In todays news...

[Mussels]

What will they come up with next, dog licences?

After that enforced sterilisation of cats with ears clipped as in Greece.

Followed by the same for UK citizens who haven't paid their "fair share" of taxes. YKIMS.

Sterilisation seems the likely reason, vets sell sterilisation, chipping and vaccinations as a package so someone getting the chip done is more likely to get them all done.
And it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if there's also a financial benefit in it for the RSPCA.

[Yambo]

What will they come up with next, dog licences?

After that enforced sterilisation of cats with ears clipped as in Greece.

We have a charity organisation in this village (run by an British expat woman) thats spends a fortune feeding and neutering 'street' cats (and still they come!). They constantly beg for money, run tabletop sales etc so that they can deprive the cats of a sex life. As in Greece, ears are clipped when done (same for dogs).

"We love our kitties!" they cry "We love them so much we're going to take away their ability to breed!" which is about the only positive thing that cats do. They don't like me asking if, when they've 'done' all the cats, are they going to start on the porcupines or maybe the wild boar that run around the village at night? She flatly refused to neuter her children.

A cat got hit by a car last night, right in front of Catwoman "OMG, poor kittie, a hit and run attempted murder!". She was distraught and ran around to get a T shirt to put it on while she checked to see if it had been neutered. Then wrote a 300 word piece for their facebook charity page about it. I'd put a link to it but it'd be wrong to encourage her.

[Mussels]

If sterilisation prevents culling then it probably is the better choice.

[Yambo]

If sterilisation prevents culling then it probably is the better choice.

It's more expensive and with the number of kittens being produced each year fails in its main aim.

Culling not only prevents breeding but also reduces the number of animals overall. Catch, neuter release is only effective in keeping the vets in the manner to which they have beome used to. It certainly hasn't had much effect of our local population.

[Mussels]

There's an argument that culling just leaves more food for breeding but a sterilised animal uses up some of that food and breeding slows down.
If there's loads of food available then that might be a better thing to work on.

[Cousin Jack]

From today (in the UK), owners who do not microchip their cats face a £500 fine.

So you have to microchip your cat so your details can go on a database and you can be identified as the cat's owner.

From the start, to be absolutely clear: I do not advocate microchipping children


Taking a step sideways from pets.

When Foal was about 3 (?) we started the process of applying for entry to the local school. Until then (not that I'd thought about it in any detail), I'd presumed the local authority would contact us "Oi, school, now!" kinda thing. After all, births are registered, etc.

But, of course, there's no 'official' logging of where subsequently the kid moves to (except anything like Drs).

They could end up anywhere, never going to school at all.

Many kids are home educated. IIRC there's legislation saying that they have to receive education, whether at a school or not.

But there's no log or register of home educated kids. No-one knows how many there are or where they are.

Despite promises, no register has been introduced.

Big Brother if a register is mandatory, or potential neglect on a national scale if not?

Some, mainly educated, people home educate their kids as a deliberate choice. Those kids are probably educated fine, although I suspect they miss out on mucking about with their mates.

A lot more kids get taken out of school by poorly educated parents, often ones who work full time. Mainly as a result of their little feral brat being constantly in deep shit at school because of their antisocial habbits. Their home education is probably not fine at all, they will grow up to produce feral brats and the cycle will repeat.

[JackyJoll]

From the start, to be absolutely clear: I do not advocate microchipping children

Megachip the little buggers!

[Ian]

Don't the kids all have chips from the CV19 vaccine anyway...

[Horse]

Some, mainly educated, people home educate their kids as a deliberate choice. Those kids are probably educated fine, although I suspect they miss out on mucking about with their mates.

Yup. Potentially receiving a better, or more appropriate, education.

A lot more kids get taken out of school by poorly educated parents, often ones who work full time. Mainly as a result of their little feral brat being constantly in deep shit at school because of their antisocial habbits. Their home education is probably not fine at all, they will grow up to produce feral brats and the cycle will repeat.

And yup.

