Royal Wedding

Photoshopped or not - shamelessly stolen from internet - credit unknown.

Bank Holiday Parking Scam!

I've just passed words (not very polite ones in my case) with a Parking Warden who is ticketing cars in the residents parking bay in Berkeley Road. I did the same with the Wardeness on Good Friday too!

Quite apart from the iniquity of paying this bloke £30 an hour (yes that's right!) to do this task on a Bank Holiday, who for heavens' sake do his council masters think they are serving by ticketing today in this quiet residential street?

Certainly not us residents. The only possible benefit to us from this unwanted scheme is to deter shopppers and office workers from hogging the spaces so that we can park near our homes.

But it's Easter Sunday! All offices are shut. Even that temple to capitalism, Tesco, is shut today! The only cars in Berkeley Road belong to the people who live here and to our friends and loved ones who have come to share a festival / holy day with us.

The scheme was introduced against the wishes of Berkeley Roaders who held a public meeting at the Library attended by Council Officers. We agreed unanimously to reject the project. But it was imposed on us anyway!

It's not hard to see why. From the Council's point of view it's a top idea. It is not about easing congestion or making life better for the residents. It is a straight forward revenue earner. It forces the office workers and shoppers into paying in the Town Centre Car Parks, thereby paying for itself. On top of this the penalty tickets are extra earners and the punitive late payement levies and collection charges are obscene.

So today we're paying extortionate overtime to a man to do something we didn't want in the first place, and that is totally inappropriate today, in particular, since there is no congestion to be eased!

Craven Road

It is a fallacy to call it a Residents Parking Scheme, since permits are being sold to people who are not even resident in the ward, as evidenced by the painting out of the word RESIDENT. So clearly even the Council sees that the scheme is not for the residents' benefit.

As the permit scheme is not applied to all roads in the ward, it can be therefore nothing other a local tax selectively and unfairly applied to some resident car users but not to all.

As Apolitical candidates we are pledging:

* to issue all qualifying residents with two free car permits, as the scheme is self-liquifying from car park revenues;

* to put a stop to the blatant revenue grabbing persecution of our guests on Sundays and Bank Holidays;

* and to end this shameful squandering of over-time money on an inappropriate task.

And if Berkeley Roaders decide again to scrap the scheme we promise to abide by their wishes.

Any way, back to my Easter turkey-lurkey, I need to get the veg on!

Apolitical Candidates for Northcroft Ward

Cross posted from Apolitical Blog.

You have 2 votes in Northcroft ward
for West Berks District Council
Vote APOLITICAL ~ Vote Yates and Farrow

David Yates stood as Apolitical candidate in the General Election 2010.

He joined the army as an apprentice at age 16, and has lived locally since he first came to Newbury with the army in 1981. Army-trained as a land surveyor, he currently works as a builder.

David is turning 49 the day before polling day. He is married with 4 children, 2 of whom still go to school locally. David is an active parent governor at their school.

He is keen to get away from the kind of knee jerk tribal politics that can see a donkey elected simply for sporting a particular colour of rosette. He believes that a councillor should represent the wishes of the voters, rather than their own or their party's interests.

David's aim is to provide a counter balance to discredited, big-party tribal politics and a credible alternative to the usual out-of-touch politicians.



Charlie Farrow has a background as a marketing professional specialising in the Education sector and has worked in local government.

She has lived in Northcroft ward for twenty years. She is married to David Yates and they have four children, two of whom are still at St Barts School. She is a former Governor of Park House School, and is an active member of the Sustainable Newbury group on Newbury Town Council, for whom she is currently overhauling the website.

She has a love of the history of Newbury and is concerned that its heritage is being squandered with the ever greater needs of 'vanity projects'. She wishes to stop daft capital projects, while maintaining a sound level of service in the face of imposed cuts.

