Thursday, 18 February 2010

Towel Heads



I recently received the following e mail from a friend in the States. It was part of a series of cartoons produced by a staff member of Hallmark Cards, which features a politically incorrect little old lady.

TOWEL HEADS

Recently I received a warning about the use of this politically incorrect term, so please note:

We all need to be more sesitive in our choice of words. I have been informed that the Islamic terrorists, who hate our guts and want to kill us, do not like to be called “Towel Heads.” Since the item they wear on their heads is not actually a towel, but, in fact, a small folded sheet.

Therefore, from this point forward, please refer to them as “Little Sheet Heads.”

Thank you for your support and compliance in this delicate matter.

Wednesday, 17 February 2010

Global Warming? More Like Global Freezing!




I pulled back the curtains this morning and looked out of the window, and was greeted with a heavy frost on the lawn, which only extended as far as the end of the gardem, and then disappeared into the fog. Ruby, who usually sits patiently by the back door, and the moment I open it, stands and has a sniff of the air, and then goes out. It was obviously not to her liking this morning, because after sniffing the air she did a smart about turn and headed back to her bed and cuddled up against the radiator! She would normally be all excited at taking the good lady to work and would be sat at the back of the car waiting to jump in, but she never stirred from the radiator!

Thinking about what rotten cold weather we have been having for the last two or three months (Yes! It was way back in December when we got some of the first falls of snow) reminded me of the Flanders and Swann “Song of the Weather” which I quote:


JANUARY brings the snow,
Makes your feet and fingers glow.

FEBRUARY ice and sleet
Chills the toes right off your feet,

Welcome MARCH with wintry wind -
Would thou wert not so unkind!

APRIL brings the sweet spring showers,
On and on for hours and hours.

Farmers fear unkindly MAY –
Frost by night and hail by day.

JUNE just rains and never stops –
Thirty days and spoils the crops.

In JULY the sun is hot
Is it shining? No, it’s not.

AUGUST cold and dank and wet
Brings more rain than any yet.

Bleak SEPTEMBER mist and mud
Is enough to chill the blood

Then OCTOBER adds a gale -
Wind and slush and rain and hail.

Dark NOVEMBER brings the fog –
Should not do it to a dog.

Freezing wet DECEMBER,then
Bloody JANUARY again!

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Books, Books and More Books




I don’t know about you, but there is always a pile of books on my bedside locker. Usually two or three of them are part read, and the others are waiting to be started.

Whilst rummaging through the pile of books, I came across one which is a must have for all those Pub Quiz addicts. It’s called “On This Day in History” and is compiled by Simon Mayo and Simon Jenkins. Laid out in time order (by each day of the year) are some fascinating facts about what happened on each particular day.

Let me give you a few samples.

Did you know that on October 31st Harry Houdini, the famous escapologist died as a result of getting a punch in the stomach. Harry prided himself in being able to take a punch in the stomach, and had invited a visitor to his dressing room to punch him, but the visitor hit him before he was ready, as a direct result of this Harry died of a burst appendix!

July 22nd Revd Archibald William Spooner toasted the Queen with these words “Let us drink to the Queer old Dean” He was the gentleman who gave Spoonerisms to us. Another of his famous ones was telling a cyclist to "Go Boil your Icicle".

On Dec 1st 1900 thousands of gallons of beer were poured into the sewers of Liverpool and Manchester, because the beer had an unusual additive – arsenic! Four people were killed as a result of drinking the brew and a further 2,000 were injured.


So what about today February 16th?

Today in 1960 the U.S. nuclear submarine set off on the first underwater voyage around the world without surfacing.

Today in 1834 marks the death (on dry land!) of Lionel Lukin – inventor of the lifeboat.

In 1959 John McEnroe the tennis star made his first grunts – when he was born!

Monday, 15 February 2010

Half Term Weather


It must be half term judging by the weather forecast! I’ve just been on the BBC/Met Office Weather Site for Bingley and the forecast is for snow, sleet, rain, etc.


