Soft Penalties = Dead People

The number of deaths caused by uninsured drivers has risen by nearly a third in six years while offenders have been facing softer penalties.

Figures seen by The Times show that average fines for driving without insurance have dropped by 17 per cent since 1997, from £224 to £185. But uninsured drivers are killing four people a week, more than ever before.

Yeah, I think that happens with all crimes, actually…

In a rare display of common sense, the government is actually taking this out of the hands of magistrates, in order to ensure that actual punishment is dealt out:

Under laws that come into force on Monday, causing death by driving while unlicensed, disqualified or un-insured will merit a maximum of two years in prison. The present rules allow courts to fine uninsured drivers up to £5,000 and do not include custodial sentences.

I criticise the government a lot, but credit where it’s due, on this they’ve finally done something right…

It’s not enough, though. The fines for being caught driving without insurance before you’ve killed someone need to be much, much tougher. But don’t take my word for it. From the comments to that article:

I am 18 years old. My insurance company want to charge me £3000 to insure my car. If, and it's a big if, I get caught with no insurance I get fined less than £200 pounds. Even with a dodgy maths A level I can work out what's cheapest.
Paul, Brighton,

Nu Labour: Decreasing Your Rights Since 1997

Householders could lose their legal right to complain about noise, pollution or disruption caused by the construction of major infrastructure projects under proposals set out in the Planning Bill.

Current proposals would see around 40 to 50 projects, including airports, rail links, trunk roads and power stations, given the go-ahead each year by the proposed new national planning commission.

The Government has sought to reassure councils that they will have an important role to play, with council-produced local impact assessments highlighting any potential negative impacts of development on local people.

However a clause in the Bill means councils will be unable to act on any complaints from local people regarding nuisance caused by noise, smell, light or pollution once work has started.

I bet MPs are exempt. Oh, what am I saying! They won’t be living anywhere near these areas…

The clause states: "No proceedings, whether criminal or civil, in nuisance and no civil proceedings in respect of the escape of things from land other than proceedings for breach of statutory duty may be brought in relation to development, works or operations authorised by an order granting development consent."

Currently all building sites must follow environmental guidelines. If the rules are broken, local authorities can force site workers to down tools and stop work as an ultimate sanction.

Last night, council leaders wrote to Local Government Secretary Hazel Blears expressing concerns that the controversial clause would silence local opposition to new building projects via the back door.

That’s not a bug. That’s a feature…

But it clearly shows not only their utter contempt for the rights of the citizens they rule with an increasing rod of iron, but for the ‘environmental’ causes they champion so often.

The government’s reaction?

However Whitehall sources said that councils will get three opportunities to have a say about major infrastructure projects instead of just one at present.

Three more opportunities to be ignored, or to be bribed into acceptance. So generous….

Judge Lays Down Rules For Toilet Use

A woman who wakes her neighbour by repeatedly flushing the lavatory at night is facing eviction from her home.

Mwynwen Jones, 57, has lived in her council house in Tremadog, Gwynedd, for more than 20 years but angered another resident by banging her bathroom door and pulling the chain at all hours of the night.

The High Court in London heard that Mrs Jones was guilty of nothing more than making run-of-the-mill "household noises".

But Judge John Behrens rejected her legal attempt to overturn Gwynedd County Council's moves to evict her.

"Whilst flushing a toilet may not be a nuisance, plainly it may be so if it is done repeatedly and at anti-social hours," he said.

Is that just when done by loonies, or does that ruling apply to the rest of us too….? Because if so, we’d all better lay off curries in future!

Joking aside, wouldn’t it be quicker and cheaper for Gwynedd Council to simply soundproof the flat properly, rather than waste taxpayer’s money on these expensive court cases? It can’t be normal for simple toilet flushing to be audible in another flat…

”Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep…”

A soldier returning from Iraq in full combat uniform was thrown off a train after a ticket inspector demanded proof he was eligible for an Armed Forces discount.

Rifleman Zachary Hoyland, 19, had been unable to pick up his Services railcard from barracks and was told the cheaper ticket he had been bought was not valid without it.

But the official refused to show any leniency, instead telling him: 'I don't know what you are complaining about.

'It's not as if you've taken a bullet or anything.'

Hmm, I guess there must be a spate of yobs dressing up as soldiers to get discounted travel on Cross Country Trains that prompted this reaction. Strange I can’t find any mention of it….

Oh, well, I guess I’ll go with my first impression then – that Cross Country Trains employ dumb, ignorant, petty little jobsworths as ticket inspectors on their trains.

The soldier, who was wearing body armour and carrying his helmet and Army backpack at the time, yesterday admitted he had lost his temper.

But he insisted he did not physically harm the ticket inspector, who he accused of 'not liking squaddies'.

'People on the train were looking at him and couldn't believe what he was doing, and after I got off a bloke came over who had been on the train and said it was disgraceful,' he said.

Well, a lot of good that does him after the incident!

A spokesman for Cross Country Trains said the company takes allegations of verbal assault on its staff very seriously.

He added: 'There will be no discounts available without an Armed Forces railcard. We will investigate this if the gentleman concerned wishes to contact us directly.'

Well, I guess Cross Country Trains don’t just employ dumb, ignorant, petty little jobsworths as ticket inspectors. They also employ brain-dead corporate drones who don’t recognise the PR bonus they’ve been handed on a plate, if they issue an apology forthwith.

But then, I guess they feel they’ve got their ‘customers’ over a barrel. Because if they had an alternative, they’d have taken it, rather than put up with a company that treats soldiers like this. Wouldn’t they…?

Guard Dog Bitten…

A former police officer was arrested and held in a cell after confronting a group of unruly teenagers over their behaviour.

