Interesting News Snippets

This, if nothing else, tells us about the calibre of the people working in the justice system.

A Press report comments that it took an hour of expensive ‘lawyer’ time before it dawned on those supposedly paying attention, that the prosecution witness in a court case, had spoken for almost one hour without speaking a word of English !!

The witness was in fact speaking a dialect of Sierra Leone known as Krio. Help was at hand in the shape of the Clerk of the Court who was herself from that part of West Africa. She was swiftly co-opted to act as a Court interpreter.

If this isn’t a totally bizarre story then I don’t know what is. Perhaps a dozen, alledgedly educated Court officials of one type or another solemnly sat, quiescent and attentive, while the witness merrily ‘spieled’ away in what was, for everyone present, total gibberish without any one voice raised in dissent or protest. Was the Judge asleep ?

Truly are the lunatics……..

Here we go, yet again. You would think that he had by now learnt to avoid controversy. The D. Tel. (report, to-day) writes that Neil Hamilton, the UKIP vice chairman, (please, no cheap jibes) has been asked by Party officials to explain allegedly extravagant expenses claims relating to mileage and his wife’s flat.

Having heard, on other occasions, Hamilton speaking on various matters and writing about Parliament, he is a very capable and lucid performer. He should not expose himself to controversy.

Does he set out deliberately to provoke ? My newspaper carries an announcement by David Cameron that he continues to support Turkey’s proposed entry to the EU.

One would have thought, that with the latest YouGov poll indicating 55% of the people polled placed the problem of immigration above that of the economy, that Dave would be sensible enough not to make these very public announcements.

Imagine 80 million, mainly Moslem pashas, with the right of entry to Britain ! European wide Caliphate ? Here we come.

My wife to-day used her Marigolds on three separate occasions. Her Marigolds were constructed prior to the EU’s very sensible strictures and advice on the new rules governing Marigold glove manufacture.

Using an uprated version of the aviation Bettsometer test to determine wear parameters, it was discovered that the gloves showed no sign of leakage, additional transparency or susceptibility to radiation attack.

These conclusive tests surely mean that these taxpayer funded additions to the rules of rubber glove construction should be consigned to the same landfill site as bent bananas and the entire EU Commission.

Re 207

I’ll see you outside the Headmaster’s study. It’s six of the best for you.

“Their” is a possessive pronoun and indicates ‘belonging’.

One more. “Also” is an adverb. It is syntactically clumsy to use it to start a sentence.

Leave our Marigolds alone !

Is there no limit to the reach of the EU tentacles ? It seems (D. Tel. report) that protective gloves known widely as Marigolds and other plastic goods have now, according to a new EU diktat, to conform to new EU wide standards of strength, flexibility and er, ‘rubberiness’ !

I shall ignore your attempt at droll humour for just now. Your beloved prophylactics are covered by EN ISO 4074:2002 Natural latex rubber condoms – Requirements and test methods (ISO 4074:2002). Without such standards there would be a proliferation of sub-standard and poorly manufactured prophylactics that would lead to a spike in unwanted pregnancies and STD transmissions.

Likewise, I imagine standards on Marigolds (and no, I’m not going to go on the Torygraph web page to find this non-story) are in place to prevent sub-standard rubber gloves reaching the market that would either dangerously impede the wearer through lack of flexibility or possibly lead to chemical burns or other injuries by being made of the wrong material. This sounds a lot like your beloved common sense, no?

Also, you don’t understand the use of the pronoun ‘their’. :rolleyes:

Leave our Marigolds alone !

Is there no limit to the reach of the EU tentacles ? It seems (D. Tel. report) that protective gloves known widely as Marigolds and other plastic goods have now, according to a new EU diktat, to conform to new EU wide standards of strength, flexibility and er, ‘rubberiness’ !

Does this, one wonders, apply to French letters also known as skins or condoms ? Perhaps it is because there is no EU wide standard with the afore mentioned qualities.

Belatedly, but more or less hot on the heels of the Ofsted condemnation of the Lincolnshire school for being too monocultural comes the ‘evenhanded’ condemnation of a number of Islamic faith schools in London who are deemed to be too ‘faith exclusive’ thus permitting no other influences of other faiths into their regime.

Well, that’s a surprise ! Does the naivety of Ofsted inspectors know no limits ? Islam does not permit imput from other faiths. If it did, it would not be the prescriptive, monotheistic faith system that it is. It seems to be an acceptable state of affairs that imams recognise and accept only the requirements of Islam and not those of the country they live in – aided and abetted of course, by the Establishment.

