William Hill Plans 700 Store Closures Putting 4,500 Jobs At Risk
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the first three paragraphs.
Bookmaker William Hill has said it plans to close about 700 betting shops, which could lead to 4,500 job losses.
The firm said the move followed the government’s decision in April to reduce the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals to £2.
Since then, the company added, it had seen “a significant fall” in gaming machine revenues.
So should we protect problem gamblers from themselves or those who work in betting shops?
I should add, that my late wife was a barrister specialising in family matters. She would say that many divorces were the result of at least one of the four main additions; alcohol, drugs, gambling and tobacco.
In my view, it was an enormous mistake to allow fixed odds betting terminals into betting shops in the first place.
Anybody with a modicum of sense or knowledge of the betting industry, knows of the problems gambling can create.
The terminals were introduced in 2001, when Tony Blair was Prime Minister and Gordon Brown was Chancellor.
As Theresa May, Jeremy Corbyn, Phil Hammond and John McDonnell don’t look the sort to wager a lot of money on these machines, it will be interesting to see, who gets the blame for the job losses at William Hill and the additional job losses that will surely happen at other betting shop chains.
Class 365 Trains To The Rescue
I had intended to get a ride on a new Class 385 train, but I only caught a glimpse of one going the other way, from a Class 365 train, that I used both ways between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Passengers seemed to be quite happy with the Class 365 trains cascaded from the Cambridge Cruiser.
I really think that Hitachi have got their production of the Class 385 trains, seriously wrong here.
The body shells are made in Japan and then sent to Newton Aycliffe by sea. This must be an easy way to ensure a slow production of trains.
Bombardier make the body shells in the same factory as they design and assemble the trains.
Even if CAF make their body shells in Spain, that is a much shorter and probably more reliable journey.
I must admit if I was the CEO of a train operating company, I wouldn’t buy a Hitachi train.
But then Tony Blair only wanted a new factory, close to his constituency!
A Take On Bankers Worth Reading
This blog post on bankers is worth reading. Two of my least-favourite politicians get the treatment with no holds barred.
Read it! If I paraphrased it, I’d reduce the quality of the criticism.
Theresa May Does The Right Thing
Theresa May has done the right thing in my view and also that of several eminent legal minds. Read about it here on the BBC’s web site.
Especially, as it appears it is all covered by Article 3 of the much-derided Human Rights Act.
But why did Gary McKinnon have to endure ten years of hell?
Only because Tony Blair was sucking up to Dubya.
It Was the Jubilee Line Again
When there is a London Underground chaos story, it’s always the Jubilee line, just like it was on Wednesday. I think a lot has to do with Blair’s government, who were desperate to get it finished for their millennium bash at the Dome, so they paid what the workers demanded. But you never hear of such horrendous problems on other lines.
The Man who got Saddam Hussein to Give Up Smoking
Dr. William Frankland was yesterday appearing in a case as an expert witness, a day before his 100th birthday.
The case is reported in The Times today, that also says that in 1986 he was flown to Iraq to treat Saddam Hussein. Saddam listened to the good doctor’s advice and gave up his 60-a-day cigarette habit.
In some ways he feels guilty about it, as he believes without his advice, Saddam would have died naturally years ago.
Perhaps, Blair and Bush missed a trick here, by not reminding Saddam that he owed his life to a very good British doctor.
After all, all dictators are paranoid about their health.
Alistair Campbell on Alcoholism
Alistair Campbell has written a Panorama program on alcoholism, which is shown tonight.
As he was responsible for framing a lot of Nulabor policy, is there any connection to the financial mess that the Blair and Brown governments left us is.
Just looking at various cabinet ministers of the last fifty years or so, you can tell that some don’t have the healthiest of lifestyles.
Cherie Blair Moves Into Private Health Care
According to The Sunday Times and the Daily Mail, Cherie Blair is part of an attempt to setup a chain of private one-stop health clinics called Mee Healthcae. Read about it in the Daily Mail here.
The domain, meehealthcare.com, seems to have been registered, but the website hasn’t been setup yet.
The registrant appears to be Gail Lese, a business partner of Cherie’s mentioned in both articles.
What would Mark Serwotka and Bob Crow think?
Blair’s Tax Bill
It would appear that he’s paying his share according to this article in the Daily Mail.
But then he’s only living by the Socialist mantra.
Do as I say, not as I do!
I also wonder what Brown’s tax bill is like?
After all Britain’s most accident prone double-act since Laurel and Hardy got us into this economic mess and made sure that they created enough friends to see themselves right.
Perhaps we need a law that all members and former members of Parliament must publish accounts that the man on the Dalston Omnibus could understand.
Why Is The BBC Going To Salford?
I can’t see any good reason and now the Evening Standard is claiming the move is causing marital problems.
I have always thought it a silly move to move a lot of the BBC to Salford. This is especially silly with respect to programs like BBCBreakfast, which has always got quality guests to grace the sofa. Are they going to go to Manchester? Some will of course, but why would a film star in the UK for say a day to promote a film, waste half of that in travelling to a studio up north?
The only reason I can think for the move is that it is some Machiavellian plot dreamed up by NuLabor to reduce the effectiveness of the BBC. Did Tony Blair instigate this to please his friends in News International? Of course not, but you could make a case for it.
One thing it will do, is lower quality, as the best producers, directors, program makers and presenters have the power to say that they don’t want the hassle and they will be snapped up quickly by other networks. Many of this experienced group are probably at an age when they can retire too, which will make the decision to go a lot easier.
The Anonymous Widower 