An Englishman's Castle

An Englishman's Castle - New URL

2003-10-28T12:33:00.000Z

To get away from Blogspot I am moving this blog to:
http://www.anenglishmanscastle.com

I will have the kettle on and crumpets warming by the fire so you will be made very welcome; please adjust your bookmarks and come on over.

P800 Sony Ericsson Ligula

2003-10-27T17:10:00.000Z

Reading my Roman history and using my P800 phone at the same time made me wonder?

Stylus
or

ligula.

A ligula was an instrument with a narrow cup-shaped scoop at one end. It may have been used as a medical probe, or as an ear scoop or for picking up small quantities of ointment (medical or cosmetic) from jars.

A Dad's Nightmare

2003-10-27T12:13:00.000Z

Boy, 8, dies in game of Tarzan: "A boy of eight died after becoming entangled in a rope while playing a game of Tarzan at his tree-house."

The poor father of this boy has all my sympathies and my admiration because he came out and said that you can't wrap children in cotton wool all the time if they are going to grow up and enjoy life, and sometimes accidents happen. And that is the truth.

(#1 I mention only the Dad because he is the only one to be featured in the press, and in no way do I mean to not recognise the devestation such a loss has on the rest of the family - but I also guess it was Dad who built the tree-house etc and so his feelings of guilt will be tremendous.)

(#2 I know of what I speak here though through luck and modern medicine my sons are alive and well.)

German plans show drive for unified Euro-army

2003-10-27T11:56:00.000Z

EUobserver: "Germany is pushing for the creation of a fully-fledged Euro-army, according to plans obtained by the Conservative Party in Britain, writes the Telegraph. This revelation is likely to send ripples of concern through Britain, one of the more sceptical member states - over close military co-operation in Europe.

The memorandum, written by senior Germany army officials on the future of European defence, allegedly suggests that a European army should have joint structures that go beyond the ones already in place.

The document adds, 'The army would report to the EU government and to the EU Parliament. Through a deployment law Parliament should decide if deploying troops is an option or not.'"

"The plans also have the backing of France and Belgium, according to the Telegraph."

Well at least the uniforms might be smart, His Tonyness claims to be against it but the ratchet still clicks towards it. Time to release the pawl with whatever it takes.

IRA 'sorry' for Disappeared

2003-10-25T00:25:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | IRA 'sorry' for Disappeared: "The IRA has apologised for the grief caused to the families of the so-called Disappeared. "

So that's all right now then - No it f***ing isn't.

Nanny State - eh?

2003-10-24T16:57:00.000+01:00

Came across pages of advice about Halloween from the Canadian Health busybodies - someone gets paid to write and publish all this stuff - but as always "it's for the children" so thats OK then...

It is all probably sensible advice, but if you are an anxious parent you will be able to look after your kids already, and if you don't care then a po-faced web site isn't going to make a difference. And Jesus wept, let the kids eat real sweets one night of the year!

Health Canada - Halloween

October 31 can be a chilly night so make sure that costumes are loose enough to be worn over warm clothing but not so baggy or long that trick or treaters can trip over their costumes.

Trick-or-treaters should wear sturdy walking shoes.

Make-up and face paint are better than wearing masks which can restrict breathing and/or vision. If you choose to use a mask make sure it is one that allows the child to see and breathe easily.

Swords, knives and similar accessories should be made of soft, flexible material.

You might want to offer an alternative to sugar-based treats. Gum should be sugarless. Stickers, multicoloured pencils or beads can be a nice surprise in place or in addition to traditional treats

A Must Read.

2003-10-24T12:06:00.000+01:00

The new blog EnviroSpin Watch has become an essential daily read.

The ecoterrorists and enviroidiots are becoming one of the biggest threats to peace and prosperity the world has known - A bit strong? No - the Greens are killing millions with their halfwitted policies, and that isn't very nice for those killed and out of pure self interest doesn't make for a safe and prosperous world to live in.

When they can they plan to feature a guest essay from a famous writer or scientist. The first is from one the world's most popular science writers, Matt Ridley, celebrated for his many fine books. Any Cance to read matt Ridley should be grabbed - so go to it!

All the usual suspects.

2003-10-23T21:40:00.000+01:00

EU Commissioner Backs Irish Smoking Ban: "EU Commissioner Backs Irish Smoking Ban
Source: Reuters Health, 2003-08-04

"Irish plans to stamp out smoking in public places were backed on Monday by the European Union 's (EU) top health official, who also accused the tobacco industry of aiming products at youth.
The ban, proposed by Irish Health Minister Micheal Martin, would take effect from early 2004 despite fears from the bar and restaurant industry that profits will be hit.
'Are we going to put into the balance the health of the public against profits? I am sure the population of Ireland and other places in the EU (don't) want (that),' said Health and Consumer Affairs Commissioner David Byrne, who is Irish.
'I believe the tobacco industry is manipulating and misleading people and targeting young people and adolescents because they realize that if they get them young, they're hooked,' he told a news conference at the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health in the Finnish capital"

OK where to start?

EU involvement.
Banning smoking in Bars - I don't smoke but give the freedom to chose.
Profits - a dirty word.
Industry -a dirtier word.
Its for the children - yeah.
People are being manipulated and mislead - by safty Nazis like you Mister.

Are the Irish smokers too lilly livered not to stand up to this -

THE wine-cup is circling in Almhin's hall,
And its Chief, 'mid his heroes reclining,
Looks up, with a sigh to the trophied wall,
Where his sword hangs idly shining.
When, hark, that shout
From the vale without --
"Arm ye quick, the Dane, the Dane is nigh!"
Every Chief starts up
From his foaming cup,
And "To battle, to battle!" is the Finian's cry.

DEFCON 3

2003-10-23T15:41:00.000+01:00

This is a public service announcement about the sighting of an enemy.

Read Samizdata.net - Silly burgers for the full details, I will just quotye the quotes they talk about.

"People are incapable of saying no to junk food and other health risks, and it is the duty of the State to influence them, according to a senior public health official.
In defence of the "nanny state", Professor Dr John Ashton, regional director of public health in the North West, said yesterday that government intervention was needed to protect those incapable of protecting themselves. "Individuals cannot protect themselves from bioterrorism, epidemics of Sars, the concerted efforts of the junk food industry, drug dealers and promoters of tobacco and alcohol," he said."

"He has three grown-up sons, but recently became a father again with his partner Maggi Morris, 47, a director of public health in Preston. Their baby has been named Fabian Che Jed, after the Fabian Society, Che Guevara and the Old Testament prophet Jedediah."

News from Norway

2003-10-22T15:29:00.000+01:00

Just catching up with a story about the Great Virgin Hair Robbery, as one does when I noticed the next two headlines on the page:

Norway world leader in casual sex:
UN: Its best to live in Norway:

Any connection I wonder...

Boost your student loan!

2003-10-21T20:10:00.000+01:00

I thought I would give this a bit of publicity - just in case there any younsters reading this old fogey...

Institute of Economic Affairs: "Student Essay Competition - Entries must be submitted by Wednesday 10th December 2003
21 October 2003
An essay contest for students aged 18 or under. £1000 for first place and three £500 winners
Demonstrate your understanding of principles of economics by answering ONE of the following questions in 1500 words or less:

*Is the concept of a 'Mixed Economy' flawed? If so, why? If not, why not?

*Can government regulation fine-tune a capitalist economy? If not, why? If so, under what circumstances?

*What is meant by 'Market Failure' and 'Government Failure'? How should we choose which of these two institutions should undertake what roles in the economy?

Entries should be submitted by email to Christine Blundell

Mailing address for postal entries is:

Christine Blundell
IEA
2,Lord North Street
London
SW1P 3LB."

BBC NEWS | The far-right Swiss People's Party

2003-10-21T08:17:00.000+01:00

I don't know much about the Swiss People's Party but the BBC calls them far-right, but from the BBC site they appear to only be far-right if you are of the BBC mindset - here is the links and the "crimes they are accused of believing in.

BBC NEWS:
"Opposed to European Union membership
Anti-immigration
Accused of racism after saying drugs controlled by 'Albanians and black Africans'
Used the word 'negro' in campaign poster "

Maybe the overwhelming victory is actually because of the reasons noted by:
"The BBC's Imogen Foulkes:
"The promises to lower tax and stay away from the European Union were well received"."

No wonder you guys are richer!

2003-10-20T20:16:00.000+01:00

The Seattle Times: : "Friday is the statistical day when Americans will have worked as much as their European counterparts will all year long, counting vacations, holidays and shorter workdays."

Old English

2003-10-19T14:31:00.000+01:00

"we shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the field and streets, we shall fight them in the hills. we will never surrender'"

Melvyn Bragg in an excerpt from his new book about how English became the Lingua Franca of the world used the above quotation to illustrate how Old English words are so powerful - they all are Old English apart from "surrender" which is French. - Need I say more.

Twat

2003-10-18T08:16:00.000+01:00

David Blaine who cares? I have been proud of the way nearly the entire British nation has treated him, as a joke. I think he believed he would get "respect" - no he got eggs thrown.

