Final public consultation on Core Strategy before Government submission (Herefordshire County Council) See below

My son is looking for funding for his final project at Uni, any help would be greatly appreciated as Tesco say 'Every Little Helps'

A Fifteen-minute documentary that will follow Simon Taylor (our Presenter) aiming to gain an understanding of just how significant Robert Howlett’s portrait ‘Isambard Kingdom Brunel and The Launching Chains of the SS Great Eastern’ was to the Industrial Revolution. 

 

Simon Taylor will chat with historians & photographic analysts to find more information around the photograph so that he can recreate the photo in a 21st Century version of its original setting - Burrell's Wharf in Millwall, London. 

 

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was an inspirational and hugely talented engineer who revolutionised Industrial Britain and architecture to what is it today. Much of what he created is still seen and used today. This is the primary photograph that is used wherever Brunel’s name is mentioned.

 

With the money raised we plan to use to cover expenses for travel and resources for the final product. 

 

Any donation would be massively helpful to allow us to explore who one of the Greatest British Men, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was. It will also allow us the opportunity to acknowledge how the work of Robert Howlett portrayed such a historic figure.

 

Don’t forget to share this project and like us on Facebook @thelaunchingchain and try to and get as many people behind this fascinating documentary as possible.

 

Thank you, 

The Launching Chain

 

https://vimeo.com/119472155

Link To Donate Here

Masquerade At The Shirehall 7th March

A very disturbing rumour came to my attention this evening about Unison the Public Sector Union who have a branch at Hereford Council.

I won't disclose it at the moment until I have checked out the facts but I was curious if anyone else out there had ever paid Union fees on the understanding that they could rely on their Union when they had a work related issues but were refused representation when they needed it? Are Unions really in bed with the Employer? Is your money wasted and should you hold onto your monthly fees and go it alone?

What do you think?

Why are the Police so fascinated with electricity and why do they seem intent upon electrocuting those of us who display a little public disobedience.

Never a day goes by when you read that they've made another poor soul ride the lightening bolt. Whether it's some guy up a tree howling at the moon and refusing to come down and be nicked because he's drunk and disorderly or the chap who's threatening to throw a slice of hot food in their direction, they get three unholy barbs fired at them and subsequently wriggle in agony for thirty seconds as fifty thousand volts find their way out of the poor so.ds body and down to toward the good earth.

It's my understanding that the Police Federation have placed a proposal before the Home Secretary requesting that every single Officer be issued a Taser so that the electrocution can continue.(I'd expect Roger to post a response)

I can't say I know a lot about Taser's and why they were issued to the Police in the first place, but I do know that the original purpose was to avoid lethal force, namely getting shot dead. So why, given that was the original intention, and I'm certain it was, why are the Police now punishing people for civil disobedience.

Not so long ago some poor man who was blind was walking up the road, minding his own business when the Police approached him, told him to drop the weapon which was a white stick and when he didn't, he to was made to ride the lightening bolt.

Why is this happening? Have the Police been able to shift away from the original pledge to only use the Taser if a life was threatened or are they now in an area that allows them to electrocute us if we present a threat to public order or we might punch someone.

Course if the latter is correct and they can now lawfully use this weapon to prevent civil unrest and punish, then my guess is it'll be down to the threat level an individual Officer feels before they decide to pull out the Taser and make you writhe in agony. So what happens if I come out of the Commercial acting like a fool and I come up against a seven foot beast of a copper who can quite easily deal with me. My guess is, I won't get electrocuted. But, if that Officer happens to be a young slip of a girl who's threat level is considerably lower, my guess is I'm going to ride the lightening bolt.

Proposed change of use from public house to 3 no. separate houses (domestic)

Would you post on Bulls Banter? Perhaps you are bored with "self-flagellation"? Anything on there that even vaguely hints at questioning the party line is just a recipe for abuse - unless that is what you were looking for????

Many fans will just agree with the Hales bid because it is backed (yes there will be a member vote) by HUST. Who knows who make up his consortium and what their financial clout or expertise is? But it must be OK because they are long standing fans and not from Essex!!!

Favourite subject of mine this one.

Here's a recent news story concerning the Press Gazette and its approaches to the Metropolitan Police on the subject of RIPA (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act) and the extent to which these powers have been used to spy on journalists.

Where do investigative journalists stand when coming up against what could be an abuse of the Act?

Are the police at fault?

Are the defences of 'feeling annoyed' and 'having your processes disrupted' sound reasons to hold onto this information?

