Sign Of The Times

The sign above has to be the cleverest sign in this rapidly degrading nation of ours. It will become, I hope, an obvious theme throughout this rant.

It should be nailed to the inside of every door in the land, to serve as a reminder of what happens when you give way on a small thing that does not necessarily bother you. You may think that something like the PACE "Stop and Account" shenanigans won't affect you overmuch. After all, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, right? A reasonable, but completely wrong assumption. By giving the police, or worse, those idiots in parliament the nod to carry on with this nonsense you put us all in harms way. It has affected hundreds of thousands of people, yet a staggeringly low number of arrests have been made. This is yet another case of punishing all for the sins of the few.

The Police National Computer was an innovation back in the day. It became a repository for all data on the bad guys. It meant that every police force in the land could whack a few keys and get the form on the villain they either had in custody, or wanted to have in custody. It was a great idea. Until innocent people had their details on there by mistake. It's the same old story where computer databases are concerned. GIGO. Garbage in, garbage out.

Just for chuckles, let's see who now has access to the PNC:

1. Access Northern Ireland

2. British Transport Police

3. Charity Commission

4. Civil Nuclear Constabulary

5. Courts (Warrant Enforcement)

6. Criminal case Review Commission

7. Criminal Records Bureau

8. Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Litigations and Prosecutions

9. Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform

10. Department for Transport

11. Department of Works and Pensions Solicitors

12. Disclosure Scotland

13. Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority

14. Environment Agency

15. Financial Services Authority

16. Foreign and Commonwealth Office

17. Guernsey Police

18. Health and Safety Executive

19. Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary

20. Highways Agency

21. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs

22. Home Office

23. Independent Police Complaints Commission

24. Isle of Man Police

25. Jersey Police

26. Mersey Tunnel Police

27. Ministry of Defence (MOD) Police

28. Ministry Of Justice

29. MOD Defence Vetting Agency

30. National Air Traffic Services Ltd.

31. National Offender Management Service

32. National Health Service Counter Fraud

33.Office for Civil Nuclear Security

34. Office of fair Trading

35. Port of Tilbury Police

36. Prison Service

37. Royal Military Police

38. Security Services

39. Service Police Crime Bureau

40. Serious Organised Crime Agency (Domestic)

41. Serious Organised Crime Agency (International)

42. United Kingdom Border Agency

43. Vehicle and Operator Services Agency.

So, just the 43 agencies then. No danger of those many thousands of people with access making mistakes or worse, making mischief. No danger at all.

I see today the sentences for those that harmed, tortured and killed Peter Donnelly are woefully inadequate. They range from 3 to 5 to 15 years. I am, by nature, a libertarian and should really disagree with heavy sentencing but where children are concerned, a red mist descends. I would spend 38p on each of the three animals involved in the harming and killing of this innocent little boy. 38p is the cost of 1 x 9mm round. £1.14p and our problems are over. Instead we will spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on this vermin. Thanks to their human rights we also have to give each of them a new identity when they are released from their cosy little cells in 1.5, 2.5, and 7.5 years respectively. Justice isn't blind. Justice is a fucking moron. Oh, and just for the record, I would also spend 38p on every case officer involved from Haringey Council. Incompetent fuckwits, every single one of them.

The dreadful smoking ban continues to outrage me. This pathetic legislation was enacted just over two years ago and is the single biggest cause of my misery as it ended my social life. And yes, I am hale and hearty, so I can simply step outside the pub for a smoke. But I will not debase myself. My landlord will start seeing my money again as soon as he welcomes me inside, with my cigarettes, like all the other patrons. I deserve to be warm, comfortable and safe, just like they do. I am happy to pay todays prices for beer, wine, gin, whatever, but I will not pay and then voluntarily walk outside into all weathers just so that I can smoke. The anti-smokers are just realising that they also voted in the demise of their own local pubs and clubs. They really should be careful what they wish for. I have read more about smoking and second hand smoke in the last few years than is strictly good for me. I now possess an encyclopedic knowledge and a humongous library containing all the original studies. Disclaimer: I have all the studies that they published. Hundreds of studies have been buried deeper than Jimmy Hoffa because they do not conclude that second hand smoke is harmful at all. As it is, those that they dared to publish are still pretty awful. The ratio is 6:1. For every study that claims harm, there are six that say it does no harm. Given that the evidence is non-existent I can only conclude that the 646 chimps in the HoC enacted legislation to combat an odour. Well done.

This last item (for now), concerns the Chancellors brand new tax. Not satisfied with robbing us of 52% of our earnings every year, he has decided to tax us for parking our cars at work. Just how nasty can this clown get? More importantly, just how stupid can the British public be? My guess, and it is based on many such examples, is that they will react typically. That is to say, they will do fuck all. Then, in the one pub left open, they will stand and piss and moan about it. I wonder how many will even try to stop it happening?

Not enough, is my prophecy.

Slippery slopes are dangerous.

For every single one of us.