Wednesday 30 November 2011

True cost of not having Carriers

It just goes to show that after four centuries of having politician's mess around with Naval procurement, they've got good at being bent.
Amplify’d from www.modoracle.com

True Costs Of Scaling Back Carriers

The Government is under fire for failing to grasp the full costs of scaling back Britain’s aircraft carrier programme a year after the defence review.
An influential group of MPs has heavily criticised decisions that have left the UK with no aircraft carrier until 2020 and the costs of adapting them to take a new fighter unknown for another year.
Under the Strategic Defence and Security Review last year it was announced that two planned aircraft carriers would still go ahead with one vessel being mothballed, and the other converted to operate a cheaper version of the new Joint Strike Fighter.
Today's Public Accounts Committee report warns that those changes mean that the cost implications are not yet fully understood, the cash savings from the revised plan will only be £600 million and there remained considerable uncertainty about the cost of modyfying one of the vessels.
It accuses the Ministry of Defence of focusing on "short-term" affordability in drawing up options for the SDSR to cover a £38 billion black hole in its budget.
The committee said the MOD had "concentrated on immediate cash savings and short-term affordability, and did not focus strongly on long-term value for money".
"The department believes that the SDSR decision will save £3.4 billion, but only £600 million of this is cash savings while the remainder is simply deferring expenditure beyond the department's 10-year planning horizon."
Read more at www.modoracle.com

Friday 25 November 2011

Blackpool Cliffs Hotel fall in on ill woman

Aren't you just proud to be Sandgrown? There's a whole generation proclaiming the title, but none of them know what it means.

To the rip-off merchants, whether they be bogus former soldiers collecting for the injured and bereaved, or the straight forward scam monger, a word in your delicate. We have enough of your types on the Council past and recent without everyone trying to get in on the act. It's time for you to get back into your sewers and leave the decent people alone.

Would this lady be the Blackpool bogus Royal Marine major, there would be headlines in the local Gasjet and cries or feigned outrage. What wanton hypocrisy and awful double standards. I gather there's no invite to her from the bogus Hero's birthday celebrations to make amends for the grass insults?
Amplify’d from www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Cruel hotel bosses offer dying mum 'future' discount after billing her £218 for trip she missed through illness

Angie Stephen
A MUM dying of cancer has been hit with a £218 bill for cancelling a hotel trip because she was too ill to go.
And when Angie Stephen - who fears she might not live past Christmas, complained - bosses responded by offering her s50 off a "future stay".
She said: "I won't be able to take up their offer. I'm barely well enough now to get out of the house."
Angie, 43, was booked into the Cliffs Hotel in Blackpool for a final holiday with son Connor, 13, and some close friends last month.
Pals raised the cash for the break and any money left over would have been used to help support Connor in the future.
Read more at www.dailyrecord.co.uk

Thursday 24 November 2011


Fraudster who conned war veterans & pensioners out of £28k over fake battlefield tours faces justice

John Lennox
A BATTLEFIELD tours conman who swindled war veterans, disabled pensioners and schoolchildren out of almost s30,000 is finally being brought to justice.
Smooth-talking crook John Lennox set up bogus companies who advertised and sold foreign breaks to historic war sites and graveyards - then failed to deliver on them.
Lennox, 48, demanded huge deposits before sending fake letters to his clients confirming travel arrangements, hotel accommodation and tour itineraries. But he never made a single booking.
The fictitious trips offered by Lennox commemorated anniversaries of battles such as Arnhem and the Normandy D-Day landings from World War II, and Ypres from World War I.
The callous conman, who was also known as Ian, targeted the most vulnerable in society over three years - from 90-year-old war heroes to school kids.
Last month, following a major Trading Standards investigation, the divorced father-of-three admitted fraudulently obtaining £27,855.
He is due to be sentenced at Glasgow Sheriff Court today.
Among his victims were a group of former paratroopers from Fife.