Mon Day weather
Light Snow
Temperature Range 4 39°F 0 32°F


Tue Day weather
Light Snow Shower
Temperature Range 4 39°F -2 28°F


Wed Day weather
Sleet
Temperature Range 3 37°F -1 30°F


Thu Day weather
Light Snow
Temperature Range 3 37°F 3 37°F


Fri Day weather
Light Rain Shower
Temperature Range 6 43°F -1 30°F

Sunday, 14 February 2010

A Hobby of Mine

Hard at work with the Canon XM2


For a goodly number of years I have been an avid video photographer.

Up until about five years ago I used to regularly video weddings as a hobby, but to do the job properly if you are covering all the events at a wedding can often take up to twelve hours, and that's only the videoing - there's the editing and copyong to be done on top of that!

If I only videoed one wedding a month you can see that this took up a fair proportion of my time, so it left me little time to work on my own videos.

I have produced a variety of videos on a variety of subjects.

Looking back over the last thirteen years, I have produced videos on such diverse subjects as:- The Royal Yacht Britannia and HM Queen visit Arran, A Pilgrimage to Holy Island, 65th Surprise Birthday Party, Promotional Video for Pennine Boat Trips of Skipton, Local Middle School Christmas Concerts, A Day out on MV Raven on Ullswater, Slaidburn Silver Band Centenary Video, A Pilgrimage to Whithorn, St Michael & All Angels Centenary Celebrations, Meet Tim and Sally - two orphan Hedgehogs, Cottingley Fairytale, Wilson TS Advertising Video, Dedication of War Memorial by HRH Prince of Wales, and The Opening of the Cottingley Cornerstone Centre by HRH Prince of Wales.


I have just been sorting through all the video I have taken that is unedited, and was amazed to find just how much there is to work on.

To give you some idea of the gargantuan task, below I have listed what needs working on:-

VIDEO TAPES OF HOLIDAYS &c. TO EDIT & COPY:

1. Western Isles [Hebrides] & North West Scotland (July/Aug 2002)
FILMED ON SMALL CANON ON 8MM FUJI TAPE No number cassette & Cassettes
1, 2 & 3

2. Norwegian Fjords (May/June 2004)
FILMED ON SMALL CANON ON 8MM FUJI TAPE CASSETTES 9. 10. 11. 12

3. Northumberland (Sept 2005)
FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTES 1 – 5

4. Arran [Felmemris] (Sept 2006) FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE END OF CASSETTE 6

5. Arran[Rosaburn Lodge]/Berwick upon Tweed [Unthank Farm] (Oct 2007) FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTES 7 – 10

6. Holy Island Ruby Wedding Weekend (May 2008) Alnwick Gardens FILMED
ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTE 11

7. Grassington Festival Magna Carta Final Concert FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTES 12 – 14

8. Consecration of Third St Michael & All Angels (Sept 6th 2008) FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTES 15 & 16

9. Waren Mill – Bamburgh/Lamlash – Isle of Arran Holiday (Sept/Oct 2008) FILMED ON CANON XM2 ON DIGITAL TAPE CASSETTE 17

I usually plan to do some of the editing during the “winter months”, but this has got put off and put off for the last few years, and if I delay much longer I will never get the stuff edited, so it is my plan to set to work on this lot in the next week or two and try to get some serious editing done! A simple calculation will tell you that there is something in the region of 25 hours of tape to view before any editing can be done!

Saturday, 13 February 2010

Valentine's Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day (as if you romantic people didn’t know!)



Popular modern sources link unspecified Greco-Roman February holidays alleged to be devoted to fertility and love to St Valentine's Day. This was probably known as Lupercalia.

The Christian church may have decided to celebrate Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to Christianize celebrations of the pagan festival of Lupercalia.

A commemorative feast was established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, so you can see that Valentine’s Day has it’s origins in the dim and distant past!

Even no less a person than Shakespeare mentions the event.

To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day,
All in the morning betime,
And I a maid at your window,
To be your Valentine.
Then up he rose,
and donn'd his clothes,
And dupp'd the chamber-door;
Let in the maid, that out a maid
Never departed more.
—William Shakespeare , Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5

In 1797, a British publisher issued The Young Man’s Valentine Writer, which contained scores of suggested sentimental verses for the young lover unable to compose his own.

