PETA's New Desexing Campaign

The Australian singer Sia Fuler is getting behind the PETA campaign to encourage pet owners to follow birth control in their pets to stop the increasing number of animals being born only to end up homeless.

Not only does desexing prevent dogs from having “oops” litters, it also reduces their risk of developing cancer. In six years, one unfixed dog and her offspring can produce 60,000 puppies. Every year, countless dogs and cats are dumped at severely crowded animal shelters, where many of them must be euthanised. The less fortunate ones never even make it to a safe haven – they are left to fend for themselves on the streets, where they often suffer from cruelty, starvation, diseases or injuries.

“When it comes to fighting the cat and dog overpopulation crisis, a stitch in time truly does save nine – or 9,000 – unwanted births”, says PETAs director of special projects, Poorva Joshipura. “No one should bring more animals into the world when countless cats and dogs are literally dying for a good home.”

PETA advises prospective guardians to adopt cats and dogs from animal shelters – never to buy them from pet shops or breeders – and to spay or neuter animal companions as soon as they are old enough.

Pure Evil

In December 2008, a 49-year-old man collapsed with a brain tumour  at a Nationwide Building society branch in Eltham, Kent.  He had gone to withdraw money for his son’s Christmas present and had a bag containing £2,500 with him.

While the victim was lying on the ground being attended to by paramedics an evil pensioner stole the bag containing the money and disappeared from the scene.

The elderly woman was wearing a purple coat and pointed boots with short fair hair and glasses and was clearly seen on the CCTV camera picking up the bag and inching out of the branch on the 17th December.

All the man in question is asking for is that the money be returned, the savings that he and his family live off.  I hope she gets what she deserves, age is immaterial, she is a thief and deserves to be treated as such.

I don’t how the woman can live with herself, people are already struggling with the financial crisis we are all finding ourselves in but too steal from a person who was quite obviously ill is beyond belief.

She was caught on camera so she probably lives locally, get the film clip on all the local news channels in Kent and I’m sure somebody will be able to identify the low-life.

Travellers Should Travel

Today it was reported that the travellers evicted from the site of the London Olympics, have had six three-bedroom houses built for them on a gated development in East London, paid for of course by the taxpayer.

Each home also includes a large garden and a driveway big enough to take a caravan which has enraged local residents who feel that the gypsies are being given special treatment.

A spokesman for the new site confirmed that 450 residents needed to be relocated from the site which included the gypsy families, who he claims will be charged rent for the property and a charge to keep a caravan on their drive.  The rent has been allegedly set at the ridiculous price of £104.66 per week and £91.23 for the parked caravan.

The traveller families involved had already lost a High Court battle against their eviction from the council-owned site in Hackney Wick, shortly afterwards the work began on the new houses.

Surely, travellers, as the name suggests, should be travelling.  They lost their court case against eviction and then they are rewarded with a new home, that’s after the tax payer has already paid for court fees no doubt!

Surely they only need the driveway as that is where the caravan is too be parked so they could rent out the house to people that really do need some help, like the thousands of hard-workers out there that struggle to make ends meet.

Interest rate cuts are currently solely geared towards those with mortgages, doing nothing to help taxpayers who are renting property.  It is also to the detriment of savers.  Some savers, including pensioners who have been prudent with their money and not over-stretched themselves by taking on debt, have seen up to 75% cut in their savings.

Surely a more sensible approach to lending and more level house prices will kick start the housing market and be a better long term strategy than the populist short term, short sighted politics that is being currently implemented.

I was outraged to hear that last month (January 2009) house prices increased!

I heard someone interviewed this morning who was in favour of further interest rate cuts as it would help pay the mortgage on his own house and help with a new mortgage he was looking to undertake with his partner for a second home.

It is this kind of greed that has created this recession and has over inflated the price of houses in the UK in the past decade.  Many people see owning more than one house as a way of increasing their income through schemes such as ‘Buy to Let’ while others are struggling to pay rent or a mortgage for a family home, not for profit.

I am opposed to further interest rate cuts as this doesn’t help all taxpayers.  I believe a cut in the basic rate of tax would be a better solution as it would give individuals the choice to save or spend.