[QUOTE=John Green;2183829

As for Ofsted, this deeply flawed instrument of Orwellian ‘double-speak’ is long past its sell by date and is long since unfit for purpose. It should be disbanded.[/QUOTE]

Like most of the other quangos prefixed “Of…”. Now what did happen to that bonfire….?:rolleyes:

Let us hope that commonsense prevails…

An entirely subjective concept that aged right whingers such as yourself seem to cling to and fetishise for some reason, though only ever in the context of it being lost or eroded. Care to elaborate? I hazard a guess that you are old enough to remember a time when eugenics was considered common sense, after all.

Let us hope that commonsense prevails and that they do not waste their precious youth, attending what is loosely described as a university having been ‘rubber stamped’ or ‘massaged’ thru’ a third rate degree but, largely still illiterate and innumerate.

As for Ofsted, this deeply flawed instrument of Orwellian ‘double-speak’ is long past its sell by date and is long since unfit for purpose. It should be disbanded.

Like it or lump it, those kids are probably going to be in for a rough time when they move to the cities to attend university.

From the press today – posted without comment!!

“An excellent primary school in rural Lincolnshire has been denied the top grade by Ofsted inspectors. Problems with literacy, perhaps? Nope. Bad at sums? Actually, the kiddies’ maths is rather good.

I’m afraid the sad fact is that Middle Rasen Primary School has been found guilty of being “too English” or not multicultural enough. In vain have the headteacher and parents pointed out that it is hard to do anything about Ofsted’s criticism that the pupils “lacked first-hand experience of the diverse make-up of modern British society”.

When 97% of your community is composed of suspect white natives the opportunity for “first-hand interaction with their counterparts from different backgrounds beyond the immediate locality” are few and far between. The Market Rasen pupils are doubly handicapped because each and every one of them has English as his or her first language.

I know, shocking, isn’t it? What hope is there for a school where all the kids speak the same language as the teachers? That’s obviously going to present a major barrier to learning.”

If you take the trouble to find it there is a wealth of material about this with the blame levelled at the British as much as elsewhere. You might argue that Nationslist Indian sources are no more likely to take an objective view.

It was discussed openly when I was at school a very long time ago and is an historical incident with a complex background.

Talk about a skewed version of history!!:(

Are you sure? History is written by victors and in this case, Britain was the victor. Hence we may have never heard of theses stories which may be true.

Talk about a skewed version of history!!:(

Chilling read

http://www.tehelka.com/remembering-indias-forgotten-holocaust/

Most of us are familiar with TripAdvisor now meet Nick Advisor.

The D. Tel. (5th Nov). reports that jails are now to be given a grading according to the comforts and amenities they offer to the prospective criminal.

Something akin to the star grading system is envisaged. A clink might have a wash hand basin, soap and towel or, central heating with a loo in one corner. Ir might have a TV or, interior sprung mattress. There might be room service with cream tea. A selection of music could be available: Classic FM, or, Modern or Traditional jazz.

The permutations leading to five star status are almost endless. The snags are obvious. Are we, despite the best exertions of the Police in denying the same about to see an explosion in the prison population related to the lure of extravagant prison comfort. I can see a huge bulge in the statistical curve in the run up to Xmas.

It is something that I might consider. Turkey and plum duff all to myself in my own surroundings and all without having to put on that false but well practised act of bonhomie.

Tommy Flowers not only engineered Colossus…..he paid for much of it out of his own pocket!

Now that its significance is appreciated it is heralded as a great British success story that shortened the war (which it did) however, in typical British style, the development of Colossus was starved of funds because those that held the purse-strings didn’t believe that the engineers could do what they claimed was possible…

…post-war Tommy Flowers was ‘handsomely’ rewarded financially…..he may even have broken-even!

To-day’s D.Tel. features a letter from a reader concerning a new film called The Imitation Game which tells the story of the cryptographer, Alan Turing.

The letter goes on to mention the name of Bill Tutte. Genius is a much over used term but, in the case of Turing, Tutte and Tommy Flowers – in the light of their contributions to the war effort – carries an emphasis that can be measured.

Without ever seeing a copy of the actual machine, Bill Tutte set to work and made an exact copy of the German Lorentz code machine. Lorentz was vastly more complicated than Enigma, whose code it was that Alan Turing broke. It was said that this work by Bill Tutte shortened WW2 by two years.

Tommy Flowers is remembered as the engineering genius responsible for constructing the worlds first programmable electronic computer; Colossus.

At long last, it is announced that a memorial to Bill Tutte has been unveiled at his home town of Newmarket. Many would think, not before time. It was, it is said, for security reasons connected with the Cold War, that neither Tutte nor Flowers’ WW2 work was rewarded after war’s end.

When you consider how much diminished now is this country, remember; it was thru’ the deeds of men such as this that this country played such a crucial and pivotal role in winning the war.