Thursday 4th February 2016

[rebeccariots2]

Alfie Moore - Comedy ‏@alfiemoore 14m14 minutes ago
'May wants police commissioners to set up free schools for troubled children'http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016 ... d-children … Before or after they put out the fires?

From the cop turned stand up comedian.

[citizenJA]

You have sofas?
I looked around the flat and notice we don't.
The space holds musical instruments, books, our desks.

Mr Ohso's musical gear is in the garage...There is a lot of it!
We need plenty of seating for when our son, wife and kids visit. There are six of them and even the youngest is now as tall as me. We are getting rid of one settee because it plays Mr Ohso's back up. Will be replacing it with a second hand but better for his posture chair for him, and the kids will have to sit on the floor...

You could always try homade beanbags for the kids. If you have aged duvet covers in the back of the airing cupboard, really stuff them with tightly rolled up sheets of newspaper (packing foam peanuts is best you can get them from a good hardware store but they cost). Then sew up the open end of the duvet cover and hey presto homemade beanbags. My ex used to make them when we were students in the 90s. She was a dab hand at the arts and crafts being a primary teacher. She was also once the least political person I had ever met (part of the attraction I think after my family) but is now a rabid corbynite.

I've just had a brief run through the last fifteen comments or so and had to respond with grateful thanks to you, Ohso and Ephemerid. I like this a lot, this writing. I read here to get news, politics, of course. But you all give more. Wit, talent and practical information with stories. You're all my friends and my partner and I often talk of you all - people we know and love.

xx
cJA

[rebeccariots2]

IMMIGRATION, CRIME & JOBS
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com ... -jobs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At the risk of stirring up difficult discussions - this is an interesting, thoughtful, non-judgmental and timely read.

Since the Cologne sex attacks, there has been even more of a backlash against immigration in Europe. Whilst the details of those attacks are unclear, I wonder: might increased crime be the price we must pay for doing our moral duty?

I ask because of some new research (pdf) from Switzerland. It estimates – based on migration to Switzerland –that:

Cohorts exposed to civil conflicts/mass killings during childhood are on average 40 percent more prone to violent crimes than their co-nationals born after the conflict.

This rings true. We know that people are scarred by experiences in their formative years and that there is an intergenerational transmission of violence. As Glen Bramley points out, British adults who are chronic offenders “had very high instances of adverse childhood experiences”. It is surely, therefore, plausible that people who suffer the trauma of civil war and mass killings in their early years will themselves be disproportionately predisposed to violence.

But these are precisely the people we have a duty to help...

[rebeccariots2]

Vincent Moss ‏@vincentmoss 8m8 minutes ago
Vincent Moss Retweeted Nigel Farage
looks like @bbcquestiontime might need a last-minute stand-in?!

Nigel FarageVerified account
‏@Nigel_Farage
Now been at a standstill for 90 mins on the A1. #bbcqt doubtful. Damn.

Must be those immigrants choking up the roads again.

[ohsocynical]

Vincent Moss ‏@vincentmoss 8m8 minutes ago
Vincent Moss Retweeted Nigel Farage
looks like @bbcquestiontime might need a last-minute stand-in?!

Nigel FarageVerified account
‏@Nigel_Farage
Now been at a standstill for 90 mins on the A1. #bbcqt doubtful. Damn.

Must be those immigrants choking up the roads again.

Weird how he's the only one that ever seems to get held up that badly in traffic.

You'd think as it's happened to him before, he'd make allowances and leave earlier?

Nah. that would be too sensible...

Edited because I can't spell...

[mbc1955]

Vincent Moss ‏@vincentmoss 8m8 minutes ago
Vincent Moss Retweeted Nigel Farage
looks like @bbcquestiontime might need a last-minute stand-in?!

Nigel FarageVerified account
‏@Nigel_Farage
Now been at a standstill for 90 mins on the A1. #bbcqt doubtful. Damn.

Must be those immigrants choking up the roads again.

Wierd how he's the only one that ever seems to get held up that badly in traffic.

You'd think as it's happened to him before, he'd make allowances and leave earlier?

Nah. that would be too sensible...

Has anyone checked the travel news to confirm that there are even queues on the A1, and he hasn't just said soddit and gone off to the pub to get pissed?

[citizenJA]

Why did Cameron not just say he'd hold a referendum on existing terms?

You'd deny Dave his chance to shine? You're no fun at all.

[HindleA]

Government holding out continued illegal inclusion of Carers Allowance in benefit cap "until later in the year".

