bobby47

Steve says, 'what a joke'. And he's right. In a world of normality where once rational thinking and common sense held sway, none of this would ever have happened and you could say with certainty it was a joke. But it's no joke. It's real and it's got a stranglehold on all our lives. These are not normal times and rational thinking and common sense have been replaced by an ideology of political correctness that's slavishly followed by all those who rise to the top and lead our public services. And, like all who get to the top of the pile they surround themselves with like minded souls that follow this rigid inflexible dogmatic ideology no matter how damaging its all become to our entire society and consequently the madness is perpetuated by generation after generation of those who seek out difference and the chance to demonstrate just how committed they are to embrace diversity and defend it whenever they can even if it doesn't need to be defended. It's madness! To'ther day I sat and watched the new Commissioner, Cressida Dick on tv who's entire career has been built upon political correctness and the celebration of difference and diversity in a world where sexuality, ethnicity and religious beliefs are placed up and above anything and anyone who is just a typical person living their lives in Britain. To these people, the more different and diverse you are the better it is. Quite simply, they're obsessed with nothing else. When accepting the role of Commisioner, Miss Dick said, 'I look forward to leading the women and men of the Metropolitan Police', which gives one a fair indication that getting her to acknowledge the link between radical parts of Islam and it's slaughter which both she, the London Mayor and all the rest desperately try to never mention when addressing anything to do with terrorism, you get the feeling that alls lost, we've passed a tipping point and surrendered ourselves to legislation that says, 'if you say something and someone you've never met either reads or hears your view and they are offended, then you are in breach of the law and pretty well buggered. People, most people, simply want to lead their lives, be treated fairly, not be singled out and not be judged and pigeon holed by their sex, their sexuality, their ethnicity or their religious beliefs. And yet, despite this, legions of people who lead and command spend all their time worrying about a silly quip relating to a pig rather than ever addressing the great words of warning authored by Sir Trevor Phillips who essentially has come to the conclusion, albeit very late in the day, that despite our best efforts the great social engineering multicultural diversity experiment has failed.

Ragwert, Very well written. Well done. This is exactly how I feel and how I see things. My warmest regards and congratulations on what is the best piece of work I've ever read on any political blog. Rob.

We'll do what we're now conditioned to do. We'll hold hands during a candlelit vigil, wear a black arm band before kick off, provide a well observed minutes silence or a round of applause to remember the poor souls torn to shreds by bomb or blade, we'll tune in and listen to our political leaders and our increasingly dependent need to hear what our celebrities think who tell us all that none of all this will divide us and our cultural way of life and on and on it goes. Course it's all a load of boll.ocks! Every single time it happens the gap grows wider. Our difference become magnified and another thousand non Muslims grow to hate Islam and another thousand followers of Islam grow to fear what the non Muslims are thinking about them after another murderous head case has left this mortal coil in pursuit of life in the hereafter after slaughtering a bunch of innocents who followed the advice of their leaders who said, 'they won't divide us'. There's no such thing as shared values, no 'we are in this together' and no real evidence to suggest that our national political ruling elite are any less stupid than the local wretched gathering of fools who gather together at the Shirehall Council meetings and lead locally. Quite simply, not one of them has a clue what to do and fool you for thinking otherwise. If you follow the logic behind the political statements, the mood of the country and the drip drip media releases that relate to anyone Muslim as someone somehow being blind to the madness of the Islamic extremism that's now got a foothold in our once good multicultural society, then we are now a short hop and step away from building our first purpose built, brand new and wonderfully equipped Internment Camp that G4 bloody S will run for us at only a fraction of the cost of Guantanamo Bay. It's truly desperately sad and unless there's a huge step change in our sovereign ability to return violence with extreme violence and make them frightened of the consequences of their murderous actions, such as those that frightened the IRA from ever targeting Bradbury Lines all those years ago, then nothing but nothing is going to halt our slide toward a less free and libertarian state.

