Yorkshire Ripper….

…..attacked in prison.

Does this face look bothered?

Compare and contrast!

Here is a post I have just submitted to the Police Oracle forum.

 OK – try this for size. I’ve found this on a government web site. so it must be true!

In May 1997, the basic salary for a commons minister was £43,860 – considerably more than a PC was getting in those days – and I should know!

In April 2007, the basic salary for a commons minister was £60,675.

This means that their salary has increased by £16,815 in that ten year period.

Now bear in mind that the government tell us that our pay has increased by 39% in this period.

Funnily enough, £16,815 is 38.3% of £43,860, so the BASIC salary of an MP has increased by about the same rate as our pay!!

How do they justify this then?

What these figures DON’T include are the expenses that MPs can claim.

This is when it starts to get interesting!

Read this document if there is nothing on telly!

To cut to the chase, read Table 9, which gives a summary of MP’s expenses and allowances over the last ten years.

To simplify matters – In 1997, MPs received an office allowance, additional cost allowance and London weighting allowance totalling £61,213.

Now, they are allowed Staffing Allowance, Additional Costs, Incidental Expenses and London Weighting Allowance, totalling £132,538.

This is an increase in allowances of £71,325 or 116%

In 1994, police recruits lost Housing Allowance. We have since lost plain clothes allowance, refreshment and subsistence allowance and numerous other little bits, as well as giving up the first half hour of unplanned overtime.

Check my figures and tell me if I’m wrong, then read about some of the other allowances I haven’t included, like 20 odd pence a mile for riding a bike!! These are the BASIC salaries of bog standard MPs – there are little extras for more “senior” figures.

What really gets my goat is the severance allowance. If their constituents vote them out, they get three months salary as a little handshake!

I would suggest you include these little gems in any correspondence with your MP!

Paying for sex should be outlawed

At last – a Government policy proposal I can agree with.

This must mean that they are going to scrap the CSA!

I’ve been paying for sex since my divorce – I dread to think how much those two legovers have cost me!

Fuel price demo falls flat.

Nationwide protests against the rising cost of fuel failed to attract as many demonstrators as organisers hoped.

Could it be that they couldn’t afford the petrol to get there?

Call to account

 Olympics costs ‘could rise again’

A government report is warning there is a 20% chance the cost of staging the 2012 Olympic Games in London could rise again, the BBC has learned.

It comes after ministers announced a budget for the event of £9.3bn in March – a figure four times higher than that foreseen in the original Olympics bid.

They are now set to publish their most detailed breakdown of the costs.

BBC sports editor Mihir Bose says ministers are confident the budget is “robust”, despite persistent criticism.

He says this confidence is likely to be exuded by Olympics minister Tessa Jowell when she makes a written statement on details of the budget to the House of Commons later.

In November, the House of Commons public accounts committee attacked ministers over planning for the event, saying foreseeable costs had been “grossly underestimated”.

I didn’t vote for it.

I don’t know anyone who voted for it.

Yet I’m going to end up paying for it.

How can this hypocritical government moan and whinge about public sector pay rises on the one hand, then approve increases in the Olympic budget on such a massive scale?

The Home Office may have saved £30million by reneging on an established pay deal, but that is a drop in the ocean compared to the vast sums being pumped into yet another white elephant in London.

Don’t tell him Pike!

Pc Neil Pike swam to the man’s aid in the River Thames

A police constable who dived into the River Thames to save a man who jumped off a bridge has been commended as “extremely brave” by senior officers.

Pc Neil Pike was called to Bridge Road, Chertsey, to reports of a man threatening to attempt suicide.

He managed to reach him in the water and got them both to safety with the help of a buoyancy aid dropped from a police helicopter.

Ch Insp Dave Kelley paid tribute to the “professionalism” of Pc Pike.

The incident took place at about 1420 GMT on Saturday.

‘Reacted instinctively’

Video footage shot from the police helicopter showed the man sitting on the edge of the bridge, lowering himself over and then falling.

He could then be seen afloat in the water for several minutes before Pc Pike appeared and got the buoyancy aid to him.

He said afterwards: “I am pleased that I was able to help to save a life.”

The man involved was taken to hospital for treatment, while the officer suffered shock caused by the cold water in the Thames.

Ch Insp Kelley said: “Pc Pike was extremely brave to risk his own life in order to save another, and reacted instinctively to the scene as it unfolded in front of him.

“Without his fast actions… the man could have died.”

This is the sort of thing police officers do on a daily basis. They risk their lives for other people. They don’t do it for the money. They don’t do it for the glory. They do it because it is the right thing to do.

There are no performance criteria against which this sort of action can be measured. There are no government targets for rescuing people out of rivers, burning buildings, smashed up cars, hostage situations, failed relationships, drug addiction or alcoholism. Yet all of these things are done by police officers each and every day.

For this, what reward do we get?

We get a total lack of support from the Home Office, who expect us to perform these duties as well as meet a raft of targets that do absolutely nothing to improve the quality of service that the police provide.

We get the uninformed comments from members of the public. (There are some informed comments amongst this lot, but read through a few and you’ll see what I mean.)

We get abused for stepping into the fray. We get abused for not turning up on time when something more urgent is happening. We get assaulted, insulted, villified, accused of being fascist, racist, homophobic, uncaring and power mad.

Yet for all this, there are occasions when someone will say “Thank you”. I had such a case last night. I won’t go into details, but one man who had been through a hell of a time still found time to thank the officers that had helped him. Again, there’s no target or bonus for this sort of thing, but you know what?

It makes up for all the other crap!

Honest, transparent government*

“There is no greater responsibility than that which you as police officers accept. And there is no greater obligation for us in government than to support you in discharging that duty”.

Gordon Brown, ACPO Conference 20 June 2007

“Dear Gordon – I know what you said about the police in June when you were trying to make a good impression, but I’ve got to do something to get your attention and make it look like I know what I’m doing. So I’ve shafted your mates in the Old Bill and saved us all a few bob into the bargain. it won’t matter too much about having to pay back that £660,000 dodgy donation we had. It’s just a shame that my cunning plan has been leaked by the Daily Telegraph, even though it’s got ‘RESTRICTED’ printed on the bottom.

PS – can I have some of the £30million I’ve saved to set up a fund to buy a new striker for the Villa?**”.

Jacqui Smith, Home Secretary 5 December 2007

*NOT!

** Aston Villa – who revel in the nickname ‘The Villans’ – perhaps all Labour politicians follow this team? (Yes – I know it is spelled differently, but it sounds the same)

I’m sure he’ll make a great Dad!

Murderer wins right to IVF baby

So a convicted murderer has the right to a family life? Funnily enough, so did his victim, but I don’t suppose Dickson thought about that when he was committing his crime?

Of course, the Dicksons will be contributing some of their award to the family of their victim.

If ever there was any doubt that this country has completely sold out to Europe, then here’s the evidence. This decision has absolutely no basis in common sense and will just serve to further alienate the judiciary.

I’m sure that the lawyers involved are celebrating a job well done.