If interest rates are to be cut, wouldn’t it be a good lead for the government and the Bank of England to persuade people to be less greedy by offering a cut in interest rates only to the first property of anyone who has more than one, and maybe include payment to those who are renting too.

Official Announcement: 4th December 2008

With my deepest regret and sincerest apology I am left with no option but to announce that I am forced to close the children’s entertainment theme park “Lapland New Forest” for 2008 due ( I believe at the time of publishing ) to:

• Intentional organised crowd manipulation and event sabotage during and since our first trading weekend.
• The unscrupulous and inaccurate negative bias media broadcasts of both local and national press and television companies that contributed significantly to fuelling widespread public concern, frenzy and distraction since the 1st December 2008.
• What I believe to be a wholly illegal action by the credit merchant company called “Streamline” of seizing /withdrawing all funds without notice from the Lapland New Forest Ltd bank account leaving us completely unable to trade.

For all people wishing to claim financial reimbursement I can only advise ( at the time of writing ) that you return to our website for further information on this important matter.

Both I and all of the Lapland New Forest Team have had every intention of both continuing and continuing to enhance our children’s event … we have all put many months of hard planning, endeavour and finance into the Christmas theme park … our wonderful venture and advertising campaign proved to be highly popular and many of our visitors did have a great day with us!

We are all deeply upset at the outrageous lies, slander, accusations, violent threats and lack of official support we have endured and I have every intention of pursuing all matters to the full extent of the law.

From myself and every member of the Lapland New Forest Team to ALL of our valued customers and incredible team players that contributed so much to our honourable enterprise – we look forward to reaching a clear and satisfactory conclusion as soon as is possble.

Victor Mears
Director of Lapland New Forest Ltd.

A sign outside of the entrance to the theme park urges customers to contact the organisations website, where you are faced with the above announcement.

Since the park opened on the 1st December, there is reported to have been at least 2000 complaints to the trading standards.

Elves and Father Christmas have been attacked as furious parents having paid £30 each for a ticket, were faced with utter chaos.

Disappointment all around I think, more people are now out of work as well as the children missing out on a Christmas adventure!

Rest In Peace

A Royal Marine captain, Bill Hoadley, was laid to rest in Strood cemetery in Kent, ten-years ago but now Medway Council have decided that it grave does not meet cemetery regulations and wants the family to alter it.

Mr Hoadley, died in 1998 aged 76, after devoting his life to his country, serving in the Second World War in places such as Burma, Italy, India and the North Atlantic.

The man is a war hero and later became the commanding officer of the Royal Marine Cadet Unit in Chatham, as well as chairman of the Chatham branch of the Royal Marine Association.

Now someone at the council, with nothing better to do, has apparently given the family 28-days to make alterations to the memorial.

They want two concrete plant pots removed as well as the pebbled top of the grave at an estimated cost of to the family of £2,000, or face the grave being taken down.

The family of Mr Hoadley were informed of this decision by a note stuck on the grave from Medway Council, which supposedly breaches Health & Safety regulations.

The Medway council bereavement and registration services manager said,

“We have placed notices on graves that have memorials without permits.  We try to take a considered approach but there are often extreme circumstances upon which we must act.”

Firstly, how can this man possibly be a bereavement manager, he has no compassion at all and secondly, these people have paid already, why should they have to make further payments to get a permit?

Surely, the council would have known ten-years ago that the grave did not meet their regulations so why wait until now to do anything about it, it’s an absolute disgrace.

So much of the Medway Towns are a disgrace, but instead of sorting these important issues out, the council try to find fault with things that don’t need fixing!

The 40-year-old man lost his surveyor’s job earlier in the year after the housing market slow-down, he was being pressurised to make the payments but could see no way out of the situation.   The judge at the hearing said that he expected more of this sort of death in the future.

The next report was on the ridiculous amount of money the BBC are prepared to pay their popular presenters.

Jeremy Clarkson is believed to get in excess of £2 million a year and allegedly the BBC have now agreed to a cut of the profits from the sales of Top Gear abroad.

It’s our money that is paying their wages, and with a colour TV licence costing £139.50 a year, they’ve got the money to do it.

Normal people are going to be the worst hit, as they try and struggle on with their daily lives while the fat cats and celebrities don’t notice the slightest difference.

