Stop the press! The Economic and Social Research Council decided to commission a study and they’ve found out that many muggers commit the crime “just for the kick” of committing the crime.
Did you hear the one about the government using common sense to work anything out? Two minutes and I’ll commission a report to find out if they did or not…
Of course people are doing these things just for the kicks. If you walk round the streets of Glasgow you’ll find a number of individuals sporting the “Glasgow smile”, in other words someone’s kindly cut a smile into their face. I firmly believe that the majority of these crimes are done just for the hell of it or because someone was a bit pissed and looked at someone else the wrong way.
I was having a look over the BBC have your say pages (which I do frequent from time to time). There have been plenty of suggestions from the general public. These include bringing back national service, tougher sentences, stopping benefits, reform the criminal justice bill and public flogging!
I think these are all fair points but as much as I would love to see the stocks brought back to the city centres, I think we have to face a few facts….
FACT 1
There is a problem!
I know this seems like a simple one but much like a reforming alcoholic, the powers that be have to acknowledge that there is a problem and this seems to be something that they are reluctant to do. Now I understand why they don’t, if your job was on the line would you start saying that your department or company was completely in the wrong and you wanted to just start again?
The public know there’s a problem, we don’t want to have to get more alarms and street cameras. If we keep going this way, woollies will be selling back to school stab vests.
Now note that i’m not attacking Labour. It’s not that I think they’re doing a fine job, I just think that the whole system and approach is wrong. In truth I think our democratic system is wrong but that’s something for another day.
The government doesn’t care by it’s very nature, it’s not their fault, it’s just the system…
FACT 2
We’re not tough enough!
It’s a fact that we’re just not tough enough. The complexities of the system that we’ve created have tied us up in so much red tape that parents can’t restrain their children for fear of assault charges and people don’t report crimes because they know nothing will happen. There are people walking the street who have committed literally hundreds of burglaries, yet if we found them in our house and belted them we’d be the one’s in jail?
Our justice system is too confused between punishment, rehabilitation, reform and human rights. A classic case is that of the drug addicts who received an out of court settlement from the government when they were forced to go cold turkey.
People should have more faith in the justice system more importantly everyone should know where the line is drawn. Social services, parole departments and prosecution services are all tied up. All this does is cost us more money whilst we lose what little faith we have in the system.
FACT 3
You get nowhere just treating symptoms!
Tougher sentences are one thing but at the end of the day it’s just really about an improved common sense approach to the whole problem. Labour’s idea was the ASBO. Well guys, here’s some free advice that you won’t have to commission me to give; it’s just not going to work!
Did anyone think for a second that because someone’s been given an ASBO they’ll think, “hang on a second, I don’t want to be anti-social!”. Of course not, they’re anti-social in the first place because they’ve got very little to look forward to, even less to lose and the only role models in their lives are anti-social people. It’s not rocket science…
What we need is a fundamental approach to solving the problem and I think that begins with kids themselves. I know I’m fortunate in my life to have turned out (kind of) alright but I also know that when I was a teenager there was nothing to do, so I hung about, smoked and skated and even then the council refused to build any skating facilities.
Now I know Adolf Hitler’s hardly the saint of the century but when it came to sorting the kids out, he knew how to get them organised and focused. I guess it kind of goes back to people suggesting bringing back national service. I think we need a new Hitler youth idea with a bit less of the Hitler megalomanic tendencies.
So I know it’s going to sound like a way out there radical idea but why don’t we have a revised school system that supports the kids in everything they do? And I know that it’s going to sound way round the bend but why don’t we have the schools open beyond four in the afternoon? So if kids just want somewhere to hang out, play football or even (god forbid) do more study, they have somewhere to do it. Also if we formalised processes and incentivised kids for doing things like hip hop classes, or even graffiti art classes, providing money and training for more teachers and social role models to help them out, would the maybe not feel so anti-social?
At least if we did take this approach, it means that by having more contact with the problem families, we’d be able to spot the problems quicker and maybe even stop them from mugging, killing or even spitting at us.
Shucks, it’s just an idea I commissioned myself to do. I know you’d all rather spend the money on £20 billion trident nuclear submarine programs or more effort into punting £1 billion worth of arms to Africa. Do you not? But you voted for it, didn’t you??
Why don't we stop the rot...?
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Music Review
Here we go, short sharp and to the point!
