photo id

Couoncillors Hussain and Golds at the Mile End East by-election, unfortunately won by Labour

How does photo ID prevent postal voting fraud? The argument Peter Golds from Tower Hamlets brought forward was  – on the Sunday Politics program – that there was massive voting fraud, to do with postal voting fraud, which happened in Tower Hamlets.

Photo ID does not prevent postal voting fraud as you do not need a photo ID to send in a form.

Photo ID has been introduced in Northern Ireland and it is working fine.

Perhaps getting a photo ID should be made more user-friendly, to accommodate those who are dyslexic or have time-constraints. A British passport for example now allows the up-loading of selfies for the picture, marvellous. Perhaps they could also consider allowing other forms of photo ID like a bus pass.

 

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You spin me right round baby

At least the childish games of Boris Johnson are up now as he wrote to the Court of Sessions in Scotland to explain that he will ask the EU for an extension is no deal could be set by 19. October 2019.

Boris of course thought that the EU could not see through the bluff. Everybody with only half a wit would know what was happening.

There is a demonstration on 19. October 2019 called

People’s Vote March – Let us be heard!

That is for another referendum to close the discussion once and for all.

Honouring Jo Cox

Boris Johnson actually said: “The best way to Honour in Jo Cox’s memory is to get Brexit done”.

There it is again, the sheer repetitive intellectual poverty of those privately educated Tories who say the same thing again and again and again.

For years we heard as standard answer to all queries: “Yes but we improved the employment rate”. That was the one for all answers of all answers and it always worked. Whatever the opposition said, this one answer solved all problems.

Now Boris is the standard bearer for repetitive, almost notorious answers by saying, we need to get Brexit done, to every query put.

If an old person keeps on saying the same thing over and over, they get diagnosed with Alzheimers, Dementia and the like but if a politicians keep on repeating themselves in parliament, then it is a good thing. It doesn’t surprise me that Margaret Thatcher suffered from extreme Dementia in old age that is because of her working schedule and working methods. It cannot be healthy for anybody, having to repeat the same process over and over again.

Not being able to show compassion for people must affect your mental health.

We have automation for repeats even in production but for politicians they actually repeat the same phrases over and over again.

shoot yourself in the foot

is an expression that people use to describe if a measure you take, turns out detrimental against yourself.

British establishment and conservationists always want to help promote the establishment, of which the Church of England is an important cornerstone.

St James the Less church

Church of England schools were long seen as the ultimate part of the pro-English upbringing of those wanting to serve Queen and country.

The church being the glue that holds the social fibre of English society together, educated mind and spirits. Yet an essential part of English society was the emergence of unions, which branched out of working-class environments and became an integral part of life.

Along comes our latest bout of Conservative government seeking to destroy the stronghold unions have on the confidence of the working classes. This of course includes the pocket so Muslim immigrants who follow special social rules culminating in Sharia law.

Easy peasy things thinks the government, we just shake it all up, we get rid of the unions and the radical Islamist scourge at the same time.

There then followed a strong rule change, making working compulsory, forcing people to accept any job on offer and reducing work security through a change in working contracts law.

Also, to throw into the mix came the idea to “increase the quality of schooling” by allowing free schools and by tearing schools away from councils and getting them directly funded by government e.g. through the academy system.

Whilst previously we saw a shortage of school places, we now see an oversaturation of educational provision. Schools open everywhere but people generally have less children because of working law and benefit changes.

All the uprooting of social connections, suitably assisted by changes in housing law and provision thoroughly shook society to the core.

In Tower Hamlets just about the only traditional education available was through Church of England schools. Yet academies and free schools have mushroomed out of nowhere, leaving Muslim children to attend non-church schools with often 85-95% Muslims, whilst the Catholic kids, cram into the few Catholic schools.

The Church of England, through its Liberal approach suffers from a loss of church attendance and general lack of draconian church discipline, is not very attractive to Muslims who experience much more pressure to follow strict religious rules and enjoy the feeling of being forced to adhere to a religious life-style.

That makes Church of England schools less attractive to those who want to experience dogma.

Tower Hamlets has long been the source of constant political controversy and is run by more or less left-wing factions of the Labour Party and similar constellations of political movements like Aspire, Respect or Tower Hamlets First.

The current Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, who was seen as a moderate leader by many, is however very keen to rid Tower Hamlets of one of the oldest Church of England schools at the earliest opportunity. It is just another weapon to stab local society into the heart of traditional values and help undermine the Monarchy.