Colin, you're an extremely bright, clever articulate fella, so why ask me a question you know the answer to? They're targeting the likes of Poland and Hungary because these countries are not as important as others like Austria. After all the billions of financial grants that Poland has received, that the EU now are deliberately describing as Aid programmes designed to make Poland feel lowly and subservient, they expect some gratitude, some compliance and a good measure of knowing ones place in the pecking order of who's important in the EU and who's less important, hence the strategy of creating a Two Tier, Two Speed Europe. One for the rich and powerful who have their hands on the levers of power and one for the less important nations who are holding back the federalisation of Europe. Just like the Orwellian Animal Farm, where some are more equal than others, today and tomorrow some nations have become more important than others and ever so gradually once again, for the third time in a century Germanic dominance and meddling in the business of other countries is buggering things up. As in war, particularly the Second World War, nations like Poland caught up in the chaos simply because of their geographic position, will pay a price for joining the EU and pretending that they could integrate their economies, their societies and at the same time cling onto their liberty without having to pay a price. Most on these here pages know my views on the migrant crisis and I believe that everyone should play a part and help these people but, putting aside my personal feelings on the matter, I can promise you that come fair and fine weather, probably very soon, the migrant numbers will soar again and Brussels, acting on the instructions of Germany, will force countries such as Poland to meet their quotas of migrants or face the financial consequences.

Hello Colin. According to my compass that's not set and fixed to the geographic magnetic North, but rather aligned to the fallen Berlin Wall, Austria is West, so are we and everything that was once communist territory is East. My only regret is Brussels is not positioned far South on another Continent and Donald bloody Tusk would do what the great citizens of Poland want, him to pack his bags in the West, journey East and face the barrage of questions his countrymen want to put to him regarding the reason why they don't want him to remain in his exalted position of power. That said, you've mentioned this to me before and so, from hereon whenever I speak of the great Polish people again and their remarkably resilient Country, I will refer to it and them as Central European. No offence was intended to you and your girl Colin. My warmest regards. Rob.

Lads, I'm not against your argument. I'd sooner be allied to the Polish nation who, like the States, Britain, Greece and Estonia take their NATO responsibilities seriously and pay their way to defend themselves, rather than the yellow bellied, cheating bastards from the West who now drape themselves in the EU flag and sing Ode To Joy. But, those who are stupid enough to ever want to join the Union, and that includes Poland, they can't pick and choose the sugary bits they want and the sour stuff they don't want. They entered this Union of madness spouting, 'we share your common values', which include equality for all ethnic and religious groups, and yet, when the test comes in the shape of the Syrian migrant crisis, they don't want to help, hence the reason why the Polish Premier has made her comments which clearly imply that they don't fully share all our Shared Common Values that allowed them to get into the EU in the first place. Truth is, given the nature of the EU and every single path their Federal ideology takes us all on, Poland and all the other member states have no right to attempt to maintain their way of life, protect their heritage and pick and choose what they want, unless......they follow the lead of Britain and put an end to the madness and Leave.

The Polish Premier's words are supportive of what many now feel and think about these attacks upon our Western societies. That said, and with great respect to her and the peoples of Poland and other Eastern European countries, it's very easy to talk like this in their uncomplicated and straightforward societies. For Poland and many other East European nations where they've never experienced significant levels of immigration and the introduction of different cultures into their population, where the normal and typical is white Christian Caucasian, there is no risk or political backlash for speaking in this way. For the West, who's societies are very diverse and based upon multiculturalism and equality for all, it's nigh on impossible for a western political leader to talk in this way. So, whilst the Polish Premier might sound good and appeal to the way many might now feel about these complicated social issues, our leaders have to consider issues that Poland has no experience of. Diversity! One should also remember that Poland and other Eastern countries are in conflict with Brussels for refusing to accept any people associated with the migrant crisis and this speech by the Polish Premier is in a roundabout way a response to the threat from Brussels that sanctions may be implemented and the Cash Tap could be turned off if 'they' don't do as they're told and embrace our so called EU Shared Values and accept diversity into their culture.

