English Yokel : December 2007

How long will they take to reach thiEfBay?

Yokel notes this BBC report:

NHS e-records programme launched

It starts "The first patients' electronic records have been uploaded to the new NHS online database.

"Around 20 GP surgeries in Bolton and Bury have added 110,000 patients' details to the system, part of the £12bn NHS IT upgrade project.

"The e-records will eventually be available to NHS staff nationwide and contain details on medical conditions, current medication and allergies."

There is plenty more to read in the article.

Just how long will it be before joined up government puts them all on a DVD (probably a bit much data to fit in a CD) and loses it. With no word of an apology, the Minister of Health in Brussels will be quoted as saying just how it emphasises the need for EU wide ID Cards.

Yokel would sooner die untreated than submit his health records to that monstrosity!

Is it dangerous to have an opinion based on sound common sense?

Yokel is beginning to have a thought. Yes, he knows that thinking is dangerous, but he is determined to proceed with having them. Not too often mind, which is why mostly he just sits.

And the thought in question is whether it is becoming dangerous to disagree with the government. Allow Yokel to hedge his bets please on whether the government in question is the national one in Brussels, or the state one in London. For if the couple of events below are related, as Yokel fears they might be, the answer to his headline question is "Yes". Disagree with the government, and you will be terminated.

In 2005 Cheshire County Council took a long hard look at their membership of the North West Regional Assembly, and decided that it was not in the interests of their tax payers to remain in membership. In 2007 the state government announced that the County of Cheshire will be abolished as an administrative entity in 2009. Whether they were acting alone, or on the orders of the national government remains to be seen.

That is fairly blatant gerrymandering, Yokel thinks. He even likens it to the abolition of all the Metropolitan County Councils, but in particular the Greater London Council, in order to make Uncle Ken find another job. But he remembers that there are several other ways of skinning this particular cat, as he has already noted a much more surreptitious way of doing just the same thing!

Yokel is wondering whether to have a wager, but as he is not a betting man it is only metaphorical: In 30 years time, will the 30 year rule have been amended to prevent publication of decisions such as these? He fears it will.

The coup d'etat continues apace.

Copyright law having a nervous breakdown?

As Yokel got further down the article the author noted that: "The announcement came two days after an Egyptian newspaper called on the hotel [the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas] to pay a share of its profits to the central Egyptian city of Luxor, which administers the ancient Valley of the Kings burial site." I'm so glad that it is not only in Britain that the press tells the government what to do!

And a Very Joyful Christmas to All

Let that message be shouted from the roof tops in this hideously politically correct country. Let Yokel say it again at the top of his voice: A VERY JOYFUL CHRISTMAS TO ALL.

It is true alas that most of the world will not understand, and will not wish to reciprocate, beyond the giving of presents.

The PC expedient of not mentioning the festival observed by the majority population of England is beginning to get on Yokel's goat a bit. Especially as the principal beneficiaries of all this left wing PC lunacy are getting ever bolder. The (il)liberal lefties are about to be rudely cast aside. How about this headline: Hate cleric Omar Bakri calls for 'ban' on Christmas 'Christmas Day would be ideal for terror attack', he says. No surprise there, it's the religion of peace, don't you know, not the religion of tolerance. Possibly not even the religion of good neighbours. Try this: Anger over plan to broadcast Muslim call to prayer on loudspeaker in Oxford. What was that saying about "When in Rome ... "? Didn't it finish "... do as the religion of peace does"? Yokel's memory must be playing him tricks as he gets older!

But there are a couple of presents that Yokel received that he wants to share with you.

The first is his own copy of Nineteen Eighty Four. As you may be aware, copyright in Canada, Australia, and Russia only lasts for 50 years beyond a person's death, so it is legal now to share his works. This web site in Canada has 1984, and this Russian site has not only lots of biography and other details, but also most of his works. Just make sure you pick the version in English, unless of course you'd prefer your chosen book in Russian, Ukrainian, or a number of other languages!

