Christopher Shale

First there was...

'There's no reason to join the Tories. We've come over as voracious, crass, always on the take'

then there was

Top Tory's Glasto Death 'Not Suspicious'

Weird.

Migrants taking 9 in 10 new jobs since the election, Coalition poverty czar reveals | Mail Online

I hate Frank Fields - and I've always seen him as a closet Tory.

Anyway I'm getting a bit pissed off at MPs and the PM throwing around the 'workshy' word. In case they didn't know there's an on-going recession. There's something like (numbers vary) 5 to 10 or more applicants for every job. Yet the Govt.. wants everyone to compete like demented harpies for everyone or get their 'benefits' taken away. (Hello increase in homeless and crime figures as people have to turn to crime to feed themselves. We really have the most out-of-touch with-reality bunch of people in charge than... well, I think you'll have to reach back the France and King Louis XVI to get a suitable comparison. And we know how that turned out for him.


Migrants taking 9 in 10 new jobs since the election, Coalition poverty czar reveals

Bilderberg Security Assaults EU Members of Parliament Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

» Bilderberg Security Assaults EU Members of Parliament.

And as far as I can tell other than a little piece in the Guardian - only Russia Today have carried a piece on it. Odd when Osbourne went on a skiing holiday it was all over the press here - but now he's meeting world leaders and other elitists - there's not a tiny peep of interest.

you're not giving enough of your money to pension fund managers

Apparently -

Half of UK not saving enough for retirement, says study

Only 51% of British workers are saving adequately for old age, according to the latest annual Scottish Widows pension report.

Oh no... really? A report from a pension fund says that? Wow. I'm not an economist - nor do I play one on TV - but maybe, just maybe this other news link might help explain why this might be so...

Wages at standstill over last 30 years

Many low and median earners have seen no real improvements in their incomes over the last 30 years despite economic growth, a TUC report shows.

Now maybe if wages hadn't been at a standstill - and maybe if interest rates weren't at all time historic low (which only benefits bankers) and if we weren't still in the middle of a recession...

Asus Eee Note EA800 Review | bit-tech.net

I think I've found the e-reader I want... better than a kindle because you can draw and write on it.

Asus Eee Note EA800 Review | bit-tech.net

HTC Flyer review -- Engadget

HTC Flyer review -- Engadget

Why does the notebook app thing have a spiral binder graphic? Doesn't that just waste space? Especially since it's such a small screen to start with? I also hate the yellow lined notepad look on the ipod touch. What's wrong with a clean blank page - or optional lined -so you can choose between them? I don't get why it has to look like a notebook.

Anyway - tablet 'puters going back to having a stylus... mmmm. I know I like a stylus because I draw and scribble and that.


[update: oh the stylus is extra - and expensive. Stupidly expensive. That's put me off now.]

Beaker squeaks out

After the trouncing the Lib Dems got in last week's local elections - each Lib Dem has been taking it in turns to pop out and tell us all they're going to show us how different from the Tories they are - except they're also saying the coalition is still on - that it's going to last the course... *cough*

This is Danny Alexander's turn: "I'm not George Osborne's bodyguard"

It's the worst of them so far. But I think it's probably because he's the most Tory like of them all. I can see him being awarded with a Tory peerage a few years down the line.

‎"...But he refused to accept that the party's disastrous electoral showing last Thursday was a verdict on its commitment to cut the deficit so quickly, saying that "the case for backing the deficit programme is now ever stronger".

-No? Then he's a complete idiot. The negative growth figures and the flat-lining economy are screaming out loud that cutting the deficit so quickly and deeply isn't working. And oh look, what did Ireland do? Exactly what Osbourne is doing now -and ooops! didn't do them any good at all did it?

If the economy isn't growing then the markets are going to say the UK can't pay off it's debts as easily and will put down it's credit rating - they've rattled the sabres at the US already.

Oh god, no - help!

Is this the start of a long Conservative hegemony? - Poly Toynbee.

Apart from the Greens winning council seats in Brighton/Hove, and the SNP winning Scotland. (Yay! Glimmers of hope). I am now very depressed for the future. My only other hope is that the Lib Dems find where they've hidden their gonads and walk out of the coalition. But they won't - despite last night's thrashing they're still in love with the attention they getting. Cameron can piss on Clegg's head and tell him it's raining and Clegg will believe him.

