The Daily Stirrer

George Galloway's By Election Victory Shows Voters Contempt For Main Parties

by Ian R Thorpe

Galloway's victory, by a majority of 10,000 votes ( 56%) of votes cast) against candidates from the three main parties, Conservative Labour and Liberal Democrat in the predominantly working class Bradford West constituency does not herald the emergency of Respect as a political force but it should send a message to party managers of the three main parties that spells out the utter contempt the electorate feel at the political elite's attitude.. Startling results like this defy political analysis, leaving press and television commentators to explain it away with references to Galloway's rhetorical skills (an he can speak, eat your heart out Mr.Mumbles Obama) and tactical political genius. There's a certain irony to that, given that the picture contrasts unconvincingly with the jester they depict elsewhere.

Personal qualities have a lot to do with what happened last night. A charismatic and eloquent candidate is a necessary but insufficient condition if a minor party is to win any contest. What is also needed is a political context in which their message resonates. Galloway's post-Labour political career (he resigned from government and party over the Iraq invasion showing himself to be a man of principle) is a testament to the possibility of allying young people, radicals and Muslims against the mainstream Westminster agenda.

Was George Galloway not vilified for siding with Saddam then? you might well ask. He was by the political establishment and the media but the British people were overwhelmingly against that war and also aware that Galloway, whose wife if he is still married to her, is Iraqi. He knew the country, he knew Saddam who was opportunistic enough to fete the rising Labour MP when the Galloways visited the country to stay with family members. George Galloway's warnings of what would happen if Saddam was overthrown, a political void followed by the fragmentation of that oil rich and strategically important nation into theocratic and mutually hostile tribal homelands, is being borne out by events. And the public like a man who trashes his career on a point of principle even if they do not support the principle he resigns over.

The Respect party has often been described as an unholy alliance of conservative Muslims and radical leftists. It was treated as a historical curiosity. With Iraq the dominant issue in British politics for several years, it seemed like a unique moment in which these two groups would share an agenda. Normally the progressive left and conservative Muslims would be tearing each other apart over same sex marriage, female equality and gay adoption rights. In certain constituencies however, places where working class and middle class voters feel as if they have been abandoned by successive governments and thus have become alienated from mainstream politics, an alliance of young people and minorities, bound together by both groups' contempt for the political elite, can win elections.

The Bradford West result does not so much mark a rejection of Labour as a rejection of the British Parliamentary system. For many voters (not just minorities and young people) no party is easily distinguishable from the other two. In actual policy terms that assessment is not entirely unfair, their differences are far less significant than any political head of communication would like to admit. In cultural terms, the viewpoint is entirely accurate.

Galloway's justification for his appalling parliamentary attendance records (634th out of 645 MPs in the 2005 session — just ahead of the prime minister Tony Blair and five Sinn Fein Irish Republican members who refuse to attend) actually deserves to be heard rather than criticised.

The Respect leader said he spent a lot of time making countless public speeches, swapping parliamentary debates for engagement in the country. Of course, it is a patent rationalisation. Galloway, a Scot, did little for the people of Bethnal Green and Bow, the constituency where he was elected MP on the strength of it's having a large Muslim population, after he resigned from Labour. But there is a grain of truth in what he says. Westminster's culture has become entirely separate from the country at large, the public increasingly alienated from its old traditions, schoolboy taunts and stultifying homogenity of politics.

The most important issue for the public in the run up to the 2010 General election was immigration. None of the main parties wanted to discuss it, in fact the then Prime Minister Gordon Brown dismissed one vote as a bigot when she tried to raise the issue. All three parties insist immigration is good for the economy, mistakenly believing the immigrants already settled here and the second and third generation descendents of Indian, East European and Caribbean migrant families favour tighter immigration controls. Another concern is Britain's relationship with the EU. The Politicians, academics, media and senior civil servants almost unanimously favour greater integration and closer economic ties with the emerging single European nation. Voters of all parties are deeply suspicious of what is starting to look very like a bureaucratic dictatorship and are angry at how much sovereignty has already been surrendered to unelected bureaucrats in Brussels.

The classic illustration of the gulf between politics and population though is same sex marriage. This non - issue threatens to divide Britain more deeply than any of the more serious problems we face. Out on the streets nobody cares that two people of the same sex cannot get married in a church. Some do not like homosexuality at all and will never accept it, that is their right. Some don't give a flying fudgecake about church but feel we have gone too far in pandering to minorities. Some feel it is up to the church concerned, civil partnerships have always taken care of property and inheritance rights, (not that that was necessary, it is not difficult to make a will). Very few people feel it is outrageous that same sex couples are being denied the fundamental human right to marry in a church. It is of course not a human right but a privilege extended to members of that church.

Often on being elected, Members of Parliament become besotted with politics to the extent that they lose touch with the feelings of their constituents and start to believe in the myth of their moral and intellectual superiority and allow their individualism to be subsumed under the shroud of a politically correct consensus. Thus they come to be held in contempt with the people whose votes they rely on. But when there is no individual with whom the voters can identify, nobody who speaks their language, elections are won by inertia. People vote on class or religious lines without ever being aware what a candidate believes or stands for.

Labour will want to write this result off as an anomaly, the media will mock and disrespect Galloway and other politicians will scorn him. That arrogant approach merely humiliates those who use it. It is sneering and condescending towards those who turned out to cast their vote for the individual they believe will best represent their interests. The media's is the most damaging to the public debate, because it puts political journalists in the same category as politicians, remote, out-of-touch and uninterested in the actual views of the public and obsessed with the noisy whining of a small groups of self elected minority leaders. This shock victory for George Galloway is evidence that disenchanted mainstream, voters and minority groups can form a powerful political alliance against the establishment. And it shows how dangerous and foolish it is for Westminster to continue to operate in its own bubble of smug self - importance. It is a lesson neither politicians nor journalists are likely to heed.

What it also shows us is that while the debt crisis, unemployment, cyber - warfare, the tensions in the middle east, rising commodity prices and the ageing population are all serious problems, the biggest crisis we face is the collapse of democracy.

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29 March 2012

We told you so, University Degrees Are Worthless

Self-made multimillionaire Simon Dolan left school at the age of 16 and went on to form a business empire which now turns over close to £100m a year, putting him 703rd on the Sunday Times Rich List. Mr. Dolan also criticised the designer degree business that is responsible for creating such oddball courses as waste management with dance. He described these and even the less insane courses like golf course maintenance or leisure centre management are ridiculous.

Known for taking risky business ventures, Mr Dolan became recognised as the world’s first “Twitter Dragon” when he invested more than £5m of his own money on business pitches composed of no more than 140 characters. He told media “younger, brighter candidates are much more employable” than university graduates.No matter what the government say we know that the current system doesn’t work. As an employer myself I know a degree is worthless, every other employer I speak to says the same in the main part. University is not the issue of whether you had a good time or not it is the whether you will be employable at the end of it.

He added “Graduates come out with a sense of entitlement, the believe they are too good to flip burgers even if it is the only job they can get. Schools need to educate children to become fully rounded human beings and not make them just pass exams so they can get to university. I think a far larger part of their education needs to be about how to be useful in an office or work environment."

Dolan’s autobiographical guide book ‘How to make millions without a degree’ has divided opinion but with more than 1.04m young people out of work and thousands more being priced out of university it touches on one of the burning issues of the day. Amid huge opposition to the increase of tuition fees this summer he said that the rise is a “really good idea” as it will overhaul “ridiculous” degrees on offer.

“Formerly university was the place for talented people to go to get higher education for later life,” Mr Dolan said. “It typically wasn’t the place where everyone went…everyone can’t be the most intelligent in society."

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokesperson said: "A degree remains a good investment in the long term and is one of the best pathways to achieving a good job and rewarding career. Demand for more highly skilled employees continues to increase. Graduates like everybody else are facing tough times, but the evidence shows they fare better than non-graduates, and their prospects tend to pick up quicker during the recovery”.

Well they would say that wouldn't they?

The Daily Stirrer has always said that the boom in university placements under the Labour government was just a ploy to mask how bad the youth employment situation really is.

Apart from the best known university avoiders, Alan Sugar and Richard Branson and dragon Deborah Meaden there are plent of other highly successful British entrepreneurs who by passed university . Charlie Mullins of Pimlico Plumbers is worth £55 million; Sir Anthony Bamford, billionaire chairman of JCB Property magnate Trevor Hemmings, John Cauldwell, founder of Phones 4u and vacuum cleaner man Janes Dyson are just a few. For a more comprehensive list CLICK HERE

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Petrol Crisis? Don't Panic?

Petrol sales were up by 45 per cent on a normal midweek day yesterday, as in repose to the government's advice people rushed to stock up on fuel as a "precaution" against a possible strike by tanker drivers o.ver the Easter weekend. No date has yet been set for a strike but it seems more likely the unions will wait, in the hope of carrying out their threat to disrupt Jubilee celebrations and the Olympic festival.

This would be an extremely foolish move and we hope Ed. Miliband distances himself and his party from it. To be een supporting, even reluctantly, such a move will cause a repeat of what happened last time union leaders got the idea they were running the county. In the wake of the so called winter of discontent the Labour government was defeated at the next election and spent eighteen years out of office.

So how serious is the thrat of a strike? Well if you have any plans forv Easter that involve long journeys you hould perhaps fill up your car. So many Garages and petrol stations have closed in recent years the nation probably has the lower stock levels in their tanks on the ground on the forecourts than any time since car ownership became widespread.

Petrol stations and garages are already said to be struggling to meet demand from drivers keen to fill up before any strike goes ahead. According to the Daily Post, the Black Cat Shell service station in Llandudno Junction closed at noon yesterday with a sign reading: "No fuel sorry". One Shell filling station worker said: “There has been panic buying all day and Rhyl (Shell) will have run out by the end of the day. Llanddulas is out of everything but regular diesel.”

Joanne Acton, from Sainsbury’s filling station in Rhyl, said: “People are panic buying after reading about the strike even though supplies are not affected. We have been very busy, it has been constant, but supplies are keeping up at the moment.”

Ironically North Wales in close to onde of the UK's biggest refineries.

Petrol Prices Hit A New High

Driving a car has never been so expensive with the price of petrol hitting an all-time high this week of more than £1.40 a litre – and there was no reprieve for hard-pressed motorists in the Budget, fuel duty will push up the price further in the coming summer. The cost of petrol now averages 140.20p a litre, with diesel at 146.72p a litre. In August the planned tax increase will add 3.62p a litre, meaning the typical 50-litre petrol refill will cost £1.81 more.

To remind you how prices have rocketed, five years ago it a gallon of unleade was 89p for a litre and even in May 2009 the price was sill below £1, according to comparison site PetrolPrices.com. It now cost drivers more than £68 to fill up a 50-litre tank – £3.45 more than it cost a year ago £12.30 more than in 2010. Meanwhile, larger cars fout x fours and vans cost up to £100 a tank.

Is there any justificaton for this or are the government just soaking the mororist because to fill up the hole in the economy dug by urresponsible state borrowing over the past twenty years?