And the other present to share is a computer program written when political correctness was just an annoying stupidity of left wing politicians. It is Solway's NewSpeak translator. THere are hours of fun to be had, translating one's own thoughts, and the speeches of politicians who should know better! The image alongside is from the help file, but you will have to read it to find out where!

The Vicar of Bray (reprise)

Yokel has just noticed that Tony Blair has just announced that he has changed his brand of Christianity. Yokel is reminded of the song about the Vicar of Bray who changed sides so many times that we all lost count. In those days it was all about achieving preferment by being on the right side of the political divide, rather than about true faith in the Son of God.

And so it seems today. Tony Blair had to be an Anglican (certainly a Protestant) if he was to be Prime Minister, a Catholic appointing Bishops to the Church of England would not have gone down well! But now he is in the running for President of Europe, he has to be a Catholic. The EU Europe is a Catholic construction, and its President can be none other. Yokel is not as full of admiration as the BBC, in fact he has no admiration at all. But then we have become accepting of Blair's treachery against the people of Britain. And as for Rowan Williams wishing him well on his spiritual journey, that makes two of them who don't know their Bible. Will no-one tell the man that he is headed in the wrong direction, and that spin doctors will be unable to protect him when he must give his final account?

Yokel doesn't know whether to sit and think, or just sit, or ... ...

Isn't the British Bobby wonderful!

Yokel had a conversation with a colleague who had driven "Up North" one day, attended to a small amount of business that required his attention in person, and then travelled back "Down South" the next. Half way back he pulled into one of these roadside services areas (it was an A road, not a motorway) and he was followed in by a car that turned out to be an unmarked police car. The officer got out of his car and came over. He pointed out that the colleagues rear number plate was not legible. Too true given the mileage he had done in the course of the day and a half, and the amount of salt that the Highways people had been busy throwing on the road. Ah but, countered the copper, look around this car park, none of the other vehicles are so obscured. Thanks for telling me, I'll sort it out. No, says the copper, I think we'll sort this out properly, don't you? And out came the penalty tickets, £30 payable in 28 days.

Pause for a moment and reflect on another incident, this time in India. Yokel travelled there on business, and one of his contacts turned out to be a keen rider of motorbikes. He always kept a largish US dollar bill in the top pocket of his leathers. Why? When you get stopped by the traffic police, whatever defence you've got to the initial reaason they say they stopped you for, there's always another thing to get you on. So he had to resort to the Indian way of dealing with these matters.

Is that what the UK police system is trying to develop? Not necessarily the officers, but their managers, and the politicians who drive them. They seem to be working towards a policy of arrest you for anything, punish you for everything, all automatically driven by computers and targets. Given that decriminalised parking enforcement Parking Wardens are said by some to be on commission, this is one of those situations when Yokel doesn't want to sit and think!

So back to Yokel's colleague in the service area, smarting from a £30 ticket. Oh says the copper: no conviction, no points on your licence, so thats OK then. But seeing as how you have just committed a moving traffic offence, he continues, I am now permitted to require you to take a breath test. It is the season for such things isn't it, he smarmed. Even when Officer Plod could see that the reading was zero, he still kept on trying to keep Yokel's colleague on edge, real pantomome comedian's timing, it seems.

And then they wonder why the middle classes, normally law abiding folk, are becoming alienated. Its not just the arrogant attitude in this episode, but also things like the DNA database, the obtrusive references to Criminal Records Bureau at every opportunity, and the political correctness that forbids them from catching real criminals. Yokel had better go away and just sit for a while before his apoplexy takes hold again.

Picture credit: BBC

Yokel's Day Out in The Smoke

Well, to be true, it wasn't so much a day out, as a working day in London that had a break in it. So Yokel took the opportunity to see a couple of the sights he hadn't seem before.

