... for the peoples of the world the most important aspect ...

... of the 1215 Great Charter (Magna Carta) should be embedded in our psyche, it's the 29th clause which guarantees Justice, albeit at the time it only applied to "Freemen" ...

NO Freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be disseised (to dispossess or to deprive) of his Freehold, or Liberties, or free Customs, or be outlawed, or exiled, or any other wise destroyed; nor will We not pass upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the Law of the land. We will sell to no man, we will not deny or defer to any man either Justice or Right.^[1]

... unfortunately in the 21st century Justice is sold, it is denied, it is deferred, all to the highest bidder.

A case in question

Sophie Lancaster, her mothers "Black Rose", not ethnicity but a cultural choice, she was Gothic as was her boyfriend Rob Maltby.
"... both were kicked and beaten so badly that ambulance staff could not tell which was the man and which the woman when they arrived on the scene."

How does the 1215 Great Charter apply to Sophie and Rob ?

Has Justice been sold or denied or deferred  ?

How does "... a gang of binge-drinking teenage yobs ... , without the slightest provocation, inflict such ghastly violence on a pair of kindly innocents" relate to the principles of Justice outlined in our great Charter.

We sold justice to the drinks and distribution industries by dropping the age that people are able to purchase alcoholic drinks.
We denied life to Sophie by creating a society that is intolerant to "difference".
We deferred morality, politicians chose to set aside qualities that accompany's tolerance .

... a sidestep in social observations ...

How can our Prime Minister become craven in his subservience to Anthony Bamford, a man who actively lobbies for cuts to business taxes and for restrictions to workers' rights, what human being would wish to take away from people rights fought hard for.

Would Bamford wind the clock back to a time when serfdom was the norm, when only a few were accorded the benefits of the 1215 Great Charter, is it might be time to wrench away from the "Great Bore Bamford" the rights he is claiming for a superior existence in this our world ?

Hillary Clinton is right and wrong ...

... when she said "... make the rich pay more tax".  Although such a strident call will appeal to the radical political left.

It comes across better when she expanded her thoughts with "... there are rich people everywhere and yet they do not contribute to the growth of their own countries".  This type of rhetoric will stir the blood of societies poor.

She further elaborated during a glittering New York conference by saying "... one of the issues that I have been preaching about around the world is collecting taxes in an equitable manner, especially from the elites in every country".  People are becoming a little more comfortable with the notion.

With three sentences she appealed to probably 70% (my guess based on anecdotal evidence) of the population, but the most important offering is the third when she used the term "equitable manner", it is an expression that seems to be underpinned with fairness.

This is not socialism, that political concept is dead and buried, it is "Stakeholder Politics" where everyone contributes to everything, not equally .... but not disproportionately, where rewards are proportional in a country where people are able to do more than just survive, and a country where everyone has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.

Is she telling the electorate they are "stakeholders", interesting times for the peoples of the USA, interesting times for the Republican Party, can they ever win where the vast majority realize they will never have a stake in the USA when the Republican  Party is in the White House.


We have issues in the UK, a senior tax lawyer might tell you to "leave before we set the dogs on you", referring to a well-spoken band of undercover protesters known as "The Intruders" as "trespassing scum", all because you might not approve of people such as ...


... the former HMRC boss Dave Hartnett,   The Intruders presented Mr Hartnett with a spoof "Golden Handshake" gong, the group were ejected by a dinner guest who called them "trespassing scum". A video of their exploits went viral yesterday on YouTube. Under Mr Hartnett's watch, HMRC was accused of agreeing "sweetheart deals" with major corporations such as Goldman Sachs and Vodafone. A Public Accounts Committee report criticised Mr Hartnett for being "too cosy" with big business. He was accused of signing off on a deal that saved Goldman Sachs £20m in tax payments and another which cut Vodafone's tax bill from £8bn to £1.25bn.


What chance the little people of the UK when our taxman was Dave Hartnett, we need a Hillary in Downing Street, but more than Hillary we need UK businesses to pay their unavoidable taxes, is that wishful thinking ?

When politicians urge teachers ...