Would seriously recommend the Babyshambles The Blinding EP torrent. It’s great, was never a great fan of Junkie Pete but I think his heart’s in the right place. You also don’t have to feel bad by downloading the Babyshambles The Blinding EP torrent because you’ll only be giving him more money to spend on drugs if you do ;o)
Klaxons Myths of the Near Future torrent, would take a listen at this too. Went to see them at the Arches in Glasgow not too long ago and they were pretty good. I do remember that night for Datarock (Datarock Torrent) though who just blew me away live.
Of the rest coming up over the next couple of months –
Looking forward to…
The Good The Bad and the Queen Torrent - The Good The Bad and the Queen
The View - Hats Off To The Buskers Torrent
Bloc Party - Weekend in the City Torrent
The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon Torrent
Kings of Leon - Becuase of the Times Torrent
Could do without hearing…
Norah Jones - Not Too Late Torrent
Korn - MTV Unplugged Torrent
Joss Stone Torrent – Any Torrent by Joss Stone
Garbage - Absolute Garbage Torrent (Obviously the title says it all!)
Would seriously recommend the Babyshambles The Blinding EP torrent. It’s great, was never a great fan of Junkie Pete but I think his heart’s in the right place. You also don’t have to feel bad by downloading the Babyshambles The Blinding EP torrent because you’ll only be giving him more money to spend on drugs if you do ;o)
Klaxons Myths of the Near Future torrent, would take a listen at this too. Went to see them at the Arches in Glasgow not too long ago and they were pretty good. I do remember that night for Datarock (Datarock Torrent) though who just blew me away live.
Of the rest coming up over the next couple of months –
Looking forward to…
The Good The Bad and the Queen Torrent - The Good The Bad and the Queen
The View - Hats Off To The Buskers Torrent
Bloc Party - Weekend in the City Torrent
The Bravery - The Sun and the Moon Torrent
Kings of Leon - Becuase of the Times Torrent
Could do without hearing…
Norah Jones - Not Too Late Torrent
Korn - MTV Unplugged Torrent
Joss Stone Torrent – Any Torrent by Joss Stone
Garbage - Absolute Garbage Torrent (Obviously the title says it all!)
Hot Topics, Hot Topics, Hot Topics
Was just sitting here thinking "I wonder what the web's interested in at the moment". So I went on a wonder, is it solving the worlds problems? Is it turmoil in the middle east? Is it even Christmas shopping? No, think again. It's Rennee Zellweger dating Bruce Willis! Is Rennee Zellweger going out with Bruce Willis really that interesting?? Anyway, here's the complete list for you....
1. Renee Zellweger Dating Bruce Willis?
2. Saddam Hussein Trial resumes
3. BCS USC passes Michigan and moves up to #2
4. Bird flu South Korea's first outbreak in 3 years
5. Traffic 31.7 million drivers this Thanksgiving
6. New England Patriots Beat Bears 17-13
7. Indianapolis Colts 45-21 victory over Eagles
8. NFL Manning reaches 3,000th completions
9. New York Giants Third straight lost
10. Britney Spears Hits LA clubs with Paris Hilton
11. Chicago Bears At 9-2 after loss to Patriots
Must admit I thought that Britney Spears and Paris Hitlon Nude would be getting more hits but it shows what I know....
1. Renee Zellweger Dating Bruce Willis?
2. Saddam Hussein Trial resumes
3. BCS USC passes Michigan and moves up to #2
4. Bird flu South Korea's first outbreak in 3 years
5. Traffic 31.7 million drivers this Thanksgiving
6. New England Patriots Beat Bears 17-13
7. Indianapolis Colts 45-21 victory over Eagles
8. NFL Manning reaches 3,000th completions
9. New York Giants Third straight lost
10. Britney Spears Hits LA clubs with Paris Hilton
11. Chicago Bears At 9-2 after loss to Patriots
Must admit I thought that Britney Spears and Paris Hitlon Nude would be getting more hits but it shows what I know....
Time to kill? Will It Blend?
Ever wondered if you can blend golf balls? Get on this site and check it out. I wouldn't mind getting one of these blenders to tell you the truth, mine's shite!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Movie Reviews
I'm going to start adding some movie reviews to the site from today. I'm not going to go into great depth with them as I usually just need to know if they are worth watching or not so i'll try to be as concise as possible.
Obviously my opinion's not going to be the same as yours so if you think i'm well off the mark just let me know and we can argue about it.
Cheers!
Obviously my opinion's not going to be the same as yours so if you think i'm well off the mark just let me know and we can argue about it.