Printers had already begun producing a limited number of cards with verses and sketches, called “mechanical valentines,” and a reduction in postal rates in the next century ushered in the less personal but easier practice of mailing valentines. That, in turn, made it possible for the first time to exchange cards anonymously, which is taken as the reason for the sudden appearance of racy verse in an era otherwise prudishly Victorian.


Paper Valentines being so popular in England in the early 1800s, Valentines began to be assembled in factories. Fancy Valentines were made with real lace and ribbons, with paper lace introduced in the mid 1800's. In the UK, just under half the population spend money on their Valentines and over two billion pounds is spent yearly on cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts, with an estimated 25 million cards being sent.

So it has now become a money spinner – so much for the romanticism!

I’ve just been on an MSN site in which Dr Pam Spurr tries to analyze the type of people by the gifts they give. These were the results for me:

Chocolates

With chocolates you've got a good traditional man. And a man with traditional values probably enjoys a quite traditional relationship.
He may not be the most imaginative guy but he'll probably be a good one. And he likes to treat his woman to something he knows she'll enjoy.

Romantic commitment rating: 7/10


Friday, 12 February 2010

Religious Discrimination?

Nadia Eweida - banned from wearing her cross at work by BA.



Only a couple of days ago I read an aticle in which Sir Mota Singh, a Muslim Judge was demanding that muslim schoolboys should be allowed to wear a ceremonial dagger [a kirpan], (one of the five articles of faith) in school. I would have thought that he realised that this would be classed as an offensive weapon in this country, and that was why it was not allowed. It would be interesting to hear what his thoughts are on the following case.



Christian airline employee loses cross ban appeal

Nadia Eweida says she was placed at a disadvantage due to her beliefs.

A Christian British Airways (BA) employee has lost her appeal against a ruling which allowed the airline to stop her wearing a cross at work.

Nadia Eweida, 58, wanted the Court of Appeal to overturn the ruling that she had not faced discrimination.

In 2006 she went home after failing to reach a compromise with managers over the visible display of the plain silver cross on a chain around her neck.

The following year the airline changed its uniform policy.

Lord Justice Sedley, giving the ruling of the court, said her case of indirect discrimination was defeated by BA's case on justification.
He said: "This case has perhaps illustrated some of the problems which can arise when an individual asserts that a provision, criterion or practice adopted by an employer conflicts with beliefs which they hold, but which may not only not be shared but may be opposed by others in the workforce.
"It is not unthinkable that a blanket ban may sometimes be the only fair solution."

Lord Justice Sedley said Miss Eweida is a devout practising Christian who worked part-time as a member of check-in staff since 1999.
She made complaints about incidents between 2003 and 2006 which she claimed showed anti-Christian bias on the part of BA.

Human rights group Liberty said in a statement that the appeal court had upheld the Employment Appeal Tribunal's (EAT) "startling" judgment of November 2008.
It found that banning Ms Eweida from wearing a cross was not discriminatory because Christians "generally" do not consider wearing a cross as a requirement of their religion.

Corinna Ferguson who represented Miss Eweida, said: "This is a disappointing judgment that will do little to build public confidence in equality laws protecting everyone.
"But this is just the sort of case that a Supreme Court is for and we have every hope that the highest court in the land will put Britain's long tradition of religious tolerance into modern legal practice."

A spokesman for the airline said: "British Airways is very satisfied with the decision of the Court of Appeal, which yet again confirms that British Airways has acted appropriately and lawfully in relation to Ms Eweida."

The former Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey of Clifton, said the failure of the appeal would lead to further cases of religious discrimination.
He said: "I believe it is not an exaggeration to say that people of faith are facing particular hardship in a period where different freedoms and rights are being tested against each other."

In 2004, the airline scrapped a high-necked uniform and introduced a new one, which could be open neck and prohibited the wearing of any visible item of adornment around the neck.
It introduced an amended policy in 2007 which permitted staff to display a faith or charity symbol with the uniform.

Thursday, 11 February 2010

What A Crazy World We Live In

What a crazy world we live in. Just read the following article to see why........


Expenses body to cost six times more than MPs' payback

Sir Ian Kennedy will be paid a salary of £100,000
The Parliamentary body set up to police expenses will cost about six times the amount MPs have been ordered to repay, the BBC has learned.