...and 4 votes for Newbury Town Council
Vote APOLITICAL ~ Vote Yates, Farrow, Dennis & Page

John Dennis (40) has lived and worked in the area for 15 years, where his daughter is currently at secondary school. He is a professional Chef currently working as Catering Manager for BUPA.

He is a keen allotment gardener and is passionate about locally sourced, grown and produced food. He cares deeply about the impact of 'food miles' on the economy and the environment, and is keen to see more edible crops planted on and harvested from municipal land. He would like to help promote the education of young people, regarding healthy eating, growing their own food, and to encourage the foraging and wildcrafting of food and herbs.

He has always had a lively interest in political issues but has before now found nothing that appealed to him in the existing parties. He is keen to bring a fresh, new view to the Town Council.



James Page (21) is from Newbury and lives in the town centre.

He achieved good grades from Park House in his GCSEs but chose to enter the world of work at the age of 16 rather than go on to further education.
He completed an
apprenticeship with Malone Roofing and now works full time as a roofing
contractor.

He is concerned about there being enough opportunities for young people to learn a trade as he has been fortunate enough to do and then for them to be able to find worthwhile employment opportunities locally.

YOUTHLOT Youth Art Café

A new youth arts project has set up in an empty shop King’s Road West (round the corner from the King Charles Tavern). It's a voluntary project providing a space for young people to drop in and use as they wish. It will provide young people with a space to hang out, meet others, plan and run community art projects and exhibit their work.

It has a blog website which is a bit jumbled and needs a good tidy up, but from what I can gather Youthlot is open Monday to Saturday 10am - 6pm and offers occasional 'Late Lounges' on Friday and Saturday nights until 11pm. It also runs various sceduled events.

• Music Circle Every Sunday from 2.30pm
  Music Circle is a chance for musicians, singers, songwriters or producers, either in bands or on their own to come in and mingle with like-minded people. You can bring your instruments to jam with others, teach or learn to play, write music and even find band mates.
  
  25th June 2011 the gallery is being turned into a recording studio, to perform and record a live album. The day is being recorded by sound, film and professional photography as well as being broadcast live on Youthlot’s internet radio station.
  
  
• Drama Club Mondays 4.30-5.30pm
  Weekly get together for drama enthusiasts.
  The first term starts 8th May and will be working towards creating a mockumentary DVD and a live performance in Victoria Park.
  
  
• Film Club Wednesdays from 6pmFilms are available to watch with popcorn in the Youthlot lounge. Each week two people will be given cinema tickets to watch and review a film at the cinema.
  
  
• Film Discussion Sundays 2.30 – 3.30pm
  Group discussion the films seen and to write reviews for Youthlot’s monthly newspaper.

It's funded by corporate and public donations and sponsorship and has been allowed use the empty shop without rent. Young people can achieve volunteering and arts awards through participation.

All in all it seems a very exciting initiative that needs to be publicised much more widely.

Are Your Children Playing With Lucifer's Testicles?

Anyone for a little seasonal light reading?

"This book teaches parents how to easily explain to their children that Easter (as it is celebrated by the Unsaved) has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus Christ but is actually a holiday celebrating lewd and sexually explicit pagan rituals of fertility.

"It's not that difficult to understand," says Author/Creation Scientist, Dr. Daniel Cameroon. "In the old days, deluded pagans would gather round and hump like bunnies on Easter Sunday because they thought it would make their tomatoes grow faster."

Dr. Cameroon explains that it doesn't matter what god or idol the Pagans were humping under on Easter Sunday, because any god other than "Jesus" is "Satan."

Dr. Cameroon dedicates four chapters in the book to Easter Eggs. "Easter Eggs are one of the wiliest tools of the Devil," he says.

"Pagan kids didn't have anything to do on Easter Sunday because their mommies and daddies were stuck in a false temple all day, naked and writhing around with their neighbors in Satanic orgies of the flesh. You see, parents had to come up with a way to occupy their children while they were away from home, praying and fornicating under the altar of Satan. And since they didn't have babysitters back then, they gave their kids eggs to play with and sometimes paint," he says.

