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For those of you who have not read my previous post on this, here is an article of mine which was published in Italy Magazine yesterday:

On Monday 1st March thousands of British ex-pats living in Italy tried to tune in to Sky Italia’s channel 138 to find, instead of their favourite programme on the BBC Entertainment [formerly BBC Prime] channel, a notice from Sky informing them that the channel was no longer available.

The international news channel BBC World was still broadcasting on Sky Italia, but of BBC Entertainment, which screens soap operas, drama series, British comedy and documentaries, there was not a trace. The British ex-pat community was in despair.Would they never know who killed Archie, a character in the London-based series “Eastenders”? Who would get the ward sister’s job in the long-running hospital drama, “Casualty”? And gone from their lives was their weekly hour of nostalgia as they settled down with a cup of tea to watch “Coast”, a journey around the entire British coastline.

But soon despair turned to anger and, being British, the ex-pats’ anger turned into action: now they are bombarding Sky Italia with phone calls, emails and faxes and a 550-strong group, “Bring back BBC Entertainment on Sky Italia” has been formed on facebook. Group founder Carlo Castiglia writes:
“Like most of the British ex-pats when we subscribed to Sky Italia, we did it because BBC Entertainment was part of the Sky channels. As most of you have noticed from the 1st March BBC Entertainment is no longer part of the Sky platform! Without informing any of us they just took the channel off the platform. It’s disgraceful the way Sky are treating us.”
Sky Italia are sending out standard emails to members of the group and others who contact them. These say that Sky have not renewed their contract with BBC Entertainment and point out the other channels offered by Sky. This does not appease the British ex-pats, who say that they will cancel their Sky subscriptions en masse. Carlo Castiglia has been contacted by the BBC, who, in a courteous response to his email, say that they are aware of the facebook group and appreciate their support of BBC Entertainment. They state that, when the contract came up for renewal, they were unable to reach a mutually acceptable agreement with Sky.

You may wonder why British ex-pats who have lived in Italy for many years still wish to watch BBC Entertainment. These are people who love Italy and have embraced its culture. But when it comes to television, Italian channels with their endless quizzes, reality shows and dreadful soap operas have little to offer them. BBC Entertainment was, for many, a link with “home” and, whatever criticisms one may level at the BBC, one has to admit that, compared to many other broadcasters, the quality of its drama and documentary output is high.

The facebook group fights on and a side-benefit of its existence is that friendships are being formed among its members, who have this message for Sky Italia:

“We shall never surrender”.[End of article.]

This is the standard reply I received from Sky Italia to my own enquiry as to why the channel had been removed:

Gentile Cliente,
abbiamo ricevuto la sua e-mail e siamo sinceramente dispiaciuti per il suo disappunto. In merito alla sua richiesta, le comunichiamo che l’accordo tra SKY e BBC Entertainment per i diritti di trasmissione del canale non è stato rinnovato.
Il nostro impegno per offrirle emozioni continua con nuovi programmi condotti dai personaggi più amati dal pubblico, i film più attesi in anteprima assoluta,le ultime stagioni delle sue serie tv preferite, le partite del grande calcio italiano e internazionale e gli straordinari eventi sportivi in diretta, come le Olimpiadi Invernali Vancouver 2010 e i Mondiali di Calcio FIFA Sud Africa 2010.
Certi che continuerà a seguirci con lo stesso interesse, le porgiamo
Un cordiale saluto,
Servizio Clienti SKY
Dear Client,
We have received your email and we are sincerely sorry about your disappointment. With regard to your request, we inform you that the agreement between SKY and BBC Entertainment regarding transmission rights for the channel has not been renewed.
Our commitment to offering you exciting viewing continues with new programmes presented by much-loved television personalities, premières of the most eagerly awaited films, the latest episodes of your favourite TV series, plus important live Italian and international football matches and extraordinary sporting events such as the Vancouver Winter Olympics 2010 and the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, 2010.

We are sure that you will continue to follow us with the same interest.

Yours faithfully,
SKY Customer Services

[My translation]
Needless to say, I wasn't impressed by this and I wrote back:

Vi ringrazio della Vostra risposta.

