Click here to register on OneGuyFromBarlick|2|1
Go to Page
  First Page  Previous Page    41  42  43  [44]  45  46   Next Page  Last Page
Author Previous Topic Topic Next Topic  
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted -  11/01/2009  :  06:04
New Year, new topic. If you want to see the old one do a forum search for same title but 2008.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk
Replies
Author
Go to Page
  First Page  Previous Page    41  42  43  [44]  45  46   Next Page  Last Page
 
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 06:27
There is a great truth embedded in the Tiz gospel on trans-fats. As in many other areas the scientists often lead us to believe that they van analyse a substance, discover its building blocks and manufacture it in test tubes or the industrial equivalent. Increasingly we realise that nature is more complicated than that and also adds traces of minerals and other complicated chemicals which though minute are essential to the complete food. Same applies to vitamins, natural ones from good food are far better for us than manufactured ones and have different properties. That's why we survived for millennia without industrial chemists!

Ted, it's a political problem not a practical one. There are certain industries and essential services which should not be run as a cost cemtre. Take the NHS for instance..... but they are trying to 'improve' that by allowing private contractors to take profit. Water, energy, gas ........ make your own list up. Transport is as essential as any of them. Which is the most efficient rail franchise? The one nobody wanted and has been run by the governmnet, is it Network SE?


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 06:47
Did you see the report of the ministers being savaged by the Home Affairs Committee over the Ghurka affair? It's coming to something when backbenchers go for their own minister's throats, a good example of what attitudes are. The whole row hinges on £1.5billion, in itself a suspect figure. Compare with what has been pored into the black hole of the banks and consider the ethical position. Joanna Lumley was brilliant.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 06/05/2009 : 12:20
A detailed discussion this morning on Radio 4 about ID cards and the proposed test in Manchester. A lot about whether people really want ID cards or not. You can get whichever answer you prefer of course by asking the question a different way. But what struck me was that nobody asked if we trusted the government or anyone else to run an ID card system safely. I think that ideally we would use ID cards but in reality I wouldn't trust the present government or any of the big companies and institutions to be competent enough to run an ID system and keep it secure. It's not that I'm paranoid - it's simply that they all make such a mess of projects, especially anything involving computers and software. And a single ID card is a big risk - remember it's literally your identity. Think about identity theft now and how much easier it will be for the tricksters when they get your card details. And you can be sure it will happen, as sure as night follows day. Remember how secure `chip and pin' was going to be? That's full of holes. So will be ID cards. And if it's run by a company, the company will probably get taken over by a Russian oligarch or some shady business in Somalia or north-west Pakistan.


Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 07/05/2009 : 06:28
Tiz, we have reached the stage now where mistrust of the government's competence in terms of managing large data bases is a given, that's why it isn't mentioned. As for abdicating responsibility and collecting the data at retail outlets... The mind boggles at the opportunities available in that scenario to harvest data, after all, that's what the system is set up to do. Jaqui Smith trotted out the old arguments about ID cards foiling terrorism, benefit fraud and making it easier to manage our lives and access systems. Really....  Can we please have some hard evidence? Interesting that they are putting her up to front the exercise when her days as HS are numbered.

On an entirely different note, next door's boiler now has a drain on the relief valve so I can replace my threshold and re-carpet. Turns out the incompetent fitter of the boiler never bothered to fit a drain in the first place. We are all at the mercy of idiots!


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 07/05/2009 : 09:33
I've just got to the final pages of my Saturday issue of the The Times (well, I'm too busy reading OGFB!) and found a brief item saying there will be a fly-past of 40 RN aircraft over the Thames at Greenwich at mid-day today to celebrate 100 years of naval aviation. I hope it's on the TV! They will fly over the aircraft carrier Illustrious which is berthed by the Royal Naval College at Greenwich for the occasion.

Talking of aircraft, there is an article in the Saga magazine about JTC Brabazon, later Lord Brabazon, and his exploits in the early years of the 1900s. It's great to read more about the part played by Britain in the very early development of aircraft, how the Wright brothers came here to get the Short brothers to build their aircraft on the Isle of Sheppey. The Wrights obviously rated Short Bros better than any US company for making the planes (Shorts were balloon makers originally). Heady days!


Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 08/05/2009 : 06:29
I must be old, I remember the Brabazon! Bigger than a 747 but carried only 100 passengers.

Fascinated by the farcical takeover of the government by JL yesterday. Not by the meat, which in truth was a fog of misunderstanding caused by some jobsworth sending the letters out as usual because the flow chart said so. The miracle is that it had a paragraph explaining that this was only an interim decision. What really grabbed me was the contrast between the ambushed Phil Willas and the impeccably prepared Harriet Harman on Newsnight defending (?) the government on expenses after the Telegraph revelations. Harman had her brief, ignored the question (Does this make the system look mean and nasty?) and churned out the standard evasive flood of generalisations word perfect. Presentation has been honed to a fine art when time is given to perapare a response. Problem is of course that we learned nothing from HH, heard nothing  substantive and gained no sense of anything happening beyond panic.

Despite I think £897 million written off for bad debts, Barclays posted a profit. Did you notice where the profit was generated? In the investment banking division. In other words, by funny money generated by exploiting the opportunities provided by the chaos in the system.  I thought this was what got us into trouble in the first place? Trebles all round and a healthy bonus no doubt.....


