UK Air Fares

Hey, it's rip off time again folks !! Why is it because we are in the UK we have to pay so much more for a flight than than if the visitor pays for it in their own country? I was trying to price a one way ticket from Manila (Philippines) to London Heathrow. On the web I was quoted £1250 by a well known east asian airline for an economy ticket which is outrageous as it was not even a direct flight but involved a stop over. To rub salt in the wound, my visitor has obtained a seat on the same airline paid direct for it in Manila and it cost only £299. Not much difference is there !!! It's the same flight distance, same operator , same food I expect, same level of crew so why the difference? This sort of rip off really irks me... does it you ?

Essex Police Use Two Speed Scameras To Catch You

Yes, it's really true ! Essex Police are using a second camera to take a picture of the front of your vehicle as well as the back so as to give a clear indication of who was driving the vehicle. Why is this ? Well it's to stop anybody from passing

their points on to other members of their family when their job and livelihood may be in jeopardy. Nice people aren't they !! and of course other forces are looking at possibly doing the same. Well of course they are, how silly of me not to think so.

Now lets look at The Essex Police and for a start at their record, or should I say, non record of police officers who get flashed in speed cameras and get prosecuted. Apparently Essex police were caught on speed cameras 5,000 times during the first six months of 2005 and guess what ? Yes you have guessed it, during this period there was no record of any disciplinary action against any Essex Police Officer for speeding offences. Do you find this hard to believe ? I don't actually, in fact it's pretty believable given the police's record for looking after their own instead of looking after the citizens of this country who pay their goddam wages.

Now look at the Essex Police record against other Police Forces local to them.

In Suffolk between April 2004 and March 2005, 40 officers while on duty were caught speeding. Of those 27 were on their way to incidents and were not prosecuted, while 13 officers were issued with fixed penalty tickets for speeding.

In Bedfordshire between April 2004 and March 2005, 2,519 police vehicles were found to be speeding, mostly cars responding to emergency incidents. Six police officers and two members of staff had their licenses endorsed with three penalty points and were fined £60.

Hertfordshire Police said in 2004 there was one incident of a marked police car being sent a penalty notice for speeding on a non-blue light call. An investigation found that the police exemption did apply in this case. Still a bit hard to believe though.

Now here is the real crunch from Essex Police..An Essex Police spokesman said: "We are entirely satisfied that any Essex Police vehicle which has activated a safety camera in the period in question did so for an entirely legitimate purpose." Oh Yeah, and George Bush has been nominated for next Director General of Amnesty International !!!!

In January 2004 Inspector Nick Burston of the Road Policing Unit of Chigwell admitted ..... She said: "We are tending to have a reduction in the number of serious injury or fatal collisions in those areas".
"But in an awful lot of cases, it's not excess speed as in 'doing faster than the speed limit' which is causing the fatalities."

So here we are in 2006 and Essex Police are having to justify the increase in speed scameras when statistics do not show the dramatic decrease in serious road injuries one would have expected. But then we all know why there is such a proliferation of cameras don't we.. and it aint nuffin to do with safety whatsoever. Jobsworths is what comes to mind !!

Bad Driving Kills Not Speed

I have just traveled an eighteen mile stretch of the M5 in Somerset and during this short trip I witnessed six near misses where lorries with their "get outa my way I am bigger than you" attitude pulled out in front of cars causing them to swerve into the outside lane. Not only that, it also caused a concertina effect where other cars in the overtaking lane had to slam on their anchors and cut their speed immediately. None of the cars in question were speeding but they were forced through the lorry drivers bad driving to risk their safety in order to avoid a possible collision. I found the whole thing very scary and it made me wonder what the statistics are vis a vis the percentage of motorway accidents which involve a lorry against the total number. From what I just witnessed I guessed it was pretty high but according to the FTA (Freight Transport Association) in October last year the Government and Police stated that it's all o.k. cause lorries only have 48 accidents per 100 million km's and cars have 80 accidents per 100 million km's. Do we actually believe this ? The truth is clear and that is bad driving causes accidents not speed but of course, silly me, to admit this would not justify the use of speed scameras with their revenue earning potential would it !!!

England Car Flag Saddo's

I think I must be getting old!! Am I the only one that thinks that this England car flag thing which is threatening to rise again as we get nearer the world cup is nothing short of real NAFF ! Someone somewhere is making a fortune out of these real sad people who drive around (after a while) with tatty, dirty little flags sprouting from their rear side windows. It makes me cringe !For gods sake get a life you saddo's.

UK Legal System Hijacked By Hijackers.

So here we go again ! Is this country mad or what! Give me strength !!!
It appears now that acts of terrorism, cause that's what hijacking a plane is, are now condoned by the UK legal system. Yes it's really true nine Afghans who hijacked a plane are being allowed to stay here !! At least there is one thing positive in all this, the UK Government are hopping mad about this barmy legal ruling!!

Home Secretary John Reid said "I can confirm that we will be seeking to overturn yesterday's decision on the Afghan hijackers. I can also confirm that I will be paying very close attention to this matter".

"When decisions are taken which appear inexplicable or bizarre to the general public, it only reinforces the perception that the system is not working to protect, or in favour of, the vast majority of ordinary, decent hard-working citizens in this country.

"That is a perception that should worry all of us - and it is a perception that all of us should be working to put right."