With Blackpool infamous for being the New Capitol of Scotland, this story is sad for many reasons.  One being Blackpool police's inability to investigate Blackpool veteran's who were conned as their comrades North of the Border have been duped.  The evidence is indisputable especially in the case of Veteran Royal Marine Derek Coyle, who spent the 6th of June 1944 fighting for his life in the channel alongside the Normandy beaches after his landing craft was sunk beneath him.
Never before able to return, the disabled Hero was supposed to join a veterans group with his family, to visit the very beach he had put his life in danger to free;  but he never got there.  Shortly before he was to embark, he was informed by an organizer and discredited former Councillor that he had been omitted from the party.  The outcry from the organisation, for which Mr Coyle is now President, is so much of a cowardly whimper which comes of little surprise to the high number of local former Royal Marine Commandos who are not members of this local Association.  That the former Councillor is still actively duping locals that he is the panacea for service welfare when he has not the competence or authority, is destroying the ethos and hard earned reputations of those caseworkers who have given freely, time and care for their former comrades.  It is also a sop to those who have spent years qualifying the the intricacies of care.
It makes one wonder how many others were left floundering in Blackpool whist the ne'er-do-wells went off on a freebie -paid for by the charity Heroes Return - in the Heroes stead?  Answers please to the Shop on Bank Hey street.

Lieber shadow Law Sec supporting a terrorist friend?

No matter how you gloss this story, the facts speak for themselves. Lancashire have three labour MP directly involved with the Miller Family, or through office as a Minister of State.

One, as MP for Blackburn and Minister of Justice Mr Jack Straw, promised the Miller Family that he would do everything he could to ensure that Andy Miller's children received justice. All the MP's have done is draw their enormous salaries and ignored the English family whilst a suspected terrorist gets every assistance our taxes can provide.

While Lieber rewrite history, they are conveniently forgetting the promises of the Office to defend the people who fought for our Nation. Instead they choose to fight for those who want to destroy us. Lieber's promises are proving not to be worth the paper they are not written on.
Amplify’d from web.archive.org

I have been very concerned about the situation regarding Babar, and I have taken a number of steps to try to help his case, and support his family and friends ever since he was first arrested and since being elected as the MP for Tooting. I asked for a meeting with the Home Secretary in order to discuss Babar’s case with him prior to the 16 July extradition deadline. I also hosted a cross party meeting in parliament on 4 July organised by the family, friends and supporters of Babar Ahmad, highlighting concerns about the Extradition Treaty.
Unfortunately, the Home Secretary has allowed the extradition request. Babar Ahmad's lawyers have now appealed to the High Court and he is awaiting a hearing that should
begin shortly.

I have added my name to an Early Day Motion which urges the Government to amend parts of the Extradition Act 2003. I have also been asking my parliamentary colleagues to sign
the EDM too. You can read the text of the EDM here.

I have known Babar Ahmad for over fifteen years. We both grew up in Tooting. We have both been privileged enough to go to university and to gain good jobs afterwards.

Unfortunately our lives have taken quite differing directions in the last couple of
years. Whilst I have been fortunate enough to be elected to Parliament to represent the constituency of Tooting, Babar has been detained in Woodhill Prison. He has been in prison now for two years, awaiting extradition to the USA.
Read more at web.archive.org

Monday 21 November 2011

Tax payers pay twice

Quite a few of my elderly clients were screaming about the massive increase in their domestic fuels bills of recent. Strange then that whatever negotiations the suppliers had with the Government, that they announced substantial increases in tariffs and then Santa arrived in the form of a brown envelope and deposited £120 in some customers letter boxes. It is a Christmas miracle that makes us non-believers cynical.