Where does the public interest stand? (Nowhere.  Because it's not relevant under Section 14 / Vexatious Requests - whoops!)

Perhaps the problem lies with the way the law is phrased?

The Act allows the Met Police to put up another exemption if this one's overturned, or if they want to withdraw it.

However, my mind is pretty much made up where certain organisations are concerned.

http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/vexatious-annoying-and-disruptive-press-gazette-barred-met-asking-more-ripa-questions

Facebook

Nothing 'Official' out there yet but might appear in due course. But this appeal is obviously genuine ... 

If we were out of this dreadful European Union. Imagine if we didn't have the free movement of people, there was no such thing as an economic migrant, our Country wasn't packed to the rafters and our public services didn't have to cater for 2.7 million who've arrived here since the beginning of the last decade.

There'd be no more employers and landlords exploiting the vulnerability of the economic migrants, wages wouldn't be driven further down, rents wouldn't be driven up making it harder for the indigenous population to make a living, the economic model of capitalism would soon be shattered and our society would become fairer and more balanced because our economic growth wasn't based upon employers winning huge profits from the hard labour of people.

Just think what we could then do. Imagine the good things that would be so easy for us to deliver. No longer tied and bound by this overwhelming stupid social engineering disaster, we could open our arms to those who ain't economic migrants who's ethos is simply to earn money. We'd be able to welcome and embrace people who simply wanted a life. Yes, a life. People who want to live without the presence of war and barbarity. People who desperately want to leave the dust bowl of chaos they now live in and come to Great Britain

Just look at the people of Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Sub Continent and countries from Africa! You don't have to travel too far to see how desperately harsh life has become for these people. Travel to Calaise and ready yourself for the crossing. You only have to reach a few miles from the Port of Calaise to see all these poor people waiting for nightfall in the hope of hanging onto a vehicles back axle and being given the slim chance to arrive in our Country.

They ain't aiming to us just because they want a house, some benefits and to dress in some western clothes and they ain't coming to us because they wish us harm. Many have travelled a third of the way across the globe because they want a life. Just to live without war and hunger.

Why can't we give these people a life. What's so wrong with helping these people. I fully realise that we cannot help them now because we can't cope with the numbers of people we have but if we weren't tied and bound to this bloody European Union, imagine the good things that we could do.

Our great Country has done great things before and we can do these great things again if only we'd wake up from this daze and realise that the only beneficiaries of this lunatic like arrangement are the rich, the wealthy employers and those bloody mandarins perched up in Brussels creating mayhem and chaos across the world.

Serious accident on the A49 Ross Road near to the Ship Inn. The accident happened around 7am and there are long tailbacks, which will take some time to clear, even though the road has now be re-opened.

A Sink Hole has appeared in Union Street resulting in the road being closed to all traffic

Ok, bets are open, how long do you think that white boarding will last? Lovely big plain white canvas :)

I'm going for graffiti by Sunday 1st Feb :)

Another barking mad survey. Analysis of dog types by post code across the country. In Hereford the results are:

3,000 Labrador Retreivers

2,200 Jack Russell Terriers

1,500 Border Collies

1,500 English Springer Spaniels

1,300 Cocker Spaniels

I wouldn't want to be on the post in Cardiff. 6300 Staffordshire Bull Terriers, as is the case in most large urban areas -356,000 nationally.

"Projects which help councils deliver more for less by working with local communities and neighbourhood groups awarded share of £2 million.

Herefordshire Council Project to develop better support for vulnerable residents by working with GPs, parish councils and communities to develop Wellbeing Hubs in isolated rural areas."

HC is one of 24 councils to receive part of this fund.  Each council will receive between £60k and £90k - lets hope it is put to good use and not used to produce a report!!

In the seventies our nation was in ruins. Brought to its knees by the Callaghan and the Labour Government who'd literally bankrupted our economy, we all raced to the ballot box and invited Maggie Thatcher to dig us out of the hole we were in.

Back then public service was a place you went to work if you wanted a steady job, a job for life and a pension after thirty years. Of course back then, the pay for all public service workers was extremely low but the trade off was all the things I've mentioned previously and the chance to live in rent free housing. Also, back then, the hirearchy from within these public services had walked in everyone's shoes, done most of the jobs, they were not academically particularly bright but they knew how to get the job done.

That was true of all our emergency services and it was most definitely true of the Council.

But then something remarkable happened that changed the course of history for all our public services. What was that? Arthur Scargill and the Miners Union who challenged Thatcher.

