Just a Minute
There is a Radio 4 program called Just a Minute.
I think some of the rules of this program should be applied to Prime Minister’s Question Time.
For instance the Repetition Rule. Prudence is a great man for repeating lists of things and it would leave him without his debating style.
President Blair
Prudence is backing Tony Blair for European President.
I am not a lover of Mr. Blair, but is there anybody else with as much experience to do the job? Europe needs someone who countries like the US and China will treat as an equal, so it probably means that person must come from either the UK, France, Germany or Italy.
I also feel that having a Brit in charge may help us in our tricky dealings with Europe. But I doubt it, as Britain is far too against the continent.
Incidentally, I’m not!
I’m all for joining Schengen and the Euro, but feel that we must get a stronger grip on fishing and agriculture. We must also create a coherent foreign policy to which we all sign up and then create the defence structure underneath it.
Prudence in Cloud Cuckoo Land
I’m watching Prudence this morning on BBC Breakfast Time.
He just doesn’t believe the mess he’s got us in. He even had the cheek to use the P-word.
Sian Williams isn’t one of the most forceful of interviewers, but seems to have a very different grasp of figures. She is quoting organisations like the OECD and he is saying that they are just wrong.
The sooner he goes the better!
If At First You Don’t Succeed…
The full quote is.
If at first you don’t succeed, then try, try and try again.
Strangely, I can’t find the origin on the Internet, although there is a version, which adds “Then Quit” to the end.
But obviously, Prudence’s law officers don’t have quitting in mind, when they consider the case of three accused of a bomb plot to blow up airliners. They are dint to try, try, try and try again until they get the right result.
I don’t look at this with any view of justice, but it strikes me that if they’ve failed twice to get a conviction, that there’s every chance that a third attempt will fail. Especially, as it will be impossible to find a jury that has not heard of the case.
I think now is the time to give up!
The CRB/ISA Farce
It’s not often that those two newspapers at the opposite end of the political spectrum; the Guardian and the Daily Mail, agree on anything. And Esther Ranzten is in the same camp too.
We need to have checks on those that work with children, but are we looking in the wrong place and the wrong way for a start? I don’t have the figures, but aren’t don’t a lot of serious cases involving child abuse and even murder down to the parents or those that live with one of the parents?
So perhaps we should do checks on all parents. And while we’re at it, lets check grandparents, like me! And au-pairs too!
Everybody too, was getting under the collar about this on Nicky Campbell’s phone-in this morning. And probably rightly so, as estimates say that over eleven million of us, will have to be checked.
No-one seems to have done any risk analysis on this. Does anybody look at the statistics of harm that comes to children?
Lets take fire for a start. This bland set of statistics gives the number of fire deaths in 2005. It shows that 200 or so died in domestic fires, of whom a proportion were children. Do we insist on smoke alarms working? No! A fire officer once told me that kids remove the PP9 batteries from them for their toys and game machines.
And then road accidents!
We need a proper holistic strategy that gives maximum protection to everybody and not just children. And it needs to be done through education, training and watchfulness from everybody.
Not by the heavy hand of bureaucracy!
One caller on Nicky Campbell’s show suggested that it was a government money-raising exercise. I couldn’t possibly comment, but eleven millions at upwards of fifty pounds a time is a lot of revenue for Prudence and his cronies.
But perhaps the most chilling example of how this will all fail concerns the case today of Russell Carter. He had been convicted of armed robbery in the US, but this was unknown in the UK and he was able to get jobs that put people in danger. In the end he murdered his boss.
Michael and Rochelle
Michael Shields, who was jailed for an attack in Bulgaria has now been released by the Home Secretary using his prerogative. The conviction was always dubious, especially when it involved such a horrendous offence. You just feel that in such cases, everyone should make their best efforts to get the right conviction. I don’t think they did here and preferred the anyone would do to discourage the others. I have not seen the evidence, but because that eminent organisation, Fair Trials International, have been supporting Mr. Shields, the conclusion is most likely just.
