Schadenfruede Is Such A Lovely Word, Isn't It..?

They should teach it in schools!

Pardon me while I rummage around in the image files. Ah, here it is!

I Think I Need To Buy A Popcorn Factory…

A staunchly left-wing trade union that has fought a bitter campaign to protect the pay and conditions of 250,000 public-sector workers is poised to impose draconian terms on its own staff’s pension plans.

Documents seen by The Independent reveal the Public & Commercial Services Union faces a pensions crisis, with the combined deficit on two of its schemes estimated to be as high as £65.5 million.

Woo hoo! I haven’t laughed so much since I heard about Bob Crow’s demise…

… the PCS has privately admitted, given its limited financial resources, that “it is no longer affordable to maintain benefits at current levels” and “no one single change to benefits is going to be sufficient to bridge the gap”.

The documents show the Pensions Regulator criticised the PCS’s previous valuations of its pension schemes as being too optimistic over its ability to afford them.

So no wonder they are so optimistic about others’ ability to afford them…

A union source said that the “Government is going to have a field day with this” , given the PCS’s “Protect our pensions” campaign that condemned the Coalition for wanting public-sector workers to “work longer and retire with less”.

The Scottish Secretary, Alistair Carmichael, said last night: “Changes to public-sector pensions were inevitable and necessary but difficult – and made all the more difficult by the obstructive politicisation by unions like the PCS. To see them now imposing on their own staff a worse deal than we offered their members is a bit rich.”

Indeed so. But then, wasn’t hypocrisy always a hallmark of the Left?

*Paging Darwin Award Selectors*

Patrick Adu-Yeboah told the court that the rapper had been drinking brandy and smoking cannabis for much of the night.

'I watched a video with him, a homemade video of him at Carnival, doing music and interviewing people.

'I smoked cannabis then fell asleep. When I woke up he hit the wall, swinging three times at the wall, throwing punches at thin air.

'He lost balance and then went straight out the window'.

*giggles*

It’s An OUTRAGE!!! … That I’ve Been Caught Out

A councillor whose car was pictured parked in a disabled bay has insisted she did nothing wrong …

Cue much ‘Infamy, infamy, they’ve all got it infamy!’…

Cllr Kellett slammed the person who sent the photograph to The Bolton News for a “political move”, and said they were cowardly in hiding behind anonymity.

She said: “I believe this is political, and I have a strong suspicion as to who might have sent it. If I was doing anything wrong, these people would presumably have sent the photo to the authorities, rather than to the newspaper. ”

Oh, no. Going straight to the newspaper is quite the norm now, I think you’ll find. They actually do something about it, you see.

She said: “I don’t believe members of the public can access the back car park anyway, and I was told by the caretaker that I could park there in the evenings.

“My understanding is that you can only access the car park with a tag, so it should not affect disabled people.“

So, you think you may never have disabled colleagues?

Still, at least you haven’t tried the ‘I’m a woman!’ optio…

Oh.

“As a pensioner, in the winter months and the dark it can be quite frightening going up unlit side streets, and I thought this would be a way to avoid that, without causing any harm.

“It is a matter of safety more than anything else, and I wouldn’t dream of parking in that spot without permission, but I was told it was okay. “

It’s terribly unedifying to blame someone else, isn’t it? But, hey, it’s the Labour way…

“I’m the first person to criticise people for parking in disabled bays.”

Here’s a mirror, love. Knock yourself out!

And It Was All Going Swimmingly Too!

Geoff Raw, strategic director for Brighton and Hove City Council, admitted: “This is a very regrettable situation. Unfortunately we have lost some fish in the course of the urgent repair works to the park and pond.

“We thought we had made good plans and preparations for temporarily storing the fish on-site in specially-insulated skips which were specifically chosen as they are hard to vandalise."

So...what went wrong?

“However, freezing weather meant we couldn't refresh the water regularly without causing an ice hazard on the path and cycle track nearby."

Ahahahahahahahaha!

“We have been in contact with the RSPCA to review what happened and have learnt some valuable lessons for the future."

Of course you have...

