pap

Tomorrow, I have an interesting commute. Taxi to John Lennon Airport, flight to Belfast, plus a 1h 15min drive over a mountain range. Then I start work. I shall not be in great form by 17:15pm tomorrow.

Absolutely mental, isn't it? In establishing and supporting this scheme, the government has effectively moved thousands of real jobs out of the economy. This is what happens when you play politics for the right side of the public gallery, utterly counterproductive and fundamentally incompatible with what I'd believe would be a popular sentiment on the right wing - i.e. - that you are paid for the work that you do.

Some interesting claims made in this article, Waterstones end unpaid work placements. 1) There are claims that making unemployed people work contravene the Human Rights Act on forced labour. The government is arguing that the employees are not forced to work, just that they lose their benefits if they do. Hmm. So work or starve, basically. 2) Tesco, Sainsbury's, Argos, Asda, Maplin, TK Maxx, Matalan, Primark, Holland & Barrett, Boots, McDonald's and Burger King are all participating, but apparently, specific numbers are hard to come by - much of the hiring is done at a local level so national numbers aren't known. This is a load of bolox, imo - these people could easily provide numbers if they wanted. 3) There are claims from staff that part-time hours for employed staff have gone down as a result. A full-time employee at one Holland and Barrett store, who did not want to be identified, said they believed the placements were starting to replace paid work. "We have had a number of placements in our store and have noticed that the hours for part-time staff have been reduced. Staff are upset because we are all struggling to make ends meet," the employee said. "The real benefactors of this scheme are the companies who receive millions of pounds worth of labour absolutely free of charge and the losers are the jobseekers who see potential jobs being filled by workfare placements for months at a time and the loyal part-timers who find their regular overtime hours savagely cut." Doesn't seem so cut and dried now, does it? I stand by my original statement - this is tantamount to slave labour. It's now looking increasingly clear that it is hurting working people, and oddly enough - people who are trying to get into one of these roles. If we're supplying free unskilled labour to major corporations, what incentive does that provide them to fill these jobs in the usual way?

I've been doing some research into my own heritage. The trick is getting decent history up until 1911, the last available census on public record. I ended up ordering birth certificates for a couple of my great-grandparents. Whatever you do, just go straight to the government's site and order the 10-business day version. Ten quid each, as opposed to 30 quid that some ancestry sites will charge you. I've been using ancestry.co.uk - once I got the names of my great-great-grandparents, everything became a lot easier. For starters, official records are easier to turn up. The other thing that happens is that you end up running into other people's family trees. In less than 3 weeks, have managed to get back into the 1700s along my mum's maternal line. My uncle already did my dad's side of the family, so I'm getting a pretty complete picture of my roots in the last 300 years. Have to say, it's very very humbling to see all the different strands that ultimately result in you. Huge parts of my family are from Lancashire and Yorkshire way, while there's a massive southern influence too. Very difficult to consider yourself a true southerner when you see it all laid out.

Hehe, no mate - he is not involved. You do know one of them though. Can say no more.

And yet, if any of us had been accused of racially abusing someone else in the business, we'd probably be on suspension pending the outcome of the investigation. Forgive me if I don't feel sorry for a multi-millionaire football player who might not get to lead his country out. Oh, and if he's guilty, then he shouldn't even be playing for the country.

http://www.surgeradio.co.uk/onair/listen/

Is there a streaming version of the radio show so that we can annoy you from afar?

I'm a freelance systems designer and implementer - with a focus on web-based systems.

I have seen that phrase on forum posts so often that I own bizarrelogic.com True story. As for Lee, far too early to be making judgments - especially as I actually haven't seen him play much. Merrington sounded enthusiastic about him on the Solent commentary. It's in everyone's interest that Lee does well, scores goals and makes the first team on a regular basis. Judging by the Japanese press at St Marys, he could generate a huge amount of interest and revenue for the club.

