Regarding cheque payments and their forthcoming demise - which is a serious problem for local councils and charities whose articles of association dictate they must have two signatures for every payment.
The law will be changed and until it is they say it is down to individual councils to find ways of dealing with the situation.
I suggest that a payment card or credit card may be used providing the clerk has a numbered form, signed by two as now, filled in approving a payment, either with the exact amount or a No More Than specified for each usage. These forms would be filed as legal documents in the same way as cheque stubs are now, but with the serial number of the form listed in place of the cheque number as we do now. Reconciliation of payments would be made in the same way as current account reconciliations are now. These Electronic Payment Approval Forms (EPAFs) may be the system for the future of parish councils and charities. It is possible we need to design a form and pay attention to possibilities of fraudulent usage, though I see little opportunity for that happening. It also needs to have a name that gives us a catchier acronym.
Preventing a fictitious rogue clerk or charity tearsurer somewhere in the future taking advantage of any payment system needs to be tested.
Monday, 30 November 2009
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Star Wars revelation
On Star Wars movies there are floors on different levels, mezzanines all over the place, but no railings or bannisters to prevent anyone inadvertantly stepping over the edge.This implies all the Elf n Safety people have been rounded up and thrown into a very deep burning pit, maybe to have their entrails fed to giant mechanised camels. But who did that? Was it the Jedi Knights (good guys) or the followers of the Dark Side (baddies)?
I contend that the Elf n Safety proletariat had exceeded acceptable standards and interfered so much in people's lives and comon sense risk apprehension that the good guys were summoned to do this as an act of liberation.
I contend that the Elf n Safety proletariat had exceeded acceptable standards and interfered so much in people's lives and comon sense risk apprehension that the good guys were summoned to do this as an act of liberation.
Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Iraq war inquiry
I feel the whole topic of the Iraq war is very very distressing. I said at the time it was wrong to go to war with no exit strategy, with no plans for the welfare of the population we were to invade and take over the governance of, and with our armed forces equipped for Northern European operations only. To my mind this was illegal in itself. It was tantamount to the attenpted murder of our people in uniform. And sending them to a war we had no gain from, on a lie, saying it was not for regime change when it clearly was, and always has been. Blair even claiomed success in achieving regime change as justification for going to war in the first place so he did acknowledge that had been his objective - an objective outlawed by the United Nations on whose paperwork they used to send our forces in.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
That letter and the PM’s eye.
That letter and the PM’s eye.
OK, look at it this way. The PM has ordered a generation into a war that carries no chance of victory, knowing if they come back they will see there are no jobs for the young generation he under-equips them so more get killed or maimed. But before bedtime he is told he must write letters to loved ones of all who died that day as a result of orders he gave. He threw the printer out of the room in a fit of temper and is now banned from access to printers, and keyboards, and pointy things like pens and pencils - all he has to do the job with is felt tipped pens and some headed writing paper. So he rushes off a few and leaves the room for others to do the folding and the posting. Knowing how violently explosive he has become they would not dare suggest maybe he has done it not well enough.
Then he finds the letter is doing his reputation no good at all and phones the recipient to keep her quiet, make her sorry she sent it to the press. She records it and quick as blinking the words are all over the Internet, would have been all over TV and radio if his organisation had not managed to frighten broadcasters into not broadcasting his voice on the tape.
What will he do next? What can he do?
There is his monthly press briefing coming up that same week, his one next chance to get away with having blotted his copybook, so to speak. His eyesight is poor, and like many others he has been attending the eye clinic and using the drops they tell us to use. The solution in that eye medicine is not exactly the same Ph as that of the eye so when we apply the drops it makes a stinging sensation that soon passes, but generates eye watering for a few minutes. With a flash of inspiration he puts the eye drops into that one good eye he has been told to apply it to, steps through the curtain into the public gaze with one eye still glistening. Right across the nation people with nothing better to do see him of their screens with one weeping eye. His reputation goes up. He is safe for another day – but the young people in the services are not, and the young people queuing in abject futility for every job vacancy are growing depressed and angry.