He Did 'Have Another Side', Then, Judge?

...trouble is, it was just as bad:

Diallo Allen, 18, was allowed to walk free despite mugging three teenagers after Judge Lesley Newton heard he turned to crime after his affluent parents were forced to move to a council estate.

Judge Newton said she believed there was ‘another side’ to the violent mugger and gave him a suspended sentence.

And he walked the straight and narrow (as far as we know) for....three whole days!

But three days later Allen smashed his way into a home while the owners were on holiday. He was caught after traces of his blood were found on a door and window frames.

Heh!

Allen is now due to appear before Judge Newton again, after yesterday pleading guilty to burgling the house with intent to steal.

I guess it's not just the mugger who gets a second chance to do the right thing, then?

But tell me more about the circumstances of his family's fall from grace?

Manchester Crown Court was told how he had fallen into bad company after his ‘high-achieving’ family moved a mile-and-a-half from a ‘middle-class’ area to the Nell Lane council estate, in Chorlton.

Allen’s mother, Deanne Blake, had worked for Manchester council for 18 years as a social worker before launching her own private consultancy.

His father Garfield Allen, who is separated from Miss Blake, was made redundant from his job as a theatre director due to funding cuts in the arts.

Oh dear! *stifles manic laughter*

I Guess He's Just Completing A Practical In 'Lame Excuses'?

In which case, 'must do better':

Mujtaba Ilyas, 26, was taken to court after his Japanese Akita was twice caught wandering the streets of Brierfield.

Now other dog owners are being warned they will also be prosecuted if their animals are found without a tag as part of a major clampdown.

Mujtaba Ilyas, in a move that will surprise no-one, least of all frequent commenter Furor Tuetonicus, is a trainee solicitor!

This should be good...

Speaking after the case Ilyas said his four-year-old dog Kuma, had escaped on 7 and 11 November from his backyard.

He said: “Obviously I accept responsibility because it’s my dog, but it was a total accident.”

Promising start!

“He was found twice in a space of five days. I had a faulty latch on the gate in the backyard and I went to get it fixed straight after collecting him from the pound where the dog warden had kept him the first time. But it is a type of lock that won’t always click shut.”

Hmmm, a poor workman always blames his tools, Iilyas! Why not buy one which works all the time?

“I showed the bench my receipt for a collar and tag for him. Because he’s such a big dog I had to order one from Pets at Home, which is when he escaped the second time.”

Oh, just flubbed it on the dismount!

Still, at least he won't have to worry about the new microchipping fiasco-to-come!

What Is It They Always Say? Follow The Money!

...and oh, boy, they certainly intend to:

But remember, it's all about 'closure' for the victims (if there really are victims), and justice at last (though a dead man can never be tried, at least under current law, but surely we wouldn't overturn laws to please a mob, would we?). Not about filthy lucre, oh, dear me, no! Perish the thought! How very dare you suggest it!

Nor is it about the rapacious demand for control and surveillance and the burdens of a state that distrusts everyone all the time. Oh, dear me, no.

I look at this circus, this return to the Salem Witch Trials (but hey, they were one up on us, they at least accused live people who could mount a defence!) and I think we've gone stark, staring mad. Maybe it's something in the water? It's a brave blogger or journalist who will swim against this tide.

I'd feel sorry for the BBC, but then I remember they've played their part in fostering a culture which leads to this sort of thing.

And then I remember whose money it is that the BBC will be handing out...

Ouch! It’s Painful Getting Hoist On My Own Petard!

Gallaudet University's embattled chief diversity officer said she wasn't taking an anti-gay stance when she signed a petition advocating for Maryland's same-sex marriage law to be put to a vote.

Instead, Angela McCaskill says she was joining 200,000 others in standing up for the rights of voters to make decisions at the ballot box.

Oh?

"I thought it was important that as a citizen of the state of Maryland I could exercise my right to participate in the political process. I am pro-democracy," McCaskill explained at a news conference Tuesday in Annapolis, Md., speaking out for the first time since the university's president placed her on administrative leave last week after it became public that she had signed the petition.

You can be disciplined for that?

