Category - News

Sexism is a One-Way Street

Black Adder III - the one with fake bosomsFollowing on nicely from that previous story about someone playing the “offended little woman” card against some hapless male on a web forum, this story came in as if to emphasise the ridiculousness of the situation in this country regarding women and their “rights”.

A female police chief – obviously in the role because of her previous skills out on the streets pulling armed robbers and other dangerous criminals, and not (God forbid) because of her gender – exposed her breasts to a junior female officer she had appointed herself.

Assistant Chief Constable Rebekah Sutcliffe, of Greater Manchester Police (GMP), told Superintendent Sarah Jackson that her “credibility was zero” after she had a “boob job” and berated her as a “laughing stock” who would be judged professionally “on the size of her tits”.

She then went on to pull down the front of her dress to expose her left breast and say: “Look at these, look at these, these are the breasts of someone who has had three children.

“They are ugly but I don’t feel the need to pump myself full of silicone to get self-esteem.”

The diatribe concluded when she told Jackson that she would not support further promotion for her.

Can you imagine what would have happened if a senior male officer had done that to a male subordinate (exposing any part of his body)? He’d be mopping floors next to Rolf Harris in ten minutes flat. Sutcliffe, on the other hand, has been treated somewhat differently, and I am sure that her “punishment” will only be a temporary obstacle in her rise through the ranks, since she has somehow managed to keep her job.

The “mitigating circumstances” crap common to any court case where some weasel is trying to get a reduced sentence is also enlightening.

Ms Sutcliffe’s counsel, John Beggs QC, had handed the panel more than 200 pages of testimonials with many officers speaking of Ms Sutcliffe as “inspirational”, “visionary” and “a strong leader”.

One unnamed female detective chief inspector at GMP said she is “a role model to many women in the organisation”.

Mr Beggs said she remained a role model, with “human frailties”, who would “emerge as an even impressive senior leader” if allowed to.

There you have it. Her preferential promotion was purely because she is a woman, and her pathetic punishment is so that other women aren’t offended en masse. And her future career is pretty much guaranteed. A male cop, on the other hand, would lose his job just for calling someone “dear” or “love”.

I wonder if men will wake up and smell the coffee before it permanently becomes the scent of organic cranberry, rose, and sweet vanilla tea? 

Theresa May is a Joke

Theresa May and Donald TrumpTheresa May has spent the whole time since she became PM absolutely refusing to give details of her plans for Brexit, and refusing equally absolutely to involve parliament in the whole affair.

UK Courts previously ruled that Parliament must be involved. Theresa May appealed that decision, and after yesterday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the original decision, she is now quoted as saying:

I recognise that there is an appetite in this House to see that plan set out in a White Paper. I can confirm to the House that our plan will be set out in a White Paper published in this House.

The words ‘cow’ and ‘two-faced’ spring instantly to mind. This is precisely the opposite of what she has been saying since last summer, and which she went to court to try to maintain.

Furthermore, when Theresa May came to power, the likelihood of Donald Trump becoming president of the USA was seen as being as likely as Hell freezing over. I do not think – for even a second – that Theresa May wanted Trump in the White House, and I am equally certain that behind closed doors she made the same comments that the rest of the world was making. If nothing else, we can be absolutely certain that, given the choice, she would not have wanted Trump.

But Hell froze over twice in 2016 – once with Brexit, and then with Trump – and will go down in history as a turning point, in much the same way that 1914 and 1939 were turning points. Therefore, it is sickening that May is now kissing up to Trump.

Every single thing Donald Trump said or did during his election campaign went against the morals of huge swathes of people. Indeed, the only people in America who he didn’t insult were the same sorts of people who voted to leave the EU in the UK (with the exception of women, who he insulted every time he opened his mouth). American Redneck males love him. And that’s all, folks.

Trump has more recently claimed that “water-boarding” – a type of torture used on people to make them confess to anything you want them to confess to, and which is similar to drowning them slowly – works. Torture is illegal under both US and International Law. He intends to build a wall between Mexico and the US, in a chilling echo of Berlin in 1961. He has already started moving on controversial oil pipelines through Native American territory – still more chilling echoes, this time of the White Man’s advance through the Americas in the 1700s and 1800s. Trump is also a climate change denier, and has recently ordered the American Environmental Protection  Agency (EPA) to delete all data relating to climate change from its website (he has previously claimed that climate change is a Chinese hoax).

Then we come to Trump’s comments relating to women (well, anyone who isn’t heterosexual and male, really). To be sure, some of his quips would be innocuous on their own. However, every single one of them takes on a whole new meaning when you consider them all together, and especially when you remember that they have come repeatedly from the mouth of a man who is now President of the USA.

Just as you don’t need to be a genius to know with absolute certainty what Theresa May thought of Trump as a prospective White House candidate, or her reaction when he won, you also don’t need to guess very hard to imagine Trump’s view of Theresa May – past or present.