The first was to catch a glimpse of the London Eye, said to be one of the most important features of the capital city. What is it about a country when one of the most important features of their capital city is a giant fairground ferris wheel? It was only put up as a temporary structure to mark the start of the 21st Century. Seems to have put down some fairly substantial roots. Will we never be rid of the monstrosity?

Then there was City Hall. The former London County Council (LCC), and subsequently the Greater London Council (GLC) were run from a building called County Hall on the south bank of the Thames opposite and along a bit from Parliament. By the time Ken Livingstone came back for his second bite at blighting the lives of Londoners, County Hall was firmly in the private sector, and could not be recovered to be his administration base. So they had to build new, and a site on the river bank by Tower Bridge was chosen, because it was out of sight of Parliament!

They chose Norman Foster as the architect, and they got a Norman Foster building. Yokel had seen the photographs, and heard the words of praise from those who like their buildings to be "exciting". But until the other day, he had never seen it in real life.

It was a cold wet gloomy overcast day, the sort of thing that London does well. City Hall had been one of the early buildings on the site, so all the publicity photographs could fairly easily make this 10 storey structure look big and important. These days however, it is surrounded by other buildings for which the developers could afford to go a bit higher, so already Yokel's first impressions were of a building out of place. Of course the leaning structure had been described as bold, but it struck Yokel as being more like a steak and kidney pudding that had fallen apart as it was turned out of the pudding basin!

One of the (un)official nicknames for the building is Foster's Nutsack. Yokel imagines that such imagery is related to Foster's other recent building in London, the tower building now occupied by the insurance firm Swiss Re, which is delicately known as the Erotic Gherkin!

But closer inspection as dusk fell really opened Yokel's eyes. That set of spirals, whatever their artistic purpose, look like the water chutes that they install in swimming pools to distract the kids from learning to swim. Right from the top of the building to the bottom they go! And Yokel could see them from the outside when looking in from the river side of the building. But the office accommodation is set round the rest of the building. You know those glass bricks they put in Public Conveniences to let the light in, but in a vain attempt to stop the vandals from completely destroying the building?

Well as darkness fell, and lights came on inside the building, it seemed that the walls were made of similar structures. Yokel is aware that they are not, but it just looked like it.

So having characterised City Hall as a cross between a Water Fun Splash Pool and a 10 storey public loo, Yokel decided that the country was indeed a better place to be, so he took himself off to the railway station for a ride on the SECR (Slow Easy and Comfortable Railway)*, where he could sit and think all the way home. Sit and think about why the man who seems to consider himself Prime Minister of the London Region should want to set up his government in such a building. But then images of the Berlaymont Building occupied by our central government began to haunt Yokel. So he just sat for a while, instead.

But later on the journey Yokel was thinking about the new uses of the old County Hall: art gallery, hotel, business offices, etc. He wondered what new uses could be found for that great ediface across St Margaret St and Old Palace Yard from Westminster Abbey. It would be a shame to have to demolish the building once all its functions are transferred elsewhere. Museum to the former concept of democracy?

*Before the railway grouping of 1923, there was already a peace treaty struck between the London Chatham and Dover Railway and the South Eastern Railway companies. They had been fighting a ruinous war over the same parts of the South East. Whilst they never formally merged, they traded jointly as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway Companies. This is the area where trains are currently operated by the franchise South Eastern. In those days (the early decades of the 20th century) it was quite normal for company initials to acquire a second and often jaundiced set of words. Others on the railway systems included the "Late Never Early Railway", and the self styled arrogance of "God's Wonderful Railway"!

Picture credits to: Galinsky,  Great Buildings,  John Goto, and Art of the State.

Has the Media lost interest in the Europe Treaty already?

It was last Thursday, wasn't it, that all of Europe's great and good trooped off to Lisbon for lunch. Those that got there in plenty of time signed the guest book before they went to eat, but one straggler had to do it afterwards. But sign they all did. Sorry, it wasn't a guest book at all, it was an-amending-treaty- that-when-all-the-amendments-are-made- will-have-the-same-effect-as-the- Constitution-that-was-rejected-by-the-citizens-of-Europe-and-is-now-dead that they signed.