I'd like to see all drugs defined as controlled under the provisions of the Misuse Of Drugs Act legalised. The whole lot. Cannabis, Opiates, Amphetamines, Cocaine. Decriminalise them all and allow our members of society a free choice as to whether or not they wish to take drugs. The benefits would be felt immediately. The Criminal Justice System would be relieved of its responsibility to prosecute, the prices of say a kilo of Heroin would shoot down and even Cocaine, the champagne drug of choice and so costly to purchase it's become out of reach for me and many others who's income won't stretch to buying an ounce a week to enjoy it's mind altering properties, would become freely available to those with a limited disposable income. Whatsmore, by taking this step, our roads would become much safer for both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Every single year statistics show that hundreds of fatalities occur involving drivers who are not intoxicated or out of their minds on drugs. Indeed, last year in the United Kingdom, not one person was killed by a driver who was drunk and under the influence of smoking Cannabis and snorting three lines of Cocaine. You can't argue with facts. Statistically, the records show that the more you drink and the more drugs you take, you are less likely to flatten a pedestrian on your way home. Consider Athletics! Instead of spending millions on 'doping' investigative work, allow the athlete the opportunity to compete under the influence of drugs. That way every single athlete would have direct access to drugs and be given the opportunity to compete equally and fairly with everyone else. Interestingly, if the Athletics Associations grasped this opportunity, it would revitalise the global interest in sporting achievements. Imagine after a few years all our athletes became bulked up, hyped up and generally mentally deranged during their event, remarkable World Records could be achieved. I'm not suggesting that we'll ever see the day when a man or woman can leap over the roof of a semi detached dwelling but the current record of nigh on eight feet would easily be broken by a jump of twelve feet. Course, it'd cost. The sandpit for the long jump. That'd have to be extended and new safe and purpose built stadia for the throwing events would need to be quickly addressed to ensure the spectators were safe from the Javelin or Discus. Whatsmore, once the sprinters had digested enough of their drugs of choice, a sub nine second one hundred metres race would become commonplace and in time, possibly in my lifetime, a man or a woman, both sexes are equally capable, could run the hundred yards in less than five seconds. It seems to me that whilst my view is open to ridicule and I'm pretty sure many will disagree with me, mankind needs to evolve to achieve and unless we open our minds and embrace the idea that drugs are a good and kindly tool to benefit humanity and athletics, then we're never going to see a man or a woman perform exteaordinary feats of human brilliance and advance our humanity and civilisation.

Mind, going off at a tangent and discussing hate crime, only this week on the HT readers page, a couple of East European kids have gone off the rails and ended up in Court. To read the comments left by the Readers you'd most definitely believe that racism in Hereford is alive and well. It's truly despairing to read it and very wrong that the HT allow these comments to remain on their page for everyone to read. Why would the HT distort a Poll and at the same time tolerate readers posting stuff that discredits us all? I've absolutely no idea!

Martin, your piece really gets to the heart of how controlled we are and how controlling the media and the establishment now are in relation to the governance of us all. Last August a poor Polish man died on the streets of Essex. His tragic death was widely reported in the media of Britain, Poland and discussed in the Parliaments of Westminster, Poland and the European Union. The reports of this poor mans death announced that a mob of British youths carried out a frenzied attack after they heard him speaking in his native tongue. The narrative then was this poor man was Murdered, the attack was racist and connected with our countries desire for Brexit. Understandably, on her recent visit to Britain the Polish Premier raised this death with Theresa May rightly demanding that her citizens are afforded protection against hate crime attacks. Naturally, as someone who voted to Leave, I was devastated that a man was murdered in our Country simply because of his ethnicity and I personally reflected on this news asking myself, 'what have we done to bring about such anger and hatred'? All straightforward you might think! Well, sadly it's not. This poor lad was not Murdered, he was not attacked by a frenzied mob and the death was not motivated by feelings of racial hatred. One child of 15 years of age has been charged with Manslaughter. Now, no matter what, for millions of people who followed that false narrative, they'll forever believe that we are a nation of racists who killed a man and there's nothing that can be done to change their views of us who voted to Leave.