Keep using the eye drops, Gordon; you must know the side effects will give you cataracts and an excuse for leaving that job without crawling away in ignominy!
What you or I would have done is this. Having been informed that a young man, someone’s son or husband, has died as a result of following orders you initiated you know you have a duty to write to those who are grieving to let them know you are sorry for what happened. That you are sorry the consequences of your decisions led to the death of another highly trained and committed young man. You take a walk and sort out in your mind how to say what you have to say, figure out what would be the best choice of words, and think through the effect that wording will have on the recipient. Then you sit down at the desk and take up the selected writing implement. You look at the blank piece of paper, a lump developing in the throat and hand shaking, you know this had better be done right, no mistakes will be forgiven in a letter craving forgiveness. Getting the line straight you start moving the pen on the paper, so hesitantly that blots soon appear and that sheet of paper is crumpled up and dropped into the bin. On a piece of notepaper you scribble out the text, edit it and amend it and then you start again with the best ink pen on best paper, painstakingly forming every word in line and properly spaced, properly spelled. When it is done you hold it up and imagine yourself as the bereaved recipient, asking yourself if this good enough. If you decide not you do it all again. Then you have it checked over by one of the many secretaries ranked throughout the building. Only then would you fold it into the addressed envelope and place it carefully in the post out box on the sideboard by the door and get on with ending the day.
OK, look at it this way. The PM has ordered a generation into a war that carries no chance of victory, knowing if they come back they will see there are no jobs for the young generation he under-equips them so more get killed or maimed. But before bedtime he is told he must write letters to loved ones of all who died that day as a result of orders he gave. He threw the printer out of the room in a fit of temper and is now banned from access to printers, and keyboards, and pointy things like pens and pencils - all he has to do the job with is felt tipped pens and some headed writing paper. So he rushes off a few and leaves the room for others to do the folding and the posting. Knowing how violently explosive he has become they would not dare suggest maybe he has done it not well enough.
Then he finds the letter is doing his reputation no good at all and phones the recipient to keep her quiet, make her sorry she sent it to the press. She records it and quick as blinking the words are all over the Internet, would have been all over TV and radio if his organisation had not managed to frighten broadcasters into not broadcasting his voice on the tape.
What will he do next? What can he do?
There is his monthly press briefing coming up that same week, his one next chance to get away with having blotted his copybook, so to speak. His eyesight is poor, and like many others he has been attending the eye clinic and using the drops they tell us to use. The solution in that eye medicine is not exactly the same Ph as that of the eye so when we apply the drops it makes a stinging sensation that soon passes, but generates eye watering for a few minutes. With a flash of inspiration he puts the eye drops into that one good eye he has been told to apply it to, steps through the curtain into the public gaze with one eye still glistening. Right across the nation people with nothing better to do see him of their screens with one weeping eye. His reputation goes up. He is safe for another day – but the young people in the services are not, and the young people queuing in abject futility for every job vacancy are growing depressed and angry.
Keep using the eye drops, Gordon; you must know the side effects will give you cataracts and an excuse for leaving that job without crawling away in ignominy!
What you or I would have done is this. Having been informed that a young man, someone’s son or husband, has died as a result of following orders you initiated you know you have a duty to write to those who are grieving to let them know you are sorry for what happened. That you are sorry the consequences of your decisions led to the death of another highly trained and committed young man. You take a walk and sort out in your mind how to say what you have to say, figure out what would be the best choice of words, and think through the effect that wording will have on the recipient. Then you sit down at the desk and take up the selected writing implement. You look at the blank piece of paper, a lump developing in the throat and hand shaking, you know this had better be done right, no mistakes will be forgiven in a letter craving forgiveness. Getting the line straight you start moving the pen on the paper, so hesitantly that blots soon appear and that sheet of paper is crumpled up and dropped into the bin. On a piece of notepaper you scribble out the text, edit it and amend it and then you start again with the best ink pen on best paper, painstakingly forming every word in line and properly spaced, properly spelled. When it is done you hold it up and imagine yourself as the bereaved recipient, asking yourself if this good enough. If you decide not you do it all again. Then you have it checked over by one of the many secretaries ranked throughout the building. Only then would you fold it into the addressed envelope and place it carefully in the post out box on the sideboard by the door and get on with ending the day.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Taxing risk takers out of the markets.