According to Whatprice.co.uk, the forecourt mark up makes up just 5% of the total cost of petrol, while the cost of oil and production amounts to a further 32% - but of course it’s taxation that eats up the largest chunk, at a hefty 63% of the price you pay a. t the pump.

At 139.67p a litre, the cost of a litre of petrol breaks down into: 57.95p fuel duty, 23.28p VAT, 52p wholesale, 1.5p biofuel content, leaving retailers a margin of 4.94p or less than one percent. Apart from financial traders who take fractions of a percentsge point commission as they move £$€billions around, there can be no industry working on such a fine margin. And your local petrol station is not turning ober billions.

Conor Faughnan, director of policy for the AA, is urging the Government to look at the impact of rising taxes on fuel costs, with no sign of these abating. He is right to do so.

“Ratcheting up taxes on fuels, which has been Government policy since October 2008, would be a bad idea for most countries but even more so for us given our dependency,” he said, "this week saw a “Budget Blow-Out”, with the decision to press ahead with the fuel increase in August. The hardship imposed on the consumer and on family budgets ... is extremely serious. We get calls and emails daily from people in near despair because of it. But it is also doing considerable damage to the economy”.

He is right people depend on cars to teavel to and from work and for social activities, the local economies of tourist areas depend on visitors arriving by car to keep businesses going. Whe whole economy depends on cars and delivery vehicles. Ministers make grandiose claims about economic recovery but their actions, based on advice from out of touch academics and scientists, are hamstringing the businesses and workers on whose efforts any recovery depends. It is madness.

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With All The Important Problems We Have Why Are We Talking About Same Sex Marriage?

Oh for fuck's sake, how sick are all we sane people of hearing about same sex marriage. what the fuck is going on? Anyone who asks the simple question of how gay marriage came to be a massive and bitterly divisive debate in both America and Europe will surely conclude that it is the most surreal and idiotic political issue of our age.

There is no popular deman for a new law as there was here in the UK for changes in abortion laws or decrimnalisation of homosexuality or for abolition of racial segregation and extension of civil rights in the USA in the 1960s; historically, homosexuals and lesbians have not been interested in getting married while transvestites and transexuals have traditionally been despised by gay and lesbian communities. According to a recent opinion poll, 45 per cent of Britons support gay marriage but 78 per cent think that making it legal should not be a political priority. And yet somehow gay marriage has become the issue of 2012 and is now more hotly debated in commentary circles than the economic crisis, immigration, the situation in the middle east, oil prices, food and water supply problems or any other thing affecting humanity.

In spite of all this nothing in the gay-marriage debate makes any sense. For example, gay-marriage rights are presented as a radical rallying cry for the "progressive left on a par with the struggles for women’s suffrage or black civil rights, and yet they’re enthusiastically backed by such superbly un-radical institutions as The Times, Goldman Sachs and David Cameron along with many in the Conservative Party that he leads. Politicians say they must do ‘the right thing’ on gay marriage, neglecting to mention that there has been absolutely no sustained public agitation, no gays or lesbians leaping in front of the King’s horse in the Derby chaining themselves to the railings around public buildings as the suffragettes did, no marches or sit ins in the face of heavily armed law officers as civil rights supporters did, for the right of gay attention seekers to go to church dressed in fancy clothes and put on a big show. Self-elected gay "leaders" present this effort as the logical conclusion to their 60-odd years of campaigning for equality, overlooking the fact that until very recently a great many gay activists saw marriage and the family as problems, and demanded recognition of their right to live outside of those institutions.

So far only the major religions, the Anglicans and Roman Catholics and Muslims have made a stand against the issue. The Catholic Church and Muslims are solidly against, among the Anglicans the issue threatens to cause a schism. Some political commentators have said it is a battle the religions can't win. Maybe so, but it is a battle the progressive left cannot win either. As usual they have allowed themselves to be fooled by the fact that working class voters support the socialist Labour party in general elections into believing the same people will support any policy the Labour leadership champions. Time and again the working class have shown that while their votes can be bought with promises of ever more generous social benefits, they are in fact far more conservative in their outlook than the middle classes. If this change is pushed through there will be a backlash of some kind.

Again, nothing in this debate makes sense. The legal beef about inheritance, which was mostly hyperbole anyway because wills were available to take care of inheritance rights, has been dealt with by civil unions; church marriage is not a right but a privilege granted to church members at the discretion of the congregation or leaders. This is such a relatively trivial concern to risk sundering already strained bonds of community over, and is so unconnected with any political or religious philosophy that it would make as much sense if, tomorrow, every politician and commentator in the land suddenly started talking about how important it is to give women the right to grow full beards or men the right to have babies. (see Monty Pyth Life of Brian lampooning the rights industry - You Tube) There are probably some women who want to grow beards and some men desperate to have babies and who are we to deny them those rights? The public might well support their the extension of such rights to people obviously not capable of exercising them right while also arguing that making it happen should not be government priority of a suitable thing on which to expend tax revenue (some people might well ask why making same sex marriage would cost anything, but to change the legal status of marriage would involve redrafting numerous laws and thus involve the payment of $£€millions to law firms, which as anyone who has read John Grisham will know, are expert at hiding money from tax collectors.

Given the surreal nature of the concept of same sex marriage, it is remarkable that so many intelligent people are taking the gay-marriage seriously and saying ‘Yes, I fully support the enactment of this long-traduced historic right’. What they should be doing is asking why gay marriage is an issue all of a sudden and untangling how it came to be a defining battleground in the modern Culture Wars. Because it strikes me that what is happening here is that, under the cover of extending equality, we are really witnessing the instinctive consolidation of a new political elite which is every bit as oppressive and corrosive as the old aristocratic elite, and which, lacking the familiar moral signposts of traditional values and the constraint of noblesse oblige seems determined to impose a new set of moral values of their own devising on the masses. In shot they think they can order human nature to change by passing laws. King Canute has a lesson for them. Canute is misunderstood of course, he was not trying to turn back the tide but showing sycophantic courtiers he could not. The modern Canutes are not so wise, having seen the pseudo - socialist dogmas they favour fail time and again they delude themselves that the failure was due to social engineering policies not being radical enough. The progressive mindset can only ever go further in the same direction.

The reason the gay-marriage issue arouses such passions and is so divisive is because it is not an organic issue that grew from the roots up, but a synthetic issue, an entirely top-down, elite-driven thing. The "liberal" elitists want to be seen to support minorities, to say, "look at me, see how I care about minorities and know what a morally superior person I am." Thus the true driving force behind it is not the force that drives any real or publicly manifested desire for change, for homosexual couples to get married in churches, far less a broader public appetite for the reform of the institution of marriage; rather it is the need of the political and media class for an issue through which to impose its values and thus affirm to itself and advertise its superiority. Gay marriage is not a real issue - it is a cultural signifier, like wearing ribbons and wristbands to show what causes you care about, it is the politics of shallowness, the only way in which the "look at me" generation are able to debate.

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Asprin Cuts Cancer Risk Say Scientists - But They Don't Mention The Buts

This is nothing new, herbalists and holistic healers have long been saying chronic inflammation was a cause of cancer and the anti inflammatory properties of willow bark, from which modern aspirin is derived, were know to ancient Greek, Ayurvedic and Druidic healers.

The report claims those who start taking low dose (75mg) aspirin daily in their 60s appear to benefit just as much as those who start taking it earlier.

The studies, presented today in The Lancet, add to the argument that low-dose aspirin should be taken widely from middle-age, said the lead author, Professor Peter Rothwell, of Oxford University's Stroke Prevention Research Unit.

His team found that taking low-dose daily aspirin for between three and five years reduced the chance of being diagnosed with cancer at that time by 19 per cent. Five years or more after starting taking aspirin, the reduction rose to 30 per cent. He said: "These data do push the argument in favour of taking daily low-dose aspirin, particularly if you have a family history of heart disease or cancer.

"We showed previously that daily aspirin substantially reduces the long-term risk of some cancers, particularly colorectal cancer and oesophageal cancer, but that these effects don’t appear until about eight to 10 years after starting treatment.

"The delay is because aspirin is preventing the very early development of cancers and there is a long delay between this early stage and the eventual clinical presentation with a cancer.

"What we have now shown is that aspirin also has short-term effects, which are manifest after only two to three years."

Note that some cancers. Typical scientists evasiveness. Ask a direct question, "Does it prevent cancer?" and you get "Well is may prevent some cancers.

As we get deeper into this report it begins to look like another attempt by Big Pharma to persuade governments that mass medication without consent is a good idea. Previously suggestions that drinking water be medicated with anti - depressants and statins (anti obesity drugs) have been sen off by public opinion.

Unfortunately it looks as if the more fascistic a corporate culture is, the more influence that corporation weilds over government.

The findings also raised "the distinct possibility that aspirin will be effective as an additional treatment for cancer – to prevent distant spread of the disease", he said.

Aspirin, manufactured by pharmaceutical companies has long been hailed for its blood-thinning properties, leading some to argue that it should be prescribed to those who are at a higher risk of heart attack or stroke, even if they have never had one. Strangely the report does not mention the blood thinning and anti inflammatory qualities of garlic which can be grown in a small garden or window box.

Aspirin is being hailed as a real wonder drug: its usefulness (as willow-bark extract, for fever and pain) was known to the ancients; it does appear to have many potential benefits; and yet its mechanisms remain mysterious or at best poorly understood. When it was first synthesised, as acetylsalicylic acid, in the 1850s, it was used as to relieve the pains of "rheumatism", but no one had any idea how it worked. It wasn't until the late 20th century that doctors started to give it to patients as a preventative against heart disease. Researchers started to work out a theory of heart disease that involved some sort of inflammation process and something called C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein is a marker for inflammation: raised levels of it in the blood indicate an inflammatory process. It is also known that the base-line plasma concentration of C-reactive protein predicts the risk of future heart attack and stroke. Taking aspirin reduces CRP levels, and so may also reduce the risk of future heart problems.

Previous studies have warned that aspirin can do more harm than good in healthy people. Scientists taking a more objective view rather than producing the result Big Pharma required have found taking aspirin does not significantly reduce the risk of a heart attack in healthy people, and is no more effective that a healthy diet in preventing many common cancers but that it “almost doubles the risk of being admitted to hospital due to internal bleeding. Routinely prescribed by doctors as a preventative for heart disease and strokes, it's blood thinning effects have proved fatal in some people prone to ulcers or hemorrhaging.

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Inflation Falls Again As Government Continue To Talk Bollocks

Inflation fell to a 15-month low of 3.4pc in February helping ease pressure on cash-strapped consumers and Chancellor George Osborne ahead of Wednesday's Budget.

The consumer prices index (CPI) is down from 3.6pc in January as a drop in prices for housing, lower electricity and gas bills electricity, and cheaper air fare pushed overall inflation down, the Office for National Statistics said. However, the fall was not as much as expected - economist had forecast a drop to 3.3pc - as a record January to February rise in alcohol prices, driven by spirits, held back further declines.