... to take a Masters degree (MEP *) on appointment, all is probably lost for another generation.

This latest initiative is to tackle what the Welsh government sees as poor standards in basic skills in schools (Wales was ranked lowest of the UK countries in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa)), basic skills being ...

• reading,

• writing,

• arithmetic,

... my feeling is there is something very wrong, should teachers be appointed to a post when they are unable to deliver these most essential life skills, should teachers who are subsequently assessed as not capable continue in post ?


It seems that newly-qualified teachers will take modules on subjects such as behaviour management and leadership but should not need to attend lectures, and the timescale, 1,000 new teachers may start the course this year (2012).


Looking at the proposals from outside the box, could it be we are to appoint, or have recently appointed, 1000 people as teachers, who are in fact not fitted for the role.

The person who sits behind the education desk is non-other than Leighton Andrews, is he fit for purpose I wonder.


*  The Masters in Education programme (MEP) will focus on skills for tackling literacy, numeracy and behaviour.

With a mouth like ...

... this :

... the expression "...... keeps me humble," just doesn't ring true.

Although when he said ....

 "The problem with Alex Salmond is that he wants to destroy Scotland with his ridiculous ................ everybody knows he's a disaster.,"

... he was of course referring to the Salmond windmills,  not the Salmond and the Edinburgh sideshow this weekend.

..... you cannot help warming to him, well that's an exaggeration......

... the "deterrent effect of the shadow of the gallows"...

... should be reconsidered, bringing back the death penalty for those who kill police officers should be considered, thus spoke Conservative peer Lord Tebbit.

Would ordinary people be comfortable participating in such an extraordinary, normally prohibited act, by sitting as a juror where the outcome for a guilty verdict will be judicial murder. For most people most of the time, killing another person is beyond contemplation — and yet capital punishment asks people to do just that.

... but it's not the juror its the law, and it's not the judge, the law requires etc..............

Professor Johnson of the University of Hawaii thinks otherwise ...

... consideration:

After two men were hanged on Aug. 3, Minister of Justice Makoto Taki claimed that he has a duty to authorize executions. "As minister of justice", he explained, "I must carry out my role to respect courts and court decisions."

The two people executed had been found guilty at trials:
03 Aug 2012
Junya Hattori, 40, was executed in Tokyo. Kyozo Matsumura, 31 in Osaka.  They were the first killings under the administration of new Justice Minister Mokoto Taki, the fifth during Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda`s time in office.
Hattori was convicted of attacking and raping a 19-year-old student who was cycling home from college in January 2002. He set her on fire while she was still conscious, killing her. Hattori was on parole after being sentenced for a violent robbery.
Matsumura killed his 57-year-old aunt and his 72-year-old grand uncle in separate attacks in January 2007 and stole their money.  

The issue is "duty", the Minister of Justice calls on the concept of duty much as a pedestrian calls for an umbrella in the rain, as a protection from his or her conscience, duty for the Minister of Justice allowed him to direct the murder of two men without referring to any form of ethics or morality.

Professor Johnson references French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre who regarded duty-based views as "bad faith," which he defined as "pretending that something is necessary when in fact it is voluntary."

.................... 

People who say they "have no choice" are often engaged in bad faith, and most acts of bad faith are mundane. Every day we say "I had to do it" — laugh at the boss' bad joke, or nod at a teacher's unpersuasive explanation — and what we imply is that we have placed higher priority on the expectations of a role than on our own freedom to choose how to act.

... it was at the point of reading Professor Johnson where he writes of "... nod at a teacher's unpersuasive explanation" that I understood the very persuasive arguments that  Jean-Paul Sartre had made.

If I am not prepared to commit the crime of murder, then I should not be prepared to participate in a trial where a guilty verdict would make me complicit in the judicial murder of another person, no-matter how heinous the crime.

Is this the argument that commits humanity to abolish all forms of judicial murder ..........

So Lord Tebbit, I'm afraid your call to arms in support of Capital Punishment is unsupportable .........

......... if I am obliged not to laugh at the bad jokes at work, I am also obliged to confront people such as yourself who would incite me to murder .........

