Introducing
ANOTHER VIEW
My opinions , attitudes, ideas and views through a window on the world
By FREEthinker
An occasional comment based on items of news:
Monday February 5, 2007 21:19
The United Kingdom a Democracy or a 'pink' Dictatorship?
It has become obvious, now that over 80% of so called 'independent' planning appeals are allowed where its houses v. countryside, that the British Government is biasing the so called 'independent' Inspectors and forcing them to go to far too great pains to defend acceptance of the objections of both local councils and local people , regardless of politics, to the despoliation and then total destruction of countryside.
This present government is totally ignorant and chooses to stay that way, of local peoples feelings, pushing through their planning policies and dictating a vile urbanisation . Why else would they even suggest that 'developers' could put in planning applications for building in existing peoples gardens!!
Hitler tried very hard to destroy the Jews , in the same way it seems some sick idea within the 'New Labour party' (no possible relation to the former decent Labour Party ) is to replace our beautiful countryside with ludicrously priced houses. Is the present governing party of Britain funded secretly and conditionally by a group of so called 'developers' .
Is money for honours only the tip of the iceberg?
What other reason is there for such obviously corrupt politics ?
ENGLAND IS A SMALL COUNTRY
ITS TIME TO HALT IMMIGRATION COMPLETELY - FOR SIMPLE PRACTICAL REASONS
AND IF THE EU DON'T LIKE IT - LEAVE THE EU.
'LABOUR' GOVERNMENT and the widening incomes gap .............
In the UK the fat cats of big business, that is those which aren't owned now by the Germans, French, Japanese and oh I forgot - the Yanks , the really splendid pucka British chaps whose salaries monthly equal what most earn in a year or five and who stand to get a seat in the House of Lords - if it's not abolished by these damn 'Labour' (????) government chaps guys or whatever to pay for the obscene rises M.Ps are awarding themselves next year - well with at least two homes to pay for and having to attend the 'House' ( Commons, that is ) at least once a week - that's when the 'House' is in session of course (about 6 months in 12) they need it poor b...
no I mustn't insult their parents.
Personally, I wouldn't pass water on a British Member (male or otherwise) of Parliament if he or she were on fire but I would reprimand the person who set fire to the member - well it might spread to a human being.
With the prospect of the United Kingdom being faced with the replacing of a Prime Minister who toadies to George W' supporting his every whim it seems and volunteering British troops without question in some of the bloodiest theatres of war (with or without essential body armour), with yet another Scottish born leader who refuses England a parliament whilst begging Northern Ireland's factions to kiss and be friends so they can at last have their 'national' assembly, one wonders just how on one hand 'blind' and on the other devious the leader of the British Government can be.
Looking back on john Major calling members of his cabinet 'bastards'
Maggie Thatcher falling out with her Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary
Jim Callaghan paddling in the sea with Jimmy Carter
Harold Wilson's famous smoke screens (in both respects, wonder what tobacco he smoked)
Sir Edward Heath : A Tory Prime Minister whose replacement came to be deeply
regretted by Trade Union members!
Ted Heath's 'action not words'
we seem to be going from bad to worse.
and in November 2006:
THE GREAT OLYMPIC FARCE
When London won the opportunity to stage the 2012 Olympics it seems the British Government straight away shelved many community projects based on regional need especially in the under represented area of the United Kingdom called England , community centres, wildlife centres , public parks badly in need of funding will now be ignored as the public pocket is raided for the Billions of £'s required to build the massive structures which in many cases will have little or no use after this prestige event. Open countryside will be swallowed up for car parks with local planning conditions swept aside and objections overturned by D.o.E (Deputy Prime Ministers Office) Inspectors giving firm briefs to 'oil the wheels'.
All this and much more, including far heavier local taxes particularly in London, will be done to achieve what ?
Will SPORT ENGLAND be given powers to tell developers in England to provide local recreation facilities , will town councils throughout the U.K. be told to require proper space, funding and facilities from 'developers' even before their applications go in so as to encourage youth and future generations to train to become champions for England, Scotland , Wales and Ulster - Will the public (of all ages) really benefit ? NO , NOTHING LIKE THAT
AS FOR THE PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT - THEY ONLY LOOK FORWARD TO THE JUNKETING!
ENGLAND DESERVES BETTER
In late October 2006:
Heard today again on a BBC political programme.............
'The Next (U.K.) Prime Minister
could be a Scot ----'
But what of the present P.M. ? did he emerge the result of an explosion on Rockall - bang and our 'Tone was there - was he a very young emigrant from the Isle of Man? , is he really a robot ?
No Sir, Mr. Blair IS A true born SCOT born on the 6th May 1953 in EDINBURGH ! - so for God's sake all you political commentators check your facts - he is the third Scottish Prime Minister of the U.K. since the War whether or not Mr. Brown follows him; there have been seven English Prime Ministers of the UK in that period .
