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The Banksy film who whispers in a presenter's ear in 2008 ..cheesy tv a bit less than expected on Newsnot

THE OLD FULL EMPLOYMENT PLOY KATO

Everyone I chat with has a RECENT tale of struggle with inept individuals working for utterly disinterested companies or official bodies. Serial cock-up seems to be the order of the day. I long since drew the conclusion that a majority of the work-force is making a mess of everything they touch and the rest are fire-fighting and mopping up. It is interesting to note that this keeps a lot more people 'working' than there is, initially (pre-cock-up) work available for. There is absolutely no doubt that GOVERNMENT works on this basis. Every 'great initiative' slowly fails, goes over budget or expands exponentially in terms of cost and numbers 'employed'. I am haunted by (false) images of Jaded Jean's mocking smile as I ponder this mass of humanity, of mediocre Gatherers (the Hunters are all manipulating money) just about fitted to pick berries and pull roots, yet stuffed with a vague notion of IT and fouling up the lives of us sentients, on a daily basis for a weekly wage.
Perhaps they should be re-patriated to the rain-forest and bush of millennia past, to 'gather of starve' so that my days may be song in the land . . .

POLITICIANS AND MENTAL HEALTH

Very tempting to be irresponsible with this title. I have pointed out before that Britain judges its success in terms of income alone; both at the level of the individual and that of the nation. The very evident truth that our inherent psychological stability, in both spheres, is declining, goes unaddressed. (I am not referring to high profile mayhem but to unstable relationships, ALL 'substance' use, including prescribed substances.)
Once again the poor calibre of those who 'turn up' in parliament WITHOUT APPROPRIATE SCRUTINY (not voted for - the rosette gets the vote) is apparent. If we want competence and maturity in our politicians we must SPOIL PARTY GAMES.

On the economy could Paul Mason analyse at some point whether we (government and related think tanks) are seeing these problems coming? Thats more worrying to me than the problems themselves. Nobody saw sub-prime and should have. Now it seems CDS is going to be worse. Is it communication - some economists have been screaming but nobody listened? Is it that nobody is looking and thinking "what if"?

I will be extremely interested to see what Obama says about Pakistan. Has he refined his surprisingly gung ho attitude to follow the terrorists into Pakistan whatever? I think he might be advised to do a bit of legwork with Pakistan before announcing that policy.

I'll get in first today. Could we have a piece on Searchlight the international anti fascist magazine, 25 years fighting racism and fascism. If we are electing people to the Lords what about Gerry Gable? I know some posters would rather change the emphasis of the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ - Watch with Mother -> Goosestep with mother; Question Time -> We will ask the questions!; Newsnight -> PropagandaNight - Yesterdays Propaganda Today. I can be so flippant. Still if the BNP really does have more hits on its website than all of the other parties put together ....
not!

As ever something on the Scottish Referendum 2010 and preparations if the SNP win.

MEN BEHAVING BADLY IN CARS

It is MEN - isn't it. Men do the prisoner abuse. Men do the street stabbing. Men drive recklessly. But they usually grow out of it. They also 'grow out of' testosterone and its more obvious 'drive'.
Isn't it time to recognise young - testosterone fuelled - male as a dangerous animal, and to shorten his leash in certain arenas accordingly? As far as I know, this has only been done in terms of the size of motorcycle he can ride; but the precedent is there.
Young male in a car is transformed into an indestructible, invincible superbeing. Time to do some brain-imaging and find out which bits of his primitive being are 'lighting up'.
An appropriate strategy might then present itself. There is, of course, no cure for Jeremy Clarkson.

Isn't it interesting that the Government can find prison places for car drivers but when we suggest the Knife carriers and murderers should be put in prison, there are no places and Magistrates are told not to give custodial sentences as the prisons are full?

Motorists are the "real" criminals and should be "Banged up" for life.
Ferial youths who kill and maim should have a holiday and be given opportunities that the law abiding never get.

Swindon's suggestion of abandoning fixed speed cameras and introducing more traffic calming is bad for the environment. The alleged road safety benefits are less than clear, heavily traffic calmed Burnley reported a 44% reduction in child deaths over the past seven years, yet Ribble Valley with minimal traffic calming also reported a fall of 42%.

It would appear that traffic calming has become a TB infested sacred cow for the eco-fascist leaning groups who were originally and still campaign for its introduction. It would appear that the eco-fascists cling to traffic calming in the belief that divers will be " irritated " out of their cars and use the train, at least a few anyway.

It is interesting to note that almost all the scenes of recent fatal Knife Crime featured traffic calming or a 20 Mph speed limit. The installation of traffic calming is probably the key step towards a residential area becoming totally run down and lawless. By deterring regular through traffic from the streets criminals have more opportunities to commit crime without detection. Gangs of youths are more likely to congregate and cause trouble if they don't need to keep a sharp lookout for traffic. The evidence must show that almost all current semi-derelict slum areas have one thing in common, namely traffic calming installed at some point over the last 20 years. This must say something about the mentality of those alleged community leaders who campaign for the introduction of traffic calming.

