Arrogant Cyclists

Cyclist in London do not hink that the laws of the road apply to them.  The Mayor is an ardent fan and not a cabinet told the police off for directing him and he did not like it.  Perhaps he will lose his job and a boundary will be set.

Keep UK Road deths in perspective

Much is being said about the first rise by 51 in UK deaths since 2003.

The UK and Germany (with no speed limit on many road tie in the developed world with 7, Autralia 8, Canada 13, France 12 and the USA 15.  China is 36 Urauguay 74, Ukaine 153 and Uganda 3528.

Other 2010 deaths in the UK form the ONS are revealing, ALL transport is 1970, Hanging 2011 and self harm 3377.

Keep our "do-good" efforts focassed.

Clint Eastwood - the most versitile?

I love Clint Eastwood movies for the excitment and more recently their message.  He has move from Rawhide through the spagetti Westerns to Dirty Harry and to Gran Torino.  Wonderful.

Gibralter & The Falklands

As the economies of Argentina and Spain decscend into chaos, their governments try to divert their populations to bits of land whose populations wish to stay freel linked to Britain.

The claims of injustices up to 300 years ago could only be reversed by proving the change of the islands status would benefit the people.  Threats and obstruction and bust economies are hardly likely to change people's minds.

Would the UK had the power to ban British people for holidaying in Spain!

Cameras & Demos

The presence of a camera certainly enlivens a demo, be excessive enthusiasm for a football team of the burning of the Union Jack or Stars & Stripes.

I wish that cameras could be withdrawn when the demo reaches the boundary of excesses.

Water

Water is even higher up the list of possible world crises than food, but far les obvious.  In the UK it is already menacing us.  Meters should now be compulsory and better efficiency regulation is essential, perhaps some form of ranchising, which erodes the area monoplosied by less efficient suppliers.

Food Shortages and Obesity

Medium projections of the world population and productive land predict food shortages. I believe that some of this is over pessimism in the scientific analysis community. Land can with technological help be brought back into use. GM will help crops grow in less than the current optimum conditions.

Food waste prevalent in the developed world. This is a social crime. So to is eating too much and damaging your personal health at the cost of distress to yourself and the local health services.

St George's Day

The day has come and gone again, with hardly a flicker of interest.

The Scots, Irish and Welsh all make a fuss over their patron saints, and we should too.

Scottish Indpendence

If you are interested in this and you should be, there is a balanced and excellent review in the lead article of The Economist dated April 14.

This Research will Need More Money

How often do we hear that from scientists often researching topics that are only important to them?  Often the appeal is proceeded by publishing the most extreme results so far.

Nothing to hid

I value my privacy, but also my safety and freedom from harm.  I therefore have no problem with security services keeping an overview of what goes around me.  I have nothing to hid.

If there were another serious terrorist incident, I would bet that the Security Services would be criticised for not spotting and stopping it.  The Civil Liberties people people would take a low profile until the culprits came to trial and then their liberties would have to be protected.  The liberty that they used to kill and maim.

The shelter of Ignorance

The advice of Francis Maude to stor petrol in a garage shows no concept of the danger.  How can anyone reach his age and be anware of this basic danger?

GM Foods

As the world population grows and food prices rise it is high time for Europe to review and relax its GM constraints.  They have little to do with science and much to do with emotion and the hysteria that followed the initial clumsy marketing of early products.  Plants that can resist disease, repel insects and need less water to grow are to be prized.

Conventional grain need 1500 litres of water for 1 kilo of produce.  Ten times more for meat.  I guesss flowers will have to be the first to go.

Bank lending to SMEs

Every day someone has a scheme to improve lending by banks to SMEs.  Also every day banks are pilloried for being to loose with lending in the past.  This is a difficult circle to square.  As an SME, I will be sure that my proposed investment is the best ever.  What is needed is an appeal procedure to help those unfairly judged, not Government enforcement of lending or even Government (i.e. yours and mine) money.

UK Liberals do not understand coalition

The Spring conference has just done a U turn in 24 hours, some going this way and some going that.  Although they need the coalition to survive and prosper they do not understand that compromise is synonymous with coalition.  They favour their ideology over the nation's practical economics.