See also a heavy article on what a twat he is Jesus Christ, David Blaine, Bobby Sands and Orson Welles.

(Only good point is that he has pissed off those who hold the memory of Bobby Sands sacred.)

-- Reading the above it is ironic that Blaines stunt is described as "beyond the pale" - Pale, in this case, comes from the Latin palus : a stake in the ground to mark a territory. The expression, beyond the pale, means outside the rules of society or civilized behavior. It originates from the boundary around Dublin when Dublin was under British rule and the rest of Ireland was only nominally. So to be pedantic it is the IRA who are beyond the pale in this, and probably every other, case.

Hunting Declaration

2003-10-18T08:01:00.000+01:00

The Hunting Declaration - 1st November - It isn't just about hunting, it's about liberty and standing up against unjust laws.

Samizdata.net

2003-10-17T16:05:00.000+01:00

Samizdata.net reports on the irony that traditional history teaching was "abandoned in the 1970s for a more pick-and-mix, bring-it-alive and never-mind-when-exactly-it-happened approach to history, and the only bit that kids now want to pick is The Nazis."

And now our German partners in the EU are complaining and the British Education Minister (Labour Europhile) is agreeing with them.

"How huge an irony would that be? The very people who have worked hardest to beat British national pride out of Britain, namely the teaching profession and the theorisers of teaching who have been guiding them, have ended up with a kind of History that says only one thing: Germany bollocks!! Don't want nothing to do with them bastards!!! As a result these anti-historical history persons, mostly rabidly pro-EU on anti-British grounds, could be achieving what looked impossible as recently as only a decade ago, namely the saving of Britain from permanent EUro-subjugation.

Lefty bastard enemies of British History, we hail you, the savours of British national independence."

Family fun at the machine-gun range.

2003-10-17T13:33:00.000+01:00

OpinionJournal - Leisure & Arts: "A casualty list from the Knob Creek Gun Range, which hosted one of the country's largest machine-gun shoots this past weekend, would look something like this: Two dozen old appliances. A dozen junked cars. Tens of thousands of rounds of spent ammunition. Zero people."

"These statistics will be disturbing to the myopic antigun crowd, which fails to recognize the millions of rounds fired safely every year, including the tens of thousands fired at this twice-yearly event that draws everyday folks from as far away as California and Florida."

Kim du Toit - Right as ever

2003-10-17T12:14:00.000+01:00

I imagine, Dear Reader, that you read Kim on a daily basis - if not you should - but whatever else you do you MUST read this article

Kim du Toit - "Imagine if an American president said that the United States was going to subjugate its Constitution to one drawn up by the United Nations -- and refused to allow a vote on the subject.

Can you say 'armed rebellion', children? Thought so.

Yet that's precisely what Oily Heap Of Shit BritPM Tony Blair is trying to do with Britain and the European Union's constitution, in the face of 'concern' by the Queen (in diplo-speak, that's the equivalent of 'Are you crazy?'), and in spite of searing condemnation"

Continues..:

Spam Killer

2003-10-17T09:35:00.000+01:00

If like me you are pestered by Spam - or just want to sort your email into buckets - I really can't recommend POPfile high enough. Cross platform, works with any email client, Open Source and Free. And it gives me 99.65% accuracy in classification!

Download version 0.20 from
POPFile Home Page

Like I care - stick to the sloppy seconds Ben!

2003-10-16T22:32:00.000+01:00

"Hollywood actor Ben Affleck has attacked US President George Bush's 'dangerous right-wing' policies, which he said were eroding civil liberties.

Speaking in Los Angeles, Affleck, 31, was accepting an award from political group, People For The American Way.

He received the Spirit of Liberty award for his work on behalf of children's rights and voter registration.

Affleck also compared the current state of US politics to the last days of the Roman Empire.

Referring to fellow film star Arnold Schwarzenegger's recent election as Governor of California, he compared "the dawn of the Schwarzenegger era in American politics" to the empire's decline.

Other stars attending the People For The American Way event included Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis and the Dixie Chicks.

- Jesus, where is a meteor strike when you need one, could have got a whole barn full of them!

BBC Bias against GM

2003-10-16T22:26:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | GM tests show danger to wildlife:

That's the headline - the story actually manages to be more balanced.

Straw says 'no case' for EU vote

2003-10-16T22:22:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | Politics | Straw says 'no case' for EU vote: "Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has insisted there is 'no case' for a referendum on the draft European constitution. Because the fundamental relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU will not be altered."

Let me translate:
"Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has insisted there is 'no case' for a referendum on the draft European constitution. Because ~~the fundamental relationship between the United Kingdom and the EU will not be altered.~~ we would lose it - oh and I'm lying through my teeth in the hope of keeping my job"

Gun crime rises in England and Wales

2003-10-16T15:15:00.000+01:00

Reuters | Latest Financial News / Full News Coverage: Only 10,250 gun crimes so that is OK then. I'll leave it to my friend Michael over at Free Market Fairy Tales to expand on how grateful he is that the politicians have disarmed the population to make us all feel safe.

NHS - a tale of two systems.

2003-10-16T07:48:00.000+01:00

I have to say the care and attention we are receiving at our local hospital with our new born Mary Jane is exemplary and a wonderful part of the NHS ( we had to go to Bath hospital for a test and that is still chaotic and in the patient waiting area has the filthiest carpet I have ever seen - worse than the grottiest pub - I watched as the cleaner came in and tenderly cleaned the great god they all worship - the TV - but ignored the lumps of food on the floor).

But other parts of the NHS are still as bad as ever - this enterprising Granny mixed up fake blood from Cranberry Juice and Biscuits, called an ambulance and got her operation...

Times Online - Britain: "HERNIAS are very common, sometimes unpleasant, but almost never life-threatening. It is for this reason that operations to deal with them have some of the longest waiting times in the NHS.
The seven months that Mrs Litton waited for her operation is not uncommon, and in some parts of the country could have been longer.
Overall, nearly 30,000 patients are waiting more than six months for Âgeneral surgeryÂ, under which hernias are classified. Of these, 7,565 wait more than nine months."

And if you are in a similar situation here is The Times advice:

HOW TO CREATE A BLOODY COUP

Cranberry juice and digestive biscuits is not a classic recipe for fake blood but it could create a realistic congealed effect, according to a leading professional make-up artist (Patrick Barkham writes).

Julia Cruttenden, the principal of Greasepaint, an international school for stage, television and film make-up, said that she normally used washing-up liquid or golden syrup with red and yellow food colourings and a dash of coffee. Ms Cruttenden, who has been making fake blood for 25 years, heats the ingredients slightly to get them to mix.

She said: ÂCranberry juice on its own might be a bit pink. You might get a nice congealed and scabby-looking blood with biscuits. Using biscuits might just work; IÂll have to try that.

ÂIf you want runny blood you need washing-up liquid or golden syrup as a base to give it the right consistency. A bit of coffee works a treat because blood is browner than you think.Â

"just a pale carbon copy of the British show."

2003-10-16T06:57:00.000+01:00

The US version of BBC2 comedy Coupling has been unceremoniously yanked from the NBC schedule after only three episodes, prompting fears about the show's future.The US translation of the BBC2 comedy has attracted criticism in the States for its frank and frequent references to sex - two TV stations even refused to broadcast the show.

However, perhaps the most damning comment from US critics - who have seen the original version of Coupling on digital cable channel BBC America - is that it is just a pale carbon copy of the British show."

Why is that shows are always remade - is it that the networks believe Americans are too dumb or parochial to understand - or bond with British actors? Is it something to do with royalties? Why don't the networks grow up and try the original on the audience?

Labour targets Anti-social behaviour

2003-10-14T14:09:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | Politics | Blunkett targets nuisance neighbours: "Neighbours who spoil the lives of law-abiding people in their communities will face tough action in a new campaign, Home Secretary David Blunkett has promised.
Under plans announced earlier this year, the worst offenders could be relocated, while others could see their tenancy contracts reduced from 12 to six months, be sent to parenting classes or issued with fixed penalty notices. "

Why am I uneasy about this new crusade?

Not just because this is a government that thinks there is nothing odd in giving the Egg Marketing Directorate full access to data gathered under anti-terrorism legislation, but because my definition of anti-social isn't theirs. And I doubt it is yours either.

Let me list a few possible antisocial behaviours, which do you think Mr Blunkett would clamp down on:

Playing loud music which is part of my culture, man.
Cleaning a legally held gun on your back porch.
Slaughtering a goat in the street as part of a religious festival.
Shooting a fox in your garden.
Having five kids from five different men, probably five but not really sure.
Rejecting the advice of social workers.
Taking the kids on holiday during the school term.
Home schooling.
Teaching your kids how to nick cars.
Teaching your kids how to shoot.
Chucking bricks at huntsmen.
Chucking eggs at Labour politicians.

- Put me down for being anti-social..