"But the reason they chose eggs had nothing to do with any sort of fertility or fertilizers (as some misguided Christian historians would have you believe).

Nope, it was because of Lucifer's testicles! Glory to God!"

Hilarious! I'm loving his You Tube Channel too!

West Berks Library Fine Amnesty

West Berks Libraries have announced a cap on overdue fines in order to encourage people who can't afford their fines back to the library to become active users again. During April and May anyone with charges outstanding will pay no more than £8 for adults and £4 for children's existing fines.

Better still from now on there will be no more fines on children's books that are kept beyond the due date, making it easier for families to be keen library users.

This is great news! Woop woop!

Not everyone realises that the Libraries also have a raft of really useful on-line services that are absolutely free to access from home using your library card barcode. This service is brilliant for homework or research giving free access to the full OED and all the Oxford Reference resources, news and other sources.

Victoria Park playground shut for Easter hols

Today's Newbury Weekly News reports that the children's play area in Victoria Park will be closed from Monday for six weeks to install new equipment. Newbury Town Council services manager apologised for the inconvenience.

It would be a darn sight less inconvenient if he'd realised that the schools break up for the Easter holidays tomorrow.

Why on earth isn't this being scheduled for term time? It's not rocket science.

Jacqueline Howett butters up reviewer - not!

A fairly anodyne 2 star book review of The Greek Seaman on BigAl's Books and Pals has sent the author, Jacqueline Howett apoplectic. It is a really quite astonishing display of how not to treat one's reviewer. And it's absolutely delusionally hilarious!

She blames the reviewer for not downloading another clean one, accuses him of finding spelling and grammatical errors which are merely part of her English style, calls him a liar, a rat, a snake and repeatedly tells him to fuck off! Most of which is deliciously misspelt!

She invites him to hear her reading from it, so it must be alright:

"I see nothing wrong with it AL!

Take a look at the video of my voice reading it from the video link on smashwords."

What can I say? Priceless!

Local Shop for Local People

I don't know why this has got up my nose to the extent of blogging it, but really!

My MP, Richard Benyon's website bears the credit "Designed and Hosted by Ravensloft". OK so I can live with not getting a chance to pitch for the business, but this Ravensloft proudly trumpets its credentials as offering:

Web design, web hosting and technical solutions in Cefn-coed-y-cymmer, South Wales. Specialising in web engineering, technical support and graphic design for small to medium sized business, organisations and charities.

Covering the areas of Merthy Tdfil, Abercanaid, Aberdare, Aberfan, Trodyrhiw, Pontypridd, Blaenau Gwent, Mid Glamorgan and all other surrounding areas.

In the light of the Conservatives' much vaunted localisation agenda, could Richard Benyon really not have found a local outfit to do the work? Local to us, not local somewhere else. Or at least a company outside the constituency that didn't actively brag about being local in another country?

But when one's estates are so very extensive, what meaning localisation ? Pip pip!

Marigolds

Not the flowers men give women –
delicately-scented freesias,
stiff red roses, carnations
the shades of bridesmaids’ dresses,
almost sapless flowers,
drying and fading – but flowers
that wilt as soon as their stems
are cut, leaves blackening
as if blighted by the enzymes
in our breath, rotting to a slime
we have to scour from the rims
of vases; flowers that burst
from tight, explosive buds, rayed
like the sun, that lit the path
up the Thracian mountain, that we wound
into our hair, stamped on
in ecstatic dance, that remind us
we are killers, can tear the heads
off men’s shoulders;
flowers we still bring
secretly and shamefully
into the house, stroking
our arms and breasts and legs
with their hot orange fringes,
the smell of arousal.

copyright © Vicki Feaver 1994
Published in The Handless Maiden (Jonathan Cape, 1994).
Poetry archive

I posted a little calendula salve (& a couple of other potions) to my daughter today that I had made from an oil infused from last summer's marigold flowers. To make her well.

