Just been to see the film of the above title and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I will agree that it is most definitely worthy of it's 12a rating due to some of the details of the story. For me the most upsetting scene in the film was the Native Americans charge against the cavalry position that is armed with a couple of the early versions of a machine gun. The words 'no chance and no hope' come to mind. For me it brought home the hopelessness of the American peoples efforts to defend their homeland against the invasion of white man.
I also thought Armie Hammer played the part of John Reid aka The Lone Ranger very well, as the character moves from a newly qualified lawyer who trusts absolutely in the justice of white man's law to a man who has realised that white man's law too often defends those who have money and no conscience. I wonder how many people who watch that movie know that 'justice' is based on the idea that the law guarantees that the poor man has a come back against the rich man when the rich man kicks him. Think on that and then go away and read modern social history, particularly the bit about the poor farmers and natives in Brazil who are being walked all over by the rich landowners and logging companies. Makes me start wishing that there was a couple of real life Lone Rangers out there willing to walk on the wrong side of the rich man's law to make sure the poor man has a come back.
Johnny Depp as Tonto was, in my opinion, a very good choice. Other than the part where he uses a ladder to step between two speeding trains, I did not think that the character was a rehash of Captain Jack Sparrow. The way I would describe it is that Captain Jack is over the top, laugh out loud comically crazy, where as Tonto is very serious with his craziness. In fact after a while I found myself thinking 'is it that Tonto is crazy or is it that he is sane and it is the rest of the world who is mad?' "It is difficult."
Helen Bonner Carter was great as the Madam of the local brothel who has her own grudge against the outlaw who kills John Reid's brother. That character is a very good contrast between the over the top scarlet woman appearance and a very down to earth speech when she opens her mouth. She is in many ways the character that shows the old maxim of 'don't judge a book by it's cover' because she may run a house of sin but when the end game comes she knows her right from wrong and which side of the rich man/poor man divide she wants to be on.
All in all a film well worth the watching.
Saturday, 24 August 2013
Thursday, 22 August 2013
Fracking - The Hidden Danger
I know that there has been a lot said about fracking in resent weeks as to the pros and cons of this highly controversial process of breaking rock to get at the oil contained there in and I'd like to point out two things to those that support the industry.
One it is not 'new' technology, both America and Russia have been using it for year, hence why scientists know that the pollutants from this process end up in the local water system, killing marine life and making the water unsuitable to drink.
Two, if it was just plain water that was pressurised to break the rocks a lot more people would be happy with the idea of using fracking. It is because a bundle of highly toxic, carcinogenic chemicals are added to the water that so many people are against using this technology.
Plain water is more than powerful enough to break rock. If any body is interested then they should watch the two episodes of 'What Happened Next?' broadcast on Quest last night. In one of those episodes there is the footage of a jet of water erupting out of a drain and lifting the back of the large car parked above it two metres into the air. And that was just water pushing back out of the drains after a higher than average rain fall. Think what man could do with just plain water.
Further more there is a danger in the location that the oil companies want to drill in the South East of England.
As reported by the BBC series 'Coast' there is a battle ship grounded in the Thames. She ran aground sailing out to the battlefields of Europe during the Second World War, stuffed to the gun rails with armaments. In that running aground she cracked her hull in half, rather like the Titanic in her death throws, and has sat there ever since. The Army run regular patrols to gather up the explosives washed out of her by the tide and control explode them. However they cannot risk sending in divers to clear her out because if they disturb her balance on the river bed and she rolls all the explosives could go off all at once. They have calculated that if that happens it will cause a level five earthquake centred on the Thames valley.
So if a minor earthquake caused by fracking (they know it has happened before) rolls that ship over and she explodes the force of it is going to rip right up the river to London. Now imagine what could happen if the tide is in when she blows. I imagine all the other countries around the North Sea are going to be rather put out with us when the tsunamis start bouncing of their coasts. Come to think of it I imagine that at least one of those killing waves will take a visit in London.
I wonder what will be left of the Houses of Parliament when it's done.
One it is not 'new' technology, both America and Russia have been using it for year, hence why scientists know that the pollutants from this process end up in the local water system, killing marine life and making the water unsuitable to drink.
Two, if it was just plain water that was pressurised to break the rocks a lot more people would be happy with the idea of using fracking. It is because a bundle of highly toxic, carcinogenic chemicals are added to the water that so many people are against using this technology.