Tuttavia, il problema e' che non voglio "nuovi programmi condotti dai personaggi piu' amati dal pubblico, i film piu' attesi in anteprima assoluta,le ultime stagioni delle sue serie tv preferite, le partite del grande calcio italiano e internazionale e gli straordinari eventi sportivi in diretta, come le Olimpiadi Invernali Vancouver 2010 e i Mondiali di Calcio FIFA Sud Africa 2010". Non amo la maggior parte dei personaggi piu' amati dal pubblico, non ho il tempo di guardare i film, le ultime stagioni delle mie serie preferite sono trasmesse sul BBC Entertainment e odio tutto lo sport. Per farla breve, voglio solo il canale BBC Entertainment!

Ho letto che lo Sky ha perso 65,000 abbonamenti nel 2009. Nel 2010 ne perderete ancora di piu'!
Distinti saluti

Thank you for your reply.

However, the problem is that I do not want "new programmes presented by much-loved television personalities, premières of the most eagerly awaited films, the latest episodes of your favourite TV series, plus important live Italian and international football matches and extraordinary sporting events such as the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa." I do not love the majority of much-loved television personalities, I don't have time to watch films, the latest episodes of my favourite TV series are broadcast on BBC Entertainment and I hate all sport. In brief, I only want BBC Entertainment!
I have read that Sky lost 65,000 subscribers in 2009. You will lose even more in 2010.

Yours faithfully,

[My translation]

On Monday I received an email from Sky Italia saying they were going to contact me by phone and I am hourly expecting the call....
To end this update, here's a little ditty I wrote on Saturday:

There once was a group of ex-pats
let down by some corporate pratts.
They bombarded Sky
with "Why, why, oh why
have you taken the Beeb off our sats?"

Said Sky, "We've got films and football",
The Brits said, "That won't do at all,
By Archie we're haunted
'Eastenders' we wanted,
We really cannot believe your gall."

"Where's Holby? Where's Del-boy? Where's 'Coast'?
Just wait till you open your post!
We're getting quite ranty
'cos we want our Auntie*
and all you can do, Sky, is boast!"

"We're each of us cancelling our sub
and everyone's joining our club.
We're holding a dem,
inviting HM
and then we are off down the pub."

"Sky, we are issuing writs
'cos you are a right bunch of shits.
We'll make such a din,
we'll never give in
Don't think you can tangle with Brits!"

* British people often refer to the BBC as "Auntie".

In his speech today, William Hague said:

“Our ability to undertake economic modernisation will be critical to Britain’s future influence. When capital, labour and technology are increasingly mobile we cannot stand still. That is why James Dyson’s report about how we can give more weight to science and technology in our economy is so welcome. That is why our proposals on business taxation are oriented towards attracting and maintaining investment, why our programme of education reform explicitly draws from best practice across the globe, from Alberta to Sweden to Singapore, to ensure we make the most of every young person’s talent in the future.

“But the change, the modernisation, our economy needs is not guaranteed. If our opponents’ mistaken arguments and mistaken principles prevailed Britain will move backwards towards a ’70s style model, with a bigger say for the trade unions who want to impose rigidity and unaffordable regulation across the public and private sector. The bridge will be drawn up against innovation and investment.

“The dominant current within Labour is no longer the outward-looking thinking of the late 1990s, but an explicitly old-fashioned Left approach. The clearest example is that the Labour Party candidates who are being selected are not the figures of distinction from outside the traditional Labour tent whom Tony Blair sought to win, but hardened union activists with a track record in resisting modernisation: Five more years of Gordon Brown would mean that this country would be associated across the world with risky and unaffordable debt, lack of discipline over spending and trade union power.

“The Prime Minister spoke this morning about the economy. Gordon Brown is right - the economy is at a crossroads. We could continue with five more years of his debt, waste and taxes. We know where that would lead - just yesterday an international credit rating agency warned that Labour's plans would result in the loss of our credit rating.

“That would be a catastrophe for our economy and for our reputation around the world. So the biggest risk for Britain is five more years of Gordon Brown. The alternative is to change direction, deal with our debts more quickly and restore confidence in our economy. A new Conservative Government will be a chance to send the signal far and wide that Britain is once again open for business.”

I missed Zac's last night as I was down here in Devon, and I do miss it. It's a very important part of my life.

