DEATH CAFÉS and that unmentionable topic

Saw a tweet this morning from The Guardian which took me to an article on Death Cafés, check it out,   http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/mar/22/death-cafe-talk-about-dying?CMP=twt_fd , 

(c) Cartoonnetwork

it makes for interesting reading. It's all about the growing movement of a cafe, whether it is in an actual cafe or in someone's front room, where folk gather to talk about and discuss Death!

A morbid subject you might think, and about a year ago I might have been of the same mind. But, since being confirmed as a person with cancer in May last year and then being giving 'about' a year to live from last September, death is a bit of a constant companion. Oh, don't worry too much about me, as I've said in other posts, I have come close to this on a number of occasions before, and told Mr D to go take a flying F*^k and he has, and I'm treating this little episode in exactly the same way.

Having said all of that, you do have to also deal with the reality of it all, and things do need to be discussed within the family, with friends and of course with work.

I think I caused a wee bit of upset within my close family circle over the news of my impending death as I accepted it and thought we should discuss it openly, even informing the Grandkids, aged 10, 7 (3) and 2, although of course the latter was excused as it would mean nothing to her until she noticed I am gone when that finally happens.  There were tears especially from Ishbel who steadfastly refused to enter into any kind of discussion on the mater at all for weeks and weeks and even now, still has difficulty in talking about it.  But it has to be done as things do have to be sorted out:

Wills 

(c) cartoonstock,com

Finances including  mortgage, insurance, shares, premiums bonds that may be in individual names, pension funds 

Transference of certain accounts, that in many instances are in the male partners name such as Telephones, cable TV, water, gas and electricity, mobile phone accs the list can go on

Funeral

Notes on how to change the telly from TV to Wii to DVD not everyone knows how to do this .......

So, as you can see there can be lots to talk about. 

For example, when I was 'thrown' out of the Army I received a military pension after being shot. The thing about this pension is, it only survives as long as I do, or until I reach retirement age, and then I lose it. So, if it's the former, Ishbel needs to know how to contact them to let them know I have shuffled off so that payments can be stopped, otherwise when they do find out they just go straight back into the account they were paying into and take whatever overpayment they have made in one go, regardless of the surviving partners financial state of affairs.....

Now that wouldn't be a problem, if the surviving partner has forgotten, and as long as the partner dying has taken out life insurance to leave the survivor comfortably off, after paying off the mortgage and any debts you might have had, but if you haven't done that THEN SORT IT OUT, NOW.....

Honestly people, if there is one thing you take away from this post, it should be that YOU NEED SUFFICIENT INSURANCE COVER, not just enough to pay off the mortgage and debts but enough to leave the surviving partner with a comfortable standard of living.  

(c) carttonstock.com

Regrettably, I haven't done too well in that area. That's not to say that we haven't got a few pounds stashed away and there is a cushion there but Ishbel is not going to be able to become the Merry Widow, partying, dancing and hitting the high spots of Thurrock, after my passing, no, she is going to have to work until retirement age in that miserable shopping mall next to the Dartford bridge/tunnel.  Not that I am advocating that you, the survivor, should stop work after the passing of the partner, as the comfort and support and routine of getting up and out to work and interacting with work colleagues can be just as important as that from family and close friends and in many instances today, family do not always live close by, so continuing to work may be a good option.  But, you could be losing a large chunk of income when one partner goes, if it is the male partner (sadly we still earn more salary than our wives, in many instances) who departs the mortal coil.  

Your mortgage will hopefully be paid off, your debts even. But again you don't get a reduction on your cable or utility bills just because the household has gone down from two to one and these bills still need to be paid along with council tax here in the UK, although I do note on that last one, you can get a 20% reduction on that when one of the household kicks the bucket.... Who says local and national governments are heartless, oops me, I think, but every little helps.

I know for a fact one of my kids hasn't got any insurance, nor her partner. I was talking to a friend recently, they have a very large mortgage it is in one partners name, and one of them isn't insured, bad mistake friends, very bad.  Even if it isn't an illness that grabs and takes you, it could be that you walk round the corner and someone knocks a flower pot off their window ledge onto your head, lights out, dead, partner and family stuffed... SORT IT OUT PEOPLE, TODAY, PLEASE.

And of course the final message here is, Talk about these things, they are important 

But do keep SMILING xxxxxx

The Guardian wants you to be taxed for using the internet!

As you know, it is very rare for me to pay for news via a printed newspaper.   I was mighty impressed when The Guardian broke the story of the swindling members of parliament and then the phone hacking that saw the closure of the news of the (SCREWS) world. Absolutely no loss to the world at all.

But even the Guardian couldn't entice me back to being a full time reader of news through the medium of news print.  It is only on occasion that I am drawn to them through their free to all, on-line news service still preferring to get my news from on-line newspaper articles suggested to me from others or the TV.