This is why Obama ...

... must win:

Searching for a better life than the impoverished one he had in his native Mexico, Martin Cervantes moved to Chicago and took a job at a car-wash on the West Side.

But after a year and a half there, and fed up with work conditions, he quit and took a job in a factory.

Cervantes said he was never paid an hourly rate at the car-wash and was compensated only through tips. He said he worked long, gruelling hours — sometimes without a break — but never received overtime pay. Once, in order to pay rent and buy groceries, he had to sell his TV set.

"This is supposed to be the country of opportunities, but I can assure you the American dream is hard to fulfil," Cervantes, 29, said through a translator. "We want society to open their eyes — this job is poorly paid and hard work."

Cervantes gathered with other car-wash workers Thursday at the Jane Addams Hull House Museum for the release of a report detailing a bevy of negative labour conditions and abuses in the city's car-wash industry. The report was issued by the Labour Education Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Titled "Clean Cars, Dirty Work," the report, funded partially by United Steelworkers, found that a majority of Chicago car-wash employees, who are mostly men and Latino, earn less than the state's hourly minimum wage of $8.25 and work more than 40 hours every week.

The study also states that most do not receive safety equipment, such as gloves and goggles, while on the job, even though they use harsh chemicals when cleaning.

Meanwhile, Arise Chicago, an interfaith workers rights group, has launched a campaign to improve work conditions for the "carwasheros," a Spanglish term for car-wash workers.

Along with hearing the complaints of local car-wash employees, the organization was inspired by car-wash workers in New York and Los Angeles who have either unionised or boycotted work to fight for better health and safety rights.

"We won't stand for that kind of treatment, and we're willing to help (employers) change their ways," said Adam Kader of Arise Chicago.
Though he had not read the study, Eric Wulf, chief executive officer of the Chicago-based International Carwash Association, said his national organization's 12,000 members treat their employees fairly. But not all carwashes are part of his association, and he said variations of work conditions exist in nearly every industry, including his own.

"It's like restaurants," Wulf said. "There are lots of wonderful restaurants, and then there are some you might not go to, some that might not follow every rule."

Disgusted with his work conditions after 14 years, Angel Nava, 56, left his job at a carwash on the Near Northwest Side in 2011. There, his employer kept the tips, overtime was never paid and health insurance didn't exist, he said.

Nava, who still works in the industry, said he hopes the government and other agencies take control of the situation, though he doesn't know what to expect.

"But we are here and we are fighting to improve our working conditions," Nava said. "This is not only me talking; this is carwash workers in all of Chicago."

jmdelgado@tribune.com

...  No man or woman should be reduced to serfdom to survive.

High double standards, a prerogative in Wales where ...

....  do as I say, not as I do, is the preferred way of  Carwyn and chums ...

In June, Health Minister Lesley Griffiths said she would be instructing all seven local health boards (LHBs) in Wales to publish their own corporate risk registers on their websites to :

... assess the likelihood of each risk ..., assess the impact ..., and have counter-measures in place should a risk become reality...

Carwyn Jones [the first minister] personally turned down a BBC Wales request under the Freedom of Information Act to see the government's corporate risk register.

... he said its disclosure would cause "substantial harm".

The registers are a list of all risks an organisation faces, here it is our Cardiff Bay administration.   

The risks assessed include financial, security and IT,  though not restricted to the three important considerations.

The chair of the assembly's public accounts committee, said...

"It smacks of double standards".

 ... the administration said ...

"Publishing risk registers may also appear to legitimise possible but unlikely risks"

"This could prejudice and distort informed public debate about important issues which in turn could have an impact on the conduct of public affairs"

Now myself, I have a need to see the truth, to see the difficult decisions governance deals with each day, I don't have a problem with political warts, I particularly have a need to judge the decision makers by their real actions not the spin.

It's a black day for democracy when political tyranny becomes the norm.

How long before the next election ? 

Is UKIP standing in Caerphilly at the next election ?

Why do we insult those ...

... people and institutions alien to our various cultures?

The BBC has coverage here.  to the most recent example.