As a consequence of this important period in our industrial history. Two significant things happened. Over a two year period the Police were awarded two huge pay rises which catapulted them into the high earners bracket and they began to become skilled in riot training.

As for the outcome, you all know what happened but it wasn't this event that impacted upon our public services. The huge pay rises awarded to the Police changed public services forever. Thereafter, the Police began to realise that they didn't have to empty someone who was tall and had some commonsense. No! They opened the doors to the high achieves. Those with a Degree.

In the meantime, the other public services who were still on their pittance of a salary wanted and got what the Police had been given.

Now the other public services were becoming high earners, like the Police, they to opened their doors to the highly qualified academics who then began their climb up the promotion ladder.

By the early nineties, tired of Margaret Thatcher and forgetful of what Old Labour had done to our economy, we raised out and voted in Tony, the liar Blair who, under the banner of New Labour decided to embark upon a vast public service job creation programme and a belief that Public Service Organisations should model themselves on successful private sector management styles.

And they did. Very bloody quickly. Out went the old, in came the new and before you knew it every single Public Service agent began to build its new model of leading from the Centre. Gone were the days when someone got promoted for their operational achievements. They were either cast aside, retired or simply ignored. Decades of knowledge and experience were lost to the new breed of leader who, armed with a fistful of Degrees, no operational experience and an inability to see anything in a straightforward way, they began their relentless change.

By the time we hit the year 2000AD, the public service chant of, 'If we want the best, we have to pay the best', had completely overwhelmed our public services resulting in no self control, a sense of self entitlement and worse than everything, a cultural ethos of outsourcing that saw the suits getting shot of all the dull and uninteresting things.

For them, filling in potholes, cutting the grass, emptying the rubbish and doing all the other mundane and boring stuff was no longer wanted. They thirsted for the interesting areas of business. The areas that they, armed with their degrees and their unusual language could challenge themselves and become involved in the exciting stuff. The sort of stuff you could corner, create an empire and better still, charge up the pole of success, get a bigger salary and a pension pot that you and I would die for.

Now, all the dull and boring stuff has moreorless been outsourced. All our public services are now dominated by the offspring of those who became grateful that Maggie Thatcher decided to give the Police a huge pay rise.

That one single political decision started off a chain of events that's sees you and I staggering around wondering why we've got long bloody grass, why the Council has become a bureaucratic beast of burden, why we've potholes you could hide a domestic cat in and why High Town has been destroyed and abandoned to a bunch if people who have a Degree in Making Love in Sixteen Different Languages.

Me? I regret the three day working weeks of the Seventies when, at four o'clock the power went off we all went home and sat behind a lit candle wondering how the Council still managed to fill in the potholes, cut the grass, empty me bloody bin and do it with a smile on their faces cognisant that we all appreciated their help, albeit their wages were very low and not many of us wanted to do their job.

Sometime in the next twelve hours something highly significant is going to happen to all of us and I think it's wonderful.

Thank you Greece, thank you to all men and women born Greek and thank you to Syriza the far left party that looks increasingly likely to win the Greek election and have a majority that'll enable them to form a Government.

For those of you that aren't familiar with this modern day European Union 'tragedy,' this Greek working class party want at least half their debt to the EU wiped out and they want an immediate end to the austerity economic programme that was forced upon this proud people by the mandarins of Brussels, the IMF and the German Chancellor.

Since the negotiated loan agreement with the EU and the IMF, the Greek economy has shrunk by a full quarter and over 25% of its citizens are unemployed with absolutely no chance whatsoever of ever getting another job in their lifetimes. Factor all this in with high inflation, poverty levels that are beyond our imagination, a national feeling of hopelessness and no fear of consequences because the worst has already happened to these great people, they've voted for Syriza and I couldn't be happier.

If as I hope the Germans and the rest of the EU refuse to reduce the debt and give the green light to end the austerity programme the Greek people will walk away from the EU. They'll go it alone, they'll bring back the drachma and despite the pain that'll be visited upon them, they'll do it, they'll be happy doing it and be content in the knowledge that their destiny is back in their own hands and they will decide what is best for themselves rather than some faceless bureaucrats from the IMF and the EU.

If however Syriza, manage to negotiate a reduction in debt then that makes me happy as well, because then the Italians, the Portuguese and the Irish will want the same. This then pretty much means, more and more quantative easing, an end to gathering in more weak economies like Albania and Belarus, less expansionistic EU policies, less chance of further conflict behind the old iron curtain and more and more likely that the Euro will eventually go belly up and then we can draw a line under this mad social engineering experiment that is the European Union.