I am not alone in this, not reading newspapers, as the Internet has given us the choice not to need them.  On my way home this evening I was listening to The Media Show on BBC Radio 4 and heard Mr David Lee, Investigations Editor of The Guardian newspaper pontificating on about his idea of introducing a Broadband Internet Levy to raise an annual fund to be handed out to all newspapers. You can listen to the new breed of street beggar here

Clearly we need choices in anything that is out there to be able to get different views and perspectives.  First it was word of mouth and stories were passed along from person to person, village to village and town to town. Then came the written word or pictogram on rock, then slate then paper with one page news, then newspapers, then telegraph, radio and finally TV.  Now, I understand that when papers where in their heyday they were making vast fortunes and creating rich dynasty's, so it's a bit rich when one of these dynasty's who year on year and in some cases decade after decade, are producing their very expensive and loss making pages, and I understand that the prats at the Guardian are losing about £100k per day are now suggesting that a £2.00 per month levy on broadband internet users and this should raise about £500 million per year to be used to bale out the newspaper industry?  What a bloody nerve, if they can't operate profitably - close down.  So, I don't read newspapers and if I did want to read one in paper form, I can walk to the local shop and pay across the counter for it, but what I shouldn't be asked for, is to pay a TAX that is going to prop up failing businesses that I can live without to pay people who cannot run a profitable business.  Some may argue then that we should have left the banks to their own devices, but that is another argument all together, but, newspapers,  NO, NOT NOW, NOT EVER!

We have TV, Radio and the Internet, if newspapers are a loss making medium how can they continue to pay, presumably high, salaries and dividends each year but expect to receive funding from the TaxPayer when it is not a company providing  a critically required service to the nation, a bit like Channel 4, a commercial company, also funded by the Taxpayer.  Just think how much we could shave of the license fee if we stopped funding A COMMERCIAL COMPANY.

So, to Mr Lee and The Guardian, start making a profit or shut up shop, but don't ever ask me for a hand out, I can watch the news or read one of the great blogs out there on the internet for my daily dose of news without baling you or any other commercially failing company!

Apparently there is a positive side to being Raped!

I read a report in The Guardian on line today, that made me feel quite ill...

For some people who've been raped and had the baby, even if they don't keep it, something positive comes out of that whole rape experience," pupils aged 14 and 15 were told.

Wow, who would have thought that something positive could come out of being raped?  But according to the statement above, it can!

Well, I have to admit here that I am a male and I have never been raped and while, as I understand it, that it is predominantly women who suffer this abuse I understand that men too can be raped as well.  Of course if a man is raped we would not continue to suffer in the way that a woman will through pregnancy and the decision to terminate or not, that pregnancy. I also have to confess that throughout my 'thinking' years as an adult I have from time to time read about the debate over abortion and I have always felt fairly ambivalent to the question of abortion but generally felt that it is a decision to be made by the individual to make, and hers alone.

But clearly this is not the case as 'pro-life' activists have decided that a woman attacked, abused and raped and who had no decision in that momentous and calamitous act carried out on them, should then have the decision on what to do with her body and that of the unborn child taken away from them as well.  Why don't we just tell women to get back to the chains of the kitchen sink and be done with it, let them know where their place is in life!

The foetus is an unborn child but it is still just a growing organism, which if allowed to come to term will be born and grow into a sentient human being, yeah, big deal, look at the sentient human being who attacked and raped the woman in the first place, one might argue, and I would, that anyone found guilty of such a crime should be medically castrated and locked away for life.  Yes, I am pretty unforgiving and I don't care who knows it.  I am married, have two daughters and 4 of my five grand children are girls.  

If any of them were ever to fall victim to this kind of abuse I would have a couple of reactions and they would be:

1. Have an abortion, if they fell pregnant as a result of this attack upon them as I would want nothing to do with this 'innocent' offspring of a twisted demented progenitor, and 
2. If I could lay my hands on the attacker I would happily take my sharpest kitchen knife to his genitals and leave him bleeding to death

But not the 'pro-life brigade, and what disturbs me even more is that these people are being allowed into our schools in the United Kingdom to spew their garbage to our kids, read it here and they are going on to tell them that if they do have an abortion that they are more likely to get cancer, including breast cancer,

"The link with breast cancer is because if a woman has an abortion, particularly in her first pregnancy, changes have to take place in her breasts. 

And then just to intimidate women even more they are turning up at clinics harassing them as they enter and leave, including photographing and videoing them.....

I'm sorry for saying it, well no not really, but, these 'pro-life' people are, as far as I am concerned, just as sick, twisted and deviant as the actual rapists who attacked the women in the first place.   They are continuing to abuse mentally, the woman who have already been put through, I imagine, one of the most horrific things that could happen to them in having their dignity stripped away from them, being physically  and mentally abused and then these 'pro-life' morons continue to hound them after the first attack,  and many are doing it in the name of religion as well.  Very caring, I don't think so.

The NHS are you Worried, You Should Be!

The Government are forcing through changes to the Health and Social Care Bill and I have major concerns about it.

Competition, and the opening up our of health service to any qualified providers will lead not only to fragmentation of care, but also potentially to a ‘two tier’ system with access to care defined by a patient’s ability to pay.