Cameron is an utter muppet. John Bercow pointed out that the PM had been exceptionally well educated. That may be the case, but he doesn't seem to be putting that education to any meaningful use. His party's policies aren't getting the country out of the mire, he himself has repeatedly been shown to be unresponsive or ineffective as a leader. Even his two-fingered salute to the EU last month has been totally nullified by the complete failure to take any action on it. The policy is "yeah, we vetoed it, but if you go ahead and do it anyway, we probably won't say anything". I never get the sense that Cameron is taking the job entirely seriously, or that he has any sound political convictions of his own.

Interesting article on politics.co.uk, David's intervention makes Ed Miliband look good.

C'mon now, trousers. Even Cameron managed a more articulate response than this (Still raw over Ontario?)

As usual, got to partake in the extended edition of the Daily Politics yesterday, which incorporates Prime Minister's Questions. Even before PMQs, Andrew Neill and his cohort were talking about Ed's recent resurgence when dealing with Dave. Difficult to disagree based on yesterday's performance. Cameron was reduced to the level of debate normally reserved for SaintsWeb's most blinkered right-wing posters. Personal insults, representing one view as the whole picture, all the usual tricks. Miliband wasn't perfect. He really needs to keep his face still when Cameron is answering (gurning in disbelief at points, understandably). However, I'm calling yesterday a win for Miliband. First of many? Anyways, don't take my word for it. Daily Politics from yesterday right here.

I like this part:- Prejudice is of particular interest because understanding the roots of racism and bias could help eliminate them, Hodson said. For example, he said, many anti-prejudice programs encourage participants to see things from another group's point of view. That mental exercise may be too taxing for people of low IQ. It's an interesting topic, and to be fair, the article doesn't say all left-wingers are smarter than all right-wingers. Just mostly, they are.

I've long argued for a massive rebuilding programme. Needs to happen, and priority should go to working families. That is an example of why it would pay to work.

Soz mate! Edited !

I've got mixed feelings on this. On the surface, who could have any problem with a benefits cap? Seems entirely reasonable. Problem is, the end game, getting people into work, is going to be difficult to realise. Unemployment is at its highest level for 18 years, and I'm not sure that's because everyone has suddenly decided they want to live off the state. The case that Saint Mikey refers to seems very easy to pull apart. The bloke should give up his ciggies, beer, whatever. Of course, the irony is that most of that beer and ciggie money is going straight back to the exchequer - so it's not like the govt is paying 7quid a pack to support a ciggie habit, is it? I'm sure it's going to be a very popular policy, but for me, it's just another case of the government trying to save money by going after the people least able to defend themselves - and not really considering the consequences. Take a look at how well the US' welfare-to-work programs worked out in a depressed jobs market. Sounded great on paper, but it just resulted in single-parents having to do 4 hour round trips on public transport to do a job on minimum wage - their kids often left to their own devices while the parent was out working for free. I think that we definitely need to look at the problem of non-working families. However, we need to take a holistic view of the problem, and engineer a solution that addresses the root causes without creating unwanted side-effects. The real problem is that it doesn't pay to work. The reason it doesn't pay to work is because the cost of living is too high - for numerous reasons. High rents / mortgages, high tax, cost of childcare, etc. That's the fundamental issue here, and the Government has zero interest in addressing it. This policy is just populist papering over the cracks that'll just create more problems, for working and non-working people alike.

"I got 99 problems, being a b*tch ain't one."

Arse. Come on boys. Get back in there.

Most cats are greedy bastards and will eat as long as there is food in front of them. I don't think you need the Kate Moss of pussy cats to scratch this particular itch. Besides, cats are good for catching mice. The only downside I can see is that the cat might become confused with the dual pursuit of mouse-catching and nibbling the morsels you wedge in your bum beak. You could end up with a live mouse in your bum, although for some people, that is not necessarily a problem.

You could train a cat to lick it clean.

An unfortunate consequence of the cut and thrust of the build-up, my good man. (Other post didn't on my page exist when posting mine)

@jordansibley Guly misses out tonight with a minor injury. Sharp not registered in time to play tonight as the deadline was midday yesterday

Strong team. Glad to see Richardson, Fonte and Lallana starting. Come on!