Owner: A View from Middle England by Arden Forester URL:http://ardenforester.blogspot.com Join Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 07:00:34 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Expressing Conservative views with a slight libertarian touch. A staunch opponent of political spin and deception. Posts on interesting, topical, and controversial things and hoping my opinions find favour with a wider audience. Site statistics:Click here
Shannon stepfather remanded in custody over child porn! 2008-04-03 06:39:37 He was seen as the odd one out by those looking in as this case became more than just a matter of a nine-year old disappearing. Craig Meehan is definitely not a well-balanced person. The police obviously had their doubts about him as soon as they entered his house. It's a pity social services hadn't seen all this coming. The attitude with them appears to be that smoke is no real indicator of fire. They wait until a roaring blaze is in place before someone twigs!The police did the right thing in checking up on Meehan. But they can't rectify the ills in society. Their job is to investigate criminality and wrongdoing. Society has to get a grip of the way life is being debased.Melanie Phillips in the Daily Mail has a column dedicated to her opinions on life. I don't always agree with her, but Read more:Shannon
, custody
, child
Jacqui Smith talks up her border patrols! 2008-04-03 05:52:31 I'm not sure whether I follow what Jacqui Smith
is on about. I don't think Jim Naughtie on the Today programme did either. She's got this new agency (she starts one a month, it appears!) called the UK Border Agency. It a mishmash of customs wallers and visa checkers. What she hasn't said is who of us is going to be checked. Is it dodgy looking Osama bin Laden lookalikes or will it be your average Joe Bloggs? Are we all going to be questioned on our return to the UK? Just holding a British passport doesn't prove anything. I could have left the country by boat and come back by plane. I could have lived overseas for a time, which I did. She wouldn't have a clue where I'd been!So the big question is this. Will it work? All these new powers she's giving to her minions are going to be useless un
London Olympic relay runs into Tibetan protests! 2008-04-06 11:42:27 The Chinese automatons running alongside the Olympic
flame looked more cheesed off than worried. Demonstrators have been out in force in London trying to promote awareness of Chinese brutality in Tibet.My take on this is that the Chinese have no business in Tibet. It's not their country! Tibetans are not Chinese and the Chinese are not Tibetans. On top of that, there is a total lack of democratic accountability. People are being abused, culturally isolated, and generally being "controlled".I have heard it said that the Olympics should not be about politics, and that would be fair enough if we lived in a world where everyone was able to live without torture and terror. However, the Tibetans are not so free and easy. China may not like this but they are going to have to live with it. Some of
Charlton Heston to meet Moses soon! 2008-04-06 06:42:38 Charlton Heston died yesterday. A great actor in the "made in America" style. His role as Moses was considered to be in the epic genre. Now he will be able to swap notes with Moses on the technical standards of the film and ask what it was actually like parting the Red Sea. However, acting apart, Charlton Heston could have made it in politics if he had wanted to. Ronald Reagan was initially denigrated as a B Movie actor, but made the A List as a president.Although I didn't always follow everything Heston said, I quite liked his stand against political correctness. Political arrogance may be a better expression for this stance taken by the liberal elite and the zealots who run it. Sometimes they verge into political stupidy and are too stupid to realise it.Charlton Heston said in his autobi Read more:Charlton
Gallup Daily: Obama 49%, Clinton 44% 2008-04-05 18:48:42 Gallup reports today that Barack Obama
continues to hold a five percentage point, 49% to 44%, advantage over Hillary Clinton
in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences. He appears to have overcome his slight setbacks of January and the pastor thing!Come the next set of primaries and I think it will be a done deal for him. The White House beckons. Read more:Gallup
, Daily
Bush and Putin 2008-04-05 18:38:25 George Bush must be a photographer's dream. This is a great picture of Bush on a visit to Putin
in Russia. Nobody is saying what was said, but something's set Putin off alright.Maybe Bush was reminiscing about his narrow win in Florida and Putin's having a laugh, as he wouldn't have let it get so close. Who knows. Whatever else though, Bush does have a way of getting to know these other leaders. Just that his body language has a far better message than that from his mouth!