The above sentence was taken from a statement issued by the Royal College of General Practitioners, the body that your local doctor belongs to. Now it is fair to say, I suppose, that although the Body representing GP's has issued the statement, read it here, there are some within that Body who are clearly happy to go along with and support the proposed changes by the current government.

So, why am I worried about about the governments proposed changes.  Well on a couple of counts, not least of all that the Lid Dems in the coalition are letting them get away with it, and two, the Conservatives have for so long been the party of denationalisation of every public institution.

While I have been in favour of some of the sell off's, in the main they have been disastrous for the British public:

BT- Was the first to go in November 1984 and I had no problem with that but that paved the way for everything else and with few exceptions it has been a nightmare for the poor and working class of the country.  Once the Conservatives got a taste for it it was only a matter of time before everything else was in their sites and so it continued. And to be honest New Labour were not much different in their outlook on this either


Utilities- Gas, Electric and Water Sold off on the cheap and the British public have then been hammered into the ground with ever increasing costs and lousy service.

British Rail - broken up and sold off yet the private companies are given millions of pounds in taxpayers money every year

The one thing they couldn't sell of was the Health Service although many Conservatives for years have openly voiced their opinion that this too should be subject to 'market forces', and at last they seem to be driving this through if the statement by the RCGP proves to be correct.

I have an acquaintance on Twitter, an American Indie Author named Michael R Hicks.  He recently left a well paid government job to take up writing full time and he recently posted a series of blogs as a means to help others who were thinking of giving up their day job to concentrate on writing full time.  His first blog on the subject, read it here, aimed at fellow Americans, I am sure though, that it  will give many in this country pause for thought as they read it. And it gave me pause for thought as I considered the implications that the American system would have on us here in the UK if we allow any government to allow a full or partial sell off of the NHS as we know it or by allowing 'market forces' to dictate  the kind of treatment we all take for granted at the moment and that is largely free to all in the UK, even to those who are not entitled to it!

There is absolutely no doubt that some form of reform is needed, but as more and more people are thrown on the scrapheap of unemployment or as I have said before, that there are not the jobs available due to changes in technology, how will the 'masses' ever be in a position to pay for medical care.  Michael Hicks is lucky, but then again that is relative to his particular situation, in that he can afford a basic level of health insurance, but again and through choice, a level greatly less than what he has been used to for himself and his family.  How many of the working class people in this country could afford what he is paying, I couldn't, could you?  I am not sure of the conversion rate but he is paying $600 per month, so that's about £450 in our money but in reality if they have to use the cover it is going to cost them a whole lot more.

I can see a lot of BSkyB subscriptions having to be cancelled although the cost of that would probably not even cover one months health care, so as The RCGP says in its statement, (there will be a), " ‘two tier’ system with access to care defined by a patient’s ability to pay."


I am astonished that the Lib Dems are allowing this to be put through, but I suppose that that is 'the price of power' in this instance.  As I said earlier The RGCP as a body have issued their statement against it, but others are for it and some changes have already taken place and from my point of view at least I see no logic to it.  I wrote last year that I has seen my doctor and that an appointment was to be made for me to see a specialist.  Short version of that was, that my appointment was to be booked through a 'new' agency set up by a group of local GP's, who would be paid for this service, but the booking still had to go through the booking system of the hospital, read that here.  In other words we have two groups booking the same appointment and both groups costing money! Now if that is part of the reform, where we are spending money needlessly on two sets of staff and two booking systems to make one appointment, how long before there is no money for treatment and every patient is going to have to pay for the treatment they need at the time, or before, the treatment is given?

Of course Politicians, Civil Servants and Bankers will do all right out of this as they will, like Michael in America prior to giving up his government job, be well looked after with their health insurance cover, but for the masses they are going to have to rely on charity and luck to hopefully receive even a basic level of assistance when they fall ill and unless they are given a free prescription along with their charitable medical visit, the first will be pointless as the latter will not be affordable....

As a result of some of the things happening in his own country Michael has started a new website called Reboot Society and he has some interesting ideas, ideas that are not only applicable to an American perspective, take a look... 

So, what do you think about our governments ideas?

And,if you want to sign an e-petition against these changes, click here 


Update:  Doctors who backed the changes are now changing their minds. Read the article in the Guardian here.

How do you feel about the Niqab?

Niqab women fined by French court | World news | guardian.co.uk:  'via Blog this'


So, two French women have been fined the derisory sums of £105 and £70 for ignoring the legal ban on wearing the Niqab.

Now I am neither Muslim nor female and I have really never been drawn to this form of 'dress' as something that draws a man's attention to a woman in the way that other forms of dress or clothing do, and maybe that is the intention of the Niqab as the wearer does not wish to be ogled by others and men in particular! The Wikipedia page on this goes into the history of the covering and goes some way to explain the history of it.