The drop comes as some economists warn that the overall rate of inflation may not pull back as quickly as previously thought amid resurgent oil prices, although the ONS said there was no evidence of this in February. Inflation has fallen steadily since hits a three-year peak of 5.2pc in September.

The official press release reports that in a sign that underlying price pressures are fading as well, core inflation - which strips out volatile components such as food and energy - fell to 2.4pc, the lowest since November 2009.

Meanwhile in the real world petrol has risen from £1.35 per litre to £1.41 per litre at my local garage, I make that a rise of 4.4% rise inside 2 weeks! And anyone who watches commodity prices will be aware that the price of cereals on the world market is up by 8% this year

My Water charges (another non essential removed from the calculations?) acros the UK have gone up by about 10% since last year.

Inflation certainly isn't falling! As long as inflation is higher than interest rates on savings, and as long as inflation is higher than the annual increase in wages, people are still going to be impoverished.

As long as taxes on fuel are rising, as long as council taxes are rising, as long as prices on energy, water, transport and food are rising, even if only to the level of this fabulous 'inflationary' decrease, people will be impoverished.

Who gave the government their very appetising recipe for cooked books? Look, here's how it works (figures simplified) Increase prices by 15% one year, reduce by 5% the next and bingo inflation has fallen year on year. The fact that you are paying 10% more over the two years means nothing. Politicians and economists must think we the punters are all stupid. Yes, inflation has stoped rising and is falling rapidly. if you stop eating , stop heating your home , walk or ride a bike instead of drive your car, then inflation is ONLY 2.4%. What a triumph for government economic policies.

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There is no doubt that of all the bad ideas the National Socialist government of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came up with in their 13 year bid to enslave the British people on behalf of their New World Order mates in the Bilderberg Group was the introduction of toll roads that would make it impossible to get anywhere without paying a road toll to a private company as well as road tax and about 500% tax on fuel to the government. My colleague Ian Thorpe worked out that the round trip from his home near Burnley to see his Mum in Morecambe would cost him around £100.

It was in effect a blatant attempt by The People's Party to tax the ordinary people on average incomes off the road.

We do not expect such stuff from the Conservatives although I have my suspicions that the Lib Dems have become more Nazi than the Nazis.

It is not the Lib Dems who will today be announcing plans to create swathes of new toll roads all over Britain but Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron.

If the plan goes ahead motorists face tolls and pay-as-you drive schemes on privately owned roads or gridlock on the public network. The Prime Minister will say Britain’s “second-rate” road system desperately needs a huge injection of private-sector investment. It's bollocks of course, what Britain needs is a government that will channel an apppropriate proportion of the stupendous amount of revenue they gain from duty on car fuel into maintaining and improving the road system. Instead, governments of both parties whould rather waste our money on foreign adventures in neo colonialism, vanity projects and sucking up to minorities.

The Treasury, Cameron will say, can no longer afford to keep funding improvements and repairs to motorways and trunk roads.

The plans are likely to provoke an angry response from the public and businesses. The roads could add hundreds of pounds a year to the cost of motoring at a time when drivers and transport operators already face soaring petrol and diesel prices and crippling fuel duties and road tax. Motoring organisations last night warned of a backlash, claiming the move was a return to “18th century turnpikes”.

Advance copies of Cameron's speech released to the press tell us he will say "Why is it that other infrastructure – for example water – is funded by private-sector capital through ­privately owned, independently regulated, utilities but roads in Britain call on the public finances for funding?” Mr Cameron will make clear that “sovereign wealth funds, pension funds and other investors” could build and maintain new roads. He has instructed the Department for Transport and the Treasury to carry out a feasibility study with results expected in the autumn.

Funny he should mention the utility companies that suply water, electricity and gas. They are known as the biggest crooks and rip off merchants in the country. And as we are warned of water shortages and and hosepipe bans everybody knows billionsd of gallons of much needed water leak away through holes in poorly maintained water pipes the untility companies focus their efforts on hiring expensive consultsants to dream up ever more exotic scams for stealing from customers.

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Children Failing At Reading Is Child Abuse By The Education System

How does the government's education Ministry of Truth (MinTru) (Quasi Autonomous Non Governmental Organisation) intend to improveme the situation, apart from burying it under a pile of bureaucratic jargon ? Sir Michael explained: “Teacher training colleges will come under greater scrutiny by Ofsted inspectors for the way they prepare teachers to give reading lessons using the phonic system.”

It will not work any better than any of the politically correct meddling of the past forty years has worked. If it were possible to improve literacy in our schools by introducing the crackpot ideas of Californian cranks, self styled educational psychologists, it would have already happened. Instead we have seen progressive ideas march and in hand with dumbing down. Unless of course the educational establishment woke up one March morning in 2012 a pandemic of illiteracy and said "Fuck me, half the kids in state schools are morons."

This decline of education has been going on for years with examination standards constantly being lowered to mask the extent of the system's failure. Even the education department admits that more than four out of ten children leave school, after 11 years of state education, unable to read and write properly.

Neither the constant chopping and changing in teaching methods nor the sheer incompetence of many teachers is blamed for this scandalous failure. Instead we are given the usual politically correct clichés of poverty, bad home background and single parents and fingers are pointed at, “children on free school meals” and “the very diverse schools population.”

But it is not an impoverished background or social and cultural diversity which causes the failure of so many children to learn to read. It is not class sizes, another familiar excuse, which are the problem. There is no shortage of books, computers and other technological aids not of teachers who waver their degrees in "educational science" at dissatisfied parents as if a bit of paper can make up for their inability you engage the interest of the young. I know I am writing the truth, because I have something with which to compare today’s shocking educational deprivation of our children. Experience.

My first school in the 1950s was Upton Magna Church of England School in a small village in Shropshire. The school had been built in the early nineteenth century and was one large hall in which the different years sat in separate rows of desks. The pupils were diverse, my Dad worked for a national newspaper and was one of the few people in the village to own a car. The other car owners were farmers or professional people. Many of my classmates were very poor, the sons and daughters of agricultural workers their clothes were hand me down, the free.school meals they had were for some all that stood between them and hunger. But those among us who were backward at reading were very few, even Charlie Record who was always destined for remedial education could read aloud from text books when it was his turn. And every day the teacher would read aloud to us from ripping yarns such as Treasure Island or the Hornblower stories or narrative verse; Tennyson and Longfellow were on the menu as was Lord Byron's stirring The Destruction of Senacherib. I can remember, aged seven, being able to recite William, Blake's Tyger, Tyger.

By the age of nine we knew all the parts of speech and could parse sentences, and at eleven we embarked on clause analysis. We were also, those from affluent and poor homes alike, competent at basic arithmetic from which all mathematics stems. Compared with what was achieved in those days of genuine deprivation for some, today’s education standards amount to child abuse.

Education, and particularly that primary education between the ages of five and eleven is vital to individuals and society alike. Once children have the basics of literacy and numeracy they are equipped to educate themselves no matter how idiotic the ideas of "progressives" they will encounter in the secondary school. At Upton Magna school we did not need lessons in diversity or mulicultural studies to teach us how to adapt to accommodate the children of gypsys, itinerants or refugees to came to the area to work on the harvest, fruit picking and later potato picking.

While we continue to sacrifice the education of generations of children to the gods of "progressive" and politically correct thinking we are only emulating the Aztecs whose priests, having failed to persuade their gods to intercede and defeat the Conquistadores could only suggest that the reason the Spanish were still winning was because not enough young people had been sacrificed. It is not just in education however that the "progressives" display this mindset.

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The West Is Already Meddling In Syria (and making things worse)

The West Is Already Meddling In Syria (and making things worse) by Patrick Hayes in Spiked

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Science Defeats Science - Resistance To Antibiotics Could End Modern Medicine

Now we should remember that the WHO are the people who gave us the Swine Flu pandemic scare, the Bird Flu pandemic scare both of which were going to kill us all, and also recommended that teenage boys should be vaccinated against cervical cancer. So whether the scientists who lead the WHO are actually barking mad, completely stark raving bonkers in the head, or they are just greedy little bureaucrats who are quite happy to dance to their Big Pharma paymasters' tune in order to keep their grubby noses in the ever flowing trough of taxpayers money we may only speculate.

This article then is about how the latest health scare the WHO is pumping up has come about as a result of following policies recommended by the WHO and Big Pharma. Ironic innit?

Margaret Chan, the organiation's director general warned that humans have become so resistant to common antibiotics it could bring about “the end of modern medicine as we know it.” As a result, she claimed, every antibiotic ever developed is at risk of becoming useless, making once-routine operations impossible. Hyperbole? Well probably, the WHO have a track record after all.

If there is substance in the warning, and similar warnings have been being sounded for many years, the redundancy would include many of the breakthrough drugs developed to treat tuberculosis, malaria, bacterial infections and HIV/AIDS, as well as simple treatments for cuts and septic sores.

Speaking to a conference of infectious disease experts in Copenhagen, Dr Chan said we could be entering into a “post-antibiotic era”. Replacement medicines could become more expensive, with longer periods of treatment required to bring about the same effect, she added.

Dr Chan went on to say: “Things as common as strep throat or a child’s scratched knee could once again kill. Antimicrobial resistance is on the rise in Europe and elsewhere in the world. We are losing our first-line antimicrobials. Replacement treatments are more costly, more toxic, need much longer durations of treatment, and may require treatment in intensive care units. For patients infected with some drug-resistant pathogens, mortality has been shown to increase by around 50 per cent. A post-antibiotic era means, in effect, an end to modern medicine as we know it.”

The warning comes shortly after the World Health Organisation published a new book warning of the “global crisis”, entitled “The evolving threat of antimicrobial resistance.”

It reads: “Bacteria which cause disease react to the antibiotics used as treatment by becoming resistant to them, sooner or later. A crisis has been building up over the decades, so that today many common and life-threatening infections are becoming difficult or even impossible to treat, sometimes turning a common infection into a life-threatening one.”

The paper blames the current situation largely on the misuse of antibiotics, which are not prescribed properly and used too frequently and for too long. The problem is not just in over prescription by medical doctors. Antibiotics are routinely added to cattle, pig and poultry feed to make animals put on weight more quickly thus reducing costs and the time lag from birth to slaughter, resulting in boosted profits.

The WHO paper points to an “inexorable increase in antimicrobial-resistant infections, a dearth of new antibiotics in the pipeline and little incentive for industry to invest in research and development” had led to a need for innovation”.

The WHO has now appealed to governments across the world to support research into the antimicrobial resistance. Ah; more research equals more research grants, more big fat salaries and expensive jollies in luxury resorts for scientists. Right. If we follow the money we always arrive in the same place, greed and self interest city.