"Free markets can hit economic growth"

2003-10-12T07:15:00.000+01:00

The New Scientist reports on a suggestion that developing nations need control to help them grow - it sounds a bit like the old liberal view that nanny knows best - and like the old racist imperialist view that "darkies can't run a bloody thing". I think they are heaping the blame on Free Trade when it actually shows the need for law and order, especially property rights. Still read on and see what you think.

"If developing countries join the global economy too soon, they risk becoming trapped in a cycle of poverty and corruption, a new analysis suggests.
A number of empirical studies have shown that poorer countries experience higher levels of corruption. Badly paid officials are easily tempted by bribes, the reasoning goes, while the well paid officials in richer nations risk losing their comfortable salaries if they are caught taking backhanders. But if corruption so bedevils developing nations, how do they escape and become rich?
Daniele Paserman, an economist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and his colleagues say they have found a simple answer. If a poor country opens up its economy to the outside world too quickly, the flow of money across its borders encourages corruption, which in turn hampers growth"

Sports headlines from the BBC this morning.

2003-10-12T06:36:00.000+01:00

Rugby Union | Lomu to receive honour Good - recognition for a great and brave man.

Football | Brave England qualify Bad - these soccer ponces wouldn't know bravery if they ever lifted their snouts out of the designer troughs long enought to look at the real world.

Australian Google Search: Jonny Wilkinson skin tight image

2003-10-11T19:03:00.000+01:00

Just looked in the stats for this page and the last search result that caused someone to visit here was from Australia : Google Search: Jonny Wilkinson skin tight image -
I hope the searcher wasn't too disappointed!

Devizes - a place of incoherent rage.

2003-10-10T22:14:00.000+01:00

My old friend David Lovibond writes about my local town Devizes in this week's Spectator - Ali and the new baby - Mary Jane Austin - are in there tonight.

"In better days the world left Wiltshire alone. Blighted by neither coastline nor famous hills, the county was merely on the way to somewhere else. In the heart of this fortunate backwater, Devizes was the very archetype of an English market town. There is a castle, a square big enough to have burned at least one Protestant martyr in, and fine curving terraces of Georgian houses paid for by Wiltshire’s fat cornlands.

... But it is only recently that suicidal drunkenness and the ubiquity of hard drugs associated with inner cities have appeared in the town and made street crime and even gang fights commonplace.

The Home Office lists Wiltshire as the second safest county in England, despite an increase of 20 per cent in reported crime over the past eight years. In Devizes, though, police figures show an astonishing 77 per cent growth in crime over the same period. Lawlessness on this scale means discarded hypodermics by the swings and blinged-up youths in fast cars parked nose to tail in the square, windows down and trading. It means an old red bus camped behind the town asylum, open for business and supplying the schizophrenics with the pills to keep them mad. It is shop windows smashed on Saturday nights and the town centre a no-go area every night. It is mini- riots outside the takeaways at closing time, and swirling groups of boozed-up teenagers in broad daylight shouting and threatening anyone who comes near. It is beggars at the cash-dispensers, mugged tourists, burnt-out cars, blizzards of litter, bikes ridden unchecked through pedestrians and the stink of piss in the alleys. It means CCTV cameras at every corner, and never meeting a stranger’s eye. And for me it means that my local, the ancient and once wonderful pub where General Wolfe recruited soldiers for his victorious campaigns in Canada, is frequently infested by redundant cannon fodder; hopeless old-young men gruesomely decorated with purple tattoos, uniformed in combats, woolly hats and ‘hoodies’, braying like donkeys and looking for trouble. It has become a place where extreme violence is only an unwise glance away; a commotion of running feet, flailing fists and a victim staggering, his head a red cap of blood."

And what has caused it?

"Like everywhere else in England, Devizes has lost its homogeneity. The pervasive blight of multiculturalism has, for the young especially, killed off any feeling of a personal relationship with their surroundings. Children at the local comp may have an excellent grasp of England’s pernicious role in the slave trade and know how it felt to be an oppressed Muslim in British India, but they won’t have a clue that Alfred the Great stopped the Viking hordes just down the road, or that the hill they see from their classroom windows is a Civil War battleground. The youths hanging round the fountain, or drifting listlessly from chip shop to pub to street corner, have no sense of ownership of the history that made their town. They have lost the instinct of belonging that their grandparents took for granted; the connection between people and place has been broken. "

I must say David lives in the other side of town to the bit I know, but his rant (go to the site and read it all) illuminates the decline of the England I love.

Homoeopathic heroin

2003-10-10T21:23:00.000+01:00

Just a question - if homoeopathy works why do drug dealers sell the real thing? If diluting dung beetle resin to one part in a trillion makes it more potent think what it could do for the crack dealer - very low raw material costs and when you are busted all you are selling is pure water with the hint of a molecule of dope in a swimming pool amount of water - probably purer than the mains. I looked but couldn't find the answer - Google Search: homoeopathy heroin:

"homoeopathy" or "homeopathy" give the same result but only one spelling is correct to me!

It’s a Girl

2003-10-09T23:41:00.000+01:00

It’s a Girl

Huge page of all the pictures - but I'm so proud I don't give a damn!

Its a Girl!

2003-10-09T17:14:00.000+01:00

Wow

After a day of nothing happening, 5:00pm Ali got a few twinges, 5:40 we left for the hospital, 5:50 we arrived, 5:57 we had the most beautiful 6lb 15 1/4 oz girl in our arms - An hour later she was suckilng and mum and baby doing fine.

Two bottles of Wiltshire fizz late all I can say is wow!
Welcome to the world!

Light blogging Alert

2003-10-09T12:53:00.000+01:00

Sat at home today with Willie Nelson playing on the computer feeling mellow, the sun is shining, Wiltshire is beautiful. My little girl had the first night without waking in pain for a week which is great and Ali is out walking round our fields with the dogs to see what happens because her waters burst earlier this morning and she is impatient for the baby to arrive..

I'll keep you up to date when I can.

Tim

Petrol Prices

2003-10-08T16:44:00.000+01:00

Latest news from Oklahoma:

KOTV - The News On Six: "Gasoline prices are again on the rise in Oklahoma.

Self-service unleaded is selling for an average of a $1.36 a gallon statewide, up a penny from Monday."

That is what we pay for a litre in the UK!

Gentlemen's Relish

2003-10-08T10:31:00.000+01:00

Gentlemen's Relish: "There is a question that many of us are asking ourselves these days, and it is this: “What is the Internet and can it be of any use to a gentleman?” The answer generally perceived to be the most accurate is: “Leave the beastly thing alone and your pleasant life of indolence will not be affected in the slightest.” However, if curiosity does get the better of you, it is important that you are aware of the true potential of the Internet. "

Swiss report on Iraq

2003-10-07T11:45:00.000+01:00

Translated version of http://www.checkpoint-online.ch/CheckPoint/Monde/Mon0068-IrakSituation.html

An long article from the Swiss on the situation in Iraq ( lifted from Samizdata.net ) - however being the monoglot that I am I have linked to a Google translation - (which runs out half way through) -
Choice excerpts - in Google transalated phrases which add to the flavour:

Contrary to the litanies of the media, the stabilization and the democratization of Iraq are in good way.

It is that Iraq of today, 4 months after the catch of Baghdad, does not resemble the mud pit which is described to us daily. The reports and the dispatches of all the Western press not only describe a reality much more moderate, but also make it possible to acquire an overall picture showing clearly that the coalition is on the good way.

The number of attacks is a good indication of this reality. At the end of June, it reached its top with an average of 25 daily attacks to the weapon with fire and the explosive, and a total of 40 serious incidents, but these figures are gone down again today to respectively 12 and 30. The reduction of the attacks, combined on the constant level of the losses, shows that a reduced number combatants improves its tactics and increases its effectiveness. But of the so low figures, for a country of 24 million inhabitants and vis-a-vis a force of 160' 000 men, indicate especially the absence of any popular resistance. For memory, between 1946 and 1947, the Jews conducted 578 attacks per day in Palestine on the British troops!

(whoops mentioned the Jews as proto-terrorists - that will probably get me blackballed - but I'm only quoting from this article!)

L'explosion de la criminalité surtout à Bagdad l'exige. En juillet dernier, la morgue de la capitale a dénombré 10 fois plus de victimes par balles qu'en juillet 2002, même si les rafales lâchées pour célébrer la mort des deux fils aînés de Saddam Hussein, selon un quotidien de Bagdad, ont à elles seules tué 31 Irakiens et blessé 76 autres. Malgré cela, la violence doit être relativisée : avec 470 morts par armes à feu en un mois pour une population de 5,6 millions d'habitants, Bagdad connaît un niveau de violence comparable à celui de Johannesburg (275 homicides par mois, 3,2 millions d'habitants) et un peu moins de deux fois et demi supérieur à celui de Washington (262 morts en 2002 pour 600'000 habitants).

Translate that bit yourself!

EU

2003-10-07T09:33:00.000+01:00

EUobserver: "Seven out of ten German voters would reject the euro if they were given the chance, a new poll has shown.