Plain water is more than powerful enough to break rock. If any body is interested then they should watch the two episodes of 'What Happened Next?' broadcast on Quest last night. In one of those episodes there is the footage of a jet of water erupting out of a drain and lifting the back of the large car parked above it two metres into the air. And that was just water pushing back out of the drains after a higher than average rain fall. Think what man could do with just plain water.
Further more there is a danger in the location that the oil companies want to drill in the South East of England.
As reported by the BBC series 'Coast' there is a battle ship grounded in the Thames. She ran aground sailing out to the battlefields of Europe during the Second World War, stuffed to the gun rails with armaments. In that running aground she cracked her hull in half, rather like the Titanic in her death throws, and has sat there ever since. The Army run regular patrols to gather up the explosives washed out of her by the tide and control explode them. However they cannot risk sending in divers to clear her out because if they disturb her balance on the river bed and she rolls all the explosives could go off all at once. They have calculated that if that happens it will cause a level five earthquake centred on the Thames valley.
So if a minor earthquake caused by fracking (they know it has happened before) rolls that ship over and she explodes the force of it is going to rip right up the river to London. Now imagine what could happen if the tide is in when she blows. I imagine all the other countries around the North Sea are going to be rather put out with us when the tsunamis start bouncing of their coasts. Come to think of it I imagine that at least one of those killing waves will take a visit in London.
I wonder what will be left of the Houses of Parliament when it's done.
Thursday, 15 August 2013
Girls and Boys - The Differences
Besides the obvious ones that I'm sure I don't have to go into, a new study has shown that autism affects the male and female brain in different ways. See BBC News.
This is not really a revelation to me. Having attended a support group for Autistics in the past, I not only observed that there were a far greater number of boys affected with this condition but also that they seemed to be affected in a different way. I also gave up going in the end because none of the advice I was given helped me and none of the advice my Mother was given helped her in dealing with me. One piece of advice was outright harmful.
I will admit now to not being properly certificated for autism. This is directly due to advice my Mother received at that support group. She was told that even if she some how convinced the necessary authorities that my diagnosis of autism was correct, then by the time they issued the certificate I would be out of school and the certificate would be as good as useless and therefore not worth the distress that I would go through to get it.
We have since then found out that such advice was wrong beyond all belief but since I am now nearly fifteen years older and I have learnt how to 'mask' many of my symptoms receiving the certificate is going to be nearly doubly harder than before.
This 'masking' is apparently a common response to living with autism in girls and means that less of us are diagnosis and sometimes even leads to stigmatising. What is more the majority of these 'masking' techniques are used to cover up when we feel stressed out by situations and hide the resulting 'brain storms' that rip through our heads. (I'm not just being metaphoric here, when we are stressed out it literally feelings as if an electric storm is ripping through our brains and we can't think around it.) The study has said that girls with autism are more likely to go on to develop anxiety, eating disorders and depression.
If that was a check list then yep I've had all three of those at some point in my life, the worse one being suicidally depressed after leaving school. The only reason I'm here now to write this is because my family loved me so much that I didn't want to hurt them by leaving a mess for them to clean up in the morning. Strange the things that make us keep on living.
Thanks to the study, the doctors now want to study girls with autism more so that we can have the proper support and help to get by in this world. I just hope they are careful about how they word 'help and support' as Mark Neary points out in his article '10 jargon phrases used for my autistic son'. I know his son is a boy (obviously) and we are talking about autistic girls but the principle is the same.
This is my favourite of his list:
"4. If I shout or swear, I'm angry about something. If Steven shouts or swears, it is challenging behaviour and new behaviour management plans need to be drawn up."
I also really liked:
"6. I have friends. Steven has a circle of support and influence."
Just goes to show how many fences are drawn up between us (autistics) and you (normal) people in the minds of the so called support structure.
Why am I less entitled to friends than a normal person?
This is not really a revelation to me. Having attended a support group for Autistics in the past, I not only observed that there were a far greater number of boys affected with this condition but also that they seemed to be affected in a different way. I also gave up going in the end because none of the advice I was given helped me and none of the advice my Mother was given helped her in dealing with me. One piece of advice was outright harmful.
