Tuesday 29 December 2009

xmas and the public servant.

no one in the llandod area could be anything other than impressed with the service delivered by the powys snow cleares and gritters during the icy and snowy festive season,an absolute first class effort especially around the supported housing projects in the town.
Even if many of the boys have to endure steve fisher barking out the orders to them.
they have even had the benefit of appreciation shown by one resident of a nearby street who made them a round of tea and coffee to perk them up during their work.well done lads.

The second part of this post has been temporarily deleted as it is an ongoing matter.
for all those accusations of a cop out,geddit, then i am sorry.

Friday 18 December 2009

tis the party season.....

so it's the party season and mad friday but sometimes corporate hospitality in llandod is not all that it should be.
A former employee of the metropole regaled to us how the metropole were given a couple of crates of grot by carlsberg tetley by way of thanking them for their business.
So slimeball MD Baird Murray decided to keep them for the staff xmas party.
Quite generous when you think about it.
However Mr Baird Murray in the true spirit of xmas decided to charge his staff £1 a bottle for the freebies at the party.

Bah humbug

Friday 20 November 2009

hi tech abuse

looks like the boys at the top o the tree at powys have recieved an early xmas present.
Powys despite only recieving only 1% budget increase are prepared to issue the chosen few those smart fangled multi techie machines known as blackberrys.

the lil devices for email,phone,texting and eneral communication will set the tax payer back a sum of over £6000.

Now if these gadgets could be used from home for communicating at meetings say then the cost could be offset by keeping the councillors at home permenantly.
We the tax payer could then save money on expensive food and drink allowance,petrol allowance,heating and lighting in the council chamber so on and so forth.
we might get the full amount back!!!

In memorium

All of us here were very upset and saddened to hear of the loss in a tragic accident recently of Keith Gibson-Lapper.

Keith was a devoted father and had worked long and hard for several fims in llandod for many years to support his family.

As a father of three and just 38 years of age he will be sorely missed.

something stirs in east radnorshire....

enough it seems is enough with the good burghers of eastern radnorshire taking things into their own hands.
A lively meeting at the memorial hall is reported in this weeks journal where locals have had enough of the unruly kids.They have threatened to sort things out for themselves if the police continue to ignore the problems.
Hardly the correct route but then people power in all its varying forms does seem to bring results quicker than some agencies of democratic state.

And another east radnorian has been charged with an offence after he took it upon himself to daub an offending motorist's car who was parked directly in front of the gentlemans garage.
The large 'NP' apparently stands for no parking which the accused was told to daub onto veichles who cause such an offence by a serving custodian of the law.
Furthermore when the gentleman asked the serving officer whether he could also deflate the tyres the officer replied that was strictly against the law.

now where did i put that emulsion......

Wednesday 4 November 2009

surgery car park

it has come to our attention that the surgery car park is being oversubscribed.
a friend of ours recently went for her flu jab and found itdifficult to park as there were only two space available in the car park.
That means there were up to twenty cars in the car park.
But on entering the surgery itself our friend was suprised to see it empty apart from a few members of staff.
So who do the other cars belong too?

our suspicions are that they are students and staff from coleg powys.

This is hardly fair although they,the staff and students will argue that their is no facilities in which to park.

the lady and the spineless wonder

Even before he takes his place as PM 'druggie' dave has shown what he's made of.
U turns and lies.
Unlike maggie he has turned on his heels over his promised referendum.

I suppose this means you can be a little bit pregnant!

Appeasing the party faithfull with promises and then relying on someone else to take a lead position.
Hardly the work of strong leadership.

Saturday 24 October 2009

bigoted partial purveyors of bias

the BBC that is...
Whatever you think of the BNP and Mr Griffin and lets be fair most of us dont think much of their policies. if they have won some sort of recognition into the mainstream of british politics then they should be afforded a fair hearing and not a trial,indeed unless they change their membership policy that may come.

The behaviour of the BBC's most senior political broadcaster was as hopeless as that of the performances of the representitives of the major parties with Jack Straw particularly weak.