Only 29 percent of Germans would vote to keep the euro if a vote were held today. In contrast, 70 percent would reject the euro, given the opportunity.

Maybe surprisingly, it is younger Germans that are the most eurosceptic, with 73 percent of 18-24 year olds saying they would reject the euro. "

So there is hope after all - the young Germans are getting over the collective guilt trip of their fathers and are not thinking they have to agree to every and any thing that has the words European Unity written all over it. The EU might have been the answer to yesterday's problems but not tomorrow's.

Hey Yanks - the best sportsman in the world is someone you have never heard of!

2003-10-07T07:14:00.000+01:00

Jonny Wilkinson

As an English Rugby fan I have great hopes for our team in the World Cup which is about to start. And it is a team game, but for my colonial friends I just wanted to bring to their attention Jonny - acknowledged by friend and enemy alike to be at the pinnacle of the toughest game around. And he believes in hard work, modesty and being thoroughly a good bloke - compare and contrast to the hissy Prima Donnas in the soccer world who earn ten times as much.

And this year the new strip is skin tight so the Present Mrs is also happy to sit down and wath the games :)

(Oh and boasting about him being the best is not just because he is English - I also cant praise highly enough Jonah Lomu of NZ who is another great sportsman - his dignity and courage in being robbed of the best years of his playing life by a terrible disease and coming back to the game is what being a sportsman is being about.

21C Flatearthers - David Franklin

2003-10-06T16:04:00.000+01:00

From those lovely people at the IEA - Institute of Economic Affairs -
a pdf article about the "flatearther's" belief in the Free NHS.

As always their articles are a worth the read.

Colorado Conservative: Here's the Reuters story on French Missles in Iraq

2003-10-04T14:10:00.000+01:00

Didn't spot this on the BBC about our old friends across the channel supplying missiles made this year to Iraq!
Colorado Conservative: Here's the Reuters story on French Missles in Iraq

The Edge of England's Sword: The Knight's Move

2003-10-03T15:56:00.000+01:00

Excellent article on the current World Climate Conference in Russia - Thanks to The Brazos de Dios Cantina for pointing it out to me.

The Edge of England's Sword: The Knight's Move: "the head of the Russian Academy of Scientists (not a fringe scientist, by any means, although I'm sure the ad hominem attacks will start) saying that the only people who would be affected by the abandonment of Kyoto "would be several thousand people who make a living attending conferences on global warming" .... Go read.

Good sense from Judges - for once.

2003-10-03T11:13:00.000+01:00

TCS: Tech Central Station - 'The Protection of the Foolhardy or Reckless Few'?: "'It is not, and never should be, the policy of the law to require the protection of the foolhardy or reckless few (and therefore) to deprive, or interfere with, the enjoyment by the remainder of society of the liberties and amenities to which they are right entitled,' the Appellate Committee from the House of Lords opined."

Thanks to Judicious Asininity for bringing this to my attention.

Poor guy ignored a DO NOT SWIM sign - did - hurt himself - sued - case chucked out eventually with those stirring words. Whilst I'm sorry for the guy being all smashed up this is good news.

The Price of freedom

2003-10-03T06:58:00.000+01:00

I noted this travel article about a little Dorset village -
Telegraph | Travel | The village that died - it happens we went there this summer and it is as described. I live near Imber. As I walk the dog this morning I will go past a Pill Box / gun emplacement where a few locals were prepared to stay and slow down the invasion for a couple of hours or so. If I could walk ten miles south I am in a military training zone - Salisbury Plain. Random notes maybe, but protecting this "homeland" (as the Americans would say) is part of the warp and weft of where I live and who I am.

Hallmarking Gold and Silver

2003-10-02T21:31:00.000+01:00

For 700 years - let me repeat that for 700 years we have had a system for hallmarking precious metals. It works.

The bloody Italians in charge of the EU this week want to change it because :

The Precious Metals Directive had been shelved for more than a decade, but under the presidency of the EU by the Italians - the Continent's largest jewellery manufacturers - it was reinstated.

The original directive maintained that the variations in testing and marking items of gold, silver and platinum from country to country distorted European trade laws.

It claimed that the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, France and Spain should relax their tradition of compulsory third party testing in favour of a Europe-wide option of self-marking. For more see: ic Birmingham - Fingerprint of quality lost

So the Italians are going to tell us about honest trading, and destroy part of our heritage on a fanciful whim - oh and guess who are the biggest jewellery manufacturers in the Eu , and who haven't got hallmarks - the fucking Italians.

There is a wider point Universal Darwinism applies to laws and customs of a country - if it has stood the test of time - it probably bloody works. If you want to bring in a new system , bring it in alongside and let them compete. Currency, units of measure, etc this all applies. When you see a shrill demand to BAN the old you know the new isn't going to win on its merits.

Obey the suit

2003-10-02T21:05:00.000+01:00

Obey the suit

..my day at the office (if only!)

Lib-Dem World

2003-10-02T20:51:00.000+01:00

Lib-Dem World has now gone in to action - I'll miss the old bugger on CIX but I will be a regular here (oh and he is less of a lib-dem than I am) guaranteed to offend everyone.

Of Cabbages and Kings

2003-10-02T11:36:00.000+01:00

So Rupert Murdoch the great republican has suddenly discovered the benefits of hereditary succession:

"City analysts have expressed deep concerns at the prospect of Rupert Murdoch's younger son, James, taking over as chief executive of BSkyB, branding him the wrong man for the job.
They are worried he lacks experience to take over the publicly listed company and claim the move is damagingly 'nepotistic'. "

One day I'm going to write the definitive article on the advantages of having an element of hereditary governance. Simply, elected rulers spend their time and our money on ensuring their re-election and the wellbeing of their families (for natural reasons). "For life" appointments such as Judges show how this can grant independence from the day-to-day desire for re-election. Hereditary rulers are even freer because they do not have to consider how to help their offspring up the greasy pole. Their removal only comes if they prove disastrous in the long term, not just in the run up to Polling day; or if they prove too troublesome or uncool. There is also an element of the old Greek idea of random choice of legislator and how no-one who wants to be a ruler should be allowed to.

Hip op ruling: Freedom to travel?

2003-10-02T11:00:00.000+01:00

The best news I have heard about the NHS for a long time - a bit of competition creeping in. Lets hope this breaks open the floodgates of demand.

BBC NEWS | Health | Hip op ruling: Freedom to travel?: "Hip op ruling: Freedom to travel?

A High Court judge says that, in principle, at least, if you have suffered 'undue delay' waiting for your NHS operation, you can go to Europe, have surgery - and leave the NHS to pick up the bill. "

Worth going to the BBC site for the full story and try and pick out the truth from the bias.

Crown appeals baby rape sentence

2003-09-30T21:07:00.000+01:00

I don't know which one should be strung up first the rapist or the Judge - Lord Reed - who thought a five year sentence was appropriate. My blood runs cold at the this, I'm sure you could think of a more appropriate judgement.

ic Berkshire - Crown appeals baby rape sentence: "The prosecution service in Scotland has lodged an appeal against the sentence imposed on a man who raped a 13-month-old baby girl.
In a brief statement the Crown Office said it was appealing against the five-year sentence handed down to James Taylor, a 43-year-old from Stirlingshire, who pleaded guilty to a number of charges, including raping the baby.
...
Scotland's most senior legal officer also asked for a report into whether the sentence given to Taylor was 'unduly lenient'.
Lord Reed sentenced Taylor to five years for the sex attack on a 13-month-old baby when he appeared at the High Court in Dunfermline on September 3."

The Tony is not for Turning

2003-09-30T16:38:00.000+01:00

News 30 September 2003
An uncompromisingTony Blair today told his party conference: "I can only go one way. I've not got a reverse gear."

As the great Andrew Rawnsley once said:

"One of the legacies of Margaret Thatcher was the blackening of the idea that a politician should be allowed to change his or her mind. 'You turn if you want to, the lady is not for turning,' she boasted. John Major's weak government gave U-turns an even worse name. Tony Blair has played up to the image, misleading though it is, that he is unyieldingly Thatcheresque. 'Back bone, not back down,' he once told his party conference when he was trying to imitate the Iron Lady.
I appreciate why Ministers are so coy about conceding that they have done the U thing. They fear that it will be taken as evidence of either blithering incompetence or terminal feebleness - and sometimes it is. But I reckon there's something to be said in favour of the U-turn. "

Suck and blow game.

2003-09-30T11:28:00.000+01:00

Probably the most fun you can have with a ~~hoover~~ Dyson - without risk of personal injury!Dyson Telescope

Enjoy!

The Girlies have cured my site

2003-09-30T10:22:00.000+01:00

[the girlie matters] tips and tricks: ie6 table centering bug

"One day, I viewed my blog from work - where I have IE6 - and found that all my table content was centered! I found the solution at evolt.org - eliminate the URI portion of the doctype declaration.

Instead of:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">

Use this:

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">

"
So I did and it cured the sidebar width problem ( I think) - does it look all right to you?