School refusers, for good reasons
School refusers because they just can't be @rsed

As a carer, one example I heard of was looking after a drug addict mother
As a carer, for a disabled parent

Or those attending illegal schools, some set up by small religious groups

So many possibilities.

But none are logged. Ironically, local authorities have a legal obligation to ensure that children are receiving appropriate education - but parents have no obligation to provide access.

[Hoonercat]

If sterilisation prevents culling then it probably is the better choice.

It's more expensive and with the number of kittens being produced each year fails in its main aim.

Culling not only prevents breeding but also reduces the number of animals overall. Catch, neuter release is only effective in keeping the vets in the manner to which they have beome used to. It certainly hasn't had much effect of our local population.

Certainly? The average female produces 100 to 120 kittens in her lifetime (and that's the lowest estimate I could find). Even if only half survive, that's 50 to 60 cats that won't be born, thus not adding to the stray population. That's 50 to 60 cats that won't be producing their own litters, or in the case of males shagging every female that your cat lady hasn't managed to neuter. That's the effect of neutering just one young female; how many has cat lady neutered?
Just because you're not seeing a reduction in numbers doesn't mean it's not having an effect.

[Yambo]

A few things have attracted my interest recently which I think are worthy of comment and/or ridicule.

Let's start with water:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nn46rjej6o

BBC uncovers 6,000 possible illegal sewage spills in one year
Every major English water company has reported data suggesting they’ve discharged raw sewage when the weather is dry – a practice which is potentially illegal.
BBC News has analysed spills data from nine firms, which suggests sewage may have been discharged nearly 6,000 times when it had not been raining in 2022 - including during the country’s record heatwave.

Water companies can release untreated sewage into rivers and seas when it rains to prevent it flooding homes, but such spills are illegal when it’s dry.

Nobody cares about the environment, the people, the law . . . Certainly not the outgoing government.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cneevz8278eo

Tory candidate tells BBC election bet was 'huge error of judgement'.
Conservative candidate Craig Williams has apologised and said he made a "huge error of judgement" over betting on the date of the next general election.
Mr Williams, who was an aide to the prime minister in the last Parliament, is alleged to have placed a £100 bet on a July election three days before Rishi Sunak announced the 4 July poll.

Unfortunately, this doesn't beggar belief; what fine upstanding people are Conservative MPs. I wonder what odds he got on his £100 flutter, it's probably slipped his memory. But, he's apologised so it's all OK now I guess.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4nnjrj179lo

New law quashes convictions of Scottish sub-postmasters
Sub-postmasters in Scotland who were wrongly convicted as part of the Post Office Horizon scandal have been automatically exonerated.
Emergency legislation passed by the Scottish Parliament has been given Royal Assent and came into force on Friday.
It means anyone convicted of embezzlement, fraud or theft in connection with Post Office business between 1996 and 2018 have had their convictions quashed and are eligible for compensation.[/quote]

Scots dragging their heels a bit there but better late than never.

I've been following the Horizon Inquiry quite closely and some of it has been good viewing. The Post Office is of course, wholly owned by the government so it should be no surprise that it was badly run. Paula Vennels and many others have got to be prosecuted, at the very least for perverting the course of justice. However I suspect that as soon as charges are laid there's going to be a significant increase in diagnoses of dementia and Alzheimers only for the afflicted to make miraculous recoveries when it is announced they are unfir to stand trial.

Ol' Wynn Williams, the judge in charge comes across a lot of the time as a friendly old uncle who's probably a bit senile but he's far from it. This is one of my favourite bits (there's a 5 minute video clip of just this bit of her giving evidence but I can't find it at the moment):

4.35pm: She was so close to getting through to the finish, but Sir Wyn Williams wants a final question. He asks of the briefing note to the select committee: 'You were being advised to be very precise, circumspect and guarded about what you said. You would agree?'

Vennells: 'Yes.'

Williams: 'That was the effect trying to be created by those creating that document?'

Vennells: 'It could be.'

Williams: 'Why?'