As for the furore of whether Griffin should of appeared well he has already had a slot previously on the daily politics show with andrew neil which has been forgotten,on which some of his opinions were especially open and stomach churning.
If the BBC were afraid or genuinely concerned with the reaction of the country to griffins appearence then why didnt they offer him a place on Radio 4's version of the show'any questions'.
It seems they were trying to maximise their 'right on' values of free speech.
Whether this was afforded all of the panelists is questionable.
Does this mean then that the BBC is impartial?
Politically meandering and offering trials by television.
Will this then be extended t other flagship BBC programming.


Only time will tell if this appearence has powered the BNP or done them harm,the BBC were right to offer them a place as they have a core support who voted in a european representitive,indeed twice as many as Plaid Cymru.

What is not acceptable however is the political bias of the BBC in the name of free speech.

Friday 16 October 2009

continuing discomfort

it is at this time of year that the metropole in llandrindod has it's busiest time in way of conferences, this week has seen major problems with parking in the surrounding areas.
Areas where elderly supported housing folk shuffle about their business and school kids and young mums try to get to and from school.
The chaos this week has come directly from the metropole who invite delegates in numbers that their car park cannot accomadate, this has seen the towns streets oversubscribed and left in perilously dangerous conditions,cars straddling pavements,blocking bus routes and traversing junctions.
The metropole are employing a car park attendee whos job is to direct traffic onto the neighbouring streets when their car park is full.
the same family that owns and manages the metropole also owns the derelict site adjacent to the auto palace that has been an eyesore for over 4 years and could at redeemable cost have been turned into a overflow car park.

I do feel sorry for many of the delegates attending conferences at the metropole as they sometimes have to walk a quarter of a mile to the conference from where they have parked.

Perhaps they should park in a pay and display car park and send the bill to the metropole who claim on their website that their is adequate free parking.
or perhaps delegates will no longer feel like parking on the adjacent neighbouring streets especially if they find out about some of the short term serial offenders who take residence at the nearby gwynfa hostel.
perhaps they might even consider taking their meetings somewhere more accomadating.

Tuesday 6 October 2009

vote winner or loser

it was inevitable that the party with the biggest leadin the polls and with a following wind would eventually at their annual conference have to deliver some promises of wht they were going to do to get themselves elected.
No suprise that the much vaunted inheritence threshold of up to a £1,ooo,ooo should be first proposed from the shadow government thats full of millionaires.
more suprising is their suggestions and remember folks it is only suggestion that they and more exactly little georgie osborne is proposing the end of tax credits for middle englanders.
Surely this is the sector of society on which they were banking on to propel them over the line and now they are going to end their extra income revenues such as child tax allowances and the £250 child savings grant.
They are also proposing that instead of the state pension age moving to 66 in 2020 it be brought in by 2016 making pensioners put off their retirement and all those contributions to national insurance creating a shortfall that can only be met by pension credits, or are they slashing those aswell.
Osborne said nothing suprise suprise about the unregulated banking system and huge salaries of the private secor but proposed a commitment to freeze public sector wages.These public sector workers include police officers,nurses, teachers,paramedics and other key workers.
So apart from proposing to help the already super rich it seems the toriesare targeting those they were hoping to win them the election ,pensioners andkey workers.

new school

heres the link for the video about trefonnen new school including interview with llandrindod legend jan baynham.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0pTD9PugrQ

all looks good for the schools future with some common sense approaches being made to the design and financing of the buildings.

Thursday 1 October 2009

when lines disappear

It looks if there is a big conference at the metropole today.
With a large overspill of traffic parking in the streets.
one of the affected streets has recently had some road resurfacing and the council have ye to repaint the double yellow lines.
This allowed conference delegates to traverse a junction,park where the lines should have been and generally over subscribe the streets.
Most of the offending drivers seemed to be women as well which makes you wonder if general anti social and enviro degradation permeates through all sexes.
Particular offenders were thedrivers of vehicles DY03WXL and DA56 PXC.
Having informed dyfed powys police of the scenario and offences committed they were unsure the legal position,that is if fined for parking in such a spot whether a prosecution could be successfully brought against the drivers of the offending vehicles.

