might feel that the only way to get what they want is to loot it.
The Anonymous Widower 