Could you do without your TV?

The squatters, not only the UK but from Italy, Spain, Poland, South Africa, North and South America, Canada, Germany and Mauritius, say they are not scroungers, that’s after they have broken into someone else’s property and wrecked it at a considerable price to the tax payer I might add.

Local residents are furious at council officials for not securing the property properly, after suffering weeks of all-night, rowdy parties, lighting bonfires, covering the area with discarded furniture and rubbish and covering the place with graffiti.

The block of 45 flats belonged to a private owner who had leased it out for temporary accommodation, but just before the property was due to be handed back, the squatters had heard about it and moved in.

Residents had started to feel unsafe in their own homes with strange people hanging around and cars coming and going at all times of the night.

The squatters have defended their right to occupy the flats and had apparently offered to pay rent, yeah right!

Many of the squatters claim not to be able to afford the rent that is being asked as it’s too expensive!  Get a job then, why should you be any different to anyone else!

I would imagine that most of those people are receiving some sort of benefits, and if that’s the case some of it should be used to pay for the damage that now needs to be repaired etc.

These people are not only trespassing but stealing, they have taken something that does not belong to them, surely these laws are in place for a reason.

The young girl, painted one of her finger nails at the Boots branch in Folkestone, Kent. She had opened a bottle of the varnish as she could not find a tester and was caught by a security guard.

She was then questioned by THREE police officers and held until her parents came to collect her and pay for the product.

Her parents were told that their daughter could be forcibly restrained as she was over 10-years-old despite her making no attempt to leave.

The parents have rightly, complained about the “heavy-handed” treatment and are demanding an apology from the police.

The girls mother said,

“(Her daughter) was scared and crying. The whole approach was very heavy handed.

I find it incredibly hard to believe this was the most serious incident going on for the police.

Frankly, this country has gone crazy. This is the sort of thing that just makes me want to pack our bags and leave as soon as (Her daughter) finishing her schooling.”

The 12-year-old said,

“I went into the shop and saw a nail polish which I thought looked alright. There were no testers so I put a tiny bit on my thumbnail. The security guard walked up behind me and said I had to pay for it or it would be theft.

I was really scared. I had no money on me so he said I had to come into the office.”

Her mother said,

“She was kept for an hour in a small office with the security guard and a manager and the police were called.

The security guard who caught her was grinning like he had caught a big fish. It was ridiculous.

At first there were three officers there and when we got there it was just one. The officer told us our rights.

One officer even told me that if I didn’t pay they would take (her daughter) in a police van to Folkestone Police station and charge her with theft.”

The girls parents paid £6.29 for the nail polish stated that she would never return to the store in question.

Maybe the girl was wrong to have just used it, but she had not tried to conceal it as far as I can tell, she seemed to have no intention of stealing the product.

We are forever hearing how stretched out police force is so were three police officers really necessary, how much did that cost the tax-payers?

I was shocked to see a full tank of fuel for a  standard 2 litre family car now costs over £72!

I am disgusted that most of the money is paid back to the government in tax.  Though the price of oil is out of control, it has less to do with how much a barrel of oil is, in the UK.  We use our car for local trips, shopping, business trips and family days out.  We rely on our car but do not see ourselves as heavy users.  I work from home now, but what if I were still driving to business meetings on a daily basis?

The price of fuel is now affecting everyone, one way or another.

This morning there were further reports on the news on how the Spanish lorry drivers are causing a shortage of food by blockading the ports. Supermarket shelves in parts of Spain are already empty.

The Spanish dispute is now causing problems in the UK and other parts of Europe. The BMW plant in Oxfordshire, which normally works around the clock producing Minis, will be closed this weekend as they are awaiting brakes from Spain. And the four day strike by Shell lorry drivers is about to begin which will cause a shortage of fuel at the pumps.

The cost of living in the UK is outrageous.  As so-called ‘luxury items’ such as flat screen televisions and computers continue to fall in price, essentials such as food and utility bills escalate uncontrollably. Electric and gas bills have risen this year by between 15-20% and our council tax for a rented property is almost £1500 per year.

As a child I remember the Winter of Discontent in 1979. High unemployment, strikes and riots.  Are we heading for another Winter of Discontent, thirty years on?