Archive for August 2009

Bloggers4UKIP: EU admits energy saving bulbs are inferior one day before ban

August 31, 2009 UKIP No comments

The European Empire has admitted, just one day before the ban on proper light bulbs comes into force, that energy saving bulb manufacturers are “exaggerating” their claims about equivalence.

The British government, its Energy Saving Trust quango, the European Empire, bulb manufacturers and environmental extremists have been telling us that the energy saving bulbs will save us money. They usually quote the magic figure of £37 per year invented by the British government’s Energy Saving Trust quango based on replacing a 60W incandescent bulb with an 15W energy saving bulb and a 100W incandescent bulb with a 20W energy saving bulb.

The Daily Telegraph has today published the results of its own tests on energy saving bulbs which found that an 11W energy saving bulb which claims to be equivalent to a 60W incandescent bulb, even after a 10 minute warm-up period, produced only 58% of the light given off by the incandescent bulb. It would take a 20W energy saving bulb – almost double the power consumption – to get the same amount of light from an energy saving bulb as you get from a 60W incandescent bulb which will pretty much wipe out any supposed cost saving from replacing your bulbs.

This won’t exactly be news to anyone who has experienced the joys of blundering around in half light after changing their proper bulbs to energy saving bulbs but it shows how fundamentally dishonest the European Empire, British government and green lobby is. The European Empire has only today – one day before proper light bulbs are banned – admitted that the claims of equivalence are false, that the energy saving potential from replacing bulbs is false and that the cost savings are a big fat lie. One day before the ban, too late to do anything about it.

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Political Compass

August 30, 2009 General 3 comments

This is about the fifth or sixth time I’ve done a political compass test and it always comes out pretty much the same – slightly right of centre libertarian.

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IPPR wants to stop loans for middle-class students

August 29, 2009 Education, Labour 3 comments

Liebour’s pet far-left extremists, the IPPR, have suggested that students from “middle class” families in England should be refused student loans to pay tuition fees to make more money available to students from poor families who are more likely to vote Liebour.

They are also calling for grants and bursaries to be restricted to students from poor families who are more likely to vote Liebour rather than being made available based on ability so clever people judged by a panel of failed communists to be from a “middle class” family can be denied a university education to make way for semi-literate chavs from sink hole housing estates.

The British Department for English Business, Innovation and Skills is conducting a review of student funding for university education in England and is planning to increase the amount English universities are allowed to charge for courses.

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Liebour: Rewarding Failure since 1997

August 29, 2009 Labour One comment

Working class!

Failed politician, life-long member of the Scottish Raj and millionaire class warrior, Michael Martin, is being rewarded for the gross incompetence that resulted in him being the first Speaker of the House of Commons to be forced out of office since 1695 with a Baronetcy.

Gorbals Mick will now be carrying out his scathing attacks on the middle and upper classes from his mansion house in Glasgow under the name Baron Martin of Springburn, of Port Dundas in the City of Glasgow.  That’ll earn him some respect in his local working mens club.  I’m sure the commies in the Springburn Liebour Party are practicing walking backwards out of the door and doffing their caps as I type.

Why do socialists feel the need to reward abject failure with honours from the class system they devote their lives to destroying?  Am I the only one to notice the rank hypocrisy?

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HDTV

August 25, 2009 Technology 2 comments

The BBC is a pioneer of High Definition (HD) TV in the UK, broadcasting HD content on satellite, cable, freeview and the internet.  So why do I have to watch BBC Breakfast in low definition while the BBC HD channel is showing previews of what’s on the channel tonight?

And while I’m on the subject of HD TV, why does Sky One show Simpsons and Futurama in 16:9 widescreen on the low def Sky One channel but 4:3 on Sky One HD?

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Burnham is a prick

August 24, 2009 Health, Labour No comments

Andy Burnham, the British Minister for English Health, has written an open letter to David Camoron calling on him to withdraw the whip from Dan Hannan and any other Tory that criticises the NHS.

