I don’t know Mr Owen and I have not been asked, persuaded, bribed or cajoled into writing this post*.
However, credit where it is due - this man has written two bloody good books and if you are going on holiday soon, I recommend that you put them in your hand luggage.
*If you do read this Charlie and want to send a free copy of your next book, then don’t hesitate to get in touch!
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!
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 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?
A West Mids officer is under investigation for posting pictures of himself on Facebook - whilst dressed in women’s clothes.
I’m guessing that they aren’t particularly bothered by the fact that he was a) in a dress, b) wearing a wig or c) pouting. I think that what really annoys them is that he claimed to be a Chief Superintendent.
I’ve decided to come back - re-launched, re-branded but still the same miserable old git that I was before.
I’ve moved to WordPress, as you will have already figured out. It’s easier to use and I can monitor comments (if there are any) by using the RSS feed. So can you - find the link and save it to your feed reader. See what other people think of me.
The main reason for my return is the onset of winter. There is nothing on telly - the Coca Cola “holidays are coming” advert has been shown which means it must be at least a month before the 25th of December. It’s too cold and dark to go into the garden. I can’t be arsed to do any decorating or cleaning while Mrs Still is at work, so I need something to fill an hour or two.
What better than to rant on about the stuff that keeps me in food and drink?
I’ll be engaging on a ruthless campaign of self publicity to encourage my co-bloggers to update their sidebar links.
The BBC are reporting that government ministers are admitting they are completely clueless about crime, because they are suggesting that “new ideas” are required.
A few quotes from the article and my views follow.
“New ways of tackling crime must be considered, a minister has said, after a report warned crime rates could rise for the first time in 12 years.”
There’s nothing wrong with the old ideas, it’s just that we aren’t allowed to implement them because they can’t be measured. I’m now of the opinion that performance measures are a sign of weak management. Instead of having the balls to say someone is crap, a weak manager can use performance figures to “prove” someone is or isn’t performing. Of course, it only shows how someone is performing against those indices that are being measured. What isn’t measured isn’t done and nobody seems to care.
“The leaked Downing Street strategy unit report says crime could rise if there is a slowdown in economic growth. It says prescribing heroin and alcohol rationing could help cut crime.”
This is the same government that has introduced 24 hour drinking. How can you ration something that is so freely available? Could we perhaps ask the Americans who introduced Prohibition, because that worked really well, didn’t it?
“The 60-page report, obtained by the Sunday Times, also criticises police for failing to improve their performance despite large budget increases.”
The police are criticised for not meeting performance targets that are specifically set to ensure that comparisons can be made between forces. What is the point? Unless someone is going to move house to get away from their current crime ridden estate, how reassuring is it to know that your local force can’t detect vehicle crime very well?
“Its other findings include that prisoners numbers are rising beyond capacity, there is no money for new prisons…”
No money for new prisons, but we can afford a load of new nuclear subs that will never, ever be used for the purpose that they were built for. They will not be a deterrent, because if someone is determined to nuke us all, a couple of subs ain’t gonna stop them.
“…and that nine out of 10 crimes are either not reported or go unpunished.”
So now we are getting somewhere. The reason crime is increasing is because the risk of getting punished is well below the benefits that the perpetrators reap. I seem to recall the government promising to put the fear of crime back on the criminal - this is quite clearly not happening. Most criminals now know that even if they get kept in custody at the police station, they will get bail as soon as they get to court. People don’t bother reporting crime, because they know that the hassle of having to go to court to give evidence will not be rewarded by a serious punishment for the offender.
“Ms Blears told the BBC that the document looked at “tough issues” and “new challenges” and was intended to help the government plan for the future.”
How many times have we heard this bullshit? The government have had how long to plan for the future? The only future that politicians are interested in is the next election. Why introduce radical long-term plans when another party might be in power and get all the credit?
The report goes on, predicting that another 25,000 prison places will be needed within five years. I’ll bet you now that there will be no new prisons built in that time. There will be a General Election between now and then, so millions of pounds of taxpayers money will be needed for all the campaign advertising and palm-greasing that goes on for months before the election. The net result of which is that 50% of the electorate are so weary with it all that they stay at home.
There’s no need for fresh ideas - we’ve had enough of fresh ideas. These same ideas that have made absolutely no difference to the fight on crime, because the people who should be fighting crime are handcuffed by the bureaucracy that this government has introduced.
Let experienced, effective police officers decide on the priorities and strategies that should be used to fight crime. Let these officers have control of the budget in order to target finances where they are required. Let us decide on the best equipment for the job and let us use the purchasing power of 43 police forces (I’m still using that word, even though it is nearly 2007) to get the best deal.
In summary, let the police do their job and keep the politicians out of it. They’ve got their own part-time job to do!
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You're Nicked! | Tagged: Charlie Owen, Foxtrot Oscar, Horse's Arse | 
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Posted by Stan Still
