Is It Even Possible To Damage The Public’s Trust And Confidence In The Profession Any Further?

Nadhim Zahawi instructed his lawyer to threaten legal action against a tax campaigner who helped reveal that the then chancellor was under investigation by HM Revenue and Customs, according to a tribunal document. Zahawi’s solicitor, Ashley Hurst, is accused of breaching his regulator’s code of conduct by attempting to prevent Dan Neidle from publishing correspondence threatening legal action over the tax expert’s revelations about the then Tory leadership candidate.

Oooh, handbags! Lawyers vs journalists! 

A document setting out the regulator’s case against Hurst, the head of client strategy at Osborne Clarke, says: “The inappropriate request made to Mr Neidle was an attempt to prevent public scrutiny of the decision by the then chancellor of the exchequer to resort to instructing a solicitor to write on his behalf and threaten legal action.

“Whilst it is not asserted that this threat was necessarily inappropriate, the attempt to prevent publication or discussion that such a threat had been made by a member of the government was, in the context of this case, inappropriate. Acting in such a manner is conduct that would serve to damage the public’s trust and confidence in the profession, and on that basis a breach.”

Oh, bless! You think they have a reputation to lose...! 

These Rules Need To Change

Kenner a self employed tiler was initially charged with intent to cause grievous bodily harm in August 2021 which fetches a maximum of life imprisonment but after five separate court adjournments for undisclosed reasons prosecutors eventually accepted his guilty plea in September 2023 to the lesser charge of assault causing actual bodily harm.

Yet again, the useless CPS proves themselve too lazy to do the real work. 

They then recommended he faced a maximum of only two and a half years behind bars under sentencing guidelines before a further three hearings came and went whilst Kenner tried unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea.

All paid for by the long suffering taxpayers, of course!  

This week, 31 months since the assault, Kenner who arrived 20 minutes late for his hearing at Bolton Crown Court was ordered to complete 150 hours unpaid work and was sent on a 'Building Better relationships' programme after a powerless judge said he had 'very little option' but to let him go free.

I don't blame the judge, he's probably right. 

The court heard he had already spent 11 months on remand before being bailed on a curfew to await trial and as a result under Home Office rules had already served the equivalent of a 23 month prison sentence.

This rule has to go - surely it would be a quick win for a Conservative Home Sec (if we actually had one)? 

If we are always told that people on remand are 'innocent until proven guilty' then why should their time on remand be counted as part of their sentence? That should only start when they are found guilty!   

Then The Civil Service Should Pay

The science secretary, Michelle Donelan, received government advice before she tweeted a letter in which she accused an academic of supporting Hamas, Downing Street has said. No 10 refused to say what advice officials had given her and whether she actually followed it, but insisted she had “acted in line with established precedent”.

Lame response - find out! Signed, a bill payer. 

Kate Sang, a professor at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, sued Donelan for libel after the minister published a letter to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in October urging it to cut links with her and another academic, Dr Kamna Patel of University College London. Donelan expressed her “disgust and outrage” at their appointment to an expert advisory group to Research England on equality, diversity and inclusion. However, in a statement posted to X on Tuesday, Donelan admitted she was wrong and had misunderstood the social media posts. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) later said it had paid £15,000 to settle the case without admitting liability, out of public funds.

Take it out of the civil service budget. She cleared it with them.  

On Thursday evening it was reported that Donelan’s letter was cleared by her department’s legal team. Politico said civil servants had flagged concerns during the drafting of the letter – to which numerous people, including top officials, contributed – but that the legal team had decided the position was solid.

Not that that stops Labour idiots grandstanding: 

The shadow leader of the Commons, Lucy Powell, asked whether Donelan had followed “appropriate advice” that was given to her, or had gone against it. “Because if [she went against it], then surely she should personally pay the costs,” Powell told MPs.

The person responsible for clearing it should pay. Not me and you, eh, Reader? 