Figures show the annual cost of running the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority will be £6.5m.

Last week, MPs were told to pay back £1.12m of their second home expenses after an audit of their claims dating back to 2004 by Sir Thomas Legg.

Meanwhile, three MPs and a Tory peer are facing charges over their expenses.

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) has replaced the Commons Fees Office, and most of its £6.5m budget is expected to go on recruiting about 80 staff. Its chairman Sir Ian Kennedy will be paid a salary of £100,000.

This will come on top of the £1.1m cost of Sir Thomas Legg's audit and the inquiry by the standards watchdog Sir Christopher Kelly which cost £400,000.

"That inquiry is now being re-examined by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority prior to implementing a new expenses regime," he added.

So to sum up, MP's have been told to pay back £1.12 million, but the costs incurred in arriving at this, and setting up the new Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority are £8.1 million. A loss of around £6.9 million when we are already burdened with enormous debts. What a crazy world we live in!

I thought the whole point of this exercise was to save us money!



A Womans Work is Never Done

I received the following e mail this morning, and thought that some of you hard working mums might find it amusing!


What do you do all day??

A man came home from work and found his three children outside, still in their pyjamas, playing in the mud, with empty food boxes and 20 wrappers strewn all around the front garden.

The door of his wife's car was open, and so was the front door to the house and there was no sign of the dog.. Proceeding into the dining room, he found an even bigger mess.. A lamp had been knocked over, and the throw rug was wadded against one wall.

In the front room the TV was loudly blaring a cartoon channel, and the family room was strewn with toys and various items of clothing.

In the kitchen, dishes filled the sink, breakfast food was spilled on the counter, the fridge door was open wide, dog food was spilled on the floor, a broken glass lay under the table, and a small pile of sand was spread by the back door..

He quickly headed up the stairs, stepping over toys and more piles of clothes, looking for his wife.. He was worried she might be ill, or that something serious had happened.

He was met with a small trickle of water as it made its way out the bathroom door. As he peered inside he found wet towels, scummy soap and more toys strewn over the floor. Miles of toilet paper lay in a heap and toothpaste had been smeared over the mirror and walls.

As he rushed to the bedroom, he found his wife still curled up in the bed in her pyjamas, reading a novel.

She looked up at him, smiled, and asked how his day went..

He looked at her bewildered and asked, 'What happened here today?'

She again smiled and answered, 'You know every day when you come home from work and you ask me what in the world I do all day?'

'Yes,' was his incredulous reply..

She answered, 'Well, today I didn't do it.'

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

The Other Three Bentley Girls

I went out to our Tourist Information Christmas Dinner last night. (The original one got cancelled due to the inclement weather we had.) We dined at Herriot’s Hotel, in the new section called the Rhubarb Restaurant, and the meal was very good. I think they had pulled out all the stops in the hopes that we would pass along to potential customers how good they were! Each of us were given a small carrier bag containing a money-off voucher for a meal at the Rhubarb Restaurant, two hotel produced cookies, and various pieces of hotel advertising literature – special offers for the Valentine Weekend etc.

During the course of conversation I was asked by one of the ladies who I usually only see at the TIC gatherings “How is Ruby getting on?” I explained that she was now two and half years old and it felt like she had always been a member of the family.

I also mentioned that there were two new girls in the Bentley Brood – One called Pixie, and the other called Macey. I explained that these two were Hannah’s dogs, and that Pixie was a Miniature Pinscher and Macey was a Shih-Tzu. Macey originally joined Hannah as a dog she was looking after for a pregnant friend, but she has now been officially handed over to Hannah and will eventually become a fully fledged member of the Bentley Brood!

As one or two of the table hadn’t met Pixie or Macey, I promised I would take some pictures of them so they could see for themselves what they looked like.

This afternoon Hannah and the two dogs came round to our house, so it was a golden opportunity for a photo call!


There's always one looks the other way when you take a photograph!


Ruby, Pixie and Macey

Macey

Pixie and Macey playing


Tuesday, 9 February 2010

Slaidburn

On Sunday we paid a visit to the pretty little Trough of Bowland village of Slaidburn.
The village lies in the River Hodder valley, with a village green alongside the river. There is a Riverside Café opposite the village green which is popular with the many visitors who come to Slaidburn.