It was thus when the Alliance with the SDP pulled them back form the brink of extinction and then at the first window of opportunity they destroyed the the SDP and nearly themselves, unfortunately not quite.

UK Taxation

Buried in the taxation priorities of my Norman Harris Propounds & Proposes web site is my statement on Taxation priorities.  Relate this to rail traveller.  Why should the taxpayer subsidise rail?  I accept that, many large city commuters have no other practical option, even if they can drive in they cannot park.

This circle can be squared by allowing the cost of travel to work to be reclaimed against income tax.  it also helps another taxation priority of making work pay over benefits.  Although job seekers should get their travel costs refunded for the same reason.

Unacceptable

How many times do we here this form politicians when there is no option but to accept it.

Syria and the thieir Governments refusal to allow in aid until they have cleaned the place up.  What can we do but accept it until they change their minds.  Inhuman or diabolical would be better.

I am his junior

Englebert Humperdink is aiming at the big time again at 75.  There is hope for me yet, as I am his junior.

UK Society - Fair Policies gone Bad

The government's plans to let people work in the likes of Tesco and McDonalds, whilst the government paid their benefits, but the employer paid nothing was not unfair.  Many countries ask people to do community work in return for benefits.  The mistake was perhaps the threat to take benefits away if the recipient did not stay the 4 week course (FOUR WEEK).  Since one the of the lessons was the discipline of work, even that was not too bad.  Many participants actually got work after the exercise.

Now the policy is dead, Government lose, unemployed lose, unbalanced reporting win.

It follows the increase in University fees which survives, but the student gets a loan and does not pay it back if their choice of course does not give added value in their life or for whatever reason they do not get employment.

The policy survives, Government and University win and non-appliers lose.

UK Business

This whole business of Payment Protection Insurance.

Banks sold this as "standard" whether needed or not and are not hitting their profits by paying it back and further damaging their trust and reputation.

Then there are of course solicitors who bombard private phone numbers with recorded messages offering unnecessary help in claiming.

All told NOT the Best of British

The UK Met Office

So the Met Office and MPs think that taxpayers should pay of new larger computers.  They have noticed that forecasts are not that accurate.  Only yesterday a mini heatwave (for Februry) was forecast, but today is seems to be slipping away.

Bad forecasts have been explained in the past by the difculty of three major weather patternes tending to converge over the UK.  I can accept this, so will more money alter this?

UK Society - Landlines

The unwanted calls on landlines are now reaching epidemic proportions.  Recorded messages on mis-selling of Personal Protection Insurance, surveys and selling by people whose English is indistinct.  I have not tried to block calls perhaps I should, but the source of nuisance calls must be traceable if BT would help consumers do so.

UK Society - The BBC

The BBC is under pressure to cut costs, and so it should be, it is overwhelming in many areas, is not longer unbiased.  It could get out of say local radio.  Just look at the list of presenters and reporters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_BBC_newsreaders_and_reporters

A separate reporter and sound or camera crew from each channel turn up to each news worthy incident.  Pruning is possible.

The rudness of the Paxmans is renouned, but a junior breakfast boy during a sensible dicussion on a minimum price for alchohol swithed to asking the Home Secretary how many units she drunk.  Totally irrlevant.

UK Society - Water shortage

Water summit

Today we have a water summit and the south east is officially in drought.  Yet local government still issues instruction to wash cans and milk containers prior to collection for recycling.

The best thing to do with rubbish is to burn it - dry - and use the heat and power to the benefit of the local populace.

UK Society - Energy

No matter what source of energy is proposed there are objections.  When will the Government tell people very [plainly that we cannot stop the lights going out by using offshore wind alone.  Or onshore for that matter (offshore having least objections).  Nuclear is in a class of its own in the objections league, but also shale gas and our plentiful coal.

Not mention the USA with 10 time our use and few gree regulations.  Or India & China, both with 20 times more population than the UK, will go ahead with what is convenient, so our energy poverty will achieve nothing.