Hurwitz clarified his actions in a statement released Tuesday morning. He wrote that McCaskill is welcome to return to her job but doing so will require "that she and the University community work together to respond to the concerns that have been raised."

Ahhh, the taking of offence - the new sport!

McCaskill, 54, was the first deaf African American woman to earn a doctorate at Gallaudet, a university for the deaf and hard of hearing in the District of Columbia. She has worked at Gallaudet for more than 24 years and was named top diversity official last year.

And how did she go about her task?

McCaskill said she rearranged her budget to find money to open a resource center on campus for sexual minorities, hired an openly transgender employee and hosted many events centered around discussing lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender issues.

And…how much of any of that did you put to a vote?

I mean, since you are so keen on it, surely you must have done..?

This summer, McCaskill and her husband attended Reid Temple AME church and heard a sermon about "different types of marriage," then signed the petition there, Gordon said. That petition was obtained and made public by the Washington Blade. A faculty member saw McCaskill's name on the petition and confronted her in early October, Gordon said. McCaskill confirmed that she had signed the petition, alerted the Gallaudet president that it could become an issue and offered to organize a panel discussion to address the topic, Gordon said.

The next day, the faculty member and her partner filed a formal complaint with the president, he said. Gordon said that McCaskill was asked to issue an apology and that she declined to do so. Days later, McCaskill was notified by e-mail that she would be placed on paid leave and that an interim chief diversity officer would take over, Gordon said.

The action was announced publicly Oct. 10.

And McCaskill is shocked, shocked, to find that the tactics she has no doubt encouraged and used can be turned on her, just as easily...

"I was shocked, hurt, insulted. I was humiliated," McCaskill said at the news conference, with the assistance of an interpreter.

"I am dismayed that Gallaudet University is still a university of intolerance, a university that manages by intimidation, a university that allows bullying among faculty, staff and students."

Gosh. I can't really feel anything other than schadenfreude and a feeling that what goes around, come around...

Oh, A Terrible Dilemma!

On the one hand, I can’t stand the culture of ‘taking offence’.

But on the other hand, I can’t think of someone who had it coming more than Cllr David Stephenson:

He said he made the comment because he saw the women smoking outside a council office, and he is very anti-smoking.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…

*pauses for breath*

…hahahahahahahahahahahaha!

It couldn’t happen to a more appropriate person, could it? Someone who has bought into the ‘unperson’ meme for smokers and thinks it’s open season on them, where anything goes, as a result now finds himself in trouble because the fickle public’s attention has shifted and slain police officers are being beatified.

Just beautiful!

So, what was the remark? Well, despite the councillor’s rather bizarre ‘reason’, it had so little to do with smoking that I suspect a better reason for removing him would be because he’s lost what few marbles he ever possessed:

Councillor David Stephenson made a joke about PCs Fiona Bone and Nicola Hughes, who died last week in a gun and grenade attack.

He made the comment in front of the wife of a serving police sergeant, who was upset by what he said and told her husband.

Her husband, who lives in Ilkeston and serves with Nottinghamshire police, said Mr Stephenson said: "If you get 100 points for shooting one policewoman and 200 points for shooting two policewomen, how many do you get for shooting a lawyer?"

And in attempting to explain it away, he merely dug himself in deeper:

He said: "It was a tasteless comment or sick joke that someone makes off the cuff, for which I apologise.

"I have always been an enthusiast for banning what I term 'short weapons' which includes pistols and sawn-off shotguns.

They’ve been banned. Do keep up!

"I am totally against the use of guns in any shape or form and no-one should have been exposed to them in the way that those two lady police officers were."

So, you’ve just offended all the farmers and sport shooters and proven yourself to be a completely out of touch cartoon-version of a 'typical' old duffer Tory councillor. Well done!

But well done to Chris Corbett, for taking the sort of decisive action we could only wish for from Call Me Dave:

The officer contacted Derbyshire police federation, MP Jessica Lee and Erewash Borough Council leader Chris Corbett to complain about Mr Stephenson's remarks.