If a success is to be made of the commitment to clearways then all sides should be proactive and up to date, this includes dyfed powys police and powys county council road division.

Sunday 6 September 2009

new world order invasion

Part of googles pursuit of world domination now includes the publishing online of as many classic reads as possible.
They are skating very close to the wind with regard with their fragrant non recognition of copyright law.
They have also brought their street view car into mid wales.
It was spotted several times in llandod on tuesday 1st of september.
whilst street view works wonderfully in big cities identifying public buildings and landmarks the concern has always been around the intrusion of privacy for residents.
With that in mind, is it necessary to trawl the towns of mid wales and else where detailing small private residencies.
Who does it serve?
Within short time it will be accessible onto remote devices such as sat-nav,which would then open individual properties to unsolicitated attention.
The only way to stop this commodifying of our planet is by protesting directly to those who choose to profit for their own needs.
You can embargo google to withdraw your property from street view.
Their may even be an oppertunity to take an injunction out against them for this invasion of privacy.
Something that could be done collectively.
Google strain on electicity and their pursuit of unrestrained world domination must be stopped.

Monday 31 August 2009

whimper rather than a bang

what a disappointment that the inclement weather interfered with the spectacular of the firework display last night.
although still a spectacular show the low cloud engulfed much of what is the real star of victorian week.

Friday 10 July 2009

the real cost of nothingness

this weeks NEW Statesman is featuring why we dont need the monarchy.
There are many goodarticles including
the cost of the bolt holes and how much they cost us
http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and-society/2009/07/palace-cost-prince-queen

http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and-society/2009/07/prince-royal-cost-william
william windsor and his aeronautic activities plus some of the costs of 'minor' royals.

But most of all this brilliant insight within the leader.
http://www.newstatesman.com/2009/07/constitutional-british-power#reader-comments

whilst the zeitgeist is for reform we still have to endure an unelected head of the church,less than 1% of the population owning near 70% of the land.
The queen herself through the crown estate continues to prosper in a culture that celebrates excessive greed and demonises the most vulnerable.

Wednesday 1 July 2009

the truth at last

yesterday the US forces made known their intentions to withdraw from Iraq.

Coincidentally this is the same day that the Iraqi oil fields have been put up for auction to foreign companies.

surely no coincidence.

Tuesday 30 June 2009

and in its other forms

heres how anyone can argue against the many stratas of the monarchy.
And the arrogance when they try to justify their means by claiming that she took on the other place instead of uni digs so that someone from 'away' could utilise the halls better is a joke.

full write up here
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/110895/You-spend-256-000-on-a-swanky-flat-for-Princess-Beatrice

Try shaking your box in front of the queen..

It is at this time of year that themonarchy try to justify their existence.
This is ysually done when their accounts are delivered however this year the poor old queen has had to dig into the reserve fund to meet costs.
It shouldnt be forgotten that their is also the duchy of lancaster with its huge property portfolio that providesfunds,the grant in aid scheme to support the upkeep of palaces,although that cost 'only' 17 mill this year.
Charles has the duchy of cornwall of course and the queen owns sandringham and balmoral or maybe bal illmoral estates.
reform is necessaryfor it is not obvious what exactly they do to earn their keep.
in line with the lowland monarchies would bring immediate results although it really is time for the whole charade of monarchy to disappear.
heres what a leading thinker opines-The cost of the monarchy to the taxpayer last year was £41m and Palace accounts also showed that the Queen dipped into a reserve fund to boost her civil list income by £6m.
Professor of Politics John Keane considers if they are worth it.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/the_daily_politics/8124263.stm

Wednesday 10 June 2009

calling all citizens!!! this is bi....