I do know plenty of women both Christian and non Christian and Muslim and Non Muslim and of the latter I don't know any who do wear one and I suppose like other westerners  I am at loss to understand why anyone would want to, but, that some do is clear, walk down any street in the UK and they are evident .

I am neither a scholar nor a philosopher so my take on this matter is purely a personal and probably an uneducated one.  I can only tell you that I have listened to various debates on TV, probably like most average people in Europe this is where we get our understanding from (or lack of) on this matter.

From a modern perspective, where we have so much mistrust and where apparently we are at war in a semi clandestine fashion with Muslims I can and do see the need for security measures where 'people' wearing a Niqab must allow themselves to be identified when going near or entering 'target' zones such as airports, and official government buildings and there may also be a need for this in busy shopping areas as we do know that suicide bombers target the soft target rather than the hard target, so it is a problem!

But is the outright banning of the Niqab and other coverings the answer.  Men and women of all races and creeds and colours go about their business on a daily basis.  Christians and non Christians, Muslims and non Muslims.  Each country town and village wherever it is on the planet has its fair share of criminals, murderers, rapists etc., but we do not brand those communities with the same degree of collective guilt as we appear to be doing to woman who choose to wear a Niqab.

Now it is only the French, so far, that have taken this action and I understand that a number of woman have defied the ban and yet it is only these two who have appeared in court, although I believe others have also been fined, presumably on the spot!   I also understand from the report in the Guardian that they had no problems lifting their Niqabs to have their identities verified. so it does seem as if it is a bit of an unenforceable and unnecessary law unless every country in the European union adopts it!

While the bleeding heart brigade may protest at my next suggestion I'll proceed with it anyway, why don't we go the whole hog and ban all Muslims from Western society and they can do the same with westerners, Christian or not, We could also send all Africans back to Africa and all white Americans back to the land of their ancestors.  Of course we here in the United Kingdom  could end up anywhere from France or Germany to the Nordic countries as we all probably have a bit of all of them in us.  Now you know I am being ridiculous here, right, you do know that don't you?  But the same thing applies to the above it just seems ridiculous.

It is a sad state of affairs that we are in today where we need to be considering such measures of banning people from wearing 'traditional' clothing whether we fully understand why they would wear it in the first place or not.  And of course it is both tragic and sad that we are where we are today with suicide bombers and whatever.  Do you remember that Arnie movie 'Total Recall' where, when he is escaping from the baddies down into the underground/metro station and he goes through the x-ray machine and all you see is his skeleton and his big gun?  Well sadly that is what we need in every transport hub and shopping mall.  The sooner they introduce it the better, then we can leave women and anyone else who wishes to dress the way they want to and let them get on with their lives, and the rest of us can get on with our lives  knowing that at least every single one of us will have been treated the same!

What do you think?

Council builds Purpose Built Disabled Homes - What are we doing for our Service Personnel?

(C) Basildon Echo

I noticed this article in the Basildon Echo the other day, sorry I couldn't find an on line link to it, but it also got me thinking about our disabled ex servicemen.  Lets face it since the illegal war in Iraq and our involvement in Afghanistan there are an awful lot of disabled ex soldiers out there and I wondered what we are doing for them?

I have to confess I have never heard or read before of a local authority doing this and the article does not say whether it is for a civilian or an ex-serviceman [who is of course a civilian]. In fact the article goes on to state that it is 20 years since Basildon has built a purpose built house for a disabled tenant! 

Now much has been said in the last year or so about the Armed Forces Covenant  and wasn't it a pity that Tony Blair took us to that illegal war in Iraq without giving one thought to the consequences of dealing with the severely injured and disabled servicemen and their families prior to taking us there, just as he did not give it a serious thought after we started to see injured personnel coming home.  The same can be said for his successor Gordon Brown.  And don't think the Tories with David Cameron would have done much about it either if there had not been a groundswell of revulsion from the general public through publicity of the dire circumstances and lack of facilities that were available to begin with either!

So if you read the comments on the link above for the Covenant you will notice that housing is specifically mentioned and I wonder if that also means that Basildon [only because they are the ones mentioned in the article above] and other local authorities throughout the United Kingdom should be spending more money on building purpose built homes and not just for ex-servicemen?

And of course there is a dilemma in that for cash strapped local authorities as well.  The Covenant is or is to be enshrined in LAW so does that mean that local authorities are and will be obliged to build these purpose built homes? And while they may need to do it by law for ex-servicemen can they opt out of doing it for non ex-servicemen, but, will that then fall foul of human rights laws whereby they are providing a facility for one section of the disabled and not for another.  If they must build them does the money come from central government funds from a special reserve or from MOD budgets?  Who knows!  

Now believe it or not, Ok it is not hard to believe but the Government and the MOD seem to be rather shy in giving out statistics on the number of personnel who have been maimed as a result of our involvement in these wars, hardly surprising of course as they really don't want that information to be readilly available upsetting our delicate sensibilities, but, Ian Cobain of The Guardian posted the following article earlier this year

The number of British troops losing limbs to bomb blasts in Afghanistan in 2010 exceeded that of 2009 by nearly 40%.