The Riverside Cafe opposite the village green

There is a lovely old pub in the village which has the unusual name of the “Hark to Bounty” which still retains its local village pub atmosphere. There is a story behind how the pub got its unusual name.

The Inn dates back to the 13th century, and until 1875 was known as The Dog. The Squire of the village, who was also the Parson, had a pack of hounds. One day whilst he was out hunting, he and his party called at the Inn for "refreshments". Their drinking was disturbed by the long and loud baying from the pack outside. High above the noise could be heard the Squires favourite dog, which prompted him to call out “Hark to Bounty!” It is from this time that the pub gained its unusual name!

The "Hark to Bounty" Inn Sign



We had a meal at the pub whilst we were in Slaidburn, and having visited and had meals here before we knew that the food served was home made, plentiful, well cooked and excellent value for money. We were not disappointed!


The parish church of St Andrew is a church of special distinction with it’s unusual pews, three-decker pulpit, lovely stained glass windows and carved chancel screen. The amber stone came from the surrounding fells. It is situated on the road leading out to Newton.My father in law was a curate here many years ago.


St Andrew's Church Slaidburn

St Andrew's Church Slaidburn - East Window


Slaidburn Village Hall


There is also a village hall, which was converted from the old Methodist Chapel, with additions. Work was commenced on this project in January 2006 and completed in May 2007.

Sunday, 7 February 2010

An Entertaining Afternoon at the Electrical Superstore

The all new Dyson DC 25 Animal - the ultimate in household floor cleaning etc!



We paid a visit to a Comet Electrical Superstore on Saturday afternoon as it had been decided that we needed a new vac.

I don’t know if you have ever experienced the delights of a salesman who tries to sell you something he knows absolutely nothing about, but to say the least it is entertaining. We got a young gentleman, who opened the conversation up by saying “I don’t usually work in this section”, which filled me with great hopes of an entertaining afternoon.

I was not disappointed.

If I am going to make a purchase at a superstore, I always do my home work first, and in the case of a new vacuum cleaner that meant comparing such things as the motor power (in watts), air power (the actual suction – in watts), Hosepipe length, mains cord length, dust container capacity, has it a turbo pet hair type brush, does it have HEPA filtration (an anti allergy system)? - does it have floor head adjustments for carpets/parquet floor? What weight is it? – Is a guarantee included – for how long- in other words all the things a salesman ought to know about the product he is trying to sell you.

My first question – what is the suction power in watts – caused a glazed look to come over his face, then he went over to the counter computer and assured me that he would be able to tell me the answer to my question. I followed him over to the computer, and watched and waited. His eyes lit up with a gleam and he proudly announced that it was 2,300 watts!

It was at this point that I had to disillusion him and told him that if the suction power was 2,300 watts the machine would in all probability rip the carpet from the floor and probably rip the floor from the joists. What he had actually given me was the power of the motor!

After suggesting various Hoover models to us, I told him that we had a Dyson, but that we had found it fairly heavy to carry upstairs. What was the weight of the Hoover? Again it was a trip to the computer, and within seconds he proudly announced that it was only 606 kg. Once again I had to disillusion him and point out that the heaviest vacuum on display was only 8.9 kg – maybe there was a misprint. On looking at the screen myself I saw that the actual weight was given as 6.06 kg.

Still smiling (probably between gritted teeth) he continued to try his best to sell us a vacuum cleaner. Eventually he settled on what was know as a lightweight Dyson (only 5.4 kg) but when I asked what the suction power was it turned out to be almost a half the power of all the other vacuum cleaners! In other words light weight in weight and light weight in suction!

Let’s give him another chance I thought. After all he has been very pleasant all the way through. So I suggested he may like to show us a Dyson which had a turbo attachment (as we have a dog which sheds hair from time to time). He introduced us to a DC25 Animal – one of the new generation of Dyson machines which works on a ball system, not wheels, so in effect a simple twist of the wrist can immediately alter the direction of the machine. He even demonstrated it to us on the shop floor, and let us play with it too!

That was the clincher.

We are now the proud owners of a brand spanking new Dyson DC25 Animal.

