What do you think?
Single Parents Receive £2000 per month on Benefits.
A recent report by the Revenue and customs shows that a single mother working 16 hours a week, after tax credits, gains a total income of £487 a week, while a two-parent family on the minimum wage has to work 116 hours for the same income. (In case your wondering, that's about £2000 a month)
How tax credits 'cheat' working families
Sight Saving Drugs Too Expensive.
A draft decision not to make drugs for a leading cause of blindness widely available on the NHS will cost many people their sight, campaigners say. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) assessed treatments for age-related macular degeneration (AMD).
Its preliminary ruling is for a total block on one drug, Macugen, and tight restrictions on a second, Lucentis.
Andrew Dillon, NICE chief executive, said: "When treatments are very expensive, we have to use them where they give most benefit to patients. Macugen costs about £10,000 a year, and Lucentis about £12,000.
Anger over blindness drugs ruling
'I love my new C cup breasts'
Unemployed Lucy Wingate feels she has a shape she is happy with following her recent breast enhancement operation. Last week the 26-year-old single mother of two had a breast enhancement, thanks to a new service - mybreast.org - which makes the UK's top plastic surgeons available at prices women like unemployed Lucy can afford. For the small fee of just £4250, the unemployed single mother is elated as before the operation she wouldn't even wear halter neck tops. "It will be wonderful to have so many options to wear now", she said.
I just want to fill a bra.
Sunday, 17 June 2007
Religious Education lessons must cover terrorism!
"Schoolchildren must be taught more about the complexities of religion and its role in a modern world under the threat of terrorism, the school standards watchdog has urged.
Pupils should be taught religion is not always a force for good and helped to have a more sophisticated understanding of the subject, according to a report by Ofsted.
The report says: "The curriculum and teaching in RE do not place sufficient emphasis on exploring the changing political and social significance of religion in the modern world. As a result, the subject's potential to contribute to community cohesion, education for diversity and citizenship, is not being fully realised."
Terrorism in the name of religion? Diversity and community cohesion, citizenship? Changing political and social significance of religion?
Finally it seems that the educational establishment is prepared to throw caution to the wind and allow our children to be taught about the real evils in the world. At last they are prepared to allow children to see where the real threat comes from.
After all, neither the Church of England or the Catholic Church issues death threats when people upset them, they don't start riots around the world when someone "offends" them, they don't threaten and kill people who decide to no longer be part of their religion, they don't seek to undermine democratic rule in favour of religious dictatorship ...... the revised curriculum will be pointing this out, won't it!
Pupils should be taught religion is not always a force for good and helped to have a more sophisticated understanding of the subject, according to a report by Ofsted.
The report says: "The curriculum and teaching in RE do not place sufficient emphasis on exploring the changing political and social significance of religion in the modern world. As a result, the subject's potential to contribute to community cohesion, education for diversity and citizenship, is not being fully realised."
Terrorism in the name of religion? Diversity and community cohesion, citizenship? Changing political and social significance of religion?
Finally it seems that the educational establishment is prepared to throw caution to the wind and allow our children to be taught about the real evils in the world. At last they are prepared to allow children to see where the real threat comes from.
After all, neither the Church of England or the Catholic Church issues death threats when people upset them, they don't start riots around the world when someone "offends" them, they don't threaten and kill people who decide to no longer be part of their religion, they don't seek to undermine democratic rule in favour of religious dictatorship ...... the revised curriculum will be pointing this out, won't it!
Saturday, 16 June 2007
Spending our way out of trouble.
In case there is any remaining doubt as to what sort of Prime Minister Gordon Brown will make, one needs look no further than his attitude towards the current situation in the Gaza strip.The headline says it all:
"Chancellor Gordon Brown has promised to set out an "economic road map" to build peace in the Middle East."
Speaking at the last of 10 official hustings before taking over as leader of the Labour Party, he promised more money for the Palestinian Territories.
"I believe that investment and tackling poverty does provide a major way forward."
Mr Brown highlighted the fact that, while average income in Israel was $20,000 (£10,144) a head, in Gaza it was $800 (£405).