Newly published figures from Defence Analytical Services and Advice (Dasa) show that a total of 76 troops suffered what the Ministry of Defencedescribed as "traumatic or surgical amputation" of one or more limbs or parts of a limb up to the end of 2010.

There were 55 such injuries in Afghanistan in 2009 - more than the total figure for the previous three years - with almost half occurring during the final three months of the year.

The Ministry of Defence began making the figures available in February, after previously resisting calls for them to be released. In March theNational Audit Office warned that hospitals treating the wounded from Afghanistan were close to capacity, and said that Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham, which treats amputees, might need to displace civilians to make more room.

 Having said that I have still found it difficult to get an hard numbers but buried at the end of an NAO report is this little statistic:

 522 military personnel were seriously injured on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan between October 2001 and October 2009. Personnel on operations have attended medical facilities 125,000 times for minor injury and illness since 2006 and a further 1,700 times for mental health conditions. The NAO has estimated that the cost of medical care provided as a result of military operations was £71 million in 2008-09.

For the full report see: injury_on_military_operations 


Now the report does not tell us how many of the 522 seriously injured have ended up as disabled personnel, but the figure is probably pretty high and whatever it is, surely they are going to need serious consideration from local authorities as to their continued welfare which not only includes proper housing but ongoing medical treatment from the NHS.  All of this costs and I am not arguing that is should not be paid out but should local communities have to bare the burden of it like we did for the bank collapse?  Once again our government is taking unilateral action without the consent of the majority of the people and then we suffer financially.

As an ex serviceman who, after being shot,was given first class treatment many years ago by Military Medical personnel in Military Hospitals I am appalled at the the way servicemen are treated today but it does not surprise me and I personally believe that The Covenant, enshrined in Law or not is nothing more than an exercise by a bunch of cynical politicians using and promoting it to get them out of a public embarrassment.  It sickens me that so much of what Servicemen receive has to be bought and paid for by charities and I am not knocking the charities, BUT it is not charity they should be relying on it is the morally bankrupt governments who send them there in the first place, in their name, not mine!

So I am all for purpose built homes for the disabled both ex-servicemen and those born with a disability and local authorities should be providing them, but, for servicemen's homes the money should be provided by central government and one way to do this would be to reduce the expenses that MP's are allowed to claim and place this into a social housing fund for disabled Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen.

An open letter to The Right Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP, Lord Chancellor

Kenneth Clarke blames English riots on a 'broken penal system' | UK news | The Guardian:

'via Blog this'

Dear Mr Clarke,

I know the above article was a few days ago but it did make interesting reading.

You blame the riots on a "broken Penal system".  The article goes on to tell us that "75% of those aged over 18 and charged with offences... during the riots had prior convictions".

"That is the legacy of a broken penal system - one whose record in preventing reoffending has been straightforwardly dreadful."

I am on record as saying that I despise most politicians, I really do not have a lot of time for any of them as I firmly and truly believe that they are all a bunch of self serving arrogant out of touch, prats.

Points in case Margaret Moran who finally is facing 21 charges for expenses claims.  Then there is Sir Stuart Bell who it is revealed has not held a constituents surgery in 14 years, so why do they continue to elect him if he will not engage with them?

But you Ken Clarke, well I must also admit to having liked you more than a little over the years as you always appeared a bit of a rebel in parliament.  But, since the ConDems elevation to power and 'old' Kens return to front line duties you now also fall into the categories of self serving arrogant out of touch, prats.

Self serving, because I believe you will say anything these days to get back in to a position of power, only trouble is every time you open it you really do need to consider shoving a 'hush puppy' into it before actually saying anything..

Rape, forced to apologise over remarks
Prison sentencing forced to scrap plans
Expenses  Avoids paying full rate council tax

But having said all that I find myself agreeing with you that there is a "broken penal system"  Yes but it is just not the penal system that is broken, the justice system is broken too.  So are the people we charge with ensuring that we actually do have a penal system that is up to the job. But if the people that we elect are not up to the job how can we expect the penal and justice systems to be any better? We can't and it is really that simple.

Human rights laws are they to protect us all but all to often we find that in doing that they protect the dignity and rights of recidivist offenders.

You say that the penal system is not doing enough to stop and prevent reoffending.

Prisoners welfare groups call for more leniency and more rights for prisoners.

Prisoners and ex prisoners demand voting rights and radios and TV's and single cells!

When will you and they realise that there are some people on this planet who are career criminals, whether they are petty thieves or serial assaulter's, muggers or burglars or murderers or paedophiles; That is what they do and no amount of reform is going to change that.  No amount of rehabilitation is going to change that.  It is what they do and what they are.

We need to stop giving them second, third and fourth chances and we need to lock them up and throw away the key. The original article linked to this says it all, "75% of those aged over 18 and charged with offences... during the riots had prior convictions". 