[frightful_oik]

Vincent Moss ‏@vincentmoss 8m8 minutes ago
Vincent Moss Retweeted Nigel Farage
looks like @bbcquestiontime might need a last-minute stand-in?!

Nigel FarageVerified account
‏@Nigel_Farage
Now been at a standstill for 90 mins on the A1. #bbcqt doubtful. Damn.

Must be those immigrants choking up the roads again.

Wierd how he's the only one that ever seems to get held up that badly in traffic.

You'd think as it's happened to him before, he'd make allowances and leave earlier?

Nah. that would be too sensible...

He could take the train... ah wait, too many people speaking foreign.
Man's a twat.

[frightful_oik]

From Highways Agency:

Event Location : The A1 northbound between the A52 and the junction with the A46 . Event Time To Clear : The event is expected to clear between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Event Status : Currently Active. Event Reason : Road traffic collision. Return To Normal : Normal traffic conditions are expected between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.

[citizenJA]

I've seen several replies about that idea for schools for 'troubled children' being opened by PCCs and there's a common theme.

Borstal.

I ran that name through a search engine and noted with horror recent news articles suggesting the need for their return.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Is it? Or is a PCC setting up a free school and also bullshitting about it?

So will these free schools be in Cameron's designated 'sink' areas - or will they draw their intake from large areas with young people being bussed in? Not sure how many parents will be happy to select such a school for their child ... wouldn't seem to be particularly advantageous for a CV either.

I suppose if they are residential - yes, they'll share elements of Borstal and also of the special schools for emotionally and behaviourally disturbed children that were closed down not so long ago.

More likely just regular free school with PCC bloke as a governor, and links with the police.

[RogerOThornhill]

From Highways Agency:

Event Location : The A1 northbound between the A52 and the junction with the A46 . Event Time To Clear : The event is expected to clear between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Event Status : Currently Active. Event Reason : Road traffic collision. Return To Normal : Normal traffic conditions are expected between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.

Bet they were immigrant drivers.

[ohsocynical]

Photo of one of my granddaughters. Featured in the section, Exercises to do at Home.

http://www.hitched.co.uk/wedding-planni ... ess_51.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mbc1955]

From Highways Agency:

Event Location : The A1 northbound between the A52 and the junction with the A46 . Event Time To Clear : The event is expected to clear between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Event Status : Currently Active. Event Reason : Road traffic collision. Return To Normal : Normal traffic conditions are expected between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.

Oh dear.

[ohsocynical]

From Highways Agency:

Event Location : The A1 northbound between the A52 and the junction with the A46 . Event Time To Clear : The event is expected to clear between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Event Status : Currently Active. Event Reason : Road traffic collision. Return To Normal : Normal traffic conditions are expected between 21:30 and 21:45 on 4th February 2016. Lanes Closed : All lanes are closed.

Bet they were immigrant drivers.

There's an accident practically every day on the M4 between Bracknell and Reading. If we have to use it, Mr Ohso and I alway leave ourselves plenty of time, just in case we're caught up in one.

[Vordy]

NAZI Treatment of the Disabled.

http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanrante ... abled.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

"they think the world owes them something"
"They are a drain on the country's limited resources"
"they do not work so they are worthless"
"It would be kinder not to mention cheaper to kill them, preferably at birth"


Something for nothing
Burdensome
Sitting at home doing nothing
Unaffordable.

[ephemerid]

Must be those immigrants choking up the roads again.

Wierd how he's the only one that ever seems to get held up that badly in traffic.

You'd think as it's happened to him before, he'd make allowances and leave earlier?

Nah. that would be too sensible...

Has anyone checked the travel news to confirm that there are even queues on the A1, and he hasn't just said soddit and gone off to the pub to get pissed?

I think the course of events goes like this......

1. Farridge gets up and has a non-continental breakfast. Parridge or something British.
2. Farridge gets dressed, annoys a few people, then goes to the pub to annoy some more.
3. Farridge goes on the radio. Or TV. Or possibly has some lunch. In a pub. With beer.
4. Farridge leaves really early for his next appointment and gets in his car.
5. Farridge gets lost and has to ask for directions. There is a handy pub.
6. Farridge is duty bound to have some beer and a fag or several as the pub is so helpful.
7. Farridge gets back on the same bit of road but forgets the pub break.
8. Farridge is now on the same bit of road he was on 90 minutes before.

It all makes perfect sense when you think about it.

