The Last Word On Hollande
I picked this paragraph up from The Times.
Christine Boutin, a Roman Catholic who served as a minister under President Sarkozy, accused Mr Hollande of “treating his concubine like a Kleenex”.
It would appear that he’s running out of powerful women to take to bed. One wag also said last week, that he looked like a middle-aged provincial dentist.
i know the French expect different things from their politicians, but there can’t be many countries where Hollande’s behaviour would be tolerated without redicule.
Why We Need Plain Fag Packets!
My old and sadly departed mate, Brian, who was an innovative and reliable accountant, always used to joke he did his best work on the back of one of his fag packets.
He would have laughed at a reader comment in The Times describing the mess politicians have got into on the economy.
The arrival of plain fag packets can’t come too soon for this lot.
We need some sound sense, otherwise the next election will be a disaster for everyone.
The trouble is that if a few economic home truths were printed on fag packets instead of health warnings, they would be ignored, just the same.
Robert Peston On Milliband’s Plan For The Banks
Now that Milliband has actually spoken it is interesting to see what heavyweight commentators are saying. The speech is reported here on the BBC and it also contains these comments from Robert Peston on what would happen if banks were limited as to market share.
Bankers have said to me this would lead to what they call a perverse outcome, that as they approached the maximum size they would dump customers they deemed low quality or loss-making.
It is unclear whether these customers would be able to bank elsewhere.
I wonder how many banks would want me as a customer, given that all I want is a money transfer company. And I don’t buy any other services from my bank, like insurance.
And I don’t see why I should pay for my banking!
Just Keep Driving, No-One Will Bother!
This story is terrible, as it details how many drivers have more than twelve penalty points and are still driving.
Almost 7,300 motorists with 12 points or more on their licences have not been banned from driving, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has claimed.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) latest figures show a man from Liverpool is driving with 45 penalty points on his licence, the IAM said.
I suspect that none of these drivers have committed a serious motoring offence like dangerous, drink or careless driving, as then they would probably have been banned. But who knows, as surely some of these drivers didn’t get banned because of various underhand means. Nudge! Nudge Wink! Wink!
But even if these drivers are just persistent speeders, do they moderate their speed in towns and cities, where there are some not very alert pedestrians and cyclists, who might misjudge a speeding vehicle? And do their insurance companies know of their points, which if they don’t would surely invalidate their insurance.
I suspect now, that with a persuasive medical report from the right consultant, I could get my licence back. But I have made the decision after my stroke not to drive again, as if I was involved in a serious road accident, I’d be the one to blame.
Except for cases like my abortive trip to Doncaster, it is no inconvenience to not have a car.
One thing that does worry me though, is that I’ve been in a couple of cars lately, where I think that my eyesight was better than the driver.
There are masses of drivers out there who should be banned from driving for various reasons.
But politicians don’t want the law properly enforced as it would be a vote loser.
How To Lose Money Bank of Scotland Style
If we thought Fred the Shred and his crew of comedians were a wunch of bankers, this story from the Herald in Scotland is up there with his worst.
The Bank of Scotland loaned £11.2 million to an ex-banker to fund a new stadium for his football club; Dunfermline Athletic. Everybody then went bust leaving Lloyds Bank holding the baby with the gold-plated nappies. Here’s what the article says about the final outcome.
Despite being valued at £11.2m in 2011, the East End Park stadium was sold by administrators KPMG to a fan-led buyout team for just £700,000.
It strikes me, that there has been a bit of hanky-panky here. After all why would a club with average gates of a few thousand want a stadium that holds over eleven thousand? I wonder if Gordon Brown has any links to Dunfermline and its football club!
Miliband Has Another Crazy Idea!
After his idea of freezing energy prices, which I think, anybody with any knowledge of how the energy markets work, will think is a non-starter, he’s now had another idea, which although on the face of it looks good, will have far reaching negative consequences if it is implemented. It’s all reported here on the BBC and it is well summed up by the first paragraphs.
Firms would not be able to undercut wages by paying agency staff less than permanent staff under a Labour government, Ed Miliband has said.
Writing in the Independent on Sunday, the Labour leader said the party would close a loophole in the law that allowed for differing rates of pay.
Mr Miliband said he wanted to tighten the rules to “stop a race to the bottom with workers coming here from abroad”.