Come on, get a move on Ruby, we are waiting with baited breath to see how it will pick up your hairs, when you next start shedding your coat!

Saturday, 6 February 2010

What a Catalogue of Fun

After all the bad news and grumbles, some photographs to raise a smile!









































A Day in the Life of an Inner City London School

'My school is like a war-zone' Is this the reality of some schools today?

It might be a good idea if Ed Balls and the Ofsted Gang went into this school unnanounced and saw the reality for themselves. Maybe if Ed and his Osfsted Gang were left to teach in the school for a week.......

The following should be compulsory reading for Ed Balls and his gang.

Teaching at schools in deprived London boroughs is like working in a war-zone, says one disillusioned young teacher.

The 25-year-old, who does not wish to be named for fear of losing his job, says he has been threatened with a range of weapons and kicked and punched for real.

As soon as you walk through the school doors - you have absolutely no idea what will happen - it's like a war-zone.

There's extreme cases of bullying - some teachers are in tears every day.

"It comes to the stage where the curriculum doesn't even come into it. I am satisfied just if I get the kids to be nice to one another." He continued: "In my first year I was threatened with a knife."

"A boy had one in his pocket and he went to grab it - another teacher had to restrain him. Eventually the boy was excluded," he explains.

Most recently, when he and another teacher were helping with an after-school event, they had to remove a group of youngsters who had climbed over a fence.

"A few of the pupils had tried to get in without tickets and so we told them to get out. They wouldn't so I had to physically remove them. I picked one of them up and threw him out and he turned round and told me to go and get a bullet proof vest - that he would be back."

He says he and his colleagues take this sort of threat with a pinch of salt but one day the person making the threat might just follow through.

That day armed police arrived from a nearby police station and the group ran off.

Our teacher says these sort of incidents are a daily occurrence in most inner London schools.

"We have to fill in so many statements and reports. We spend most of the time babysitting rather than teaching. I am 25 and when I went into teaching I didn't think my days would be spent making sure pupils didn't injure themselves or others."

"I thought I would be teaching. Really I am a cross between a social worker and some kind of policeman. I know a lot of the children have really difficult backgrounds and some of them don't go home to parents at all but there is a big difference between what people think teachers are doing and what they actually do."

"Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone."

He says there is a police officer attached to the school in the deprived London borough in which he works.

But even so, many incidents go unpunished or children escape with three-day exclusions rather than something more permanent.

"I don't think that we, as teachers, are equipped with the powers to deal with what goes on. I feel senior management don't use their powers to support us. "

He cites the case of a teacher who was spat at on numerous occasions. The pupil's mother was called in, but the pupil got away with a slap on the wrists.

So what makes him turn up at the school gates every morning?

"Once in a blue moon you get a sense of achievement - when you get through to someone.
But that's in an emotional sense not an educational one. That makes you feel good.
I have good relationships with some of the children - like my form group - I love them to bits.
I don't want to let them down."


Here is another example of our broken society. Isn't it time we got to grips with this kind of problem and came down like a ton of bricks on these thugs? The liberal minded and woolly thinkers of our society have let this kind of situation develop. Let's nip it in the bud before it is too late.

And how can we do this? Well remember that there is a general election coming up in the not too distant future. Find out your MP's view on law and order, and if they have a zero tolerance policy towards offenders THEN VOTE FOR THEM.

This is your country. Do you really want it to become even less law abiding than it is at present? Do you want anarchy to rule in the cities of our land? Think of the future for yourselves and your children.



Friday, 5 February 2010

What A Rotten Shower

David Chaytor - Charged by the CPS

Elliott Morley - Charged by the CPS


Jim Devine - Charged by the CPS



Lord Hanningfield (the Tory MP) - Charged by the CPS



I thought you might find the table below of interest. It shows the local MP’s claims and what they have had to repay