The recent murder of a pensioner in Cleveland highlights this better than any other, although I must point out that the man arrested for the brutal bludgeoning to death of the 77 year old has not been convicted or gone to trial yet, but the person they were looking for and who has been arrested has convictions for kidnap, rape, armed robbery and indecent assault. (Read More http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/breaking-news/2011/09/01/new-images-of-murder-suspect-graeme-jarman-72703-29344197/#ixzz1XM36Gn4n).


Now I also understand that he has spent a considerable amount of time in prison, I believe his last sentence was for something like 15 years, but that he was let out after 8. Now I have found it difficult to find a lot of information on this chap trawling through the web today and I suspect a lot has been removed so that it would be difficult for people to do web searches for fear of prejudicing any upcoming trial and that is probably as it should be.

But, on the strength of what we do know as opposed to what we don't know He has numerous convictions for serious crimes KIDNAP, RAPE, ARMED ROBBERY, INDECENT ASSAULT.

Why was he out walking our streets?  This is where the bleeding hearts have got it wrong, no amount of rehabilitation is going to make these people change their ways and they will go to parole board meetings and meetings of reformers and with politicians and they will tell them as they wring their hands and hang their heads, "Yes guvnor I realise that I have been a bad person and that what I've done has been bad.  But, the crochet and knitting lessons that I have attended while in prison for the last 8 years have made me see the error of my ways and if you let me out instead of making me serve the other 7 years of my sentence I will be a good and model citizen, I will, honest I will..."

And you fall for it every single time. And we end up with murderers and rapists and child molesters and burglars out walking our streets reoffending in the knowledge that even if they are caught they will do a couple of years and be back out on the streets again.

The Justice and Penal Systems are broken because politicians and soft judges and do gooders have broken them. 

I recall sitting on the train from not long after the ConDems came to power and before I started blogging.  There were three teenagers on the train and it was a school day.  They were not heading to school they were heading to Southend and brazen in their talk.  The talk was about you, so at least teenagers were I guess engaging in some form of political debate, which on the surface one might think a good thing.  But, sadly, no, that was not really the case.  It was the morning that you were all over the news calling for shorter sentencing and no sentencing for some crimes.  They were full of themselves telling anyone who was listening as they shouted that they were off to 'Southend for a bit of trouble'.  A bit of 'shoplifting here and and see if we can nick from a car or two or maybe even nick one'.  We might find a 'ponce who needs a doing' was another comment.  And how they laughed when they said 'we'll be ok tho if we're caught cos fat clarkey doesn't want to lock us up no more'.  This sums up recidivists, they don't care and they see you and because of you and your likes they see the rest of us as jokes and victims to be continually abused, stolen from and beaten to a bloody pulp because politicians and do gooders want to think well of everyone and believe wrongly that goodness resides, somewhere in us all, when it is clear to us that in some it does not exist!
  

It is time that you listened to the rest of us and start locking these people up for life with no possibility of parole.  If we need to build bigger and more secure prisons so be it.  Build them in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors, The Scottish Highlands and in Dartmoor.  Beauty spots they may be, but they are also ideal places to dump our human garbage, because that is what these sorry excuses for human beings are, nothing but human garbage and they should be treated like all  non recyclable garbage dumped in the waste system, never to be seen or heard from again.......  

Yours Sincerely 

Jody McIntyre - Police Brutality

The news has been full recently concerning the Independent Police Complaints Commissions ruling  concerning the 'assualt' on one Mr Jody McIntyre 

The IPC release states, "The IPCC has partially upheld an appeal from Mr Jody McIntyre in relation to a complaint he made to the Metropolitan Police Service about the treatment that he had received from their officers in Parliament Square during the student protests of 9 December 2010."


To be honest I only vaguely recalled this and I knew little of Mr McIntyre other than what I had seen on the TV at the time and I have to confess at the time my immediate reaction was, "well there you go a disabled person who wants to be treated the same as an able bodied person, and he is getting his wish".  By that I meant and mean that he chose to attend the student protests and when they denigrated to the level of thugs, as students protesting usually does, he was treated the same as any other protester on the street, so what is he whingeing about.  That was my thought then.


What are my thoughts now some months on.  Well I'll tell you.

What the hell are the Independent Police Complaints Commissions doing coming out with load of bollocks that they have done yesterday.

Look, we criticise the Police for being heavy handed (well I don't as a rule) and then we criticise them when they are standing back and letting thugs whether student or otherwise tear down and destroy buildings, destroy peoples livelihoods, throw fire extinguishers of tall buildings at police officers and other protesters seven floors below them and when they, the Police, are caught up with rioting thuggish behaviour we expect them, every single one of them, to be able to step back and look at every single person and consider his or her human rights before taking any action, really, lets get real over this, please.