It started off as 'pub in a church'. Sean and Lorraine, a local singer, used to run Sunday night gatherings in a Swansea pub, then a few years ago Exousia Trust, which was set up to support Sean in his ministry to bikers and the ragamuffins of society, was able to buy an old chapel, which now serves as the base. It's where we meet on Tuesday evenings for bible study (tribal gathering) and where coffee (and soup) bar happens on Thursday evenings for rough sleepers etc. A local charity working with the homeless also used the premises to provide breakfast each weekday morning.

Those are the regular events but lots of other things happen at Zac's Place too on an occasional basis like a health clinic, first aid classes for Big Issue sellers and music gigs.

But, although it serves a purpose, the building isn't Zac's as such. Zac's is so much more. It's a community of people, very different people, at different stages in their Christian life. Many view Zac's as their church; some have come from regular churches where they've been discouraged, cold-shouldered, told what to think or do or wear - or what not to. Or they've never been part of a church but are seeking something that they can't find anywhere else. Many are on the very edges of society.

It seems that everyone who comes to Zac's find the thing they are looking for, whatever that might be. Acceptance, understanding, tolerance, love. They won't find judgement or condemnation though, if they ask, they will hear truth.

Visitors have often said that there's just something that feels different and special about the place. It could be the atmosphere but I think it's the presence of God.

GrandDaughter has been poking out her tongue; her parents have been saying that I taught her.

Today Daughter's friend, another young mum, came to visit and she was impressed with the tongue-sticking-out. She said, that according to the book she'd been reading, it was an acquired skill.

So today GrandDaughter - who loves me again - and I have been working on raspberry-blowing and thumb-sucking (but don't tell her dad!)

Yesterday the Prime Minister presented medals to two men who saved Jews and other persecuted groups escape the Nazis during WWII

The Hero of the Holocaust medal, a silver medallion, inscribed with the words "In the Service of Humanity", was awarded to Sir Nicholas Winton, 100, and to Denis Avey, 91.

Denis Avey, 91, from Bradwell in Derbyshire, exchanged places with a Jewish inmate at Auschwitz to gather information about conditions and helped an inmate survive by sharing supplies. He told the BBC: "I've always poked my nose in… I've always done something, it gets you into a lot of trouble, but by Jove you sleep at nights, I tell you."

The Medal was awarded to 26 other persons posthumously.

During the ceremony at Downing Street, the prime minister paid tribute to the "selfless humanity" displayed by the recipients. Mr Brown said: "It was the extraordinary acts of ordinary people that sustained those suffering the greatest evil our generation has known. Those individual acts of bravery - undertaken knowing that, if discovered, the highest price would be paid - are not dimmed by the passing of the years”

This award is one of those that could have been awarded years ago but it wasn’t. The current government has redressed this and the snide comments from people on a number of newspapers, (especially the mouth breathers who comment on the Mail website) are utterly unjustified.

The Telegraph provides a full list of all of those honoured:

Denis Avey was imprisoned in the Auschwitz prisoner of war camp. He arranged to swap one night at a time with Jewish inmates from the nearby concentration camp. Exchanging his uniform for the filthy, striped garments of the Jewish prisoners, he took the opportunity to gather facts about the horrific conditions inside the camp while the other man had a chance to eat and rest well in the relative comfort of the military prison. The 91-year-old is currently under consideration for recognition by Yad Vashem – the Israeli Holocaust remembrance authority – as a Righteous Among the Nations.

Sir Nicholas Winton organised the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation that later became known as the Czech Kindertransport.

Sister Agnes Walsh, a Catholic nun from Hull, moved to France before the outbreak of war and became second in command at the St Vincent de Paul Convent in Cadouin, Dordogne. In December 1943, during manhunts for Jews in the area, a refugee named Pierre Cremieux begged her to shelter his wife, seven-year-old son and two four-month-old twins. Sister Agnes pleaded with her superior, Sister Granier, to offer them refuge, and her request was accepted. The nuns hid and cared for the family under the auspices of Sister Agnes until the liberation of France in 1945. The testimony of the led to her recognition in 1990 as a Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem. She died three years later in Mill Hill, London at the age of 93.

