Dubai

Dubai is really going for it and are currently in the process of creating a millionaires paradise in order to be the best up market tourist spot in the world. Of course the Al Maktoum family who basically own Dubai realise that eventually the oil reserves will run out so they are making a provision to ensure their little paradise remains firmly on the World map.

But are we aware how this massive palatial construction site is being evolved ? It is , in fact being put together by poorly paid offshore workers such as the Filipinos, Indians etc. who are being kept in far from satisfactory conditions near these building sites . In the case of the Filipino's, there are unscrupulous agencies back in the Philippines who are misrepresenting the jobs, salaries and accommodation so that when the hapless workers arrive in Dubai desperate for work they find that the salary they negotiated is not there. It is lower and they are working 12 hour days 6 days a week and the accommodation is being shared and not even a refridgerator in place to keep their food in during the exceedingly hot weather. Most workers when they arrive have to accept the conditions because they need to support their families back home and of course their employer takes their passport when they arrive so they cannot leave easily. Or they just cannot afford the return fare. The salaries also work on different grades according to your ethnicity, so for the same work you could get paid differently according to your country of origin. In the case of Dubai, Filipinos and Indians are bottom of the scale and arabs from other arab countries a level higher and so on. If your white it's jackpot time guys !! I know all this because my partner worked in Dubai and I had to rescue him and fly him home because despite his University Degree and business qualifications he was tricked into an outpost in the desert by one of the unscrupulous agencies in Manila.

So when you visit Dubai and you gasp with wonder at the paradise you are beholding, just remember that it was mainly built on modern day slave labour .

Within Temptation and Nightwish

Hey everyone who appreciates really good progressive music.. give Within Temptation and Nightwish a listen. Within Temptation are Dutch and Nightwish are Finnish and both are fronted by Girl Singers who have extraordinary voices. Nightwish are fronted by Tarja Turunen who sings in an operatic mode and their lead guitarist Emppu Vuorinen is freaking amazing, such technique and style. Within Temptation are more gothic and their singer Sharon den Ardel has a voice like an angel.. but in both bands cases.. it all really works and amazingly so. All you who like progressive music give them a listen please, and like me you may end up wondering where on earth we are going wrong in this country when it comes to producing spine tingling spectacular rock performances. I salute you two girls and your bands.. you're amazing.

Inheritance Tax

Don't you love this Government and their tax wheezes called 101 ways to screw you out of your hard earned money. There are calls now from public figures to scrap inheritance tax and quite rightly so because it is nothing short of a tax grab scam. Why should you have to pay tax again on bequeathed assets which have already been taxed through parents / relatives earnings and VAT ? It is unjust and quite frankly outrageous.I have just sat and watched ALASTAIR DARLING on t.v. (you know him of the black eyebrows and white hair) trying to defend the tax by saying that it earns the Treasury £2billion of revenue each year and if they (The Government) give it away (his words) they will have to recoup the money elsewhere by raising taxes or cutting public expenditure.Yes, you heard right.. I was gobsmacked too!!!. He definitely said give it away. Excuse me sunshine but you are talking about a tax scam here, and you shouldn't have it in the first place so stop talking such utter bollocks please. Why don't you try operating the fair and just tax system that Gordon Brown is always talking about and stop rubbing hard working folks noses in it when all they are trying to do is leave something from their hard working life for their children and family to enjoy. You lot are just like Andy Pipkin in Little Britain... poke your finger out and say... I want that one .

Lebanon Crisis

I don't know about you but I find the whole thing about the current middle east crisis very scary shit ! As civilised people we have to deplore this unnecessary loss of human life on both sides but when you acquaint yourselves with the facts do you blame the Israelis for their retaliation against Hezbollah given the Israeli's high degree of intelligence gathering.

Hezbollah have created this state within the true state of Lebanon and under the governments nose. They have set up their own infrastructure, schools, hospitals, banks, local government, security, army and all with the help of Syria and Iran. Iran have bank rolled Hezbollah to the tune of billions of dollars over the past couple of decades and Iran also flooded them with their religious clerics to indoctrinate the Hezbollah masses in the true ways of Islam because Lebanon was becoming too Westernised and multicultural. Iran also helped Hezbollah to build up a huge arsenal of rockets/weapons during this period.

So, does it scare you that Iran is now defying all the Western world's demands to give up creating a nuclear capability. In view of the current situation, do you honestly believe that they only want it for creating electricity ? Are the Americans right to feel twitchy about this? Well, we all should be..... very very twitchy because these are very very scary people we are dealing with.

In the name of the civilised world I therefore plead with all it's leaders to get round that table pronto and come up with a solution before we are all dragged into this unholy conflict with it's inevitable consequences.

Afghan Hijackers

We are at it again ! This time Home Secretary John Reid was trying to do the right thing by preventing the nine Stanstead plane hijackers from settling into our system and getting a job, and possibly able to claim benefits. So what went wrong ?

Our stupid and grossly inept legal system has once again come down in favour of the hijackers.. yes really, I kid you not!!! Hello, you people out there.. we are talking about plane hijackers not people who have failed to pay their Council Tax !!!

I say to their solicitor who sounded incredibly naive and stupid on PM Radio 4 tonight.. send them back, no matter what the dangers are to them. We do not want them here one minute longer. If you think they would be subject to terror if they get sent back, just you try to imagine the grief and sheer terror these "terrorists" inflicted on the innocent people who were on that plane.

John Reid is now threatening to bring in retrospective legislation to get rid of them once and for all. I have to say, even though I have no affinity with this current Government, I fully support his actions as should every sane and civilised person who lives in this country. Goodbye you lot and good riddance...forever !!! I have no sympathy with you whatsoever !!