Had this Conservative government not sought to change society to the core with a flurry of legal changes, we would not be in this situation that English traditional education is being disbanded in this part of London.

Any benefit that may have shown through ‘better’ academy schools is wiped out by disturbance constant change brings. Children need to feel safe not only physically but also mentally by being able to rely on those services, adults around them, knowing they can grow up into society and contribute to that society at a later stage.

Raine’s Foundation, C.o.E. Secondary in Bethnal Green

The children of Raine’s Foundation school in Tower Hamlets are being torn apart from their brand-new school, strewn into the wind of education and lost the ability to concentrate on their GCSE and A-levels because their school is threatened by closure.

The last thing, kids want to worry about is finding a school or changing school when they need to concentrate on years of course work to get the best results. The travesty is that the education and teachers at Raine’s are very good and pupils can achieve best results, they do run a Year 11 High Attainment Program in conjunction with Stem. Why do they want to close a school that produces top class achievers, just because it is a Church of England school?

Most parents choose schools wanting peace of mind, being able to leave their children there till 6. Form and then go onto university or into a working life.

Yet the chopping and changing politics by this current government has thrown everything around into a big mixing bowl of social change and nobody is any the wiser of what is happening.

Of course, being able to plan ahead has become a luxury and that is what this government wants, they do not want people to get too comfortable because happy people are dangerous people who can start to demand even better than they have.

So, this Conservative government in fact chips away on conservative values and education by creating a whirlwind social environment that destroys all conservative values and creates anxiety and fear among our young people.

That is one of the reasons why kids now feel they need to demonstrate about the climate emergency instead of going to school, why school kids feel they need knives to protect themselves as they no longer feel safe as nothing can be relied upon any longer. Parents aren’t even at home after school any longer to calm down any fears, parents are forced into working instead of being there to parent.

Everthing is being eroded for working people, starting by housing, to working contracts and schooling. The reduction of policing services has another detrimental impact onto society.

Getting rid of everything known and comforting is perhaps the biggest mistake this government makes.

There are no particular problems at Raine’s Foundation, yet over-crowded popular schools often attract the most problems. But the per-pupil funding will prefer big problem schools before smaller, high quality schools because of the funding formulae.

Just today, the World Economic Forum published figures to show how stress severely affects our University Students, which means the format of education needs to change, to become more user friendly rather than production belt style.

Raine’s provides that friendly but high quality education, that is of excellent quality.  Universities must follow a model that produces happy students.

 

Conservative leadership debacle

What we should really look at is self-critical analysis of what appeals to us the most and how this can be used to play tricks on our minds into believing what we are being told.

Obviously the most experienced persons, e.g. Johnson, and other ministers are very well trained how to speak, be precise, say impressive soundbites with sincere voices.

And this goes down a treat, even if what they say is totally meaningless.

Then there was poor little Rory who has not gotten the speaking technique and his thoughts did not fit into one little sentence and he almost seemed to stammer at times.

I would feel exactly the same as him.

At this stage it is all impressing the masses and let the deep voice and looks play their part.

As after the initial selection, the two women and the one openly gay bloke were not selected, that left those on stage, which are the accepted chosen few by the party.

I simply do not believe the show any longer. I want to listen to the message, hear what it really means and Rory at least tried to express what the situation is for real. Yet there wasn’t really time to say anything of substance because this question time was all about fast sound bites. Nobody gave any proper answers to any questions. No yes or nos.

I am not sure whether reality would actually spring a chord with the Conservative membership.

Conservative members obviously only want to back the winner for the next election but since the general dissatisfaction is very large with either not delivering Brexit or the lack of social care policies, those who just make a no-hope promise will fail at the next hurdle.

I watch the debates and it has been said now thousands of times that the EU won’t re-negotiate, yet those supporting Johnson keep on saying that he will renegotiate the deal.

I think the whole EU system should be changed, the EU should make an endless membership into a fixed term membership and member states would have to renew their membership every ten years, and so make the membership actually a choice rather than push states into it just to make it impossible to leave afterwards.

The EU needs to be a democratic organisation.

But, it is amazing that none of the British politicians ever suggested such an idea, that the EU needs changing so that membership becomes easier rather than more doctrines being put upon us.

Yet those who argue that a new deal with Europe about this Brexit should be negotiated are the can kickers.

As we live in a democracy we constantly re-elect our government, that happens every 5 years. We would not argue that because we voted in one government that this is the will of the people and we could not change the government.

Yet this argument is held by the Brexit voters. They say, that because 51 % voted for Brexit in June 2016, which was now 3 years ago, we need to do it.

