The Thailand expat forum for Travel, Lifestyle and Fun.

astasinim

__________________
I aint superstitious, but I know when somethings wrong
I`ve been dragging my heels with a bitch called hope
Let the undercurrent drag me along.

lysander

And the email happens to be complete bullshit. 5 minutes googling will lead you to the websites of the Red Arrows and 2012 London Olympics Committe both of which deny this categorically. I'd post the links myself but apparently I'm not allowed to until I reach the dizzy height of 5 posts. Mind you it does prove that The Sun is still capable of arousing the peasantry to indiscriminate fury.

astasinim

^
Correct.

This is the info the government E-petition site.

The e-petition asking the Prime Minister to "to Allow the Red Arrows to Fly at the 2012 Olympics" is ongoing. This is a response in advance of the closing date from the Government

This allegation is not true. The Government has not banned the Red Arrows from the London 2012 Olympic Games. The organising committee of London 2012 will decide what to include in the Opening Ceremony and other celebrations - but with almost five years to go, decisions are yet to be made on what these will look like.

And of course the Red Arrows played a memorable role in the celebrations for 2012, when they flew over Trafalgar Square to mark London winning the Games.

gjbkk

I posted tis earlier in the news section, I should hjave posted it here (SORRY)

Phone calls database considered








Ministers are to consider plans for a database of electronic information holding details of every phone call and e-mail sent in the UK, it has emerged.

The plans, reported in the Times, are at an early stage and may be included in the draft Communications Bill later this year, the Home Office confirmed.
A Home Office spokesman said the data is a "crucial tool" for protecting national security and prevent crime.

Ministers have not seen the plans which were drawn up by Home Office officials.
A Home Office spokesman said: "The Communications Data Bill will help ensure that crucial capabilities in the use of communications data for counter-terrorism and investigation of crime continue to be available.

"These powers will continue to be subject to strict safeguards to ensure the right balance between privacy and protecting the public."


The spokesman said changes need to be made to the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 "to ensure that public authorities can continue to obtain and have access to communications data essential for counter-terrorism and investigation of crime purposes".

A number of data protection failures in recent months, including the loss of a CD carrying the personal details of every child benefit claimant, have embarrassed the government.

The plans are likely to provoke outrage among civil liberty groups and some political figures.

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne called the proposals "an Orwellian step too far".

He said ministers had "taken leave of their senses if they think that this proposal is compatible with a free country and a free people".

"Given the appalling track record of data loss, this state is simply not to be trusted with such private information," said Mr Huhne.

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and then there was this >>>>>


Why are so many Britons emigrating?


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/yourview/1990148/Why-are-so-many-Britons-emigrating.html


The Office of National Statistics is expected to release figures later today showing that more than Two million Britons emigrate in 10 years

In the same year, over 500,000 foreign nationals arrived in the UK, which gives a total of almost four million immigrants over a decade.

Why are so many Britons emigrating?

Is it the prospect of a better life elsewhere, or are British citizens repelled by life in their native land?

Has globalisation made it easier to settle abroad?

__________________
I can resist everything except temptation!

gjbkk

Fined for putting bin out early
A woman has been fined £265 for putting her bins out a few hours early.
Single mum Zoe Watmough from Horwich, Lancashire was initially fined £75 when her bin was spotted by council workers.
She refused to pay the fine and was taken to court, reports The Sun.
Zoe was told she was fined because the council's rules state that bins should not be out before 7.30am on the day of collection in case they are torched by yobs.
The 22-year-old said: "I'm flabbergasted. Surely they should be targeting the vandals."
Zoe was fined as she put two bins in the alley behind her home the day before collection day.
When she refused to pay the fixed penalty inside 14 days she was taken to court where she got a £125 fine, ordered to pay £125 costs and £15 surcharge for victims of crime.
She said: "There are people committing all sorts of crimes and getting away with it, yet I have to go to court for this, it's ridiculous.
"All I did was put my rubbish out the night before it was due to be collected. Surely households up and down the country do that every week."
A Bolton council spokesman said Zoe was warned about the rubbish before she was fined.
The spokesman added: "Prosecution is always a last resort and is used to safeguard the public and to prevent bin fires and other crime.
"It costs the council £1,900 to deal with each bin fire."

bkkandrew

Did it not occur to said spokesman to catch and prosectute those setting fire to things would be the more effective way of 'protecting the public'..?