[ohsocynical]

Red North ‏@RednorthUK 31 mins31 minutes ago

Jihadi Smith, Britain's own home grown religious extremist: #JihadiSmith

Here you are Ephie. A new name for IDS

[ephemerid]

NAZI Treatment of the Disabled.

http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanrante ... abled.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is very good, Vordy.

I've commented there in the same vein I often do at the G - I am inevitably "Godwinned" for my trouble but I don't care.

There is no question in my mind that we are heading for a similar thing; in fact, it's happening already.

Long before the camps and experiments, people who were "different" or poor had to "earn" their state subsistence by doing pointless labour; their allowances were cut to the point that many starved. We have workfare and sanctions.
Those who didn't fit in were forcibly removed to areas where their presence wouldn't offend the "normal" citizens (ie. healthy Aryans). we have social cleansing of our capital and the shunting of even working people to run-down cheap places.

I could go on......there are many similarities, it's a matter of degree and the current inability of government to control all the media.
The Nazis had total control over what got published - it was only people who travelled who got a wider view.

State support is not for the lower orders. IDS can take 6 months off when his wife is ill, Cameron can get all the benefits and support he wants despite his wealth, and the politicians can pay themselves handsomely with our money while they blame the poor for daring to ask for the support they have paid for in advance.

The propaganda works, even if it is diluted. The scrounger rhetoric is everywhere; people in the UK are becoming very hard and intolerant. It appals me.

[ephemerid]

Red North ‏@RednorthUK 31 mins31 minutes ago

Jihadi Smith, Britain's own home grown religious extremist: #JihadiSmith

Here you are Ephie. A new name for IDS

Excellent. I love Red. I wish he'd post here more often.

[Tubby Isaacs]

They do things differently in Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-35492023" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forth Bridge. What caught my eye was who is doing the work. A venerable public sector body, right?

Mark Arndt, Amey's account director for the Forth Road Bridge, said: "During the recent storms, the bridge has been closed to traffic, at times, because wind speeds have been so high and it wouldn't be safe to have people out working in those conditions.

"Our teams are working flat out to complete the work necessary to fully reopen the bridge but our timetable is highly dependent on the weather and our priority has to be on safety."

[citizenJA]

Have we seen this from yesterday?

"Perhaps the best indicator of George Osborne’s shifting position on the Google deal has been his
studied refusal to answer questions about it. After sending along a junior minister to answer my
urgent question last week, the usually camera-friendly and politically ambitious chancellor has
been notable by his absence from the media."

From John McDonnell

These mate’s rates from George Osborne let Google off the hook on tax
Multinationals shouldn’t be able to avoid payment of taxes so easily.
That’s why Labour is calling for an EU-wide country-by-country
reporting agreement

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfre ... tax-labour" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This on top of today's article further damning current government.
Reprobates, people. Tory government scoundrels.

[Eric_WLothian]

They do things differently in Scotland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-e ... e-35492023" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Forth Bridge. What caught my eye was who is doing the work. A venerable public sector body, right?

Mark Arndt, Amey's account director for the Forth Road Bridge, said: "During the recent storms, the bridge has been closed to traffic, at times, because wind speeds have been so high and it wouldn't be safe to have people out working in those conditions.

"Our teams are working flat out to complete the work necessary to fully reopen the bridge but our timetable is highly dependent on the weather and our priority has to be on safety."

June 2015:

The Scottish Government’s unit took over responsibility for the operation, management and maintenance of the bridge from the Forth Estuary Transport Authority last Monday.
The contract was awarded to Amey Highways last November and includes responsibility for the Queensferry Crossing when it is completed next year.
Mr Mackay met with staff transferring to Amey from Feta.
“We value the experience and expertise of those involved in running the bridge over the past 50 years,” he said.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/ ... t-1.881234

August 2015:

THE man in charge of the Forth Road Bridge and another of its key engineers have quit, sparking fears about the future management of the crossing.
Bridgemaster Barry Colford and engineering manager Chris Tracey are understood to have resigned over the transfer of the crossing – one of Scotland’s key transport links – to a private company.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/ ... -1-3866307

Says it all really.

[citizenJA]

NAZI Treatment of the Disabled.

http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanrante ... abled.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is very good, Vordy.

I've commented there in the same vein I often do at the G - I am inevitably "Godwinned" for my trouble but I don't care.

There is no question in my mind that we are heading for a similar thing; in fact, it's happening already.