Unfortunately the referendum did not specify any Brexit conditions so that is what causes the problem.

Yet the EU itself tries to make leaving impossible and at the same time tries to tighten up the organisational ties between member states, with some leading nations being mainly in charge.

There are only two ways around that, either construct an US style amalgamation of states or make the EU a loose geographical alliance, which allows members options to leave very easily.

Peterborough for Labour

I must say I like it that Labour won Peterborough ahead of the Brexit Party. It is a clear indication that people voted against Brexit in an area that previously was predominantly pro-Brexit.

Now, that most of the lies and rumours about how glorious Brexit is, have been dispersed, people vote for remain.

I think Brexit was all along a red herring to keep people’s attention on a right-wing nationalist agenda for the purpose that the Conservative government could re-create Victorian values in Britain.

The Conservatives lost many councils in the recent council elections for the reason that people are fed up to the teeth with the cut-backs they have to suffer to do with care for the elderdy, children, schools, rubbish collections and so forth.

Councils are running out of money and its this Conservative goverment that is responsible for it.

Whilst the government keeps on saying people didn’t vote for the Conservatives because the Conservatives failed to deliver Brexit, the reality is that people didn’t vote for the Conservatives because of the severe cut-backs on local council spending and overall policies.

Policies, which saw the wider introduction of Benefit cut-backs for the disabled, the Universal Credit, that left people queueing for Food banks to be able to survive, Zero hours contracts and a reduction in overall wages value by 6%.

Obviously Nigel Farage was very deflated about the second place in Peterborough but I think it indicates the line of pro and against Brexit voters in favour of the against.

Yesterday’s D-Day 75. Anniversary, saw veterans in tears over Brexit planning because they fought for freedom in Europe and want to keep it that way.

This article is not meant to be a blank cheque of support for Labour, who have many faults but it just shows that on the political strategy people voted tactically for the party that could counter the Brexit party in that local by-election.

Added on 7/6/19, the newly elected MP Lisa Forbes was caught into questions over alleged anti-semitic behaviour.

 

 

Obese get a star on their coat

Oh no, I forgot to mention the government doesn’t just plan to hunt down all obese people, they only want to punish those obese people who are on benefits. This news has turned up on various news sites and I first thought it was a joke, but the more I search, the more it creeps up in mainstream media. There is the BBC article, the Mail online and the Guardian, to name a few. As far as I understand current comments, all those reporting sites think the idea is bonkers. Bonkers is in fashion lets not forget it.

I am just wondering how this is to work in practise. In my experience a vast amount of obese people work in the health service and in social services, council services and other related community care services. Would it look like this that if an obese benefit claimant comes for their money, that an obese worker can tell them the benefit claimant is too obese to get the money but the obese worker can stay in their job obese simply because they got a job?

Currently the government already suggest to discriminate against overweight police officers and wants to stage police pay according to physical fitness. But that is already questionable; yet to apply the same principle to benefit recipients would mean that benefit recipients get treated like government employees to some extent as both police officers and benefit claimants would get a reduction in pay because of obesity.

Yet other employees can happily stay fat.

This however means that the demand on health services would be higher from obese employed persons rather than those on benefits. Isn’t that just discrimination?

Well, I remember well the picture in my mind, that Hitler forced young men to do wheelies on a beach to keep fit. I know plenty of gay people who are perfectly slim and they are then model citizens to us all because they are gay but slim?

It seems that this government concentrates on benefit claimants and puts them under more and more pressure. But the amount of health care employed people use also affects the benefits others can get because health care costs are part of the common pot of money that is available to us all.

Lets not forget very efficient service providers want to cut costs all the time, they want to cut jobs, all that will create jobless and those jobless are going to get treated like outcasts simply because they fell victim to the latest economy drive. So it can happen, that an obese worker one day tells an obese benefit claimant is unable to get their money but when the obese worker finds themselves out of a job, they get no benefit either. People we are all in the same boat so to speak.

I think it would be much more clever to ask ourselves why people feel so stressed that they feel a need to over-eat, over-drink, over-smoke and do other things in excess too.

Where were the good guys?

In the meantime, the National Rifle Association of the USA better known as NRA, held a press conference about the Newtown shooting, with Wayne LaPierre, NRA saying: “Good guys with guns stop bad guys with guns”.

That statement followed the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school, that saw 20, 6-year old’s killed by a lone gunman who suffered from a personality disorder.