Privatised Britain is not a fait accompli

We've had healthcare in the hands of the voluntary and private sector before – prior to the creation of the NHS – and the result was that thousands died unnecessarily from diseases such as diphtheria and polio and infant mortality rates were around one in 20. We've had education exclusively in the hands of the non-state sector before too – and the vast majority were denied a proper education. And anyone who travels regularly on the privatised railways in Britain and in the rest of Europe, where state-owned companies still dominate, won't need me to tell them that the continental railways are far superior – as well as being considerably cheaper.

You won't read about it in the Economist, or on the websites of "free market" thinktanks, but the extraordinary rise in living standards and improvements in healthcare, education and public transport – and the reductions in inequalities – which Britain enjoyed during the third quarter of the 20th century coincided with the increased role of the state. As the state's role has been reduced since 1979, so services have deteriorated and inequalities risen.

Neil Clark

3d stuffs

I haven't got a 3ds -yet, (I'm desperately poor at the moment so the price will have to come way down first) but when I do these links will be handy...

How To Put Non-3DS 3D Pictures On Your 3DS.

Adding thumbnails to Windows for MPO files

Fujifilm launches FinePix Real 3D W3 compact with 3D movies

Right-wing hate campaign clouds debate on benefits | Left Foot Forward

A must-read.

See how the right-wing press distort the truth.

Right-wing hate campaign clouds debate on benefits | Left Foot Forward

'We've lost a generation of supporters': Seven out of 10 Lib Dem voters desert party

And this surprises...?

'We've lost a generation of supporters': Seven out of 10 Lib Dem voters desert party | Mail Online

Cameron on Immigrants

Immigrants -eh, coming over here and not even learning the language - oh wait hang on, who's cutting heavily back on 'English for Speakers of Other Languages' ESOL courses?

The jerk.

Mmmm - Unemployment figures show a fall?

How?

Maybe because the whole scale Atos reassessment of those on disability and incapacity benefits has only just started - that's going to add a few extra thousand to the jobless queues.

and maybe tricking people out of benefits has been more successful than the DWP would ever admit to?

Otherwise I haven't seen any signs of new businesses and factories opening and taking on extra staff...

I smell something fishy going on.

Port Meirion on flickr

Flickr tag search

Flickr group.

The One True Roo

Simon and Joe

Rayand.

Doctor Who Series 6 linky-dinks

The Metro has a lot of Doctor Who stuffs

Doctor Who Series 6, Episodes 1 and 2 spoiler-free first review | Metro.co.uk

Six non spoilers.

Big fall in industrial production

Really? But only three months or so ago they were saying Industry and exports were doing surprisingly well. Oh wait. That's because they were still operating on the schemes Gordon Brown had put in place to keep the economy ticking over after the crash... Now we're seeing what's happening after Osbourne put his plans into operation. Not looking so good is it? Surprise surprise.

But with the benefits reform and many more Incapacity Benefit claimants now being forced into looking for work - things will soon turn around... Oh wait, something wrong with this picture - there's not the jobs there... er, er. er... Oh well Emma Harrison will sort it all out. She's got a positive attitude, big smiles and a big red coat. That's what we've been missing all this time.

Big fall in industrial production.

CiF trolls: a taxonomy | Nonsuch

CiF trolls: a taxonomy | Nonsuch

(I'm sort of vaguely working on something - a collection of the worst of the Tory comments on cif. There's a good number of tedious clichés such as:


"It's all Gordon Browns fault."

"The last 13 years have been the worst for the country -ever."

"How dare Polly Toynbee and the Guardian support the Lib Dems in the last election." (Like any one could predict how quickly they would sell out a and do 180 degree turn on nearly everything.)

This mini-project is taking me a while because it's kind of profoundly depressing to wade through so much vicious bile and flat out stupidity.

Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution

Tax the Super Rich now or face a revolution Paul B. Farrell - MarketWatch

Emma Harrison creeps me out...

£1.4m-a-year welfare entrepreneur picked by Cameron to get Britons off benefits and into work

As Emma Harrison's company adds five new taxpayer-funded welfare contracts to its empire, unions attack 'obscene' public payouts

Today was the first time I'd ever heard of this woman - the smiley smiley smiley - ever optimistic, ever so slightly creepy, ever manically grinning Emma Harrison CBE... making her millions out of taxpayers money to run 'back to work'/work-for-welfare profit-making programmes for the unemployed.

Interview: Emma Harrison of A4e.

When A4E are not losing client's personal data - or being implicated in hiring ex-ministers for whatever reason... (absolutely nothing to do with him knowing how parliamentary procedures work so they can then make more successful bids for those very lucrative government contracts I'm sure. David Blunkett is a highly honourable man and would never abuse his position for personal gain.) It's just not in his nature.


Other links:
Watching A4E
a4e photogallery