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Ed Miliband Is Not Running The Labour Party, Who Is

We wish we had stuck with Cammy and Bammy. Here's one report we saw:

"On Tuesday, Labour held the weekly meeting of its shadow cabinet. At its conclusion the members filed out into the expansive, and expensive, atrium of Parliament’s Portcullis House. “Everyone broke into little groups of three or four,” said one observer. “They were all there, having follow-up discussions with each other. Except for Ed Miliband. He was left standing on his own with a member of staff. So he just got on the escalator and walked away.” (Dan Hodges)

At some indefinable point during the last few months, Ed Miliband stopped being leader of Labour Party. There was neither drama nor fanfare. No knife-edge votes, or late-night confrontations. Instead, the authority bestowed upon him in Manchester 18 months ago rose early, quietly packed its suitcase, and sloped off into a chill Westminster morning. It didn’t leave a note."

Wither Milliband? Or perhaps, wither milliband! in the imperitive case.

Poor Ed. I do think he's a decent bloke really, just waaaaaaaaay out of his depth. The task he landed himself with, keeping the unions sweet while trying to turn Labour into something capable of being elected and then capable of governing would have been beyond Hercules.

So how will it end? We forsee Ed being despatched to Room 101 where he will have to face the thing he fears most, Len McClusky. After that he may occasionally be sighted sitting alone in the Chestnut Tree Cafe sipping Victory Gin flavoured with cloves.

The Chestnut Tree Cafe in George Orwell's 1984

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Free Schools Are Needed To Save British Education But Labour Are In Denial

Labour Education spokesman and former Liberal Democrat Andrew Adonis has demanded that Labour come out in support of free schools. What Adonis has understood, and what the Labour Party and the Campaign for State Education remain in denial about, is that the state education system is close to collapse. While lefties grizzle about state schools not sending enough bright but disadvantaged children to elite Universities the schools under the control of the state, those teaching the nationl curriculum are not achieving acceptable levels of basic numeracy and literacy. The sysyem it is not producing enough students in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects that politicans and academics obsess about so much.

The system is not doing enough for the gifted and talented pupils pasing through the system, in fact such a culture of anti - intellectualism has been allowed to develop because of politically correct ideas on discipline that to display intelligence or scholarly excellence it to make oneself a target for bullying. Education in the state school system is not equipping school leavers with the skills employers need and which make the pupils employable.

The truth is that our education system is stuck in a time warp, ideas that were shown not to work as long ago as the 1970s still have currency. The education establishment has failed to evolve to meet the challenges of the actual world our school leavers must go out into and compete in. But education is run by progressives and progressives are incapable of acceptin that their pet idea has failed because it is a bad idea. The progressive mindset is no more for turning than the Iron Lady. A more relaxed approached to discipline has ledt to a breakdown of discipline?" they say, "Well obviously that is because we did not relax discipline enough." "Lowering exam standards so pupils are not alienated by failure has resaulted in the bightest pulpils getting dumber? Well we must relax standards even further. The theory cannot be wrong, conservatives have sabotaged it."

When its errors are pointed out the response of the educational establishment is to become hyper-defensive, defend their failed methods and mount a massive resistance to any real change, not on the basis of any rational criticism of weakness in what is proposed but simply on the grounds of it not being politically correct. The establishmen hate free schools for one reason; they wrench power away from those who think they ought to run our schools and place it in the hands of parents or reformers. For too long the only alternative to state schoolst for parents who could afford the fees was to run to private sector.

Education is too important a part of society to be used as a protective compound for the sacred cows of the progressive left.

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14 March 2012

More EU Rebels Follow Spain In Defying Burssels Diktat.

Over the course of innumerable crisis meetings European leaders have tried and failed to produce the right result for a glorious photon oppotunity: extravagant triple-kiss greetings, toothy grins, and wistful stares between Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Last Monday night in Brussels however the stage management went horribly wrong: Jean Claude Juncker, head of euro zone finance ministers group, was snapped strangling his Spanish counterpart.

It was all a big joke of course. Luis de Guindos wasn't actually hasrmed in the making of the photograph and Jan Kees De Jager, the Dutch finance minister looming behind him, didn't wade in with fists flying either. But the grim look on Mr de Guindos' face shows he didn't find it all that funny.

Moments before the indident, the eurogroup had approved a €130bn (£108bn) bailout package for Greece. After months of wrangling and just a week before Greece was due to default on its debts the deal should have been a cause for an orgy of celebratory plate-smashing.. Unknown to the stage managers, behind the scenes, Spain had hijacked the meeting. In a bluntly worded statement, the eurogroup announced they had agreed to relax Spain's deficit target for 2012 - from 4.4pc set by Brussels last year to 5.3pc.

Spain had won some unscheduled breathing space. But what really angered Juncker was that in winning the concession, Madrid had stirred a radical retaliation of "sinner states" against the northern bloc's push for austerity and central control.

All year Spanish officials have pleaded with Brussels for permission to relax their deficit targets, arguing that Spain couldn't take any more austerity. They felt they had a strong case: Spain's economy is set to contract 1.7pc this year; unemployment, already the highest in the industrialised world, is heading for 24pc; while youth unemployment is already over 50pc. Officials warned Brussels that yet more cuts would be catatrophic for Spain. But the answer was firm and consistent: nein, non, niet: austerity targets were "non-negotiable".

At the beginning of March, leaders gathered in Brussels to entrench these rules in a new treaty. The so-called fiscal pact bound all European countries (except Britain and the Czech Republic who opted out) to keep their debt to GDP ratio below 3pc - or face punishment. Angela Merkel was tickled pink: the deal would last forever, she said.

But with sensational timing, just hours later Mariano Rajoy announced Spain would break the rules, immediately. Because the E U bureaucrats were forced to accept this it opens the way for Italy, Portugal and Ireland to demand the same concession. We are back where we started.

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Melvyn Bragg attacks Richard Dawkins' 'atheist fundamentalism'

Bragg poured scorn on the scientists insistence that “reason” can destroy the Christian argument, saying that faith was something that should be examined more closely.

Speaking on Sky Television's The Book Show, Bragg, a non theist himself, defended Christianity and other faiths and accused atheists such as Prof Dawkins and philosopher Alain de Botton of "hitching a ride" on faith.

“Ever since civilisation began people have believed in many gods, one god or none,” he said. “There have also been atheists, people who say that this is unprovable, that there could not be resurrections and reincarnations and miracles. These are all respectable traditions. What’s changed recently is the animus and the ignorance that has entered into the atheist argument, led by Richard Dawkins, most improbably a fine zoologist, a good scholar, Oxford trained, who seems to have thrown everything off in this odd pursuit, particularly of Christianity.”

Bragg argued that reason was not “the primary source of knowledge”.

Read the full report or watch the video: Melvin Bragg attacks Richard Dawkins atheist fundamentalism.

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Limp Wristed Vegetarian Nazi Scientists Want To Take Away Your Steak

Now you quickly get to the nature of this science in the line above. "can increase the risk of death". Unscientific, scaremongering BOLLOCKS. We are all going to die, forget the delusional belief among scientists that they can immunise us against death, nobody lives for ever. So the risk of death is 100%, it cannot get any higher, it will not get any lower. Therefore you should read reports of this type of research with the appropriate degree of scepticism.

New research carried out in the USA and published today demonstrates eating red meat regularly, especially processed meats dramatically increases the risk of death from heart disease and cancer. Each additional daily serving of processed red meat, equivalent to one hot-dog or two rashers of bacon, raised the chances of dying by a fifth. Data from 121,342 men and women taking part in two large US health and lifestyle investigations were analysed to produce the findings, published in the journal Archives of Internal Medicine .

Now note the vagueness and obfuscatory tactics here. The do not say red meat eaters will die at 60 instead of 80. What they do appear to be saying is that for every ten people who eat red meat, twelve will die. The premise is irrational.

The study claims researchers found that cutting red meat out of the diet led to significant benefits but here again we see the way the issue is clouded in an attempt to manipulate readers. They find a problem with processed meat which in fact is not confined to red meat but, as has been known for years there is a problem with all highly processed foods, red or white meats, fats and they reduce it to appear as it it only applies to the food hate symbol of the limp wristed vegetarian Nazi party ("healthy low fat spreads" are the most dangerous things you can eat apart from the kind of stuff that comes in bottles with a skull and crossbones on the label).

Replacing red meat with fish, poultry, or plant-based protein foods contributed to a longer life, the study says although many other studies have shown vegetarians do not live significantly longer than red meat eater. Nuts are said to reduce the risk of dying by 20% - making a case for swapping roast beef for nut roast.

The studies monitored the progress of their participants for more than 20 years and gathered information about diet. In total, scientists documented 23,926 deaths including 5,910 from heart disease and 9,364 from cancer. Senior author Professor Frank Hu, from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, said: "This study provides clear evidence that regular consumption of red meat, especially processed meat, contributes substantially to premature death.

"On the other hand, choosing more healthful sources of protein in place of red meat can confer significant health benefits by reducing chronic disease morbidity (illness) and mortality."

Funny how the results of these studies carried out by leftie academics always affirm the moral prejudices of leftie academics and serve to advance their control freak agenda, don't you think. When you read that cancer prevention charity the World Cancer Research Fund recommends that people avoid processed meat entirely and limit their consumption of red meat to 500g a week it's easy to see the hand of health fascism at work. In fact the biggest problem we have with western dies now is the result of scientists meddling with so much of the food we eat for the sole purpose of boosting corporate profits. It is not the meat in processed meats, the ground grain in bread or cakes nor the oil in processed fats that does the harm, it is the added chemicals, the colourings, artificial flavourings, preservatives etc. Look at the list of ingredients on a pack of processed meat, a savoury snack, a pack of breakfast cereal. Food is not the problem, science is the problem.

Dr Rachel Thompson, the charity's deputy head of science, said: "This study strengthens the body of evidence which shows a link between red meat and chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease. The research itself seems solid and is based on two large-scale cohort studies monitored over a long period of time."

And when you look at the length of time it becomes clear we are not talking about people living ten of five years less on average but a few weeks less. Ah well as the old saying goes, torture data long enough and it will tell you whatever you want it to.

We know that many other studies show there is no higher risk in eating red meat and that such results as are offered by this latest farrago can easily be obtained by manipulating data. Cult of Scienceology followers reading this will accuse The Daily Stirrer of being anti science. We are not, we are anti-pseudoscirntific-bullshit. And we are not the only ones..The study's findings were challenged by Dr Carrie Ruxton from the Meat Advisory Panel , an expert body funded by the meat industry.

She said: "This US study looked at associations between high intakes of red meat and risk of mortality, finding a positive association between the two. However, the study was observational, not controlled, and so cannot be used to determine cause and effect. "The authors' conclusion that swapping a portion of red meat for poultry or fish each week may lower mortality risk was based only on a theoretical model.

In other words, other lifestyle factors that could have ben significant were factored out of the study. And again we see the common preference of modern, politicised scientists for working with theoretical models rather than reality.

Dr. Ruxton went on to point out this study's conclusion conflicts with evidence from controlled trials. She pointed out that meat and meat products were significant sources of essential nutrients such as iron, zinc, selenium, B vitamins and vitamin D. So as these are all essential nutrients following the advice of the report would result in people being malnourished. Gfood work guys.

