25 per cent of Americans can't be wrong - can they?
You
may be surprised to hear that according to a
telephone poll conducted by Associated Press-AOL News
in the States, 25 per cent of Americans - yes one in
four - believe that 2007 will see the second coming
of Jesus Christ.
There again you may not be!
I bet Elvis is worried!
Happy New Year!
There again you may not be!
I bet Elvis is worried!
Happy New Year!
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Xmas is over.....
Easy..... there have been fights in Tesco over bread, the telly has been crap, the streets are covered in litter and sick, the 'soaps' have all been more depressing than usual (as if that is possible), the ad breaks are full of cheap sofa offers and we are being persuaded to subscribe to 'World of Knitting' magazine - yet again!! All this, and the cheap holiday ads are yet to come!!
So what does this say about the great UK population? Well, in short not a lot!
People have been fighting to take advantage of the excessive amount of time they have been given off work by increasing their overdrafts and/or credit card bills and queuing outside shopping centres in the middle of the night to grab that special bargain that they probably never even knew they wanted - let alone can afford!
Mental Health Professionals report this as their busiest time of the year with more people thinking about committing suicide than at any other time.
Does not take a genius to guess why....... only another 362 days to next xmas!!
Trust me I'm Your MP!
Is it because she prefers the nearby neighbourhood? Perhaps the standard of education is better at the schools down the road?
No, it is nothing more than she wants to move to a seat with a larger majority and thereby secure her position as an MP without having to work for the honour. Her present constituency has a majority of just 2,000 while the neighbouring one has a majority of almost 12,000. According to "a senior party source" Ms. Kelly is convinced she is likely to lose another election - and be out of a job - if she stays where she is.
This seems to sum up the attitude of most MPs nowadays. Rather than represent the interests of the people who have put their trust into what they see as the honesty and integrity of their chosen representative, they run at the first sign of a rocky road in order to protect their over inflated salaries, pension schemes and expense allowances. They are not interested in protecting the people who have given them their job, they are only interested in protecting their own futures.
In Ms. Kelly's case, if she were to lose her seat at the next election, it would be because either she had not been seen to fulfill her role to her local electorate, or the government, of which she is a Minister, has lost any appeal it once had to the local people.
Either way it used to be known as democracy!
Merry Christmas
Christmas
Greetings
Hi All,
I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends, but it's so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my Lawyer and on his/her advice I wish to say the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wished.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.
Hi All,
I wanted to send some sort of holiday greeting to my friends, but it's so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. So I met with my Lawyer and on his/her advice I wish to say the following:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wished.
By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.
Cash for Peerages 2
What is more interesting is that still no-one has asked to see the accounts for how the alleged amount of fourteen million quid in 'loans' was spent. After all, neither the Deputy Prime Minister, the Chancellor of the Exchequer or the party treasurer claims to have any knowledge of it.
Perhaps the police are saving their caution for the interview where they ask to see the books!
Could be interesting!!
News or Entertainment?
I
am not sure which I have found more shocking over the
last week. Of course I am, like everyone else,
shocked by the murder of 5 women in Suffolk but I
think running close is my shock at the sheer feeding
frenzy of the press and media in their coverage of
these terrible events. It has almost become light
entertainment to the various news organisations while
they try to "analyse and inform" with information and
conjecture that is probably nothing even close to
resembling the truth. It has almost been bloodlust.
Of
course, this cannot be totally laid at the door of
the news organisations, as the police must bear some
responsibility for feeding this frenzy. I was
surprised on Tuesday afternoon to watch a press
conference - less than two hours after the latest two
bodies were discovered - led by the Chief Constable
of the local force and the chief investigating
officer. I would have thought that these two
gentlemen would have been expected to be standing in
the fields at the site of the discoveries wearing
wellies and directing the search for clues. Instead,
they were in front of the cameras at another location
announcing the 'discovery' of the two bodies.
Following the press conference they were then giving
individual interviews to anyone who had a microphone
- preferably attached to a camera!
Is this a good thing? I remember the days when the police avoided giving press conferences for fear of revealing information that might highlight their progress in catching the murderer. There was also a view it might prejudice any subsequent trial.
So why are the police now so keen to appear on the TV at every opportunity and why has the man who is supposedly responsible for leading an investigative team of what is reported to be over three hundred men, got the time to give regular updates to the feeding journos? Could it be that the investigation has been unofficially taken over by officers who are more
experienced
in investigating this sort of crime but the local
officers are being allowed to look like they are
still in charge? Does it really matter? I guess not
as long as the murderer is caught at the soonest
possible moment.
What it does do though, is increase the frenzy of the media. We then get interviews and opinions from every conceivable 'expert'. Retired detectives, criminal psychologists, forensic scientists and anyone who might have 'something' that adds to the theories is dragged in front of a camera to hypothesise about what may be the motivation or method being employed by the killer and the methods by which he may be caught. I have even seen an interview with two young frightened single women sitting in a bar who have told us how they are careful not to get caught out by the killer while their full names are shown at the bottom of the screen. A challenge to an unstable calculating killer if ever there was one!
This killer must be caught as soon as possible, but an 'investigation' by a news organisation is not the way to get it done. Sky News in particular are acting like they are playing a giant game of Cluedo and I am sure they think they are going to solve the murders themselves with the help of their various 'experts'
I hope when the person is eventually caught his trial is not jeopardised by the possibility of failing to find a jury that has not been influenced by the things they have seen on the TV or read in the press.
As they say......never let the facts get in the way of a good story!!
Is this a good thing? I remember the days when the police avoided giving press conferences for fear of revealing information that might highlight their progress in catching the murderer. There was also a view it might prejudice any subsequent trial.
So why are the police now so keen to appear on the TV at every opportunity and why has the man who is supposedly responsible for leading an investigative team of what is reported to be over three hundred men, got the time to give regular updates to the feeding journos? Could it be that the investigation has been unofficially taken over by officers who are more
What it does do though, is increase the frenzy of the media. We then get interviews and opinions from every conceivable 'expert'. Retired detectives, criminal psychologists, forensic scientists and anyone who might have 'something' that adds to the theories is dragged in front of a camera to hypothesise about what may be the motivation or method being employed by the killer and the methods by which he may be caught. I have even seen an interview with two young frightened single women sitting in a bar who have told us how they are careful not to get caught out by the killer while their full names are shown at the bottom of the screen. A challenge to an unstable calculating killer if ever there was one!
This killer must be caught as soon as possible, but an 'investigation' by a news organisation is not the way to get it done. Sky News in particular are acting like they are playing a giant game of Cluedo and I am sure they think they are going to solve the murders themselves with the help of their various 'experts'
I hope when the person is eventually caught his trial is not jeopardised by the possibility of failing to find a jury that has not been influenced by the things they have seen on the TV or read in the press.
As they say......never let the facts get in the way of a good story!!