Oh, and McBroon's lot have just been trounced in Crew and Nantwich, with a swing of 17%, turning a Labour majority of 7000 into a Tory majority of 8000...

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The future of TeakDoor:


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A funny thing happened today - Ant trolls, stalks, prevokes and generally upsets approximately 15 members of the board, yet Noodles goes to jail. Perhaps it was a dream...
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gjbkk

Bins 'too heavy for binmen'


A council has asked householders to partially empty their own bins to prevent binmen hurting themselves.

Letters have been sent to residents in the Craven area of North Yorkshire asking them to remove a container for glass and cans from inside the bins.

It states: "It would take a lot of strain out of the job for our staff", adding it would reduce injury risks.

A council spokeswoman said people were not obliged if they were unable to, reports the Daily Mail.

The request will be given to all 9,500 householders who use the council's triple bin recycling scheme - where residents have a large main bin for paper and card, containing two 50-litre compartments for glass and cans.

The council said a review of its health and safety procedures found lifting the rubbish was having a "negative effect" on its staff.

The move has been angrily condemned by residents, in an area which has a large elderly population.

Mark Wallace, campaign director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: "This is a total dog's dinner. Do the council really expect pensioners to lug around bottles rather than the binmen doing it?"

One resident, Julie Ward, 40, of Cross Hills, near Keighley, said: "When I think about it, I just crack up laughing. I think the binmen are being lazy.

"It's just so annoying that we've got to start doing half their job for them. They are worried that this work might hurt them, but I don't think they've thought about how it might hurt a quite old person to pull these pods out."



I just dont know what to say

Scooter

Hey Go Sister



Yeah loved it !!!1

Many issues in the film.

gjbkk

Taxi driver banned from driving... because he can't use apostrophes

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:18 AM on 31st May 2008

As an experienced cabbie, Laurence Kirk knows his home town like the back of his hand.

But he has been refused permission to resume his old job - because he isn't sure where to place an apostrophe.

He was denied a private hire driver's licence after failing an English exam designed to test his grammar.



Laurence Kirk is being prevented from rejoining the taxi driving ranks



'It's barmy,' said Mr Kirk, a 50-year-old grandfather. 'I have spoken to a number of taxi firms and they are screaming out for drivers. There are so few coming through because of this bureaucracy.'

Mr Kirk was a taxi driver in Bournemouth six years ago but had to give it up because of family commitments.

His private-hire licence has since expired and so he applied to Bournemouth Borough Council for a new one but was told he would have to take a three-hour test.

It was a GCSE English exam, which consisted of 40 questions covering six pages. Mr Kirk, a former scaffolder and roofer, got a mark of 60 per cent - the pass rate was 70.

He said: 'The last time I went to school was 35 years ago and I didn't pass my exams then. If I couldn't pass them then what chance had I of passing one now?
'Most of the questions were, "Where does the apostrophe or semi-colon go in this sentence?" or, "Here are four sentences but which is the right way of writing it?"
'I did my best but it was not enough. So now I can't drive a taxi because I don't know where an apostrophe goes.'

Mr Kirk must now attend a taxpayer funded, four-week, part-time college course studying GCSE English before he can re-sit the exam.





He said: 'It took me one hour to go to the bank and arrange a £14,000 loan to buy a car so I can earn a living but it is taking me months to get my licence.'
Mr Kirk, from Branksome, Poole, added: 'When I got my licence six years ago I filled in some forms, had a medical and then had a driving test to prove I knew the area and they passed me.'

Bournemouth is the first authority to insist on cab drivers taking a Business and Technical Education Council qualification in 'Transporting Passengers By Taxi and Private Hire'.

In March, the Mail reported that more than 100 cabbies had been suspended after refusing to sign up for college sessions which included advice on how to lift luggage, talk to passengers - and even how to comb their hair.

Steve Wright, principal licensing officer for the council, said the English exam was a way to evaluate the level of support the drivers will need to take the BTEC.