Prescription Charges

On Wednesday MSP voted to scrap NHS prescription charges in Scotland. Wales and Northern Ireland have already removed the charges.

Today "The Government" announced that the cost of prescriptions in England will rise by 20p to £7.40 per item from 1 April.

Scottish government health minister Shona Robison said lifting the charge would reduce the long-term cost to the health service and would no longer put people off going to see their doctor. However, this argument appears not to apply to English people who are expected to pay up or die young to reduce costs!

If the Scottish government is discussing the risk of people in England travelling across the border to claim free prescriptions, then we have got to stop pretending that there is not a problem.

The news today is that Wales has had another devolution referendum and they've now voted to be able to pass laws on devolved areas without involving the British government. That's great for the Welsh, even if the turnout was pitifully low.

So why does the "British Government" refuse to give us equal rights in this so-called “United” Kingdom? It's time for England to have a referendum on devolution. May is looking good...

Boris says 'BOGOF Cops'!

Gotta hand it to Boris, who else could launch a buy one get one free scheme for policemen?

For every new police officer a borough pays for, the Mayor will ‘match fund’ the post and recruit another officer. This means boroughs will effectively be given two police officers for the price of one – a huge boost to the numbers of uniformed officers patrolling local streets.

Boris, we who are about to die salute you!

Hares and Easter

One had a lovely face,
And two or three had charm,
But charm and face were in vain
Because the mountain grass
Cannot but keep the form
Where the mountain hare has lain.

Researching seasonal poetry (as you do) brought me again, unexpectedly, to "Memory" by W.B. Yeats. The poem is as beautiful as I remembered. But I found it quoted anew, coupled with this image by young Dutch photographer Rebecca Rijsdijk.

Together the one amplifies the other into something so exquisite that it took my breath away and the involuntary response to such beauty, love and loss was to weep.

More images.

Terri Windling's article The Symbolism of Rabbits and Hares underpins the power of Yeats' analogy and Rijsdijk's image. Windling reminds us that the hare is "a goddess symbol, a trickster symbol, a symbol of the Holy Trinity, a symbol of death, redemption and rebirth".

Very fitting in the run up to Easter.

Alternative Vote Advertising

These two ads are really in today’s Times. Honestly! This is not some Year 10 pupil’s ‘comedy’ advertising for a Citizenship project.

It really is true that Ogilvy & Mather has served up Reductio ad Hitlerum! Big FAIL as the Nation invokes Godwin’s law for an ad that is devoid of any cogent (let alone original) thought.

And JWT too! They have got entirely the wrong analogy. Hello? It’s supposed to be Cameron and Cleggover who are the sharp-suited clones, not Dave and Gromit! And ironically pretty much the only good thing you could have said about the Krays was that they were snappy dressers in their day. Is this an implied compliment? Another Big FAIL!

Are our advertisers really so inept these days? What has become of the good political advertising of days gone by?

And what's with the use of LibDem yellow (by the subs at The Times) on the rationales for both offerings? FAIL.

Downing Street launches the logo for National Citizen Service

Oh dear, some bright spark appears to have rather conflated Constructivism as a learning theory with Constructivism, the art movement.

Is it really possible that a Tory led government is seeking to flavour a flagship policy with the art of the Revolution as conceived by The Commissariat of Enlightenment, the Bolshevik government's cultural and educational ministry?

However Constructivism did have a great deal of effect on developments in the art of the Weimar Republic. And as the Weimar Republic is chiefly associated in our minds with hyperinflation, the choice might prove eerily prescient.

Egypt

Uninstalling dictator in progress ... ███████████████████████████░ ...99.9% complete

Happy Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Apparently Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day is celebrated on the last Monday of January. And why not?

Invitation to Ambulance Service Consultation

This is a message on behalf of South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

You are invited to a Foundation Trust consulation meeting on Monday 31st Janaury at: Newbury Rugby Club, Monks Lane, Newbury, RG14 7RW. The doors open at 2pm and the meeting starts at 2.30pm.