Name
Constituency
Party
Repayment
Appealed
Reduction
Outstanding


Michael Wood
Batley & Spen
Lab
£1,399.83
No
No Reduction
£0


Rosie Winterton
Doncaster Central
Lab
£9,972.35
No
No Reduction
£0


Philip Willis
Harrogate & Knaresborough
Lib
£5,363.74
No
No Reduction
£0


Gerry Sutcliffe
Bradford South
Lab
£2,786.14
No Reduction
No
£2,786.14


Marsha Singh
Bradford West
Lab
£5,026.84
No Reduction
No
£5,026.84


Barry Sheerman
Huddersfield
Lab
£557.21
No
No Reduction
£245.26


Terence Rooney
Bradford North
Lab
£297.02
No
£297.02


Linda Riordan
Halifax
Lab
£2,171.81
No
No Reduction
£2,171.81


George Mudie
Leeds East
Lab
£182.51
No
No Reduction
£0


Austin Mitchell
Great Grimsby
Lab
£10,627.07
No
No Reduction
£0


Greg Knight
Yorkshire East
Con
£2,259.99
No
No Reduction
£0


Fabian Hamilton
Leeds North East
Lab
£9,734.74
Yes
£3,186.59
£0


William Hague
Richmond (Yorkshire)
Con
£601.14
No
No Reduction
£0


Caroline Flint
Don Valley
Lab
£572.00
No
No Reduction
£0


Phillip Davies
Shipley
Con
£232.64
Yes
£232.64
£0


David Curry
Skipton and Ripon
Con
£1,676.48
No
No Reduction
£0


Ann Cryer
Keighley
Lab
£18,241.70
Yes
£16,646.45
£0


Yvette Cooper
Pontefract and Castleford
Lab
£1,363.21
No
No Reduction
£0


Nick Clegg
Sheffield Hallam
Lib
£910
No
No Reduction
£0


Gordon Brown
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath
Lab
£12,888.03
No
No Reduction
£0


Ed Balls
Normanton
Lab
£1,363.17
No
No Reduction
£0


David Cameron
Witney
Con
£237.07
No
No Reduction
£0


I’ve also included the three main party leaders – Gordon Brown, David Cameron & Nick Clegg, as well as Ed Balls and his wife Yvette Cooper.

It’s interesting to note that the big claimants in the list are all Labour Party members (Gordon Brown - £12,888.03), (Anne Cryer - £18,241.70), (Austin Mitchell - £10,627.07), (Rosie Winterton - £9,972.35) and (Fabian Hamilton - £9,734.74), and with the exception of Ann Cryer and Fabian Hamilton have had to fully repay their claims. Those who have not so far repaid are also Labour Party members.



Three Labour MP’s are to face prosecution for their expense claims. They are David Chaytor (3 charges), Elliott Morley (2 charges), and Jim Devine (2 charges). Lord Hanningfield the Tory MP also faces 6 charges by the Criminal Prosecution Service.

The three Labour MP’s have already issued a statement to say that they will vigorously defend themselves.

Thursday, 4 February 2010

Isn't It Time We Sorted Out The Apostrophe?










I wonder if you saw the recent news item which questions if we are becoming a nation of illiterates?


Councils across the UK have had to fork out hundreds of pounds to correct street signs boasting spelling and punctuation mistakes.

Brighton and Hove City Council spent £165.29 to correct a wall sign for St James's Street in Kemp Town that had been erected without the apostrophe.

In Bournemouth £20 was spent correcting a sign that had put the apostrophe in "children's" in the wrong place. Considerably more was spent in Ashford to replace two signs that contained spelling mistakes; the total cost of repairs came to £204.74.

Two new street nameplates cost Dover District Council about £100 in July 2005. "It was in respect of Wilcox Close, Aylesham," a spokesperson explained. "The error was that a nameplate had been ordered with a double 'l', so the error was that of the district council."

Just last year Birmingham City Council announced it was abolishing apostrophes from road signs. St Paul's Square (see picture at the top of this blog) became St Pauls Square in one of many changes the council said it was making for the purposes of consistency and to avoid confusion over whether place names should take an apostrophe.

Wasn't [short for was not] there once a rule taught in schools which said "If it belongs to somebody then it's [short for it is] apostrophe s. [John's book - the book belonging to John] Similarly if a letter is missing an apostrophe should be inserted at the point of the missing letter.

Wednesday, 3 February 2010

Fun and Games This Morning

Hi There folks! It's Ruby here.