BA! BAA! Baggage Man! Have you any bags? 2008-04-05 09:55:20 Terminal 5 at Heathrow is facing fresh baggage woes. Heathrow's operator BAA found its computer system, which sorts bags before they are loaded onto flights, had malfunctioned and manual sorting has had to be carried out. A spokeswoman described the situation today as "incredibly disappointing" but said the airline was working with BAA to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.INCREDIBLY DISAPPOINTING? This is all becoming an incurable affliction rather than a minor ailment. It wouldn't be disappointing if British Airways had carried out proper checks in the first place. Most people involved in the dummy runs suggested that it was a calamity waiting to happen. The "Spanish Practices" of BAA don't help either. It is about time this outfit was broken up and proper running of our airpor Read more:Baggage
Poll shows Obama's support weakening 2008-04-05 07:29:57 Senator Barack Obama
’s support among Democrats nationally has softened over the last month — particularly among men and upper-income voters — as voters have taken a slightly less positive view of him than they did after his burst of victories in February, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. This doesn't surprise me. After all, it's the upper-income types that have been helping to manipulate the US economy in their favour to the detriment of others. Obama has seen that the wreck caused by monetary spivs has to be addressed. They may just feel he could cause them to feel the pinch!The poll shows Obama leads McCain, and that not much else has changed. Just the well-off may not be in his camp! But they gave up on makeshift stoves and beans a long while back!
US Airline shutdowns! 2008-04-05 06:58:55 And as I post on one airline going bust, I find it was the third in a row! Flightglobal.com reports that ATA Airline
s has folded its wings and shut down, ending all flights abruptly yesterday, 4 April. "The privately held carrier lost a key charter contract, making futile its search for new funding to meet the demands of the pump. Its death after a lengthy wasting illness comes just days after another carrier with a long history and a well-known name, Aloha Airlines, shut down suddenly."With fuel prices rising, how come these guys thought they could keep fares so low? Rocket science it's not! Rocket fuel, well that's another matter!Aloha AirlinesATA Airlines
Skybus Airlines goes bust - cancels all flights! 2008-04-05 06:43:08 "All aboard! $10 a seat, and enjoy the flight!" Ten bucks only? What sort of airline were they contemplating. Cheap's not the word. It was certainly not a "robust business model". That will come later when those that were running the airline plead innocence, saying they did in fact have a "robust business model". This is business-speak for "we hadn't a clue"! One analyst said, "They had a dumb model". More like it.The only people to benefit were those who flew whilst the cheap fares lasted. But what of money for maintenance and security? Doesn't bear thinking about, does it?The free market is supposed to weed out those businesses that don't offer good service or properly made products. However, it must be up to the regulatory authorities to keep at bay moronic types masquerading as entrepr Read more:Airlines
, flights
Winning Ron Paul speaking time at the GOP convention 2008-04-08 14:16:35 That's what is now tactically the goal. Minnesota supporters of presidential hopeful Ron Paul hope the Texan will win some speaking time at the GOP National Convention in St. Paul. Whilst the Republican party chiefs are keen to state that John McCain will be the nominee, it still would be the best option to allow Ron Paul time to address the delegates.He would have two messages to offer. First, to those delegates who have never heard him speak live. They may well wonder what they passed up on! Second, the wider TV audience will also hear him, unless there is some Chinese-style editing. I guess few Americans have heard him in such an arena.So the Revolution continues to roll. Read more:Winning
Mean Labour in a fantasy tax world! 2008-04-08 10:29:22 Ed Miliband, the thrusting younger brother of David Miliband, says of the 10p tax band abolition, "It's a matter of regret that some people lose, but overall more people gain than lose as a result of this Budget. The biggest gains go to the poorest people in society, particularly people with children." He must be doing all this on the back of an envelope! 5.3 million people will be worse off. They are the poorest in society. This represents about 10% of the taxpaying public.Of course, Mean Labour
doesn't know how many people will be affected, because they are in denial. Jane Kennedy was on Newsnight last night boasting almost that she was the most unpopular minister in Britain. She couldn't answer the question about how many were affected. The woman's a total disaster!David Cameron is righ Read more:fantasy