In France the editors of Charlie Hebdo are preparing to cause controversy again with a issue released tomorrow. The cover shows a Muslim man in a wheelchair pushed by an Orthodox Jew with foil cap and under the title "Untouchables 2", an imaginary sequel to a recent French film.

... a user Reviews by OttoVonB of the film "Untouchable" includes the following ...

The film's simplicity is delightfully misleading: the script is a masterpiece of comedy writing, and however good the rest of the cast is, the central duo is magical. Sy's comic timing will have you in stitches, but it is his honesty and vulnerability that make you fall in love with the character. Cluzet isn't your typical sad-sack, instead, much of the finest pleasures in the film consist in watching him use his keen mind to mess with the world around him (a sub-plot about an abstract painting really takes the biscuit, you'll know it when you see it).

This is one of the most unique, beautiful and honest friendships ever committed to film. It will make you laugh, it will make you cry... a delightful celebration of everything in life that makes it worthwhile.

The two characters parodied by Charlie Hebdo are ...

... Sy, a failed robber, going through the motions and playing the stereotypical jobless émigré. Cluzet is a romantic and melancholy mind trapped in a useless body.

 

French foreign ministry's website quotes Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault as saying "freedom of expression is one of [France's] fundamental principles", as are secularism and respect for religious convictions.

 

The statement is not at all honest, the Prime Minister of France cites "freedom of expression", yet the arm of the law in France has what is known as "unapproved rallies", I guess the fundamental principles depend upon who you are and what you wish to protest against.

I must go back to the original question, "why insult those we don't know?"

 

What is the point, except in this case to provoke a particular section of French society!

 

 

An Armada, the Amish beard and rise of ...

... a chrome future, at least for now.

As Cruisers, aircraft carriers and minesweepers from 25 nations converge on the Strait of Hormuz you know there's trouble ahead, Israel and Iran are moving towards a war which could have monumental consequences.  The Armada that is telling the world that Israel will be the catalyst that gives the remainder of the "free world" the right to remove the Iranian nuclear programme forthwith.

Why am I so confident that the Armada will be needed, simple ...

"... just last week Mr Netanyahu signalled that time for a negotiated settlement was running out when he said: 
"The world tells Israel "Wait, there’s still time." 
And I say, "Wait for what?"  "Wait until when?"

... Israel has to act whilst it can, and "whilst it can" is rapidly running out of time.


Is it a religious hate crime or, as the defence contends, the equivalent of a family feud ...

Amish beard cutters face possible prison terms as jury weighs clash of the clippers
... personally I think it's a simple assault, to construct anything more sinister is an assault on the logic of men and women, whether "Amish" or "English".

And then to the rise of Chrome ...

A year ago, almost three-quarters of visitors to this blog used Internet Explorer, almost a quarter used Firefox, whilst the remaining percentages were a variety of lessor known browsers.

This week 62% of visitors used Chrome, 19% used Internet Explorer, 11% used Firefox, the remaining percentage a variety.

Technology evolves rapidly, the evolution of Chrome must be seen as phenominal.

A tale of two statements ...

... from across a political divide:

First we have ...

... vision of a standard national exam system will ensure that qualifications are only awarded to students with appropriate levels of literacy and numeracy. This change can deliver fairness and transparency, which is what our education system desperately needs.

... then there is ...

... should be a test of the ability of pupils rather than of their teachers, assessing independence of thought and response rather than be a regurgitation of prepared answers, and that it should develop scholarship and curiosity.

The first from the separatist agenda of Plaid Cymru the second in support of the Conservatives at Westminster ....

No difference, would there be a difference if Plaid took Wales to independence, I don't thinks, it would be "same crap just a different day" .............

FoS politics, Bovine TB, Badgers, and ..

... farmers.

The facts according to the farming community ...

............................. anything you want ...............................

The facts according to the government ...

............................. anything you want ...............................

You get the idea, the facts are exactly how you need them to support your position.

The latest in this sorry tale from the Guardian ... Full-scale badger cull set to get government go-ahead
The facts according to Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, the document in full, relating to Transmission of Bovine TB ...

