Deputy Lib Dem leader, Councillor David Faulkner thinks it is “reasonable” to increase parking charges in Newcastle by 50% and to additionally begin charging people for parking in the evening. That's all right then isn't it? That's his version of democracy and consent. I for one will never vote for any Councillor who wants to take more money from me without asking me first.
Before the current Israeli blitz of Gaza there was a lot of fuss about a Christmas Carol that parodied Israel's brutal behaviour towards its captive population of Palestinians. It makes a perfect statement about what the Israelis have been doing for years and years.
The Twelve Days of Christmas
Twelve assassinations, Eleven homes demolished, Ten wells obstructed, Nine sniper towers, Eight gunships firing, Seven checkpoints blocking, Six tanks a-rolling, Five settlement rings, Four falling bombs, Three trench guns, Two trampled doves and an uprooted olive tree.
Hello, my name is Davy Gravytrain, MP for Upmystreet North and I need your help. Please sponsor me or any of my friends who are worse off than me. Or you can “adopt an MP” and he or she will send you a photograph from the Algarve or some other second home for distressed folk, two or three times a year.
There is a global crisis in oil = too expensive and food = too expensive and housing = too expensive and our government says there is nothing it can do about it. There is an economic downturn and no government can do anything about it. That's correct. They are powerless. Well, actually they all chose to be powerless. In fact all World Bank affiliated countries have given up their power to control the world or at least to influence it. The Global Market and the Banks are now in control and just look at the result: spiralling prices, financial collapse, dodgy money lending, environmental destruction and not least your impoverishment.
Of course these problems will not be affecting those who have created them. They are laughing all the way to the Bank - the safe Offshore one. And besides they will increase their wages while decreasing yours to pay for their increase. See how it works?!
Tiscali have done it again. More TV advertising, more big promises and more failure to deliver. The bulletin board is flooded with messages about how poor the service is and you will hardly find a single recommendation from ex-customers to sign up with them. And don't think “nice” companies belonging to the nice Mr Branson are any better: it currently costs you 25p per minute to ask a question if you sign up to Virgin Broadband. Consider that you might be kept on hold for 10 minutes or more and you can see why he is rich.
It was mistakenly reported that some UK livestock had a disease called “blue tongue” when in fact the report should have read “brown nose”. How this observation has been missed for so long is a mystery. It is also untrue that an invasion of foreign midgets was the direct cause, although scientists are not discounting an indirect link. The afflicted animal is not confined to one species but crosses over into all species, from worker to manager. The discovery has prompted calls for a National Brown Nose Day and a 60 hour week. Although it has to be said that those most in favour of the event are not those generally afflicted with a brown nose. This group of people (sometimes known as CEOs or SODs) often have blue blood and red noses, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as a G&T as the direct cause is often a superabundance of Gin and Tonic in the bloodstream. Scientists are still trying to find out how the blood is so affected when the red nose subjects swear they never touched a drop when they are actually at work.
The NHS postcode lottery metaphor often used by the press, is also relevant when trying to find an NHS dentist - as many people will now know to their cost in terms of their bank balance (debit) and mental health (debit). According to recent reports the new generation of dentists mostly want to go private and make a lorra money at our expense and damn the medical needs of the rest of us, unless you can afford the outrageous fees. It seems to me that they are out to imitate US dentists who make a fine living out of our decaying teeth and problem gums.
Saturday 22 September
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Inspirational. These dancers were the real thing. There were 6 men and a woman who looked like she had just been magically transformed from an ancient stone goddess into colourful life. The dance was a blend of traditional Indian styles and stylised yoga positions, requiring great strength and flexibility.
A large screen backdrop projected ancient carvings, etchings and paintings, illustrating scenes from Hindu mythology. Each dance was accompanied by music or a song. Some of the sequences were sub-titled which helped me appreciate what was going on a great deal; in the same way that sub-titles during an Opera make sense of the songs and action for those of us who don't know the subjects very well. The very last sequence was danced to the sound of hypnotic Mantras. You can get a more direct experience from the video clips I took.
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