In the UK, red meat was "critically important" to zinc intake, contributing 32% of the total for men and 27% for women. Red meat also contributed around 17% of total dietary iron intake in the UK.

We give the last word to Dr. Ruxton: "In summary, this paper should not be used to dissuade people from reducing their current intake of red meat when it provides essential nutrients that are required as part of a healthy balanced diet."

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TYCOONS, HOOKERS AND OUR COUNCIL FATCATS PARTY IN CANNES

The Coalition government's Minister for Sport, Hugh Robertson was the most senior of politicians and council chief executives who enjoyed a taste of high life usually reserved for millionaires last week while taxpayers protested the closure of libraries, leisure centres, police stations and public toilets at home.

Our tax eaters were among 20,000 overwhelmingly male delegates who jetted to the French resort from all over the world to get their gribby snouts in the trough for the MIPIM property show where hotel lobbies, super-yachts and bars became a magnet for prostitutes cashing in.

The public officials were officially there to woo PFI investors for their pet property schemes, from housing blocks in Bristol to possibilities in the Olympic Park. While some councils funded their trips from public funds, others were on freebies with thousands of pounds of expenses paid by their 'business friends'.

They drank champagne in beachside terraces, strolled in the sun, and partied with bankers, lawyers and architects until the early hours with no sign of any serious work getting done..In the evenings delegates could be seen chatting to the high-class hookers that locals say come to Cannes specifically for the men and money of MIPIM. Luxury catering vans lined the harbour to serve guests on yachts, while restaurants charged £80 for Black Angus prime rib and bars hiked the cost of a small bottle of beer to £10. Well why not, it's all on expenses, the taxpayers will foot the bill.

It would be far cheaper to erect a marquee in Hyde Park said Sir Edward Lister, the London Mayor's chief of staff.

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Another Effing Fiasco

The Elites Are Making A Virtue Of Intolerance

The council’s summation was accurate. President Sarkozy’s government had effectively tried to criminalise an idea, albeit a misguided one. It had suggested that tolerance should not be applied to those who deny the Armenian genocide – hence it proposed a law prohibiting it.

Predictably, the government swiftly rejected the council’s judgment. Without a hint of irony it issued a statement ...

Read full Post

The Elites Are Making A Virtue Of Intolerance

West Wimps Out On Syria Intervention

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Trouble in Europe, US and China promises tough times ahead for all of us.

Economic figures release earlier this week and reported in The Daily Stirrer suggest that far form being over as it was claimed the false growth in economies proved, this great depression 2 has barely begun. So far 2012 has given us a breathtaking recovery in stocks and share prices and asset values. Unfortunately this is totally out of line with the economic realities in Europe, USA and China. The markets have existed for so long in a state of panic they are nearning breakdown and displaying symptoms of insanity.

Your Daily Stirrer commentators have been accused of pessimism but there is nothing pessimistic about being realists. Realists make decisions based on evidence and thus are better equipped to deal will whatever circumstances arise. Optimists dismiss the unpleasant aspects of reality and thous are caught unawares and totally unprepared when it sneaks up and bites them on the arse..

It is not just The Daily Stirrer that has spooted the latest iceberg to loom on the horizon. Graham Secker from Morgan Stanley said it is rare for global stocks, oil prices and government bonds to rise in lockstep, and such exuberance becomes a "very reliable sell signal for stocks" once speculators join the party.

Equity long positions on NASDAQ have reached 1.5 standard deviations and long bets on oil are at an extreme of 1.9, according to data from the Commodity Futures Exchange Commission. This is happening at a time when yields on 10-year US Treasuries are still at 1.96pc, signalling depression, deflation, or both.

The historical relationship between bonds and equities has completely broken down over the past six months. "You can't have a sustained period where equities are going up, while bond yields are flat or trending down," said Mr Secker. One or the other must give, and the players have no doubt which it will be. Fund manager John Hussman said the market is replicating the "extreme" conditions seen at danger moments in 1972-1973, 1987 and 2007-2008. His warning indicators include a rise in the S&P 500 index by more than 8pc above its 52-week moving average, a "Shiller price/earnings ratio" above 18, and bearish sentiment below 27pc.

America's Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI) said its analysis indicates "pronounced, persistent and pervasive" signs that the US economy is sliding back into recession.

Fed chair Ben Bernanke warned last week that the US faces a "massive fiscal cliff" at the end of 2012 as tax cuts expire and the axe falls on $110bn of spending due to "sequestration". Medicare taxes also kick in. "All those things are hitting on the same day, basically. It's quite a big event," he said.

It is far from clear that the US economy is strong enough to withstand such fiscal drag. "Every time the US economy falls below the stall speed at 1.75pc it falls into recession: we have now been below that for the last three quarters," said Albert Edwards from Societe Generale.

"To me this feels no different from the start of 2011 but with one major difference. Profits are sliding instead of rising robustly," he said. The 12-month "forward earnings" data have peaked, replicating the pattern seen at the onset of the bear market in 2007.

Mr Edwards says the "Ice Age" cycle in America and Europe is still playing out much as it did in Japan after the Nikkei bubble, with each rally overpowered by the crushing force of debt deleveraging."

China's, premier Wen Jiabao has downgraded the country's growth forecasts to 7.5pc. It is far from clear whether the Politiburo can navigate a soft-landing after the kind of prolonged boom the Cinese economy has enjoyed. R&F Properties said house sales for China in the first two months of this year were down 40pc from a year ago, and prices fell 22pc.

Nomura said China's electricity use fell 7.5pc in January from a year earlier, implying a sharp industrial slowdown. The bank said the country has already reached "peak steel", with its steel production index crashing to 39.4 in February.

Dong Tao at Credit Suisse said "We believe the golden age of infrastructure investment is behind us now. The golden age of the housing boom is behind us now. The golden age of export is behind us now. The golden age of policy stimulus is behind us now. The Shanghai stock market has been signalling trouble for a long time, falling more than 60pc from its peak in late 2007. What is odd is that the bourses of countries that feed on China's commodity boom have not followed the trends of the feeder economy.

On top of all that consumers around the world are cash strapped and maxed out. There is still a lack of demand in the global economy as consumers stubbornly ingnore government exhoirtations to take on more debt, stat spending and kickstart domestic economies. So many individuals have sucjh a huge burden of debt they cannot see a way out of their sitiation. In Asian people nevrer bough in to the cosumer dream but, remembering hsard times are never far away, hoarrded money. The Asian "savings glut" is still with us. The East has not filled the vacuum left as the debt laden West tightens it belt. Liquidity has masked the deeper crisis, and flattered asset prices. The cancer has been fed by stimulus and printing money, the tumour is still growing..

Federal Exchange Ignores The Goal Posts, Moves The Stadium.

Reall all:

Dementia is "next global health time bomb"

Well The Daily Stirrer reported on the 'age timebomb' over a year ago so again it is nice to see the 'experts' catching up with us old gits who really know what we are talking about.

Professor Peter Piot, former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations, compared dementia to the AIDS epidemic and said one person is diagnosed with the mental illness every seven seconds. The population of sufferers, which currently stands at 36 million, is set to double by 2020 worldwide. He is now calling on the World Health Organisation to add dementia to their list of top priority diseases to fund research and treatment across the globe.

In saying: “It’s not adding years to your life, but life to your years," the professor hits the nail on the head. Scientists are obsessed with numbers and this has led to them aiming at the wrong target. Instead of focusing on prolonging life by any means possible rather than prolonging the quality of life they have created two problems rather than solving one. Dementia is a horrible degenerative condition and in the worst cases ends in people not only not recognising family members but not even knowning who they themselves are. Prolonging a life only to condemn a person to that fate is not an achievement, it is an act of selfish cruelty.

The second problem is the cost. We all know the state of the global economy and latest data shows ever the Chinese economic powerhouse is feeling the effects, while European nations, crippled by unsustainable bills for their overgenerous welfare systems are collapsing under the burden of sovereign debt. Providing personal care and medical services for people who are unable to do even simple things for themselves is already a huge charge on government revenues and can only increase. As well as dementia, heart and lung problems, diabetes and cancer are adding to the problem of looking after the old.

Despite his calls to improve diagnosis, Prof Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, admitted it may not always be ethical to diagnose dementia in parts of the world where treatment is not yet available. He told BBC Radio4’s Today programme that developing countries in Asia and Latin America were seeing the greatest rise in dementia sufferers, as better healthcare led to people living longer. He added: “The figures speak for themselves. We are really going into the next global health time bomb.

“I have worked for the last 30 years on AIDS. It was a time bomb several decades ago and it’s still not over.

(This is something of an exercise in fearmongering. Outside Africa AIDS has not really broken out of the gay and intavenous drug user categories. There are good reasons for that but to mention them will only get us branded racist and homophobic.

We only have reliable figures for the UK but the problem is global.

The National Health Service is setting aside as little as 10p per day to treat each patient with dementia, it has emerged in the wake of concerns about the age timebomb and its social consequences. One in every ten of the trusts investigated has even reduced their level of spending, in a situation condemned by a leading campaign group as an "embarrassment. One primary care trust, Nottinghamshire County, has admitted spending just £38 a year for each patient with the illness. These figures, revealed under the Freedom of Information Act, have been described as a "recipe for disaster” by charity the Alzheimer’s Society.

”Three quarters of British health trusts have refused to increase their funding for dementia care, despite government calls to make it a priority. This is because they a in a Catch 22 situation. If they don't care for patients they will have their funding reduced but if they fail to hit their financial targets because they have put patient care ahead of controlling the budget they will have their funding reduced. However, it is harder to prove dereliction of the duty of care than poor accounting standards.

Under government guidelines, NHS Trusts are required to prioritise dementia patients, with Primary Care Trusts being given extra funding to invest in services and treatment. Today 36 million people are living with dementia according to WHO figures. Experts expect to see this doubling by 2020. A note of caution here however. The World Health Organisation are the fear and panic merchants who gave us Swine Flu and many other plagues that were going to kill millions but never materialised. The staff of the World Health Organisation are tax eaters and want to keep their grubby snouts in the trough.

Even so, common sense, always the most reliable measure, tells us that as the proportion of old people increases the problems will only get worse. We don't need not old people, if people are lining longer we need to extend youth and middle age.

The root of the problem is medical science has put so much time and effort into keeping the physical body going (transplants, drugs etc) but the brain is still setup for three score years and ten because little or nothing has been achieved to increase it's longevity. Its another case of scientists having an intellectual wank and not pausing for one single second to think about the consequences of what they are doing.

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The Coalition Must Not Be Sucked Into The 'Progressive' Left' War On The Family
Since before the 1970s, since before the communists overthrew the Tsar in Russia, since the day Karl Marx condemnede faily life in his Communist Manifesto, the left or 'progressive left' as they now style themselves has been making war on family life and promoting the usurpation of the role of parents by the agencies of the state.

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Three stories on the disintegration of the Eurozone

Dutch Freedom Party pushes euro exit as €2.4 trillion rescue bill looms

Speaking in Amsterdam yesterday Geert Wilders, the leader of the right-wing populist party with a sixth of the seats in the Dutch parliament said "The euro is not in the interests of the Dutch people. We want to be the master of our own house and our own country, so we say yes to the guilder. Bring it on."