I will admit now to not being properly certificated for autism. This is directly due to advice my Mother received at that support group. She was told that even if she some how convinced the necessary authorities that my diagnosis of autism was correct, then by the time they issued the certificate I would be out of school and the certificate would be as good as useless and therefore not worth the distress that I would go through to get it.
We have since then found out that such advice was wrong beyond all belief but since I am now nearly fifteen years older and I have learnt how to 'mask' many of my symptoms receiving the certificate is going to be nearly doubly harder than before.
This 'masking' is apparently a common response to living with autism in girls and means that less of us are diagnosis and sometimes even leads to stigmatising. What is more the majority of these 'masking' techniques are used to cover up when we feel stressed out by situations and hide the resulting 'brain storms' that rip through our heads. (I'm not just being metaphoric here, when we are stressed out it literally feelings as if an electric storm is ripping through our brains and we can't think around it.) The study has said that girls with autism are more likely to go on to develop anxiety, eating disorders and depression.
If that was a check list then yep I've had all three of those at some point in my life, the worse one being suicidally depressed after leaving school. The only reason I'm here now to write this is because my family loved me so much that I didn't want to hurt them by leaving a mess for them to clean up in the morning. Strange the things that make us keep on living.
Thanks to the study, the doctors now want to study girls with autism more so that we can have the proper support and help to get by in this world. I just hope they are careful about how they word 'help and support' as Mark Neary points out in his article '10 jargon phrases used for my autistic son'. I know his son is a boy (obviously) and we are talking about autistic girls but the principle is the same.
This is my favourite of his list:
"4. If I shout or swear, I'm angry about something. If Steven shouts or swears, it is challenging behaviour and new behaviour management plans need to be drawn up."
I also really liked:
"6. I have friends. Steven has a circle of support and influence."
Just goes to show how many fences are drawn up between us (autistics) and you (normal) people in the minds of the so called support structure.
Why am I less entitled to friends than a normal person?
Russian Gay Laws - Hitler Would Be Proud
A friend of mine went to University to study history because he was advised that, since his ambition was to become a politician, history was the best degree he could have. Not economics or business planning, studies that you would think would prepare a young man for the rigors of running a country a lot better, no history because apparently a knowledge of history will enable you to avoid the mistakes in the past and improve on what went well. So how come the mistakes of history are being repeated and repeated?
As reported by the American Prospect the anti-gay laws passed in Russia earlier this year have been supported by such statements as:
"I believe it is not enough to impose fines on gays for engaging in the propaganda of homosexuality among adolescents. We need to ban them from donating blood and sperm, and if they die in car accidents, we need to bury their hearts in the ground or burn them as they are unsuitable for the aiding of anyone's life."
Thank you, Dmitry Kiselev, anchorman and deputy director of VGTRK, the Russian state broadcast holding company for that illuminating statement as to how deeply rooted the Kremlin has made it's anti-gay propaganda.
Am I the only one who can see the parallels with a certain country in 1935? As Alexei Davydov, Russian LGBT activist has said:
“The Kremlin has taken a page from the Middle Ages. Incapable of solving the country's pressing problems, and with Putin's ratings falling, the Kremlin has decided to consolidate society through fear—and to this purpose is engaged in a search for enemies both internal and external. Gays have been chosen as these victims.”
Not so Middle Ages. In the last Century it was the Jews who felt the beating stick of a dictator while the rest of the world thought that winning a few races at the Olympics would make him open his eyes to how wrong he was.
Well it didn't work then and I seriously doubt whether it will work this time round. What some people forget is that the Nazi not only prosecuted Jews, they also killed homosexuals, gypsies, objectors to the war and disabled people.
So how long before those with autism have to start looking over their shoulders in Russia? How long before they are the targets of the gangs "of Neo-Nazi vigilantes luring gay teens with online ads, then kidnapping and torturing them—a process they like to videotape and post online for their admirers to enjoy."
For that matter, where next Putin? Has Europe gone back to sleep just as the monsters are about to come crawling out of the closet? Is the Cold War about to become Hot?
I hope not but I don't like the idea of what is happening over the horizon in Russia. I think that Europe had better wake up again and damn fast, although if the newspapers don't stop harrying the children of celebrities and start reporting real stuff that's not going to happen.
As reported by the American Prospect the anti-gay laws passed in Russia earlier this year have been supported by such statements as:
"I believe it is not enough to impose fines on gays for engaging in the propaganda of homosexuality among adolescents. We need to ban them from donating blood and sperm, and if they die in car accidents, we need to bury their hearts in the ground or burn them as they are unsuitable for the aiding of anyone's life."