Mr Corbett said: "I was appalled to learn of the words used by Councillor Stephenson to a lady who, unbeknown to him, was the wife of a serving police officer.

"I have taken immediate and severe action by removing him from his post as a lead member of the council and he will no longer serve on the council executive to take effect immediately.

"It is not possible to remove him as a borough councillor as he has been elected to that position by residents in his constituency. However, his name has been removed from the list of approved Conservative candidates and he will not be allowed to stand for re-election (for the party)."

Quite unlike the dithering of Call-Me-Dave and subsequent revelations over the Chief Whip, eh?

H/T: Insp Gadget via Twitter

Oooh, Enjoy The Schadenfreude!

A gipsy thrown off a campsite after her son threatened other travellers with a gun suffered a breach of her human rights, European judges ruled yesterday.

Maria Buckland and her family were evicted after being accused of causing a ‘very substantial nuisance’ and presenting ‘a risk of disturbance and violence’.

Despite a series of appeals being rejected by Britain’s highest courts, judges in Strasbourg yesterday ruled the eviction was an ‘extreme’ interference with the 53-year-old’s human rights.

*sigh*

They also ruled she should receive £3,400 to compensate her for ‘feelings of frustration and injustice’.

The judgment by the European Court of Human Rights could now pave the way for other traveller families to use human rights grounds to fight eviction orders.

Boo! Hiss! Evil interfering ECHR again! Which hapless council is stuck for the legal fees this ti..

Oh. Hang on…

The Buckland family first moved to the Cae Garw caravan park in Port Talbot, South Wales, in 1999.

Six years later the Gipsy Council – the traveller-run organisation which operated the local authority-owned site – obtained a possession order claiming Mrs Buckland and five others were causing trouble.

Ahahahahahahahahahahahahaha….

*pauses for breath*

…hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

In November 2007, three Appeal Court judges headed by Lord Justice Dyson upheld a possession order against Mrs Buckland, saying that she had a ‘generally disruptive family’ with a ‘culture of disrespect’ who ‘presented a risk of disturbance and violence’.

It’s hard to see quite how she didn’t fit right in, isn’t it?

The European judges admitted that, during another appeal, a Swansea county court judge ‘was satisfied that her son, who resided part of the time with her, had been involved in an incident in which he threatened someone with a gun, although it was not clear whether the gun had been real or an imitation; and had dumped garden refuse’.

However they claimed that the only wrong committed by Mrs Buckland herself was the failure to pay a £95 water bill.

They ruled that British judges had been wrong to claim the eviction order was beyond challenge, ruling it should have been considered in the light of Article Eight of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees respect for a person’s home, private and family life.

Even where that impacts negatively on others’ rights. How’d you like them apples, Gypsy Council? Are you starting to get a glimmer of how other people might view all your victories?

In total Mrs Buckland - who left the site in May 2008 to live on land owned by her brother, which had no planning permission for residential use – was awarded nearly £7,000 in damages and legal costs.

Let’s hope they are being awarded against the Gypsy Council, and not against the British taxpayer.

Because Ma Buckland’s already drunk deeply from that trough…

Mrs Buckland’s case is thought to have cost taxpayers around £80,000 in legal aid and local authority fees on its way through the British court. Legal aid is not paid by the taxpayer to support cases in Strasbourg.

So where’d she get the money for that from? Should HMRC be sniffing around?

Pity Poor Ms Felgate…

…how she suffered for her ‘art’:

She had released the 8,000 environmentally friendly plastic birds at Fulsam Rock in Margate, Kent, after being commissioned by the Tate Gallery as part of its Turbine Generation Project.

However, officials at Thanet Council couldn't see their artistic value and ordered her to pick them up before they were washed away with the tide.

Oh dear… *stifles giggles*

Bystander Simon Dorman, 41, said: 'The artist and her pals had to clamber about, picking all 8,000 ducks out of the sea, which took a little bit of time.'

Bawahahahahaha!

Mind you, she really should have expected it:

Originally there were plans to release the ducks on the Thames from the South Bank near to the Tate Modern. But those plans were abandoned over safety and pollution fears.