Albert Bedane was a physiotherapist from Jersey, who hid escaped French prisoners of war, Russian slave labourers and a Dutch Jewish woman in his cellar while he treated invading Nazi soldiers in his clinic above. He died at the age of 87 in 1980 and was posthumously recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2000.

Ida and Louise Cook were two opera-loving sisters who smuggled British visas to Jews while attending recitals in Europe before the war, securing the escape of 29 refugees from Nazi Germany. Their efforts were funded by proceeds from Ida's career as a prolific writer of romance novels. In all, she penned 125 books for Mills & Boon and was president of the Romantic Novelist's Association for many years. The sisters were named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1965. Ida died in 1986 at the age of 82 and Mary died in 1991 at the age of 90.

Sergeant Charles Coward - As a prisoner of war in the Auschwitz labour camp, Sergeant Coward was appointed Red Cross Liaison for his 1400 fellow British prisoners. He used his position to smuggle foods and contraband to Jewish inmates and covertly visited and stayed overnight in the nearby concentration camp for Jews in order to confirm the horrific conditions there. Sergeant Coward was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem and had a tree planted in his honour in the Avenue of Righteous Gentiles in Israel in 1963.

Major Frank Foley while working as a passport control officer for the British embassy in Berlin, he helped up to 10,000 Jews escape Germany after Kristallnacht and before the outbreak of the Second World War by issuing fake visas at great personal risk. The role in the passports office was in fact a cover for Major Foley's true occupation as a spy. As head of the M16 station in Berlin. But he is primarily remembered as a "British Schindler" for risking his own life to rescue thousands of Jewish families by issuing fake documents in the run-up to the outbreak of war. He died at the age of 74 in 1958 and was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Yad Vashem in 1999.

Jane Haining spent years working as a school matron in a Jewish orphanage in Budapest; Miss Haining was holidaying in Cornwall when the Second World War was declared. She immediately returned to Budapest to help protect the 400 girls under her care and refused an official order to leave the country in 1940. The Church of Scotland Missionary from Dunscore again refused to leave following the Nazi invasion of Hungary in 1944. She was arrested by the Gestapo and taken to Auschwitz where she died in July the same year at the age of 47. She is recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem and is commemorated by a number of monuments in her home town of Dunscore.

June Ravenhall was a British housewife who moved to Holland before the war; June Ravenhall risked her life by hiding a Jewish child, Louise Velleman, in her home during the Nazi occupation. She was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 2007.
Sofka Skipwith was a Russian aristocrat who grew up in Britain smuggled Red Cross parcels to Jewish prisoners at an Internment camp in Vittel, France, where she was incarcerated during the War. She also saved a newborn Jewish baby from execution by sedating it, putting it in a red cut box and passing it through a gap in the perimeter fence to members of the French Resistance in the middle of the night. Mrs Skipworth, who lived her last days in Cornwall, was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Israel's Yad Vashem in 1998.

Princess Alice of Greece was the mother of the Duke of Edinburgh who married into the Greek royal family organised shelters for orphans and hid three Jewish women in the palace during the occupation of Greece. She personally ensured the refugees had everything they needed and visited them regularly between 1943 and October 1945. In 1967, after the fall of King Constantine of Greece, she was invited to live with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace, where she died two years later. She was recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1994.

Bertha Bracey a Quaker from Birmingham who lobbied tirelessly about the plight of the Jews in Germany was instrumental in setting up the Kindertransport which brought 10,000 children to England. She also arranged for 300 orphans found alive in the Theresienstadt concentration camp in Czechoslovakia to be flown to a reception camp by Lake Windermere just before the end of the war in 1945. She received the OBE for her work for refugees in 1942, and was later recognised as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.

Louisa Gould, Ivy Forester and Harold le Druillenec The two sisters from Jersey sheltered two Russian prisoners of war while their brother taught them English. All three were arrested after being betrayed by a neighbour and Mrs Gould was executed at the notorious Ravensbrueck women's concentration camp in northern Germany in 1945.
Mrs Forster survived after escaping deportation because a doctor at the Jersey General Hospital forged papers saying she was not well enough to leave the country, and Mr le Druillenec was the last surviving British citizen at Belsen.

