Storm St Jude

Let’s talk of the storm

Fill news pages with bluster
Then tomorrow let them fly
Like paper cranes on fading winds
But no-one must ever talk
Of the greater storms
Sent from utility boardrooms
That let people freeze
In hopeless, icy winters
So that the elite's champagne
Doesn’t ever get too warm

Downton Shabby

This made me laugh - good one Unite

Ninety Five Percent Chance *

So a ninety five percent chance

That we may cause a problem
The earth is not at risk
It never was
Only humanity is at risk
And we...
Traversing slug like
Across the garden of earth
Are without a prayer
Unless the makers return
And sort out the mess we made

*Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its fifth assessment report on the physical science of global warming and made it clear that the continued burning of fossil fuels to run our cars, factories and electricity plants is now virtually certain (95% certainty) to induce serious alterations to our climate. These changes will appear with stealth. Nevertheless, the IPCC's report makes it clear that rising sea levels, acidifying oceans, shrinking icecaps and thawing Arctic tundra are now likely to occur with virtual certainty by the end of the present century.

Size

Size is no guarantee of anything

In the evolution of good parenting
Equipment size science is Gonads
To work out the suitability of dads
A thesis composed on the Testes
Is not one of our science’s besties
I rather fancy it is all wordy balls
Where funding has made all the calls
I shall walk over dale and hillocks
Think to myself, this is just bollocks

Guardian nad other press  - Men's aptitude for childcare may be reflected in the size of their testes, according to a study by US scientists. Researchers found that men with smaller testes were more likely to take charge of children's bath-time, visits to the doctor, night-time comforting, and other parenting jobs than others who have larger testicles.

The same story was borne out by brain scans which showed that men with smaller gonads reacted more strongly to photographs of their own children than did men with larger ones. The findings are the strongest evidence yet that variations in male anatomy reflect competing evolutionary strategies that can be distilled down to mating as much as possible versus investing more in parenting. Both are effective ways to maximize an animal's chances of having offspring that continue their lineage.

 

A new study out show we can do everything better up north - even dying. It's a bit worrying

At the Ritz

A frail and elderly lady passed away today while recuperating in the Ritz hotel

We should not ‘speak ill of the dead’ my mother would often tell us as children
The tenet of wisdom lingers and so what shall we talk of now that fact remains
We should not ‘speak ill of the dead’ and so for me then; I have nothing else to say

A new world comes into view in England this week with mostly ideological changes to welfare, justice, health and tax

1.        Spare bedroom penalty introduced for poor

2.        Thousands will lose access to legal aid
3.        Council tax benefit passes to local control
4.        NHS services commissioning changes
5.        Regulation of financial industry changes
6.        50p tax rate scrapped for high earners
7.        Disability living allowance scrapped
8.        Welfare benefits will no longer rise with inflation
9.        Welfare benefit to be capped
10.     Universal credit introduced

Grace

 

Hidden irretrievably within the blackest night

If hope is a star I can pluck from the heavens
It is now placed so far from my reach and sight
Only a flight of the soul may recapture its grace

Part of George Osborne's 2013 March Budget speech opening statement

This is a Budget for those who aspire to own their own home; who aspire to get their first job; or start their own business; a Budget for those who want to save for their retirement and provide for their children. It is a Budget for our Aspiration Nation.

Of course as everyone know aspiration is also the exchange of gases by the mechanics of breathing. So officially it was a lot of hot air then and not much oxygen for the economy and if he was going to use aspire there could have been one mention of aspiring to a fairer society in it? But that is not the aim of any of this austerity is it?

The Aspiration nation

 

To aspire to be better than you, to aspire to be richer than you

To aspire to look down on you, to aspire to take others resources

To aspire to greed, to aspire to envy and to aspire decay in growth

To aspire to all that has never worked for equality, nor ever will

Finally aspire to know elite desires always prevail over the masses

http://hackinginquiry.org/

Ahead of tomorrow’s parliamentary vote on press regulation, author J.K. Rowling , a Core Participant in the Leveson inquiry and supporter of the Hacked Off campaign, issued the following statement today:

Some victims of press abuse felt that Lord Leveson did not go far enough; I disagree. As an oft-banned writer, a devoted reader of Private Eye for a quarter of a century and as somebody who venerated the late great Paul Foot, I could not support anything that hampers the press’s ability to hold power to account. Lord Leveson’s recommendations seemed reasonable and proportionate to me, their aim simply to curtail abuses of the press’s own power.