I have been asked to delete the above article by an offended Scot.
August 2006:
AUNTIE'S BECOME QUITE A BITCH
Remember when in the U.K. we had the BBC Home Service, Light Programme
and Third Programme in the 1950's, then in the 70's they became Radio 4, Radio
2, Radio 3 and a new Labour government after making the very popular off-shore
pirate stations illegal under a hurriedly concocted and forced through Act of
Parliament in 1967 rather coerced a Pop music channel onto the BBC when Prime
Minister Harold Wilson realised the true strength of feeling a new generation
of voters had against the action of his government , but Radio 1 (such titles
as 1,2, 3 hardly show imagination) never 
captured
the following the seagoing stations had .
The Home Service was 'regional' i.e. The Midland Home Service, The Scottish Home Service, The London Home Service etc., spoken word, plays ,but some music programmes , comedies etc.,. The Light Programme was devoted to light music and light entertainment, The Third Programme - later renamed Network Three- was for classical music and classic drama.It was later that the BBC introduced Radio5 (later re-born as '5Live') this station began to build a listener base for itself broadcasting such classic radio as 'The Black Museum' , 'Dragnet' and other dramas of the 40's and 50's and as Radio 5 was on AM Medium Wave one could enjoy the 'mellow bellow' of a wireless set of the 50's producing a 50's radio programme .
However, this didn't please the new boys at the BBC who in a sudden
re-vamp removed all the classic drama and in it's place 
put
phone-ins on some of the silliest subjects and football and news and more football
and repeated news presumably aimed at the BBC's favourite age group the 20s
and 30's .
More recently yet more government meddling in order to sell off to the highest bidder broadcast waveband spectrum has forced the British public to invest in digital television with the aim to free up for yet another 'nice little earner' the UHF bands 4 and 5 vacated by 2012 by the present television (both BBC and advertising funded ITV).
Another innovation is Digital Audio Broadcasting which is radiated on the VHF band 2 (formerly used right up to the 80's by ITV when it was an AM transmission in black and white at 405 interlaced lines) at comparatively low power from the hundreds of mobile telephone masts. Unlike the high powered ITV transmissions DAB is distributed by commercial multiplex system .
Certain pushers of DAB reckon it's the proverbial 'cats pajamas' but DAB stations and transmissions are heavily subsidised in the case of the BBC by the license payer and in the case of commercial stations which deliberately run less advertising on DAB , by FM feeds.
Some whiz-kids in broadcasting even kid emselves DAB is 'popular' and juggle the sales figures to make it seem so. The truth is very different but if your job depends on it you'll say anything .
However, it seems the more people complain about compressed sound quality (in DABs case the bit rate 'stream') the quick-fire presentation by twenty/thirty somethings which can spoil the dramas by giving away the plot, and the almost constant music background on such as the BBC's originally named station BBC7 which after BBC1, BBC2, BBC3, BBC4 you might think was perhaps a TV station (?) as well as BBC6 maybe .
BBC7 could, if it wanted to wipe the floor even with the BBC's Radio 2 (formerly Light Programme), the most popular British radio station, if the link announcers didn't try so hard to ensure not even 5 seconds of 'dead air' and musick (I mean that spelling) constantly running as a backing track between and even during some programmes wasn't obviously considered essential , however BBC7 , which has no outlet on either FM or AM so is very limited technically, could be a real winner because it broadcasts some grade A comedy and drama from the golden age (40's to early 70's) of BBC radio. So it remains a minority audience station again because the people behind it are so blinded to the obvious limitations they won't even consider even an 'out of hours' FM or AM output.
Recently I emailed BBC7 about an over keen announcer who I considered perhaps gave just a little of the story away when introducing episodes of Paul Temple , Francis Durbridge's writer cum detective of the 50's. Instead of a reasoned reply taking in my criticisms they defiantly defended their presenter accepting no word of my views as appropriate. It seems this is now the general rule with 'Aunties people' now that they must have training in telling viewers and listeners to know their place and shut-up because one only has to listen to any so called feed back programme to be treated to not 'we understand your point we'll put things right' but 'we don't ever do wrong so sod off and just pay your compulsory license'
WHAT A SHAME 'AUNTIE' HAS BECOME SUCH A BITCH
and ..... definition of a Podcast : a rather nasty secretion left by a Podperson ( see : 'Invasion Of The Body Snatchers' 1956 Allied Artists)
HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED WHY WE ( THE BRITISH) NEVER REFER TO 'OUR' GOVERNMENT (even accepting it's title is officially Her Majesties Government)
One only has to see the expression on our Queens face as she opens a new session of Parliament and reads out the speech prepared by the Prime Ministers office, listing all the wonderful things in store for this tight little island, to see how little pride and how much despairing acceptance she , on behalf of her people, really has in the governing parties' policies (regardless of colour).