Henk Huffener As a Dutch citizen during the war, Henk Heffner smuggled Jews out of Holland to Switzerland and Spain. He moved to England in 1950 and lived in Guildford after taking British citizenship.

Stan Wells, Alan Edwards, George Hammond, Roger Letchford, Tommy Noble, John Buckley, Bill Scruton, Bert Hambling, Bill Keeble and Willy Fisher as British prisoners of war they jointly saved the life of Hannah Sarah Rigler, a 15-year-old Jewish girl who escaped outside Danzig from the death march in which her mother and sister later perished.
Miss Rigler, who is still alive and lives in New York, slipped away from the line unnoticed and ran to a barn where she was discovered by the group of British prisoners who were performing farm labour in the area. They wrapped her in an old army coat, hid her in a hay loft and took it in turns to bring her food, bathe her and nurse her back to help.

The prisoners arranged for the teenager to be cared for by local women on the eve of their evacuation into Germany. They were recognised by Yad Vashem as Righteous Among the
Nations in 1988.

Brave men and women all. End of story

1. Ambush Predator gives Mary Dejevsky from the Independent a lesson in geography.

2. Constantly Furious has found an excellent way to get rich quick.

3. 13th Spitfire thinks Britain should tell the EU to Foxtrot Oscar.

4. Daniel1979 produces some helpful graphs to explain why the Conservatives are a bit rubbish.

5. Heresy Corner discovers that some Lib Dems have interesting *ahem* tastes in films.

I suppose this story should come as no surprise whatsoever but the scum that rule Burma have issued a law which will bar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from taking part in planned elections and could force her party to expel her.

According to the BBC The new law prohibits anyone with a criminal conviction from belonging to a political party. (the sentence handed down by the kangaroo court recently following the unauthorised visit to her place of house arrest by lackwit and possible regime stooge John Yettaw sorts that one).

She was already excluded from political office by a constitutional bar on people with foreign spouses.

Her party, the NLD now faces a stark choice: expel its own leader in order to participate in the elections or opt out and forgo any further influence on the process.

Members of religious orders and civil servants are banned from joining political parties. The former have been banned presumably as a result of their role in anti-junta protests in 2007.

I know this is all no surprise but it shows once again what a craven bunch the Burmese Junta are.

I’d like to report that I’m as jober as a sudge after that marathon in Cheshire – not a bad place, Cheshire and an amazing discovery was made – an anthracite Maserati is not designed for slow travel.  The real ale Spitting Feathers is also not designed for one glaththth only and it makes a welcome change after five months on antibiotics.  Sadly, that mallard is no longer quacking.

Tom Paine?  He’s as I imagined him, as tall as a skyscraper and a raconteur of countless tales of derring-do and proprietor of vast lands in Second Life.  He also gets about a bit in Vittoria’s Secret, with Vittoria advising him, in her dulcet tones, to take the fourth exit at the roundabout.  Fourth exit, I said, not third!  His porta-vids of Russian life provided the other entertainment but were too nostalgic for me.

Methinks there might be a bit of a snooze coming on.  Thankee kindly, Thomas Paine, for the afternoon exceeding pleasant.

After all that hard work and campaigning it is really time for a rest.  But work was manic today with a special task taking priority over routine work which means everything is piling up!  Then on Friday I have a meeting in Clapham to look at the motions that will be put up for our group conference.  I was trying to avoid going through London on the train, but that is proving difficult because the website I use for checking the times has been improved.  It is now doing some very strange things and not giving me the information that I need.

After I got home I learned that PCS have called a further day of industrial action next week and we will have to get all that info out to the members tomorrow.  An activists work is never done.

What I need is some I need is a nice relaxing walk in the park, but for now I will have to make do with some photographs.

I had a phonecall about an hour ago now in which I was told that the Local Authority has granted our wishes without going to the Appeal Panel tomorrow.  I was due to be a witness and now I can relax.

No need to Appeal!!!

God is smiling on us!

An interesting article by Robert Reich (Bill Clinton's former Secretary of State) What about Welsh schools?



Bail Out Our Schools
Monday, March 8, 2010

Any day now, the Obama administration will announce $4.35 billion in extra federal funds for under-performing public schools. That’s fine, but relative to the financial squeeze all the nation’s public schools now face it’s a cruel joke.