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 06:14
Trebles all round at RBS as well as the investment banking arm saves the day. If they are doing so well why has the government injected another £50billion into the system? This story is no where near over yet. Froth about Ghurkas and parliamentary expenses blankets out the real news about what is happening at the grass roots and the consequences.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
frankwilk
Senior Member


3975 Posts
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 08:09
The expenses scandal, do these people have no Moral Compass  ??
This has gone to far now, we really do need an election. MPs don't see that the profits  made at the Taxpayers Expense belong to the Tax Payer. Oh no it's mine Gov it's in the Rules see. Did the Prime Minister not see how bad it would look to pay his Brother by cheque 50% of the cost of a cleaner !!!  Not that this was wrong but the judgement and perception of the Prime Minister is lamentable.
I think for me this is what this is all about, none of them didn't seem to understand it was Wrong. We can't allow our law makers to get away with this they are not fit to govern.



Frank Wilkinson       Once Navy Always Navy Go to Top of Page
tripps
Senior Member


1404 Posts
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 09:10
Just heard a tax expert explain that the normal Revenue and Customs test that expenses need to be "wholly, necessarily and exclusively" for the business, and that anything else is taxed as a "benefit in kind" does not apply to MP's, and ministers of religion.
Superb example of do as I say, not as I do. Why am I not surprised?


Go to Top of Page
Cathy
Senior Member


4249 Posts
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 09:20
Stanley, saw your comments in B&E Times about the burst water pipes in East St - were your pipes affected? 


All thru the fields and meadows gay  ....  Enjoy   
Take Care...Cathy Go to Top of Page
Tizer
VIP Member


5150 Posts
Posted - 09/05/2009 : 10:33
Tripps, there also seems to be confusion about `expenses' versus `allowances'. Did they discuss that too?

What grabbed my attention was as I walked up the lane to get my newspaper this morning. The garage door was open at one of the bungalows and as I walked past I saw blue light and sparks. And there in the midst of it, looking like a government propaganda poster, was a man in a mask brandishing his welding torch. He runs the local Westonzoyland Steam museum. British engineering isn't dead yet!


Go to Top of Page
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart


36804 Posts
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 06:58
Cath, no it was a service pipe on the other side serving four houses. The only reason I was mentioned was because I have been putting pressure on the water board to get it fixed and enlisted Sue Ritchie. It worked, thay came at 7pm on Friday night and did a repair. I've seen the pipe they cut out and it's old 3/4" galvanised pipe completely rotted and only held together by the rust. It all needs replacing.

Pete, it's amazing what goes on in sheds even these days, but it's all old blokes...

I didn't know about different rules for expenses for politicians and clergy but it figures. Makes a nice comment on jow out of touch Carey is, he is in the News of the Screws today fulminating about the wickedness of the politicians, perhaps he should look at the clergy as well. It begins to look more and more as though the Telegraph may have shot itself in the foot. The data they have is raw and in many cases the fact that a receipt is included doesn't mean that everything on it was claimed for. In this respect I can see why so many MPs are up in arms about the reports on them. The big problem for me is that it is media-led and detracts from the serious things they ought to be covering, like the bank's 'business as usual' attitude to investment banking. I know that much of it is legitimate trading and done with real money but some will be funny trades. The algorithms are still there in the systems. As my Janet said, they are like a virus and will cause problems as long as they are active.


Stanley Challenger Graham




Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk Go to Top of Page
frankwilk
Senior Member


3975 Posts
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 07:04
Stanley, When I claimed expenses from my employer I had to put a clear line through what was not included on my receipts. It is not beyond the wit of an MP to do the same ????
Lets not be distracted by a nappy, a lot of the MPs have been up to No Good.



Frank Wilkinson       Once Navy Always Navy Go to Top of Page
Julie in Norfolk
Senior Member


1632 Posts
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 07:24
There must be a beginners course in "How to milk the system" when the mps are first elected. No wonder they campaign so tirelessly, I think I would if I was considering the gravy train ahead of me that I want to catch. As it is, I am not that greedy or dishonest, qualities that all manner of mps are that have massive claims.


Measure with a micrometer.
Mark with a pencil.
Cut with an axe. Go to Top of Page
Another
Traycle Mine Overseer


6250 Posts
Posted - 10/05/2009 : 07:30
I have been "pinged" 2x in 2 years by the young lass who checks our electronic expences claims. No problem just means that you have to send off all yolur receipts for a particular month.On the first occaison I was threatened with disciplinary action for submitting an inflated claim for an eveing meal. My immediate response was that I had not made any such claim and I wasn't even working for Ofsted non the date that the claim refered to!!!

Google who the Chief Inspector of Ofsted is married to....... Nolic


" I'm a self made man who worships his creator" Go to Top of Page
Topic is 84 Pages Long:
Go to Page
  First Page  Previous Page    41  42  43  [44]  45  46   Next Page  Last Page
 


Set us as your default homepage Bookmark us Privacy   Copyright © 2004-2011 www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk All Rights Reserved. Design by: Frost SkyPortal.net Go To Top Of Page

Page load time - 0.656