THAT'S WHY , WE THE PEOPLE ( HEARD THAT SOMEWHERE BEFORE ) PREFER TO CALL IT 'THE GOVERNMENT' as an entity quite separate and in no terms part of ourselves our loved ones, wives and relatives.
Summer 2006:
BRING BACK GEORGE DIXON
Jack Warner as P.C. George Dixon was killed in 'The Blue Lamp' (Ealing Films 1949) but brought back to life on BBC TV from the 50's to 70's in 'Dixon of Dock Green' - he was in his 70's by the time 'Dixon' ended (by then Sgt. Dixon) - oldest Copper ever !!
Just how bloody stupid (sorry but it's the only repeatable phrase to use) can the British Government get suggesting Identification Cards will 'cut crime' - does the UK Home Secretary really believe there will be no attempt to forge ID cards ? to every way of making them 'secure' technically there will be a way of beating it and forcing anyone renewing their so called 'British' passport to pay at least £100 more for a card no realistic person believes is worth a 'hill of beans' as well as the cost of millions taken in tax is an act of pure stupid waste.
If the Home Secretary still sincerely wants to make England and the rest of the United Kingdom ,a happier, safer and better place he'd better spend those millions on bringing back the traditional 'bobby on the beat' and leaving super regional forces in the department it deserves - in the bin. What is the best thing is not a computerised out of touch police service but quite the opposite a more localised force based in the local town with officers known locally and knowing the locality and the local people - yes, Bring Back George Dixon!
It seems that after spending a considerable amount of tax payers money - funds which could have been used to really help Constabularies where resources are low , the Government has realised what a bloody silly idea larger police areas would be and quietly scrapped yet another lame-brained plan - now before wasting yet more hard earned public money they should realise ID cards are an insult to decent people and an expense thoroughly unjustified in a proper democratic and free society
LATEST: Prior to being , as they say - rolled out nationally (Ukh!!), down in the South East of England Police are trying out a new device which 'reads' finger prints of motorists - if the print reading (obtained by placing two fingertips on reader glass apertures on the recording device) matches those on record presumably the person is then either a 'crim' and has his 'collar felt' as breathing without a license or similar, but should the prints not match a data base (? what data base?) they are presumably instantly told "Very sorry to have delayed you Mr Mouse and my regards to Minnie , mind 'ow you go"
I wonder if any certain government ministers have shares in the firms that make these big boys toys.
I have always thought it should be required that any Government Minister or senior Secretary of State have pertinent specialist qualifications i.e. Defense Minister a former Army,Navy, or RAF Officer , Home Secretary a senior Barrister, Telecommunications Minister a former Telecommunications Expert - in this way they are not misinformed and mislead by 'advisers' and can answer questions from personal knowledge not simply 'reading reports' .
My point on this is that these people's personal expertise would be considered essential in business or industry yet it seems the only essential qualification to being a senior decision making cabinet minister (regardless of party) is being a friend of the Prime Minister !
Philip Harben
in the days when TV chefs wore ties!
Recently it seems both BBC and ITV here in the UK have been showing again some programmes and films (both British and from other English speaking countries) from the 1960's, which makes a change from the blood everywhere and 'f' word sprinkled stuff which this way cometh from the USA these days - whilst the powers that be 'protect' the kids from 'funny people' (as my Great Niece calls 'em) the same 'powers' allow all of us to be sickened by severed limbs and detectives that say 'f*****' sometimes before every (other) verb or noun . Come on , John Wayne only said 'bo**ocks' once (then in a British film!) and Henry Fonda 'f****' only twice (very quietly and as if pronouncing a foreign language).
So please can we get back to acting and films we can all watch.
1920's 'Graphophone'
advert.
Don't fancy it's chances on that table!
Radio Luxembourg at 5-30pm every Sunday in the 1930's
It seems then children were allowed some years of real innocence - however a world war was coming .....
A few months ago the government told schools what to feed to kids (vegetables and fruit)
O.K. Perfectly correct and a right diet but .....
Now the government is saying how unprepared school leavers are for the 'world of work' - one wonders what jobs will be available the rate this same government is allowing whole industries to 'off - shore' .
it seems these 'young adults' (sic) pass the exams o.k. but can't equate this with the ordinary duties in an office, shop, factory, etc., - they can talk about doing it but can't actually carry out the operation!
ANCIENT HISTORY ?
When I look back to the 1960's when I left school (at 15) no qualifications no uni' no college other than day release from my full time job as Trainee Electrician. There was little problem in getting a job then it was based more on the application letter and interview than bits of paper or certificates and the greeting was not "got a job yet?" but "whe're you working?".