Last week the Hereford Times conducted a Readers Poll regarding our departure from the European Union. The Poll asked, now that our exit is imminent, would you now vote to Remain, would you now vote to Leave or don't you know. This particular news thread attracted a great many comments that supported our departure and the Poll very quickly reflected our people's desire to still leave the Union. Indeed, by the early part of the afternoon the Poll reflected this intent and had the Leave vote at around 69 percent, the Remain vote around 29 percent and the remaining number stating Don't Know. Around 2.30pm, some five minutes after the Poll showed Leave at 69 percent, I opened up the page of the HT to see whether or not further comments had been added. At this time, the Poll then read 69 percent to Remain, 29 percent to Leave. The Poll result had been deliberately distorted and its manipulation and single purpose could only be for one reason. To suit the narrative of the media who like much of the establishment want us to remain in the Union. Worse, today, the Hereford Times has released a piece on their Readers page celebrating the results of their Poll that shows the Remain vote at over 70 percent which, given the clear circumstances of the rigged Poll that adequately displays just how powerful the media have become in controlling our lives, our views, our aspirations and our futures by simply writing and reporting whatever they like whether it's true or false.

'D', the ideology of Common Purpose and its strangling grip on all of our public services ensures that 'the suits' rule and our elected political figures, both locally and nationally have been castrated. Our Councillors and our Members of Parliament are nowadays little more than an opportunity for a photo shoot in High Town when something very interesting comes along and catches their attention. The destruction of our economy has been complete, our farming communities are well on the way to complete destruction and all that's left are a population of low earners who'll continue to pay their Council Tax to enable all our land to be handed over to big business and the dream of more houses to be filled with more people who'll continue to work earning the minimum wage on a zero hour contract serving you, me and us a quids worth of chips within yet another fast food retail outlet that's replaced a once proud and flourishing business that packed up because they couldn't be bloody bothered to carry on. Sadly, the fact that thus far nobody has bothered to add to your well written piece should confirm to you that objection has been crushed, the people have been gagged because they no longer care and 'theyve' now got a free hand to take what's left of what we've still got of value. What do I think? I think we're buggered and there's nothing else left to do but sit back and say absolutely nothing!

Well I'll be damned if I can bring myself to agree with our dear friend and fellow poster Frank Smith. Whilst I can accept I don't have a monopoly on good ideas and sound thoughts and my mind is often addled by ale, getting the Police tooled up to 'prevent life' is a step to far unless I'm considered out of step and very old fashioned. Given that the original sentiment was to prevent loss of life, and I've given my reasons why I disagree with Colin's proposition, Frank has taken the debate to a level that many like me may find uncomfortable. I can't see how directing the Police to shoot us all to prevent life is ever going to do us any good at all.

I don't believe that arming all our Officers would be a good thing for Britain.The moment you arm all Officers and even make it compulsory, you not only change the model of Policing in Britain from Policing With Consent to a more Authoritarian model, you completely change the recruitment process and alter the make up of all the ranks. Every single recruit would be required to have a Personality Psychometric Test to see whether or not they should carry a firearm, be able to shoot the pistol and deliver lethal deadly force. This would ultimately mean that the ranks would be swollen by those people who were able and capable of shooting someone but not necessarily be good and competent Officers. Huge numbers of good, kind and thoroughly capable recruits would be immediately excluded because of their inability to pass the PPT and this natural progression of recruitment, where being armed is the focus would inevitably be detrimental to the Service and change its very nature forever. What's more, I don't believe, based upon our model of Police Service you can expect all our Officers to wear these two hats. Dealing with an everyday piece of Police work that requires patience and diligence and then expecting them to suddenly change their core role and shoot someone dead is to much to ask. Also, it's all well and good training these officers, sending them up to the Rifle Range and getting them to hit the target is very different to being subjected to great stress, being unable to control your adrenalin and then flapping. The young lady Officer who stopped Lee Rigby's killer was around 18 feet away from the killer and in a three to four second burst fired off 8 rounds hitting the target once in the leg. Whilst highly trained, this young Officer was unable to hit the target beneath the neck and above the belly button simply because of stress and an inability to control her adrenalin. And it's got nothing to do with bravery! It's simply arming and equipping the right people who are capable of delivering deadly force and then being able to live with its consequences. I suggest that the only people qualified to carry out this role are our Armed Forces and a tiny number of well trained Police Officers who've been carefully selected to do this.