Well, We’ve Thrown Out Everything Else The Victorians Did…

And are we better for it?

England should ditch its school calendar “stuck in place since Victorian times” and replace it with shorter summer holidays and longer half-term breaks to improve the lives of pupils and teachers, according to a new report.

The report on tackling post-pandemic education inequalities, part of a project funded by the Nuffield Foundation to be published next month, is to recommend an overhaul of the school calendar that could see summer holidays in state schools reduced from six weeks to four, while half-term breaks in autumn and winter could each be extended from one week to two.

The holiday firms will have to scramble to readjust all their pricing if it is taken up! 

Lee Elliot Major, professor of social mobility at the University of Exeter and one of the report’s authors, said reforming the academic calendar in England would be an effective and low-cost way of tackling the educational divides that have grown since the pandemic.

“Spreading school holidays more evenly across the year makes complete educational sense: improving the wellbeing of pupils and the working lives of teachers at no extra cost, balancing out childcare costs for parents, and potentially boosting academic results for many children,” Major said.

For those saying we should at least give it a try....we have. 

Under Gove, free schools and academies were given more freedom to set their own calendars. But those adopting more radical timetables soon gave up in the face of opposition from parents and an inability to coordinate term dates with other schools.

But is that a reason not to try it on a much grander scale? For this failing government, almost certainly not. Like a drowning man, they are likely to clutch at anything.  

Sounds Like It's Not Just Foreign Care Workers That Can't Understand English...

...the useless Tory government can't, either:

Minimum standards of English in care homes will not be raised despite the death of a 91-year-old woman after care workers struggled to describe her condition while calling 999.

So, we desperately need these people to work here, but if their lack of English language skills means they can't communicate, it's perfectly fine? What happened to 'Conservatives' to make them think this made any sense?

An inquest into the death of Barbara Rymell found that the primary school level of English required for a health and care visa was 'wholly inadequate' for those working in the 'direct care and protection of vulnerable people'. Mrs Rymell died at Ashley House Residential Home, in Langport, Somerset, on August 8, 2022, when she became trapped by a mechanical stairlift after a fall and staff were unable to free her.

Senior coroner for Somerset, Samantha Marsh, issued a prevention of future deaths report, warning the government that 'deaths will continue' without more rigorous language tests, The Guardian reports.

And the Home Office said 'Whoa, no! We might have to work a bit harder!': 

Despite this, the Home Office has ruled out raising the required standard of English, telling the coroner that this would be 'very difficult' to assess and manage.Home Office minister Tom Pursglove said: 'We do not believe raising the level of the English language requirement for skilled workers would be appropriate.'

And that, Reader, is just one of the many, many reasons why the Tories are heading for electoral collapse.  

Care Rights UK, which campaigns on behalf of residents and their families, said it was 'beyond comprehension' that ministers had rejected the call.

Oh, if only it was. 

A Tale Of Two Sets Of Guidance...

Ministers have been accused of watering down guidance around new buffer zones outside abortion clinics in England and Wales, after it emerged campaigners could still be allowed to conduct silent prayers and approach women attending clinics to discuss the issue.

It says: “The term ‘influence’ is not defined in the statute and therefore takes its ordinary dictionary meaning. The government would expect ‘influence’ to require more than mere mention of abortion or the provision of information. As such, informing, discussing, or offering help, does not necessarily amount to ‘influence’.”

I wonder if that's a definition the government's own notorious 'nudge' unit would subscribe to? 

But no matter, it was always an absurdity to throw the weight of the state against people for silently praying for what they consider to be wrongdoers. And since it's guidance and not law, are they not free to ignore it anyway? 

Healthcare workers are being told not to report women to the police if they believe their patients may have illegally ended their own pregnancy. The Royal College of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians (RCOG) says "deeply traumatised" women are being prosecuted following abortions.