Mr Wilders made his shock statement after receiving a report by London-based Lombard Street Research concluding that the Netherlands is badly handicapped by euro membership, and that it could cost EMU’s creditor core more than €2.4 trillion to hold monetary union together over the next four years.

"If the majority in The Hague disagree with our report, let them show the guts to hold a referendum. Let the Dutch people decide," Mr. Wilders said.

The Freedom Party is not part of the coalition but the minority government of Mark Rutte relies on Freedom Party support to pass legislation. The two men were in talks on Monday on €16bn of fresh austerity cuts needed stop the budget deficit jumping to 4.5pc of GDP.

The Netherlands is beginning to show signs of increasing frustration at the their loss of sovereignty and fiscal independence as the euro debt crisis escalates. The Dutch Freedom Party has called for a return to the Guilder, becoming the first political movement in the eurozone with a large popular base to opt for withdrawal from the single currency.

Meanwhile in France as suport for President Sarkozy crumbles ahead of April's presidential elections, Marine le Pen, leader of the right wing National Front is steadily increasing her rating.

You didn't really think it would stop at Greece did you - Spain's debt causes worry

News today that Spain risks being fined under new EU rules for a "grave" breach of budget limits, the European Commission warned on Monday, despite Jose Manuel Barroso stating that he was confident it would fulfil its commitments.

European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso has told reporters that he is confident that Spain will respect the EU's new budget rules, despite the country's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy increasing the country's deficit target to 5.8pc in 2012, from its original 4.4pc goal.

A relapse into recession pushed Spain's budget deficit to 8.5pc last year, far above the 6pc target.

Commenting on the 2011 "slippage", Mr Barroso told reporters:

We still need some more information about the reasons for the slippage [...] I have no doubt that the government will honour its commitments regarding the stability and growth pact.

Mr Barroso's comments came as the spokesman for Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn described the 2011 slippage as a "grave" breach of budget limits.

Leaders took part in a signing ceremony of a new EU fiscal compact on Friday, which will allow tougher Brussels scrutiny of budgets. The fiscal compact was signed by all 27 EU leaders, apart from the UK and Czech Republic.

The European Court of Justice will have the power to fine countries up to 0.1pc of GDP if they fail to stick to the new rules.

Well that's really going to help when they're already broke.

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Despite The Debt Crisis Euro Nazis War On Democracy Goes On

While we are on the subject of the EU's creeping fascism, Bruno Waterfield has also posted an interesting comment on Sp!ked, where he argues that the EU is doing everything it can to ensure that Ireland's referendum on the new "fiskalpact" is stitched up before a vote is cast:

The smooth faced bureaucrats are not really in denial about the fact that further integration of nations is deeply unpopular with ordinary people eerywhere, they are now confident enough to openly display the contempt for democracy they have previousluy kept hidden.

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RBS raises mortgage rates as Halifax prepares to follow suit

The Daily Stirrer has repeatedly warned that an increase in interest rates must be imminent and of the consequences that would have for millions of financially hamstrung families stuggling o survive from month to month. Loss of the lifebelt of low interest rates, mortgage experts have warned, will plung them into povrerty, have a deflationary effect on the economy as spending is further curtailed and cause house prices to collapse.

The Halifax which was Britain's largest mortgage lender before the credit crunch led the way in preparing for an increase in m,ortgage rates with RBS quickly following suit. The Halifax has written to borrowers telling them that it was increasing the cap on its standard variable rate (SVR) from 3 percentage points above Bank Rate to 3.75 points in three months' time.

If it then moved its rate up in line with the cap, around a million borrowers would end up paying 4.25pc on their mortgage as opposed to 3.5pc. While the lender said its move was not a definite indication that it would raise rates, mortgage brokers are sceptical and suggest the move would come sooner rather than later for a million Halifax borrowers. What's more, rivals are likely to follow suit, they said.

Ray Boulger of brokers John Charcol said: "There would have been no point in incurring the negative PR from this move if there were no plans to increase the SVR in the near future. Any borrowers currently paying 3.5pc should expect an increase soon after March 31."

Stuart Gregory of Lentune Mortgage Consultancy, who used to work for Halifax, said he expected to see a "chain of events" whereby other lenders also increased rates. "Once one does it, the others see it as an opportunity," he said.

Indeed, just 72 hours after Halifax's cap increase was uncovered (it didn't make a formal announcement), Royal Bank of Scotland raised rates on three mortgage products. The rate on NatWest and RBS lifetime offset trackers rose by a quarter of a point to 4pc, while customers of the One Account, also owned by RBS, saw a similar increase on two products.

Mortgage providers have complained it is costing them more to raise money in the markets than they can make by lending it out. The Daily Stirrer has warned that The ban of England and other centrat bank's policy of keeping the bsase rate suicidally low (at 0.5 per cent - a move which was justified by the claim that it would get stagnant economies moving but which has completely failed to do so,) was eventually going to have a detrimental effect.

If you think the austerities of the past four years have been tough, as the man in the first talking movie said, "You ain't sen nothin' yet.

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Almost Half Of English Adults Are Poor At Maths

A report from a new educational charity says almost half the adults in England have a poor understanding of maths.

National Numeracy claims it has discovered that 17 million people in the country struggle with mathematics. Many of them have an understanding of numeracy equivalent to that of a primary school pupil.

The number of innumerate adults in England has risen by up to two million in eight years and there is evidence this is having a major effect on the individuals and the UK economy.

Chris Humphries, the chair of National Numeracy, told News Services: "That's a scary figure, because what it means is they often can't understand deductions on their payslip, they often can't calculate or give change. They have problems with timetables, they are certainly going to have problems with tax and even with interpreting graphs, charts and metres that are necessary for their jobs."

He added: "It does matter, poor numeracy seriously blights an individual's life chances. Young people with poor numeracy are twice as likely to be excluded from school, we know adults with poor numeracy are twice as likely to be unemployed. It is simply inexcusable for anyone to say 'I can't do maths'. It's a peculiarly British disease which we aim to eradicate. It doesn't happen in other parts of the world and it's hitting our international competitiveness. With encouragement and good teaching, everyone can improve their numeracy."

Unlike poor levels of literacy, it seems many people are not even concerned about their lack of basic numeracy. Only 56% of those questioned were embarrassed about their poor maths skills. The charity is hoping to address the problem, encouraging those of all ages to improve their poor levels of numeracy.

Jan Dawson, who teaches maths to adults at Bournville College in Birmingham, is one of those trying to do something about the problem. She told a television news reporter many people are turned off maths while still at school.

"Invariably they're quite anxious about maths. They've had bad memories of maths from when they were at school but very often they will leave here and say that was great I understand, the penny has dropped," she said. Many of the mature students in her class have decided to brush up on their maths after realising their lack of knowledge has held them back.

Louise Galvin has a 13-year-old son and until recently she would worry when he asked for help with his maths homework.

"My son's got autism but he's very good at maths. Sometimes he comes home from school and I find his homework really shocking because it's tough for a 13-year-old, but now I can help him with it because I understand it better," she said.

Those involved in the new campaign believe too many people see maths as a geeky subject and a lack of ability at maths as a "badge of honour".

Speaking on Sky News television personality Johnny Ball, famous for popularising maths and science in TV programmes in the 70s and 80s, said the curriculum and the way maths was being taught were letting children down.

He said: "Teaching standards are not really strong enough in so many schools."

Wider studies have shown show that the UK lags behind other nations in the subject. In 2006, Britain was ranked 17th out of 30 developed nations measured by the proportion of people with low or no qualifications. Some 35% were considered to be at that level - double the number of countries such as the United States, Canada, Germany and Sweden.

The Daily Styirrer says maths geeks teaching maths are the problem. They can't get over the idea that one someone explains the magic of quadratic equations or differential calculus to them they will become as geeky and enthusiastic about the subject as their teachers (and quite possibly develop the same kind of personal hygiene issues).

There is too much focus on the abstract aspects of maths. The universe may well be an eleven dimensional dodecahedron (or whatever shape the geeks say it is this week. It does not affect my life in any way nor does it interest me in the slightest. I suspect most people feel the same.

Arithmetic and basic geometry and algebra are all most of us will ever need. Let the calculus and trigonometry come in later if it is approprate to a pupils likely course in life rather than boring them out of their minds and alienating them from not just maths but education in general.

FOOTNOTE:
When this report talks about "the mathematical abilities of a primary school child" it is necessary to put the statement into perspective.

A few years ago the television series show "That'll Teach Them" recreated a 1950s grammar school. The assembled kids were told they were going to sit a 1950s O level Maths exam. All the examinees were on target for an A or A star- GCSE, and so were regarded as mathematical prodigies. They sat the exam- the results were dreadful- nearly all had failed very badly except a couple who had done extremely well. Then the 1950s teachers delivered the sucker punch, this was not a 1950s O level Maths paper- it was a 1950s Eleven Plus paper in arithmetic!

It is almost certain the people involved in the test got their A passes and better in GCSE, so who in government cared, the Gods of stastistics were honoured.

RELATED POSTS: Is it time to ban maths in schoolsAcademics and politicians are always banging on about how school pulpils have no interest in maths and science. They blame everybody but themselves of course. When you get down to it, maybe the way Maths and Science are taught in schools is to blame. Or maybe it is the nerds who teach it and try to infect pupils with their own irrational enthusiasm for the uttrly pointless that has made these subjects so uncool.
A HREF="a-level-for-thickos.shtml">Are A Levels Only For Thickos? Private School Headmaster Says Yes.
The A level results published last week show a record percentage of pupils passing for the 28th year running. Is this really due to the wonders of our education system and the success of state schools. Or is it that exams have beome so easy to pass 97 per cent of pupils succeed. And why are top private schools dropping the A level curriculum in favour of the international baccalaureate?
Slaves Of The MachineSome say technology is the new magic and are willing to believe every new gadget launched improves beyond recognition the lives of those who own one. Others say we are becoming slaves to our machines and losing the ability to think for ourselves as well as our social lives and cultural bonds.
Selection By Stealth Or Simple Common SenseThe comprehensive education system has become one of the sacred cows of the "progressive left" in spite of its very obvious failure. The old Grammar School system only segregated on grounds of intelligence whereas the system now with its postcode lottery and the growth of private schools for the rich segregates on grounds of parental wealth, social class and geogrphic location. Intelligence does not enter the equation. So the selective way was more egalitarian, what are the leftie whiners on about. by Xavier Connolly.
The Pursuit Of Mediocrity.How does the government's obession with testing of pupls and achievement targets for schools tie in with the politically correct talk of level playing fields and no chold left behind asks former teacher fatsally
Oh Brave New WorldAs education gets more and more dumbed down while expectaitions are raised ever further and an unrealistic sense of entitlement inculcated can we heading anywhere but The Road To Dystopia
Bicycle Repairman
Bleep Till You Drop - Labour's Plan To Stop Children Getting FatThe Labour Government's obsession with meddling n the minutiae of individuals lives grows as Labour's eviction from power becomes more inevitable. Their lastest propsal for social enginering, launched health minister Liam Donaldson, is a plan to use military style bleep tests in schools to indentify pupils who are unfit and likely to become obese. This piece of social enginerring or let's be honest and call it eugenics, is aimed at eliminating obese or overweight people from the population but sounds more like something that would be more appropriate in Guantanamo Bay than a Junior School in Britain.
Sub Atomic Girl and A New Discovery In PhysicsA new discovery in physics, the existence of a previously unsuspected sub atomic particle has the world of science and scientists in a tizzy. But are they really onto something big, something that might help unlock the secrets of the universe and reveal the true nature of matter, gravity, protons, antimatter and other stuff. Or are they getting over - excited yet again.