Of course in principle it is correct, that good guys stop bad guys, that’s why we have armed police and the army. But where were the good guys with guns?

Even I have called for more armed police officers in Britain to stop rogue shooters after a lone taxi driver went on a killing spree and for lack of armed officers he could not be stopped for a considerable amount of time. Here in the UK we already have strict gun laws, which practically forbid gun ownership for most of us.

Lets be practical to have good guys stop the bad guys, we would need a good guy with a gun, meaning an army soldier stationed at every street corner. Only army soldiers have he mentality to even recognise danger when it comes and are ready to respond in good time to stop those bad guys.

Even if you put armed guards in every school, then the bad guys are likely to just pick on some other soft target that hasn’t gotten an armed guard. But to properly protect all equally well we would need armed guards everywhere.

We would need an army run country without democracy and end up with a Military state. We are using our own army to dismantle other military states by stating that they are not democratic enough but in our own quarters the NRA practically calls for the setting up of one. At least that is my very own interpretation of their words.

Indeed in this very particular case Adam Lanza’s mother was the good guy with the guns that would have stopped the bad guy if the bad guy would not have taken her weapons to shoot her with them first. Showing that only specially trained good guys are able to prevent being killed with their own guns, leading further into the discussion of widespread military deployment to stop those bad guys everywhere.

Voluntary groups avoid democracy

Further to my previous post on the matter, it is now time to further elaborate (explain) on the subject.

What is democracy, it is a system that allows all (who are being given a vote) to express a choice of preference. In most general political elections the electorate, which is every and each person that resides within a certain geographical area, gets around 12 hours on a given date to vote for a range of choices plus the ability to cast a postal vote from a remote location.

In all voluntary groups that I know of, no voting at all is being carried out for anybody not being able to come to a meeting at a certain time of day and date given. That allows only a very small minority of persons to be able to express a choice at all.

For example. I used to be a member of my church’s PCC, PCC stand for Parish Church Council. The PCC meets once a month on a Thursday, it is now, previously they met on Wednesday evenings. There are around 21 places on the PCC and any of those 21 members of the PCC can only express any input into the church decision making process if they actually can attend within a 2 hour time frame on a regular basis.  So our vicar (rector to be precise) said in church the other day, “anybody who wants to be a member of the PCC and can attend the meeting on Thursday evening’ please come and meet me after the service…”. So the ability to be part of the church decision making process is plainly coupled to an ability to be at a certain venue at a certain time.

It is not very different with community groups. On our estate we have a TRA. The membership is very low. The TRA meets within a 2 hour time-slot on an evening. Very few people can actually attend the meetings; so the TRA is unable to be representative.

Neither with the PCC or the TRA can I see that decision making processes are widened out to those who cannot come to meetings.

Even with police coupled groups, there is also the need to come to meetings at certain times. If you want to have a say on local Safer Neighbourhood panels, (you can be a member by invitation only), you can only do so if you can come to a meeting at a certain time of day.

Such groups or almost all of them are very much restricted to the ability to come to meetings, mostly on evenings. That certainly is not democratic and restricts decision making processes to a very small minority of the public.

I strongly suggest that the above examples are not restricted to the groups sampled here, but apply to most voluntary local groups wherever they are.

In this context that also applies to political parties, who are full of individuals that can come to meetings at certain intervals and times of day.

I have read that recently further research has been carried out on why Hitler could become so popular. My guess is he was consistently able to come to party meetings. Even today ministers who sit in elected positions could only become elected because they had the time to come to a meeting at selection time. That is very restricted selection. Once a minister is in post, he can run away with the agenda, almost completely for 5 years. That is why it is so important that the electorate has a direct mandate and ability to veto ministerial decisions.

But there is a weakness in voluntary groups

Having praised in my previous post Neighbourhood Watch, I must say there is a serious weakness in groups where it is only possible to make decisions around table meetings, where people meet in person to make decisions. That often leads to situations where some are just not taken into account because they cannot attend the meeting.

I have just found that I simply cannot attend meetings any longer that take place in the evenings, that immediately makes it impossible for me to have an input in decision making processes that are held during evening meetings.

Things are just too inflexible. I have often previously complaint about the fact that parents for example cannot attend evening meetings. Many others cannot attend meetings at other various times of the day because of other commitments, may that be work or something else.

It is blatantly unfair that only people who can attend meetings at a set time of day can make a decision that affects us all.

We have modern technology, are able to have conference calls using phones, we can use camera equipped communications technology via computer but why do we not use it to become inclusive during decision making processes?