Tony Blair

He's off.



Stop cheering.



I am well known for my dislike of him. IMO, he's wasted 10 years in office, taking us into an illegal war, and increasing steadily higher tax rates on the middle classes.



However, I try to be fair. What things, beside the Iraq war, will he be remembered for?

(red's bad, orange's good)

1. Peace in Northern Ireland. I wont take this away from him. THe Good Friday agreement has really done a lot to help the stability of the Province.
2. University Fees. He's imposed a set of fees that mean that students leave Uni with massive debts, leaving them economically crippled.
3. Similar to 2, but graduates are now priced off the housing ladder due to massivly increasing land prices.
4. Made the Bank of England independant. This not only means the GB can't be blamed for the failures of the economy, but also means that the bank are free to set rates without political pressure.
5. Massive Tax Bill We are now the second highest taxed nation in the World, per capita, behind Sweeden. The differance? Sweeden have a good level of public services
6. We are the most monitored people in the World. You know those talking CCTV cameras? Per year, they cost the same as a Policeman. The Gvt. intends to have 4 per 10,000 people. Better, WHY NOT HAVE 4 POLICE MEN INSTEAD? We are constantly under the
7. Pointless Beurocracy. We had an electrician in last Friday to fit a new hob. However, he couldn't take the rubbish away with him , as he didn't want to pay £200 for a "Commerical Waste Removal License." Why? It only encourages Fly Tipping.
8. Finally, to conclude, he has destroyed our Education System with "Numeracy and Literacy Hours", to say nothing of inventing so many GCSE subsitutes, like Leisure and Tourism et al, that GCSE's are worth nothing. So Private Schools do a good qualification (IGCSE's) whilst everyone else has to do one's employees hate. Grammer schools by the back door.

I will expond on Education at a later time, I have revision to do.

P.S. I forogt uncontrolled immigration. Any other ideas that I've missed?

 

PPS. A TEST EDIT USING CS3 CONTRIBUTE.

money money money

Money - its one of the the 3 things which makes the world go round - love, power and money.

Money can buy power but not love however in this modern civilization in which we live money is becoming the more demoninant motor whcih mkaes the earth go round. (not in a scinetific sense )

However the Bank of England voted today to raise intrest rates yet again (numbering the 7th raise since september I believe ) up to 5.5% (a raise of 1/4%) This is brilliant news for everyone who has money stashed away in bank accounts building up more and more intrest (myself not included) but crushing news for the majority of economic active poeple in this country who have a morgage and are trying to pay it off. A quarter of a % raise roughly averages out on the averag house price of £100,000 - £120,000 to be about an extra £20 per month extra repayment which for some families is managebale. However with all the recent raises totalled we are looking at an extra £80 repayment on morgages; which is driving osme families to loose homes, posessions and drive them into debt.

So why is this happening - the Bank of England is franticlly trying to increase the intrest rates to keep control over inflation (although inflation is rising if intrest rates did not raise it would soar bringing choas to the economy and signifcantly cut consumer spendin)

However intrest rates are rising which effects house prices, which are included in the calcuating of inflation and so the circle continues. Intrest rates increase, so does inflation.

Another factor that is causing high intrest rates is the shameful state of credit people in this country have, borrowing high amounts (due to previosuly lower intrest rates) and are trying to pay them back.

However one of the main contributers is housing, by ther being a shortage of houses this brings in the principle of supply and demand. With high demand (which there is in this country due to high land value, immigration, divorces, and more independant people and wide spread families ) and low supply comes high prices as products are consideed a rariety - for eample there is only one Mona Liza, which becuase of its uniqueness costs a fortune, if there was hundreds o Mona Liza's the cost would be signifcantly lower as they are more accessible. And this is what Britian is facing today.

So ultimatly to help ease the crisis ( not solve it completly) would be to build more housing, quickly. However we do not need semi detached or detached 4 bed homes whcih cost a fortune as they would not ease the situation fast enough. The easiest solution is tower blocks ( single bedroom, 2 bedrooms tower blocks) howeve these can not be some similar to those designed by Barrot or other companies which are high class and expensive. These need to be asthetically pleasing however not enough to be costly. Tower blocks also make most and est use of land. Some counties have introudced staggered payments and different payment options to first time buys or to people buying homes in tower blocks which are slightly more expensive however they are more affordable to first time buyers through various schemes.

But if we do not counter balance this rapid increase in intrest and inflation we will eventually see a crash in the house market where poeple refuse to pay the prices and so demand wil fall ( making the supply high and costs low ) As a economic expert said
"I would not selling my house for 50p as in the housing market it would mean I could upgrade to Buckingham palace for about a tenner)

local election

Thursday am - the day begins with blair, cameron and salmond and menzies all worried, and possibly excited about how the days events would unravel.

News experts and politic experts betting on parties successes and MPs worried about whether they will be left with a job at the end of the day

Thursday am continued - the poll stations opened and so the vote begins

Thursday pm - labour is down however not as much as was expected, lib dems are also down, BNP are remaining stable and conservative up but again not as much as expected.

Friday - final results show lib dems have lost 4 councils, labour have lost 8 and cameron has gained 38 councils absalotly slaughtering labour. Howver conservatives failed the break into the north of the country or into Scotland.

Scotland after a tense wait which took longer due to failed voting electronic systems found out that the SNP had one more seat than labour who had their biggest success in Scotland. However the SNP now decide whether to join with another party to hold a larger section of seats and control over parliment or try and battle with labour. Labour themselves fail to persuade the Lib Dems to join them in Scotland and so remain one seat short of the SNP.

