The UK's box-ticking culture

The BBC report that:

"Two pensioners from Essex were left stunned when they were asked to show photo identification to buy a bottle of wine.

Jennifer Rogers went to her local One Stop convenience store with a 70-year-old friend.

But a staff member refused the sale saying she needed photographic identification to prove her age.

A spokesperson for the store said: "We take the sale of alcohol to underage people extremely seriously."

Those two last lines illustrate so much of what has gone wrong with this Country over the last 12 years of Labour misrule; box-ticking rules and common sense has to take a back seat.

Two pensioners are refused permission to buy alcohol because they cannot prove that they are over the age of 18. That's two pensioners, who are quite clearly over the age of 18, being refused permisson to buy alcohol because they have no ID to prove that they are over the age of 18.

And what's the response of the store? Was is "Oh sorry, our member of staff made a mistake, we have spoken to them and have made sure that they realise when they need to ask for ID and when they don't." No; in Labour, box-ticking, Britain the response is a po-faced "We take the sale of alcohol to underage people extremely seriously."

I despair of this Country, I really do.

Lib Dem MP shows her mettle

Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone was accused of wasting fire brigade time for ringing the emergency services when her boiler began making strange noises.

Elizabeth Frisinger and the dangers of texting

Elizabeth Frisinger lost her virginity on a school trip and texted a friend to tell them the good nes, unfortunatley she texted her dad by mistake.

"OMG Just had 1st time on beach! Gr8! Wish you were here!"

Take a trip to here for the full details.

How Barack Obama got elected

Watch this video and worry. And to any Brits watching, do you think the average Labour voter is any better informed?

The Audit Commission had money invested in Icelandic banks

The Independent report that: "Audit chiefs invested £10m in Iceland - The official local government spending watchdog today became the latest body to be caught up in the Icelandic banking collapse.

The Audit Commission confirmed that it had £10 million - around 4 per cent of its annual turnover - invested in two Icelandic banks, Landsbanki Islands and the Heritable Bank.

The most recent deposit was made only three months ago.

The disclosure is potentially embarrassing for the commission which is charged with ensuring councils spend public money "economically, efficiently and effectively"."

What more needs to be said, if the Audit commission couldn't read the signs of problems with Icelandic banks in June/July then they really lack intelligent thought.

The article includes these two thoughts, first:

"In its statement, it said that at the time the banks had a top quality F1 credit rating and that preliminary investigations indicated that the deposits were made in full compliance with its own guidelines on prudent investment."

Is that true, I thought Icelandic banks had been downgraded a while back, I will check...

and second:

"It is not expected that the deposits will impact on the Audit Commission's plans, operations or staffing."

Of course not, but only because the taxpayer will pay to bail out the Audit Commission.

Is it coz he is black?

Nah, it must be his policies...



For the avoidance of doubt, "Is it coz he is black?" is an "Ali G" cultural reference, nothing else.

How many missiles?

Oh dear, the BBC amongst others seem to have been taken in (willingly) by another piece of fauxtography. This time it relates to the recent Iranian missile launch. Take a look at Gateway Pundit, the New York Times, the Iranian blogger Kamangir and of course Little Green Footballs including the AFP apology.

Police red-tape

The Evening Standard report that:

"The man who handed himself in over the murders of two French students was told to wait in line at the reception of a south London police station.

The badly burned 33-year-old walked into Lewisham police station and apparently tried to confess that he was the man who had killed Gabriel Ferez and Laurent Bonomo, who were set on fire in their rented bedsit in New Cross in brutal scenes that have been compared to a Quentin Tarantino film. Laurent had been stabbed 196 times and Gabriel suffered 47 wounds.

But instead of calling for an officer to arrest him immediately, a civilian worker at the station asked the man to wait his turn. It has been claimed he was made to wait with other members of the public for at least five minutes and the Met is now investigating.

Lucy Downer, 27, who was sitting in the police station with the man while waiting to pay a motoring fine, said: "We were sitting on a row of seats when this skinny bloke walked in. He looked really out of it. His hands were bright red and his face was peeling badly. There were booths just to the right of the front door and he went into the first one and spoke with a reception officer.

"Then he came back out, sat down next to my cousin and started looking at her very strangely. I got a bit worried and changed places with her. Then this bloke got out a tub of antiseptic cream and rubbed it into his hands for the next few minutes.

"He then stood up, put his hands in the air and said, 'I've got third degree f***ing burns and they are not doing anything about it'."

Ms Downer said she asked the man to repeat what he had said and then mouthed the word "help" to a nearby policeman. She added: "The guy could have had second thoughts about giving himself up and scarpered at any point. He was off his head but he looked like he was very serious about what he said."

"It was very scary to be with him for several minutes because some jobsworth didn't think it was his turn in the queue."

Police are still waiting to speak to the man, who is currently under police guard in hospital. A police spokesman said he would not be interviewed until he had been released from hospital. Detectives yesterday described him as a "significant suspect" in the killing.

It is thought the two students were tortured for their bank card PIN numbers, which were missing along with two Sony handheld games consoles.

A 21-year-old man arrested on Saturday was later released without charge.

Police then renewed their appeals and released a photofit of the prime suspect. Hours later the 33-year-old man walked into the police station.

A Met spokesman said: "We are investigating the length of time it took for the man to be detained but cannot comment further.""

What do you expect, the police have forms to be filled in, targets to be met. If the police arrested a man confessing to murder whilst ignoring a woman or a member of an ethnic minority who had been waiting longer than the confessing murderer then just think of the racial and/or sexual discrimination case that might ensue. In fact just think of the forms that might need filling in to cover that eventuality... Best to leave the public to wait in an orderly fashion. Even better close the police station and then the problem could not arise, job done.

Brown's plan to resign

"Brown's plan to resign" was the headline I saw on Telegraph news web fromt page, wow, how exciting, when? Will my bet on Jack Straw for next PM come in soon? The actual story is less immediately sensational but actually revealing one that:

"Gordon Brown has told close allies that the next general election will be his last as Labour leader."

I would say that once Labour has been trounced in the 2009/2010 election Gordon Brown will, as they say, be "toast". Someone else will have to lead the rump of remaining Labour MPs.

As I read the rest of the article I had to check that it wasn't April Fools Day:

"The Prime Minister has pledged that he will step down at "some point" during the next parliament should he beat the Conservatives in two years.

Mr Brown has let a few senior Cabinet colleagues know that he intends to quit in time to allow his successor at least a year to fight the election after next, a move designed to stop speculation about his leadership.

If he pulls off a remarkable comeback and wins in 2010 he will quit well before the country goes to the polls. However, by setting out a timetable for his future departure Mr Brown may find that some question whether he should leave sooner. "

This is one of the most blatant example of not learning from previous mistakes that I have ever seen. Tony Blair made a very similar promise before the last general election and his power started draining away almost immediately. In the end Tony Blair had to break his promise not serve a "full term" and left within two years. Gordon Brown has promised to serve less than four years as a way of stopping leadership speculation. Is he even more stupid than I thought? This statement will have the leadership speculation increasing in intensity sooner rather than later.

Terrorist alert

Banned from flying for wearing a French Connection Transformers t-shirt. Read the whole story here but here's the meat of the matter:

"Go through security, get pulled to the side. I'm wearing a French Connection Transformers t-shirt. Bloke starts joking with me is that Megatron. Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly. WTF? It's a 40 foot tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?"

I feel so much safer flying now, don't you.