Thank you, Dmitry Kiselev, anchorman and deputy director of VGTRK, the Russian state broadcast holding company for that illuminating statement as to how deeply rooted the Kremlin has made it's anti-gay propaganda.
Am I the only one who can see the parallels with a certain country in 1935? As Alexei Davydov, Russian LGBT activist has said:
“The Kremlin has taken a page from the Middle Ages. Incapable of solving the country's pressing problems, and with Putin's ratings falling, the Kremlin has decided to consolidate society through fear—and to this purpose is engaged in a search for enemies both internal and external. Gays have been chosen as these victims.”
Not so Middle Ages. In the last Century it was the Jews who felt the beating stick of a dictator while the rest of the world thought that winning a few races at the Olympics would make him open his eyes to how wrong he was.
Well it didn't work then and I seriously doubt whether it will work this time round. What some people forget is that the Nazi not only prosecuted Jews, they also killed homosexuals, gypsies, objectors to the war and disabled people.
So how long before those with autism have to start looking over their shoulders in Russia? How long before they are the targets of the gangs "of Neo-Nazi vigilantes luring gay teens with online ads, then kidnapping and torturing them—a process they like to videotape and post online for their admirers to enjoy."
For that matter, where next Putin? Has Europe gone back to sleep just as the monsters are about to come crawling out of the closet? Is the Cold War about to become Hot?
I hope not but I don't like the idea of what is happening over the horizon in Russia. I think that Europe had better wake up again and damn fast, although if the newspapers don't stop harrying the children of celebrities and start reporting real stuff that's not going to happen.
Sea Side Special
O.K. I know I'm a little behind the times but last Saturday I went to see this years Sea Side Special at the Cromer Pier.
It was fantastic!
I went last year and wasn't sure whether they would be able to match up with the standard they set then this year. Instead of falling below the bar they surpassed it. I went to see the Show titled 'Strictly Seaside' which takes the best of what Talent Shows have the potential to be and crossed it with the best of Live Variety Theatre. When these company claims to be the future of Live Variety they are not boasting, they are stating fact.
The reason I say the show titled Strictly Seaside is because they actually run two shows throughout the summer season, the summer season being from the 15th of June to the 28th of September. With a theatre run that long it is possible to even the most professional of actor/actress to be come jaded and the show to go flat. To combat this the cast and crew of Cromer Pier rehearse and perform two shows, alternating week by week so they have to stay on their toes, both literally and mentally, so that they don't confuse up the shows and start an art that belongs to the other show.
The cast as well this year are amazing.
Dain Cordean reprises his role as resident Comedy Magician from last year and puts on another amazing show. For someone who claims he doesn't know the restore the rope trick he does a fairly good impression of knowing it.
Danny Posthill was new for this year and had us all giggling with impressions of the best of the stand up comedy circuit.
Also new for the summer run was Jo Little, a four foot ten package of boundless energy and wit, who takes the micky out of the worse of the talent shows and also her own height, or rather lack of it. Watch out for her sketch involving the microphone stand that somebody else set up.
David Jon O'Neill from Australia was this years principal vocalist and he also had many a funny comment to pass, even managing to make the jokes about the British Weather seem fresh and new to those of us who have endured it all our lives.
With over a month of the run still to go my advice is to buy a ticket or three asap because this show is one you do not what to miss and will have all the family still giggling long after the curtain goes down.
As for me, I'm already reserving the tickets for next year. See you there.
It was fantastic!
I went last year and wasn't sure whether they would be able to match up with the standard they set then this year. Instead of falling below the bar they surpassed it. I went to see the Show titled 'Strictly Seaside' which takes the best of what Talent Shows have the potential to be and crossed it with the best of Live Variety Theatre. When these company claims to be the future of Live Variety they are not boasting, they are stating fact.
The reason I say the show titled Strictly Seaside is because they actually run two shows throughout the summer season, the summer season being from the 15th of June to the 28th of September. With a theatre run that long it is possible to even the most professional of actor/actress to be come jaded and the show to go flat. To combat this the cast and crew of Cromer Pier rehearse and perform two shows, alternating week by week so they have to stay on their toes, both literally and mentally, so that they don't confuse up the shows and start an art that belongs to the other show.