Shannon mother in new probe about McCann fund 2008-04-08 10:01:33 What a task the police have in unravelling the complicated life of Karen Matthews, the mother
of the schoolgirl Shannon
, who disappeared for three weeks. Ms Matthews is now seemingly involved in a request for cash from the Madeleine McCann
fund. It may be rash to jump to conclusions, but all the latest twists and turns would indicate that the police have always thought that this was not a normal kidnapping.It should not be forgotten that a nine-year girl has been removed from what is at best a dysfunctional family. I don't know how many families are like this one, but just by keeping my eyes open, I don't find it hard to come across similar situations. As a society, I think we should be trying to revert to raising children within stable families and not encouraging such "freedom" to flouri
Water rats get away with it! 2008-04-08 06:58:11 My goodness! Severn Trent Water has been fined £35.8m for dodgy dealings and giving their customers poor service. They don't even bother to say they had a "robust business model" in place. But what's the point of fining them? We'll all end up paying for it in the long run. If I had my way, they'd be in court, given a prison service and then told to clean up the rivers, canals, pipes and sewers as community service!Tony Wray, the new chief executive, does at least appear to be concerned. "When my new management team and I uncovered misreporting and poor service in our customer relations department we promptly alerted Ofwat", he said. Mr Wray told the BBC that those responsible for providing the false information "are absolutely no longer with Severn Trent". But they are free to wander the
Who are the Chinese goons in blue? 2008-04-08 06:46:26 Nobody seems prepared to say who the guys in blue are who "protect" the Olympic torch. The word is that they are Chinese
secret service personnel. The IOC has become dumbstruck, the Foreign Office won't say, and the British Government has gone mute. Only the Metropolitan Police gave an oblique reference to their status, by saying they had "no executive authority" whilst in London. But why are these blue-suited thugs running with the torch in the first place?Swedish IOC member Gunilla Lindberg has said, "using the torch this way is almost a crime. This is the property of the IOC, it is not a Chinese torch." No it is not. And this marathon torch running thing is not even an Olympic tradition, as has been touted. It was started by Adolf Hitler as a wheeze to promote the 1936 Berlin games. He
Belated birthday wishes! 2008-04-08 06:43:23 I missed this one. Probably too wrapped up with the idea of going into hospital, but the Liberal Democrats celebrated their 20th birthday last month. Next year will be tantalising for them. Could it be that a general election is called and they get the key of the door?The Liberal Democrats are a new party. They are not the old Liberal Party (Gordon Brown keeps calling them that - the "Lubberull Party!") nor are they Social Democrats in entirety. They are, at least to me, a new breed of politician. Liberal in some sense, corporatist in a way, muddled on occasions, and socially aware at times. They have, though, done what the old Liberal Party couldn't do. Appeal to a wider audience within the electorate.So they had a marriage made in Portsmouth, as the BBC Parliament programme showed. Still
Topsy-turvy world of American democracy! 2008-04-07 17:25:05 The American
system of primaries and caucuses is not necessarily based on a level playing field. Far from it. It is often open to manipulation, armtwisting, and, in places, downright fraud. Americans seem to take all this in their stride. They've grown up with pork-barrel politics and smoke-filled deal-making rooms. How much longer are they prepared to put up with it?Sean Wilentz, writing on salon.com, poses this theory - "Why Hillary Clinton should be winning". Apparently, under a winner-take-all primary system, Hillary Clinton would have a wide lead over Barack Obama -- and enough delegates to clinch the nomination by June. The Democrats in primary states choose their nominee on the basis of a convoluted system of proportional distribution of delegates that varies from state to state and Read more:democracy
Fire terror for plane passengers! 2008-04-07 10:31:27 A fire broke out in an engine on an easyjet flight from Athens to Luton. Some passengers in the rear of the plane saw the engine catch fire. Adele Berry, from Leeds, said, "There was a big clanging noise, and obviously we were all terrified. There wasn't a lot of information being given. Then people towards the rear of the cabin - we were at the front - said that there was a fire, and were shouting fire, fire."Whilst it must have been a scary moment, shouting "fire!, fire!" on a plane is not the best message to send out. If there had been a lack of information, then that's down to easyjet. These modern planes are able to fly home on one engine. Sounds to me like the pilot had it all under control, but that the cabin staff were not so sure of what to say.With cheap air travel available, the