He said that the Palestinian Territories were suffering from 50% unemployment and 70% poverty.
To view the current and ongoing conflict in the Middle East as resulting from economic inequities is something I had not really considered, and if Mr Brown thinks that it can be solved by pouring even more of our money into the conflict, I say good luck to him.
Whilst our country, and indeed most of Western civilisation, is controlled by such self serving corrupt money grabbers, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised that they believe everybody is the same as they are. Perhaps shipping over boat loads of money to the people of Gaza will work. Maybe by raising their average income to that of the Israelis all the troubles will melt away.
Sadly, I suspect that the ongoing conflict has less to do with money than it has to do with hatred. Generations have grown up being taught to hate from cradle to grave. Hate the Jews, hate Israel, hate America, hate the west, even hate your next door neighbour if he has different views. Or religion, you know, the one that only accepts itself and doesn't recognise any other. The one that the BBC dare not mention.
That is the problem, one that is growing across the world as a certain group of people extend and export their vision of hatred to all the corners of the world, and it is one that has very little to do with economics and poverty.
Sadly it is this failure of Gordon Brown and his fellow worshippers to recognise and face up to the real problem which is likely to soon lead to some of the darkest days in this worlds history.
Whilst it is said that One cannot serve both God and Mammon, Gordon Brown appears to be hoping that the residents of Gaza and the Palestinian territories prove to be the exception.
Small Nuclear War Would Devastate Global Climate, Scientists Warn
With events "hotting up" in the Middle East on many fronts, I was reminded about an article I read in the National Geographic at the end of last year.Until recently, studies had only looked at the effects of an all out war between superpowers, rather than a small scale nuclear exchange, the like of which appears more and more likely in the future.
"In an exchange in which each side uses only 50 Hiroshima-size bombs—just 0.3 percent of the world's arsenal—the initial explosions could kill more than 20 million people, the scientists calculate."
"But more far-reaching would be the resulting fires, which would fill the upper atmosphere with soot—destroying the Earth's ozone layer, blocking sunlight, and reducing average global temperatures by 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.25 degrees Celsius), said co-author Alan Robock of Rutgers University in New Jersey."
The European Union has stated that the single greatest problem facing mankind in 5,000 years of civilization is not terrorism, but global warming, and to this end have declared that there be a reduction in "greenhouse gases" to ensure that global warming does not exceed 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit).
That it is this same European Union, ably supported by the United Nations, that is spectacularly failing to tackle the growing threat of nuclear terrorism in the Middle East, one hopes that they do not truly believe their own rhetoric.
Not withstanding the humanitarian tragedy that nuclear conflict would bring, they surely don't think that it is worth preventing global warming at any cost? Do they?
Back with a bang
Well, what can I say, other than welcome to our new Blog?
This is our second Blog, the first site didn't quite work out how we had hoped.
The problem we found with commenting on current affairs, politics and so forth is that once started, we realised that we were not altogether firm in our views. This led to one of two inconsistencies which (although I am sure were not really noticeable to others) rather grated on us.
So, after a few months in which to get a much clearer understanding of our position on the events unfolding in our once glorious country, and around the world, we are back.
That is the beauty of the Internet, so many blogs, so much information available: give it a few days and people have forgotten about you already!
Anyway, although we will be posting two or three times a week, it will take some time before we are happy with the layout, so please excuse the changes that may occur between each visit. I am sure it will settle down fairly quickly.
This is our second Blog, the first site didn't quite work out how we had hoped.
The problem we found with commenting on current affairs, politics and so forth is that once started, we realised that we were not altogether firm in our views. This led to one of two inconsistencies which (although I am sure were not really noticeable to others) rather grated on us.
So, after a few months in which to get a much clearer understanding of our position on the events unfolding in our once glorious country, and around the world, we are back.
That is the beauty of the Internet, so many blogs, so much information available: give it a few days and people have forgotten about you already!
Anyway, although we will be posting two or three times a week, it will take some time before we are happy with the layout, so please excuse the changes that may occur between each visit. I am sure it will settle down fairly quickly.
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