YO HO HO. Merry Presentmas!
Amplify’d from www.dh.gov.uk

Keep Warm Keep Well campaign 2010/11

Keep Warm Keep Well
The Government has launched its annual Keep Warm Keep Well Campaign for 2010/11.The government's advice on staying warm over the winter aims to reduce cold-related illness and deaths.
Cold homes have a significant impact on people’s health. One of the best ways of keeping well during winter is to stay warm.
Cold weather can lead to serious health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, pneumonia and depression.
The chances of these problems are higher if people are vulnerable to cold-related illnesses because of one or more of the following:

  • They are over 60

  • They are on a low income and can't afford heating

  • They have a long-term health condition such as heart, lung or kidney disease

  • They are disabled
Every winter in the UK, 25,000-30,000 deaths are linked to the cold weather. Currently, approximately four million households in the UK are in fuel poverty. This is when a household spends more than 10 percent of its income to keep warm.
Read more at www.dh.gov.uk

Help for service entrepreneurs

£5 million investment to help Service heroes start up

17 November 2011 10:18

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills   (National)

The Be the Boss scheme for ex-service personnel is being expanded to include all Service-leavers.
The initiative offers business start-up training, grants and loans up to £30,000 as well as mentoring. Funded by BIS and delivered by the Royal British Legion (RBL), the scheme has attracted over 1,000 registrations so far.
Business Minister Mark Prisk said:
“It is terrific that we can extend Be the Boss to all Service-leavers. This scheme provides a means for many ex-Service personnel, whose employment options are limited by injury, to become entrepreneurs.
“Service people face distinctive difficulties in starting businesses such as a lack of a network after a mobile career, and this is reflected in the low rate of self-employment in this group – which is just 6 per cent.
“We are very grateful for the sterling work done by RBL. They had not previously been involved with enterprise, being a charity principally concerned with providing welfare services. They are now very switched onto encouraging enterprise amongst their members.”
The £5m funding for the Be the Boss Scheme has been structured as an endowment with the aim that RBL will also lever in additional private sector co-investment to ensure the sustainability. The scheme acts as a central portal, allowing delivery partners to do what they specialise in before directing applicants back to Be the Boss for the next stage of the process within the scheme. This ensures that RBL do not duplicate capacity available elsewhere but focus instead on applicants and their experience.
RBL were chosen to administer the scheme due to their UK‑wide coverage, respect amongst Service personnel, tri-Service coverage and the capability to deliver. The scheme opened for expressions of interest on 1 April 2010 and applications were accepted from 14 June 2010.
In total, the Be the Boss network comprises four governments, six subcontractors, 58 independent partners, and 200+ delivery organisations. As of 6 June 2011, there were 1026 active applicants.
Notes to Editors
1. RBL are working with a range of delivery partners across the UK, including: Blue Orchid, FranchisingWorks, A4e, SFEDI, and Busines Finance North West (a Community Development Finance Institution), who RBL have sub-contracted to provide training and financial services. In additionthey are also working with the MoD and Career Transition Partnership to deliver training at resettlement centres to Service members in the process of transitioning to CivvyStreet.

2. The Pre-Budget Report in December 2009 had announced £5m of funding via the SIF to provide enterprise support to “service personnel returning from conflict, including those who may be disabled as a result of their service …by reducing the costs and barriers associated with self-employment and setting up a new business”.
3. BIS's online newsroom contains the latest press notices, speeches, as well as video and images for download. It also features an up to date list of BIS press office contacts. See http://www.bis.gov.uk/newsroom for more information.

Contacts

NDS Enquiries
Phone: For enquiries please contact the issuing dept
ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk

Sunday 20 November 2011

Bootneck talks out...

Who can contradict a nice elderly chap wearing one of my old ties?

Come on Royal, give the bastards a good shoeing.
Amplify’d from www.telegraph.co.uk

Wind farms are useless, says Duke

Wind farms are usless, says Duke of Edinburgh
The Duke's views are politically charged, as they put him at odds with the Government’s policy

The Duke of Edinburgh has made a fierce attack on wind farms, describing them
as “absolutely useless”.