So they just took themselves out of London to go and dump these things on some ghastly provincial coastal town, because, dahling, these country yokels won’t care…

Well, wrong!

What is this art exhibition about, anyway?

Miss Felgate's work, entitled Nature Nurture, was inspired by the story of a shipment of 28,000 ducks being lost in the Pacific Ocean in 1992 and was for an exhibition at the Tate next month.

That's art, now? Recreating an accident?

Be Honest, Who Wasn't A Little Bit Pleased...

...that for once, it was one of them?

She added: ‘He’s quite phlegmatic about it. He’s fine, although a bit nonplussed to be robbed outside the Mansion House, of all places.

It’s quite shocking.

‘He was wearing his full regalia, tights and everything.

‘Some of the most senior bods in the City of London police are looking into it.’

Really? How nice. I doubt he'd get more than a crime number if he was Joe Bloggs...

There Goes The Neighbourhood, Eh?

A new police station in Accrington could be built on land next to a proposed £4million mosque.

How….handy… *snigger*

Central ward Coun Allah Dad said: “This land was reserved for a mosque. The committee and the community still want it there and there is a demand and a need for it.

“It was promised in 2009, the funding is there, but there have been delays. I think this is down to a lack of communication and a change in council control.

“We are waiting for an agreement to be put in place and I’m going to try and make sure it happens. ”

And you’ll be just delighted by the presence of a police station right next door, won’t you?

“We have only just found about the possible plans for a police station. People don’t want it there and we will campaign strongly against this. We are not against a police station, just the location. This land is reserved for the mosque.”

Terrible, isn’t it, when ‘undesirables’ move in and think they own the place, start throwing their weight around and making demands?

*schadenfreude levels….RISING*

Oh, The Well Of Sympathy Has Run Dry. Again.

A prisoner who tried to smuggle crack cocaine worth £2million into Britain has complained about the “disgraceful” wages he receives at a prison in Sussex.

I think it’s disgraceful, too. I think it’s disgraceful he gets given any money at all!

Vincent Holyoake, previously of De Cham Road, St Leonards, is currently eight years into a 17-year sentence.

He is serving his sentence at Ford Prison near Arundel – where he said the wages he gets for working are lower than at most other prisons.

He said this makes it is (sic) impossible for him to visit his family on the train during days outside of prison or for “overnight release”.

Oh, boo hoo!

In a letter published in this month’s Inside Time magazine – for people serving sentences – Holyoake said: …here at Ford, a category D prison, the average weekly wage is £9.50.

“From that wage £1 per week is taken for the television which I have been paying for the past seven years, which leaves £8.50 per week out of which I have to maintain contact with family and friends on an overpriced phone system and make minimal purchases from an increasingly overpriced canteen.”

Welcome to the club, chum. Times are hard, inflation’s up, and we’re all paying through the nose for services.

The Ministry of Justice yesterday declined to comment.

Nobody from Ford Prison was available for comment.

Too busy laughing, probably.

Lawyers: They Just Can’t Stop Making Excuses For People!

A lawyer told how he was "horrified" to find squatters had moved into his half-finished £4million home.

Hah! Well, since it’s now happened to a lawyer, can we expect less sympathy, and more harsh action?

Oh, and they aren’t just stealing his property, they’re changing it beyond all recognition!

Bags of rubbish, bricks and other debris are strewn in the front garden of the property, which has been undergoing building work for the past year, while the squatters are said to have made some drastic changes inside.

Mr Lal, 38, a partner in a law firm, said today: "It is horrifying that this can happen. I've only seen the house from the outside but they've certainly made changes. I think they've plumbed in a kitchen and bathroom."

You’d expect him to be furious, but it seems, no, understanding is what’s required:

"What seems to have happened is a misunderstanding," said Mr Lal. "These squatters thought the property was abandoned, but actually it's a building site that's going to be turned into a high-spec residential property.

"Highgate is an expensive area and that house is worth a fortune. These people thought somebody had just left it like that but we were waiting on planning permission."

They are thieves. You aren’t at work now. STOP MAKING EXCUSES FOR THEM!