The cast as well this year are amazing.
Dain Cordean reprises his role as resident Comedy Magician from last year and puts on another amazing show. For someone who claims he doesn't know the restore the rope trick he does a fairly good impression of knowing it.
Danny Posthill was new for this year and had us all giggling with impressions of the best of the stand up comedy circuit.
Also new for the summer run was Jo Little, a four foot ten package of boundless energy and wit, who takes the micky out of the worse of the talent shows and also her own height, or rather lack of it. Watch out for her sketch involving the microphone stand that somebody else set up.
David Jon O'Neill from Australia was this years principal vocalist and he also had many a funny comment to pass, even managing to make the jokes about the British Weather seem fresh and new to those of us who have endured it all our lives.
With over a month of the run still to go my advice is to buy a ticket or three asap because this show is one you do not what to miss and will have all the family still giggling long after the curtain goes down.
As for me, I'm already reserving the tickets for next year. See you there.
Thursday, 8 August 2013
The Two Extinction Sins
The title of this one was inspired by the old saying "The Seven Deadly Sins".
I classify the Two Extinction Sins as sloth and greed.
I was watching an extremely interesting program last night on the channel 'Quest' called 'World's Strangest'. Last night it was 'World's Strangest Inventions' and in fact it rather renewed my faith in the human spirit to try and make this world a better place.
Take for instances the fabric that produces electricity from the heat produced by the human body. As of yet it is still produced in small patches but even that is enough to power an MP3 player when it is stitched to the T-shirt you run in. Think of the potential that has! Clean renewable energy that keeps on coming as long as you are alive and warm. In fact they could even set up power stations combined with gyms and pay people to be healthy and produce power at the same time. A case of you go to work, put on the power fabric T-shirt and start running on the tread mill. While you are running and becoming healthy the national grid is being powered by the heat you are giving off. Sounds crazy but with a little more research it could be done.
However, one thing struck me with all the inventions, they are being made either in America or Japan. Britain, once so proud of our Universities and our inventors is now content to sit on its butt and do sweet nothing to earn it's keep. Oh wait, I forgot, umpteen thousand pounds of tax payers money went into discovering whether or not dog's have recognisable expressions.
One, I can't see how that is going to benefit anybody in the slightest.
Two, you could have asked any dog trainer in the world worth their salt and they would have told you the affirmative. Scientific curiosity satisfied at a fraction of the price.
Britain has become fat, lazy and idol, willing to run the risks associated with fraking for oil because it makes money easily instead of putting our money into decent research such as the crystals, that when sliced nanotechnology thin, produce electricity when flexed. Potential = weave them into cloth and turn them into the propellers for wind farms so even the structure of the wind turbine is producing electricity.
Will we research such alternatives? My cynical side says probably not. The British Empire stagnated and as of yet we haven't recovered from that inertia, allowing ourselves to let those who shout loudest and have the most money to impose their will, wills that seem bent only on gaining more money, regardless of the cost to others. Greed and sloth in one nasty little package.
I classify the Two Extinction Sins as sloth and greed.
I was watching an extremely interesting program last night on the channel 'Quest' called 'World's Strangest'. Last night it was 'World's Strangest Inventions' and in fact it rather renewed my faith in the human spirit to try and make this world a better place.
Take for instances the fabric that produces electricity from the heat produced by the human body. As of yet it is still produced in small patches but even that is enough to power an MP3 player when it is stitched to the T-shirt you run in. Think of the potential that has! Clean renewable energy that keeps on coming as long as you are alive and warm. In fact they could even set up power stations combined with gyms and pay people to be healthy and produce power at the same time. A case of you go to work, put on the power fabric T-shirt and start running on the tread mill. While you are running and becoming healthy the national grid is being powered by the heat you are giving off. Sounds crazy but with a little more research it could be done.
However, one thing struck me with all the inventions, they are being made either in America or Japan. Britain, once so proud of our Universities and our inventors is now content to sit on its butt and do sweet nothing to earn it's keep. Oh wait, I forgot, umpteen thousand pounds of tax payers money went into discovering whether or not dog's have recognisable expressions.
One, I can't see how that is going to benefit anybody in the slightest.
Two, you could have asked any dog trainer in the world worth their salt and they would have told you the affirmative. Scientific curiosity satisfied at a fraction of the price.