What a prize prick.

He rubbishes claims the Tories are the party of the NHS as Camoron claims because Dan Hannan has criticised the NHS.  Apparently “every single MP, MEP and member of the Labour Party endorses the NHS” which is a bold claim to make bearing in mind the fact that he cannot possibly have canvassed the opinions of all MPs, MEPs and Liebour Party members.

He asks if Camoron will ban members of Atlantic Bridge – a transatlantic group of conservatives – from attending the Tory conference because they have criticised the NHS.

He calls on Camoron to demand Tory shadow ministers resign from the Cornerstone Group – a traditionalist, eurosceptic, anti-devolution group in the Conswervative Party – because they described the NHS as stalinist and called for it to be replaced.

I have a few points to make about Burnham’s letter.

Firstly, there is no “the NHS”.  There are four National Health Services in the UK and only the English NHS is under the control of the British.

Secondly, it is perfectly possible for a party to be in favour of something whilst some, or even most, of its members have a different view.  The Tories are a eurofederalist party, for instance, whilst the majority of its MPs and members are eurosceptics.

Thirdly, withdrawing the whip or otherwise punishing an MP or MEP for voicing an opinion that doesn’t concur with the official view of the party is a ridiculous suggestion.  What sort of fascist, anti-democratic autoritarian political party would spouse those sorts of views?  That’s a rhetorical question, by the way.

Fourthly, the suggestion that members of Atlantic Bridge should be banned from the Tory conference for criticising the NHS is pathetic and has nothing to do with their views on the NHS and everything to do with the fact that Atlantic Bridge is a conservative organisation.  If they were socialists, like the Liebour Party used to be, Burnham wouldn’t have mentioned them.

Fifthly, setting aside the fact that it would be morally wrong to insist shadow ministers resign from the anti-socialist Cornerstone Group because they think the NHS is stalinist and needs replacing, wanting to replace the National Health Services doesn’t mean they oppose them, it means they want to replace them.  The clue is in the word “replace”, which doesn’t mean “abolish”.

Sixthly – and finally – if you’re going to criticise the Tories then at least do it for genuine reasons, of which there are plenty.  Criticise them for being anti-English or eurofederalists.  Criticise them for being socialists in blue ties or for being vague and evasive on policy.  It will mean being hypocritical but that shouldn’t be a problem for a Liebour minister.

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Scary

August 23, 2009 General No comments

Mrs Sane has just been watching last night’s X-Factor and spotted what can only be the product of a secret genetic experiment …
Will Young Danyl Johnson

He’s got the Will Young lisp, he sings like Will Young, he dances like Will Young, he looks like Will Young and likes to take it up the chuff.  If you’ve ever wondered what the scientists that created Dolly the Sheep had been doing for the last few years, I think we now have the answer.

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Go fuck yourself Cameron

August 23, 2009 Apartheid, Come the revolution, Tories One comment

Ann Widdecombe has publicly spoken out against David Camoron‘s “A” list selection procedure for Tory PPC’s.

The “A” list system discriminates against white male candidates in favour of ethnic and female candidates in a deliberate attempt to artifically “balance” the sexual and ethnic make-up of the British government by placing ethnic and female candidates in safe seats to guarantee a disproportionately high number of ethnic and female MPs.

The Tories have already been told by the Electoral Commission that the all-female lists they used during the 2005 general election were illegal under discrimination laws.  Hopefully some sensible Tory candidates make complaints about the “A” list discrimination and get them declared illegal before David Camoron manages to rig the election result.

Anti-English, pro-EU, institutional racist and sexist … why would anyone vote for that?

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Helpful …

August 19, 2009 WTF? 2 comments

We were unable to upload this document because of this error:

Sorry, there was an error saving the file. Please try again.

This error message comes from the converter we’re using, and hopefully tells you what you need to know to fix the problem.

I got the above trying to upload a 700k Excel 2003 file to Google Docs.  Uncharacteristically unhelpful and pointless error message from Google.