'The test allows us to assess the candidate's abilities and understanding to enable us to offer the right support in order to fulfil the further requirements in gaining their licence. These include a local knowledge test as well as the BTEC required by the council.'

The BTEC for taxi drivers was introduced by the exam board Edexcel in 2005 with the help of the Department for Transport.

It is up to individual authorities to decide whether or not to adopt it as a requirement.


The 50-year-old failed an English grammar test

good2bhappy

There is hope yet.
He can come to Thailand and teach English!

Agent_Smith

Too bad he probably failed that, too.

stroller

Well, they've been moaning and complaining about the immigrants who can't speak English, and the Pakis taking the jobs of the locals - this is what you get.

The Brits themselves failing English language tests? - fancy that!

Morden

One strike back for sanity,

'... they announced on the news that councils have taken millions of pounds in traffic fines when they shouldn't have and have been told that they should give the money back. It relates to parking bays that have been painted too small, yellow boxes on the road which have been illegally sited by the council and one council has taken nearly £400 000 in fines for a pedestrianised area which is not clearly marked and cars have driven down it!'

(Extract from an email from a friend in England)

jizzybloke

The place gets worse!


LONDON (Reuters) - Police are investigating the deaths of a five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl who are believed to have been stabbed in south London, Scotland Yard said on Saturday.

A third child, a six-month-old baby, is suffering from suspected stab wounds and in a critical condition in hospital.
All three children were found at a home in Carshalton on Friday evening after police and the London Ambulance Service were called, but the five-year-old and the four-year-old died later in hospital.
A 39-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman have been arrested and officers from the Homicide and Serious Crime Command and the Child Abuse Investigation Command have launched an investigation.
Police were questioning a couple after two young children died from suspected stab wounds and a baby was seriously injured.


A five-year-old boy and a four-year-old girl died in hospital after being found injured at their home in Carshalton, south-east London. A six-month-old girl was found in the same house with stab injuries and is seriously ill in hospital.
The couple, a 39-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman, are believed to be parents of all three children and are being held at police stations in the capital.
Neighbours described paramedics carrying the children out of the two-bedroom detached house in Park Lane just after 10.30pm on Friday night.
One told of an "horrific" scene as paramedics tried to revive a "limp little body". The woman, who did not want to be named, saw a "tiny bundle" carried out of the suburban home. "It was obviously a child," she said. "It's horrific for something like this to happen here."
The £300,000 two-bedroom property was taped off as officers carried out an examination of the scene. Neighbours said the couple were thought to be from the Tamil areas of Sri Lanka and had moved to the suburb in the last year.
Sen Gupta, who lives opposite, described seeing friends or relatives crying and screaming when they learnt of the deaths.
"When it happened a group of people, also Sri Lankan, came to the house very soon after the police arrived.
"They were pacing up and down outside for a while. They said they had lived in the house with the couple but moved out because of problems. The police came out and spoke to them. They must have been telling them the children had died because they started screaming and crying."
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers were called to the house at 10.30pm. Post-mortem examinations on the two victims are expected to be carried out early next week.

__________________
I can only please one person a day..... .......and today ain't your fuckin' day!

gjbkk

Now dustmen won't take your rubbish away if wheelie bin is too heavy to pull with two fingers

By Vanessa Allen
Last updated at 11:14 PM on 06th June 2008

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Binmen have put two fingers up to common sense by issuing an astonishing warning to council-tax payers.
'If we can't pull your wheelie bin using just two fingers it is too heavy - and won't be emptied.'
Bins that need three or more fingers, they claim, constitute a health and safety risk as they could fall from the lorry while being emptied.
The edict from binmen is the latest salvo in a continuing battle between householders and bureaucracy.
It comes only days after the Daily Mail reported how widowed pensioner June Kay, 79, had been told to drag a 360-litre wheelie bin more than half a mile down a steep hill if she wanted it emptied.
The two-finger policy was discovered by Katie Shergold in the historic market town of Warminster, Wiltshire.