Yet another brilliant broadcast from wonderfull R4 the other day as part of the Reith lectures.
Harvard professor presents insight into the neo liberal state and poses the question as to can a free market economy be moralistic.
A bench mark for our times.
You can find the lecture here:http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kt7rg

putting powys on the map ...um

How interesting to see that two powys citizens have won their place in the european parliament.
Unfortunately the one is the leader of the british fascists.
That is surely another cornerstone of british democracy crumbling.
And for all the reticent mumblings over a democratically elected figure the real discomfort apart from the obvious horrors over mr griffins partys viewpoints and beliefs is the realisation that the major political parties are so devoid of ideas and have engaged so much ill feeling amongst the electorate that despite polling less than in the last election griffin managed to get himself elected.
That in itself we dont believe is in keeping with the rise of the right of centre parties in europe although cameron and the conservatives are ,uhum ,getting into bed with some dubious fellows, allbeit democratically elected in poland.

Needless to say the people of this country have sent a message to our parliament that being seen as unaccountable,arrogant,displaced and generally out of step with the electorate during a recession and the continuation of the game of part politics has led to the boundries changing.

Unless the 'majors get their act together it will give oppertunity to the extreme parties to make their mark in the general election.

Monday 8 June 2009

how frithering much!!!!

Cllr millington in this weeks journal is not playing fair.
She is trying to claim innocense and openess in the extended expenses row and claims her average of £900 odd pound a month is much less then the previous incumbant,see david peters blog www.daifullpelt.blogspot.com
What we are more interested in is exactly what does £900 a month cover, it seems a princly sum for just expenses.
Surely if cllr millington is interested in saving the tax payer money then she could forfeit a few months expenses or donate it to charity or the recycling group.

Monday 1 June 2009

green sceptic euro vision

And here is mr green himself extolling the party line.
We are not exactly sure about what he means about the success of the vctorian era,perhaps he means the establishing of his own property at the 'moors'.

We dont see the pursuit of christian heritage as something to be celebrated, we dont thinka modern multi cultural continent should be so narrow minded as to not acknowledge different faiths or cultures.
Is this another nationalist over view under a different banner.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8070502.stm

landmark and euro sceptics

heres one for us locals allbeit in a guise that i have little time for.
The welsh christian party's hq is a famous llandrindod landmark.
There has been some speculation as to why the flag of st David was erected over 'highland Moors' recently but now we know.
Mr Green the proprieter is a leading light in the party although their top man seems other wise engaged in these troubled times.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8058297.stm

Tuesday 26 May 2009

tea and cake and the BNP

Imagine how awfull it is to be digesting your tea and then having to sit through a party political broadcast by the BNP.
In these dangerous times we live in,democratically speaking it preturbes us that despite our belief in free speech we have to listen to this kind of thinly veiled hatred.
If it is true that the events of the last few weeks have provided a vehicle for extremists and their views to literally hijack the euro vote it may well be worth voting to try and stop them.
The difficulty is if we are going to oppose the major parties in protest over the expenses scandel then where can we find a suitable candidate.

Tuesday 19 May 2009

justice equality and fruit

fascinating conversation on this mornings R4 Today about the transition from hunter -gatherers to settled farmers.
Apparently hunter - gatherers had a true egaliterrean existence based on find and share and that the conversion to farming has created disease in the food chain ,led to world wars and possibly in cahoots with global over population.
Hunter -gatherers also were the first pioneers of GM crop manipulation.
seems like an essential read.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8057000/8057040.stm

Should i stay or should i go

Well i was going to write about my admiration for michael martin in the face of some hostile and unprecedented abuse an demands to go but he's now jumped ship.
He had to some time soon but his defiance was probably out of loylaty to gordon brown.

I cant help but feel though that he has been made the fall guy and taken the heat for others corruption,yes he was totally wrong about focusing on the way the expense claims surfaced but that was out of loyalty and self preservation.
Some of the mud throwers should also carry the heat and hopefully will.
Its strange that i feel a small amount of sympathy for someone at the heart of 'democracy' and the establishment but he was true to his working class roots and even though he committed abuses he should perhaps not have been so badly treated as he has been.