Ron Paul keeps the Revolution on track! 2008-04-07 06:32:41 Ron Paul held a news conference at Indiana University of Pennsylvania in support of his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. "What kept me going ... I think it was the enthusiasm from my supporters. They just wouldn't let me go away," he told a small group of reporters. That's the point. Ron Paul has supporters across the USA determined not to let the message of change die. Come the presidential election in November, John McCain's support base will fizzle out the next day and go its separate ways. Ron Paul's support base will carry on.By staying in the race, Ron Paul is making a statement. That the convention matters, and that his viewpoints and those of his campaign need to be heard. The other contenders all folded their tents, now trying to flog off the remnants in campi Read more:keeps
, Ron Paul
New Labour kicks back at the poor! 2008-04-07 05:34:58 Whatever I may think of the New Labour
regime, I always imagined they might keep some semblance of socialist thinking in their brains when it came to helping the poor. Under Blair, this wretched party grovelled around dubious millionares, sought the affections of pop stars and celebrities, and generally got about the business of making sure their own troughs were full first.But watching John Hutton on television trying to say that the decision to abolish the lowest income tax band wouldn't be that bad, I thought I can't wait to see them put out to grass. Hopeless is not the word for them!Low income families are going to be hard hit. They are going to have to face up to annual income losses of between £50 and £300. Some kind of socialism! It stinks and Hutton should be ashamed of himself.
Cameron slaps down Boris over illegal immigrant amnesty remark 2008-04-07 05:17:44 David Cameron
has weighed in to the London Mayoral contest by effectively trying to silence Boris
Johnson, the Conservative contender, on matters of immigration. Johnson said that he thought it would benefit the capital if illegal
migrants were offered a one-off pardon. Cameron thinks this would just let others think they can come into the country illegally leading to demands for further amnesties.Both sides have a point. The truth is, though, that we don't have total control over immigration now that the EU gets its 90 cents worth of nose-poking into the issue. Immigrants are required for our economy, because a lot of people won't work in the places and for the pay that the migrants are prepared to. The government is going some way to relieving the problem of unabated, unregulated immigra Read more:slaps
Shocking news for me today! 2008-04-07 04:57:29 Oh dear! I've just read that HSBC has lost a computer disc with 370,000 names and details of customers' life insurance on it! Hope I'm not on the wretched thing.A spokesman said "We are looking into it and basically it has got lost from A to B". There appears to be a lot of trouble these days between A and B. The government leads the way in losing the way on A to B trips! Should it be that A telephones B and has a comprehensive chat about how things are going to happen? "Hello, Sid, I'm just sending you a CD with 370,000 names of our customers on it. Don't lose it, will you?" isn't quite up to the mark. Something more vigorous and watertight is required.
Vile Chinese reaction to London protests! 2008-04-07 04:44:13 The vile Chinese
government, which delights in trampling on free speech, starving girl babies to death, and generally acting in a pretty sub-human manner, offers up a traditional comment! It says that the demonstrations in London were uncalled for. Beijing denounced the "tiny number of Tibet independence elements" who disrupted the torch relay through London yesterday. "We strongly condemn this vile behaviour," an official said. Could this official explain what he defines as behaviour beyond his description of vile?The Chinese government promised the Olympic bigwigs that they would clean up their act if they got the Games. There appears to be precious little in the way of decent behaviour coming into the hearts and minds of the Chinese politburo types.I'm glad to see that the International Read more:reaction
Brown praises Clooney's leadership! 2008-04-09 04:22:14 Gordon Brown
knows leadership when he sees it. That is in others and not in himself. Our Prime minister has been talking about Darfur for as long as is humanly possible. Nothing much gets done. George Clooney
is a UN Ambassador for peace, and is very much involved in bringing the plight of Darfur to the attention of world leaders.Brown said the situation in Darfur, which is part of Sudan, was "unacceptable" and praised Mr Clooney's "leadership". He went on to say, ""In February and March alone, fighting displaced 58,000 people. Humanitarian access is limited and Unamid (United Nations African Union Mission in Darfur) deployment is still too slow. The rebels and government continue to openly flout United Nations Security Council resolutions through attacks on civilians. I am grateful for th
