I’m a Pundit

I have been often dismayed to see the politicians of our country make continuous blunders in the name of public good. It’s not hard to see how they are putting this country into a deeper and deeper slide, crushing our economy and strangling any new business opportunities.

I live in the City of York, this city is one of the most historic cities in England, and therefore it is a shame to see our local councillors driving it into the ground.

Take for instance the latest fiasco with their new ‘Energy efficient’ head quarters. This was a building designed and budgeted for over £40 million. All for a building of which in size should not even have cost £10 million. This council headquarters scheme was done out of the public eye, and in a very strange order.

Infact it is interesting to point out that even though this never went ahead they spent £4 million on this project, this is before they even had anything more detailed than a quick draft of what the building could look like from the outside. Many York residents are starting to ask why for instance, several hundred thousand was spent on an interior designer before they even had planning permission.

Now, there have been complaints about the location of the headquarters (next door to one of York’s most historic pubs) although personally I don’t see this as a problem, York has a great mix of the modern and the ancientWhat worries me if first the fact that this budget was so high for a building that was so small, secondly that we spent 10% of that budget before the building had even had an architect look at it, thirdly that they didn’t keep residents involved with this, fourthly that the councillor in charge has a family history of swindling and fraud and finally that they are now saying the budget they had was not big enough!

Now however my mind casts down to more mundane problems, with unemployment on the rise, Businesses going bankrupt in quick succession and MP’s saying that companies should not give out pay rises in line with inflation (While voting above inflation pay rises for themselves) I am beginning to wonder exactly why the local council has just embarked upon a crusade against A-Boards.

For those of you who don’t know, A-Boards are these highly visible attention grabbing advertising boards. It is called an A board because it is made of two boards leaning against each other with a rod attaching them, which when unfolded makes the shape of an A.

Apparently however these A boards which you see all over England are suddenly illegal. The Council has pulled out some mundane law passed in the misty past of British law and has claimed that these things could create a dangerous obstruction to partially sighted or blind people.Personally I can think of far more dangerous obstructions blocking York streets, Bollards placed hap hazardly in the middle of paths, barriers on the sides of paths painted in a nice, blended, camouflaged gray colour and the numerous cobbled areas which are not highlighted with huge ‘Cobbles Here’ Signs. I personally think that if they ban A-boards for being a hazard they need to get rid of Women dragging small children about, push chairs, old ladies with trolley bags and, ironically, partially sighted and blind people with those dangerous sticks and a tendency to bump in to things.

Because all of these things are, lets face it, a lot harder to spot sometimes than a four foot high board covered in bright writing designed to catch attention.

written by Oli \\ tags: Politics, Rant

The president of the European Commison Jose Manuel Barroso has announced the the UK has come a step closer to joining the single Euro currency.  PersonallyI cannot see this happening.

Tony Bair constantly triumphed the single Euro currency as  the future, however most of Britain questioned whether it was worth our while joining a single currency which would take a third off the value of our money, and remove control from our own central reserve.

Many people have debated our part in the Euro at all, benefits such as ease of travel and work for residents are of huge benefit, however things take a turn for the worse when you look at what the UK pays into it compared to other members.

So from me, today, Euro Currency? No Thanks.

written by Oli \\ tags: Euro

Executives of the top companies, most notably banks, have always had ludicrously high pay packets. But after Antoine Zacharias the chairman of Vinci had a salary of millions, a hefty pension and a stock option scheme worth a staggering 250 million Euros, thats around $500 Million!

Now there is the argument that  they do a hard job, that deserves high pay.  After all they run companiesof significant size, comparable to people who have started companies that have risen to huge success. Should their paypacket however be enough to keep a small country going for a year?

Several countries have begun to implement limits on exective pay, with several northern countries bringing in a 500,000 euros limit on Executive pay.

So should there be this limit?

It’s a close call, should the goverment really have this kind of power over individual companies?