Theresa May broadcasting that she wants to cosy up to Trump in spite of all of this is simply an example of two desperate people looking for support. May is trying to screw the UK, and Trump is trying to screw the US. Neither realises it – but the shocking thing is that the public as a whole doesn’t realise it, either. That’s why we have May and Brexit this side of the pond, and Trump and… well, you can’t really put him into words… on  the other.

Brexit is wrong. Trump is wrong. And God help us all.

Still a Glimmer of Hope

EU/UK FlagsThe government has lost its appeal against having to put the decision to trigger Article 50 to Parliament.

Let’s not forget:

  • allowing morons to vote on EU membership in the first place was the worst decision any government has ever made in this country
  • Britain is part of Europe
  • It should also be a member of Europe
  • the days of the “British” sneering at foreigners should have been forced into the dustbin of history and left there

If only someone would grow a backbone and reverse this idiotic “decision” to leave. The narrow ‘leave’ vote was based entirely on prejudice, hatred, and sheer ignorance by those who cast their votes that way.

M1 To Get 60 mph Limit

MotorwayActually, it’s only a small section of the M1 – near Sheffield – but the media likes to distort these things.

I wrote about this subject a few years ago. That was at a time where they had only recently been talking about raising the speed limit! My main point was that although cars emit less pollution when driven at 60mph instead of 70mph, they they take longer to pass through a given area at 60mph, so the reduction in pollution is pretty much negligible. It’s a case of comparing a quick but pungent fart with a longer, less smelly one.

The other thing I think I mentioned is the stench when you drive on the M1 past Sheffield and the wind is in the right direction. And it doesn’t come from cars – it’s from the factories around there, and a smell like that isn’t going to contain anything that is good for you.

An even greater irony this time around is that London is currently in the grip of an extremely poor period of air quality. They haven’t quite got round to blaming it on cars and lorries yet – that’s been done before – but at the moment the most direct blame has been placed at the feet of pretentious people burning wood during the cold weather (though that detail seems to have been removed from some reports).

Learners on Motorways – Update

Intelligent InstructorThis month’s Intelligent Instructor magazine talks of the “reaction” to government proposals to allow learners on to the motorways. Just for the record, I – as an objective and… well, I won’t say ‘intelligent’, but let’s just say ‘more so than plankton’ observer – think it is a good and long overdue change (if it happens).

Ingenie is a an insurance company for young drivers. Statistically, it’s users seem to be about 75% female. So opinions by its members are therefore predominantly those of young, recently-passed females. And you have nonsense such as this:

Stupid idea it’s bad enough on the roads but on a fast moving motorway it’s ridiculous dual controls or not. I’ve seen some shocking and dangerous moves from learners which instructors should have taken control of but they don’t. Lorraine

As a driver I do not think it’s a good idea. Motorways are dangerous, high speed areas and definitely not suitable for learners. Paulina

Like there’s not enough accidents on motorways as it is without the added ‘mistakes’ from learners. Don’t get me wrong, we all have to start somewhere but jeez, bad call. Megan

The ink is still wet on these people’s licences, so anything they say should be taken with a pinch… no, wait. Anything they say should be completely ignored. They probably voted for Brexit, for God’s sake, and then had to look up what ‘Europe’ meant.

The only real danger on motorways is from Audi and BMW drivers, and from people like Lorraine, Megan, and Paulina, who seem to have a girly fit over the whole issue whenever it crops up. Motorways themselves do not have any intrinsic danger associated with them – all they are is fairly straight 70mph roads with blue signs instead of green or white ones. The fact that learners have never been allowed on them means that a mystique has grown up around them, which people like Lorraine, Megan, and Paulina easily latch on to. More dangerous, by far, are rural roads, with lots of twists and turns which makes them intrinsically dangerous. This danger is exacerbated by the same Audis and BMWs which create problems wherever they drive, and by the inexperienced Lorraines, Megans, and Paulinas of this world (especially if, as some do, they aspire to such behaviour themselves).

It’s very telling that ‘Lorraine’ thinks she’s perfect, and that all learners are not, and I can just imagine her reaction if she is driving behind one (she’s just pretty much said it herself). Both Megan and Paulina are extremely misinformed people – so badly misinformed that you wonder how they got licences in the first place.

Actual data – that’s real information, not made up stuff from Lorraine, Megan, and Paulina – show clearly that there are seven times more casualties on rural roads compared with motorways. The number of fatalities is ten times that on motorways.

The bottom line is that driving instructors should be able to teach learners on every type of road they will drive on once they pass their tests. Having motorways out of the equation for reasons lost in the mists of time is just bloody stupid, and the only real problem here is that some ADIs wouldn’t go near a motorway purely for their own selfish reasons (i.e. saving money on fuel). Come to think of it, some of those ADIs don’t take their pupils on rural roads for similar reasons, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least if I found out that ‘perfect’ Lorraine and her buddies weren’t taught on those, either.

Hellboy 3 On The Cards?

Hellboy and Abe SapienLet’s hope so. This story suggests that Guillermo del Toro is up for making a third Hellboy film.

The only thing stopping it is the small matter of getting $120 million funding.

The first two were brilliant pieces of escapism – the second one in particular – so it would be great to see a third instalment. Del Toro is a genius when it comes to this sort of thing – if you haven’t seen Pan’s Labyrinth, then you really should.