A notice pinned to the front window, apparently by the squatters, states that anyone attempting to enter the building will face legal action. It reads: "We live in this property, it is our home and we intend to stay here."

It’s not your home. Only in this country, with this situation, can a thief be so goddamn brazen about their thievery!

One Polish occupant, 24, who did not want to give her name, said high London rents left her no option but to live there. "We always try to find buildings which are empty and abandoned," she said. "There are so many empty buildings which are just not in use and no one living in them. Why? It is a big waste."

Well, I’m not driving my car on weekdays, since I use public transport, would you like that too, you freeloading bitch?

"My friend is a single mum and she was waiting for a very long time to get a council flat. She was living in a squat because she couldn't make money and afford to pay rent. Squatting is a kind of solution.

"Squatting for me is not forever, it is something I do for the moment. As long as I don't hurt somebody else's feelings it is okay."

What utter self-absorption! What shameless admittance that the law is there for others to obey, but not her, unless she feels like it!

Much grist for MacHeath’s mill here, I suspect…

But then, with useful idiots like Mr Lal cringing before these scofflaws, what else can you expect?

Mr Lal said planning approval has now been given and building work will resume on Monday. He explained he had struck a deal with the group.

"The squatters have agreed to vacate before the building work starts and if they're true to their word, they should leave," he said.

Newsflash, Mr Lal. They are criminals. Their word means about as much as yours, though you probably charge more….

Schadenfreude Overload!

A six-year-old boy was knocked down by Southend Council's CCTV car in the shared space on the seafront.

Ahahahahahahahahaha! Who knew this could happen?

Southend Council has said it is looking into the circumstances of the collision and will make a full statement later.

I bet it doesn’t amount to ‘Ooops!’…

Oh, Hey, Wait A Minute! Not Me!

My, those chickens are coming to roost pretty fast now. And in numbers:

A black councillor is facing allegations of racial discrimination and aggression over comments he allegedly made about white people.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Lewisham Council’s standards hearing sub-committee will meet on June 16 to discuss the complaint against News Cross Councillor Stephen Padmore.

He is alleged to have broken the council’s code of conduct at a New Cross Assembly meeting he chaired last October.

During a discussion over whether crime should be a priority issue for the assembly, Cllr Padmore is accused of saying he was dismayed that white people had voted against the proposals.

He is then accused of acting in an aggressive manner.

Who expected him to ever fall foul of this legislation?

The sub-committee report concludes the councillor did not breach equality rules but did fail to treat others with respect.

Pretty sure you could get a lot of councillors on that charge, whether black, white or purple-spotted…

It Really, Really Would Take A Heart Of Stone....

...not to feel a tiny, tiny shred of satisfaction at the dawning realisation that seems to be finally sinking in:

Henry said: ‘No one could understand why it got as far as it got. We thought, the injury’s so insignificant – what’s the public interest?

‘When Mum swore, she was muttering under her breath – it was despair. At that moment, she believed everything she had done for her country, for her family, had been wasted after 36 years of working in the legal system.’

I'll reserve my thoughts on how wise I consider it to be to have your family attempt to act as a shield, and in the 'Daily Mail' no less.

But it seems as though the awful realisation that the tool you hold in your hand can be turned against you is starting to become apparent.

Riding That Tiger...

...it's all fun until someone falls off, and the mauling starts.

Now, there's not a lot to say about this case that MummyLonglegs hasn't already said, but the sheer bloody cheek of this one sentence alone deserves even greater emphasis:

‘I’ve always been proud to be British but I feel that something has gone very wrong in this country when political correctness comes ahead of basic common sense.’

It's the Britain you and your ilk in the left-wing progressive movement created. It's a wee bit late to turn around and say 'What? Me? No, no, it's not supposed to be me...!'

‘I was proud to be a member of the council because I wanted to be a role model to young people from minority backgrounds,’ she says.

You were, love. That's just the problem, though; you were a role model for how chippiness, grudge-holding and waving your supposed trump card in Victimhood Poker was the way to win.

And you relished it right up until the time someone else laid down their own hand and said 'That beats yours, doesn't it?'