With the governments track record in America or the UK in managing their own affairs I find it worrying that they are dictating how to business how they should be run.

written by Oli \\ tags: Businesss, Excessive Pay, Executive Pay

I have been following the push of Carbon Credits quite closely.  Carbon Credits basically are an extra tax on any business that goes over a certain level of carbon emissions, based on things such as electricity usage and so forth.

What amuses me slightly is that

The Green Party are pushing for the Carbon credit tax and have arrived at a value

The industrial lobby have been lobbying for business rebates to avoid bankruptcies due to high energy bills.

People are complaining because their energy bills are already high enough, and there is a very real possibility that they will be hit hard by this (Energy producers create a great deal of carbon, the cost of paying this would be passed onto the consumer)

The Government has suggested that out of the estimated 7 trillion dollars raised, 1 trillion is sent to government debt, some is spent on energy efficiency research and the rest is sent back to the tax payer as a rebate.

Ok, so I look at this and what do I see, half the money going back to the industry, half the money going back to the tax payer, a whole load of red tape and extra burden on industries who will have to employ people to figure out their carbon usage, survive the gap before they get their research and so forth.  Meanwhile the taxes will increase by around the extra amount the energy companies have to pay (around $22 a tonne) but that alright because the consumers will get a regular rebate giving them their money back.

Does anyone else see the complete pointlessness of this latest environmental debacle.  I cannot believe there are serious political contenders out there who would consider such a farce in the current recessive economic climate, let alone a strong one.

I think I may move to Australia, last time somebody tried to introduce a red tape tactic there they were sent to jail for a minor offence of treason and damaging the economy, why does that not happen here or in the US?

Politicians are destroying our economy for their own selfish and misguided ideals which they have shrouded by their own self illusion.  Yet even when incompetence is proven there is no backlash, no fines or punishment, half the time jobs are not even lost.

It scares me.

written by Oli \\ tags: America, Carbon Footprint, Europe, Global Warming, Political Fiasco

Just incase anyone has been reading the BBC site recently they have reported on the current legal battle being spearheaded by the Greek people of Lesbos.  They claim that a gay rights group should not be allowed to use the word lesbian because it is infact the name used for the people of Lesbos.

Now first off let me say I have a lot of respect for lesbians, especially the fit ones.  If women want to cop off with each other I think that is a great thing.

The legal action against the gay group is most certainly going to fail, after all lesbian is a recognised term for a female attracted to the same sex, most people trying to name the people of lesbos may guess at lesbosian before lesbian.

The Islanders aversion to the use of the name  Lesbian has actually effected them so much that they are now considering renaming their island after their capital Mytilini (Actually a fantastic place to visit)

But this has of course left us with a quandary, The Lesbian people of Lesbos have undoubtedly held the name for much longer than the lesbian movement, should the lesbian movement therefore have the right to take it away from the people of Lesbos?

The Lesbian Movement named itself after the goddess Sappho who expressed her love for women in poetry during the 7th century BC. However Dimitris Lambrou standing for the people of Lesbos said that the the goddess committed suicide over the love of a man and that she mothered a family,  therefore making the connection to lesbianism irrelevant.

Jesus it’s complicated!

written by Oli \\ tags: Greece, Lesbianism, Sexuality

It seems that more and more cases are appearing of women who have been kept in captivity for long periods of time by some fairly weird people.

The most recent case is that of a man in Austria who imprisoned his ten year old daughter for 24 years.  During this time he fathered 7 kids with her, 6 of which survived, and three of which were sent to his grandparents with the claim they had been abandoned on his doorstep.

Even more worryingly his wife denies any knowledge of his crimes, despite the daughter and grand kids being kept in his basement. You would have though at least the issue of the food bill might have come up at some point, i mean keeping 7 people fed and watered is no cheap thing to do!

The good news however is that this man will be going to jail for a long time, with kidnapping, imprisonment, Incest and murder of the dead child on the cards.

I think the real question which needs to be asked is HOW did this man get away with imprisoning a girl for so long?

Surely someone in the town must have noticed the disappearance at some point.  I think some real work needs to be done from stopping this king of thing from happening.

written by Oli \\ tags: Abduction, Crime, Imprisonment, Incest, Kidnapping, News