The recession has ravaged state and local budgets, most of which aren’t allowed to run deficits. That’s meant major cuts in public schools and universities, and a giant future deficit in the education of our people.

Across America, schools are laying off thousands of teachers. Classrooms that had contained 20 to 25 students are now crammed with 30 or more. School years have been shortened. Some school districts are moving to four-day school weeks. After-school programs have been cancelled; music and art classes, terminated. Even history is being chucked.

Pre-K programs have been shut down. Community colleges are reducing their course offerings and admitting fewer students. Public universities, like the one I teach at, have raised tuitions and fees. That means many qualified students won’t be attending.

Last year the nation committed $700 billion to bail out Wall Street banks, the engines of America’s financial capital, because we were told we’d face economic Armegeddon if we didn’t.

We’ve got our priorities backwards. Our schools are the engines of our human capital, and if we don’t bail out public education we face a bigger economic Armegeddon years from now.

Financial capital moves instantly around the globe to wherever it can earn the best return. Human capital – the skills and insights of our people – is the one resource that’s uniquely American, on which our future living standards uniquely depend.

Starting immediately, the federal government should give states and local governments interest-free loans to make up for all school and university budget shortfalls. The loans can be repaid when the recession is over and local and state tax revenues revive.

Over the longer term we must shift incentives away from financial capital toward human capital. A tiny one half of one percent tax on all financial transactions would generate about $200 billion a year, according to the Economic Policy Institute. That might put a crimp on Wall Street bonuses but it’s enough to fund early childhood education, smaller K-12 classes, and lower tuitons and fees for public higher education.

The Street’s financial capital is important to the American economy, but over the long term the classroom’s human capital is absolutely crucial.

32 notes from other Tumblr users

Standing perpendicularly beneath the sky, one feels neatly aligned to every celestial body in a straight line, but the end points of such a connection are countless. Similarly, engaging in an introspective exercise, based on the process of life, is also an endless pursuit with unlimited outcome! Such is the world of possibilities in the realm of the absolute!

It doesn’t help to go to sleep and toss aimlessly from one corner to the other in the pursuit of that easy exercise which you are deemed to engage in, supposedly with near-perfect ease! The mind, it is said, needs to attain a certain equilibrium before slipping into a state of clean surrender at the close of day, allowing the subconscious to perform that routine exercise which is meant to calm the system. But, aren't systems supposed to become dysfunctional at equilibrium? Or so, I read some place!

Introspection, thus, as I have learnt, needs to be limited only to that aspect of what can be done in the context of what was not done better on a previous occasion. If you give the process a degree of liberty more than what is deserved, then facing the peril will also be a responsibility you’ll automatically have to shoulder.

Mean minds like mine can play power games with itself and it's owner, without either of them realizing that they are being tricked in the process. So how do you rein in the brat?

Now, is that my mind speaking to me or otherwise?

Jackrabbit woes!

Footnotes:

Not to worry! This one is a product as a result of my inability to fall a sleep on a rare occasion. Having faced with the situation, I tossed myself up, following the advice of a spin-doctor, and pronto - the product is a grey configuration with shades of black and white! Abstract at best, presumably!

"Take a long hard look at the Conservative Party". That's one of the slogans being used by the Labour Party on the run up to the General Election. And I couldn't agree more, I (an ex-Labour voter) took a long hard look and I liked what I discovered. I hope that you will do the same. I could make this post an epic - comparing the Conservatives the the Labour party - but I think all that is necessary is to cover my opinion of Labour is this: Labour governments are excellent at throwing money at problems, but the are worse than incompetent when it comes to managing what the money has been spent on.

So instead of a comparison I'm going to tell you what a Conservative government has to offer (and it is not free laptops I'm afraid).

Here is a clipping from a newspaper advertisement by the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for South Ribble, Lorraine Fullbrook:

These are the kind of measures that I, a working man with family to raise and a mortgage to pay, want to see. Added to that, I believe that the Conservatives are the only major party with a chance of winning the election that will protect this country from further EU integration. They are also going in the right direction on the matter of English Votes on English Laws - a subject that is close to the hearts of many Conservative party members.

