I have decided to add this page to keep the best of the soapbox articles I have written. I feel I'm writing these articles, and some of them are good, but I'm not getting noticed. So someone out there notice me, because surely I've got a future in writing newspaper columns. Or maybe I'm dreaming.

As I've said on the main soapbox page, all the items on this page are my own personal points of view, and do not represent anyone else.

Best of Soapbox 2004
Best of Soapbox 2005 (Jan-Jun)
Best of Soapbox 2005 (Jul-Dec)
May 2006 - A bad month for the Home Office
May 2006 - Another rubbish soapbox
May 2006 - A bad week for Labour
April 2006 - Woman wins right to be treated with Herceptin
March 2006 - Chatroom libel case
March 2006 - Winter arrives in North Wales
February 2006 - Bullying victim receives payout
January 2006 - Eye Ointment
January 2006 - Workman fined for littering a drain with soapy water
January 2006 - demm42 the hypocrite (Speeding)

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May 2006

Time for a circular soapbox. One where I'll start on one point, go around some others and end up back where I started.

The Home Office has been getting some stick over the last month or so. It all started when they admitted that over 1000 foreign criminals had been released from jail without consideration for deportation. In fact the fallout from this is still ongoing, as not all of them have yet been traced (at the time of writing).

Now some of these criminals have said they don't wish to be deported (and who would when they can get money from benefits over here, free medical treatment and in some cases live a better life than some of the UK's residents) because they might be tortured in there own countries. The civil liberties groups back them up on this. If this is the case, why are these groups not campaigning in the countries that do this torturing for better human rights (to be fair they may be, but you never see them getting publicity for that). And where are the civil liberties for the residents of the UK who may then be mugged, raped or murdered by these criminals. Who stands up for them?

At least the government is proposing to allow the victims of crime to put their views across at parole hearings. So you might get a say whether a prisoner who has committed a crime against you gets released early. Well I have to say, if a person had injured me I wouldn't want that person released. 5 years in jail should mean just that. No early release. However how would the jails cope? They are already overcrowded.

Here's how. They allow them to abscond. Yes around 700 people have absconded from open prisons last year. So to stop overcrowding in jails, they let them walk out. No more costly parole hearings. Let the prisoners decide when they should leave. Open prison. Isn't that a conflict of terms?

Prison - Definition. A place for the confinement of persons in lawful detention, especially persons convicted of crimes. Perhaps they should just be called criminal drop in centres.

One final question on open prisons. Why are murderers and rapists being held in open prisons?

So where do all these criminals go. Nottingham if a survey of the most dangerous places to live is to be believed. However, Stockport (my home town) is top of the list for burglary. (Just remind me again why I might want to move to a remote area of Scotland to live?) Obviously local representatives in Nottingham aren't happy about this label though, although some residents of Nottingham do agree. Maybe the local representatives should come onto the streets and see the problems that the rest of us have to endure (and that comment isn't specifically aimed at Nottingham).

Maybe the reason things look worse than they actually are is because around 2700 of us law abiding people have3 been labelled as criminals by the Criminal Records Bureau, just because their personal details are similar to those of actual criminals. Easy mistake to make. No problem with that. So you're refused that job in the local school because your CRB check shows that you've been a naughty boy.

In the big picture of 60 million people living in this country, 2700 is only a tiny proportion of people with errors on their details as stated by the Home Office.

This then makes the 223 foreign nationals arrested in counter-terrorism operations that were allowed to remain in Britain as asylum seekers an even smaller proportion. I wonder if any of these asylum seekers were working as cleaners at the Home Office. Anyway let's hope that these 223 people aren't involved terrorism, because obviously it wouldn't be right to send them home to be tortured when they can be allowed to torture us through terrorism. Am I back where I started yet?

Lets launch straight into my argument. Don't we already pay for the collection of our household rubbish. It's called council tax. It's gets increased every year so that our local authorities can cut back on the services they offer. As I've said before, they always seem to have the money for pay rises though.

I know of one woman who, in her words, was warned that further action would be taken because she had underpaid her council tax. They demanded she pay the 3 pence immediately. The stamp to send out the letter cost more than the outstanding amount. That's an efficient use of our money isn't it.