Long before the camps and experiments, people who were "different" or poor had to "earn" their state subsistence by doing pointless labour; their allowances were cut to the point that many starved. We have workfare and sanctions.
Those who didn't fit in were forcibly removed to areas where their presence wouldn't offend the "normal" citizens (ie. healthy Aryans). we have social cleansing of our capital and the shunting of even working people to run-down cheap places.

I could go on......there are many similarities, it's a matter of degree and the current inability of government to control all the media.
The Nazis had total control over what got published - it was only people who travelled who got a wider view.

State support is not for the lower orders. IDS can take 6 months off when his wife is ill, Cameron can get all the benefits and support he wants despite his wealth, and the politicians can pay themselves handsomely with our money while they blame the poor for daring to ask for the support they have paid for in advance.

The propaganda works, even if it is diluted. The scrounger rhetoric is everywhere; people in the UK are becoming very hard and intolerant. It appals me.

Exactly. We stick together or we stick together. I'm wary of anything stepping in between current government and their policies, distracting from nearly six years of Tory hell. I refuse to have my attention diverted by the rain of deceased felines on pavement. It's not easy, you know?

[Tubby Isaacs]

But that was forced on them by Westminster austerity, Eric.

Amey were part owner of Tube Lines, one of the London Underground PPP contractors. They lasted longer than Metronet. but TfL had to buy them out when they ran out of money.

[Eric_WLothian]

I've commented there in the same vein I often do at the G - I am inevitably "Godwinned" for my trouble but I don't care.

There is no question in my mind that we are heading for a similar thing; in fact, it's happening already.

Long before the camps and experiments, people who were "different" or poor had to "earn" their state subsistence by doing pointless labour; their allowances were cut to the point that many starved. We have workfare and sanctions.
Those who didn't fit in were forcibly removed to areas where their presence wouldn't offend the "normal" citizens (ie. healthy Aryans). we have social cleansing of our capital and the shunting of even working people to run-down cheap places.

I could go on......there are many similarities, it's a matter of degree and the current inability of government to control all the media.
The Nazis had total control over what got published - it was only people who travelled who got a wider view.

State support is not for the lower orders. IDS can take 6 months off when his wife is ill, Cameron can get all the benefits and support he wants despite his wealth, and the politicians can pay themselves handsomely with our money while they blame the poor for daring to ask for the support they have paid for in advance.

The propaganda works, even if it is diluted. The scrounger rhetoric is everywhere; people in the UK are becoming very hard and intolerant. It appals me.

It's interesting to look at this:
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/r ... points.htm
and compare it with Tory/UKIP/SNP policies.
Frightening!

[RogerOThornhill]

QT news

Farage out
Nuttall in

[Tubby Isaacs]

Sturgeon made a fool of herself at FMQs, I see:

http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/f ... -1-4021155" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If only Labour had opposed the council tax freeze more strongly and consistently, this discussion could have happened years ago.

[citizenJA]

"We demand land and territory (colonies) for the maintenance of our people and the settlement of our surplus population."

I got as far as number three (above) from the The 25 Points of Hitler's Nazi Party
Yikes.

http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/r ... points.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

It was the "I met a man from Doncaster" and the diagnosis on sight of fitness to work spiel.I am afraid this collusive myth making ,inevitably leading to todays call to reduce to JSA levels for even those in the support group;should be called out IMHO.Perhaps the difference is I long ago accepted that politicians are incredibly dim in this area and constricted by their Parties inglorious past and allow more leeway in the hope ,people of knowledge and sense prevail,in that sense I am glad of recent appointments,albeit an incremental shift of glacial proportions.

[Tubby Isaacs]

QT news

Farage out
Nuttall in

It's the strength in depth they have that impresses one.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Been talking about Brexit on another board.

Freedom of movement- for British citizens.

What if some of rEU talks about not allowing it when UK formally leaves? Would set a few British business hearts racing.

[PaulfromYorkshire]

2015
Measham South
Elected - Tom Neilson - Labour - 654 votes
(Stephen Hodgson - Conservative Party) - 533 votes

2016 By-election Labour hold

[PaulfromYorkshire]

This looks like a pretty good hold for Labour because Mr Neilson resigned under suspicion of being a drug dealer!

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Three other by-elections that the Tories should hold easily I think.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Cummings, still a disaster.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HindleA]

RIP Harry Harpham Sheffield Brightside MP

[PaulfromYorkshire]

Measham South (NW Leicestershire) vote result:
LAB: 257
CON: 202
UKIP: 141

UKIP didn't stand last time. Both main parties have lost ground to UKIP.