Monday 18 May 2009

cheeky but not true

this weeks county times has a large part dedicated to its local MP lembit opik expenses explanation.
It details his reason for not paying himself a £40 summons that he forwarded as an expense as well as details of the extensive work he had done on his london flat and how he furnished it or at least how much it cost.
Once again mr opik fell into the trap like other expense fraudsters of being creative with his answers including answering a question posed by the telegraph as to the council tax status of his 'lodger'.
Mr Opik replied by stating he had saved the tax payer money by not charging his council tax or allowance for his flat to the fees office as his lodger was covering the charge.
He also pleads that an MP has to have a residency in london for his work.
But at no time does Mr opik see the irony or show the humility required here.
Trying to make out that his lodger is somehow aiding the tax payer at an already furnished and renovated flat is quite pathetic.
Almost as bad as stating that due to his bereft feelings at the loss of family members had affected his memory at the initial summons request.
Of course many people have to go through family tragedies but still manage to 'pay up' and balance the books even though they have been bereft.
You will also recallat Mr Opik somehow managed to carry on at this difficult time with his numerous TV appearences and romantic life.

Mr opik also gives a breakdown of all his expenses including staff costs travel allowance and so on.
But also calls for the expense system to be scrapped or at least reformed but only if an increase in MP's basic salary is applied.

What doesn't appear in the County Times is the renumeration Lembit recieves from his other consultancy jobs including -

1. Remunerated directorships
West European Air Services Ltd; aircraft management services and brokerage for local air charter company.
2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc
Parliamentary adviser to the Caravan Club of Great Britain. (£5,001-£10,000)
Training for the National School of Government. (Up to £5,000)
Broadcasting fees from the BBC. (Up to £5,000)
Journalism for the Daily Sport. (Up to £5,000)
Fees from ITV for television appearances. (£5,001-£10,000)
Fees for training work for Luther Pendragon.
5. Gifts, benefits and hospitality (UK)
Loan of a Segway Personal Transporter from Segway, and subsequent purchase at a preferential rate. (Registered 19 November 2008)
9. Registrable shareholdings
(a) West European Air Services Ltd.


All in all it totals at least another £35,000 to his MP renumeration and is also more than he claimed during the last year for his second home.

So for all his self pity and innocence and claiming of not wrong doing he has done rather well out of the tax payer.

Friday 15 May 2009

celebrate failure

the newsthat welsh assembley government is ten years old ths week has been lost mostly due to the continued expenses row.
And at a time when the democratic system in all its forms is under scrutiny and posssibly in jepordy there is really no point in celebrating a 'talk shop'.
Mostly because of the news that 1 in 3 children in wales is living in poverty.
Because of the failure of the capatalist system this is likely to continue for the forseeable future.
Investment is needed in social housing and in the poorest communities and the disparity between the poorest and the small elite wealthy is as great as it was ten years ago.
With the liklihood that the euro elections may suffer from the expenses scandel this would add to the notion that there are too many forms of government that are not making any difference to the people who need the help the most.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2009/03/19/save-the-children-calls-for-poverty-action-91466-23178436/

continuing our right to view

a petition to allow the citizens of the uk the right to view the whole of the detail in MP's expenses can be found below.

http://www.petition.co.uk/publish_mp_expenses_in_full


it may be worth signing for no other reason than it allows the gen public more freedom of info.
which is mostly a good thing if utilised properly

Wednesday 13 May 2009

oh you cheeky boy

The shy and retiring member for monty has also been caught with his pants down and seems to suffer from a trauma memory problem .

http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/mps-expenses/5314613/Lembit-Opik-forced-to-pay-for-own-2500-plasma-TV-MPs-expenses.html


a fraud by any other name.Loadsamoney but no morals






Apart from the staggering ignorance by the 'de frauders' of a lack of humility for their wrong doing,surely tax avoidance by any body is a criminal offence, why have the MP's who have defrauded the state and tax payer allbeit 'within the rules' not been charged by the fraud office.
Can you imagine if a recently made unemployed person recieving benefit got caught doing casual work whilst signing on being let go scott free.Of course not!!!
so why do these lot.