M. bovis can be transmitted by the inhalation of aerosols. by ingestion. or through breaks in the skin. The importance of these routes varies between species. Bovine tuberculosis is usually maintained in cattle populations, but a few other species can become reservoir hosts. Most species are considered to be spillover hosts. Populations of spillover hosts do not maintain M. bovis indefinitely in the absence of maintenance hosts, but may transmit the infection between their members (or to other species) for a time.  Some spillover hosts can become maintenance hosts if their population density is high.

There are two imperatives ...

reservoir hosts and spillover hosts

Cattle are the reservoir and in Britain the Badger is the spillover.

The only logical answer to the problem of Bovine TB is to remove the reservoir, that's the cattle.

... so when our MP's cry foul, when the call for a Badger Cull is shouted down, remember Iowa, the veterinary college that speaks the truth .... politicians are so FoS, so dishonest to discount evidence.
 

... a magnificent mediocre piece of Plaid rhetoric by ...

... Wood and Company, I sense the hand of moderators, I sense the hand of Price shackled by the Plaid faithful afraid who fear her triumphant victory earlier this year ....

 ... during June this year Wood announced:

Wales will be independent within a generation and part of a British "neighbourhood of nations".

... this weekend Plaid-speak is of:

• A new mutual[s] bringing together the best of the skills of the public and private sectors to push forward a Welsh New Deal in order to kick-start the economy.
• Establish a home grown series of new finance institutions to fill the void left by the London-based banks’ reluctance to lend to fledging businesses.
• Seek to create tax breaks for pension funds investing in Wales.

 Maybe Plaid-speak should be replaced by Politico-speak, because the words lack the virtue that honesty brings to a conversation.

The mutual is not the creature of politics, it is the manifestation of the working man and woman deciding to take the future into their own hands, occasionally the mutual might be the creation of a philanthropist, John Spedan Lewis created the John Lewis Partnership, so how does the Wood-Price partnership propose to create this brave new mutual world from the markets of the world.

Much like the mutual vision, the Politico-speak of the Wood-Price partnership is a shallow pond of political thought floating on the assumption that the electorate are in a permanent state of sleep.  Why do I believe this, well, creating new financial institutions requires capital, the only way a politician has to create such a beast is to either fund it with our taxes or to guarantee its borrowings with our taxes.  This is close to deception.

Tax breaks from the creatures of the left, this has to be an oxymoron, its not tax breaks that the electorate are looking for, its tax equality, we need all tax breaks to be removed, we need taxes to be paid by everyone and every organisation ...


No stakeholder politics from Plaid, I wonder what Carwyn Jones is planning for the peoples of Wales?


... but going back to Woods predictions of independence within a generation,there's nothing from Brecon to encourage the Plaid Party faithful or worry Plaid's political adversaries, Plaid is regressing to its activist past .................

I think that a comment by Marianne Hancock ...

... deserves to be more than a comment:

I've experienced disablism for most of my life and feel obliged to challenge it whenever possible.I would also challenge any form of bigotry.

As a native of Wales I have also experienced ignorant anti-Welsh racism in recent years. This has inclined me to support nationalism especially since Leanne Wood became leader of Plaid Cymru. She is in favour of socialism, women's rights, anti-racist policies and impliedly disability rights as well.

Jac o' the North attended a rally I was at, and I can confidently state that he is a total idiot.  On a blog put up by Alwyn ap Huw, Jac o' the North referred to Pussy Riot as "slapper's", expressed delight that they were in jail and said he would like to live in an independent Welsh state based on Putin's Russia.

I was not surprised then that on his own blog he said something like 'I'm always glad to see little cripples getting out in the fresh air but how can we call them athletes? My impression of an athlete is someone who is physically perfect.' I groaned mentally and read no more. I hope it didn't get worse.

I don't want to defend him but you must remember that Jac o' the North is a moron.He's honestly oblivious to the offence he's causing. I'd like to think that he doesn't speak for anyone but himself.

