Ophidian office....

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Ssssivil sssservice ssstrike. Possible deadly strike news! Mr Hakkul is an Indian snake-charmer who is "usually called in whenever a snake is spotted in the area and he has saved many lives over the years, local journalist Mazhar Azad told the BBC." However he has got fed up with waiting after various years of petitioning various government offices with the aim of getting "a plot of land where he can 'conserve' his snakes."

Meanwhile, back in the UK, we can hope that striking public sector workers have now been told /learnt /realise the truth: that their pensions are better than most; if they really want fair then a bigger surprise awaits them...I mean they are inconveniencing the very people that CONTRIBUTE to their pensions.

Orinoco 'oro' observations II...

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Well it was announced back in August and has now begun...the gold has "come from European countries" but we know most of Venezuela's foreign gold reserves are/were in London. The repatriation "has historic value, it has symbolic value, and it has financial value" said the Venezuelan bank chief Nelson Merentes. Indeed...there may well be various other reasons for the move but with the state of the Eurozone who'd not think this was a good idea?

Oliver's outburst...

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There's a song and dance today from the unofficial opposition. TV Chef Jamie Oliver tells the Guardian - and is brought in (BBC News) to decry - the "erosion" of school meal food standards!! And the Local Authority Catering Association saying "Our members are telling us that they have been approached by academies to relax the rules"; shock horror...what is this huge erosion?  Are some children being force-fed nuclear waste by evil Tories? No, some schools (one, ten, thousands?) are requesting the return of vending machines for confectionery and other snacks, especially for mid-morning, which suggests hungry children to me and it all sounds like the same old agenda: find a half story and use edit and omission to bash the coalition.

The government has hit back saying there's "no reason to believe that academies will not provide healthy, balanced meals that meet the current nutritional standards. In fact, the School Food Trust tells us that some of the best schools in terms of attitudes to food and meals are academies."

Outrageous Ows...

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I mean outrageous Span Ows (me) and not outrageous OWS (the aimless smellies run by corrupt spongers in New York). OK; I say outrageous me because I am going to decry the ridiculous news that "Basic home care help 'breaching human rights'" [BBC]. First the caveat: "The home care review said about half of people who had given evidence reported real satisfaction with care". Good. Next, the problem I have: the common complaints made by others:
1. Older people not being given enough support to eat and drink, with some staff arguing health and safety restrictions prevented them preparing hot meals.
2. Neglect because care workers stick rigidly to their tasks, such as a case when a woman was left stuck on the toilet because staff were too busy.
3. Financial abuse, including money being systematically stolen over a period of time.
4. Chronic disregard for privacy and dignity, such as leaving people unwashed and putting them to bed in the afternoon.
5. Patronising behaviour, with cases highlighted including staff talking on mobile phones while they tended to clients.
6. Physical abuse involving pushing and rough handling.

All these problems can be resolved by simply removing the carer...thereby 'curing' these breaches of human rights. Immediate results are a major cost saving and reduction of human rights abuses. Thank you.

P.S. (late update): just to be clear -I'm not a monster - what irritates me is the HR thing.

Ominous offer...

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Albert Einstein apparently said: "Insanity is doing the same things again and again expecting different results."

Oops...

Organising ordure options...

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Old image updated: this logo from 2018

All but forgot about this. I posted about it before: today is World Toilet Day, the purpose of which is to raise global awareness of those without access to proper, clean sanitation (billions of people); giving them a proper place to shit. Click on image for the website.

Below is the same Mahatma Ghandi quote I posted before:

"Sanitation is more important than independence."

'Obese' officialdom...

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Trimming the fat, or slashing the FATS (Framework Agreement for Technical Support) which is what is needed: in the midst of apparent cuts in numbers of soldiers an internal audit tells us that they're a bunch of wasteful shits that have no fucking idea how to get value for money nor give a shit because it's only taxpayers' money. Well, not in so many words but it does say that MOD has an army of consultants on which the spending has increased from six million quid in 2006 to 297 million in 2010 (2011 will be £267m) WTF? Like the Border Agency screw-ups, once again, we are told (by Defence Secretary, Philip Hammond) that the "legacy of mismanagement is deep and will take some time to turn around." A new FATs scheme due to begin in April next year should be more tightly controlled...don't hold your breath.

Oscar Ortega's Obama obsession...

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They're making this too easy. The man suspected of shooting at the White House this week has been arrested: Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez. Apparently he "believed he was Jesus and thought President Barack Obama was the anti-Christ" [Huffpo]. It has just been confirmed that he will be charged with trying to assassinate Obama even though POTUS was a few thousand miles away. This will be a great media left vs. right shite-fest though: a Latino from a state with a history of far right groups, who has "Israel" tattooed on his neck (probably his granddad's name or similar btw) and on a mission from God? Is he OWS or Tea Party? That's a joke! :-)

Odd Obama osculation...

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Click image to enlarge...if you dare. Not sure Benetton are making too many friends in their Unhate** campaign. The US aren't happy re POTUS kissing the Chinese President Hu Jintao and Hugo Chavez (not at the same time, that would be gross...). And expect some [religious] protests and attacks over THIS one.

** "With its new worldwide communication campaign United Colors of Benetton invites the leaders and citizens of the world to combat the “culture of hatred” and creates the UNHATE Foundation."