Sorry, gone a bit off topic there. Rubbish. As you may know if you read these soapboxes regularly, I'm all for reducing the amount of rubbish. Our local authority offers five recycling options for house hold rubbish. Garden rubbish, cans/tins, plastic, glass and paper are all collected from our doorsteps. On our street, I would say that around 60% of the people use these services. Very commendable.

But charging for the collection of black bin rubbish. A waste tax. (Didn't I just say that's what they do with our money). Anyway, this is a step too far unless they are proposing to reward people for recycling other rubbish. Yes that's a good idea. Why don't they pay us for the amount of our rubbish we recycle? Fat chance. There's more chance of you winning the lottery, even if you don't play!!.

Another suggestion considered by one local authority was the reduction of the weekly refuse collection to fortnightly. This would encourage people to recycle more. Who are they kidding? Do we all walk around with 'I'm stupid' (haven't the Pet Shop Boys released a song with that title?) tattooed on our heads? (or am I the only one).

Money. If you reduce the rubbish collections to every other week you reduce your collection costs by half. Are people really going to recycle more? Are they ****? Rubbish will just pile up more and the environment will become worse with rats having a field day. Fly-tipping will also increase. But hey, what the hell, at least a bit of money will have been saved.

Yes we do need to do something about the amount of rubbish we generate and landfill. But lets have some sensible solutions instead of half-baked money making/saving ideas.

But over the last week some of his colleagues in the government have had a hard time of it (one of them more than the others).

Firstly there was the health secretary getting jeered at the Royal College of Nursing annual conference. She claimed it was the best ever year for the NHS. Well I've already mentioned the NHS on the soapbox many times. It's like a boomerang. Keeps coming back. I'm not going to dwell on this one for too long. I don't agree that jeering is the right way to disagree with a speaker. Now don't get me wrong. It's a supposedly free world. Just as she has every right to say how she sees things in the NHS, the audience has a right to disagree. But surely a resounding silence (i.e. no applause at the end of her speech) would have made more of an impact and is a more dignified way of showing disapproval.

Anyway, I'm sure a lot of people agree with the nurses. I personally don't see any improvement in the NHS from what I've read in the media. I'm sure a lot of you are still having problems finding a NHS dentist. My wife couldn't get in to see our doctor. Rang Tuesday, no appointment until Friday. She was rather hoping to be on the mend by then. (To be fair, our local surgery has improved a little over the last year. Also, the NHS dentist situation has also improved in Flintshire recently with the opening of 3 super surgeries). But this isn't the case across many parts of the country.

Onto John Prescott (used to be called 2 Jags, but is now 2 shags). He's admitted an affair with his diary secretary. This is the same guy who had said back in 1996 "For too many Tories, morality means not getting caught". I like to see them eat their words!

Now admittedly I'm not a big fan of John Prescott. Wasn't he the one who tried to have a fight with a guy who threw an egg at him? Maybe I'm wrong. Incidents like this do make them look like yobs though. Generally, to me he comes across as arrogant.

The fact is when your in the public eye, you should try to act with dignity and obviously you shouldn't step out of line, because there will be someone right behind you to stick in the knife. I personally think the Labour government would be a better without him.

One final comment. If you were a woman who looks quite attractive, would you choose to have an affair with someone who looks like John Prescott. If so, there's hope for me yet !! (Only joking if the wife is reading this. Love you to bits dear).

Charles Clarke admits that over 1000 foreign criminals have been released from jail without consideration for deportation. Around 285 had been released after he was alerted to the problem. Around 900 of them cannot be traced at the moment. They include rapists, murderers, drug dealers, etc. One media analyst said that some of them might not be found until they offend again.  

What can you say? Lets hope it's not your son or daughter who's raped or murdered as a result of this blunder. Should he resign? Of course he should, but only once he's sorted out the current mess. He should also put the building blocks in place to ensure this doesn't happen again. If he can't do this quickly, then move over and let someone else do it.

None of the above are local issues, but they are issues that are bound to have an influence on Thursday.