Fuel protester calls for stoppage

2003-09-30T06:53:00.000+01:00

BBC NEWS | England | Fuel protester calls for stoppage: "Motorists across Britain are being asked to 'stop for one minute' in a protest against increases in the cost of fuel duty. "

Just one minute? - I was stopped for bloody twenty minutes trying to drive into Newbury yesterday because of the appalling road system.

For my American friends there are 3.78 litres in an American Gallon ( 4.54 in an Imperial Gallon) - 80 pence per litre = $5 a Gallon and what are you paying? The difference is TAX

I cant do a full analysis but a rough calculation shows that based on International and Domestic Petrol and Diesel Price Comparisons in Singapore you can buy Petrol for 10 pence a litre before Tax..

Oh for the heady days in 2000 when we had a real fuel protest - maybe it will happen again.

Four Right Wing Wackos

2003-09-29T20:52:00.000+01:00

Great stuff, I especially like the first piece I read about Forest Management for several reasons, firstly I have an MA Oxon in Forest Management so I know a bit about it (oh and agree completely with what you are saying) but to have it so well researched and referenced is wonderful . Secondly apart from my home my favourite (that's how we spell it) place is up in Colorado and I saw the battle between the beetles, the econazis and the foresters going on. And thirdly I live near Salisbury Plain Military Training Area - so apart from big bangs and the gentle chatter of machine guns also has the best natural chalk downland in the world. And in a dry summer like this one a lot of it burns. And no one goes to put it out, partly because would you want to when there is a lot of ordnance lying about and secondly it is the best way to manage grassland. And fourthly I look forward to going through the rest of the site.

2003-09-29T15:49:00.000+01:00

Just added a search button - which includes searching the blogs I read. Clever stuff. Adding a 'Blogs I Read' Search to Your Site

2003-09-29T13:34:00.000+01:00

Joy! High heels may prevent arthritis: Study

No more excuses for them not to be worn.

Let's ban sensible shoes as being bad for health - well, I know there is nothing like watching a pair of unsensible ones to make me feel better (As long as I don't have to wear them; though the Missus appreciates it when I wear the cowboy boots!)

I suppose I'm living up to a stereotype :)
In these shoes?:
"Then I met an Englishman
'Oh' he said
'Won't you walk up and down my spine,
It makes me feel strangely alive.'
I said 'In these shoes?
I doubt you'd survive.'
I said 'Honey, let's do it.
Let's stay right here.'"

2003-09-29T06:30:00.000+01:00

BBC gets all touchy because a TV programme is a tiny bit critical of Blair

Well thats a surprise - I saw programme, I thought it was unfair as well because it was too bloody kind to Blair!

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | Reviews | The Deal proves unfair to Blair: "Namely that Mr Blair was, on arrival in Westminster, an irritating, fresh-faced little squirt who had to be brought into line by a dour intellectual Scot rooted in Labour lore.
As a result, Michael Sheen at first plays Blair in the style of Spitting Image's David Steel puppet: bounding along next to his far superior colleague like an over-eager puppy.
The actor later transforms Blair into something more sinister and cynical - cruelly betraying the man who did so much for him with swept back hair and a glint in his eye. Think Rik Mayall's Alan B'stard.

The deal sees Tony Blair portrayed as a 'flighty careerist'
Indeed, much of the film is deeply unfair to Blair.
It underplays his own rise through the Labour ranks, insinuating that any success he had was all down to Brown anyway.
It credits him with almost no intellectual rigour of his own and is often deeply simplistic. "

2003-09-27T13:45:00.000+01:00

Bruno update

It is so rare that Britain produces a boxer who approaches world class status, and appears to be a nice guy as well, so the news that Frank Bruno has suffering from a breakdown has been concerning us all so I was pleased to see the following release:

A spokesperson for the mental home where Frank Bruno is staying said "He's
as good as gold, he's been absolutely no trouble, at least he was until
some idiot rung the dinner bell."

2003-09-26T17:05:00.000+01:00

Fox hunting in the UK

Something I don't understand - a huge number of people are immensely pissed off with the likely forthcoming ban on fox hunting and destruction of the livelyhoods, lifestyles and liberty.
So where are the protest blogs? It is equivalent to the gun control argument in the States ( and there is no shortage of blogs that argue that point back and forth), or is it just that the UK is way behind the US in the art of blogging?

Living in the country I know the deep resentment that is building up and the fun and games that will happen when a ban is imposed - but I'm not knowledgable enough to write the stories.

Here's a good site from the US that is a starting place:
Animal-Rights: Foxhunting in Virginia

2003-09-25T15:58:00.000+01:00

The MR-D Doctrine applies. *

BBC NEWS | World | Europe | Prodi rules out EU resignations: "European Commission President Romano Prodi has said there is no need for any senior members of his team to resign over alleged fraud at the European Union's statistical agency, Eurostat.
Mr Prodi was addressing a committee of European Parliament leaders at a closed-door hearing in Strasbourg.
'After careful thought and in full awareness of the issues, I consider there is no reason to ask any Commissioner to assume the political responsibility and resign,' said Mr Prodi "

- Snouts in trough the lot of them, we should invest in piano wire futures for the forthcoming revolution.

* Mandy Rice-Davis once famously said: "He would say that wouldn't he?"

2003-09-25T07:00:00.000+01:00

A labour politician speaks sense - shock horror

I am growing to like Kim Howells - the man who called British contemporary art 'conceptual bullshit' when he was Minister for Culture. He yesterday told the truth about Railway financing as Minister for Transport - and in doing so he has upset the Trainspotters -
ic Wales - 'Trainspotter' jibe riles rail campaigners - I hope he takes over from the hapless Hoon as Minister of Defence next and starts telling the truth there!

2003-09-25T06:41:00.000+01:00

Essential reading from Wiltshire

Numberwatch's September 2003 article is yet another fantastic demolition of the eco-nazi and scaremonger's scare stories.

Climate change, BSE / CJD, Cancer and Michael MEacher are all covered in depth and detail that the main stream press refuses to - and it is an easy and funny read. Sit down with a carceniogenic cup of coffee and enjoy.

2003-09-24T14:11:00.000+01:00

The day I became a Libertarian - 19th January 1973

I remember clearly watching Top of the Pops and the first perfomance of The Sweet "Blockbuster". It starts with an air raid siren and embarrassingly I recall wondering, in that priggish way that the young have when they are trying to be grown up and serious, - "gosh, wouldn't people who have suffered from real air raids find that hurtful to their feelings - how was that allowed - surely it should be banned.."

And then I remember the next day thinking that was a stupid thing to think, trying hard to be offended on behalf of other people. And so I became a libertarian..

(And this story has not been improved or changed because of who I now know....)

2003-09-23T17:50:00.000+01:00

Concrete them over

(Apologies for the formatting - blogger is crap and the preview isn't what it looks like in the real world - I have spent all evening trying to implement some cool stuff in the sidebar and have given up - so I done't have the energy going through removing the foreign accents that blogger has put in. - sorry - I have another blog on a proper system and when I'm rich and famous I will put this one on it as well.)

The M25 cost about Â£7.5m per mile - lets allow Â£10m a mile. The cost of just maintaining the UK rail network is estimates at about Â£30 BILLION - that is the equivalent to 3000 miles of new motorway. I'm not sure how many milof mainlineine track there are but I reckon 3000 would cover most of them. (I gather they claim 21,000 miles of track - but I'm not sure if a two line railway counts as two tracks and basically I can't be arsed - the figures are still horrendous either way)

Two points - one lets just concrete them over - buses, lorries,cars and taxis are far more efficient and allow individual freedom ( which is why the libdems hate them so much.

secondly if it really costs as much to maintain some iron rails on an existing network as it does to build a motorway from scratch there is something seriously wrong with the railway maintainers - probably no competition.

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Â£5bn Network Rail cuts delay track work: "Today's revised Network Rail business plan was expected to reveal that the not-for-profit company will spend Â£24.6bn over the next five years, rather than the Â£29.5bn announced in June.
The June figure had already been reduced by 20% from the original figure of Â£35bn, which was announced in March 2003. "

2003-09-21T21:22:00.000+01:00

Help - I think the cat has done for me (and the French)!

Long article in The Sunday Times today ( which you can't link to ) about how a parasite in cats alters the cats behavior, which I knew about, but it also seems that when the filthy moggies shit everywhere they also infect us and there may be an insidious behavioral change caused by them. To quote "

"He found the women infected with toxoplasma spent more money on clothes and were consistently rated as more attractive. We found they were more easy going, more warm hearted, had more friends and cared more about how they looked," he said. However, they were also less trustworthy and had more relationships with men. By contrast, the infected men appeared to suffer from the "alley cat" effect: becoming less well groomed, undesirable loners who were more willing to fight. They tended to be more suspicious and jealous. "They tended to dislike following rules," said Flegr."

(Hey that's me)

Berdoy said: "The fact that a single-celled parasite can have such an effect on the mammalian or even human brain is amazing."

One startling fact to emerge from research is the great differences in levels of infection. In France and Germany, for example, about 80%-90% of people are infected - nearly twice that in Britain or America.