Paul Lawson, 52, challenged the youths after they threw a beer can at his car as he drove past.

Mr Lawson told two police officers that the gang had threatened to kill him and smash up his vehicle.

But he was then accused of attacking one of the teenagers and held in a police cell for two hours before being bailed on suspicion of assault causing bodily harm

The former inspector from Morpeth, Northumberland, who served 30 years with London's Metropolitan Police, was eventually told seven weeks later that no further action would be taken against him.

He said: "I still can't believe this. As far as I am concerned, the police just abrogated their responsibility and should be ashamed of themselves".

I should be sympathetic. I should be…

But perhaps Mr Lawson now knows a little of how the general public feels when the guard dog they’ve kept, fed, trained and cleared up after all their lives (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax) turns on them instead of the burglar.

Because it’s easier. Or because its new masters told it to..

Really, Inspector Kelly…?

A doctor had her car stolen after stopping to give emergency help to a pensioner knocked down by a bus.

The female medic rushed to assist the badly injured man in his 70s, leaving the keys in the ignition of her Renault Clio.

But as she was tending to his injuries a thief jumped in her car and drove off.

Is anyone really surprised? Well, yes. It seems the police in Greater Manchester are hopelessly naïve:

Inspector John Kelly from Greater Manchester Police, said: "It's unthinkable why someone would take someone's car when they are just trying to help a man who has been seriously hurt.”

Well, he is an inspector! I doubt this would come as such a surprise to the frontline officers who deal with the underclass on a day to day basis….

“Back Away From The Fat Kid! He’s Gonna Blow!!”

Whoops! Looks like Dumb Jon and I were a little too hasty in laughing at the plans for the ‘Fat Police’ recently, to tackle childhood obesity. A top ‘expert’ (and I only use that term because it’s in the report) thinks fat kids pose a very serious problem indeed:

The threat to Britain and the NHS from rising obesity is as grave as that posed by terrorism, a top expert says.

Durham University public health expert Professor David Hunter, who also acts as a government adviser, said ministers should be taking "bold action" now.

I agree. They should be giving this clown his cards right now, and hiring some less excitable ‘experts’.

Professor Hunter said that governments since the 1970s, including the present Labour government, had "tinkered around the edges" of the rising problem of obesity. He said it was possible that the disease it caused could overwhelm the NHS, with some predicting a doubling of the number of people with type II diabetes by 2025.

The solution, he said, was a more direct approach, with less public consultation.

"They have been talking about it for four decades, but that never seems to be enough," he said.

"The government was quick to move for things like ID cards or 42-day detention without trial - now it needs to show similar leadership in public health.

"The threat to our future health is just as significant as the current security threat."

Quite the little dictator, isn’t he? The public aren’t listening to the scare stories, so the public must be made to listen…

Perhaps the reason the public aren’t listening is because so many of the scare stories raised by scientists and public health officials have proven to be based on somewhat questionable data, or made up out of whole cloth, like the ‘alcohol unit measurement’, and the public are therefore less inclined to bow to their ‘wisdom’.

No matter – Professor Hunter has a bandwagon and he’s not afraid to use it:

He said that current work between the Food Standards Agency and food manufacturers and suppliers could go further.

"Lots of the initiatives are under a voluntary agreement - but it has just come to the point where things like these are simply not working."

He said that bigger warning labels, changes in the taxation of "unhealthy" foods, and even the use of compulsory regulations to force manufacturers to cut levels of salt, sugar and fat in their foods could be employed.

It seems C.S. Lewis was right all along…

Comment Is Superfluous...

Two office workers were suspended after they spent 20 minutes having sex at a partly-frosted window, unaware that a crowd had gathered to watch below. The naked pair could not hear the cheering from the group of dozens of passing workers, taxi drivers, and at least two police community support officers, but continued undeterred.

The staff were from a company called Unity Partnership, which is contracted by Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council to improve public services.

The NHS, Modern Wonder Of The World...

...isn't going to waste money on the likes of you:

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Guidelines (Nice) has ruled for the first time that saving a life cannot be justified at any cost, in a review of its ethical guidelines.

The ruling - made by the board of the controversial organisation - contradicts advice it received from its own 'Citizens Council' which offers advice from a representative sample of the general public.

It'd be nice if they then at least paid back into your estate all the NI and tax you'd paid in your lifetime, wouldn't it?

If I have any American readers, be warned: this is what you will get with socialised medicine...

Want To Avoid Bad Publicity For Your Development Plans?

....don't tell anybody!

Only 10 per cent of Castle Point households were sent letters by the council about three public exhibitions.

The final exhibition was at Runnymede Hall, in Thundersley, but some residents only found out after notices were pushed through their door.

Lisa Chandler, 38, of Daws Heath Road, said: “We live right by where they want to build 550 homes off Daws Heath Road and we didn’t recieve a letter.

“We had a notice put through our door about the exhibition, but it wasn’t from the council. We don’t know who it was from.”

It was from people objecting to the massive new development who decided to thwart the council's 'keep mum' tactic, and sent out their own leaflets:

One man, who asked not to be named, said he had distributed around 60 notices.

He said: “If you have a set of unpopular proposals then no wonder you only inform 10 per cent of the population and publicise it in August when a lot of people are on holiday.”

The council pleaded lack of money:

Ian Burchill, corporate director for the environment at the council, said: “We wrote to every tenth household.

“We couldn’t write to all 40,000 as it would have cost too much and we would have had staff stuffing envelopes for days.

“We knew people would talk to their neighbours and that more people would come to the exhibitions than those we wrote to.”

Yeah. Sure you did...