Like it or not, and Yokel doesn't like it, there is now nothing that can be done short of a miraculous answer to prayer. Almost all the politicians in the Commons and the Lords are career politicians, and so will scent the aroma of a very good gravy train here. Yes, they will have lots of pretend arguments to look good to the voters, but in the end they will let the whole thing through because it is just too valuable to their own self interest. Why else will they sign away the UK's independence?

But as Yokel writes this on Saturday, it seems to his addled brain that the signing was only two days ago. Surely an event as momentous as this would be bubbling around for days as everyone tried to say their two penn'orth. With great anticipation for what would surely be some fairly belligerent reporting for both sides, Yokel cranked up Firefox and went for a look at the British newspaper sites. It was really hard work to find anything much about Europe at all, and there was even less about this failure of a Constitution! So Yokel hit upon the strategy of searching for the letter combination "eu" (without the quote marks) to ensure that he saw all that was to be found on the site front pages. He was working on the principle that if it is relegated to other pages, it is already not news and can be safely assumed to be off the government's agenda. As news site front pages are frequently changed, Yokel has not included any links in this post. For if you were to try to follow them, it is inevitable that you will see something different. You'll just have to take his word.

First up was the Times. Now they threw a wobbly: two matches but not for Europe. One was about their Entrepreneur Challenge, and the other was a headline starting "Adieu, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, a tricky...". No idea how it finished, Yokel didn't follow the link.

Oh well, lets try the Mirror. "Phrase not found" said the status bar. Not surprising as their top stories are all about police pay and Diana.

The Sun had two text links to entice the reader to EU stories, but the front page pictures were for stories about Maddie, Footie, and Beckham's lunch box. If you followed the EU links, you did end up with the Sun putting the knife in.

The Daily Mail was a surprise. Their only front page EU reference was a link to an article about Britain and the EU pushing for Kosovan independence. The article seems to be neutral or supportive of such a move. What they don't realise is that it is the same as the inevitable request for independent statehood for parts of Bradford, Oldham, Leicester or East London. And achieved in much the same way, migrate and multiply.

The Telegraph restricts itself to a one line text link on its front page. The link is to a set of photographs of a bit of the pageant (surely that should be pantomime) of the signing ceremony, Gordon Brown's change of neck tie, and his place for luncheon. Millibland just looked like an apprentice out of his depth!

For bit of light relief, Yokel had a look at the New Zealand Herald. They tell us "EU climbs down on key demand at Bali climate talks". Nothing changes there then! The EU is a proven lightweight in anything it touches.

Back in the UK, the Grauniad follows the Kosovo distraction story with "EU gambles on Kosovo mission" as its only front page link to an EU story.

The BBC News UK front page has text links to stories telling us that "Brown belatedly signs EU treaty" and "No 10 dismisses EU treaty 'fuss'". But Yokel didn't expect anything different from the UK Ministry of Propaganda (shades of MiniTrue?).

Sky tell us "PM: No Need For Europe Referendum" as Gordon Brown shows his Euro credentials by nipping off to Brussels to agree to EU stage management of the impending Kosovo disaster.

So here we are then. It is almost too late to refuse the invitation to join this EU monstrosity. The independence of the UK is at stake. It is just two days after the signing. And already it is yesterday's news. And EU inspired food hygiene laws now mean that you can't even use it to wrap fish & chips!

Yokel despairs. Sitting and thinking didn't do his apoplexy any good at all. So instead of exploring the news, he'll be off in due course to explore some English Real Ale. Lifted from the cellar with a proper beer engine, none of this gassy stuff thanks.

Are these "The Times" of Common Purpose?

Yokel was wondering how to break the gap imposed by his technical difficulties that were related in the previous post. Should he just do a summary of all that has gone wrong in the UK since his previous post? Should he try to comment on it all? Now that would be a task and a half! You may appreciate that Yokel still has a bank manager to feed at regular intervals, so that means it is often necessary for a work break to interrupt blogging!