"I am French and I have even wondered if there is an effect on national character," Berdoy said.

Dr Dominique Soldati, a researcher at Imperial College in London, is studying ways of blocking toxoplasma from getting into cells. "Once you are infected you cannot get rid of this parasite and the numbers of them slowly grow over the years, she said. "It's not a nice thought."

So that explains the French national behaviour.....

Times Online - Home

2003-09-19T15:13:00.000+01:00

Twats of the week.

I feel the old Tourette's syndrom about to break out again reading this heap of euroweeny rubbish How Europe sees the Bush Administration But then thank God that I'm an Englishman not an Urinepean.

2003-09-19T14:08:00.000+01:00

Europeans who want to see an economic recovery will have to watch it on TV'

EUobserver: "The euro zone is set to grow five times slower than the US this year, according to new projections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in their latest economic report - released yesterday in Dubai.

Whilst the US economy, with expected growth of 3.2 percent this year, is dragging the World economy out of its present slump, the euro zone, with a sluggish 0.5 percent growth projection this year, is dragging it back down.

Moreover, recovery in the 12-country zone is expected to be slower than expected. Presenting the report, the IMF's Chief Economist, Ken Rogoff, said, 'for the moment, most Europeans who want to see an economic recovery will have to watch it on TV'. "

2003-09-18T16:27:00.000+01:00

Big Brother plans on UK Internet usage.

Where do I start.

The plan by the Govt to "retain every email and web page accessed" for a year.
The ISP opposition to it based on only on its utility 'The government has not satisfied the industry that the data they wish to retain is of use to law enforcement agencies"
The oh so obvious reference to kiddie porn and drugs.

Just read it and get angry.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | New media | Web firms rubbish ministers' email plan: "Web firms rubbish ministers' email plan

And then The Register: comes up witha story as well "Kids charities demand ID parade for pre-paid punters" and you dont even have to read it to know the contents.

UK child protection charities yesterday called for the mandatory registration of pre-paid mobile phones amid concern that paedophiles could use untraceable mobiles to access the Web.

The Children's Charities' Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS), a group of seven leading UK charities, wants to extend the safeguards that apply to establishing an Internet account to mobile phones. They want service providers to compile a register so that paedophiles are not able to shelter under the cloak of anonymity in accessing chatrooms or to visit illicit Web sites.

"Mobile operators are going to have to change their policy with regard to pre-paid phones," Jon Carr, Internet Director of children's charity NCH, told the FT.

Blah de blah

CHIS' proposals on the mandatory registration of pre-paid mobile phones are an extension of its manifesto about self-regulation of new content on mobiles, published last month, and available from the NCH Web site here.
....

Personally I'm more worried about the wholesale buggery and perversion that goes on in Children's homes run by such charities - If my kids were suddenly orphaned and destitute I would prefer thaty were handed out to the first stranger than get in to such hands - the odds would be better they would have a wholesome life.

2003-09-17T22:47:00.000+01:00

Kim du Toit kindly notes an email I sent him and being the gentleman he is only hints at my horrific tales of the NHS - when I have the time and the anger I will relay them here.

2003-09-17T16:29:00.000+01:00

Inward Investment into the UK - and the effect of staying out of the euro.

So Britain in Europe say its collapsing based on 2003 figures-
http://www.britainineurope.org.uk/le_news.phtml?art_id=95

"no" says its not - but base that on 2002 figures
http://www.no-euro.com/factsfigures/briefs/inward_investment.asp

The figures are on:
http://tinyurl.com/noow

UK is down, Germany is down more, Sweden is up from the USA - in fact I
can't see any pattern that links to the euro or pound. And all you need is
Vodafone buying a telco and it tilts it all another way.

So a pox on both their houses

2003-09-17T10:40:00.000+01:00

Great news from "Adam Smith"

"Today (yes, today) we launch our new Adam Smith weblog. A first among UK
think-tanks, it is a fast-moving forum for comment and opinion, bringing
free-market, free-society ideas to a new -- and large -- blogging world.
We've some good pieces up already, so post your comments (just click on the
'comment' buttons); suggest new topics; be outraged; but above all, think.
Visit the blog now at
http://www.adamsmithblog.org "

This is definitely a daily visit one. Well done.

2003-09-17T10:33:00.000+01:00

An email from a europhile friend....

Tim,

Some good quotes here. My favourite is:

Pascal Lamy, the EU's trade commissioner and a
French national, this month rebuked Jean-Pierre
Raffarin, the French prime minister, for
ridiculing the Commission for doing its legal
duty to uphold the EU's stability pact.
"Characterising Brussels as a heartless Scrooge,
obsessed with accounting and punctiliously
enforcing rigid rules, is a bit facile," he said.

So that's what the FRENCH prime minister thinks
about Brussels.

Also:

Philippe de Schoutheete, former Belgian permanent
representative to the EU and now an adviser to
the European Commission on the constitutional
negotiations, believes the Swedish result is not
entirely negative.
"We do not want people in [the euro] who are
half-hearted," he says, "or who are there for the
wrong reasons.
"The plague of Europe for 30 years has been that
Britain and Denmark joined on false assumptions:
[they believed] it was all economic and not
political. It is better not to have countries in
the eurozone [that] are there reluctantly."

But that is the lie we are told all the time by our leaders - "it is just economic there is no political side to the euro"

2003-09-16T16:16:00.000+01:00

$7.5m to set up a dope farm, no hassle from the cops and they still can grow a decent smoke - thats the government for you...First Patients of Canada's Government-Approved Marijuana Demand Their Money Back - from Tampa Bay Online

2003-09-16T11:40:00.000+01:00

Worth supporting, though His Toniness wont allow a referendum which he might lose and this one he would!

"The Rally for a Referendum : will be held on
Friday 7 November 2003 at Church House, Westminster. Its purpose is to examine and publicise the constitutional and legal significance of the EU Constitutional Treaty and to press for a referendum of the British people on its ratification. "

2003-09-16T11:33:00.000+01:00

Briton's dash from Spain beat mother's ambulance to hospital 10 miles away.

I was going to comment on this but Kim du Toit has already said it better than I can.

Living in England nothing surprises me about the NHS anymore.

Several years ago my then wife and I were staying in an NHS hospital with the son and heir in intensive care after an horrendous accident - my wife suffered a miscarriage through the shock and even though we were in the room next door to the A&E entrance they could not find her a doctor - I had to put her in the car and drive across the city to another hospital where we failed to get any treatment or diagnosis either.

She became stoical about this as the baby was obviously dead by the end of that day - let's worry about our child on life support. Once he was home we got the gungy bit happening.

So we pay for the NHS and then anyone who can afford to pays again for a private system.

2003-09-15T10:10:00.000+01:00

An apology

For years I have mistaken Sweden as being the archtypical socialist euroweeny nanny state. I now realise I was wrong and it is fact the home of a grand people who are brave defenders of national rights against the fascist tendancies of the Eurocrats and a crony government.

( Oh and did you notice that they have a "Don't know " option on the voluntary ballot - and 2% went to the booth to register that they didn't know what they were doing there!)

2003-09-12T17:00:00.000+01:00

Here's a story about a great Cornishman ( I expect he would prefer that to being called English ) - just read it.

Mudville Gazette: 911 Remembered: Rick Rescorla was a soldier

2003-09-10T16:20:00.000+01:00

Further to the entry below I have finally found a simple explanation.

THE BRITISH -: "THE BRITISH - CITIZENS OR SUBJECTS?
One of the most enduring myths in the area of nationality is that British people are 'subjects' rather than 'citizens'. It is not true, and hasn't been true since 1948.
Prior to 1 January 1949, British people were 'British subjects'. As were people in Australia, Canada, India, South Africa and all across the British Empire and Commonwealth. Although the Dominions like Australia and Canada had become independent nations by the late 1940s, they shared a common nationality with the United Kingdom and British colonies.
In the late 1940s it was decided that the Dominions should be able to create their own citizenships for people connected with their territory. Canada had been the first to do so in 1947. The status of British subject would remain, but would generally be held by virtue of citizenship of a Commonwealth country.
In the UK the British Nationality Act 1948 created the status of 'Citizen of the UK and Colonies' for people connected with the UK and its colonies as they were on 1 January 1949. Citizens of the UK and Colonies were also British subjects, as were citizens of other Commonwealth nations. The British also allowed some people from former British India and Southern Ireland to hold the status of British subject independently of holding the citizenshipof any Commonwealth nation.
Under UK law, from 1949 to 1982 the terms 'British subject' and 'Commonwealth citizen' were interchangeable. People from the UK were not just British subjects, but citizens of the UK and Colonies as well.
The British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983, ended the use of the term 'British subject' to refer to Commonwealth citizens. People from the UK became British citizens, and there is no reference made to British citizens being also British subjects. Britis"

2003-09-10T15:52:00.000+01:00

Reading the essential Free Market Fairy Tales I was amused ( slightly :) ) by his article on citizenship. It has always been a gripe of mine that I was born a British Subject and had citizenship thrust apon me. I want to be a Royal subject not some poxy citizen of a touchy feely republic. I think the difference is between dogs and cats - dogs are subjects and in return for loyalty they are looked after - cats are citizens and while Lib dems may share food with them, and they are allowed to work on farms, no right thinking person really cares for them. I note from Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Majority want to be citizens not subjects: " 60% of British adult voters prefer to see themselves as citizens and only 32% describe themselves as 'royal subjects' despite the fact all adults in Britain share that constitutional status. " which is what I might expect from the Guardian.