In a withering assault on the onshore wind turbine industry, the Duke said the
farms were “a disgrace”.
He also criticised the industry’s reliance on subsidies from electricity
customers, claimed wind farms would “never work” and accused people who
support them of believing in a “fairy tale”.
Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

Saturday 19 November 2011

The Regimental Rogue

The Regimental Rogue
Most excellent blog. It should remind the British that when Britain was under threat, it was not the illegal immigrant from the Pashtoooon who laid down their lives for our Freedoms!

Clarke talking a load of Ed Balls

He transformed from purveyor of harmful substances to the burbbbbler of utter shi'ite.

In our unwritten constitution the will of OUR Parliament cannot be usurped and a past Parliament cannot infringe on the legal rights of the present Parliament.

Like it or lump it, Parliament, if it wanted, could tell the European Courts to go and do a Gay Gordon Marsden on itself. The fact it has not tells us of the lack of character in Westminster, put there mainly by the mass immigration of anti British voters.

We have a Government the decent British People do not want, courts which cannot provide Justice, politicians who can only write expenses, police who couldn't investigate crime if it went through a speed camera at Mach 4 (???).

They are ranting on about building 3 million houses in a countryside that has flooded often over the past decade, producing effluence that cannot be safely disposed of, demanding electricity that cannot be guaranteed at a price that is crippling the last remnants of British industry...

Have you got a light, Ken?
Amplify’d from www.telegraph.co.uk

Ministers on the brink of human rights reform, says Ken Clarke

The Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke

The Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, the Justice Secretary reveals
that Britain is poised strike a deal to overhaul the controversial human
rights court to stop it being used by “every individual who has lost his own
particular case”.
Mr Clarke said: “What we are trying to do is get the role of the court sorted
out so that it deals with serious human rights issues of the kind that
require an international court.
“We want the court back to its proper business as an international court which
takes up serious issues of principle when a member state or its courts, or
its parliament, are arguably in serious breach of the [European Human
Rights] convention.”
Reform will end the situation were “everybody who’s just lost his arguments
about deportation should be able to go there and get in the queue, wait a
few years to get it all reheard again when he’s lost the argument three
times already” in the UK.
Read more at www.telegraph.co.uk

Friday 18 November 2011

Thursday 17 November 2011

Rossendales Mrs Jones-Green at home in Accrington

The writer of this article is coming in for, very much like Pip Clothier with his Exposure programme ITV, unnecessary criticism because he has not tainted his piece. Well done. It is for the reader to decipher Mrs Green-Jones words. It is her omissions that make the report, not what she says and the good people of Accrington do not need overly reminding of the excessive disaster unscrupulous bailiffs can bring.

Nowhere is there a referral to 'innocent victims' and she concentrates on returned monies to the Councils through debt collection. Let us leave the first point, remarking on the historic inability of councils who accept the role of landlord without any of the the real responsibility. They allowed the dross tenant to usurp the rights of the ordinary decent tenant by turning perfectly good estates into dens of iniquity, slums and deprivation. It wasn't the bricks and mortar that did this but the sewage rats that the social experiment of the past 40years has evolved into. When the lazy and unkempt get a stronger voice than the hard working and industrious, then you are in trouble. You will always have problems if you do not vet your proposed MP before casting a vote. If you vote for a PARTY because your parents voted that way then you are setting evolution back, not adding to advancement.

As for victims I will say no more than Andy Miller. It could have easily been Rossendales and not Marstons who stood over his body in the Accrington shopping centre checking for a commission on a highly inflated speeding fine - a fine which was beyond the remit of any bailiff because of Mr Miller's vulnerable condition. (Fat Flan, Blackpool)

Rossendales boss Julie Green-Jones defends bailiff industry



Photograph of the Author

By Neil Docking »


A BAILIFF boss who earned a six figure salary last year has defended her profession and her company’s success.