Attendees will see displays of what the trust does, can meet the team and hear how they can help shape our service into the future by becoming a member of the Trust.

With your help and the help of your family and friends we will be able to develop services that are more sensitive to the needs of our patients. Help us to deliver local improvements in patient care and to strengthen our links with local communities in addition to the contractual arrangements we have with our commissioners.

Anyone resident in our area and aged over 14 years can become a member of our Trust and have their say on how we may provide services in the future to benefit you, your family, friends, colleagues and your local community.

Alternatively, telephone 01869 365000, Email getinvolved@scas.nhs.uk or register on line at www.southcentralambulance.nhs.uk

EMA

It’s exasperating, if not particularly surprising, that the decision to scrap the EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) descended into petty jostling for electoral advantage against all common sense.

Labour made an attempt (that they no doubt hope will appear as a principled and progressive stand) to save an initiative that has been much touted as helping young people from low household income families to stay on at school or college after 16.

And principled it might have been, if the circumstances were only so. Campaigners appear to be blithely unaware that the EMA has also been a pretty unsavoury conduit for shovelling tax payers’ money into the pockets of the spoiled offspring of the idle rich. By rights the Labour Party should have been baying for its root and branch reform.

Surely not? Isn't it a lovely progressive incentive to keep kids at school?

Well it would be if it was as it seemed. And it is great for families that genuinely need it. The rub lies in the way that money was awarded to the undeserving rich according to the champagne socialist way under which the scheme chose to determine ‘household income’.

To qualify for EMA it is only the income of the household in which the young person lives most of the time that counts. So if Mum and Dad have separated and the young person lives mostly with Mum, it is only Mum’s household income that counts (or vice versa obviously). So Dad could be a hedge fund manager sitting on squillions of ill-gotten gains, and yet his wealth is ignored for the purposes of the EMA. Not only that but when calculating Mum’s household income “maintenance received from a former partner” is specifically excluded.

So we have a situation whereby kids from the wealthiest and most privileged of backgrounds are in receipt of the full EMA even though their actual household income might be tens of thousands a month - so long as the householder doesn't work! The scheme saw affluent – even filthy rich - families living in mansions claiming the full £30 a week.

It’s plainly wrong. And surely anyone can see that reform was required.

But Labour won't say so, since that would be to admit that it was their cock up. The Conservatives aren’t pointing this out, because there aren’t many Tory votes in reminding the comfortable that they have been milking the system of money they didn’t actually need. The Lib Dems are silent, having been thrown a bone called 'enhanced discretionary learner support' which will never emerge since anything vaguely helpful would have already been marshalled in support of the coalition policy to scrap EMA at the time.

So as I say, exasperating but unsurprising. This is perhaps the right time and a good reason to be Apolitical.

Fire extinguisher-throwing student protestor jailed

Fire extinguisher-throwing student protestor jailed

What in heaven's name is the purpose in jailing 18 year old Edward Woollard for 32 months? Thirty two months - that's two years and 8 months - for lobbing a fire extinguisher on a demo. He's hurt no-one.

Commander Bob Broadhurst the Metropolitan Police Service's head of public order said:

"This sentence is a significant period of imprisonment for a young man with no previous convictions. It will have a significant impact on his life and his future."

Too bloody right it will! How to alienate an otherwise nice kid for a lifetime? Surely a week in the cells would have been enough put the fear of God into him?

Where is the sense in locking him up for so long? He's hardly a danger to the public. His mum even got him to fess up...she won't do that again! Neither will many other nice right thinking parents.

Compare this with people in so called positions of trust, such as "at least seven-and-a-half years in jail before being considered for parole" for Stephen Mitchell, the policeman, who raped and sexually assaulted vulnerable women while on duty. Or dishonest MP, David Chaytor who gets 18 months for thieving more than £20,000 from the taxpayer.

What a topsy turvey world we live in...