And remember. You might think it's a waste of time voting and that all politicians are the same with their own agenda. In most cases you'd be right (in my opinion). But that's no excuse for not voting. If you don't like the main parties, vote for an independent. Someone who doesn't have an agenda. Make your voice heard.

April 2006

A woman has won the right in the High Court to be treated with the cancer drug Herceptin after her local health authority refused to treat her.

Yes it's another NHS soapbox.

At a time when NHS staff are being laid off, waiting lists don't appear to be getting any better from some of the stories you hear of in the media, we hear of one local health authority that is refusing to pay for this treatment. The reasons behind this may vary, but in my opinion cost is one of them. Surely then, the cost of taking this through the courts must exceed the cost of the treatment by now.

It was suggested in the last few weeks that we should all be forced to take out health care insurance, which I believe is similar to how the USA run there health system, although I may be wrong. But the point I want to make is that we do have a health care insurance. It's called National Insurance isn't it? We make contributions out of our pay into this fund so that we may get health care and a pension when we retire.

Oh pensions!! Don't get me started on pensions. It's funny that at a time when local council workers are striking over pensions and having work longer before they retire, the government agrees to top up the MP's pensions which may have had a shortfall from the taxpayers money. Double standards? Sorry, going off topic here.

Back to the NHS. When are we going to get back to the NHS being a public service and not a business? Money pumped into the NHS should be going on patient care and front line staff, not red tape, bureaucracy and costly court cases. All people should have a right to treatment where the treatment may help them, no matter what the cost. Money should never come into it. If there is a shortfall, increase the NI contributions. Not a popular vote winning move I know, but if it means I can get the health care I deserve and the ability to retire while I can still enjoy what's left of my life, I don't mind. Let's put the care back in Health care!!

March 2006

A man has won damages against a woman in a libel case over remarks made in a chatroom. Basically the woman made false allegations that the man was a racist and a sex offender. Where did this happen. The United States compensation culture of America. No, it was in the UK. It's thought to be a landmark case.

Before I start, I'd better just cover myself here. I better just stress that I don't know the full facts of the case and the comments below relate to what I've read on the internet and heard on the radio. I apologise if any of the facts as I've stated them are not totally correct and I will amend them as necessary. I'd hate to fall foul of a libel suit here.

Now firstly I don't wish to belittle the seriousness of the case. The man, who's chatroom identity gave enough information to be able to identify him from what I've heard, was subjected to serious false allegations about his life. His family was also subjected to false claims. In fact it would be fair to say that it amounted to cyber-harassment if there is such a thing. But this is a chatroom. Heated cyber discussions do take place. These comments weren't published in a national newspaper. They were in a chatroom. Was suing for libel the right course of action? Does this set a precedent for other chatrooms? Are people going to be filling our courtrooms with libel cases just because one person says that another person is speaking through their rear end? Where does it end? If someone overhears you say something in a pub and takes offence, can they sue you for libel?

Well to be honest, I would have to say that it probably was the right action to take in this case. The saying 'mud sticks' proves this. Also this was one of the more extreme cases. The woman involved obviously took the fact that someone didn't agree with her opinion too seriously/personally and her actions following this went way beyond what a typical person would do. In most cases an apology and the intervention of a chatroom moderator would be enough to resolve any disagreements.

However on the other hand this case does once again threaten freedom of speech. Yes this man was right to sue for libel as this was one of the extreme cases, but if every Tom Dick and Harry starts suing people because of heated cyber-discussions, the final result will be the shutting down of these chatrooms. I'm sure the government could already take action by saying that chatrooms are where the terrorists chat about which targets to bomb.

However, when we lose this freedom of speech we become one of the dictatorships we are currently fighting against. I really hope that we can maintain the freedom we enjoy in life and on the internet and ensure that the values of free speech which we are fighting for continue.

Firstly, demm42 lives in a village in the hills above Mold. So as you can imagine, the drive to work was not pleasant. Firstly there was clearing the driveway. I'd forgotten how painful frostbite can be (Okay I'm a big jessie!!).

Anyway, I finally got the car on the road, and set off. Now our village hadn't had the gritters through at this time. In fact, it appeared that the local authority had been caught out again as I heard numerous people say that the gritters hadn't been out in there areas. Why do they always seem to get caught out?