GBP Hits New Low

GBP vs USB - 11 Jan 2017I just did a quick check of the exchange of the GBP versus USD and noted that it is currently at a new 30-year low of $1.206. The previous low was in early October last year at around $1.211.

And still the retards who voted to leave the EU are convincing themselves that everything will be all right.

It won’t. And it’s going to get much worse.

Oh, and one more thing. If it wasn’t for Donald Trump and his influence on the strength of the USD, GBP would probably be much lower than this.


Oh dear! Just had a look now, and pre-trading movement shows it off the side of another cliff – it’s down at 1.200, probably as a result of Theresa May’s continued incompetence and determination to destroy the country.GBP vs USD - late 15 January

WE must remain in the EU. When will they realise this, and decide to overrule the halfwits who voted to leave?

Alexa, Ignore This Next Bit…

Three Wise MonkeysThis is funny. You’ve probably come across the various ‘assistants’ which respond to your voice on today’s computers and smartphones. One of the biggest at the moment is Alexa, Amazon’s assistant, and it comes with the Amazon Echo – a device that personally I can’t see the point of, but it appears quite a few other people can.

The Echo is a smart speaker system which listens continuously and responds to your voice commands. It does apparently useful things like play music, create ‘to-do’ lists, sets alarms, and provide weather and travel information. The same stuff you can do with a few mouse clicks or thumb twiddles. Except that it costs about £150.

This story from America tells how a San Diego news station was reporting on how a six-year old child had cost her parents a lot of money by accidentally ordering things via the family’s Echo device. She apparently said “can you play dollhouse with me and get me a dollhouse?” and shortly a $160 dollhouse and 4 lbs of biscuits arrived in the post.

During the report, the reporter said “I love the little girl, saying ‘Alexa ordered me a dollhouse’.”

The first problem is that in order to trigger the Echo – specifically, Alexa, which is the assistant running on it – you have to address it by name – Alexa – and then it listens. The second problem is that it turns out voice-controlled online ordering is activated by default on the Echo account. The third problem is that anyone who is prepared to pay £150 for a small mono-speaker employing technology that tries to be human but isn’t is not going to be the sharpest blade in the knife drawer, and will not have changed any of the default settings.

So when the reporter uttered the words “Alexa ordered me a dollhouse”, Echo devices all over San Diego, which were also listening to the show, immediately ignored the grammatical tense and began ordering dollhouses for their owners. CW-6 News said “plenty” of viewers’ boxes had placed orders.

Which is another reason I don’t want one. Mind you, I did look into it a few months ago before I knew how much they cost.

All The Legends Are Disappearing

Peter SarstedtLast year seemed to have been a terrible year for legendary artists dying. It looks like 2017 isn’t going to give up on the trend, as I just read that Peter Sarstedt has died.

When I was very young, one of my earliest memories was of his hit ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’. In fact, I watched it on a BBC compilation just the other night.

Thanks for the great memories, Peter. RIP.

Incidentally, there will be people out there ready to take the piss when they see that video. A comment by someone under that YouTube video says it all, though.

I am 16 and this is one of my favourite songs along with Life on Mars, Sunny Afternoon and all the “classics”. To everyone on here commenting about how they remember buying this when it first came out – you are so fortunate to have experienced this live and at a time of such iconic music! Listening to these incredible songs almost makes me feel as if I lived a little slice of it myself… I’m not bashing the music of my generation, though, because I like lots of that too, but there is something timeless about this era which I really hope is treasured and never fades away.

There’s hope for humanity, after all.

Learners to be Allowed on Motorways – Act III

A two-legged stoolThis email alert just came through from DfT. It’s about allowing learner drivers on motorways.

Let’s just take a time-out here before we get all excited. This precise subject has kicked off at least twice in the last 10 years, and each time it was put across as ‘definitely going to happen’. Changes to government killed it stone dead both times, just as it has the various other times it’s kicked off going back further still.

This current government is about as stable as a two-legged stool as a result of Brexit and Theresa May’s unbelievably bad appointments to both the Cabinet and other posts, and her obvious inability to see how ‘Brexit’ and ‘business as normal’ are mutually exclusive. It isn’t going to survive past one term at best, and even if it does it’s going to have a lot on its plate. This particular issue will be way down the list, and quite frankly – and disappointingly – I can see it sinking without trace just like it does every other time.

Having said that, I really hope that I’m wrong. Allowing learners on to motorways is massively overdue, and I would welcome it.

The proposals would mean that only ADIs in cars fitted with dual controls would be allowed to conduct motorway lessons. Roof boxes (advertising the school) would not be allowed, because they can (and do sometimes) blow off at speed. Motorway lessons would be ‘voluntary’ – I’m not 100% certain what that means, but it’s probably a get-out clause for people who don’t live anywhere near a motorway (and, unfortunately, those ADIs who – through every fault of their own – can’t afford the fuel for the additional miles a motorway lesson would entail, and who wouldn’t do them even if they could).

There is a consultation in that link I gave for people to add their own comments.