Britain has become fat, lazy and idol, willing to run the risks associated with fraking for oil because it makes money easily instead of putting our money into decent research such as the crystals, that when sliced nanotechnology thin, produce electricity when flexed. Potential = weave them into cloth and turn them into the propellers for wind farms so even the structure of the wind turbine is producing electricity.
Will we research such alternatives? My cynical side says probably not. The British Empire stagnated and as of yet we haven't recovered from that inertia, allowing ourselves to let those who shout loudest and have the most money to impose their will, wills that seem bent only on gaining more money, regardless of the cost to others. Greed and sloth in one nasty little package.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Bedroom Tax Balls Up
Can this Government actually think it's way through anything thing or is it totally incompetent?
The Freedom of Information Bill has proven it's worth and has revealed that the Bedroom Tax (a tax that the Government is trying to say is not a tax) is merely another way that the Government is trying to sink us up to our necks in debt.
Thirty eight (38) Councils responded fully to the request for information, revealing that in total (for their areas) 99,079 families are being affected by the Bedroom Tax but there are only 3,803 one and two bedroom available for them to downsize into. In Birmingham alone 13,557 households are affected by the Tax but there are only 368 one and two bedroom houses currently unoccupied. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that makes a deficit of one and two bedroom houses of 13,199 (you can check my calculation).
Now you cold say that 'we'll just build more one and two bedroom houses'. That is all very well but to do that you will gobble up another huge stripe of our rapidly shrinking Green Belt and once you have finished and all those families have moved into them, who is going to live in the three and four bedroomed properties? What is more, by the time you have finished building them most of the families who need them are going to be sunk up to their neck in rent arrears and Councils won't let you move if you are in arrears.
What is more it is illegal to sub-let a Council Property so it is not like the affected families could even fill up their spare bedrooms that way. Although if you didn't take any money from them, I suppose that wouldn't count as sub-letting so you could fill up the room that way but then you have the problem of making sure that they are a hygienic person who isn't going to rape your daughter when your back is turned.
In defence of this cruel tax a spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions has said (and I quote the Independence on this):
"This ignores the fact that people may move to housing in the private sector and not all tenants will have to downsize because they could make up any shortfall through getting a job or increasing their working hours."
One, housing in the private sector is more expensive than housing in the public sector. The cheapest one bedroomed flat in a ten mile radius of Norwich is £350 a month. How is an already struggling family supposed to find that.
Two, a private landlord is even less likely to take you on as a tenant if you have arrears than a Council.
Three, what jobs are we meant to get? There seems to be a lot out there for Bank Managers and computer technicians but not that many for those of us who are just starting their careers and aren't that skilled yet.
Four, most businesses are now limiting the time you can work by signing people on with set hours schemes, which means that over time is no longer paid. We can't increase the hours we work because there is no point, we won't be paid for them.
At this rate nobody is going to have any money to bur anything, not even their food and the economy is really going to collapse. Wall Street Crash anybody?
The Freedom of Information Bill has proven it's worth and has revealed that the Bedroom Tax (a tax that the Government is trying to say is not a tax) is merely another way that the Government is trying to sink us up to our necks in debt.
Thirty eight (38) Councils responded fully to the request for information, revealing that in total (for their areas) 99,079 families are being affected by the Bedroom Tax but there are only 3,803 one and two bedroom available for them to downsize into. In Birmingham alone 13,557 households are affected by the Tax but there are only 368 one and two bedroom houses currently unoccupied. I don't know about you but I'm pretty sure that makes a deficit of one and two bedroom houses of 13,199 (you can check my calculation).
Now you cold say that 'we'll just build more one and two bedroom houses'. That is all very well but to do that you will gobble up another huge stripe of our rapidly shrinking Green Belt and once you have finished and all those families have moved into them, who is going to live in the three and four bedroomed properties? What is more, by the time you have finished building them most of the families who need them are going to be sunk up to their neck in rent arrears and Councils won't let you move if you are in arrears.
What is more it is illegal to sub-let a Council Property so it is not like the affected families could even fill up their spare bedrooms that way. Although if you didn't take any money from them, I suppose that wouldn't count as sub-letting so you could fill up the room that way but then you have the problem of making sure that they are a hygienic person who isn't going to rape your daughter when your back is turned.