The new guidance follows a recent rise in police investigations into abortions. The RCOG says these cases are rare, however, and it is encouraging women to seek medical help if needed. NHS staff can breach confidentiality rules to give information to the police about possible crimes, but only if it is in the "public interest".

The RCOG says it is "never" in the public interest to report women who have abortions, and that they must be safeguarded.

Looks like they are! So, how's that sauce, goose? The gander loved it. 

Another Useless Government Target That Won't Be Met...

...not to mention yet another thing we can chalk up to lockdown:

Working from home during the pandemic may have stopped people quitting smoking, researchers have suggested.

*sighs* 

The rate of decline in smoking rates across England appears to have 'stagnated', with more young people taking up smoking during the pandemic and a slower decline in the middle classes quitting than those who were less affluent.

With the constant price hikes they can at least afford to! 

Researchers suggested that people who are less affluent may have felt more urgency to quit during the pandemic, while those who were wealthier and had professional or managerial roles may have carried on smoking due to stress.

No s**t, Sherlock! 

The study warned that the Government needs to 'reignite progress in reducing smoking among the more advantaged social grades and identify ways to accelerate the decline among less advantaged groups' if it is to get near its target of making England smoke-free by 2030.

Why have the government - a Conservative government, at that - set such bizarre targets in the first place? 

But She Did Indeed So Choose….

A colleague supporting Kiguru’s appeal, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of Home Office reprisals with her own visa, said: “They imply Doseline chose to leave her daughter. The hostility of that reasoning, which can only come from a place of racism and misogyny, took my breath away.”

If she didn't choose to do it, who else did it for her?

She first came to Bristol in 2021 as a research associate on a £1.3m EU-funded project on literary activism in Africa. Her field work required her to spend large amounts of time in Kenya, so the family decided it was not necessary to uproot her daughter. However, when she was offered a permanent lecturer position, she committed to starting a new life in the UK with her daughter. Her husband, who is also an academic, cannot look after his daughter because he travels a lot for research, but hopes to move to the UK.

 Sounds like a calculated plan to get the whole family here to me, and perhaps to the Home Office as well.

Madhu Krishnan, a professor of African, world and comparative literatures at Bristol University, said: “The decision to separate a young child from her mother under such spurious grounds is an act of unthinkable cruelty, of which we have sadly become familiar in recent years.” She described Kiguru as a “world-leading scholar” and said her loss would be “strongly felt” if this drove her out of the UK.

I think we could live without a professor of world literature quite well. 

Why Wouldn’t You Want To Know?

The census may be the biggest mass participation event in the country, but there is a strong possibility that the last such poll across the UK has already been held.

There's a reason why it was started, as the 'Guardian' tells us. 

The first official census in Britain was conducted at a time of great national insecurity. Amid failing harvests and a war with France, MPs were concerned that the country could run out of bread to feed its population. The problem was, nobody knew how big that population actually was. And so, on 10 March 1801, the first census of England and Wales was held (it counted 8.9 million people, roughly equivalent to the current population of London).

So, is this now a case of the government not wanting an answer to a question they already know, and perhaps fear? 

Proposals by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which conducts the survey in England and Wales, suggest the government intends to scrap the census in 2031, relying instead on a network of disparate public sector sources of data.

Ah, public sector data. There's a reliable alternative, eh? 

The Word 'Could' Is Doing A Lot Of Heavy Lifting Here...

Foreigners who commit anti-Semitic or other hate crimes could lose their visas.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! No, go on, tell us another!

Ministers are looking at stepping up deportations of hatemongers after a surge in incidents amid the Gaza conflict.

'Stepping up', eh? Well, that won't be too hard, since they've been dragging their feet for years.  

Home Office officials are able to weigh up evidence against individuals and boot them out even if they have not been convicted but their presence in this country is still judged to be 'not conducive to the public good'.

Able they may be, but the crucial question is, are they willing...? 

