Cynic

No Public Inquiry Into 7/7

2005-12-14T10:08:00.000Z

Firstly, the title is the last time I shall refer to the terrorist attacks in London on 7th July as 7/7. I personnally do not feel the need to give these things catchy names the way the press do.

So the Government have decided that there is no need to have a public inquiry into the terrorist attacks in London. Instead they have decided that they shall release a 'commentary' of the day with security information being made public. I find this very strange.

These days, you can't trip over a paving slab on the High Street without a public inquiry being launched, and somebody being held to account, and consequently sued for thousands of pounds. but for a terrorist in the capitol, no inqiury will be held.

So all we have to go on, is what the government tell us happened and more immportantly, what the government tell us they knew. The last time the government and security sources told us what they knew, it led to a war based on Iraq having weapons of mass destuction, which we all no was not the truth. They will no doubt now tell us that, there was nothing the security services or the Government could have done to prevent this. This may well be the case, but I think it is owed to the people and families of those who died or were injured, and the emergancy staff who had to witness the horrible aftermarth of these attacks to be told the truth as found by a public enquiry, and not told by a Government with a not-too-clean track record.

NHS has Record Funding (and is still in debt)

2005-12-07T09:43:00.002Z

The NHS is apparently facing a £620 Million deficit by the end of the financial year.

How can this happen when we are being told almost daily, that the NHS has more funding than it has ever had. Despite this, Hospitals are now having to freeze recruitment, close beds and take other measures to stop the increasing deficit. This means that in a quarter of all hospitals that have record funding, services to patient are being affected for the worse.

This begs the question 'where is all the extra money going?'. There are many theories that answer. One that I heard for example was that for every 1 member of front line staff there are 3 admin staff, although I stress that I didn't get this from any specific credable source. Another, which I believe to be a more stable argument as the government say it a lot, is that the extra money goes into reform. That's all very well but what use is reform when things then go to pot. Waiting times may be down, but statistics can be manipulated by the way you record them. It was not long ago that there was widespead criticism of doctors that only let you make appointments 48 hours in advance so as to keep times low.

I am all for reform and extra spending, however there is no point just saying 'we are spending record levels othe NHS' if you then have a quarter of all hospitals with a deficit that would send any normal business into recievership.

So the governments answer to this issue? A Turn-around Group made up of highly paid financial consultants to 'advice' these hospitals on how to perform better.

Advice is good; action is better.

And the new leader of the conservative party is......

2005-12-06T16:14:00.000Z

DAVID CAMERON.

So the Tories have another new leader. And they have decided on the young man. Well not that young, 39 years old actually.

So what does this mean to british politics. I believe that it means someone who can match blair at the despatch box and in the huge westminster PR spin machine. People have already started comparing him with His Tonyness.

Let's all hope that politics now begins to be about the issues that actually affect us all, as opposed to a stand-up comedy battle at Prime Minister's Questions

The Mobile General Election.

2005-12-06T10:21:00.000Z

In the summer we saw Tony's cronies voted back in to power. We now have the Chancellor saying that the economy is not quite as good as he said it was, and the Prime Minister negotiating on the rebate that before the election was 'non-negotiable'

These people are the ones that we voted in. However the issue I have is that just over 50% of those registered to vote did. I must say that I did vote and therefore have the right to moan!

Now let's look at another area where voting is important. And that's in the multi-million pound business of reality T.V. The X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, and even I Was On television or Am Related To Someone You May Know, Get Me Out Of Here. These programs pull in Millions of votes every week in what is no more than a huge popularity contest. What's more, is the fact that every one of the Millions of votes cast each week costs the voter 50p or so a vote.

No prizes if you can see where I am going with this! The General Election is essentially a very important popularity contest. So why not have text voting as a legitimate way of casting your vote. The technolagy is there and I am sure there is a way of making sure that you only count one vote per phone. The other advantage is the 50p per vote. Even if only ten-million people vote by text, we get five-million pounds in the bank to spend on the ever-needy public services.

More people vote; more money is raised; and you can vote from work, home, on the late bus, in the dirty hospital, and even whilst teaching in an under-funded school.

It's the future!!

Multicultural Britain?

2005-12-02T11:11:00.000Z

Although we like to think of this country as 'multicultural', there is segregation, whether intended of not, in every city. Areas where the residents are mainly of one background.

However, I feel this is not helped by all of the groups which are aimed at one background, colour or religion. There are groups that are for black youths, to help them with black issues, issues which any youth has. The group of black police officers looking at black issues. Even the BBC advertises 1xtra as the station of black music.

For as long as you have the word 'black' in a title of a groups, or anything where the title indicates black only, you are segregating the group that you are trying to help. All of these groups should be made up of a mixture of people from society looking at society issues. Only then will people get over colour and other issues.

24 Hour Drinking, I'm gone after 2!!

2005-11-24T17:58:00.000Z

Today sees the introduction of 24 hour drinking in the UK. This step has been taken to kerb the so called 'binge drinking' culture.

Although I understand the theory, I can quite happily say I disagree with it.

The reason we have a Binge Drinking Culture in this country is down to the mind-set and lack of education in the country.

For example: we all know that smoking is bad for your health and the health of those around you. It can cause; lung cancer, heart disease, impotance, it can harm your unborn baby (if your pregnant, obviously!), cause a slow and painful death, harm others around you, and the list goes on. How do I know all this? because I am told by medical experts, families of those who have suffered either directly or indirectly, even the packs of these killers tell me that they will kill me. When I was younger smoking was seen as a social thing and was widely accepted. As a child I could even buy sweets that were dressed up as ciggarettes in ciggarette packets. However through education, smoking is, quite rightly, scorned upon.

Now alcohol has very negative affects if abused. You only have to watch the news and see George Best in Hospital on his death bed to see that, or watch documentaries about policing the streets of britain to see the social affects of drinking. Alcohol related injuries cost the NHS a small fortune every weekend. Police have to be taken off the streets during the day so there are enough on Friday and Saturday nights.

Dispite all of this and more, drinking gets nowhere near the amout of negative press as smoking. Getting paraletic is seen as the objective of a good night. Not for all I know, but for enough people for there to be a problem.

And with risk of offending some people, I do not think that it helps that alcoholism is dressed up as a diseace. There are people in the world dying every day of cancer, aids and plenty of other unavoidable diseaces. Alcoholism is a self inflicted illness. You can not catch it from a blood transfusion or someone sneezing over you. It is caused by an over-indulgence in alcohol. We would not give sympathy to a heroin or cocaine addict saying it's a diseace. It's exactly the same thing but drug addicts are seen as scum.

Don't get me wrong, safe drinking is not a problem, but the over-indulgence is, and making alcohol available 24 hours will not solve the problem. Education will.

But then again, you can't tax education!

Why Cynic?

2005-11-24T17:49:00.000Z

cyn·ic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (snk)n.

1. A person who believes all people are motivated by selfishness.
2.A person whose outlook is scornfully and often habitually negative.
3. Cynic A member of a sect of ancient Greek philosophers who believed virtue to be the only good and self-control to be the only means of achieving virtue.

Although i generally agree with this definition, I must say now, I am a very optimistic person really! I just get wound up by politics, politicall correctness and the way society, certainly here in the U.K, is made to think certain ways and hold certain morals, although most of the people I speak to aren't how they are supposed to be. I hope you understand my theory here. You may not like all that i say, however i welcome comments and healthy discussion, as i know that i am not always right!!
I see myself as a social commentator with no motive, pollitical intrest, or hidden adgena. Just a member of the public speaking my mind.