For a "treat" Yokel allowed himself to wander off into websurfing land, clicking on a link here and a link there without any real searching pattern and no idea of where it would end up. The only proviso was news sites.

So what was there to be found? Yokel is not a journalist as will be only too apparent to you, dear reader. But if he understands correctly, the term used to describe a rather flattering article that has probably been carefully placed by spin doctors, is a "puff piece". And he came across just one of these articles in the JC about the new Editor of The Times. The whole piece describes this chap's meteoric rise to become the youngest ever holder of the post at the age of 38. But what caught your Yokel's eye was this paragraph:

"He was educated at The Hall Preparatory School, in Hampstead, and St Paul’s School and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, with a first-class degree in history. Together with the Common Purpose civic-action group, he has helped establish an online service - justdosomething.net - to help UK citizens to participate in public service. He has also mentored two secondary-school children in the South London borough of Southwark, and is described by friends as charismatic and charming."

So, Common Purpose gets another of its "graduates" into a position where they can ensure that only the "party line" (dis)information gets out to the common person. For whether we bloggers like it or not, most of the people in the UK only get their news and opinions from the Main Stream Media. Oh that they had their eyes opened! So the Times has become an organ of Common Purpose. A few links to the other side of Common Purpose.

There are reports in some of the links above, that Common Purpose graduates often appear to suffer more than most from mental stress and marital break-up. Yokel wonders if there is any link between his Common Purpose activities and Mr Harding's recent divorce.

Alas Yokel does not have the time at present to dig up references to the Freemasons, and how they appear to have a secret society that benefits their members above other members of the wider society of Britain. At one stage freemasonry in the police force was a cause celebre, though that has died down a bit of recent. From what Yokel has read and heard about Common Purpose, it too has the same secret society determination to look after its own to the detriment of others.

In the bad old days of the Soviet Union, the public had acquired the art of reading between the lines of the official Communist Party pronouncements. Thats where the old joke about the two offical newspapers started. Pravda (meaning truth) and Isvestia (meaning news) gave rise to the truism that there is no Pravda in Isvestia and no Isvetia in Pravda! [Well, it lost quite a lot in the translation, and even more in the explanation!] Perhaps now is the time for UK citizens to become versed in the art. Yokel wonders if it would still be legal to run a training school on identifying and disbelieving government propaganda?

Perhaps its also worth noting that at the time Yokel wrote this, justdosomething.net was still a registered internet domain name (with Network Solutions LLC and is due to expire on 10-Apr-2009), but running tracert returns "Unable to resolve target system name: justdosomething.net" The DIG query told me that the Responsible Person is "itsupport@commonpurpose.org.uk" .

Hmmm. Its about time for some sitting and thinking ...

Yes, there was a bit of a disaster!

This is just a quick post to let the rest of the world know the Yokel is still alive and breathing. For a while it just looked as though his sitting and thinking had really gone to his head! But it really wasn't like that at all.

In the middle of an already busy period, shortly after his previous posting, Yokel's computer decided to make his hard drive unreadable! For those who understand these things, it overwrote the FAT (File Allocation Table). Yes there is software that is said to recover from such disasters, but I think it is fair to say that they are not 100% efficient. In the end, I guess that some 60% of the data was recovered this way. Some more was to be found on an ancient copy, but alas, some was lost altogether.

"Why no back up?" I hear you cry. Not half as loudly as Yokel was crying! The week before his back up was lost for different reasons, and at the time the real disaster struck he was just preparing to make a full copy of everything that was anything in his world. I think the song tells us "What a difference a day makes". Well, to be honest just five minutes is sufficient! Oh well. Much is back to normal now.

So Yokel took the opportunity to revamp his theme, and is back to work again. Thanks for hanging around waiting for another posting about the matters of the moment. That'll be for tomorrow.