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Move over Sherlock

August 18, 2009 WTF? 5 comments

On the front page of the Shropshire Star (yes, the front page) yesterday was a story about the statue of Charles Darwin outside Shresbury Library sprouting a traffic cone over the weekend.

This isn’t about the newsworthiness, or otherwise, of the Shropshire Star’s front page stories but the quote from the librarian, Mrs Buckley:

It’s something that does happen from time to time and I think it’s just people messing about

Erm … if it wasn’t just people messing about, what was it?  Millitant WI members protesting at the blasphemous image of Satan’s worker, Charles Darwin?  Aliens?  Shropshire is supposed to be a bit of a UFO hotspot after all.

Someone’s trying to prove themselves the exception to the laws of evolution I think …

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Goodbye Martin

August 18, 2009 General No comments

Martin de KlerkI had some sad news the other day.

A fellow Leader at the vbCity developers forum, Martin de Klerk (aka emdek), has died of cancer.

He told us that he’d got cancer a while ago and that it was terminal but it doesn’t really make it any easier.

Martin was an excellent role model on vbCity – even handed, friendly and knowledgable.  He will be sorely missed.

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Bloggers4UKIP: UKIP for an English Parliament

August 18, 2009 UKIP No comments

 

Back in July I wrote a fairly lengthy post on why UKIP’s devolution policy is wrong. The relatively few comments it attracted belies the number of UKIP members and sympathisers that hold the same views – I received many more comments away from the blog and through the UKIP members’ forum.

This prompted me to look at setting up a group within UKIP for members who support devolution and disagree with UKIP’s policy of abolishing devolution and setting up grand committees of dual mandate British MPs to do the job.

I am pleased to announce that, along with Maidstone branch chairman, John Botting, enough UKIP members have pledged their support for the group to make it worth the effort of applying to the National Executive Council (NEC) for official recognition.

Don’t let the title of this post mislead you though, this group – the UKIP 1997 Group – isn’t just about an English Parliament. The aim of the group is to influence UKIP’s policy on devolution so that the party supports devolved government in all four home nations on an equal basis.

For more information on the UKIP 1997 Group, click here. There is also a Facebook group related to the UKIP 1997 Group.

Edit:
Just to clarify, the UKIP 1997 Group is not a Bloggers4UKIP project.

Should the BBC licence fee apply to TV on-demand?

August 17, 2009 BBC 3 comments

The Broadcasting Act defines a Television Broadcasting Service as:

(5)In this Part “television broadcasting service” means (subject to subsection (6)) a service consisting in the broadcasting of television programmes for general reception in, or in any area in, the United Kingdom, including a domestic satellite service (as defined by section 43(1)).

The BBC says that the Licence fee is payable if you install equipment in your home for the purpose of, or with the intention of, viewing a Television Broadcasting Service.

Therefore, surely, viewing programmes through BBC iPlayer ITV Player, 4 On Demand, Sky Player or any other peer-to-peer method of watching television programmes is exempt from the licence fee?  Downloading parts of a TV programme from numerous sources isn’t receiving a broadcast and uploading those parts through said peer-to-peer systems is not broadcasting.

So if you only watch TV through an on-demand service you shouldn’t have to pay a licence fee.  Or am I missing something?

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I’m Back

August 15, 2009 General 7 comments

I’m back from my English seaside holiday.  Felixstowe was an unusual place to go for a holiday but it was nice – plenty for the kids to do, a nice town centre, very clean and well maintained and surprisingly quiet.

The caravan site we stayed on was a bit of a disappointment.  The caravan hadn’t been cleaned very well when we arrived and the children’s entertainment was rubbish.  There was no mention in the brochure of the trains that passed by all of 100ft away every half an hour some nights.  That said, it was close to the sea front with a McDonalds within walking distance, its own pool and park and only 5 minutes drive from the town centre and its truly awful one way system and traffic lights.  More on the caravan site another time, including the toilet geyser keeping us awake last night.