Let me just say here that I have been known to be quite vigorous in my condemnation of the Police on many occasions, in fact here in the UK many Police forces have taken to social media and Twitter and so have individual officers tweeting about crime or events in the local area.  I follow the local Inspector, he follows my wife but for some strange reason he doesn't follow me! Well it's not really that strange when I think about it as he recently tweeted asking for comments about something asking if it was a good idea for the local Police to adopt something that was happening elsewhere.  I responded that it was always a good idea to implement or try new initiatives as anything that will help the public to help the Police to catch criminals had to be good in the long run and even if it didn't work, at least it was tried. However my response was twofold.  The second part of my response was along the lines of, "and anything that is done to show that the Police actually did turn up to a crime had to be good as normally when one is reported it was odds on that they a) don't turn up at all,or, b) turn up weeks later when it is to late to do anything about it!  so I suppose it is no surprise then that he isn't following me, and I really don't mind, really.

In my job I get quite a lot of visits from Police officers looking for CCTV or this and that and when they do visit they normally have put up with a diatribe from me on the lack of Police on the streets, cuts, laziness of investigations, the (current) idiot in charge, why I think PCSO's are a waste of space, not as people but as a quasi non authoritative and expensive 'cop out' by the government..... I could go on and on, but it always comes back to one thing, I wouldn't want to be a Police officer in today's modern society and just like our Servicemen and Women I have great admiration for them doing a lousy job in the face of even more hostile and vicious condemnation of them than I ever aim at them.

But back to Police Brutality and Mr Mcintryre....

I  believe that it is acceptable to organise and hold a protest over anything that you want to protest about but I do not believe and never will support any group of 'protestors' who in the course of their organised rally then turn it into a violent rampage through our streets, attacking property and businesses.  I really do not care what their grievance, is there is no excuse for this reversion to tribalism and viciousness.  Now one could argue in this instance that Mr McIntyre was exercising his right to attend a lawful and peaceful protest march that then went awry due to a minority who also attended with the intent of causing the trouble and one could argue that he or those who did attend who were not intent in causing trouble, could not foresee that trouble would break out, or could they.

Well of course they could because that's what happens nine of of ten times when these apparently educated buffoons take the the street.  I am not talking about the mindless, uneducated, oppressed and downtrodden from the [in McIntyre's words] "under privileged"  classes, who I do agree have got a right to feel irked at their lot through the inequality of a system that is stacked against them and maybe changes will be made to the system as a result.  But I still can not condone the riotous looting that took place.  Unlike McIntyre who seems to revel in it and even encourages it in his posts.

Don't get me wrong here I am not from a privileged background.  I fight every month to survive and I have written elsewhere in these blogs about the inequality of the systems. I did not agree with the invasion of Iraq and I think the Tony Blair lied to Parliament and us over it.  I do not believe that we should be in Afghanistan to the extent that we are and I have severe concerns about Libya.  I think the recent announcement that the USA and now I believe us through our government have decided to increase the sanctions on Syria by not taking their crude oil smacks of coincidence as Gaddafi is ousted from power and the likelihood of Libyan   oil coming back on stream is more than a coincidence and it stinks to high heaven.  The events on the West Bank and Gaza offend any right thinking person, BUT

This does not give you Mr McIntyre or your cronies the right to riot on our streets or to incite it.  As a disabled person who wants to attend these  gathering and not let your disability impair that right you then need to take the consequences that results from either your actions or your presence. If you go out on a protest that becomes a riot then get out as fast as your wheels will propel you, or take the consequences.  If the consequence of remaining there is that you are dragged out of your wheelchair and along the street, tough. I am not going to condemn a Police officer to over reacting in a riot situation, who is probably thinking at that moment that he or she chose a different vocation on that particular day.

Police officers, are being pelted with bricks and bottles and fire bombs, they are probably excited and afraid in equal measure, and no doubt there is a sense of confusion in amongst that as well both for themselves and their colleagues and friends also caught up in this mindless thuggery where you chose to remain.

If the Police are killing, carrying out illegal stop and search, or generally operating outside the law as you promote, then sooner or later those within the Police doing it will be brought to book.  You may call me naive and ill informed in this and I probably am.   BUT, this still does not give you and others the right on my behalf to make the rest of the populations lives miserable.  You do not have the right in my name to attack and burn property and businesses and take away the livelihoods of people who are content living in the status quo and who believe that sooner or later the system will change for the better.

So I say to you get of your high horse and get a bigger soap box, write your articles and promote change.  Encourage other like minded people to form a political party and stand in local and national elections, or, is it that you would rather see our towns and cities burning?  You said in one interview that the reason you were there in December 2010 was the same reason that other people were there, " because I was protesting that education should be free".  I agree but I fail to see how attacking businesses and Police officers can in any way be linked to that aim?

You say,  "the Police incite violence", I say, "you and the protesters incite violence"

You say, "The real issue is the cuts that the government are making in education" I say "what a bunch of prats" People are starving all over the world, the 'under privileged' as you call them of this country are oppressed and ill educated IN EVEN A BASIC EDUCATION and have nothing AND YOU ARE PROTESTING AND RIOTING IN THE STREETS BECAUSE FEES ARE BEING INTRODUCED FOR FURTHER EDUCATION. Now if you were rioting because the basic education of the masses in this country was suffering and that millions of our children are being condemned to a life of ignorance, I might just have had some sympathy for you and these 'educated morons' but you didn't, so I don't.