In defence of this cruel tax a spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions has said (and I quote the Independence on this):
"This ignores the fact that people may move to housing in the private sector and not all tenants will have to downsize because they could make up any shortfall through getting a job or increasing their working hours."
One, housing in the private sector is more expensive than housing in the public sector. The cheapest one bedroomed flat in a ten mile radius of Norwich is £350 a month. How is an already struggling family supposed to find that.
Two, a private landlord is even less likely to take you on as a tenant if you have arrears than a Council.
Three, what jobs are we meant to get? There seems to be a lot out there for Bank Managers and computer technicians but not that many for those of us who are just starting their careers and aren't that skilled yet.
Four, most businesses are now limiting the time you can work by signing people on with set hours schemes, which means that over time is no longer paid. We can't increase the hours we work because there is no point, we won't be paid for them.
At this rate nobody is going to have any money to bur anything, not even their food and the economy is really going to collapse. Wall Street Crash anybody?
Monday, 5 August 2013
Stigmatising Those Who Do It Properly
Once again the MPs have shown that they could not think their way out of a wet paper bag.
George Osborne will have at some point today unveiled his scheme to give up to £1,200 of taxpayers funded child-care per child to families where both parents have a job, apparently to encourage women back into the workplace.
This from the Government who swore, among many other things, to up hold traditional values. Well I'm sorry but one of the most fundamental traditional values is mothers staying at home to look after their children and bring them up in caring, loving homes to be well rounded young people, instead of leaving the hard work to someone else to do.
Having already taken about $2000 a year from families who's bread winner earns over £50,000 a year (which is not a lot when you take into consideration that it amounts to approximately £4,167 a month and rent alone is at least £250 in the public housing sector) he now wants to rub salt into the wound by characterising stay-at-home-mothers as outside of the group who "want to work hard and get on in life."
Well excuse me Mister Osborne but those of us who have had to sacrifice our careers to take care of a family member (be that a parent taking care of a child, or a child taking care of a disabled parent) do work hard. We work damn hard. We work twenty four hours, seven days a week and all for the sum of £750 pounds a month. Is there any nurse in the NHS who would be willing to work those hours for that amount of money? I seriously doubt it.
A stay-at-home-mother who does her job properly is nursemaid, cleaner, laundrette worker, chef, bottle washer, child psychologist, first aid nurse, jury and judge, social service overseer, teacher, logistics coordinator, accountant, bargain hunter, taxi driver, DIY mate, shoulder to cry on and play mate. At that's just for starters.
When you look at that list you begin to understand why it used to be said that if a man had to pay his wife for all the work she does then no man would be able to afford a wife.
I fully agree with Mrs Laura Perrins of Mothers at Home Matter when she says:
"Children have a right to be brought up by their parents and this government is doing all they can to separate mothers from their children."
My sister and I endured six years of abuse in school from our classmates, mostly mental and emotional but sometimes physical abuse straying into the edge of sexual. It has taken both of us many years to recover from it, not help by the fact that we could not understand why. Neither of us where popular, sporty, or very beautiful. We were both alright academically and we weren't richer than the rest of them because once we were children of a divorced Mother then we were stuck on benefits. Despite what the newspapers will tell you, you cannot get rich on benefits if you are honest and we were honest. However, time and space has finally given me the eyes to see it.
Out of both our classes we were pretty much the only ones who's mother did not work. Instead of coming home to a house that had been empty all day and needing to fix our own dinners, we came home to a home that had been cleaner, tidied and dinner was waiting for us. My sister and I were bullied mercilessly because we had a Mother who made us her job, who put all her time and effort into us and made us the best home she could with what little we had. In short, we had something they didn't have and they wanted it and when they couldn't have it because mum was coming home from work each day tried out and grouchy, they took their frustration out on my sister and me.
And besides all the children who are going to suffer because they don't have a proper mother, the basic foundation on which the government is justifying this madness is flawed.
Danny Alexander is quoted as saying:
"The Government wants to build a stronger economy and a fairer society and key to that is getting more people into work. We won't let childcare costs stand in the way of parents' ability to work if they want to."
What would make a fairer society is if each family could have at least one parent in work. However, that cannot happen while nearly half of those jobs are being taken up by Mother's who work for money instead of work to raise their children. If the government wants to build a fairer society then they should be encouraging Mother's to stay at home and bring up their children so Mother's will once again be valued for what they do best. That would leave more jobs open for Father's and young people to fill. That way men would once more be valued as the breadwinners of the family and students wouldn't end up in debt.