Cheers!
id cards
I’ve been reading into the id cards debate of lately and to tell you the truth, I’m stumped! I really don’t get why people get their knickers in such a twist about id cards and population database. When is it ever not going to be an advantage to know who all live in our country and what they are up to??
I carry about my driver’s license at the moment so I don’t really see what the big deal is about carrying another card about with me. Surely it goes without saying that if someone is up to no good in the streets, we should expect to be able to easily identify them? Imagine the about of our money that is spent each day chasing the details of tonnes of people who have been stopped in the streets without id?
Years from now we’ll have a national DNA database with samples taken at birth. This is just common sense. Put it this way, I don’t have a criminal record at the moment so if I decided to indiscriminately rape someone the DNA found at the scene of the crime would be no good unless something else pointed the investigation in my direction. If there were a DNA database, the police would be knocking my door that day.
This doesn’t just go for serious crimes, how many break-ins and car thefts could be solved this way. Simple common sense!
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been looking into this debate. Once site in particular which you’re welcome to have a look over for yourself here sets out the argument against the use of id cards. As I said, have a look over it yourself but the main points against it seem to be
1. It’ll mean that there will be a large database containing details about everyone.
2. Different government departments will be able to cross reference data.
3. It won’t stop terrorism.
4. Biometrics won’t work because some people are missing an eye?!
5. The government won’t be able to administer the project properly.
6. It’s too expensive.
7. They will “provide a pretext for those in authority—public or private—to question individuals who stand out for reasons of personal appearance or demeanour.”
And my favourite…
8. You could end up becoming some sort of Sandra Bullock “non-person” if you’re wiped from the database!
I think that just a quick glance over these and you’re thinking that there really isn’t a good case against them? Just going over some of these….
1. I think the large database with details about everyone is the main objective, why is this such a bad thing?
2. Surely information passing freely between government departments should be an objective of the government? How many tragedies have taken place because social services didn’t pass on appropriate information to the police service (Fred West murders).
3. It might not but surely it’s more protection than nothing at all.
4. I’m sure that if someone’s eye is missing, we can put this information in the database to use and alternative means of information.
5. This point I would maybe agree with but if it’s a good idea in principal, why shouldn’t be try it. We’ll get it right eventually.
6. So are nuclear weapons but we still seem to have them…
7. I don’t see how identity cards are going to make it more likely besides if the police aren’t stopping and questioning those of odd personal appearance or demeanour; they’re not doing their job?
8. Talk about scare mongering!
In the end, it just seems to me that people are saying that this is a bad idea “just because it is..”. At the end of the day if you’d asked people in the street 20 years ago if they were for cameras on every street corner watching their every move, of course they wouldn’t like it and they’d think it was a big brother nation. In practice though, it’s now wide spread and many streets have been made a lot safer because of it. Id cards aren’t a nice idea but at the end of the day it’s just a natural progression that is common sense whether we like the idea or not.
I carry about my driver’s license at the moment so I don’t really see what the big deal is about carrying another card about with me. Surely it goes without saying that if someone is up to no good in the streets, we should expect to be able to easily identify them? Imagine the about of our money that is spent each day chasing the details of tonnes of people who have been stopped in the streets without id?
Years from now we’ll have a national DNA database with samples taken at birth. This is just common sense. Put it this way, I don’t have a criminal record at the moment so if I decided to indiscriminately rape someone the DNA found at the scene of the crime would be no good unless something else pointed the investigation in my direction. If there were a DNA database, the police would be knocking my door that day.
This doesn’t just go for serious crimes, how many break-ins and car thefts could be solved this way. Simple common sense!
As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been looking into this debate. Once site in particular which you’re welcome to have a look over for yourself here sets out the argument against the use of id cards. As I said, have a look over it yourself but the main points against it seem to be
1. It’ll mean that there will be a large database containing details about everyone.
2. Different government departments will be able to cross reference data.
3. It won’t stop terrorism.
4. Biometrics won’t work because some people are missing an eye?!
5. The government won’t be able to administer the project properly.
6. It’s too expensive.
7. They will “provide a pretext for those in authority—public or private—to question individuals who stand out for reasons of personal appearance or demeanour.”
And my favourite…
8. You could end up becoming some sort of Sandra Bullock “non-person” if you’re wiped from the database!
I think that just a quick glance over these and you’re thinking that there really isn’t a good case against them? Just going over some of these….