I don't know about you, but on a morning I usually get up and stick my nose out of the door and then go out and stretch my legs, but not this morning. It was decidedly cold - in fact 4 degrees below freezing. So one sniff of the cold air and I headed straight back inside the house and on to my lovely warm bed, which is by the side of the radiator.

I don't know if I've mentioned it. but we have a special guest staying with us at the moment. It's my Auntie Sarah. (She's the one who spoils me something rotten, and if she gets the chance she lets me sleep on her bed when I am at her house.)

Anyway, when she comes downstairs I usually make a great big fuss of her, and she usually lets me go out with her to her car. (Sometimes if I'm lucky, I get a ride in the car with her too!)

Well this morning, as I hadn't been out earlier, I went out to her car, and then decided I needed a wee, so I crossed over the road and went about 200 yards up the road. By now the Lord and Master was calling me to come back, but I thought it would be a good idea to cross back over the road and go into the field.

He thought he'd cornered me when I went up the snicket, but some kind person had left the gate open into the field, so in I went and had a good romp up the field!





(That's me in the field having a good romp in the snow earlier last week.)

He's dead crafty. He waved his hands about like he does when he has a treat for me, and I came running down to him. He caught me by my collar and marched me back home.

I don't think he was too pleased with me for running off, but I think I've been forgiven because I've had lots of cuddles from him! When Sarah came back after school, she made a big fuss of me.

In the Bleak Mid Winter.......

Sing lustily, stamp your feet, wave your arms about and become a "happy clappy" or you'll never feel warm!




It's amazing! whenever there is a snap of cold weather, problems with central heating immediately begin to rear their ugly heads.

I play the organ at the church pictured above, which is a lovely old church, with a lofty ceiling inside it, and consequently the heating needs to have been on for two or three hours before the floor level of the church begins to feel warm, particularly during the extremely cold weather.

We have an oil fired heating system, which is fitted with a frost stat. This means that whenever the outside temperature drops below freezing, the heating automatically starts to run. At least that is the theory behind the frost stat! On three of the last four Sundays, when the frost stat was supposed to have kicked in it simply blew the main fuse and hey presto! there was no heating running. Sitting in the church felt a bit like sitting in the freezer of your fridge!

On three occasions a heating engineer has been summoned (I think from Northants!) and he has now decided that the problem lies with the fact that when the temperature drops below freezing and the frost stat kicks in, the oil is thicker that usual and so the motor, which should feed the oil to the boiler in the heating system simply doesn't turn straight away consequently the fuse blows!

Pipe organs are very susceptible to extremes of temperature and twice in the last four weeks I have had notes stick on and continue to play whilst I have stopped playing them. The resulting sound is something similar to out of tune bagpipes...... There is a wedding in the church tomorrow and I dread to think what might happen, as a visiting pianist is coming to play the organ for it!

If the frost stat has blown the central heating fuse again, and the organ sounds like a set of badly tuned bagpipes it could be a memorable occasion!

Tuesday, 2 February 2010

Microwave Back to Full Health!

The latest news on the Microwave Front.........

The microwave has been fully resusitated by a very kind and knowledgable man called Mr Hardy. The machine was anaesthetised and then given a new internal body part (A high powered fuse.) After a short period in ICU (Intensive Care Unit) it has made a full recovery.

LWM for the Household

A new era began in this household on Saturday.

Let me explain. I had used the microwave to heat my morning coffee as I usually do, and no problems, but at “Elevenses” time, I again put a beaker of coffee into the microwave to heat it up, and after the usual 1minute 30 seconds, I opened the door and got the coffee out to discover it was stone cold.

Thinking I may have set the heat setting to 10% rather than 100% I had another try, with the same results. I then tried the grill, which was working perfectly, but after a third attempt at heating coffee with the same results as the previous two attempts I decided that the microwave section of the machine had gone on strike.

After consulting the Amalgamated Union of Microwaves (to ascertain that there were no strikes pending), and ensuring that it was being paid at least the minimum wage and had no grievances I reluctantly decided that it was in need of further care, or that it had died.

Not being an expert in microwave resuscitation, I took it along to Mr Hardy in Saltaire, and he re assured me that he would be able to nurse it back to life. I am now sitting by the phone awaiting his prognosis.

Oh! - You're probably wondering what LWM is.......


Life Without Microwave!