A Computer That Thinks?Again, prompted by scientists hyperbolic claims, the question of will computers ever be able to think like humans is raised. Technology nerds long for the advent artificial intelligence and the thinking computer but as usual they have not thought through the likely consequences.

String Theory UnravelledBR> We have seen ample evidence of science being turned into a religion in the climate change / global warming debate. There are other areas of scientific study in the academic world where the same religiosity is holding back progress, theoretical physics, nuclear physics and string theory are prominent among them.<

more posts on Science and Technology

Why The Fuss About The NHS Bill? The NHS Has Been Privatised For Years

While the Trotskyite activists of The Labour Party wail and gnash their teeth of the Coalition government Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's NHS reform bill which they claim will effectively privatise the grreat sacred cow of the Labour movement, I would like to help you avoid being sucked up in the hysteria. Take a look at this.

Was it some free marketeer preaching the virtues of the private sector? A Right-of centre think tank trying to debunk the Left’s demonising of the profit motive inside the NHS?

Any of these might seem like reasonably safe answers. And they are all way off target. It was John Hutton – now Lord Hutton – speaking in 2005 when he was a Health Minister in Tony Blair’s Labour Government. He said almost exactly the same thing in an interview on the BBC’s World This Weekend on Sunday.

In the intervening seven years, this rather brilliant insight into the reality of our “state” health service has gained no traction whatsoever. The fact that primary care – the part of the NHS that most people have most contact with most of the time – is in private-sector hands simply does not register with people.

It is not just GPs that are private businesses of course. Thanks to another of Labour's privatisation by stealth scams many hospitals built of refurbished under PFI (private finance initiative) arrangements are private businesses that the NHS rents back as a managed facility from companies that were allowed to buy in to the project for peanuts. And then there are all the hospital and clinic ancilliary services that are contracted out to private firms which in turn sub contract the work to agencies whose record for compliance with Employment Law, Immigration rules and service level agreements is very dubious.

The Health and Social Care Bill curently limping through Parliament is attacked by its critics for opening the way to “privatisation on an industrial scale” when the bulk of the NHS is already firmly in private hands. Why hasn’t Andrew Lansley ever said this? And shouldn't he and otherrs be saying it loud asnd often right now?

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Google's New Privacy Policy: 'All Your Base Belong Us'.

The company's computers will be able to collate data from all Google's various services including You Tube, Blogger, Gmail and Google Maps to create a single, comprehensive profile for individual users across 60 of its services.

Concerns have beent. raised by numerous regulatory authorities over the privacy implications of the move, with the French regulator claiming it may not be lawful. Peter Barron, head of communications at Google, said the firm was happy to meet with the French authorities to discuss their concerns. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said users could "control and manage" their search histories by opting out or switching them off.

"We have something called Google dashboard and you can go into that and you can change your settings," Mr Barron said. "If you don't want to receive adverts for recipes, for example, you can opt out of that." Well that's fine if you have a Google account. Many people do not.

Alex Hanff, who was involved in a campaign against advertising company Phorm, said: "They’ve been asked to suspend the changes several times, and Google keeps telling the regulators where to go. They’ve basically stuck two fingers up at the law."

Sticking two fingers up ayt the law and treating their usrers with utter contempt is of course what Google do best. It is high time governments grew some balls and bsckbones and told these neo9 - Nazi nerds that the same laws apply in the internet as in real life and if Page, Brin and all their semi autistic lackeys find that hard to understand they can have a few years in prison o contemplate it.

Google has emphasised that users can increase their privacy settings before the new policy comes into force. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a US civil rights group, has published a guide. The safest way to protect your personal data from Google however is to avoid using their service. Yahoo, Bing and Ask Jeeves, while no angels, are excellent search engines to my certain knowledge and there are many other search tools out there I am not familiar with.

Numerous other very good video hosting sites are open to the public too, Google's PR hype suggests it is the only one but like so much Google public relations material that is just not true. It is time we, the people, put these arrogant upstarts in their place.

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Health Workers Should Be Sacked For Calling Old People 'Dear' Says QUANGO Chief

The report, written in the contemptuous tone favoured by elitists warned that workers could be dismissed if they did not respect the dignity of those in their care.

His comments came in the wake of a wide-ranging report by a commission of senior NHS managers, charities and council chiefs designed to stamp out neglect and abuse in hospitals and in the care system.

The commission concluded that older people are suffering humiliation and degrading treatment on a daily basis while basic “respect for human rights” is too often ignored. This degrading treatment referred to does not refer to the practice od letting patients who cannot feed themselves go hungry or letting the incontinent lie in their own faeces and urine, because staff are too busy filling forms in for the bean counter and tax eaters like Sir Keith. The smooth faced bureaucrats are getting themseolves worked up because many of the nuses who do a very good job of caring for patients sometimes call those they care for "dear" or "love".

It called for an overhaul to give respect for human dignity the same importance as medical success rates or financial targets. But what do they mean by respect? Respect for the pretensions of a few snobbish middle class prigs who are really offended by the fact that their nurses and carers are working class? Or respect for the fact that the warmth and compassion of carers is often a bigger factor in a patient's response than drugs or surgical interventions. There is little warmth and compassion in the kind of impersonal approach demanded by bureaucratic rules.

RELATED POSTS: Diabetes Blogger Censored By Web - For Beating DiabetesLittle Nicky is not a health blogger so when blogs about health related topics come up it is usually in relation to the politicisation of health. The censorship of blogger Steve Cooksey shows political and business interests curtiailing free speech on the web but also reveals that search engine giant Google and other big players like Facebook have developed far to cosy a relationship with government and big business and that is not healthy for us as individuals..
More Old People Are Falling Through Gaps In The Care System Old people are increasingly being let down by a lack of co-operation and communication between the NHS and council-run social care, MPs looking at the crisis in care will reporert this week. Conclusuions drawn from a study by the all-party health select committee ...

Is Elderly Care Reform Report Too Focused On Protecting Children's Inheritances.
A report from The Conservative Party's economic affairs committee has recommended wealthy people should be prepared to pay more for their care in old age, rather than relying on the state. Sir Andrew Dilnot's committe suggests individuals sould pay for the first £35,000 of their care, after which the state would foot the bill. In a letter published by ...

Is Age The 21st Century's Apartheid
Racism is the new witchcraft but as we are talking in terms of prejudices being recycled with different labels what is coming down the road to repace racial segregation?

Miracle Day Or Miracle Century
As well as being gloriously entertaining sci - fi hokum the latest Torchwood series, Miracle Day raises some very signifgicant questions about where human civilisation is heading.

Is Age The 21st Century's Apartheid
Racism is the new witchcraft but as we are talking in terms of prejudices being recycled with different labels what is coming down the road to repace racial segregation?

Polypill
Probably the health fascists worst idea yet, the polypill plan involves prescribing for everybody over 50 a pill containing hear and circulatory system drugs including one to thin the blood (pollibly fatal if someone has a haemorrhage, and statins - the notorious anto obesity drugs the best know side effect of which is arse dribble.
The Coalition Must Not Be Sucked Into The 'Progressive' Left' War On The Family
Since before the 1970s, since before the communists overthrew the Tsar in Russia, since the day Karl Marx condemnede faily life in his Communist Manifesto, the left or 'progressive left' as they now style themselves has been making war on family life and promoting the usurpation of the role of parents by the agencies of the state.
More posts on Age

Drug Gangs Taking Over British Cities?

Warning that the development of ''no-go areas'' was being fuelled by threats such as social inequality, migration and celebrities normalising drug abuse, Mr. Ghodse warned that helping marginalised communities with drugs problems ''must be a priority',

'''We are looking at social cohesion, the social disintegration and illegal drugs.In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which become no-go areas. 'Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. They will get the sort of governance of those areas. Examples are in Brazil, Mexico, in the United States, in the UK, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and therefore it is no good to have only law enforcement, which always shows it does not succeed.he said.

The Professor also called for such communities to be offered drug abuse prevention programmes, treatment and rehabilitation services, and the same levels of educational, employment and recreational opportunities as in the wider society.

''Youth of these communities must have similar chances to those in the wide society and have a right to be protected from drug abuse and drug dependence. It is crucial that the needs of communities experiencing social disintegration are urgently tackled before the tipping point is reached, beyond which effective action becomes impossible. The consequences of failure are too high for society and should be avoided at all cost.'' he told media representatives.

The INCB's annual report for 2011 found persistent social inequality, migration, emerging cultures of excess and a shift in traditional values were some of the key threats to social cohesion.

As the gap between rich and poor continues to widen, and facing a future of limited opportunities young people within these communities may easily become disengaged from the wider society and get involved in a range of personally and socially harmful behaviours, including drug abuse and drug dealing, 'While migration offers many positive benefits to the migrant and to society at large, it can create a sense of dislocation from the surrounding community and a sense of vulnerability on the part of those who are displaced.

Where migrating social groups have travelled from areas associated with illicit drug production and drug abuse, there is a greater likelihood of individuals engaging in forms of drug misuse as a way of coping with such a sense of dislocation.the report said.

The INCB also warned none of the factors ''should be seen as leading individuals inevitably into a lifestyle of drug abuse and criminality. In many societies around the world, whether developed or developing, there are communities within the societies which develop which become no-go areas. Drug traffickers, organised crime, drug users, they take over. Examples are in Brazil, Mexico, in the United States, in the UK, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, and therefore it is no good to have only law enforcement, which always shows it does not succeed.

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Israel Will Not Warn USA Before Launching A Strike Against Iran

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide to launch a strike is necessary, they would not warn the Americans to decrease the likelihood that the U.S. would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's potential attack. The U.S. has been working with the Israelis for months to convince them that an air strike on Iran would be only cause a short term delay to Iran's nuclear program.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of high-level U.S. visitors to the Israel, among them the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser, the director of national intelligence and top U.S. lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the U.S. over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu has given the same response to all the Americans who have been involved in talks with Israel, the U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.

The White House has not offered any comment on the leak. The Pentagon and Office of Director of National Intelligence also declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy.

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Faced With It's Worst Crisis Yet The G20 Leaders Agree To Do The Most Stupid Thing Ever.