The Conservatives stand for a smaller, less costly government. Less bureaucracy and interference into our lives - giving us back some of the responsibility that has been taken away from us. Conservatives stand for transparency in government so that we can see how they are going to spend our money. They stand for protecting the NHS budget - even when they will be trying to reduce the massive amount of debt left by the current government. Conservatives believe that the welfare state is there to pick you up when you fall, not support you for life if you can't be bothered to work. They believe marriage should not be penalised by the tax system - and that strong families lead to a stronger society. I could go on and on, but I will leave the rest up to you.

Please take a long hard look at the Conservative Party. I believe they are the party to make this country Great again.

It took the blogosphere just four days to raise
the near £10 000 to secure the release of Nick Hogan, imprisoned for
six months for flouting the smoking ban in his own premises and failing
to act as the States unofficial Policeman.

It took a further five days to convince Paypal
that the money collected was not part of some International Money
Laundering, Drugs and Sex trafficking Ring, and for the cash to be
released by a High Street Bank under the Money Laundering
'Regulations', during which time Nick continued to languish in Jail.
This in an age when Billions can be rocketed from London to Tokyo in
seconds by our trusted and well beloved Banking industry.

This was always a Libertarian issue, a civil rights issue rather than a
Public Health issue. The hypocrisy of taxing tobacco and punishing its
users beggars belief. If I choose to inhale noxious substances on my
own property, that is my own decision. If members of the public do not
like it do not come onto my private property, go somewhere else to
drink your own brand of poison (until it is banned next of course)

In an age of political parties queuing up to 'do something' which usually means banning something the Libertarian Party was pleased to support Old Holborn and Anna Raccoon with cash and what publicity and support it could muster. However we were more pleased that this attracted support and money from across the political spectrum and across the world.

We do not have to put up with this, we are the people not this Stasi inclined State

“It’s the gossip of the moment that could become the story of the year.”

- a comment by the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, as rumours that Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy are both having affairs gain momentum in France.  The rumour first emerged on Twitter, and was followed by a report in the Sunday edition of Le Journal du Dimanche.  The first ‘tweet’ claimed that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy had become romantically involved with Benjamin Biolay, a musician and a winner at France’s recent Victoires de la Musique awards.  It then claimed that Sarkozy had swiftly found solace in the arms of his 40-year-old ecology minister Chantal Jouanno.  French web magazine suchablog.com alleged that Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy had been a close friend of Biolay for many years and was now unofficially living with him at his flat in Paris. The same story has also been reported by other established news sites including Yahoo News France, Le Post and Agoravoxtv, as well as TV news channel i-Tele. (full story HERE)

College of Law Chief Executive Nigel Savage discusses the future of the legal services market in the wake of the Legal Services Act and questions the impact it will have on careers in the profession.

Max Clifford drops News of the World phone hacking action in £1m deal

The Guardian reports: “Tabloid accused of buying silence after persuading celebrity PR agent to drop case over interception of voicemail messages”

The News of The World appears to be rushing to stop a flood of litigation – as the Guardian states…“The News of the World was tonight accused of buying silence in the phone-hacking scandal after it agreed to pay more than £1m to persuade the celebrity PR agent Max Clifford to drop his legal action over the interception of his voicemail messages. The settlement means that there will now be no disclosure of court-ordered evidence which threatened to expose the involvement of the newspaper’s journalists in a range of illegal information-gathering by private investigators.”

Of perhaps greater interest to political animals, particularly those on the Labour or left, will be the effect this has on Andy Coulson, former editor of the News of The World and currently enjoying time in the sun as the Tory Party’s Malcolm Tucker/Alastair Campbell  communications supremo.

The Guardian notes: ” The case had potentially important implications for Andy Coulson, media adviser to the Conservative leader, David Cameron, who edited the News of the World at the time of the illegal activity and who has said that he does not remember any of his journalists breaking the law……..(NOTW Journos) – Goodman and Mulcaire were jailed in January 2007 for intercepting the voicemail of a total of eight victims, including Clifford and Taylor. The News of the World originally claimed that it had no knowledge of any of the illegal activity. Coulson resigned on the grounds that he carried ultimate responsibility.”

Hey ho…. but do have a look at Beau Bo D’Or take on the Max Clifford story….