Rochelle Adams is a 19 year-old Canadian, who made the mistake of falling in love and getting married to Adam from Wales. In fact, she was just a few months younger than my late wife was when we got married in 1968, We succeeded and were married for 39 years until her untimely death.
A few years ago, Rochelle would have been allowed to stay in the United Kingdom, as is fit and proper for anybody setting out in that noble joining between two people. But because we must protect people against forced marriages, she can’t, and so Adam and Rochelle must start their married life for eighteen months five thousand kilometres apart until she is 21. She should then be able to get a spousal visa. Or one would hope so, but if Prudence’s disreputable bunch are still in power, you could imagine a different result.
Now the Home Secretary has the power under the Forced Marriages Act to allow Rochelle to stay. As the BBC says.
He had the discretion to let Mrs Wallis remain with her husband at their home near Aberystwyth but refused to do so because many other innocent victims may also be caught out by the same rule.
But he remains stubborn and is hiding behind the bureaucratic mess that has been created in the last few years. We need to protect against forced marriages, but there are better ways of doing it. After all one forced marriage case involved a thirty-year-old or so doctor! Did their Act help?
Perhaps though you can see his reasoning. Allow one exception and he’d have to allow many more because of a very badly drafted piece of legislation. And let’s face it Prudence and his cronies have been responsible for a lot of that!
Or could I just be cynical and say there are more Labour votes on Merseyside than in the Aberystwyth area?
No Smoke?
The Megrahi affair refuses to go away.
The Sunday Times says that Jack Straw.
Backed down citing “overwhelming” UK interests. A major oil deal was being discussed at the time.
So how much did Prudence and his cronies really know?
Clouds on the Zopa Horizon?
I’ve now got over £30,000 invested in Zopa.
Nothing really untoward has been happening with my money and according to the latest figures, I’m earning a genuine five percent on my money. By a genuine five percent, I mean one that includes all the charges and bad debts. It also takes into account money that is in Zopa, but is not been lent out yet.
Of the 650 or so people I have lent to, only three are in trouble, with one a genuine bad debt and the other two limping along still making payments. That level is below the level forecast by the company and well below the levels experienced by the average finance company.
The graph below shows the rates at which money has been lent out on Zopa.
Zopa Rates to August 2009
Note that since mid-April rates have been rising, but over the last month or so, they have flattened off a bit and they may even have been falling slightly.
The graph below shows the amount of money requested.
Money Requested on Zopa - August 2009
Note how over the last six weeks, the amount of money requested by borrowers has dropped significantly.
Is this and the drop in interest rates linked to the banks being easier places to borrow money or does it reflect a typical lack of business because of the summer holidays? You could argue that the peak in June/July was caused by people borrowing money for holidays or new transport to take them there!
So there could be some fluffy cumulus on the Zopa horizon. We’ll see if business takes off in the autumn.
But a bigger thundery cloud has been seen courtesy of the Office of Fair Trading.
When I first got the letter saying that I must register because of Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, I thought it was a joke or at worst a try-on. Basically, reading the letter it just seems to be a catch-all to raise more money for this beleaguered government.
Why should I pay £115 a year, when my lending is controlled by Zopa and I only transfer money into them, by a straight transfer from my bank account? It is a yearly charge and would cut my rate from five to 4.7 percent.
If every lender on Zopa had to pay this tax, then it would not be the place for lesser mortals to get a decent rate on their money. But then Prudence and his ilk, have never liked private enterprise. Unless of course it benefits themselves!
It could be argued that Zopa is also a competitor to the various State Banks, that Prudence has saddled us with.
But despite all these clouds I will still be putting a percentage of my spare money into Zopa in the future.
Prudence Gets Angry
Gordon Brown is now reported to be very angry about how the Libyans have feted Megrahi when he returned home.
But he has said nothing on his part in the early release of Megrahi except that it was all down to the Scottish government. That strikes me as a bit of a cop out.
The Daily Mail thinks he has something to hide. Perhaps, he doesn’t, as he has actually done nothing, which would be even worse.
I’m just waiting for the day his government goes and the next Prime Minister is able to unlock the files and see the truth about what has happened under this disastrous idiot.
The Anonymous Widower 