Scroll down for more



Two fingers: Katie Shergold is outraged by the council's refusal to collect her 'heavy' bin

She watched in disbelief as binmen stuck a 'too heavy to move' sticker on her bin of grass cuttings, just 6ft from their lorry.
Yet 5ft 4in Mrs Shergold, 26, had wheeled the bin round to the front of her house without any difficulty.
She called West Wiltshire District Council, which confirmed the two-finger test rule.
'It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life,' said Miss Shergold, a health care assistant at Warminster Hospital.
'I work really long hours at the hospital to earn my money, but I have to part with more than £100 each month in council tax.
'It's absolutely disgusting that we're being charged for this service but not receiving anything in return.'


More...

• Frail pensioner told she must drag her wheelie bin half a mile to get it emptied
• War veteran, 96, has rubbish uncollected for two weeks for 'crime' of putting two jars in wrong bin
• Father of four taken to court and fined ... because he overfilled his wheelie-bin by just four inches

West Wiltshire District Council denied there was an official 'two-finger' policy but admitted its binmen used the test - putting one index finger in each of the bin's handles - to check the weight.
It said heavy bins posed a safety threat as they could break the collection truck's hydraulic lifting system, or topple off while they were being emptied, potentially injuring one of the collectors.
Mrs Shergold discovered the two-finger rule because she was at her home in a town centre cul-de-sac when the binmen arrived.
She said: 'I was sitting in the living room and saw the binmen having a look at my green bin on the pavement, then tipping it back onto its wheels.
'The next thing I knew, they'd moved on to my neighbour's house and my green bin hadn't been emptied.
'I went outside to see what was going on and there was a sticker on it saying it was too heavy to move.
'I was astonished - I had been able to wheel it out there in the first place very easily.
'If I could move it by myself, these guys certainly could.


Be careful: Katie Shergold tugs her bin with two fingers... but according to her local council she could be in danger if she needs a third
'These were big men and it was only 6ft from their lorry and contained nothing but grass, but they just left it there on the pavement.
'I phoned the council to tell them what had happened, but instead of apologising they told me it was normal for binmen to leave bins they couldn't pull with two fingers'.
Mrs Shergold said she eventually took the cuttings to a local tip to stop them rotting in the bin.

But she said she and her husband Leigh, 31, were left disgusted by the binmen's attitude - and the response of the council - when they pay £130 in council tax each month.
She said: 'If I hadn't taken the grass cuttings to the tip myself they'd still be here outside our windows, stinking to high heaven.'
Nicole Smith, spokesman for West Wiltshire District Council, said: 'Focsa, our waste contractors, are unable to empty wheeled bins that are too heavy, due to the safety risk of the bin falling from the vehicle's lifting gear during emptying.
'If, at any time, a bin is considered by the operatives to be overloaded, a sticker will be placed on the lid letting the householder know that they have been unable to take the bin.
'If any resident has had a 'heavy' sticker left on the bin then they will be required to remove some of the contents for it to be emptied.'
The two-finger edict is the latest in a string of bizarre rulings that have exasperated householders across the country, especially with millions facing sharply rising council tax bills.

Pensioner Mrs Kay, who pays more than £2,000 a year in council tax at her home in Bolton by Bowland, Lancashire, now has to make a 25-minute round trip from the main road to drop off her rubbish.
In Plymouth, council officials want families to name somebody as the person in charge of their rubbish.
They would then be the one to face £100 fines - and potentially a criminal record - if refuse is found in the wrong bins, or the bins are put out too soon or left in the wrong place.
Last month residents in Skipton, North Yorkshire, were told to empty their bins themselves - to reduce the risk of binmen getting injured.
Craven District Council officials wrote to thousands of householders asking them to help 'take a lot of the strain out of the job'.
The move followed a health and safety review.
Also last month, war veteran Lenny Woodward, 95, was told that binmen would no longer collect his rubbish because he had put a ketchup bottle in the wrong bin.
And in April bus driver Gareth Corkhill, 26, from Whitehaven in Cumbria, was fined £210 and given a criminal record because the amount of rubbish in his wheelie bin meant the lid was open by a few inches.



Its about time to start shooting all the council workers!

Marmite the Dog

Stop paying the council tax too.