There follows a long pause where Vennells is again brought to tears. After a minute or so, she recovers herself and replies: 'I could be too trusting of people. I took the information I was given and went into a select committee. From what I know now it may be other people knew more than I did and they were trying to direct me to answer in a certain way.'

Vennells is admitting to being spectaculary incompetent or she's lying. Your choice.


Almost every day stuff comes up on the BBC that shows the UK is broken. 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence and floundering and 14 years of Opposition incompetence. I haven't read the manifestos but I doubt any of them state how they're going to actually fix things.

[Horse]

Re the bet.

Reported as £100 stake, to win £400 or £500. Can't remember which.

[DefTrap]

Almost every day stuff comes up on the BBC that shows the UK is broken. 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence and floundering and 14 years of Opposition incompetence.

I think it's slightly rich that 14 years of the electorate backing gung-ho conservative governments is being slightly twised into "this would have never happened if Labour weren't so rubbish".

I've managed to avoid most of the electioneering so far - because every time I do sit down to engage in it, it's 95% posturing, floundering, gaffes or saying how rubbish the other guy is. Infuriating.

[Yambo]

Almost every day stuff comes up on the BBC that shows the UK is broken. 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence and floundering and 14 years of Opposition incompetence.

I think it's slightly rich that 14 years of the electorate backing gung-ho conservative governments is being slightly twised into "this would have never happened if Labour weren't so rubbish".

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

[DefTrap]

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

Corbyn as leader was a gift that kept on giving. I think most folk who would have ordinarily voted Labour just didn't know what to do.

[Rockburner]

Almost every day stuff comes up on the BBC that shows the UK is broken. 14 years of Tory mismanagement, incompetence and floundering and 14 years of Opposition incompetence.

I think it's slightly rich that 14 years of the electorate backing gung-ho conservative governments is being slightly twised into "this would have never happened if Labour weren't so rubbish".

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

Something Shapps said this week made me grimace: in this story he's quoted : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv221jple3jo

Shapps: "“You want to make sure that in this next government, whoever forms it, there’s a proper system of accountability,” he said."

Two things here.

Firstly - he's all but admitting that in the current government there is no proper system of accountability (which I think we all knew anyway),

Secondly, he's also implying that the Conservatives, if the main opposition party to whatever government, have no plans to act as a proper Opposition and hold that government to account.

Both of which I find farcical and tantamount to actually standing up and declaring one's own utter incompetence.

[Rockburner]

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

Corbyn as leader was a gift that kept on giving. I think most folk who would have ordinarily voted Labour just didn't know what to do.

The in-fighting within Labour is basically the Tory's trump card.

[Mussels]

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

Corbyn as leader was a gift that kept on giving. I think most folk who would have ordinarily voted Labour just didn't know what to do.

The in-fighting within Labour is basically the Tory's trump card.

It works, it makes Labour unpredictable, the Tories had Liz Truss but are generally more stable. Lesser of two evils.

[Count Steer]

I can't disagree with that.

Labour have been incompetent in Opposition; there's no evidence they would/could have been any different in government.

Corbyn as leader was a gift that kept on giving. I think most folk who would have ordinarily voted Labour just didn't know what to do.

The in-fighting within Labour is basically the Tory's trump card.

In-party factions usually cause more problems than the parties cause each other and often cause a party in power to fall. They frequently cause more self-harm when out of power than when in power. The Labour left seem to care more about ideology than actually winning and should quit and start their own party, the Conservative right seem to think the way to reduce voter drift to the further right is to copy them and become a Pound Shop Farage tribute act.

Even the Greens seem to spend more time arguing about ideology than appealing to voters in sufficient numbers to become relevant.

Meanwhile there are more votes in the middle than either the loony left or the loony right. The Lib Dems don't seem to benefit much though. Maybe their adventure in coalition needs to fade into history because some voters have good memories.

[Horse]

Something Shapps said this week made me grimace: in this story he's quoted : https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv221jple3jo

Shapps: "“You want to make sure that in this next government, whoever forms it, there’s a proper system of accountability,” he said."

AAMOI, over the last 14 years, have you ever heard any Conservative MP say that there should be strong opposition?