If this government goes ahead with confiscating the rewards of risk taking in financial transactions I will take all my money off the stock market immediately and leave it off until they see sense. I already pay stamp duty every time I buy shares. Government tax revneues depended on the City making money but government took away the regulating mechanism that worked and then abolished our own Glass Spiegal rules - thus killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
No extra taxes or we risk takers and investors go on strike.
No extra taxes or we risk takers and investors go on strike.
Friday, 30 October 2009
I copy and paste this article that I am told was published in the Guardian, 26 Oct 2009, because I cannot click it up now and assume it has been removed from their site. But the assertions here are important for the future of my country so it is important enough for this repeat publishing.
Subject: Ukip threat to David Cameron's election majority
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/25/ukip-cameron-election- threat
Ukip threat to David Cameron's election majority. Tories could lose out in 50 marginals over Lisbon referendum pledge * Gaby Hinsliff, political editor, and Henry McDonald * The Observer, Sunday 25 October 2009
David Cameron could be denied up to 50 MPs at the next election because of the United Kingdom Independence party (Ukip) splitting the Conservative vote, Labour party analysis suggests.
Ukip plans to try to divide the party by standing in marginal seats against Tory candidates who fail to back a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in all circumstances. Cameron refuses to say whether he would offer a referendum if the treaty were ratified, insisting merely that he "will not let the matter rest".
A private analysis by Labour strategists suggests that in marginal constituencies, even a few hundred extra votes for Ukip could frustrate Tory challengers trying to take the seats. One cabinet minister cited Ukip as among the most important factors in the battle for a hung parliament, telling the Observer it could "cost the Tories 50 to 60 seats".
Labour's figures are based on 100 "supermarginal" seats where its Mps are holding on with majorities of less than 2,000. These are the seats Cameron must win to form a majority. While Ukip will not win these seats, the minister said that if the party maintained its momentum and took about two-thirds of its support from Conservative-inclined rather than Labour-inclined voters, it could split the opposition vote sufficiently to keep the Tories out in around 50 seats.
Depending on Gordon Brown's ability to close the poll gap, the Ukip effect may not be enough to keep him in power, but ministers believe it could deliver a coalition or a small Tory majority.
The fringe party is struggling financially after a court ruling that it must return a donation ruled inadmissible by the Electoral Commission, threatening its ability to fight a general election. However, it has survived similar crises before to increase its share of
the vote in this year's European elections.
The right-wing thinktank the Bruges Group, which calculates that Ukip cost the Tories about 27 seats at the last election, said it had the potential to create more serious problems this time. Robin Oulds, director of the group, said the large Conservative poll lead disguised the fact that much of its support was still in south-east England, while Ukip's was far smaller but more evenly spread.
Nigel Farage, Ukip's leading spokesman, said he was drawing up plans to focus on key marginals. He said he was "looking to" the possibility of Tory candidates breaking ranks and endorsing a referendum in all circumstances.
John Curtice, professor of government at Strathclyde University, said Ukip could pose problems for the Tories on "party indiscipline", with candidates tempted to defy their leader over Lisbon. The threat from Ukip helps to explain why Cameron has hardened the party line on Europe, despite the concerns of some senior Tories about their allies in the European parliament. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, insisted yesterday that Ukip would not be allowed to bounce his party.
He said: "We won't be deciding on this policy [Europe] based on the activities of what is a fringe party. We'll decide on what is best for the country and what we really believe in. The real choice is between the failed government of Gordon Brown and a new government under David Cameron."