Ostentatious outrage?...

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Youth unemployment...they're all shrieking like harpies: the education Unions are all making lots of noise blaming the coalition government's "policies and paucity of thought" for the "shocking" and "appalling" figures; reading the quotes on that BBC article I'd say it was union officials playing politics (or proving they are not very well educated perhaps?). How can such a 'longstanding' and 'deep-rooted' problem be because the Coalition cut the EMA? How can the numbers have been 'shocking' when the trend has been upward for 10 years? The figures aren't good - but below he EU average - however, I tend to agree with Phil Taylor - Ealing Conservative Councillor; he says "Youth unemployment – the headlines mislead" [Link].

Octopodiformes Order...

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Oral view. (Wiki)

The Vampire Squid, Vampyroteuthis infernalis: the superorder is Octopodiformes and the order is Vampyromorphida but that's not the 'order' of this blog post title: the order of the title is the New World Order: "Goldman Sachs rules the world"..."the new president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, Italy’s new prime minister, Mario Monti, and the new Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos all reportedly have the US investment bank as a common denominator."

Hat-tip: James Delingpole.

"we are being shafted by a political bankster corporatist elite which doesn't give a stuff about us... we are of no consequence to the New World Order they wish to impose on us... Beware the Vampire Squid: whether you are on the Left or the Right it will feast on your blood and suck you dry all the same."

Sources and more reading: A World to Win, Le Monde, Liberal Conspiracy.

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Outrageous opportunism III...

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...I am sure I am not the only one being open-mouthed in amazement at the brazen and shameless opportunism of Labour over the temporary relaxation of passport checks by (the buck stops with her? Not) Theresa May. Those slimy sacks of shit are those directly responsible for the overall immigration fiasco the UK find itself in: Jack Straw, David Blunckett, Alun Michael; throw in Yvette Cooper, Keith Vaz and others for good measure. Jeez, they quadrupled annual net immigration in addition to the hundreds of thousands of people entering the country illegally. As I have posted many times before, Migration Watch has been on the case; interestingly their petition 'no to 70 million' rocketed in record time to the required amount of signatures to trigger a parliamentary debate. The aim should be Balanced Migration.

Oppugnant Osborne on octroi...

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[Edited:'dead' image/video removed] Good! The City will be pleased that GO has confirmed his opposition to a financial transaction tax.

Oppugnant Osborne on octroi...

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Good! The City will be pleased that GO has confirmed his opposition to a financial transaction tax.

"Ogynistism"...

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They've done it again! Venezuela has produced another title-winning beauty; this time the winner is an orphan raised by nuns: Ivian Lunasol Sarcos Colmenares. The blog title refers to the demonstrators outside where at least one placard read 'Miss-Ogynist'; these protesters think this sort of show is the soft end of porn by "reducing women down to the sum of their parts"; Kat Banyard, founder of the UK Feminista (apparently for men too - no, honestly) and author of 'The Equality Illusion', goes further: "...Miss World has absolutely no place in a world that treats women and men equally" because it indoctrinates people with its "very harmful" and "toxic" ideals**...right love...Ivian has already created her own foundation to help children (as well as wanting to work with children) comes from a very religious background (and country) and lives in a region devout to the Coromoto Virgin (Virgin Patron of Venezuela). Click on image for miss World site.

** Just a thought but do men protest at the male equivalent beauty contests?

Outraged of Oxford...

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Why should it be Cambridge? Ah, I see, the population of said city. Oxfordians will be outraged because in fact the number in question** is almost exactly half way between the populations of Oxford and Cambridge...but I digress: outraged anyway because it seems 98,000 asylum seekers who cannot be found (FFS!) and 26,000 immigration cases have been swept under the carpet. New Labour let them in but the Coalition seem to have decided they don't want to/can't do anything about them. Not good enough!

** A total of 124,000...a whole city's worth...think about that.

Other Occupier's options...

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Extreme religious fundamentalists...

By now, 406 years ago, a man would be preparing the final touches to The Jesuit Treason (The Gunpowder Plot); by midnight on the 4th November it had been foiled; it was an attempt at mass murder, destruction and the prime aim was regicide: it was a religious fundamentalist plot. The Fawkes mask that many are using in current protests (to hide their identity?...clearly no real commitment to their cause then...oh, "What cause?", you ask, good question) is based on the plotter that was caught guarding the explosives beneath the House of Lords, or, the V for Vendetta character, except that both these had very, very clear objectives. The OLSX crowd have no clear aim one achievement so far: the Rt Rev Michael Colclough - canon pastor of St Paul's Cathedral - has insisted that the cathedral and the C of E's reputation had not been damaged by recent events...hmmm...maybe OLSX is really another Catholic plot! Anyway, as long as they remain peaceful they'll probably maintain some goodwill - unlike elsewhere - but, to quote TheGeneral in the comments from BBBC, why will no interviewer ask "Just what exactly do you want done, who do you want to do it and to what time scale?".

P.S. If you have time to spare it wold be worth a read of David Prieser's account and opinion from last weekend on the US 'Occupiers'.

P.P.S. Paul, Gildy tells us you're fine and will be back (maybe revamped or with a different blogging platform?)