Anyway, a short distance out of the village my car decided that it wasn't going to go around one of the corners, so up the verge and into a hedge it went. Fortunately I was alright and the car only sustained some scratches. However, as you can imagine, this unnerved me a bit. I decided on a different route down to the main road. I obviously drove slowly once on the main road. What I couldn't understand is why there were still people tailgating me in these conditions. Are they stupid? What's the rush? It's snow. Nothing, not even your job is worth your life or even your car.

The radio was full of reports of accidents caused by people like this. On the A55 Chester bypass people where going up the slip roads the wrong way to avoid the jams. I know the police would have had a busy morning with all these accidents, but I would have loved for them to catch these pratts.

The kids had a good day. A lot of the schools were closed as the staff couldn't get to them. Most of them spent the day sledging or building snowmen. However there was a small minority who made the dangers on the road even worse. They threw snowballs with stones in them at the cars. How dangerous is this. I heard of one driver who had there child in the car getting out to confront these stoney snowball throwing yobs and getting a load of abuse. The parents of these young yobs (sorry children) then appeared and joined in the shouting match threatening to punch the drivers lights out even after he explained what they were doing. Because the situation was getting out of control, the driver retreated. On arriving home later, he found the police there. Yes, the youngs yobs parents had reported him!! Yes him!! After explaining what had gone on, the police said they would go back to the other parents and say they had warned him about his behavior. And what were they going to do about the young yobs throwing the stones. Sweet FA.

Once again it's proved that the victims are the criminals, and the yobs (young and old) can do as they please. Wonderful country we live in isn't it.

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February 2006

A 23 year old woman in South Wales has been given a £20,000 payout for bullying she suffered when she was at primary school after she took legal action. The local council settled out of court to minimize costs without admitting liability.

Now the bullying this woman says she suffered is arguably more serious than the average bullying a child suffers, but the level of bullying shouldn't matter. The fact is that bullying should not be tolerated in any form at any school.

I'll make some general comments that don't necessarily involve the school in question.

Firstly, the reality seems to be that schools prefer to brush bullying incidents under the carpet rather than admit it's taking place. Comments from the staff at some of the schools that the victim should stand up to the bullies (which could arguably be interpreted as meaning become a bully yourself. Two wrongs obviously do make a right!!) don't help.

Secondly we have the do-gooders who have ensured that the schools no longer have any effective punishment. At most primary schools, young bullies cannot be singled out. So if a primary school child bullies another child, the teachers cannot single that bully out. They are only allowed to give the class the 'play nicely speech'. If they do single out that child, they can end up in theory being sued by the parents in this compensation culture we now live in. In some cases the parents actually threaten the teachers, and rather than ensue a confrontation the teachers back down and let the bullying children from these families run wild. So the teachers don't then practice what they preach in the first point.

In secondary schools the teachers and headmaster can expel pupils who do wrong. So the message is if you do wrong, you can hang around shopping centres and do as you please. In my day we had the cane. That seemed to be a fairly effective deterrent. But we live in a civilised society now. Basically the bullies can do as they please and the victims can suffer. That's certainly a move in the right direction!! Even when the school expels a bully this can still be overridden by a board of governors or school committee.

Thirdly, I don't want my taxes going to settling compensation claims from everyone who has suffered at the hands of bullies (well only if I can claim for the bullying I endured). The floodgates have now effectively been opened. This said (I'm going to contradict myself here), I don't begrudge the woman involved a single penny of the compensation she has received. I just don't like that fact that our taxes will be paying this compensation. How long will it be before the teachers start suing for the trauma they suffer from the disruptive pupils and bullies in their classrooms. As I've already said, they're not allowed to use any effective form of punishment against these children.

So if the local authority doesn't pay out this compensation, who does? I certainly don't think the parents of the bullies should be held liable. They cannot force their teenage child to behave. As soon as that child is out of the home, they are responsible for their actions. The fact is I don't have an answer to this question.