Common sense was a major qualification and even in mid-teens on £3.10s a week if you messed the job up you were simply told off the first time but told to get your coat on the second time. What you have to realise is I went to an ordinary Secondary High School (formerly Secondary Modern School) and the pupils were called pupils not students then. The children leaving our school and those leaving the girls equivalent about three quarters of a mile away who only officially met on school buses taking us out of the town to the villages 3 miles out, when these kids left school to begin 'the world of work' they were expected not to go into offices (unless they were factory offices) or become sales trainees but become carpenters, mechanics, industrial workers or maybe work for the mushrooming supermarket chains.
Industry, despite government, was booming and Made in England was the norm. not a novelty.
O.K. we had no home computers in fact few businesses had one and what was a question of removing a window and craning in a computer weighing a ton then today the same facility can be slipped in ones pocket!
TV was black and white and one or two channels if you lived in the right area. The combined radio/ TV license was £4 annually in 1963 by 1969 it was £6 a year. Average adult wage was £13 to £20 a week in 1965 though in industry £30 was usual.
Pubs opened at about 5-30 to 6pm and closed at 10-30pm sharp but a pint of bitter was 2/- or perhaps 2/6d (10p or 12p) 'shorts' about 4/- (20p) for single whisky or gin.
Test Card'C'
used in Britain mainly in the 50's and60's
We in England had one channel (on VHF using 405 lines) in the early 50's by the mid 50's our first commercial channel , referred to by the public as ITA and by the end of the 60's we had three channels - 2 BBC (no adverts) and 1 ITA now all three in colour using (nearly) 625 lines on UHF.
O.K. now we have hundreds - but have we sacrificed quality for quantity?
TV has reached it's lowest with 'Big Brother' - radio with pop and inane chat - yet the broadcasters vaults are full of material many would love to get a chance to hear .
Sorry, but I honestly only pay my tv license because I'm forced too* (by the law of our so called democratic country) and the money is totally wasted.
* in the U.K. it's now illegal to own a TV without a license - even if the TV doesn't work !
ITV is it the END?
After decades of real independent television where Anglia TV (emblem a silver knight on horse back with banner) , ATV's 'eye' and other regional companies proudly showed and declared the region in the UK they covered came the 90's when talks went on to take over companies and form first two groups (*excluding Ulster TV only) the in this century the almost * complete single unit ITV - but now it seems the British public deserves nothing better than SKY-ITV as Mr Murdoch(Fox TV in USA) seeks to control commercial television in the UK totally (He'll get Ulster TV later) .
Meanwhile Sir Richard Branson (of Virgin Trains etc.), major share holder of NTL who recently failed to form an alliance with ITV, cries foul - I don't blame him though I suspect his reasons are hardly as a champion of public rights of choice.
If only ITV had stayed as it was before it got big headed and lost its regional pride, the knight and the 'eye' and Yorkshire TV playing a few bars of 'on ilckley moor ba' tat' and those splendid regional programmes and individual presentations - all change is not progress.
GLOBAL WARMING, RECYCLING, SAVING THE AIR AND THE PLANET - BUNKUM!!
Oh please Mr Blair save us the pious preaching about us not producing so much rubbish - tell it to the manufacturers and marketers , bubble wrappers, foil container producers,electronics manufacturers, non-rewritable CD and DVD producers, synthetic cloth manufacturers , non-bio degradable car panel makers. We are even told the brown paper bags our fruit may be wrapped in at the market stall are not 'degradable. If you want to tax the polluters start at the importers not in our homes.
And Finally-
Podcasting, Digital Audio Broadcasting, The Internet , Means of storing hours and hours of television on one hard-drive (not tape or DVD) it all seems to be making life easier and more fun until the real cost of this implied 'freedom' is added up - each of these comparatively new technical miracles have one great restriction as well as cost in £'s $ € for the hardware and that is licensing through the various broadcast organisations, government departments, encoding systems, distribution networks or multiplexes at each stage of which material can be closely monitored and, if felt 'not acceptable' for publication, censored out. Those whiz-kids (of all ages) who support the changes and replacement of a technically perhaps less 'perfect' system by a strictly ordered and controlled system or systems should beware.
And we have the bald-faced cheek to invade other countries to 'give them democracy' !!!!!!!!!!!
VERY IMPORTANT
a
well supported tape correspondence club run by Charles Towers from the late
50's to the early 70's
If you were a member of WWTT (WorldWide TapeTalk) in the 1960's and early 1970's please email me as I'm trying to arrange some sort of reunion of 'old' (sorry) members perhaps as soon as July/ August 2007 .
Good page ?
If you disagree with all or any of my comments please email me and tell me - I promise to read all emails using the three letter code (see below) in the title .
Tony Hancock 
at FreeThinker your comments will, with your permission, be printed on this page . All email addresses will be kept confidential -please include AMIN in your email title or it'll be auto-erased (anti-spam precaution).
In loving memory of Peter
1991-2003