Would a break with Scotland even nenficial to England. Well a break would mean less paper work for England however we would loose a large source of incom coming from Scottish oil rigs ( which is almost equalivilant to the expenditure for Scotland so no major saving can be made. By loosing Scotland we also would not be bound to their rules and them to us which is alot better as they have different issues and different opions. However we would loose a large part of the british army.

However Scotland could benifit from breaking with England. Firstly more freedom and ore decisions can be given to them, and in economic terms this could be benifical as it could cut areas of spending such as the military which becuase of the countries size and neighbours it may not require or require as large a one as current. Corpoartion tax could also be cut to attract larger businesses and companies (not possible for the UK for fear of upsetting large countries ) and this could be good for Scotland as one 1/5 of there income nationally is from oil which is an unstable source of icnome as the price could drop por rise or alternativly run out.

So we shall wait to see how the SNP proceed and whether they battle Labour, or join forces with another party or join labour themselves and come to a special agreement.

Meanwhile it is clear that the conservative party won the local election and hold significantly more councils but they have done this for the last few years beating labour in local elections but not the general elections could it happen again??

Could Brown improve labours current sleazy, lying and destructive and hopeless image to something better or will Cameroon soon be in Number 10 with Brown only living there a few months ?

Iran

Should we invade Iran ? ( and probaly make a balls up of it like we did Iraq ) or what ?

The situation currently stands that Iran is developing nuclear material (which they say is to generate power ) however could be used for nuclear explosive devices.

Now I believe we should most and foremost protect the people of this nation, however to go to war there must be significant evidence and proof. Remember Iraq, they siad there were weapons of mass distruction which could reach the UK, however have any ever been found ?

So Iraq there was no evidence and over 140 of our troops have now been killed in Iraq ( not to mention the large number of americans ) We have destroyed the country and ruined the infrastructure and Iran couled be a repeat.

We ahve spent billions in going to war, not only in money but in lives.

Personally - we shouldn't go to Iran ( not to say the soilders and armed forces are great becuase they are ) but is there is a serious threat ? is there evidence ? are we going to mes it up like Iraq ? and how many inncoent lives will be killed and lost in the proces both british and Iranian ?

The Prom

Well, don't know about anyone else, but I'm completly exhausted. The prom, I think, was a complete sucess. I really want to thank:

• The whole Year Council for doing so much work, thoughout the year


• Everyone who was generous enough *cough*adam */cough* to help after the Prom- it really made my job easier. Cheers guys.


• Chris Hullat for his excellent lights- see below,


• But primarly Nick Hursthouse for being a superb Vice- Chairman this year. It is fair to say that, without him, there would have been no prom. And who else could have stirred the crowd up like that? lol

Congratulations to:

• Healy for winning funniest boy


• Katie and ? (remind me someone...)for winning Best Dressed Girl/ Boy


• Josh and Corry for winning best couple and to


• Rose and Nick for winning Prom King and Queen! Lovely dancing you two :P

(Rose, that was the first, and last time you're EVER going to get me to dance lol )

See you all on Monday, I hope everyone who does German spent yesterday and today in solid revision!

P.S. Can't go without giving you the singular funiest picture of the Prom. True love's first kiss?! (with thanks to Shrek for that line)

Social responsobility - david cameroon

David Cameroon in his latest interview on the policitcs show on sunday centered his speech / interview around the issue of responsibility, and in some aspects i believe he is right.
Firstly he wants more social responsbility - people not to feel afraid of telling people they are disruptive etc and actualy stand up to them and not feel afraid of them. I also agree with his issue of giving more responsibility to our national services, lowering the amount of paper, making it easier for the NHS and police force and criminal justice system. Less red tape, less targets and less paper work may speed up the process and increase the productivity of these services.

Maybe by giving more responsiblity to services and having less government control less stupid decisions would be made and the process would speed up, however these services will also still require more funding and more facilities. The courts are still full and waiting times for them can be lengthy and then once someone is prosecuted they go to a prision cell which may have be overcorwded or go to an open prision where they either leave on their own free wil or get released early to keep overcrowidng down.

But whilst prisions are full £2 billion are now given to build two brand new navy air craft carrier ships ?????? which is more needed ???????? Our safety from prisioners ont he rampage or 2 new navy ships ?????

William and Kate

This is my first true politics post on here, so here goes nothing.

The media scrum around William and Kate breaking up is really sad. Not only for them, because breaking up is never nice and noone should have to undergo so much scrutiny over their private lives. But also for us, that we brought the newspapers that had this in, and watched the TV shows. Really, the fact that people are even interested in this is appalling. If I'd split up with my girlfriend, I wouldn't want the whole world to know about it like this, let alone it be all over the newspapers.

Anybody think it's reasonable?

A slightly longer entry

This is my first proper post (1st one was testing). I'm Simon, recognisable by the better spelling and grammar.

I am indeed going to Auckland, assuming the medical application is not turned down, in September. The picture, right, is about 5 minutes from my new house. I actually know very little about where I will be staying, but will add some more info as I get it.

I will be going to study at Kristin School doing the IB- English, German(eek), Physics, Maths, Geography and History.

More importantly, I will be spending a lot of time on the beach below!

Anyway, more later. I have a blog to format.

My first Post

Myself and Simon are good mates - however in a few weeks simon is moving to New Zealand to begin a new life whilst I'm staying here. The idea of this blog is so that you can read what us two mates get up to and see how different our lives will be.

I myself live in Bedfordshire and will be begining 6th form in september whilst simon goes to Auckland on the north coast

We'll update it as regular as possible. Follow our two different lives and see how we get on.

First Blog

Well, this is my first entry to the blog and it's currently a test entry.