1. I think the large database with details about everyone is the main objective, why is this such a bad thing?
2. Surely information passing freely between government departments should be an objective of the government? How many tragedies have taken place because social services didn’t pass on appropriate information to the police service (Fred West murders).
3. It might not but surely it’s more protection than nothing at all.
4. I’m sure that if someone’s eye is missing, we can put this information in the database to use and alternative means of information.
5. This point I would maybe agree with but if it’s a good idea in principal, why shouldn’t be try it. We’ll get it right eventually.
6. So are nuclear weapons but we still seem to have them…
7. I don’t see how identity cards are going to make it more likely besides if the police aren’t stopping and questioning those of odd personal appearance or demeanour; they’re not doing their job?
8. Talk about scare mongering!
In the end, it just seems to me that people are saying that this is a bad idea “just because it is..”. At the end of the day if you’d asked people in the street 20 years ago if they were for cameras on every street corner watching their every move, of course they wouldn’t like it and they’d think it was a big brother nation. In practice though, it’s now wide spread and many streets have been made a lot safer because of it. Id cards aren’t a nice idea but at the end of the day it’s just a natural progression that is common sense whether we like the idea or not.
Paulo Nutini
Have been listening to "These Streets" by Paolo Nutini. Pretty good album, nice moody easy listening stuff for the winter. Not a massive fan of these guitar wielding solo dudes that are popping up in the charts.
Some good tunes on the album include Jenny Don't be Hasty, New Shoes is just class and Alloyway Grove is a good foot tapping number.....!
So if you're looking for a good torrent i'd go out and buy These Streets by Paolo Nutini ;o)
Some good tunes on the album include Jenny Don't be Hasty, New Shoes is just class and Alloyway Grove is a good foot tapping number.....!
So if you're looking for a good torrent i'd go out and buy These Streets by Paolo Nutini ;o)
Mr X - Typical
Had arranged to meet Mr X at the weekend there. We were meeting up in Runcorn at a friend's place for the weekend. When I got there I was informed that good old X had missing his train in London and was then subsequently delayed for a further hour at Crewe. This is typical behaviour.
Having said that, he did manage to stay event free for the rest of the weekend....
Having said that, he did manage to stay event free for the rest of the weekend....
Friday, November 24, 2006
Interesting Fact of the Day! No. 3
A couple of tit bits from the animal kingdom that you can impress or bore your mates with!!
i) The common goldfish is the only animal in the whole animal kingdom that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet.
Also,
ii) A duck's quack doesn't echo. Don't ask me why?
i) The common goldfish is the only animal in the whole animal kingdom that can see both infra-red and ultra-violet.
Also,
ii) A duck's quack doesn't echo. Don't ask me why?
Mr X goes to a party
Sorry for not continuing the Mr. X stories when I said I would but here goes….
My good friend Mr. X was telling me this one not to long ago. It started out on a Friday night that was much like any other. Mr X however had a party to go to with some of his work colleagues. Just for some background information our good friend keeps a position of high stature in one of the UK’s largest insurance firms.
Anyway, as the party they were all going to was quite near his boss’ house, X decided that he’d take his car over to his boss’s, dump it there and then proceed on foot to the party.
So, he goes to the party and has a few drinks with his work mates, then a few more and so on…
Our friend’s story then jumped to 4 a.m. and he’s walking home. Now he was a long way and it’s getting a big wet as well so he sticks his hand out in the hope that a taxi will stop for him. After half an hour or so a car stop for him and he jumps in and explains to the guy where he lives. Now I believe that Mr X thought this guy to be of Greek decent but he’d obviously had a few jars by that point so I guess we’ll never know for sure.
After half an hour in the car they eventually wound up back at Mr X’s flat. They pull up outside and X asks the driver how much he owes him for the ride. At this point the taxi driver explains to X that he is in fact not a taxi driver and had just picked him up because “he liked the look of him”….
Now I’d just like to take this opportunity to warn all piss heads out there that if you go hailing lifts from strangers at four in the morning in the greater London area, there is probably a good chance that the person who picks you up might well want to bum you!
Anyway, I must stress that the guy wasn’t forcing it on X. He was just suggesting that they go upstairs and exchange body fluids in lea of the taxi payment. Needless to say this kinda freaked X out and he threw the guy a tenner and ran upstairs to the safety of his flat.