But then before I ranted at greater length I thought I had better check on whethert I was a subject, citizen or both - and the answer is far more complicted than I thought or believed possible - see if you can work it out.Home Office Page

2003-09-06T20:55:00.000+01:00

There is so much bollocks being talked about the bad harvest pushing up bread prices when the price of wheat is still lower than it was twenty years ago. So I started to look on the web for what is going on. The french are revolting about it as usual - bollocks to them, let them eat cake - and then I came across this snippet from Italy (the euro is being blamed as well and I think that there may be a case where euro price rises are being blamed on the bad harvest, which is the fault of global warming which is casused by Americans) - any way this guy seems to understand what is happening but the last sentence shows the ingrained state control mentality!

Agenzia Giornalistica Italia - News In English: "INFLATION: BREAD PRICE DOESN'T DEPEND ON DROUGHT, SAYS COLDIRETTI
(AGI) - Rome, Italy, Aug.19 - The price of bread depends almost entirely on items other than the cost of wheat, and it is totally unjustified to say that there could be price rises due to the drought. That's what Coldiretti asserted, pointing out that about 1 kg of wheat (800 gr. of flour) is needed to make 1 kg of bread. Wheat costs 16-18 cents per kilo, whereas bread costs 1.50 euro per kilo, with wheat representing only 12 pct of the finished product price. Hence, an improbable 20 pct increase in the price of wheat would lead to a 2.4 pct price rise of bread.
Similar situation for many other products such as pasta, fruit juices, wine, milk, cheeses, meat, fruit and vegetables: the price paid by customers is from 2 to 10 times greater than the one paid by producers for the raw material, and is often due to industrial processing, packaging and transport. There should not be unjustified price rises, reports Coldiretti. Droughts and frost are becoming a frequent alibi. That's why we need that the national price watchdogs be efficient, financed by taxpayers and consisting of representatives from all sectors, to avoid general price rises and inevitable importation from foreign markets. (AGI)"

2003-09-03T21:45:00.000+01:00

Across the Atlantic: Things you wish you could say at work

2003-09-03T20:29:00.000+01:00

Welcome to a great new blog - I was going to publish this first story myself but got distracted -Free Market Fairy Tales

2003-09-01T12:29:00.000+01:00

Watched some of an excellent tv program last night about Diana Mosley - I shouldn't have been surprised that:
Oswald Mosley: "After the war Mosley and Diana Mosley established Euphorion Books in an attempt to publish the work of right-wing authors. Diana also edited the far-right magazine, The European. In 1947 Mosley formed the Union Movement which advocated British integration in Europe "

2003-09-01T11:59:00.000+01:00

News: "'During the doctors' strike in the 1970s, death rates fell'"

Why doesn't that surprise me..

2003-08-29T11:19:00.000+01:00

Moore's Law - The immorality of the Ten Commandments. By Christopher Hitchens: "fighting words A wartime lexicon.

Moore's Law
The immorality of the Ten Commandments.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Wednesday, August 27, 2003, at 2:04 PM PT

..............

One is presuming (is one not?) that this is the same god who actually created the audience he was addressing. This leaves us with the insoluble mystery of why he would have molded ("in his own image," yet) a covetous, murderous, disrespectful, lying, and adulterous species. Create them sick, and then command them to be well? What a mad despot this is, and how fortunate we are that he exists only in the minds of his worshippers.

It's obviously too much to expect that a Bronze Age demagogue should have remembered to condemn drug abuse, drunken driving, or offenses against gender equality, or to demand prayer in the schools. Still, to have left rape and child abuse and genocide and slavery out of the account is to have been negligent to some degree, even by the lax standards of the time. I wonder what would happen if secularists were now to insist that the verses of the Bible that actually recommend enslavement, mutilation, stoning, and mass murder of civilians be incised on the walls of, say, public libraries? There are many more than 10 commandments in the Old Testament, and I live for the day when Americans are obliged to observe all of them, including the ox-goring and witch-burning ones. (Who is Judge Moore to pick and choose?)

2003-08-29T10:11:00.000+01:00

Captain Euro is going to save us all - I think this post on courrèges is more convincing - for instance "Captain Euro clearly deserved to die. Frankly, the guy's a crypto-Nazi. As explained here, Captain Euro wears a pentagram on his uniform that symbolizes "strength through unity," a motto used frequently by Germany's Nazi Party. The fact that Captain Euro's creator didn't see anything wrong with appropriating a popular Nazi motto to describe the EU is scary on many levels that I won't go into here. Just use your imagination."

2003-08-28T15:17:00.000+01:00

Bayer Hazard Tossers - I met with a protest march of (ten maybe twelve) people in Newbury yesterday. A bunch of middle class boys whose mummies had brought them into town in their big cars and could spare the time to get on the streets, man, because they were on holiday from some media studies course at a former polytechnic.

I told them that GM was the best chance for little black babies and that they were a bunch of white racists, which didn't go down well :)

2003-08-23T21:11:00.000+01:00

Times Online: "The secret of getting rich: Doh! Work hard"

Another article explaining why the americans are better off than the Europeans...

2003-08-19T06:20:00.000+01:00

Tax Boycott: "THOUSANDS of people will boycott the payment of council tax, car licence tax and the
BBC licence fee under plans by hunt supporters to launch a campaign of “civil resistance” against the proposed ban on foxhunting. "
Or we could just boycott taxes because they are too bloody high!

2003-08-15T16:35:00.000+01:00

Absinthe & Cookies (a little bit bitter, a little bit sweet): "Junk Science & DDT

A very good article here on the demonization of DDT and how it's caused the deaths of many people around the world, with more to come."

2003-08-14T10:05:00.000+01:00

FOXNews.com on Global warming: It is hot " we don’t know why. Neither do the global-warming pushers."

2003-08-14T08:04:00.000+01:00

An Email from the Adam Smith Institute which deserves the widest audience.

*From:* Eamonn Butler
*To:* Adam Smith Friends

If you've just come back from holiday and this is one of 157 messages in
your inbox, then I know the feeling and I'm sorry. But some of us work round
the year you know. Price of liberty is eternal vigilance, etc. But anyway,
I'll keep it as short as I can.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN THIS BULLETIN....
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRAVELLING ECONOMISTS: We spread the word up North
HARD NEWS: Well, I find some of it pretty tough to bear, at least
EVENTS: Autumn lunches, conferences, and other events
STUFF: Just stuff, really

BUT FIRST... A COMPETITION

People from overseas used to tell me how funny they found 'Yes Minister'. I
aways explained that in Britain it was not regarded as comedy but at biting
social realism. Well, this isn't a joke, it's the real thing.

Following the wide coverage on our report COSTING JOBS, we're holding a
COMPETITION to find the daftest public-sector job description. It could be
something pithy like Bristol's 'Walking Officer' or something grand like
Durham's 'Young People's Substance Misuse Tier 3 Service Manager' -- or
something truly daft like Ealing's 'Five a Day Local Area Co-ordinator'.

Results will be announced on NOVEMBER 5 (of course), so get your entry in to
jobsworth@adamsmith.org before then. The winner will receive a certificate,
a bust of Adam Smith, and an old Punch Cartoon showing a customer in the
'Jolly Taxpayer' looking in despair at the bill.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TRAVELLING ECONOMISTS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

ICELAND BOOMS
*************

I'm just back from a Reykjavik seminar on education reform. Like the locals,
I looked on enviously as experts from the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden
described their voucher-style education systems. There, parents can choose
any school, public or private, and the government pays the basic cost -- so
everyone has a choice and there's real innovation in schooling. Magic. Have
a look at these themes on our education issues page:
http://www.adamsmith.org/cissues/education/home.htm
and see our review of the Dutch and Danish systems, Learning from Europe:
http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/publications/education-pub.htm

Iceland is booming, by the way, thanks to a twelve-year programme of tax
cuts, deregulation and privatization. I met the Finance Minister, who seemed
rather glum that he had privatized everything he could. So I mentioned the
success of private prison management in the UK. He hadn't thought of that
one. So our experts are expecting a call. Watch this space.

SWEDEN DECIDES
**************

Meanwhile, my colleague Dr Pirie is speaking to a conference in Stockholm
next week to help them make up their minds on the Euro in advance of their
referendum vote on the issue. Should be enough to tip the balance. Start
selling Euros now. Mind you, like Ireland, if they get the result wrong the
Feds will probably just insist they have to vote all over again...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
HARD NEWS: Well, most of it sticks in your craw, at least...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

- How come taxes are so hard to escape while benefits are so hard to apply
for? Over 250,000 families eligible for tax credits haven't applied says the
Revenue, but the Tories say the real figure is more than 1,000,000.