Tuesday 12 May 2009

piggy piggy



if its too much trouble travelling to london from your country manor then perhaps you should give up.
certainly his fathers son

fallout bailout

Is the sight of michael acram promising to pay £93 back convincing enough to bring the voters out for the euro or general election.
Will reform to expense and allowance system be allowed to happen as they've already rejected Browns proposals.
Why dont the major parties put candidates forward who live in the constituancies.
this wold stop the battle between constituancy,private and london homes.

although you still get the staggering hypocricy of thetory heirarchy who claim to have done nothing wrong.

did the earth move for you.

ok so a fast moving day today.
we could start with the epitome of thatchers storm troopers tebbit 'advising' people to take a stand in the euro elections by not voting for the major parties,which is interpreted as telling people to vote for UKIP.
of course he cant say dont vote tory as that will get him drummed out of the party.

also today we have the Luton mp miss moran agreeing to pay back the expenses she claimed from her soton house,even though she claimed it was essential to keep family together, and the revelation that she also owns a part share in a villa in spain,which she upset the locals when she erected a fence across a public path.
Oh and she also clocked up some travel mileage as well on expenses despite a fellow mp who also lives in luton commuting every day without owning a London flat to overcome the ever enduring 30 mile train journey.
the figure to the right of her name is what she claimed up untill march of this year for the parliamentary session.The figure of £1,152 is her spouses allowance which seems expensive for thirty journey from soton to london.Although as we know virgin first class is damned expensive.
Moran, Margaret £8,007 £0 £0 £699 £0 £0 £0 £0 £1,152 30 £0 0 £312 16.

we may also see the end of street fighter and speaker michael martin as the vultures are circulating mostly over the carcas of the expense row as he seems to think press intrusion is more signifigant then falsifying expense accounts.

Monday 11 May 2009

techno and freedom

the modern times has brought to light the current unworkable expense system and huge benefits to those who can access the internet.
It should bring accountability as well but we now know what has been going on.
For example here is the link for our own brecon and radnor mp roger wlliams.
he seems to have done well for himself with land rights and up to four houses,the fat of the land you could say....
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/roger_williams/brecon_and_radnorshire

There has to be something done to counter multiple ownership of housing and not just by m.p's!
at a time when social housing is desperately needed we have a couple from the s.e. of england in negative equity with 900 properties in their portfolio,yes 900 with a toal mortgage debt of 120 million!
and what was their profession before retiring...school teachers.
surely their is some great moral malaise at this being allowed to take place.

the devil and the deep blue sea....

ok so now many of the m.p.'s who have been outed as maximising their expenses to the fullest are starting to say sorry including the party leaders,and the possibility of an ioutside auditor being brought in to check expenses.
It still means they have got away with it.
Not once in the media coverage have i heard a call for repayment of the abuses only 'i acted within the rules'.
well thats allright then.
this malaise has been going on for years but we have only have had access of late.
Perhaps we can go back and check past accounts.

so is this the end of democracy?
I doubt it, in a coule of weeks the euro elections will dominate and it will be forgotten.
but if any election was due to be held this week then i dare say an interesting split between voter apathy and high profile casualties would of seriously undermined the democratic system.

Tuesday 24 March 2009

panic on the streets....

The potential of huge incivility is possible in london on the first weekend of april when the G20 summit will be taking place.
Already the metropolitan police are stepping up their awareness and preparing themselves for possible major disorder as numerous different protest groups have decided to take this oppertunity to demonstrate.
nothing wrong with that in principle and we always support the positive side of direct action and protestation,however it is already feared that groups with less peacefull demonstration type actions are going to cause a major disturbances.
The anarcho groups that were prominent in the late 90's are feared to be gearing up for a major riot.
Perhaps then it would be better for peacefull demonstation to take place around the country on these dates and not confined to the capital as some real horrors could unfold.

Monday 23 March 2009

jeaux avec frontier

Powys county councils leisure dept are greatly concerned with the fall in the number of locals using leisure facilities within the county.
They 'aim' to remedy this by increasing the price of admission to use the facilities.
Does anyone else see the fault in this 'forward thinking plan' especially at a time of serious economic hardship.
The price of an adult swim is now £2.5 an increase of 0.5p,although you can stay in the pool for as long as its open for that.
the price of a session of bowls perhaps at llandrindods international greens has gone up from £3.50 to £ 3.90 which is costly but again you can play for as long as you like for that.
When you consider these increases together with the rise in council house rent by over £4 and the near 3 % rise in council tax you would think that would easily accomadate the possible strife created by the increase in councillors allowances and expenses wouldnt you.