The government keeps promising to clamp down on the teenage yobs who seem to have the run of schools and communities. However these promises never result in any action. They're quick enough to say they'll breach any human rights legislation in the fight against terrorism, but they don't appear to apply any effective measures against these bullies in our society.

Back to the original topic. It's now time for the government to put proper procedures in place to deal with the bullies in schools. Allow the schools (if they choose) to use the cane/slipper provided the parents give signed approval for there children to be punished this way if all other forms of punishment have failed. Parents who refuse to sign such an agreement should accept that their children may not then be given a place at that school (where alternatives exist). This policy should be backed up by the local education authority and central government. Let's put the control back in the hands of the people in charge and the victims, and lets do this now.

Finally, I do not want to hear of my child being bullied at school or of her education being disrupted by other pupils who do not want to learn. I want her to grow up in a safe environment at home and school and realise her potential.

January 2006

A couple of subjects have caught my eye over the last week for the soapbox.

Firstly there's the government allegedly dipping into the National Lottery fund to fund the NHS. I could really go off on one on this subject.

Secondly, a guy who has run a burger van in a lay-by in the North West has been told to shut down after 10 years as the local council wants to build a café on the site. He hasn't even got first refusal on the cafe. Spends 10 years setting up the business, building up the customer base, then gets told to basically get lost.

Anyway neither of these subjects has made it. It's another topic.

I've had a bad week this week. Normally I'm a fairly healthy person, but this week I got conjunctivitis (an eye infection for those of you who don't know otherwise). It went bloodshot, felt like it had sand in it all the time, and the associated pain (stinging and headaches) didn't help either.

So it was time to take myself off to the doctors.  Fortunately they agreed to see me (after a little persuasion to the receptionist). Now being a fairly healthy person (from an illness point of view) I hadn't had to visit the doctor for over 5 years. So it was like a new experience to me again.

Now as I didn't have an appointment, I had to wait a while for the doctor to see me. No problem with that however. I wouldn't have expected otherwise.

So I finally got in to the doctor who confirmed it was a mild case of conjunctivitis (if this was a mild case I'd hate to have if bad case!!). Some ointment was prescribed. Then, because I hadn't had a doctors appointment for years, they took my blood pressure, height and weight. I already knew what the results of these tests would be. Yes I'm slightly overweight and I have high blood pressure.

Anyway, lets get on the thing that really been annoying me this week.

We live in a highly technological era. Computers are getting more and more advanced. And could you live without flash disks, multi-channel digital TV, DVD, fully automated cars, digital cameras, ipods/mp3 players, mobile phones, etc. These advances don't just apply to people, but health care, business, education, crime detection have all benefited as well. For example, DNA is helping the police solve crimes from years ago. And it's bound to get better and better.

So why is it than that they can't invent an ointment tube that you can actual use to put the ointment in your eye without it curling around onto the tube and becoming a real challenge to get it into your eye. I must have wasted around two-thirds of the ointment and a great deal of time.

Got to the point of this soapbox in the end didn't I?

Is this a joke? No. Click this link to the Manchester Evening News Online website.

Once again silly Britain strikes again. I mean come on. Soapy water!! Are the two litter wardens a pair of jobsworths? Or are they on a commission for each fine they dish out? Or are they just doing what they are paid to do?

The fact is that this wasn't dog mess. It wasn't chewing gum. It wasn't crisp packets, take-away wrappers, beer cans, plastic bags, fly tipping. I could go on. You tell me which messes up the landscape more. I know which I'd prefer to tread in.

What about people who wash their cars on the road? Are they going to be fined next? Are we going to have soapy water recycling centres? You've got to park your car in a big dish, wash it, and then take the dish on the back of a skip lorry to the local dump for recycling. God help you if you're a window cleaner.

Now before I really lose my head over this one I'll make a few comments. I'm all for workmen who dump cement into the drains being fined. I haven't got a problem in that. The fact is that if the cement sets (although it should be watered down in a drain) it could cause a blockage. I believe oil, paint and other substances shouldn't be dumped in drains either. But soapy water. Come on.