The world's leading economies met in Mexico City on Sunday to work out a deal that will enable a second global rescue (stimulus) package worth nearly $2 trillion to stop the euro-zone sovereign debt crisis from spreading and putting at risk the tentative recovery.

Germany agreed to make a decision some time in March about strengthening the Eurozone bailout fund, a move other G20 countries insist is essential to clear the way for increasing funds available to help nations facing a best crisis in the International Monetary Fund.

The meeting and the deal it hopes to produce are part of the G20's efforts to build up massive international resources by the end of April - when the group next meets - and convince financial markets they can stem the euro-zone's deep problems.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said European leaders will tackle the adequacy of the region's firewall during March. The issue will be on the agenda of a European Union summit next week.

"But the month of March goes from March 1 to March 31. It will be reviewed again, also in the light of the developments that have since occurred, whether the stated dimension of the (European bailout) mechanism is enough or not," he told reporters.

Berlin's willingness to discuss increasing Europe's bailout fund marks an important shift in attitude.

That is the official line. It is total bullshit of course. What these scumbags were talking about was printing money in the rich nations to save the basket cases. This can only lead to masive inflation, rocketing commodity prices. Naturally the ~International Nazis of the IMF, the United Nations, the EU and the Bilderberg Group have no interest in the great mass of responsible, hard working individuals and families who are just trying tyo make a decent life for themselves. All they are interested in is adavancing their collectivist agenda the goal of which is to set up a global government which will enslave us all.

If it goes through the new initiative would mark their most blatant effort to destroy the saving and pensions and reduce real incomes since 2008, when the G20 mustered $1 trillion to help rescue the world economy.

Germany is the key player here however. If we rule our Russia and China because their interests are served by a crumbling global economy, and the USA, Japan, Britain and France because if not quite bankruptthey are all staring into the abyss. Apart from a few small European nationa plus Australia and Canada, Germany is the only country that is in funds Facing massive political opposition to a second Greek bailout in its parliament, Frau Merkel's government has balked at enlarging Europe's rescue fund on the grounds that it would undermine efforts to impose fiscal discipline on indebted countries.

The softening of its stance came as Schauble said he assumes the Greek bailout package will win Bundestag support on Monday. Well it may get suport from the cocksuckers and skunk felchers in the Bundestag but the German voters are going to hate it.

Were Europe to merge its temporary and permanent bailout funds it would create a $1 trillion war chest and open the door for other G20 countries to meet the IMF's request for $500-$600 billion in new resources, on top of its current $358 billion in funds.

Put together, this would total around $1.95 trillion in firepower. Or enough to kep the world's debtor nations going for about six months. The G20 has no intention of easing its pressure on Europe by giving it a strong signal now that new IMF money is in the bag. Its communique from the Mexico meting when will merely state that the world's leading economies will review the resources of the IMF in April without setting a date for a deal, G20 officials said.

The really scary thing is these numbskulls, these intestinal worms hanging out of the bottom hole of humany, while deluding themselves that they are in control are plaing into the hands of the Russians and Chinese. To save western civilistion we have to start killing politicians and bankers NOW!

U S Elections: Will The Repuiblicans Find A White Knight In The Bush?

As the U.S. Republican Party stuggles to find a credible candidate to take on Barack Obama in the Presidential election this November, leading hopefuls Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and New Gingrich are struggling to engage oters. Could a surprise candidate be about to emerge?

24 February 2012 Syrian Rebels Say West Is Already Aiding Thier Uprising
by Ed Butt

Syrian Rebels Say West Is Already Aiding Thier Uprising.As the troubles stirred up in Syria by the meddling of the American idiot President Barack Hussein Obama and fuelled by the west's determination to intervene and effect regime change in another middle eastern nation escalate into civil war, the rebels show they are as unfit a government in waiting as those fanatical mobsters the western powers have catapulted into power in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. We conclude that Obama wants World War 3.

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War

Private Abortion Clinics Accused Of Aborting Female Foestuses On Demand.

Google Evil Empire In New Privacy Violation

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Again, prompted by scientists hyperbolic claims, the question of will computers ever be able to think like humans is raised. Technology nerds long for the advent artificial intelligence and the thinking computer but as usual they have not thought through the likely consequences.

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Once again Facebook are in trouble over their contempt for users privacy. It is quite astounding that this upstart corporation that is quite open about its ambition to control the internet does not seem to understand there are lines that cannot be crossed when it comes to broadcasting or "sharing" details of users private lives.

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Policing The Ether
As a young British man is jailed for posting abusive messages on Facebook there are calls once again for the web to be regulated. But how can we regulate something so vast and nebulous? ask web apologists. Easy Peasy says Ian Thorpe with the benefit of 30 years systems experience, just don't listen to the script kiddies who say it can't be done.

The Internet Threat To Civilisation
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The Greek Bail Out Deal Humiliates Greece Without Solving Anything

As if that was not bad enough, the debt write off being demanded from private investors may prevent Greece from returning to private markets for its finance for many decades, making the country indefinitely reliant on support from the EU and IMF. After the bailouts so much of Greek's debt will be held by official repositories, all of who will have preferential treatment as creditors, that no private sector investor would consider lending, knowing that private creditors would be last in the queue of people wanting to be paid back.

The Daily Stirrer has been saying for two years this would be the outcome of the Greek debt crisis, it was obvious to everyone else too, but it is also obvious that the EU / IMF policy was never about helping Greece, which was railroaded into the single currency although it's economy was far too weak, to get back on its feet financially; the real agenda is to move forward towards a single European superstate which would be extended beyond Europe to include more economic basket case nations in north Africa and the Middle East.

Still the acknowledgement of these problems must be seen as progress among the grand delusions of eurozone policy-making.

We have to wonder why they bother trying to persuade us everything is hunky - dory and Federalisation of Europe is the future given the quite high probability of eventual failure they covertly assign to the bailout. Even if favourable scenario outlined in the sustainability report plays out, Greece is going to need a third bailout of €50bn by the end of the decade on top of the €136bn agreed in principle last night. This favourable scenario, by the way, makes the heroic assumption that the Greek economy will stop shrinking next year and return to 2.per cent growth in 2014. Few sane commentators believe that's remotely possible.

Under a "tailored downside scenario" (the leaked document's words), which by any stretch of the imagination looks pretty optimistic, debt would fall much more slowly than hoped for reaching only 160pc of GDP by the end of the decade, rather than the 120pc the eurozone requires of Greece. In such circumstances, €245bn of bailout money would be required. Given that Britain and Sweden and Denmark are outside the Euro single currency system and Britain's economy is wobbly anyway, That France and Austria have already had their credit rating downgraded because of exposure to Greek debt and The Netherlands, politically, is engaged in a charge to the Eurosceptic right this leaves only little Finland and microstate Luxembourg to support Germany in propping up Greece and the other failed economies, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Cyprus.

German taxpayers are already in revolt, local elections there are very volatile with winners from the right and left throwing out incumbents. The mood of the voters seems to be anything except the EU. It is unlikely taxpayers in the rest of the E.U. will be sympathetic to such a handout intolerable for the rest of the eurozone, there is a growing feeling that tax revenue should be kept at home, let the poor nations fend for themselves. If the rest of Europe is not happy to forego new hospitals, schools, roads and properly equipped defence forces, think what the austerity programme will mean for the Greeks. As part of the deal, the Greek government has committed to build into into its legal framework a provision to give priority to debt service payments above all other public expenditure, this clause is to be included in an amended Greek Constitution as soon as possible. This is the sort of thing that prompts revolutions.

The arrogant bureaucrats of Brussels, the IMF and the United Nations do not fear threats to people on the streets, they feel secure in their ivory towers.

Already, polls published by local Greek media indicate that the centre parties (National Democrats, and in particular the main party in the Greek assembly PASOK) are losing popular support hand over fist, so it matters not a jot that the two main coalition parties have signed up to full ongoing implementation after elections in April because they will no longer be running the show. In contrast, the parties further from the centre continue to gain popular support, and none of these have expressed support for the austerity programme so anything voted through now is likely to be repealed in a few months.

The measures, including constitutional change also have to be approved by a number of national parliaments elsewhere in the eurozone. It would too hasty to say this austerity programme cannot work, we have seen the Eurocrats deploy a combination of bullying and bribery to get their way before which is the only reason the eurozone has repeatedly defied the sceptics in holding together thus far. However it is certainly a programme that cannot succeed, and will only delay the day when Greece is forced out of the eurozone.

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More posts on The Debt Crisis More posts on Europe

Chasing Bubbles
Holy City

Lucky Bammy?

Roger L Simon wrote in Pajamas Media:

Roger,
Take a look beyond the US borders. There is no recovery, the deal made to bail out Greece only kicks the can a few yards down the road. All the nations of the developed world (and I include all E U members in that, having pursued unsustainable policies of replacing human workers with technology are now saddled with crippling welfare bills to support the unemployed and unemployable.

Governments hire more tax eaters and keep young people in full time education longer to mask the true unemployment position, they print more money and pump it into the economy to create the illusion of growth.

You mention how well stock markets have done in January but the London Stock Exchange, Wall Street, Germany and France have only made up some of the ground lost to inflation. The Obama administration is being thwarted in its efforts to reduce US debt by devaluing the dollar but all other nation with traded currencies are wise to the trick and are letting their own currencies fall in line with the dollar. So all Obama's loonytoons economics will achieve is to add $1trillion a year to the debt burden.

Commodity prices are going through the roof and those increases will eventually filter through to the cost of living. Result deflation and stagnation.

The 2nd great depression is not over, in fact it has not reached full speed yet. Somehow the republicans have to find a candidate who can get that message out.

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">World Bank Chief Warns Golbal Economy Is Entering A New Danger ZoneWorld Bank chief Robert Zoellick on Saturday warned of a "new and more dangerous" time in the global economy, as Europe (Chicago Options: ^REURTRUSD - news) struggles to resolve its debt crisis.
Zoellick said the eurozone's sovereign debt issues were more troubling than ...

Eurogeddon Postponed Termporarily Due To Financal Conjuring TricksThe Daily Stirrer brings you opinion and comment on issues in the news that are likely to affect the lives of ordinary people. We therefore focus on economic matters, prices and inflation, jobs and unemployment, health, diet, education and social comment. Our contributors are old gits who are prepared to say what everybody is thinking.
Below our finance expert John de Roe analyses the latest bureaucratic scam that claims to have saved the European single currency but in reality is only another attempt to scam German taxpayers.

Central Banks Print Money But Fail To End CrisisThe world's central banks have pumped £3 trillion into the global economy since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008. This represents the equivalent of 8pc of the world economy, according to an analysis by Fathom Consulting. The figures will intensify fears that the extra cash flooding the system is ...

New Economic Headache For ObamaThe scale of the slowdown in US growth this year will be underlined by new figures to be released this week. The statistics will raise more questions about whether the world's biggest economy can regain momentum. High growth rates in recent quarters have been due solely to the Obama administration's loonytoons economic policy of printing money to try and ...
Money and economics

More posts on The Debt Crisis More posts on Europe

Chasing Bubbles
Holy City