Labour's Sir Keir Starmer said there had been a 'disgusting rise' in anti-Semitism since the Hamas outrage along with an 'appalling surge' in Islamophobia with mosques 'forced to ramp up security'.

And that's just in your own ranks, eh? 

Another Boris 'Big Idea' Bites The Dust...

Plans for a ban on gay conversion therapy look set to be ditched amid government concerns about the potential unintended consequences.

Boris Johnson pledged to ban the discredited practice during the 2019 election campaign, but the process has been mired in delay.

Gosh, why is yet another Boris promise biting the dust? Well... 

Some ministers are said to be concerned that the ban could have 'unintended consequences' for parents and teachers dealing with trans children. Campaigners have warned that a badly-worded ban could leave teachers open to court action if they tell children not to use opposite-sex toilets or prevent boys competing in girls' sport.

Heh! I do so love unforseen consequences!  

Earlier this week, the Scottish government postponed a ban on conversion therapy amid warnings it could criminalise parents who question their child's wish to change gender.

Holyrood had promised to publish legislation by the end of 2023, but it was dropped from a new programme for government - the Scottish version of the King's Speech.

Listen, if even the bonkers Scottish government is calling a halt, it's time to admit it was never a starter in the first place.  

The More I Hear From Her, The More I Like Her...

Kemi Badenoch has suggested electric vehicle mandates could hamper investment in Britain and lead to job losses, in a sign that another of the government’s green pledges is in doubt.

Don't just suggest it, though, Kemi. State it. Because it's true. 

The zero-emissions vehicle mandate is part of a series of rules to phase out petrol and diesel engine cars in an attempt to reach the government’s legal target of making the UK a net zero carbon emitter by 2050. The UK ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars is due in 2030.

However, there are widespread concerns over whether Britain has adequate infrastructure and capacity for the growth of electric vehicles.

And who says that? Some petrolhead determined not to give up his polluting vehi...

Oh. 

Last weekend, the prime minister ordered a review of low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). It is unknown whether the plan is to seek the removal of all LTNs, even those that have been in place for long periods, or only those installed since 2020 when Boris Johnson’s government provided £200m for more to be created.

It doesn't really matter what his plan is. We all know what it is. Not enough.

And if he doesn't realise that soon, he'll find someone else doing his job instead...  

Stop 'Warning' And Start Fining!

Banks are to be warned by ministers that they must protect free speech as increasing numbers of customers are having their accounts closed for holding allegedly controversial views.

The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is reportedly 'deeply concerned' that lenders are blacklisting customers they are deemed to hold contrary political beliefs and social values.

And is he prepared to actually do anything? Well, he's prepared to consider it, at least...

A Treasury source told the Daily Telegraph: 'It is absolutely a concern. No one should have their bank account denied on the grounds of freedom of expression. We expect to take action on this issue within weeks.'

What action? Hold another meeting? Send a stong letter of condemnation?  Admit that this has been brewing under your noses for a long time? 

What's that, Reader? You're surprised? You thought it was new? Oh no. It's EU legislation that hasn't been junked when we junked the EU.

The term defines anyone with a 'prominent public function' and originates in a 1987 initiative against corruption and money laundering launched by the G7 group of leading economies. This was designed to make banks and other financial institutions subject any PEP to intense scrutiny when setting up accounts — on the grounds that by reason of their public position they presented a much higher risk for potential involvement in corruption and money laundering than the man or woman in the street.

And, as we all know, give some people power and they will wield it in ways you never thought possible.  

The PEP system came into force in this country under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, which referred to people with a prominent public position 'other than [in] the United Kingdom'. In other words, identifying powerful people from various highly corrupt nations, where political power and bribery went together like eggs and bacon. But the financial institutions here immediately applied it to members of our own Parliament — even though this did not become mandatory until the Money Laundering Regulations 2017. And not just them, but their immediate family — which, typically, include the PEP's 'parents, siblings, spouse, children, in-laws, grandparents and grandchildren'.