Earlier this month Helmshore-based Rossendales featured in an ITV1 Exposure programme in which an under-cover reporter appeared to show examples of malpractice by a bailiff.
And a national newspaper said the firm’s managing director Julie Green-Jones received dividend payments, which combined with her annual income, have made her Britain’s first £1million bailiff.
But Mrs Green-Jones, who owns the company, which has 190 office staff and 200 bailiffs, said a substantial proportion of her earnings were not from bailiff activity and all her staff shared more than £208,000 in bonuses last year.
And she said the company’s reported fees, such as £130 waiting fees and £130 van attendance from ‘enforcement bailiffs’, were statutory, prescribed amounts charged after months of non-payment.
The 48-year-old, from Accrington, worked as a model before the break-up of a short-lived marriage, which left her as a single parent with no income.
She said: “More than four million cases are issued to bailiffs every year, with a value in excess of a £1billion. That’s enough to pay the salaries of 30,000 newly-qualified NHS nurses and 20,000 new police recruits.
Read more at www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk

Tuesday 15 November 2011

Mandy, the troof fairy

http://order-order.com/2011/11/15/paxo-force-feeds-guilty-mandy/

Bailiffs, remember this...


The bailiff is dishonest or of unfit character


He was aggressive, rude, threatening or intimidating

Pretended to be an officer of the court

Pretended to be collecting a court fine

Impersonated a solicitor or police officer

You sustained an injury by the bailiff (Contact a solicitor and make a separate claim under the Personal Injury Protocol)

Lied about the extent of his authority

Damaged your goods, car or property (Reclaim these from the authority that instructed the bailiff via the small claims track)

Monday 14 November 2011

Manchester Chief Constable finds bottle to speak out

I said in a letter to Gordon Marsden MP (Blackpool South) some ten years ago that the political correctness route was hiding the inadequacies of clear thinking with regards to law and disorder. A decade before the penny dropped on the Chief Constable of Manchester.

The full statement by the CC is well worth reading.
Amplify’d from menmedia.co.uk

Peter Fahy: Manchester would have been spared riots 'if London had been under control sooner'

Greater Manchester Police chief constable Peter Fahy has risked the wrath of colleagues in London after he suggested Manchester could have been spared the August riots if police in the capital had acted sooner.
Mr Fahy told BBC Panorama that copycat violence broke out after people saw rioters were "getting away with" their behaviour in the capital.
He said: "A certain group of people saw what was happening in London and decided they seemed to be getting away with it.
"The authorities weren't in control and they decided they wanted their opportunity."
He told the BBC One programme he did not regret the decision to send 100 officers from Greater Manchester Police to help deal with the situation in London.
"We knew what was absolutely critical was that there needed to be control of London. Because that was just creating more and more copycat violence up here."
Read more at menmedia.co.uk

A Country unfit for Heroes?

This story should run and run until those who make fortunes from the fiscal misery of the inadequately paid Forces are themselves put on the Front Line.

At least Stella Creasy(Labour Walthemstowe) has shown balls and put her head over the parapet, but she has to learn that it was her Government that got us into this war we did not want, and into all the debt we cannot afford to service.
Amplify’d from www.mirror.co.uk

Legal loan sharks target soldiers battling to survive on low military wages

 Soldiers from the Alpha Grenadier Company attend a Remembrance Day (pic: PA)
Soldiers from the Alpha Grenadier Company attend a Remembrance Day (pic: PA)

Over the past few days a grateful nation has being paying tribute to the sacrifices our brave armed forces make while serving their country.
But while millions honour the dead, legal loan sharks have been trying to lure living servicemen into taking out short-term loans with massive interest rates on repayments.
Online firms such as QuickQuid and Easymilitaryloans are targeting military personnel struggling to make ends meet on a regular soldier’s wage of £17,265.
The annual payback rate is 1,734% but in reality customers will end up forking out 359% – 10 times as much as the most ­expensive credit cards on the market.
It means someone who borrows £50 will have to pay back £65 over a 30-day period.
Read more at www.mirror.co.uk