How do 'they' manage to do this sort of thing over and over again? Well, it's all relatively easy. You take the ideology of Common Purpose, use LinkedIn and your many other contacts hoovered up after years of playing the public service game and then, and this is the crucial piece of the game, you take a 'suit' and place him or her in charge of the procurement of the IT software. Importantly but easily guaranteed, that suit must have and will have reached his or her own personal level on incompetence several pay grades below where they actually are now, ensuring that when they sit down and negotiate with the private sector suit the disadvantage and unfairness of this fiscal encounter can easily and profitably be exploited at a huge cost to us the paying public. The result? On behalf of the people, the Council acquire a hugely expensive piece of software that doesn't work, will never work and no matter how much money you throw at it thereafter, and it's guaranteed they will, the software cannot work because the procurement process was founded upon the Council purchasing and installing the exact bit of kit that they shouldn't have acquired in the first place. Then, and this is the sugary bit for the private sector, they've steered the Council to sign up to a contract with a friendly company who agree to pop in from time to time at a hugely inflated cost to iron out any birthing problems that over a period of several years turn out to be extremely harsh and frequently regular birthing problems that then alert some other 'suit' to the fact that perhaps, just perhaps, collectively, they've managed to repeat the mistake they've made on several other separate occasions and acquitted a bit of kit they never needed in the first bloody place. And round and round it goes!

Thank you old friend Ragwert. Sledge Hammer To Crack A Small Nut! My Grandfather, who fought in both the First and Second World Wars took a direct hit, twice, on the top of his head from one of these and he barely broke his stride whilst marching up Sword Beach.

They've found what they think is an unexploded bomb down Rotherwas. As we speak, the hierarchy of the Police, the Firebrigade and God knows who else, are declaring the event a Major Incident which will mean a load of people keen to have fun because they've been on a Course, they will evacuate God only knows how many people, roads will be closed, the media will help create drama and tales of heroism, the bomb will be blown up and in about two months time there'll be a presentation at the Shirehall where they'll hand out medals and ribbons of glory to all those who helped save Rotherwas from the dreadful fate of getting blown up.

Everything Harry has written is completely factual. As for it being a white elephant, I prefer to refer to it as a Monument To Stupidity. At just over sixty three million quid of public money to build a retail centre at the very same time as shopping habits have changed forever is reckless, foolhardy and a gift to Stanhope, Britsh Land and Herford Futures who've asset stripped our home City of wealth. As for the Old Market, footfall is down and as we exchange these thoughts,retailers, small and large who are based down at the OM are considering whether to go, downsize their staff or ride it out and see what happens. Mark my words, particularly the large retailers, when the juicy financial incentive periods run out that got these brands here in the first place, they'll consider profit margins and abandon our City. This is not bluff and hyperbole! The downturn in footfall, particularly across the entire trading period piece has caused considerable alarm within and these companies are not going to continue carrying large numbers of staff when few people are inside browsing or buying. As for the places to eat and drink,,,,,they're doing ok but it's all been at the expense of High Town who's still trading proprietors are sitting there, day in, day out often taking in less than a hundred quid a day. Don't tell these traders that times have never been so good. For them and for us who funded this madness it's been disastrous and it'll come back to bite our fragile economy when the true extent of the stupidity comes home to roost and our youngsters are faced with the dilemma, 'what now and where do we go'.

At least one of the staff has discovered that their former employer has not paid in any National Insurance contributions for nigh on a decade.

Colin, I'm on the same page as you. I agree! The Asda centre provides great value for money, a great public service and it produces a great deal of slack in an overstretched system which provides all the feeder surgeries much needed support. Sadly, it ain't enough. They'll keep pushng on with Taurus Healthcare, and despite most within the local healthcare profession recognising that it's all been a waste of time and money, they'd sooner destroy Asda that clearly works for the people than ever face up to their avoidable mistake that was the creation of an arms length company that's in it to make money through privatisation. One way or the other Asda will change and there's absolutely nothing the people can do to stop it. Too many former or retired NHS management suits have invested their futures on the creation of PLC's that are designed to meet the needs of transformation and Common Purpose within the NHS and are set up and designed to fully exploit outsourcing that eats away at the low hanging fruit of our public money. As for Taurus, the biggest beneficiaries in this tragic tale of woe, eventually the NHS will cut the cord of public funding, set it adrift and sell it to an old close friend at a remarkably low price allowing a few to become very wealthy and providing no financial return to the paying public.