Subject: Ukip threat to David Cameron's election majority
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/25/ukip-cameron-election- threat
Ukip threat to David Cameron's election majority. Tories could lose out in 50 marginals over Lisbon referendum pledge * Gaby Hinsliff, political editor, and Henry McDonald * The Observer, Sunday 25 October 2009
David Cameron could be denied up to 50 MPs at the next election because of the United Kingdom Independence party (Ukip) splitting the Conservative vote, Labour party analysis suggests.
Ukip plans to try to divide the party by standing in marginal seats against Tory candidates who fail to back a referendum on the Lisbon treaty in all circumstances. Cameron refuses to say whether he would offer a referendum if the treaty were ratified, insisting merely that he "will not let the matter rest".
A private analysis by Labour strategists suggests that in marginal constituencies, even a few hundred extra votes for Ukip could frustrate Tory challengers trying to take the seats. One cabinet minister cited Ukip as among the most important factors in the battle for a hung parliament, telling the Observer it could "cost the Tories 50 to 60 seats".
Labour's figures are based on 100 "supermarginal" seats where its Mps are holding on with majorities of less than 2,000. These are the seats Cameron must win to form a majority. While Ukip will not win these seats, the minister said that if the party maintained its momentum and took about two-thirds of its support from Conservative-inclined rather than Labour-inclined voters, it could split the opposition vote sufficiently to keep the Tories out in around 50 seats.
Depending on Gordon Brown's ability to close the poll gap, the Ukip effect may not be enough to keep him in power, but ministers believe it could deliver a coalition or a small Tory majority.
The fringe party is struggling financially after a court ruling that it must return a donation ruled inadmissible by the Electoral Commission, threatening its ability to fight a general election. However, it has survived similar crises before to increase its share of
the vote in this year's European elections.
The right-wing thinktank the Bruges Group, which calculates that Ukip cost the Tories about 27 seats at the last election, said it had the potential to create more serious problems this time. Robin Oulds, director of the group, said the large Conservative poll lead disguised the fact that much of its support was still in south-east England, while Ukip's was far smaller but more evenly spread.
Nigel Farage, Ukip's leading spokesman, said he was drawing up plans to focus on key marginals. He said he was "looking to" the possibility of Tory candidates breaking ranks and endorsing a referendum in all circumstances.
John Curtice, professor of government at Strathclyde University, said Ukip could pose problems for the Tories on "party indiscipline", with candidates tempted to defy their leader over Lisbon. The threat from Ukip helps to explain why Cameron has hardened the party line on Europe, despite the concerns of some senior Tories about their allies in the European parliament. William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, insisted yesterday that Ukip would not be allowed to bounce his party.
He said: "We won't be deciding on this policy [Europe] based on the activities of what is a fringe party. We'll decide on what is best for the country and what we really believe in. The real choice is between the failed government of Gordon Brown and a new government under David Cameron."
Tuesday, 27 October 2009
I am fed up of being mugged!
I almost got mugged again yesterday! In Reading. The usual team of three nonchalantly wandering down a wide pavement, spread out as if just wandering aimlessly, near the disabled parking zone. I was standing next to my car smoking a cigarette when one darted towards the handbag hanging on my shoulder. I swung round as you do, pulled the bag under my arm and watched as he nodded to me that he had missed that time and crossed the road. Why do the police not target those people who target disabled people? You would think a team of plain clothed PCs could set up a way of catching them red handed just by parking an old car with a blue badge and have a lady with walking stick get out and look a bit vulnerable as if she could not run after a snatched bag.
Muggers usually work in a team of three, one to keep watch, one to mark and one to do the thieving, and I assume they work together to get what they want from a bag and then dispose of it and use the proceeds. Police would need a team of four to round them up, with an old car and a blue badge.
I am fed up of being mugged!
Muggers usually work in a team of three, one to keep watch, one to mark and one to do the thieving, and I assume they work together to get what they want from a bag and then dispose of it and use the proceeds. Police would need a team of four to round them up, with an old car and a blue badge.
I am fed up of being mugged!
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