The current main argument for imposing traffic calming is totally based on the NIMBY philosophy, ten bob fat cat property speculators attempting to increase the theoretical value of their home. It would appear that they were under the impression that they actually own the road outside their mortgaged house and can dictate who can or can't use it. Only a complete fool would buy a house with traffic calming on the street, especially if it was adjacent to an obstacle.

It would appear that traffic calming and the imposition of unrealistically low speed limits are being used to discourage drivers from using any route other than a potential future " Corporate Nazi " toll road, pay the toll or use more fuel and take twice as long to get there. People are already using far more fuel than they need to avoiding traffic calmed roads or unrealistically low speed limit routes, it also causes congestion on the main routes under pressure. Traffic should flow though the town like blood in arteries, if the main route becomes restricted, traffic flows on the most convenient alternative route.

Speeding can be addressed in most cases by the provision of simple flashing warning signs, but the empty speed cameras at each end of the village of Copster Green on the A59 appear to work admirably in keeping traffic to the 40 Mph limit. The relatively inexpensive measure of simply painting speed camera timing lines on the road at strategic places could also be proven to work for controlling speed without increasing pollution

re 4/
"...if BNP really does have more hits on its website than all of the other parties put together "... why not see what they and the vast number of posters to that site have to say?

Maybe they have been demonized by the other parties simply to mask some of the genuine criticisms and concerns that have destabilised our society in recent decades?
I like to study all views and news, not just those of the major 'rosette stands'

.. and while on Barrie's favourite subject may I get in my other plug (re 5) -

In the late 1940s I was one of those testosterone-fuelled youths (made dangerous devices from unexploded incendiary bombs, trashed railway carriages, etc, etc), then National Service came along. Square-bashing, loading 2-cwt sacks of coal, cross-country running with telegraph pole held aloft (in Britain's coldest winter) absorbed much of that over-productive testosterone (plus the bromide in the NAAFI tea maybe) and I wish all of my offspring could have the same experience.

That (and a season of hod-carrying on building sites) set me up for a life of action, running overseas scuba and flying clubs with no time or inclination for envy of others, or whinging about life's unfairness.

Doesn't have to be military service, but something more than offenders currently get for 'community service' is needed.

SLOW DOWN THE DRIVER NOT THE VEHICLE

Trying to slow vehicles without 'slowing' the drivers means you have started a fight that wears out people, machines and roads. (Speed bumps, taken at speed, cause excavation of the surface.)
Many years ago the traffic lights on the A4 to the West of Slough were phased and drivers learned that there was no point in trying to beat the system. I wonder if anyone measured the road life?
An alternative is number-plate recognition to arrive at average speed between two points - presumably this also spots buccaneers with no documents? I presume this can now be set up on a wireless basis.

PS

Hi hillsideboy, good to see you know your (my) subject. Now which of us is going to try to explain it to Jacqui? (Remember the jibe to poor Smiffy: 'What is it Mr Balls has that you dont'?) Only thing is - I think the Ed-case might be a bit short essence too!

"We'll be looking at the issue of politicians and mental health. Why is it so hard for MPs to talk about it?"

Because having some sub-clinical narcissistic (and other DSM-IV-TR cluster B traits) is advantageous if one hopes to do well in politics? We really do reward 'snakes in suits' because they are risk takers and don't let troublesome things like people get in their way.

So naturally, they drive lots of people 'nuts':

Doctors, nurses etc:

Academics:

Even the military:


There really does need to be root and branch pruning and replacment everywhere. None of this 'Future Leaders' nonsese in education either, where fast-tracked, inexperienced 'red guards' are strategically placed to do their masters' bidding.

SOMEONE WANTS TO KILL TONY BLAIR
(UN Special Envoy to Middle East - the man who said 'I always wished I had gone further' - retreats.)

There has been a lot of complaint about non-news lately. I hope Newsnight will rise above this story. However: feel free to report if you hear of someone who doesn't want to . . . That WOULD BE NEWS!

Re #12 barriesingleton

Amen.

But then it was Bliar who told us, so how can we possibly believe him? Could it be that he just misses being infamous?

Re #4.
I answer any points that you do actually make on immigration etc. You then completely ignore the argument, and have now reverted to type, simply applying silly little labels as you've been taught ie. if you feel there should be democratic debate of immigation policy in a democracy, you're to be called a racist, in the hope that this can push away the debate you can't have.
Whether Mr Cable would welcome your proposing him for the H of Ls, I'm not sure, since as far as I can tell, his is a Communist background.
This certainly doesn't place him, or a piece on Searchlight, beyond the pale, as far as I'm concerned, but then, unlike you, I welcome any improvement to the flow of information, and broadening of the debate.The old bonkers PC/ Anti-Racist certainties are a thing of the past, sadly for you. The many differing views that people hold are spilling out all over the net, and elsewhere, and the days of being told what we can and can't have opinions on, are gone, even if this doesn't meet with your approval.
Incidently, the BNP website does have more hits than the 3 supposedly 'main' parties put together, according to independent research. If I hadn't checked it, I wouldn't have said it. So wrong again.