Colin, the problem of the Walk In Surgery is that the patient who walks in, registers, sits there, waits and then receives treatment from the Doctor or the Nurse, generates a cost to their home surgery. The Surgery you are registered wth gets the bill for your visit to Asda. And that's it. That's why they want to close it. No other reason. It's simply about money and profits and the local Surgeries no longer want to foot the bill for the Walk In Centre.

Hello David old friend. You mention logic old soldier. There's no logically approach to anything that 'they' serve up and dish out to us. It's one badly thought out idea after another and whilst I've reported the above development, that's today and only today,dealt with.Tomorrow brings another chance for 'them' to revisit their latest decision, completely change their minds, continue to bugger it all up and waste even more of our money. Whatever they decide to do, you can be sure of only one single thing! It'll be the wrong decision.

Taurus Healthcare PLC are taking over and moving into the Asda Surgery in April of this year and will be joined by a subsidiary Surgery from Moorfields. This is the result of a recent decision to shelve the plans to build the newly thought out Super Surgery that was going to be built down by the Railway Station and which would incorporate several other City practices. It's my understanding that the new Super Surgery idea has hit the buffers because someone who's still wired to Planet Earth has explained that it wouldn't work, cleverly pointing out that they'd end up with five Practice Managers, far to many Receptionists and Support staff and it'd be nigh on impossible to organise and run in anything like an efficient manner. And round and round it goes as we slide ever closer to privatisation. One badly thought out plan followed by another bucket of rubbish.

During a recent interview on Newsnight, Verhofstadt deliberately or by accident revealed himself to be exactly how he's portrayed by the tabloids and even some of the broadsheets. A slavish follower of Federalism! Shockingly, he blamed every single problem the European Union had on just three key things. President Trump, President Putin and immigration from across the Mediterranean. For him, and I'm guessing he speaks for Juncker, Schulz and Tusk, he hadn't even considered that the Union itself, the way in which its constructed and the social, political and economic models it follows were problem number four and that Brussels itself had caused and resulted in widespread discontent right across the full geographic area of the Union. Indeed, rather than even consider changing course, watering down their expansionistic policies and appealing to the millions of citizens who want change and plead for a little patience and understanding, this mad and deluded gap toothed crazy federalist even said that the current model of governance from his home country Belgium was 'Not Fit For Purpose'. Alarmingly, he explained that having to negotiate the will of Brussels with all of its 28 member states was a hindrance to the federal aims and the answer will ultimately be to end this democratic system and give the member states less say and transform Brussels into a single ruling totalitarian body that governed all with one voice, one currency, one law and one single aim. In short, Verhofstadt prescribes more Europe rather than less. For those of you who don't follow Brussels as closely as I do, Verhofstadt is the chief EU Brexit negotiator who promises that, and I quote him, 'they're(The British)rats leaving the sinking ship', and the British Government will not under any circumstances undermine the solidarity of the Union unless it accepts its principles of Free Movement Of People. It's going to be a hard Brexit. This fella Verhofstadt doesn't care about the damage a bad trade deal will have upon jobs of mainland Europe. All he wants is to punish Britain and ensure that no other member state ever plucks up the courage and contemplates doing as we've done and request to leave the EU. Finally, to those of you who voted to Remain, and I understand your reasoning, hypotheticaly speaking, if we weren't in the Union, would you today, given what you now know, vote to join the European Union?

And if we must have these awful signs then surely the wording of the message should be directed toward those that err and commit sinful acts. Erring is a dreadful human weakness and I'd have thought that a few Thou Shalt Nots, there are at least ten of them, would have been more appropriate in bold lettering that could be easily read by those that have a predisposition to err. Thou Shalt Not covet thigh neighbours Ass for example. Thou Shalt Not Kill is a favourite of mine and Thou Shalt Not pleasure yourself in a public place. All these messages, highlighting sin, would most certainly catch the eye, make the message more easily absorbed by the reader and perhaps get a few of those er'ers and sinners through the door with their credit cards and hard earned money to help fund the ideology and proclaim to all that The Lord Is Always By Your Side