UK Society - The UK Press

The unrepresented media, out of control on phone hacking, bribery and other issues, love drama.  No story is of interest without drama.
Also if they can know the UK or its establishment of both scores highly with them as well.
They are reporting long queues to get through UK Border Controls.  The Agency disputes this, but in my experience it has been worse since the Home Secretary fired the Head of UK Border Operations.
Have any of the reporters tried the USA recently.  Forty five minutes is the norm NOT the exception.

Sport

The furore in Soccer of withholding handshakes on a racial basis must be condemned by all.

UK Society - Crime

I cannot think of many good reasons for hiding once face by hoods, masks etc.  Not in the street, perhaps on the way into court, but not after proven guilty.

UK Society - The Press

The UK Press like Press everywhere is very vocal even though no-one votes for them.  Only advertisers can control them.  Much of the UK media is out of control believing that it was above the law.

The Falklands

Oh so predictable that on the 30 Year anniversary of a war that killed 1000, Argentina should rattle their sabre.  The direct cause as predicted in my website http://normanharris20cc.squarespace.com/ is the scrapping of the Ark Royal for which David Cameron is responsible.

There are dozens of territorial anomalies all over the world, The Falklands is on of the lesser ones.  The resolution should always be in the hands of those who live on the disputed territory.

UK Business

In the UK there is hysteria over top bankers £m bonuses.  But nothing on footbal players and managers earning the same and contibuting more or less?

Sport

Have you noticed that in top class tennis it takes 11 officials to supervise 2 players as will as 6 ball boys or girls of course.

Sport

Has science got an alternative to chalk in snooker.  There is time spent putting it on, wiping it off the table and then wiping the balls after they jump.

Sport

UK Soccer

Mistake after mistake.  Management brought in an Italian at £4m+ pa.  He brought back a discredited captain.  Management fired him when he was again in hot water, the Italian mouthed off and resigned.  No management are looking at under contract English man recovering from a recent heart operation and cleared of tax evasion.

Good outline for a novel, I wish it was.

UK Business

In these days I am amazed to see adverts to sell goods and services without an email address.  It is a deterrent to the purchaser to have to phone and speak and then possible find no-one able to answer the their question.  The plus is that if you do get through the salesperson can exert their charms.

Then there are the ones whihc are so small you need a magnifying glass!

Make it easy to buy.

Just such a day!

Today is cold, still and sunless.  Just such a day that those favouring renewable energy should and some do, fear.  There is little capability to generate electricity so a backup is needed.  That backup, unless it is nuclear, will create CO2.  It also negates the economics of renewable energy unless we are happy to ration electricity.

What happened to RSI

In the '80s every business magazine and certainly all the Unions featured RSI.  Operators of PC keyboards were seemingly more prone to it than typists.  All sorts of paraphernalia sold and good practice developed.  Now where is it?

If you watch people of all ages texting and fingering through apps there should be lots of RSI around.  Perhaps there is some, but it never hits the headlines.

Muslims

Some very dear friends of mine are Muslims and nicer people you could not wish to meet.  But we fear the popular image - why?  Is it untrue?  Yes like all generalisations, it is untrue.  But nevertheless the vocal minority preach hate against the West.  But the most fatal relationships is surely Shai vs. Sunni or of course, the reverse.

UK Society - Anglican Bishops

The Bishops in the House of Lords are throwback to times when the Church was all powerful.  It demonstrated the supremacy of the English established over the Catholics.  Now of course there Muslims, Hindu, Jewish and other Protestants faiths to name a few which may be more active than Anglicans.

Is it wise that they should publicly take on the Government on limiting benefits which being set at £26,000 net has wide public support.

Ballet

The main BBC News spent time on the unexpected quiting of a ballet dancer from Covent Grarden.  I would bet the 99% of the viewers would not have heard of him or even care.

UK Society - Scottish Devolution

I will be immensely sad to see the break up of the Union.  With EU rules of course it can be done with much less penalty to individuals, we can still have Scots in many key UK positions and to be fair they may not wish to split.  But there will be repercussions with English Nationalism and if we leave Europe life for expatriate Scots could get more difficult than they imagine.

Just get on with and decide one way or another.

London Underground

Why do the in-train announcements say ALIGHT.  In a carriage packed with foreign tourists how many understand it means GET OFF?