I did enjoy this from Overlawyered…

From attorney Bob Ambrogi, on Twitter: “This felt wrong: Shortly after heated call with lawyer saying he’d sue my client, he sent me invite to connect on LinkedIn.” Related: Amy Alkon.

And this from John Bolch at Family Lore… “As humans, we need to evolve more” – John writes...”Nissenbaum explains how relationship breakdown brings out the worst in many people, especially where children are involved. “Every parent who has ever pushed for custody insists he or she is doing it out of love,” he says in his book. “Hate is more like it…. Parents throw everything they have at the other side, the more disgusting, horrendous and despicable, the better.” John ends…”Yep: been there, done that.”

Sometimes I see the dark hand of Mandelson in everything I do,read and watch.

Last week the soft focus 'Larkrise to Candleford' had the story of Postman Tom setting up his own trade union to fight for better conditions, and the local radical sitting down as 'arbitrator' with the nice postmistress Sahwala over a pot of tea to resolve their differences.

The taxpayer and customers had no pot of tea to hand when the Government caved in totally to the Candleford Communication Workers Union, we cannot have postal strikes at election time can we.

The rest of the country by that I mean Private Industry is not in a position to pull deals like this off in the middle of a recession.

Only a State run monopoly can do this. The Post Office is no longer a 'service', it is being run for the benefit of its denizens, not its customers.

The Post Office's monopoly should be scrapped with immediate effect, and with it the Candleford Letter Deliverers Union.

Dear David Cameron,

It’s been a rocky few weeks to say the least, although you seem to be just about keeping your head above water in the national and marginals polls.  Today Gordon Brown will make a speech about the economy at the same time as more bad news pours in.  I’m not a fan of negative campaigning at the best of times, but I wonder whether stoking (fully justified) fear amongst the public is the best tactic that you have available.

In a major speech in London today, Brown is expected to outline the action that he thinks is necessary to secure the recovery, focusing on job creation in the UK and further reforms to global economic governance.  ”We are at a turning point, a crossroads, for our domestic economic recovery,” he is expected to say.  “We face crucial decisions. The stakes are high. We dare not risk the recovery. We are weathering the storm and now is no time to turn back. We will hold to our course and will complete our mission.”  He is likely to warn of further “bumps in the road” and say equally tough decisions will be needed as were taken by Labour at the height of the financial crisis.  “There are substantial risks ahead. I believe the only way to overcome them is by displaying the same strength and resolve as we did during the crisis.”   The Treasury is also expected to confirm, in a written statement to Parliament, that Chancellor Alistair Darling will deliver his much-awaited pre-election Budget on Wednesday 24 March.

Unfortunately your early election campaign has been typified by firefighting rather than trailblazing but there is still time to change all that, and yesterday provided plenty of ammunition.  There were warnings Britain’s credit rating is under threat as Brian Coulton, head of global economics at ratings agency Fitch, condemned Labour’s pledge to halve the deficit in four years as ‘too slow’.  To make matters worse for Labour, the head of Marks & Spencer added his voice to demands for a clear plan to cut the deficit.  Sir Stuart Rose said people were ‘not stupid’, adding: “They know effectively we are over-borrowed and there is medicine to be taken.”  Furthermore, the pound has fallen over the past three months against the dollar, plus the ONS reported a 6.9% fall in sales of British goods abroad in January, the largest monthly drop for more than three years.  The slide came despite a steep plunge in sterling, which was trading as low as $1.4936 yesterday but rallied later in the day.

I don’t think it takes a genius to work out that the international financial markets are extremely nervous and that the economic recovery has not got off to a flying start (assuming that it has started at all).  Gordon Brown has also now made the crucial decision to hold a Budget this side of the election, which poses two major risks.  First, Alistair Darling is insisting on trying to cut the deficit whereas Brown is looking for a ‘giveaway’ budget.  Ironically, both of these scenarios could be turned against Labour.  Second, the next set of GDP figures (including the miserable January) will be announced just before a May 6th election, and a bad set of figures could potentially show the UK slipping back into recession – which would be the end of Brown.  To be honest, I’d let the PM talk himself up as much as he wants.  Just sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge that you have some time to get your own ship in order before launching a blistering attack on Brown’s economic record to finish him off for good.

Yours sincerely,

A.Tory

Present company excluded (of course)