http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk Trying to understand the incomprehensible Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:06:59 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Not for the first time do we see New Labour minus its craftily designed and well tailored camouflage suit. Gordon Brown was meeting the electorate in Rochdale and, after talking amiably to a sixty-six year old widow and Labour supporter, who had a number of issues to raise, was heard ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=150 I don't suppose that too many people actually watch Prime Minister's Questions on BBC2 on Wednesdays. For  anyone who might be considering sampling this small episode of British democracy in action, I am sadly unable to recommend such a pathetic spectacle. The first PMQs of the year on Wednesday January 6 ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=136 See:- http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23779546-climate-change-sceptics-are-todays-flat-earth-brigade.do I am a fool. I am lacking in the most basic intellectual tools and am blind to the blatantly obvious. Not only this, I have some unaccountable and stupid distrust of 'scientists', 'experts' and, astonishingly, politicians. This must be so because Ed Miliband, in the Evening Standard on Friday ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=130 See - http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=20842 And I'll wager it may disappoint but it wont surprise. Here we see proof, if any more proof was needed, that our current administration will sacrifice any democratic or legal principle when it needs to address its endless incompetences - in this case financial. Also, with its usual arrogance and ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=120 Fascinating, isn't it, how large organisations rig their terms and conditions completely to suit themselves, while protesting that it is the only way to do it or, more infuriating, it is for the customers' benefit. The UK energy companies, as is only too well known, are an even more extreme case. ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=112 It's like buses, isn't it, if you miss a tale of authoritarian oppression just wait a while – there will be another one along shortly. I recall Jeremy Clarkson telling a story of being in the USA and being told off by a patrolman for parking his car in 'the wrong ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=94 By nature I am conservative (with a small 'c'). If I could choose the socio-economic system that has the most appeal for social equality, respect and fairness it would be communism. The principle of 'from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs' suits my ideals very ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=90 Quotes (from The Sunday Times): An urgent investigation has been ordered into whether rules aimed at preventing lying parents from flouting the schools admissions system should be toughened. Harrow council dropped its case...because they were unsure that the Fraud Act would cover admissions cases. Their decision exposes the lack of legislation to ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=80 You may have seen this:- http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/may/29/school-application-fraud-case A mother who faces jail and a fine for trying get her child into the school she considered the best. My blood literally boils at this. Harrow council is suitably smug and self-satisfied at apprehending and prosecuting this fiendish and socially disruptive criminal. What would ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=76 None of us are without some taint of hypocrisy and self-justification. It is normal, it is human to be occasionally weak and opportunist and give in to a desire to follow the rules that suit us while evading those that do not. However, those who accept the role of ... http://www.whoarethesepeople.co.uk/?p=64