Wednesday 20 November 2013

NI ATTORNEY GENERAL SAYS "FORGET MURDERS".

The Attorney General of Northern Ireland, a man named John Larkin, has proposed that all "Troubles-related" killings prior to the signing of the 'Good Friday Agreement' in 1998 should now be ignored; he believes that we should forget about pursuing the perpetrators whether they be British soldiers or Irish terrorists. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his suggestion appears to have met with a rather frosty response from other members of the Northern Ireland administration.
 
One has to wonder what planet this man is living on. Recent history sees us chasing down old, and even dead, men who are alleged, though in some cases proven, to have committed an assortment of nasty offences 30, 40 and even 50 years ago, though none of these offences involve the most heinous of crimes, murder. British soldiers are being pilloried over alleged atrocities carried out in Kenya in the 1950s and alleged NAZI war criminals from the 1940s are still being pursued even though they are all at least in their 90s. This man wants to sweep murders from as recently as 1997/8 under the carpet.
 
Mr Larkin is the most senior law officer in the Northern Ireland administration. One wonders how much longer he will be such.

Sunday 17 November 2013

TIME FOR THE BBC TO BE SIGNED OFF.

For my sins, I pay my licence fee and so watch television legally. What I really get for this impost is debatable.
 
Firstly, my payment is a legal requirement, ostensibly to finance the BBC but we all know that is no longer the truth; it's just another tax. Secondly, how much of my licence fee actually goes into anything worthwhile or that I like is a matter of conjecture.
 
The BBC used to be a utopia, a producer of wonderful programmes; today it is a dinosaur, struggling to keep up with modern ideas; as such it is a mess. It's decline began in the 1960s with the rise of the Pop culture as we now know only too well - the appalling revelations about Jimmy Savile and his like make this only too clear. It's past is full of nightmares which it wishes to hide but no longer can.
 
Today, the few programmes of merit that it produces can be counted on the fingers of one hand while it continues to waste millions with the most mind-bogglingly ridiculous fillers between programmes. Why does it need 'music' and 'beats' constantly to interrupt its news broadcasts on television when nothing of the sort is deemed necessary for radio ? What are the hippopotamuses for ? Why do umpteen newsreaders need to be dispatched to the Philippines when there are already more than enough regional people there ? Why does it spend so much time advertising the books, films, songs, plays etc., of anyone and everyone whose agent has asked for a slot on 'Breakfast', 'Start the Week', 'Mid-week', 'Loose Ends' and all the other horrendous magazine programmes that it now presents as entertainment ?
 
The BBC is bust. It is well passed it's best 'before date' and it's time it was pensioned off. Just as with all good things, this one has come to its end.

THE SKY AT NIGHT : LAST CHANCE TO SAVE IT.

While 'The Sky at Night' is still being broadcast, the long term future of this programme appears to be in serious doubt.
 
A few weeks ago, I heard that it was about to be 'axed' and I wrote to my Member of Parliament about it. He passed my communication to the BBC and I received an entirely non-committal response from them; what they effectively said was that the programme's future was under review, this was normal and I shouldn't worry. Unsurprisingly, I worried.
 
There has been no further news about the future of this iconic programme and this makes me worry even more. It doesn't involve any of the left wing ideals that the BBC so loves and actually promotes real scientific education which so many left wing academics hate. As such, it is the type of long-running programme that the Beeb would love to be rid of, exactly as they dispensed with the wonderful 'Letter from America' as soon as Alastair Cook died. It's successor is an excuse for a plethora of left wing academics to espouse their jaundiced philosophies upon the unwashed masses that they consider the rest of us to be. 
 
Sadly, 'The Sky at Night' as we have known it is almost certainly doomed. It will either disappear altogether or be replaced by a modernised version with presenters more interested in their own personalities and careers than in the programme; something to appeal to the 'younger generation' rather than to anyone with a real interest in astronomy. Yet another reason to do away with the licence fee, should it come to pass.
 
Anyone who wants to save this wonderful and iconic programme should act now.

Friday 15 November 2013

TORONTO MAYOR FORD CONTINUES TO APPAL.

While we should all understand and accept that our political masters are human beings and fallible, the activities and behaviour of the Mayor of Toronto have definitely plumbed new depths.
 