So while you promote anarchy then I promote giving the Police bigger and thicker batons, giving them more guns, allow then to kettle you as you join the rampaging mob and I will continue to not have a problem when the Police drag you and your likes off our streets.      

  The following links are to various stories and videos surrounding Mr McIntyres 'incident'



The Guardian     You Tube  McIntyre Interview   The Guardian 2

Mr Fat has got the hump.....

I wrote a blog in June telling you that Mr Fat is not so fat any more and how quite proud I felt of myself in achieving, albeit ever so slowly, to lose 31/2 stone in two years.  That's 49 lbs in two years.  Slow, I know but apparently they do say the slower you lose it the longer it is to put it back on, here's hoping.

Now if you look at my twitter feed at @tomstronach and then into my twitpic links in particular you will see that while I am losing weight I am managing to do this without going on any mad dieting regime.  I still enjoy my food and the odd bar of chocolate, unlike my skinny other half whose gorgeous nose is always buried in a trough of food or 'another' bar of large dark chocolate, and whose weight never seems to vary, b***h, only kidding my lurv.....

Anyway, what Has Mr Fat got the hump about I here you ask, well I'll tell you. Other Fatties who are clearly to lazy to do what needs to be done for themselves and then after gorging themselves for whatever reason, expect the rest of us to pay for them to have an operation on the national health to make them skinny again.

I picked up on an article tweeted today from the The Guardian about a 62 year old ex policeman who weighed in at 22 stone, that's a stone and a half lighter than I was.  Now I may be wrong here, won't be the first time, but the article does not point out how the chap managed to get so heavy in the first place, was it because he was a lazy sod, stuffing his face and then sitting on his bum in front of the telly and stuffing his face while he did so.  Was the local shop a five minute walk away, and like me did he sweatily manouvre himself into the driving seat before wheezing the final few yards to the shop door and back into the car for the long five minute drive home......  I don't know, or was it because he had a medical condition that prevented him from DOING ABSOLUTELY NO EXERCISE  AT ANY TIME WHILE HE CLIMBED TO THAT WEIGHT? I just don't know, so, this blog is not a comment on him per say, except for the fact that he is demanding that me and others who pay taxes, pay for his remedy to try and fix the problem.

What is his remedy, well it's to try and force his local Primary Health Care Trust, who have already turned him down, into giving him a Laparoscopic gastric bypass.  As they, the health trust, have previously turned him down, his lawyers are now launching a challenge in the Court of Appeal, claiming that the original decision has breached their clients human rights.  Now, as I say, I do not know this particular chaps circumstances, but we all know that there are plenty of obese, and like me, morbidly obese people out there who got into the situation that we find ourselves in through no one else's fault, but our own.  And we also know that plenty of them then expect their local heath trust to sort the problem out by giving them surgery.  Now if the health trust refuses is that a breach of the patients human rights?

What about the Human rights of the people who live with us Fat Git's, what about their human rights being abused by us as we sink deeper and deeper into the furniture as it fights to cope with the ever increasing weight. What about lying next to Mr or Mrs Fat as we  snore grunt and sweat in the night, disrupting their sleep and making their lives miserable, is that not a breach of their human rights. Who is going to take up the cudgels on their behalf , and is it for the courts to determine that your partner, under these circumstances, is affecting the human rights of the partner and then to go on and make a ruling consigning all us fatties to 'fat prisons' of course it isn't.

When you got married or started living with Mr or Mrs Slim did you think you were signing on, regardless of, 'for in sickness and in health' I don't think self inflicted obesity is or should be covered by that statement, do you?

As I said in my previous blog, well not exactly these words but the sentiment was there, I had a bit of an epiphany. I suddenly realised after gradually getting bigger and bigger, sweatier and sweatier and being unable to sleep properly and being a right miserable bastard, that I had to do something.  Ishbel would keep saying your fine, but I wasn't fine.  I enjoyed seeing my grandchildren but resented it at the same time because I was expected to do things with them and the slightest exertion was making me sweat buckets and wheeze uncontrollably, so something had to be done.

The car was given up, and slow gentle walk were the order of the day. It meant getting up earlier in the day, to be able manage the walk to the rail station.  It meant walking to the shops.  And gradually over the next two years the weight began to come down slowly and the fitness level started to increase.

I now can walk comfortable for a couple of hours and I am not wheezing or sweating like a river in tidal flow.  I am even back to driving as I can bend the body into it, BUT I still walk to the shops, rain or shine and I have a small step exerciser that I use as well as going for at least an hour  or hour and a half walk each day, whether I feel like it or not.

I don't car how long it takes me, but I am going to keep it up, why because it is good for me and for my wife, my kids and my grand kids.  It is also better for those I work with as I not as miserable as I was now that I am obese and not morbidly obese, although probably I still am the latter, but like every thing else it is the mindset and getting into that is the first step to helping yourself rather than crying foul and expecting others to do it for you.

Best Wishes