I don't believe he is representative of Welsh nationalists but if he was, I'd have to revise my views. I'm happy for the UK to split up if the successor states provide liberty, justice and respect for all. But would it be worth preserving our separate cultures, languages and identities at the cost of living in a fascist state? Of course not.

Please don't judge the rest of us by him. I'd like to say 'Don't let this idiot upset you. He's not worth it'. But then, like all idiots, he's dangerous.

Marianne Hancock, Abergavenny

Thank you Marianne, you remind everyone that humanity crosses political and cultural boundaries and is not something to bring out of a closet every once in a while.

Since reading Marianne's comment I have read the pamphlet Disablism by Paul Miller, Sophia Parker downloadable from the Demos website, I commend it to every one that stumbles upon my thoughts.

Justice is a difficult road to travel.

Catalan separatists and Scots ...

... and the other disparate groups in European Union, a message ...

... there is no open door.

The recent march and rally in Barcelona used the slogan ...

"Catalonia: a new European state". 

But a European Union spokesman in Brussels pointed out that, were Catalonia to secede from Spain, it would have to leave the EU and could rejoin only if it met the economic criteria and if other member states voted unanimously in favour of its membership. (The Guardian, 10 Sep 2011).

... yet another lie by the separatist agenda debunked.

So the message to Alex Salmond is "... the list of your lies grows ever longer."  No honesty for the Scots people.

If Piketty and Miliband are to be believed ...

... then all is lost, our suffrage an illusion.

Piketty wrote ...

"… inheritance will eventually matter a lot pretty much everywhere - as it did in ancient societies. Past wealth will tend to dominate new wealth, and successors will tend to dominate labour earners." (1)

... whilst Miliband writes ..

"the dominant economic interests in capitalist society can normally count on the active good will and support of those in whose hands state power lies."  (2)

Therefore all our politicians, no-matter what the colour of the politics, are not going to change the lot of the working man and woman.

 (1). Piketty, T. (2011) "On theLong-Run Evolution of Inheritance: France 1820-2050"

(2)  Miliband, R. (1969) The State in Capitalist Society. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, page 145).

... the importance of the common ...

 ... good, the common weal, in Wales, Germany, Hong Kong and the USA.

In Wales we have Jac who considers the common weal to be a narrow view of the xenophobic, the intense and irrational dislike or fear of people from England ...

In Germany there are the considerations of the Euro, is the financial rescue fund considered crucial to the future of the euro to get the green light.  A poll published on Friday on Spiegel Online showed that 54% of Germans were in favour of the court blocking the legislation, reflecting the degree to which public opposition to bailouts is increasing.  Is the common weal the good of Germany, or has the definition extended to people of one country extending their largess to other nations ?  Do the German people see themselves as kin with the peoples of Greece, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France .......


In Hong Kong it's very serious, will Beijing allow universal suffrage, even though it doesn't exist as a democratic process in China itself, universal suffrage has little value in a single party state.  The effect of extending democracy to Hong Kong which has a semi-autonomous status in China, is to open the doors to a "China Spring", in effect the demise of Communist China.  When  thousands of demonstrators protest against the plan for mandatory patriotism lessons, you know there is trouble ahead ! 

Whilst in the USA the battle between Republican and Democrats will be resolved when the peoples who vote decide who are the stakeholders, is it all the peoples of the states, or just a small group who hold the wealth, an important consideration when considering the Common Good, and lets not forget the prayers !

Back to Britain and there is a kind of hush, our politicians are driven by opinion polls rather than the Common Good, it's quite pathetic.

Scotland, Salmond and a strategy ...

... that will send the Scots into a brave new world, and not a shot fired.

The Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) are the traditional minnow in a large pond, unable to compete in the philosophical battles found in the larger Westminster arena, the only future is to create an illusion in the seemingly larger political pond an independent Scotland would bring.

Reflecting on the strategy towards independence, Salmond and chums have played a blinder .......

The strategy ...

Too few Scots want independence, less than 40%, so ...

Increase the voting population, the young are easily influenced, voting age reduced to 16 for the referendum.

Ignite an underlying conflict ...