Worried ?...you bet we are Johnny, and we all should reflect on the so called judgment (or is it misjudgment?) of these so called guardians of the law who seem to be so out of touch with reality.

I hope John Reid does all he can to put right this gross error on the part of the judge involved and at least make amends by immediately sacking him so that you and I will not have to financially support this justice weirdo.

It's just one more thing which makes you realise that this country is a soft touch and that we are an open house to every trouble maker in the world no matter what devilish means they use to get here. Why do we not have the guts to ship them straight back from whence they came even if it means they may be dished up with a dose of their very same medicine.

Filipino Maid Cuts Off Saudi Employer's Penis

So a Filipino woman has cut off the penis of her Saudi employer when he tried to force her to have sex whilst his wife was asleep. Well Good for her !!

The downside is that surgeons attached it again..Yah Boo !!

Thousands and thousands of Filipino men and women work in the Arab states in order to keep their families back home and pay for their children's education. Their sacrifice is overwhelming, they forego seeing their children and grandchildren growing up and sometimes don't go home for years on end.

My partner is Filipino and he has worked in Saudi and his mother still does. I have been told horrendous stories of men and women being sexually assaulted and even raped by Saudi men, who treat these gentle ever smiling people like third class citizens. Not all, I have to say but certainly very many.

My partner was traveling on a bus in Saudi and when he was the last one aboard the driver closed the doors and sped off at high speed to try and get into this tunnel with him. My partner had to jump from the bus at high speed in order to escape and he was of course scared whitless. He had every reason too I would say.

I sincerely hope that this woman who was molested by her trusted employer is treated fairly and justly, but I doubt it in this Arab State where women are not equal to men. The greatest downside to this tragic story is the skill of the surgeons. It would have been a just reward for this man to reflect on his barbaric ways everytime he looked down and fumbled for the stump he now had to pee out of.

Road Rage And The Police

I heard that a public transport company with a high incident rate of assault was told by the police when the company followed up on a nasty road rage assault on one of their staff that the police would not be pursuing the matter further as the elderly assailant (60+) was "having a bad day". I am sorry can you repeat that please !! This employee took a battering and the assailant was having a bad day !! How bad was the employees day after that then?

Now, on the other hand do you think it at all possible if every driver who is captured on a speed camera pleads that "they were having a bad day" they will escape three points on their license and the £60 fine ? Or do you think that assault causing bodily harm is a lesser crime ?

I wonder sometimes, in respect of the police, what exactly we pay for with our hard earned money. It certainly doesn't seem to be security and protection. There are plenty to be found though hiding round corners waiting to take your money and livelihood away with their speed scameras.

Arranged Marriages

Now, I really did not want to return to this subject as I have had my rant already. However, I have just read a piece in the news about a Muslim couple in the Indian Western State of Gujarat who have just given their wedding vows over the telephone !! It was all accomplished using speakers so that family and witnesses etc could hear it clearly !! The key paragraph in the article which is striking is ...."We made the best use of the communication network and exchanged vows over the phone," said Agarbatiwala, a resident of Ahmedabad, the main city in the western state of Gujarat, who is yet to meet his wife.

This reminded me of a time I was in a restaurant in my home town with one of my Muslim friends and the Manager a Bengali (aren't they all in British Indian restaurants :o)) ) struck up conversation with us. It turned out that he was very excited because he was getting married in six weeks and my friend said..oh that's nice, does she live over here ? No, we were told. When did you meet said my friend? Oh, I have not met her yet said the Manager grinning broadly, but I have a photograph of her, would you like to see it ? We of course declined and went back to our meal and got excellent service after that.

This is the last word on the subject.

Tax Threat To Personal e-mails From The Office

I read today that millions of workers in the U.K. may be stopped from sending personal e-mails from office computers because of a change to the tax laws in the budget.

Both office staff and their employers could have to pay £210 a year tax on every work computer they use for sending personal e-mails or surfing the net on non-work related topics.In getting rid of the Home Computing Initiative tax experts believe the Treasury has redefined office-based computers as "taxable benefits". It is believed this scam...sorry scheme could bring in an extra £2.2 billion a year into the Treasury's coffers. Here we go again !!!!

It's all very grey at the moment, which is just as Gordon Brown likes it, but one thing is for sure if it is true, employers will have to monitor private computer usage in order that HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) can audit computer use. We will all be under the microscope again I suppose. Is this a potential massive tax grab or am I being cynical?

Tristania

I have been listening to an album from Norwegian band Tristania. They are described as Goth Metal so if you like your music really heavy with growling vocals you ought to give them a listen. To give it another dimension band member Vibeke Stene adds vocals at the higher end of the scale which gives their music a bit of operatic type depth in parts. I wouldn't mind getting to see them sometime but the nearest they are getting to the U.K. on their current tour is Paris !! They are very interesting musically.

Snooker World Championships

Just been round my friends for dinner and afterwards we put on the latest album by OSI called Free for a quick listen. In the background on the TV was the World Snooker Championships. Now, I am no real snooker fan but have you ever met such a boring duo as the finalists Graeme Dott and Peter Ebdon !! Talk about watching the proverbial paint drying. Yawn Yawn. How the charismatic Ronnie O'Sullivan let the final slip away I will never know. Oh well, Back to OSI and a darn good album it is too !!