The sea front was clean and well looked after with a few amusement arcades, plenty of takeaway places and lifeguards.  The town was really well looked after as well, a good range of shops and a proper independent retro cinema which we visited twice seeing as how it was only £4 for an adult and a quid for a bottle of Coke.

Felixstowe was a nice place and I’d definitely go there again for a holiday but probably not at the same caravan site.

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Don’t let the door hit you on the way out

August 1, 2009 Climate Change 8 comments

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) has claimed that protesters occupying a wind turbine factory are having their human rights breached.

The Vestas factory on the Isle of White is being closed by its owners (announced on the same day the British government announced its fictitious “green jobs” figures) so workers have illegally occupied the building and are staging an illegal sit-in.

The RMT say that the illegal protesters’ human rights are being breached because, allegedly, Vestas aren’t allowing people into the building to give deliver food to them.

So which section of the Human Rights Act covers refusing permission for people to enter a private building to feed protesters illegally occupying said building?  Apparently, it’s the bit that covers depriving someone of their liberty.  Which is odd, because according to the BBC News website, Vestas has been to court to have the illegal protesters removed which would suggest that, far from depriving the protesters of their liberty, Vestas are actively trying to force their liberty on them by way of an eviction.

It’s idiots like this that devalue the Human Rights Act to the extent that it become a national joke.  Nobody’s human rights are being breached.  The protesters, I am sure, are free to walk out of the door any time they feel so inclined and go back to their families.  Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their jobs in the last few months yet, strangely, none of them seem to have felt the need to illegally occupy their former employers’ offices in protest.  If these Vestas workers are looking for sympathy, making patently false and quite ridiculous claims of human rights abuses is a funny way of going about it.

The “green” industry is based on a complete fabrication and is entirely unsistainable.  The general public has neither the money, nor the inclination, to buy into the environmentalist scam.  In the case of wind turbines – the line of business that Vestas is in – they are hugely expensive to make, hugely expensive to run and are so inefficient and ineffectual that most of them will never recoup their manufacturing and operational costs before the end of, in the absence of more appropriate terminology, their “useful” life.  Anyone basing their long term future and financial security on the “green” industry is either a fool or one of the career environmentalists that makes a living spouting bullshit propaganda at TV cameras.

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On reflection …

August 1, 2009 General 9 comments

My first reaction when I read this was “what the fuck”?  The taxpayer is going to pay graduates to go on a working holiday?  The British government is actually going to hand over £500 of our hard earned money to a bunch of students so they can go on a taxpayer-funded jolly?  We’re bankrupt, do they have no sense?

But then I thought about the alternative.  What’s the alternative?  It’s a scheme for graduates that can’t afford a gap year and who don’t have a job.  So what would these students be doing if they weren’t going on a gap year?  They’d be at home claiming unemployment benefits.  There aren’t enough jobs to go around so getting rid of a few students is a good thing and £500 for a year is cheaper than a year of unemployment benefits.

The 10 week trip will give the students experience that will make them more employable in future.  Their time will be spent on projects such as building schools in Borneo, Costa Rica, India and Nicaragua.

So, rather thatn seeing it as a bad thing, let’s look at it as an opportunity.  Let’s invest £500 in sending a few more unemployables abroad to do community work and save the cost of paying them unemployment benefits.  Those that can’t afford to stump up the other £1,000 and pay for flights and vaccinations can be put to good use doing community work here in exchange for the benefits they’re receiving.  Which leads nicely back to my post from way back in October 2007 on forcing people on benefits to do community work.  Chris Grayling adopted a watered-down version of what I suggested for the Tories and this is just another half-hearted variation on the theme.

It’s a good idea but 500 students isn’t enough – it needs to be done a much grander scale which will not only save the taxpayer billions in benefits in the short term, it will encourage a work ethic in the wider population that will save money in the long term and will provide a workforce to clean up and improve our towns and cities.

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