Scottish sporting celebrations that will be dominated by the old enemy, the Commonwealth games will precede the referendum, good timing.

Salmond's coup de grâce, the finishing blow ...

An option that cannot be given without UK wide approval ...

... devo-max, fiscal federalism, the UK wide electorate will not underwrite a constitutional change that gives preferential treatment to one part of the Union.

Westminster says "No", the votes go to Salmond, game over ...

Salmond wins, 
       the party begins !

Say hello to our new flag ...

... minus the Scots Saltire ...

Wiki Jimmy Wales versus Westminster ...

... in the battle for the moral high ground.

The Guardian article by Alan Travis, home affairs editor can be read here so you can make up your own mind.

Myself, the civil-servants and their very dim politicians behind the proposals are full of the proverbial, the information that can be gained that is so powerful has little to do with solving crimes, it is to do with profiling ...

... what value to the unelected civil servants and other string pullers being able to profile political puppets of the future ?

... the United Kingdom's (government) "snooper's charter" is a blackmailers dream, in 20 years the British public could be reduced to servitude because few politicians will be cast in the mould of Joan of Arc, where will be the activist when secrets are published.

Jimmy "the High Plains Drifter" Wales wins the argument for me, but I'm afraid with politics so full of career politicians, who care for their personal future before the future of the electorate, the future is a future that will travel back in time to serfdom.


For the philosophers of the world ...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, remember the mayonnaise jar & the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. 

They agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was. The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. 

He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded a unanimous 'yes. ‘The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. 

The students laughed. 'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things, your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passion, if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. 

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car. 

The sand is everything else, the small stuff. ‘If you put the sand into the jar first, there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. 

The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. There will always be time for the small stuff. Take care of the golf balls first the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand. 

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked. 'The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.

... a lesson for Jones from North Carolina ...

... on how jobs are attracted !

The Jones boy could be our erstwhile First Minister Carwyn Jones, or  newly appointed Secretary of State for Wales David Jones, of the two David has the ear of Prime Minister Cameron so he could probably do more, yet some of the levers are in the hands of Carwyn and Co, so there's to do from each camp.

Back to basics ...

• In North Carolina, the city of Charlotte has become the new home to German engineering giant Siemens AG.
• The factory manufactures gigantic gas turbines needed to power new electric plants under construction around the globe.
• A few years ago, the factory and its 825 jobs might have gone to India, China or another low-wage country. 

This time, American workers won out, why ....

Siemens executives talk about public investments, the state-funded rail spur that runs through their facility,the city’s international airport, which recently added a fourth runway using $132 million in federal funds.

They talk about the Export-Import Bank, an independent federal agency that in January approved a $638 million loan to finance the sale of turbines to Saudi Arabia, helping Siemens beat bids from companies in Germany, South Korea and Japan.

And they talk about the quality of the workforce in Charlotte, where local leaders are retooling the public education system to churn out the engineers and skilled technicians needed to operate one of the most efficient gas-turbine plants in the world.

So could our politicians do the same, of course they could, unfortunately in Wales our politicians lack a certain vision, politicians have become accountants rather than visionaries, and that's all the political parties ............

A very small question at the back of my mind, why did the German economy lose out in this particular game of 5 card stud ..........

... a fistful of horrors, 400 ...

... in fact.

The richest 400 people in the USA have a wealth that equal the wealth of the bottom 140 million people combined.

To put it into perspective, each of the 400 has the combined wealth of 350,000 citizens.

If each of the 400 wealthy few could corral these 350,000 people they would each need a city the size of New Orleans.

For a more considered opinion you might try the decline of the great American middle class by Robert Reich.

Remember the 140,000,000 are not the underbelly of a nation, they represent almost half the citizens of this powerful country.

Now my question is ...

... are not these 140,000,000 people stakeholders in the USA ?

... and when you say YES, you might like to consider ...

... the 400 have a combined wealth of $7.5 trillion, whilst the 140,000,000 share an equal amount !

Is this Justice or might it be very similar to the society of Moses in ancient Egypt

... and is it so very different here in the United Kingdom .............. I doubt it !