It was about ten when he woke up the next morning and no doubt the details of the taxi ride home slowly came back to him over the course of a few minutes. He still had his jacket on in bed and as he got up he put his hand in his pocket and grabbed his glasses case.
Now as he grabbed his glasses case, it became apparent to him that something was not quite right. Our Mr X only wears his glasses whilst he’s driving and as we’d mentioned earlier, he’d dropped the car off outside his boss’s house earlier in the evening. At this point he does however realise that there is a 100% chance that he had in fact been back to the car at some point during the night.
Once he’s up and about his first instinct is to go back to his boss’s house and get his car. So he goes over there only to find that it’s no longer where he left it. Deciding that calling the police might not be the best idea, he sets off to try and find it.
After looking around for the best part of the day, he decided to start looking around other streets away from his route home. At about five o’clock that night he comes to a grass embankment, with a car parked up it. Needless to say, the door is wide open but everything seems to be intact.
Obviously pretty happy that he’s found his car X then goes to jump in and as he goes to do this he notices some sick on the door and window and it then turns out that the whole door compartment is filled with the stuff. He took the car home and as you can probably imagine you’d probably be shitting it at this point about who had seen him driving off the previous night.
God only knows how he did it but it turns out that nobody saw him and he honestly doesn’t remember any of the drive home.
So in short kids there are some lessons to be learned. If you plan on getting horrendously drunk, give someone else your keys and book a taxi. You don’t want to end up getting bummed, or worse still jailed and then bummed!
My good friend Mr. X was telling me this one not to long ago. It started out on a Friday night that was much like any other. Mr X however had a party to go to with some of his work colleagues. Just for some background information our good friend keeps a position of high stature in one of the UK’s largest insurance firms.
Anyway, as the party they were all going to was quite near his boss’ house, X decided that he’d take his car over to his boss’s, dump it there and then proceed on foot to the party.
So, he goes to the party and has a few drinks with his work mates, then a few more and so on…
Our friend’s story then jumped to 4 a.m. and he’s walking home. Now he was a long way and it’s getting a big wet as well so he sticks his hand out in the hope that a taxi will stop for him. After half an hour or so a car stop for him and he jumps in and explains to the guy where he lives. Now I believe that Mr X thought this guy to be of Greek decent but he’d obviously had a few jars by that point so I guess we’ll never know for sure.
After half an hour in the car they eventually wound up back at Mr X’s flat. They pull up outside and X asks the driver how much he owes him for the ride. At this point the taxi driver explains to X that he is in fact not a taxi driver and had just picked him up because “he liked the look of him”….
Now I’d just like to take this opportunity to warn all piss heads out there that if you go hailing lifts from strangers at four in the morning in the greater London area, there is probably a good chance that the person who picks you up might well want to bum you!
Anyway, I must stress that the guy wasn’t forcing it on X. He was just suggesting that they go upstairs and exchange body fluids in lea of the taxi payment. Needless to say this kinda freaked X out and he threw the guy a tenner and ran upstairs to the safety of his flat.
It was about ten when he woke up the next morning and no doubt the details of the taxi ride home slowly came back to him over the course of a few minutes. He still had his jacket on in bed and as he got up he put his hand in his pocket and grabbed his glasses case.
Now as he grabbed his glasses case, it became apparent to him that something was not quite right. Our Mr X only wears his glasses whilst he’s driving and as we’d mentioned earlier, he’d dropped the car off outside his boss’s house earlier in the evening. At this point he does however realise that there is a 100% chance that he had in fact been back to the car at some point during the night.
Once he’s up and about his first instinct is to go back to his boss’s house and get his car. So he goes over there only to find that it’s no longer where he left it. Deciding that calling the police might not be the best idea, he sets off to try and find it.
After looking around for the best part of the day, he decided to start looking around other streets away from his route home. At about five o’clock that night he comes to a grass embankment, with a car parked up it. Needless to say, the door is wide open but everything seems to be intact.
Obviously pretty happy that he’s found his car X then goes to jump in and as he goes to do this he notices some sick on the door and window and it then turns out that the whole door compartment is filled with the stuff. He took the car home and as you can probably imagine you’d probably be shitting it at this point about who had seen him driving off the previous night.
God only knows how he did it but it turns out that nobody saw him and he honestly doesn’t remember any of the drive home.
So in short kids there are some lessons to be learned. If you plan on getting horrendously drunk, give someone else your keys and book a taxi. You don’t want to end up getting bummed, or worse still jailed and then bummed!
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