It goes without saying that what my family has been through – and I spent two hours re-living those experiences on the stand at the Inquiry – is less than nothing compared to what was meted out to the McCanns, the Watsons and the Dowlers: ordinary families who became newsworthy through terrible personal tragedies, or to Chris Jeffries, who was literally in the wrong place at the wrong time and found his life forever changed.

I believed David Cameron when he said that he would implement Leveson’s recommendations ‘unless they were bonkers’. I did not see how he could back away, with honour, from words so bold and unequivocal. Well, he has backed away, and I am one among many who feel they have been hung out to dry. Monday’s vote will make history one way or another; I am merely one among many turning their eyes towards Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg and hoping that they have the courage to do what Cameron promised, but which he failed to deliver.

J.K. Rowling’s comments follow statements by others who gave evidence to the Leveson inquiry, including:

Bob and Sally Dowler: ‘We are very disappointed to learn that Lord Justice Leveson’s proposals may not now be taken forward if the politicians choose to ignore the recommendations of LJ Leveson that were aimed at preventing the sort of abuses that we and so many others suffered.’

Kate and Gerry McCann: ‘We are in favour of the freedom of the press; an Independent Self-regulator will guarantee media freedom and independence. But we want our politicians to protect us, to stand up for the ordinary victims instead of siding with the wealthy and powerful.’

Christopher Jefferies: “I welcome tomorrow’s open and democratic parliamentary debate, which I hope will allow many misconceptions about Lord Leveson’s recommendations to be clarified, and lead to the establishment of an independent regulator, underpinned by statute, to monitor press self-regulation.’

Tomorrow’s vote could be our last chance to see real change in the way the press is regulated in this country. Please click here to email your MP and tell them that you want them to vote against David Cameron’s Royal Charter. This is the only way that the people who had their lives turned upside down by the press and who relived their ordeals at the Leveson Inquiry will feel that justice has been done.

 

The very last day for a real justice to be done  

The very last day for silent regret to take form

For if no battle is taken up now we are beaten

To wither and shrink back within the shadows

Where the press will rip us to pieces one by one

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-21766377

China pulls nearly 6,000 dead pigs from Shanghai River

Officials say the number of pig carcasses found in Shanghai's Huangpu River has risen to nearly 6,000.

In a statement, Shanghai authorities said that 5,916 dead pigs had been removed from the river by Tuesday. But it said water from the river was safe, with water quality meeting government-set standards. Reports suggest the dead pigs may have been dumped from pig farms in Jiaxing, upstream of Shanghai.

Seriously the authorities say the water is safe - for what; noodle soup! This is such a strange story on all levels. If it wasn’t on the BBC China site I might have thought it was a joke

A selection of the current jokes on horsemeat being found in beef products.

My doctor has told me to watch what I eat, so I bought a ticket for this year's Grand National.

Since when have Findus been using horse in their Lasagne? Not furlong.

What odds do you get on living a long life now?

The horsemeat scandal - only question is whether it is bull shit or horse shit?

'The Food Standards Agency criticised after admitting it never carried out tests for horse meat contamination'

Question. Why do Food Standards Agency staff never look out the window in the morning?

Answer: ‘Because they wouldn't have anything to do in the afternoon.

I had a Tesco beef and mushroom pie last week. Found three sugar lumps in it... :)

Food standards authority - fetlock of good they are; saddling us with filly steaks!

For heaven’s sake it's good quality - Rosette winning, you might say.

Whoever said you can’t flog a dead horse was soooo wrong

The ‘My little Pony’ toy has new addition ‘My little pony abattoir’

Think if your teenage daughter whinges about mucking her pony out you just threaten to slap it on the barbie.

I won’t be galloping off to Burger King anytime soon

You are what you eat...neigh!!

You are what you eat in Yorkshire...neigh, neigh!!

Why the long faces?

Someone has driven a horse and cart through the food labelling law

This brings a whole new meaning to piebald

This story is getting legs and running without help

Jokes aside though now is not a good time to be eating ready meals or take away food. If the convoluted route of horsemeat entry via South America - Europe - UK is typical of a food chain journey used in these meals then unless further details on this issue are suppressed (and I suspect they might be to avoid fatally harming the UK food industry) get ready for a whole raft of new revelations. better get the chicken jokes ready...they are about to fly

 

No more processed food coming in this house

In doubt of hope now this disregard is laid bare

The base of survival is rotten so I no longer care
We now nurtured by fell meats pedalled by foul greed
Meats of house, of stable, of temple, of coop, of river
To us half food offered and yet give thanks that for now
Tis but the horse that gives its betrayed flesh; not your kin