Author: jumb0Dufus2

The stench of BRITISH privatisation is becoming evident in the run up to COP26

The stench of British  privatisation is becoming evident in the run up to COP26. Government ministers  are running for cover and attempting to hide under stones after a Government motion was defeated which would have forced the private water companies to clean up their act. However what happened was actually very embarrassing for the government because the bill  was defeated which actually  looked liked a huge endorsement for the behaviour of the private water companies and a signal that it was OK to keep discharging untreated sewage in the rivers of Britain  and into the seas around the UK. This is a huge embarrassment to the government in the run up to COP26. Again it is a stench resulting  from the privatisations of the water companies  pioneered by previous Conservative governments.

It appears that ministers voted on the matter in the way that they did mainly  because of huge investments in the infrastructure that would be needed to update the antiquated system currently  in place. Cost in this case was prohibitive to improving and maintaining the environment  so the choice preferred was to continue to pollute and degrade the environment.

So why haven’t these private companies  been investing in making these improvements themselves and why are they still reliant on funding from the government  and the tax payers? What has gone wrong with privatisation? Surely  the idea of privatisation was to become independent of the tax payer and yet these companies  still manage to bother the tax payers to subsidise their profiteering  enterprises.

What should the Labour Party do now? Nothing!

What  should the Labour Party do now following election defeat and a change in leadership? Quite simply the Labour Party needs to remain calm and stop itself from having inner doubts. It needs to avoid self doubt and sweeping changes to it’s  policies. The Labour  Party should be reminding  itself  that the last General Election  was fought and won on a single issue, that of Brexit. The last election  was not an election about policies or real politics: it was simply fought as a right wing agenda of getting Brexit done and past the winning post, which had been stalling for many months under the governance of the Tories. This single agenda election polarised the electorate or basically  turned off voters and put them in a state of apathy.

With election  defeat it has unquestionably left the many withbthe feeling about ‘ what should the Labour Party do to be more electable and bring back voters?’. In the last General Election the Labour  Party  was unable to define a credible policy about  Brexit and failed to get voters on board to the idea of having  further ballots. So sick of the  idea that Brexit should take up any more time, ideas of perhaps putting any further debate back to voters was a turn off for most voters who simply wanted a conclusion and end to debate. There was little scrutiny of  any other policies going on in this election: so Labour can rest assured it didn’t  loose the election because of it’s  policies.

Continue reading What should the Labour Party do now? Nothing!

Scale Modes: there’s a simpler, less complicated way

I have read a lot of published material about Scale Modes and the conclusion that I have come to is that much of what has been written tends to over complicate the issue.

Part of the problem with Scale Modes is that many suggest always making references back to the parent Scale and working out new patterns from that. The problems with this method is that you have to make multiple  mental jumps constantly referring back to the parent scales. This method isn’t  very intuitive at all and means learning lots  of new Scale shapes.

Continue reading Scale Modes: there’s a simpler, less complicated way

Boris Johnson’s environmental credibility is exposed as fraudulent

Boris Johnson’s environmental credibility  was exposed as fraudulent yesterday by the derogatory comments he published in the Sun newspaper.

Sadly I cannot  understand  why his terms of reference were not picked up and discussed  more fully in the general media. In Johnson’s  belief ithe announcement was made to give more weight to his credibility  as an environmental  campaigner but in reality it simply exposed him as a fraud who believes that those with environmental  concerns belong to a class of hippies who basically  walk around  in sandals and who are all obviously vegetarian in Johnson’s  eyes. To have his utter garbage pedalled by the Sun is really  no surprise  because Johnson knows  who his mindless audience is and as such is pandering to their prejudices as well. To have these kind of beliefs and assumptions coming from our Prime Minister is unhelpful and not the kind of language that helps to unify us all behind a valid and urgent cause. It makes a mockery of and belittles the debate on the environment and polarises one side against another and it is now quite  obvious in which camp Boris Johnson actually has a foot in.

Continue reading Boris Johnson’s environmental credibility is exposed as fraudulent

Self employed have to wait additional month for Seiss grant 4?

The self employed  are having  to wait an additional  month for Seiss Grant 4 why? Previously  the grant  has been paid every 3 months  so why is it different  for Seiss Grant 4. The self employed  are under pressure  and many have used most of the last grant to pay their tax bills.  With little  or no work around why are the self employed  being asked to go fof a longer period without financial support.

 

Dog owners are major contributors to plastic pollution problems

Dog owners are major contributors to plastic pollution and as such are bad for the environment. Dog owners are adding to plastic pollution problems by insisting on wrapping dog feces in plastic. Also the manufacturers of the plastic dog poo bags are contributing to the problem by making claims that these bags are biodegradable,  which they may be but only after about a million years under the right set of environmental conditions. These false claims are leading to a situation whereby some ignorant dog owners are taking this labelling at face value and leaving used bags lying around on the ground thinking that they will magically disappear. However even the more responsible dog owners are also being misled and are perhaps unknowing still contributing to the problems of environmental plastic pollution by putting these used dog poo bags into waste bins which will eventually end up as landfill. Landfill is only a way of hiding a problem without  addressing it. Even the more responsible dog owners they are still contributors to the plastic pollution problems and are contributors to the environmental  plastic pollution albeit in a more disguised and less obvious way.