[HindleA]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03g1jv ... social&#38" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RogerOThornhill]

Cummings, still a disaster.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John Mills rounds on Tory campaign director Dominic Cummings for creating ‘ill feeling’ with divisive remarks

I find that very difficult to believe!

[seeingclearly]

IMMIGRATION, CRIME & JOBS
http://stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com ... -jobs.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At the risk of stirring up difficult discussions - this is an interesting, thoughtful, non-judgmental and timely read.

Since the Cologne sex attacks, there has been even more of a backlash against immigration in Europe. Whilst the details of those attacks are unclear, I wonder: might increased crime be the price we must pay for doing our moral duty?

I ask because of some new research (pdf) from Switzerland. It estimates – based on migration to Switzerland –that:

Cohorts exposed to civil conflicts/mass killings during childhood are on average 40 percent more prone to violent crimes than their co-nationals born after the conflict.

This rings true. We know that people are scarred by experiences in their formative years and that there is an intergenerational transmission of violence. As Glen Bramley points out, British adults who are chronic offenders “had very high instances of adverse childhood experiences”. It is surely, therefore, plausible that people who suffer the trauma of civil war and mass killings in their early years will themselves be disproportionately predisposed to violence.

But these are precisely the people we have a duty to help...

It is a lot better explanation of behaviours that are very challenging than the usual cultural/religious one that presupposes some form of less civilised society. I'd argue that the breakdown of society and resulting trauma for those in conflict zones would be a much bigger indicator, and yes that as humans we have some responsibility to trying to help damaged people become more whole and less troubled. I dont think predisposed is neccessarily the right word. It is a difficult subject for me as I believe such people are the victims of the abusive state of war and that there are no longer any excuses for humanity using war to resolve conflict because it doesn't it just damages. Why confine it to civil wars? All wars are brutal. You have to look, for instance, at todays drone footage of Homs, and think exactly what kind of things did the inhabitants of this once inhabited city go through before it came to this. I wish humanity would put as much effort into tackling some of the other threats we make for ourselves, my woolly view, I guess, that we could start to really care for our world and it's people instead of doing what we do.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Cummings, still a disaster.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... referendum" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

John Mills rounds on Tory campaign director Dominic Cummings for creating ‘ill feeling’ with divisive remarks

I find that very difficult to believe!

His wasn't the first name that came to mind when I thought "cross party organization".

[seeingclearly]

I've seen several replies about that idea for schools for 'troubled children' being opened by PCCs and there's a common theme.

Borstal.

I ran that name through a search engine and noted with horror recent news articles suggesting the need for their return.

They did something similar in Thatchers time, I forget what they called them. A friends much younger brother was a bystander to a group beating, they couldn't get the ring leaders to come clean so they did the lot. He had never been in trouble of anykind, was just a fifteen year old on his way home from school, we never found out what happened to him the four months he was away, but it utterly changed him, broke him really, for good. He wasn't a criminal or violent kind of lad, but they had some kind of weird joint enterprise type youth law at the time, once out he just declined, couldn't be good for himself, and died young. It was very sad to watch. It was a popular policy at the time though.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Youth Detention Centres, then HM Young Offender Institutions.

Also Secure Training Centres. These are privately run and incredibly expensive, IIRC.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Youth Detention Centres, then HM Young Offender Institutions.

Also Secure Training Centres. These are privately run and incredibly expensive, IIRC.

[citizenJA]

I've seen several replies about that idea for schools for 'troubled children' being opened by PCCs and there's a common theme.

Borstal.

I ran that name through a search engine and noted with horror recent news articles suggesting the need for their return.

They did something similar in Thatchers time, I forget what they called them. A friends much younger brother was a bystander to a group beating, they couldn't get the ring leaders to come clean so they did the lot. He had never been in trouble of anykind, was just a fifteen year old on his way home from school, we never found out what happened to him the four months he was away, but it utterly changed him, broke him really, for good. He wasn't a criminal or violent kind of lad, but they had some kind of weird joint enterprise type youth law at the time, once out he just declined, couldn't be good for himself, and died young. It was very sad to watch. It was a popular policy at the time though.

I'm sorry.

Goodnight, everyone.
love,
cJA

[seeingclearly]

Came under the populist 'short sharp shock' policies of the time.

[rebeccariots2]

David Hencke ‏@davidhencke 2m2 minutes ago
Greens gain a council seat from Tories at Oswestry, Shropshire. 17 pc rise in Green vote share,Tories share down 11 pc see @britainelects

And with that I bid you goodnight.