Of course what would really make a strong economy would be if all those fat cat MPs took a pay cut and used that freed up money to build Britain an industry again by gathering up and recycling that Texas sized island of rubbish floating in the Pacific. What is more, once we had recycled it, we could sell the raw material back to the rest of the world. While the human race continued making rubbish, Britain would never be out of a job but when will MPs ever be decent and take that pay cut needed to start it?
I'm not holding my breath.
George Osborne will have at some point today unveiled his scheme to give up to £1,200 of taxpayers funded child-care per child to families where both parents have a job, apparently to encourage women back into the workplace.
This from the Government who swore, among many other things, to up hold traditional values. Well I'm sorry but one of the most fundamental traditional values is mothers staying at home to look after their children and bring them up in caring, loving homes to be well rounded young people, instead of leaving the hard work to someone else to do.
Having already taken about $2000 a year from families who's bread winner earns over £50,000 a year (which is not a lot when you take into consideration that it amounts to approximately £4,167 a month and rent alone is at least £250 in the public housing sector) he now wants to rub salt into the wound by characterising stay-at-home-mothers as outside of the group who "want to work hard and get on in life."
Well excuse me Mister Osborne but those of us who have had to sacrifice our careers to take care of a family member (be that a parent taking care of a child, or a child taking care of a disabled parent) do work hard. We work damn hard. We work twenty four hours, seven days a week and all for the sum of £750 pounds a month. Is there any nurse in the NHS who would be willing to work those hours for that amount of money? I seriously doubt it.
A stay-at-home-mother who does her job properly is nursemaid, cleaner, laundrette worker, chef, bottle washer, child psychologist, first aid nurse, jury and judge, social service overseer, teacher, logistics coordinator, accountant, bargain hunter, taxi driver, DIY mate, shoulder to cry on and play mate. At that's just for starters.
When you look at that list you begin to understand why it used to be said that if a man had to pay his wife for all the work she does then no man would be able to afford a wife.
I fully agree with Mrs Laura Perrins of Mothers at Home Matter when she says:
"Children have a right to be brought up by their parents and this government is doing all they can to separate mothers from their children."
My sister and I endured six years of abuse in school from our classmates, mostly mental and emotional but sometimes physical abuse straying into the edge of sexual. It has taken both of us many years to recover from it, not help by the fact that we could not understand why. Neither of us where popular, sporty, or very beautiful. We were both alright academically and we weren't richer than the rest of them because once we were children of a divorced Mother then we were stuck on benefits. Despite what the newspapers will tell you, you cannot get rich on benefits if you are honest and we were honest. However, time and space has finally given me the eyes to see it.
Out of both our classes we were pretty much the only ones who's mother did not work. Instead of coming home to a house that had been empty all day and needing to fix our own dinners, we came home to a home that had been cleaner, tidied and dinner was waiting for us. My sister and I were bullied mercilessly because we had a Mother who made us her job, who put all her time and effort into us and made us the best home she could with what little we had. In short, we had something they didn't have and they wanted it and when they couldn't have it because mum was coming home from work each day tried out and grouchy, they took their frustration out on my sister and me.
And besides all the children who are going to suffer because they don't have a proper mother, the basic foundation on which the government is justifying this madness is flawed.
Danny Alexander is quoted as saying:
"The Government wants to build a stronger economy and a fairer society and key to that is getting more people into work. We won't let childcare costs stand in the way of parents' ability to work if they want to."
What would make a fairer society is if each family could have at least one parent in work. However, that cannot happen while nearly half of those jobs are being taken up by Mother's who work for money instead of work to raise their children. If the government wants to build a fairer society then they should be encouraging Mother's to stay at home and bring up their children so Mother's will once again be valued for what they do best. That would leave more jobs open for Father's and young people to fill. That way men would once more be valued as the breadwinners of the family and students wouldn't end up in debt.
Of course what would really make a strong economy would be if all those fat cat MPs took a pay cut and used that freed up money to build Britain an industry again by gathering up and recycling that Texas sized island of rubbish floating in the Pacific. What is more, once we had recycled it, we could sell the raw material back to the rest of the world. While the human race continued making rubbish, Britain would never be out of a job but when will MPs ever be decent and take that pay cut needed to start it?
I'm not holding my breath.
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