Continue reading Dog owners are major contributors to plastic pollution problems

ASDA take a backward step on environmental plastic pollution

ASDA take a backward step on environmental plastic pollution by reintroducing plastic packaging for their own egg brand. This replaces the previously used paper/cardboard packaging thus adding even more plastic packaging waste to the environment. This is a backwards step that is in contrast with the efforts of many of the other supermarkets who have taken steps to reduce plastic packaging on their lines. ASDA seem to be completely out of step with these trends. People should avoid purchasing products which potentially add to environmental pollution this being one of them.

Reasons why you shouldn’t buy a Squier or Epiphone guitar

The main reason not to buy a Squier guitar is because the Company is owned by Fender. Because of this reason alone it ensures that any Squier guitar is going to be somewhat inadequate and inferior because Fender will make sure it is. I own a Squier Classic Vibe 60s Stratocasters and taking it at face value it looks and feels really nice. It certainly looks like a quality guitar in every way. It is only when you come to plug it into an amp when you understand it’s shortcomings and to all intents and purposes it was designed to be a disappointment because Fender simply do not want you to get anywhere near the quality of their own premium Fender lines. In a way it makes financial sense to protect the originality of their own more expensive guitars. They simply do not want you to be able to obtain that quality at a bargain price. It is such a shame because when not plugged in this guitar has such potential. The Squier Classic Vibe had the potential to be a classic guitar in it’s own right and could rightly have been up there alongside many classic Fender Strats but obviously Fender could  not and would not tolerate this so it designed a system of poor quality, inferior pick ups and/or electrics to make sure that the Classic Vibe never quite reached it’s true potential and thus protected its premium brand status. The Classic Vibe feels like a real instrument of quality made for a musician of intermediate to professional level. It is not an entry level guitar until you plug in it into an amp when all its potential just ebbs away into dissatisfaction. The same goes for Gibson and it’s own cheaper brand of Epiphone. I feel sorry for the workers and designers in these factories who must get pretty frustrated at seeing their products and handiwork being sabotaged in this way because they are certainly very capable of producing lovely instruments.

Continue reading Reasons why you shouldn’t buy a Squier or Epiphone guitar

Boris Johnson’s ‘Oven ready Deal’ turns out to be Brexit Fudge Cake after all

PM Boris Johnson is claiming victory for the deal struck with the EU but isn’t all this, including the run up to the deal, just posturing. The whole thing has just been posturing or more clearly just a Pantomime from start to finish. There never was doubt that a deal was going to be done because it had to be done to save face. A no deal would certainly have kicked the Tories into political oblivion by an act of suicide. Now in truth the whole exercise just looks like a vehicle used by Boris Johnson to ouwst Theresa May and obtain leadership and power in a egotistical political quest that smacks of ambition more than to be a political servant to the will of the people.

So in the run up to the deal we witnessed tough talk but it was all just empty posturing done as an act of showmanship. It was a complete act but equally transparent like the script of a Pantomine. The whole thing smacked of being rehearsed and all the characters were transparent. The truth is that Bodge it simply had no choice other than to strike some kind of deal. The EU would also have understood this but went along with the show almost like an audience at a Pantomime, but all the while ensuring that they would be the real winners. So how does the deal compare to what was promised? From what I have read it doesn’t bear much semblance to what was actually promised. It puts Northern Ireland in jeopardy of seeking actual independence from the UK and could mean a reintroduction of the tensions and troubles as the possibility of a unified Ireland takes focus. Goods in the UK are likely to be more expensive as a result of added red tape. Fisheries have been thrown to the lions as the sacrifice for retaining tariff free trading. Not to mention the chaos for businesses and movement that will happen as a result of leaving a mere week (less if you take into account the holidays) to sort out all the additional details and protocol required, and all because Boris Johnson and the government wanted to sort out the deal in the lowest possible profile hoping that it would slip by largely unnoticed. ‘Bodge it’ was in a tight corner but as usual he is attempting to claim victory where in actual fact there has been none at all. The reality is that the whole thing has been a rather embarrassing fiasco showing up, Boris Johnson, ‘ Bodge-it’ and his Government for what they are:incompetent.

Brexit was not a quest for Sovereignty it became a vehicle for personal political ambition and power

Continue reading Boris Johnson’s ‘Oven ready Deal’ turns out to be Brexit Fudge Cake after all

Oven ready Brexit Deal now exposed as a lie to grab power

The electorate were promised a Brexit Deal which now looks like a lie because there clearly was no ‘Oven Ready Deal’ there at all. The electorate were clearly misled about Brexit and hence about the consequences of a no deal scenario.

 

The Tories now need to be taken to account on misleading the public. A no deal will be hugely consequential to the British economy and to the Tories who have to take the blame for mismanagement of the whole fiasco. The blame can be traced back to the incompetence of Cameron who mooted the whole idea in the first place. There is no one else to blame for the consequences of a no deal except the Tories and Bodge it himself in particular. No deal will cost jobs and lead to misery and a recession. The Tories will not be able to weather the storm that is coming.