Pillock of the Week. Michael George Bichard, Baron Bichard, KGB, This week it goes to the hugely smug Lord Bichard, who is a former benefits chief and sits on a quango looking at demographic changes and their impact on public services. http://www.localleadership.gov.uk/totalplace/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Sir-Michael-Bichard-251x300.jpgHe has said that retired people should do community work or face losing part of their pension so as not to be a burden on the state. Firstly, the moron should know that pensioners have paid in for their pensions in good faith, having been told that National Insurance would give them a good pension. People have contributed for their pensions and it is their pension. It is not for the government to use as a carrot or a stick. During good times, the government should have built up a pension reserve rather than used pension funds for funding vanity projects like the millennium dome so that state pensions were not the giant Ponzi scheme they are now. Lord Bichard also needs reminding that community service is a judicial sanction judges can give criminals. Is being a pensioner therefore, going to be a criminal act in his brave new world? His lordship is setting a perfect example At the ripe old age of 54 he retired from the Civil Service in May 2001 with a pension of £120,000 p.a.! (Index Linked) Lord Bichard - well deserving Pillock of the Week!

Mismanaged & Substandard (M&S to you)

My Christmas was perfectly ruined due to the mismanagement and substandard (M&S) performance of that well known 'high street' store. Gifts sent by me got broken en-route due to substandard packing and, when the replacement finally arrived, were in a grotty box and not the seasonal packing promised. Secondly, a similar package sent to me on the 17th Dec 2012 was, according to the agent Fedex, supposed to have been delivered on seven spearate occasions on seven diffent days! As a house-husband and retiree, I spend a significant amount of time home alone with the odd interlude when I get to have a natter with passing neighbours, the postman et al so clearly, from my doorstep I would have notice seven ...kin big trucks trying to deliver! Equally, had they done so they would have to stick to 'standard operating procedures' and left a note. NUFFIN! The newarks (anagram) at M&S together with the professional toss-pots at the Benidorm branch of Fedex neeed a kick up the fundamental orifice before I ever attempt to use their so-called service again. Bah Humbug!

I really wish I had said this............the thoughts of most and the wishes of the majority! http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=084_1348151389

It's such a beautiful world, so why are the Islamic fundamentailsts trying to ruin everything?

Here's a man with his 'finger-on-the pulse' of the Afghan debacle. Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles says failure to come up with plan for country's future dishonours the courage of the dead, injured and serving members of the Armed Forces

. "We are betraying them because we - the diplomats, the politicians, the civil servants - have failed to accompany a perfectly sensible military tactical campaign with a serious political strategy." Sir Sherard said the failure by those on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a lasting peace process meant there was a real danger that fragile gains made would quickly be lost when British and US forces leave inn 2014. He added: "What we are doing, essentially, is cultivating an allotment in a jungle, and the question is what happens when the gardeners leave?" Sir Sherard said that while Al Qaeda had been "virtually eliminiated" in Afghanistan, politicians had failed to put in place the resources needed to "finish the job". While praising the job done by British troops, he added: "We're in danger of betraying their legacy, betraying their courage, unless the politicians, the diplomats, do their job, which is to broker a serious solution inside Afghanistan and involving all the countries of the region."

Rate Fixing

While we are distracted by the peripheral lunacies of the Olympics, the core problem of the economy and the mayhem that continues to be created by the financial services sector persists. Was the Bank of England, via Deputy Governor Paul Tucker and Barclays` Diamond, complicit in the LIBOR rate-fixing fiddle? Is there a tape-recording of phone-conversations between the two men? Liborgate? A Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry will look into the issue but Milipede the Younger raves on about the need for an “independent inquiry” that would, of course, cost millions and kick the findings into the long grass for months if not for years. Diamond himself is “sorry” but, pleading “don`t blame me” before the Treasury Select Committee, walks into the sunset clutching an obscene payoff for his “success”. Nice little earner init?

"Isimeli , known as 'Bale' to his friends, is facing deportation from the UK after serving 13 years with the British Armed Forces. Bale is a foreign and commonwealth soldier from Fiji who was recruited by the MOD when he was 18. He has served in 5 operational tours including Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. His wife Kim is British and they have two young children a boy of 3 and a girl of 6; both British. Bale voluntarily discharged from the Armed Forces on June 15th 2012 in order to provide stability for his family. He applied for British Citizenship in March while still a serving soldier. This was advised to him by MOD personnel because he had served 13 years and had a British wife and children. This was refused on 28/06/2012 by UKBA, Bale sent an 'appeal for review' but recieved a letter from UKBA on 14/07/2012 stating he had until 9th August 2012 to leave the country. Under changes made to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1973 (ROA) in 2010 disciplinary offences dealt with at the Commanding Officer's discretion can now be equated to a criminal conviction. Bale was fined in 2011 by his Commanding Officer for fighting with another soldier who instigated the fight. There was no police involvement, no trial, no defence and nor was it impartial. Bale did not know he was being charged with a criminal conviction. He believed this was an 'in-house' disciplinary offence only. He has no criminal record, this offence is only on his military record. There was no court martial. He has now appealed the conviction. Under the changes made to ROA in 2010 Bale is now defined as a criminal by the Home Office and of not good character to become a British citizen or apply for indefinite leave to remain. This is devastating for him and his family. It is a breach of Article 6 of the Human Rights Act (1998) and Armed Forces Covenant (2011). It is also inherently racist because the changes made will have no impact on his British Armed Forces colleagues because these military offences are not held on a criminal record. This change only has implications to immigration Law and Policy. The family believe the law and policy is discriminative. The Home Office has been using this 'Law' to deport Foreign and Commonwealth soldiers who have been medically discharged as well. This is a disgrace and immoral!" Please show your support for Bale and his family by contacting your MP, their lives, obviously,

are in turmoil. Bale has been told he has until the 9th August 2012 to leave the Country.

Could British troops lose it during the Olympics?

Could so many thousands of bored, disgruntled, underpaid, demotivated, full of grudge, envy and hate, Army, RAF Regiment and Royal Navy troops compressed in to East London actually result in a mutiny during the Olympic Games, something akin to the Invergordon Mutiny? If a charismatic enough British regimental colonel (remember Gadaffi), or even a lieutenant (remember Rawlings), or even a sergeant (remember Idi Amin) emerged, I can yet see a 'coup' in the UK, with the Houses of Paliament being siezed by between 20 up to 1000 fractious British troops, as in the film "V for Vendetta". I bet you that just like in Northern Ireland, troops with firearms in London have been issued with no more than 5 live rounds each! Or maybe like the Busbeed guards at Buckingham Palace, with just one round each! And that the Leytonstone Rapier batteries have only one live missile! Although I am reminded of the episode of Citizen Smith when Wolfy stormed parliament in a nicked Scimitar only to find it was the summer recess!