Newlyn bailiffs boss "a liar" Judge says


TIMES ARTICLE - 27 AUGUST 2011

The police have been accused of acting beyond their authority by helping bailiffs to collect disputed parking fines
The police have been accused of acting beyond their authority by helping bailiffs to collect disputed parking fines.
An investigation by The Times has discovered that forces across the UK, including the Metropolitan and Kent Police, have been regularly assisting bailiffs to seize the cars of motorists with outstanding penalties, even though campaigners say they do not have the legal authority because parking enforcement in most parts of the UK is a civil, not criminal matter.
In one case, the police helped Newlyn, a bailiff company that has been accused of adding extra costs to debts, cutting corners and aggressively chasing people for money that they say they do not owe. The Times has obtained video evidence of how the police confiscated the car keys of one driver and handed them to Newlyn even though the bailiff provided documentation of disputed authenticity and the driver denied that he owed any money.
In 2009 a district judge branded a director of Newlyn a liar in a hearing about the renewal of a bailiff’s licence. The driver who had his car confiscated has since taken his case to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
The law states that the police should assist bailiffs only if there is likely to be a breach of the peace, but officers appear to be routinely going on joint operations to stop motorists.
Ron Clark, of Fairparking.com, a website that champions the cause of motorists, said: “The permission to engage in such activity was removed by the Enforcement of Road Traffic Debts Order of 1993. Police should no more be assisting bailiffs to chase up parking contraventions than they should be assisting utility companies in securing payment of their energy bills.”
Barrie Segal, of Appealnow.com, which helps people fight unfair parking penalties, said: “Shouldn’t the police be concentrating on chasing people who break the criminal law? I’m all for police stopping motorists where they suspect a crime has occurred. I just don’t think they should team up with bailiffs because it misleads the public into thinking that bailiffs have greater powers than they do.”
Legal experts consulted by The Times said the police could be acting beyond their authority. District Judge Stephen Gerlis, of Barnet County Court, said: “I am not aware of any protocol or authority that provides for the police to be involved in the enforcement of civil debts, unless there is a suggestion that a criminal offence may be committed.”
The joint operations came to light after The Times obtained a transcript of a court hearing about a bailiff’s licence renewal. In this hearing, Leonard Brailey, an employee of Marston’s, a leading bailiff company, admitted that the police had for the past seven years been assisting his company with roadside stopping operations in Kent and other areas on the outskirts of London. In the past six months, he had taken part in six to ten operations, he said.
He explained that police would flag down oncoming cars for a roadside check. Then, after completing the check, they would say to the motorist: “Here is a bailiff. He is going to carry out checks as well.” Mr Brailey agreed that the impression given was that this was some lawful stopping to which the motorist had no right to object.
Kent Police confirmed it had conducted roadside police operations with bailiffs. The Metropolitan Police said it also carried out roadside stop operations with bailiffs “on rare occasions”. Both forces said they were satisfied that their operations were legal.
According to Mr Brailey, after being introduced by the police, the bailiff phones his office to check whether there are any outstanding warrants for unpaid fines relating to the vehicle. But Mr Clark said: “The bailiff’s van is equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology and a database of vehicles on which there are outstanding parking contraventions. These are the vehicles the police stop.”
Malcolm Hurlston, of Credit Action, the national financial education charity, said: “The proposals for regulating bailiffs are already months overdue. The whole area of bailiff activity is confusing and complicated and urgently needs regulation.”
The Ministry of Justice said: “The majority of bailiffs are responsible, but too many are not and this cannot continue. We will publish our consultation as soon as we have exhausted our exploration of all the issues.”
Newlyn refused to comment but has previously denied any wrongdoing and has said that its director’s incorrect statement in court was “merely an administrative error”.