Rob Ford, the man who has raised the profile of the Canadian City for all of the wrong reasons, has admitted being a cocaine smoker and drunk, and now his language on a live television programme has caused further concerns. That he used obscene language while attempting to deny making disgusting sexual advances to a member of his staff only makes matters worse. Ford has admitted that his remarks were "unforgivable language" and yet still seems to believe that his electorate should forgive him and that he should continue in office.
 
Why the people of Toronto should want to be represented by this appalling man is something known only to them. In my view, he should be sent to some uninhabited desert island where he can be free to be do whatever he likes, without anyone else having to bear witness to it or being affected by it.

Friday 8 November 2013

VICKY PRYCE : MAKING MONEY FROM CRIMINALITY.

Not very long ago, Vasiliki Pryce, better known as Vicky, the ex-wife of disgraced politician Chris Huhne, was in prison as a result of her part in the conspiracy to stop him getting penalty points on his driving licence. Yesterday, she was on the panel of the BBC's "Question Time" programme, pontificating about the rights and wrongs of various matters. Additionally, it appears that  this criminal has now written a book about the activities which culminated in her imprisonment, from which she no doubt expects to make significant amounts of money.
 
Pryce has barely completed her 8 month sentence, of which only the first 2 were actually spent in prison, and already she has been received back into the establishment and is profiting from her criminal activity. How the BBC can believe that she is a suitable or appropriate person to be giving the nation the benefit of her wisdom is beyond me; it seems clear that, as a left wing economist, she is simply one of those beloved by the BBC and for whom any and every crime is easily excused.
 
This woman is a criminal. She conspired with her former husband to pervert the course of justice, a very serious offence. Now, she is making money from her exploits and effectively receiving free publicity from organisations such as the BBC. Is this right ?
 

Thursday 7 November 2013

TIME TO BRING BACK DOG LICENCES.

The killing of a small girl by a pet dog in Leicestershire a couple of days ago is a horrible reminder of the dangers which these animals can present. Over recent years, thousands of people have been attacked and injured by dogs and as many as a dozen or so children have been killed; why do we not react as we do against other similar dangers ?

Dogs used to be kept not as 'pets' but as working animals. Their owners did not spend silly, and sometimes obscene, amounts of money on their food, grooming, kennelling and even clothing, and the animals were only kept for their usefulness - keeping down assorted vermin, for instance. Today and in total contrast, the vast majority of dogs are welcomed into their owners homes as a member of the family, being fussed over in ways that are full of danger.
 
Dogs are instinctive animals and respond as such to perceived threats, often by assuming aggressive postures and attacking the threat. That such 'threats' can be small children pulling their 'pets'' tails or appearing suddenly from around corners seems to escape many people until the worst happens. Added to this, dogs are repositories of disease and yet their owners allow themselves, and their children, to be climbed over and licked repeatedly, often around the face. Dogs leave their faeces anywhere and everywhere and even though many owners now retrieve these in little plastic bags, they will always leave some small element behind; the bacteria so released into the environment are a threat to us all, children in particular.
 
It's reported that there are some 9 million of these dirty and potentially dangerous animals at large in our country. While their owners often pay out large amounts to maintain them, they pay nothing to the state for the armies of workers whose jobs it is to clear up their mess and empty the bins in which the better owners deposit their collections of faeces. They pay nothing for the mess and damage sometimes inflicted on others or for the demand placed on the NHS; they pay no licence fee and are not required to have insurance.
 
Surely it is now time for the introduction of new laws to govern the keeping of animals as pets, starting with dogs. Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man, both parts of the United Kingdom, have licensing systems and many countries require owners to register their ownership in some way in order to keep a dog legally - Eire, the USA, Canada, Germany, Australia and New Zealand amongst others. In this country, a licence and micro-chipping fee of, say, £30 a year (equivalent to less than 9p per day) would raise over a quarter of a billion pounds to be put towards the costs of cleaning up after these animals. Requiring owners to carry insurance against the possibility of their animals attacking others would ensure that victims received compensation and the NHS was paid for it's services.
 
Why do we tolerate finding piles of dog faeces in the street or in our parks and green spaces ? Why do we tolerate being snapped at by these aggressive animals ? It's time we stopped being so romantic about them and started being much more realistic and practical.