Delta and North West to merge 2008-04-11 10:18:04 Delta Air Lines and North
west Airlines are to merge
, but they will keep their respective brand names. The HQ for Delta will remain in Atlanta and their pilots will be given a raise in pay and they would get an equity stake in the combined airline. Together the two airlines would become the largest in the world. Whether the Northwest brand will be around in ten years, I do not know. However, I would think it highly likely that Delta will probably go for a more international American style logo, and eventually drop the Northwest bit. After all, it isn't like Air France and KLM, where national identity is important to each carrier in that merged venture.An analyst said, "It always made strategic, long-term sense for these companies. With oil at $110 per barrel and the weakening economy, Delta Read more:Delta
George Orwell's 1984 alive in Poole, Dorset! 2008-04-11 08:51:03 Under the New Labour fright regime, spying on innocent people is a functioning aspect of our lives. The council in Poole
, Dorset have taken advantage of the anti-terror laws brought in by the Blair part of this disgraceful government. Poole Borough Council has disclosed that it had legitimately used the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) to spy on a family. This family had be "shopped" to the council by an unknown person. For two weeks the middle-class family was followed by council officials who wanted to establish whether they had given a false address within the catchment area of an oversubscribed school to secure a place for their three-year-old.The investigators were too dim to find this out in less than TWO WEEKS! I think it monstrous that anybody in Poole BC thinks that a Read more:George
, Orwell
, George Orwell
Gordon Brown "does God" on American Idol! 2008-04-10 17:33:14 Gordon Brown
has gone to some tele-evangelist's grooming school! I've just seen him all made up like some Hollywood wannabee, appearing on the American
Idol talent show. He promised to buy 20 million mosquito nets for malaria-hit countries. Sounds good, but the presentation, well.......See the Gordon Brown
"God Bless You All" Video here! Read more:Gordon
, American Idol
Not a gay day for Anglicans 2008-04-10 13:02:10 The worldwide Anglican Church is in a state of crisis over homosexuality. The trouble is that the Christian message is being polarised and turned into a "what's best for me" situation. It is also the case, as with the Episcopal Church in the USA, that people have become Anglicans but have brought their own agendas with them.Traditionally Anglicans have taught that they preach not a new faith but the faith "Quod ubique, quod semper, quod ab omnibus creditum est - That which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all". Unhappily, new ideas and beliefs have tugged on the comprehensive nature of Anglicanism.The Sacrament of Holy Matrimony is about Christian living. Whatever is said in the world, this sacrament does not embrace genitally-based homosexual relationships and by its nature ca
Porkies from Petraeus? No! Revelations on Iraq! 2008-04-10 10:37:26 When General Petraeus
leaves the US Army and gets a job in civvy street, he'll do well to keep away from selling sub-prime loans or second-hand cars! Any savvy buyer will spot him a mile off.His Capitol Hill showing displayed all the body language of a man trying to please his masters, whilst desperately keeping his intellect in check. John McCain and his 100 Years War pysche were well satisfied. Others were less sure. I'm very much a conservative opposed to this pantomime of trying to suggest that al-Queda is the enemy in Iraq
. Thankfully, one senator, Joe Biden, got Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to admit that Afghanistan and Pakistan, not Iraq, was the central front in the battle against al-Qaeda. Is Mr.Crocker spending too much time in a fantasy world?Then General Petraeus stated that Read more:Revelations
Taxman takes the biscuit to the tune of £3.5M! 2008-04-10 08:51:52 Sometimes the taxman in the UK gets a period of temporary insanity. Then wakes up from the coma, but persists in peddling the selfsame nonsense. The European Court of Justice has ruled that the Treasury overcooked its books by suggesting that chocolate teacakes from Marks and Spencer were biscuits. They wanted to slap VAT on the offending delicacies and for two years did so. M & S took them to court.VAT is a cumbersome tax. It costs a small fortune to administer and is open to Humpty Dumpty interpretations. I would cheerfully get rid of the wretched thing and put a sales tax in its place, but then our masters in Brussels would be coughing up bloood!I'd like to have been at the original meeting of the taxgatherers to hear their argument as to why such a fluffy concoction could pass as a
Recommend Site To A Friend