- Meanwhile, even those who have applied for tax credits can't get them
because Revenue computers in many areas can't cope with the burden.

- May and June's exports fell to their lowest level since 1999.

- Over three-quarters of NHS hospital doctors plan to quit early, citing
long hours, stress and depression, says a Hospital Doctor magazine survey.

- The IPPR says that all the political horse-trading means that the Kyoto
agreement won't work. Ah well, right conclusion, at least.

- The 4000-pound 'golden hellos' have failed to attract new maths teachers.
there are 320 (ie 20 percent) fewer trainees now than in 1997.

- The ONS says 86,000 new public-sector jobs were created in 2002. But local
authorities are hiring twice as many administrators (8.2 percent more) than
teachers (3.7 percent more). See our JOBS COMPETITION above.

- The ONS says that while RPI inflation is 2.9 percent, public-sector
inflation is 6.4 percent, and universities' costs will rise at 6.9 percent.

- With 1600 schools reporting deficit budgets, the government is raiding a
scheme designed to improve teaching standards in order to help plug the gap.

----------------------------------- -------------------------------------
WHO'S HOT? WHO'S NOT?
----------------------------------- -------------------------------------

POLYFILLA: Usefully fills spaces POLLY TOYNBEE: Doesn't
http://www.polycell.co.uk/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/columnists

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EVENTS: See http://www.adamsmith.org/policy/news/forward.htm for details
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Never mind the heatwave, Christmas will soon be here. And among other stuff
going on at ASI between then and now, we have some impressive speakers lined
up for power lunches, seminars, conferences and lectures. Including:

DAVID SMITH, Sunday Times Economics Editor (10 September)
JOHN HORAM MP, ex-chair of the Environmental Audit Committee (18 September)
MICHAEL DOBBS, author of House of Cards (24 September)
NEIL COLLINS, Telegraph City Editor (8 October)
DAVID WILLETTS MP, he of two brains (16 October)
PETER PIKE, chairman of the Regulatory Reform Committee (22 October)
CHRIS GENT, ex Vodaphone boss (11 November)
MIKE SUMMERS, Falkland Islands MP (1 December)
DAVID CARTER, head of OFCOM (10 December)

YOOF: Then there's our (under-33s only) Next Generation Group sprees on 14
September, 7 October, and 4 November. Not to mention our ISOS sixth-form
conference on 2 October.

GROWN-UPS: Conference-wise, our international workshop programmes look at
privatization issues such as labour adjustment, infrastructure management,
corporate governance and effective regulation.

NOSH: Following our hugely successful Westminster health policy breakfasts,
we're doing another lot. Watch www.adamsmith.org for unfolding details.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
STUFF: Progress! Relief! Networking!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

365-DAY PROGRESS
****************

On my way to Iceland I was reading the newsletter of the Specialist Schools
Trust, run by our excellent friend Sir Cyril Taylor. At one of their events,
John May (Chief Exec of the Career Academy Foundation) threw out some
statistics that show what a changing world we life in.

Currently, he said:
- the US economy grows as much in a day as it did in a year in the 1930s.
- one day's world trade equals that for the whole of 1949.
- one day's foreign exchange deals equal the total volume for 1979.
- one day's phone calls number all those made in 1984.
- one day's emails equal the number of all those made in 1989.

And no doubt a teacher fills in as much paperwork in a day as he or she
might have done in a whole year in the '50s and '60s.

TAX-CUTTERS DO IT FOR RELIEF
****************************

The new low-tax campaign group has hit the papers by saving a Norfolk farmer
29,000 pounds in late-payment charges on Revenue bills he never actually
received. And they've served a 50-million-pound demand on the Revenue on
behalf of all those people who're due tax credits but haven't yet got them.
More power to your elbow, folks. Visit them (and join!) at:
http://www.taxrelief.org.uk

DO A FRIEND A FAVOUR
********************
Don't forget to recommend this email bulletin to a friend (or, if you don't
like it, to any enemy). Why keep all these good things to yourself when an
email to your address book costs nothing at all. Just tell folk to go to our
front page, where they can sign up -- and of course they can unsubscribe at
any time. You know the link:
http://www.adamsmith.org

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
AS ADAM HAD IT...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you search the text of the Wealth of Nations on
http://www.adamsmith.org/search/home.htm
you'll find that the sage didn't say anything about Iceland, but he did at
least make a comment on subsidies ('bounties') in the Hebridean fishing
industry. Sound familiar?

"The bounty to the white-herring fishery is ... proportioned to the burden
of the ship, not to her diligence or success in the fishery; and it has, I
am afraid, been too common for vessels to fit out for the sole purpose of
catching, not the fish, but the bounty."
- The Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter V

e

-----
Dr Eamonn Butler, Director
Adam Smith Institute, 23 Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3BL, UK
E-mail butler@adamsmith.org - Visit us online at www.adamsmith.org
Tel +44 (0)20 7222 4995 - Fax +44 (0)20 7222 7544

To unsubscribe, visit www.adamsmith.org/lists.htm

2003-08-08T15:53:00.000+01:00

Crop Circle at Walkers Hill, nr Alton Barnes, Wiltshire. Reported 4th August 2003.: " The wonderful swallow like shapes send a clear ecological message and an inspiration to us all. "

Eh? - I live less than two miles from here so take a keen interest in circles - even get the occasional one in my fields, fascinating , wonderful bits of art etc, obviously man made. But this tofu head is getting an ecological message from some stamped down wheat, woof woof barking as Bob the Dog would say.

2003-08-06T16:20:00.000+01:00

History time:

Here's an example of where militant middle eastern religous fanatics start a revolt to gain control of what they consider to be their country and free it from unbelievers and foreign rule. The British were the bad guys in this and it was back in 1944, and even though there was a war on (remember) the terrorists were the Jews and they engaged in an armed struggle - including the assassination of Lord Moyne.

And the terrorist leader Menahem Begin became a respected world leader.

The official site of ETZEL claims that:
"Now, that the British Archives have been opened, it is obvious that the armed fight against the British, in which the Irgun took a prominent part, had a decisive role in their withdrawal from the country."

And the same thing is happening in Ulster; and yet we bleat on that we will never give in, terrorists won't win because we expect them not to be able to read our own history better than us.

2003-08-05T11:04:00.000+01:00

American Digest: "at bottom, the Libertarian philosophy is one of the primal energy sources of the Net and that, from time to time, all things must return to it for renewal. Darpanet, Usenet, Internet, Web, Blogworld -- a continuous evolution with the same deep foundation; the same political dreams of the Founders. No, not everyone using the Net is a Libertarian. Not even close. But, at its deepest core the Net is libertarian. Why? Because much of the basic deep software on which the Net runs was written by people with a deep Libertarian bent. Not a bad thing, but a true thing. In fact the Internet, in all its manifestations, is the closest thing to a libertarian world that the libertarians are ever likely to have."

2003-08-04T10:46:00.000+01:00

What Goes Around Comes Around: "The BBC reports that British Prime Minister Tony Blair is about to be charged as a war criminal by the Greek Bar Association before the International Criminal Court. Dimitris Paxinos, president of the lawyers' association, told the BBC that Blair will be charged with 'crimes against humanity and war crimes.'""Unfortunately for Tony Blair, he created the precedent for extraditing heads of state - (Tony ain't head of state even if he thinks he is). The Blair government arrested Chile's Augusto Pinochet and ruled that Pinochet could be extradited to Spain on specious charges brought by a Spanish prosecutor."

And remember that Tony signed us up to the European Arrest warrant ..."Mr Blair told MPs on Wednesday that the Tory objection to the warrant was to the word "European" in the title. He added: "It is manifestly in this country's interest to have a fast-track procedure for extraditing people to this country from European countries. What this will do is simplify the procedure enormously."

The arrest warrant will mean the abolition of the "dual criminality" rule that currently prevents the extradition of a suspect for an offence not recognised as a crime in this country."

What comes around comes around - with luck.

2003-08-04T10:18:00.000+01:00

LNSG: National Socialist Library: Environment "This collection of sources reveals the interconnectedness of Nazi ideals and environmentalist values." - Which comes as no surprise to anyone who knows about the Green movement.

2003-08-02T00:19:00.000+01:00

bic runga Driving home pissed from the pub the radio played one of Bic Runga's songs - perfect match of time and place. I'm a bit ahead of the game because the record is only going to be released in the UK in Sept 03. I bought it a couple of months ago after following an internet discussion on why people dont buy records. The gist of the argument was, they dont buy new records because they are crap and all internet downloading does is allow you to check out how crap they are before buying. - and then the arguer mentioned Bic Runga as the sort of artist that wasn't crap. So I downloaded a couple of songs and liked them so I bought the CD.

So bollocks to the record company, without internet downloads i would never had heard of Bic and wouldn't have bought a couple of CDs.