If you take an industry like farming, which relies heavily on bringing in agency workers to harvest fruit and vegetables, the resulting increase in price of the food, would probably mean we’d import more food from places like Kenya. Farmers would probably only grow food that could be harvested totally by machine.
Other industries would probably be similarly affected and their costs would go up, meaning more higher prices for consumers.
One point that he seems to ignore, is what happens in a company if agency workers and permanent staff are paid the same. A company would adjust the workforce to have the best one to meet its needs. So permanent staff might come under other pressures to perform as well as agency staff, be they from the UK or abroad.
It’ll be interesting to see how this argument develops. I’d love to see a breakdown of where these agency workers are employed by industry and region. I suspect that we’ll find some important public services wouldn’t run without them.
You can’t bring in these sort of policies immediately. You have to phase them in gradually over a period of time. It’s like trying to ride a bicycle slowly, by only turning hard left and hard right, instead of by small movements on the handlebars.
My only worry about these unworkable pronouncements from Ed Miliband, is that enough people might believe him and vote for him in 2010. His deputy may be called Balls, but Miliband talks it in spades!
An Unusual Cold War Story
I’ve just read this story on the BBC, about the personal relationship between Nikita Krushchev and John F. Kennedy and especially about a puppy given to the Kennedys by Krushchev.
You can draw a lot of interesting conclusions.
Tories Fear Scots Will Break Away
This is the headline on a piece on the front page of The Sunday Times today.
Whether the Scots vote for independence is up to them, and I don’t care one jot, as I see advantages in both outcomes.
If the Scots leave the United Kingdom, whether we are English, Scots or Welsh, we’ll see a whole lot of tortuous and very lengthy negotiations, which will make those in Northern Ireland at the present time, seem like a couple of two year-old twins arguing over a cake.
On the other hand if they stay, we’ll avoid any hassle with lots of domestic things, like travel, banking, insurance and energy. At the present, I don’t use any companies domiciled outside of England for my basic needs, as I don’t want a foreign government interfering in my affairs.
But there’s the advantage if the Scots leave, in that the English parliament would then be able to vote for what is best for England and Wales. We could for example move our time to that of France, Germany and most of Europe, as Scottish backwoodsmen wouldn’t be able to sink the legislation.
If Scotland breaks away, they will probably take control of their fishing industry and pictures like this one, will become more common.
Peterhead fish In London
I lkike good fish, but whether the EU would let them keep it from the Spanish and the Dutch is another matter.
If they did break away, that would of course, be the end of it and we wouldn’t have to have the argument again. Unless, they wanted to rejoin, but I do think the English would have a view on that!
Scotland would probably make a go of it alone, for one of the same reasons Ireland did. There is a large diaspora, who will support the country, through thick and thin.
At the moment the English and the Scots are like a couple trapped in an unhappy marriage. Both, to kiss and make up and go for a divorce are better options than struggling on!
I do hope that both sides accept this referendum as a full and final conclusion. but I doubt they will!
Farage Says Yes!
Nigel Farage of UKIP saying that the UK should accept more Syrian refugees is a bit of a surprise.l Here’s an extract from a report on the BBC.
The UK should take in some refugees from Syria’s civil war, UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage has said.
He told BBC News that Western countries should agree to take an allocation, but he did not specify numbers.
I wonder what his typical supporter thinks of this statement!
Ulster Says No!
The talks in Northern Ireland seem to have ground to their inevitable conclusion, as is reported here on the BBC. Here’s the first bit.
Talks aimed at solving some of Northern Ireland’s most contentious issues ended on Saturday without agreement.
The five main parties will meet again early on Monday to discuss parades, flags and dealing with the past.
I am getting sick to death of the same entrenched attitudes, that have cost all of us billions of pounds.
Who is going to rid us of this troublesome country?
Most of my friends from Eire don’t want this bigotted basket case either!
One point that has to be made. In most of England, we don’t have any religious parades that are contentious and you rarely see flags flown that some might not like. Even the cross of St. George has gone from something that was only flown to annoy to a flag flown with pride. So why if we can do it on this side of the water, can’t the Northern Irish do it.
I was also in Liverpool in the sixties, where there was a nasty undercurrent of religious tension. You don’t hear anything negative like that, from the city now!
The Anonymous Widower 