The council/local authority involved has stated that they have a zero tolerance attitude to litter (litter being the operative word). Very commendable. But don't they think that treating soapy water as litter, which if left on a path would probably clean up any mess on it, is being a bit over zealous. I'd better just add at this point for the sake of balance that the litter wardens involved say that it was cement that was being poured away (must have been a weak cement mixture if it was poured away). The workman insists it was soapy water with maybe a little wallpaper or silt.

Anyway, where's it going to end? Are they going to fine people with trees in their garden for the mess of leaves in Auterm? Do we all have to cut down our trees? I wonder what they'd do if someone dropped a pound coin on the pavement. Fine them!!

I'm sure I could go on but now I'm getting a bit silly so I think I'll leave the subject there.

Update: A couple from Kiveton Park have been fined for feeding the birds, sorry littering a local woods and paved area with bird food (bread scraps, bird seed, sultanas, etc...). Click here for details.

Apparently they'd been caught on film doing it. The local authority allegedly (why is allegedly so had to spell. I get it wrong every until my spell check corrects it every time) said that they had received complaints and also (I believe) stated that it attracts vermin.

Two points. Firstly, as the couple pointed out, why had no action been taken against the chip wrapper droppers near the local chip shop. At least bird food disappears (the birds eat it). Secondly (and controversially), just because we are the supposedly superior species on the planet, who are we to judge bird life as vermin when all the bird life (and other animals) are trying to do is live their lives and survive. If the bird life is vermin, maybe they should cull all the blackbirds, sparrows, wagtails, etc. Let's make a few more species extinct!!

Update 2 (Mar 2006): A man in Hinckley has been fined for putting his junk mail in a litter bin. He was accused of dumping domestic rubbish in a council litter bin. Well, what can I say? If you can't put your rubbish in a litter bin, maybe you should drop it on the streets. It's nice to know that the litter wardens are clamping down on the major litter bugs in our society. You know those ones that use the litter bins. Forget the flytippers, it's the ones that use the litter bins we need to watch. Enough said.

Well it's official. I'm a hypocrite!! Oh and welcome to the soapbox for 2006.

Anyway, back to the topic today. I'm now a hypocrite. And the reason for this?

Over the past year I've mentioned speeding a couple times on the soapbox. While I don't condone speeding, I do think sometimes that the justification for speed camera's in certain location is suspect. This aside, if a speed camera does catch you then you're showing a lack of concentration on the roads. I mean, how can you miss a big yellow box on the side of the road. (Obviously this doesn't apply to cameras that catch you as you come towards them).

Yes, demm42 has started the New Year with a speeding ticket. Not from a speed camera though. A mobile/manned camera. 37mph!!.

Now I can't defend myself. There is no excuse. While I'm normally very careful in towns/villages, obviously in this village I slipped up. I never even saw the camera (or one of the vans they sometimes use).

So I'm going to start the New Year with a fine and 3 points on my license.

Just a one point I would like to make however. I've obviously done wrong and will have to admit it. No excuse. And I don't mean to trivialise the crime of speeding. It is dangerous, particularly in built up areas.

The question I do want to ask is 'Is it fair for people who do 35mph for instance, to get the same fine/punishment as someone doing 55mph?'. Isn't it about time a system was brought in to proportionally fine people. Maybe a £10 fine for every 1mph over the limit is a better idea. I would then have had a £70 fine, which is more than the fine I got.

And I completely agree that anyone going 30mph or more over the limit should be banned. Even jailed in exceptional cases. No excuse. Exceptional hardship. I'll lose my job. I'm a company director and my employees would lose their jobs. Well don't do the crime then!! You took a conscious decision to break the limit. Pay the price. Otherwise you're creating a them and us system of justice. Everyone should be banned in these circumstances!!!

Finally, one last question. When are the police going to clamp down on people using their mobile phones (with no hands free) when driving? It's about time this crime got as much attention as speeding!!!

Update: A driving license is an important document. Everyone knows that. When I sent mine off to be endorsed I made sure I sent it recorded delivery. I would have hated for it to go missing in the post. What a pity that those that need to be obeyed couldn't show the same due care. I know I did wrong, but is it really too much trouble to send it back first class recorded delivery instead of second class? Mind you it's not them that has to pay for a new one if it goes missing is it!!