Monday 2 March 2009

jumped before we got him.

It is with heavy heart that we mourn the passing of our beleoved powys chief exec................
only joking.
we knew this day would come and we suspected this oaf would continue to shoot himself in the foot.
After his attempts to betray democracy and peacefull protest,his general mis management and lack of integrity it delights us to say that mark kerr has resigned over remarks in a magazine about fellow councillor members.
But is there something more sinister afoot after his last sixmonths is this a ploy to get his pay off before he was sacked.
No he wouldnt be so mischievous.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/mid/7919406.stm

Saturday 24 January 2009

the beeb in meltdown!

This morning i heard tony benn on r4's today impassioned pleas to allow an appeal to be made in the name of humanity to help aid the poor people in palestine.
The bbc has taken the line that to allow such an appeal would show a bias to one political group.
Does this stance not endorse zionism or indeed the power brokers and powerfull pay masters of zionism both on this side of the atlantic and in the US.
what are they so afraid of!
Or who is pulling the strings.
I dont remember such an attitude in other humaniterean crisis' such as those during the balkan wars.

In the same programme was charles moore ,editor of the telegraph and his reaction to the return of the jonathen ross show.
Moore has pledged to not pay his tv license and says that the beeb has broken their code of conduct by not keeping to their charter which stated that they should produce programmes that maintain social standings and taste.
He continued by correctly stating that as a public service broadcaster funded by license payers and granted by legislation that he is in the right to challenge the decision not to get rid of ross.
However as we know the broadcast that caused such offence was on the radio in a unpopular slot.
This doesnt diminish the abuse of power or bullying of a pensioner who had fled nazi germany,which ross is so guilty of.

And the jonathen ross show itself just happens to have an independent production company bringing it to our screens,a company owned by ross himself.How could justice be truly delivered there.We know the real reason why ross was not sacked was because the beeb could not afford to get embroiled in a court case over such a handsome contract.
So it would seem then the beeb is not only endorsing ross but opening itself to huge political ambiguities.
refusing to support a humanitarean crisis on one hand and endorsing a bully with a possible writ or court case ensuing.

In the same interview another guest the loathsome kelvin mckenzie claims that channel 4 who are in huge debt are getting further in debt in the hope that the government will bail them out like they have the banks.
Under the terms of the broadcasting act this may be likely.
All in all it just shows what a mess our tv broadcasters are and this at a time when we are preparing for expanding airwaves and the digital revolution.
Could be a revolution most unwelcome.

Tuesday 20 January 2009

lib dems got their sums wrong

in the aftermath of the announcement that powys cc would almost certainly have to raise the council tax by 3% is the confusing figures from the lib dem group who claim they can save 3 million by not filling vacancies.
that is those who retire from powys during the year would not then be replaced.
Perhaps not a bad idea but when you consider that the powys planning dept were and are up to 300 applications behind schedule and the fact they have employed an outside independent consultancy to help them catch up and clear the defecit at a cost to the tax payer of £60,0000, then the lib dems proposal would seem to have no legs.
If anything by employing a couple of locals to help out the planning dept would bring better results all round.

Monday 12 January 2009

zionism and racism

The wider world is again feeling the misery of the israeli state.It was encouraging to read this weekends letter page that featured a lettercalling for sanctions akin to those felt by south africa during aparthaid from 25prominant uk jews including miriam margolyes amongst others but not from religous leaders.
Also read john pilgers question as to why the west does nothing to put an end to such hostility in this weeks new statesman.I always think it is quite obvious that those who beleive in zionism are some of the most powerfull people in the us.
It is also disturbing to hear of the potential escalation of call to arms from both sides with apparent fundamentalists from indonesia joining with hamas.
The only way to truly cease eventsis through negotiation.and sooner the better.

Prince harry continues to live up to his grandfathers work in international relations.
harry is a natural roya,another with no purpose other than as a waste on tax payers monies.I have great hope that more of his stunts will bring an end to the whole lot of them.