And all our legislative government was asleep at the switch while they did it. Or...were they? 

Is it possible they knew exactly what was going on? And were content because they never thought it'd affect them?

You Know What, I'm Actually OK With This...

...just so long as it works the other way as well. And GPs and hospitals pay YOU every time an appointment is cancelled. It's only fair, right?

She told ITV's Good Morning Britain that the Government had 'no immediate plans' to impose fines but 'it is not ruled out for the future'.

Ms Caulfield, a former nurse, said there was a 'good argument for it and we are not ruling it out for the future but it is not something that we have got on the table right now'.

Asked if the policy could be in the next Tory manifesto, she replied: 'Potentially, yes.'

That's the strong, decisive Tory government we've come to know and love! 

...the idea triggered a backlash from the health sector.

Wait, what? Aren't they always complaining about no-shows? 

The British Medical Association said that fines for missed appointments would 'not only undermine the essential trust between doctor and patient (Ed: stop laughing at the back!), but ultimately threaten the fundamental principle that the NHS delivers free care at the point of need, for all'.

But no-shows don't generate any care, do they? And if they don't turn up, maybe they didn't need it...

The NHS Confederation said the bureaucratic costs of the plan 'could well far outweigh the money brought in by the fines'.

The NHS complaining about 'bureaucratic costs' would be laughable, if only I was capable of laughing anymore... 

Do We Need Any More Evidence Of The 'Long March'..?

Prison officers have been ordered to stop calling criminals 'convicts' on the grounds it is 'offensive'.

Civil servants at the Prison Service headquarters have also instructed warders to drop the phrase 'ex-con' for former prisoners - and refer to them as 'persons with lived experience' or 'prison leavers'.

So, if you haven't been to prison, you haven't lived? Hmmm... 

Another prisons source said: 'This is real nanny state stuff. Yet again, do-gooding civil servants are spending their working hours trying to manipulate the English language to fit their personal world view, rather than concentrating on things that really matter.

'While they are sending out diktats about 'persons with lived experience', the jails are full to bursting, prison officers are leaving in droves and crime is at a record high.'

All part of the plan, no doubt! 

Tory MP Craig Mackinlay described the Prison Service's latest intervention as 'nonsense'.

Yes, it is. What does Sunak and his cronies plan to do about it? 

He added: 'This new agenda that has taken hold right across government departments has to stop. It is not respected by the public. It's just pure nonsense.'

Anything at all? Or does rooting it out get filed in the 'too much like hard work' column? 

Aw, Iain, Don't Cry Because You Can't Waste Taxpayer Cash...

New Government buildings are being laid out on the assumption they will only ever be half-full, as many civil servants are still working from home. Rules for office design have been quietly changed because 'average attendance will be lower' as a result of the new working practices.

Hurrah! Think of the taxpayer money saved! 

Last night former Cabinet minister Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'Ministers have lost control.

'Staff should turn up to work in the places they were meant to occupy. It seems like a poor service and could damage people's lives.'

Oh. Silly me, wasting it is, after all, what MPs are for, isn't it? 

John Lewis is looking to slash the size of its London office by half as thousands of its staff now work from home. The John Lewis Partnership, which also owns Waitrose, has hired property experts Tuckerman to find new offices 'half' the size of its current 220,000sq ft headquarters in Victoria, London.

'Like many businesses, we don't need as much space now we have a blended approach to working in offices, home and out in the business.

'As our requirements for office space reduce, we also expect to reduce our occupancy costs.'

Sensible. But then, it's their money, and not somone else's... 

And Nor Should They...

The latest moral panic:

Some machetes and other knives can have 'legitimate uses', such as those used for gardening, agriculture or culinary purposes.

This complicates legislation around knives, as it means certain blades can be kept at home and remain unseized by the police.

Currently, this means that even if police find a machete or other legal blade inside someone's residence and they believe the items could be used for violent or criminal activity, they have no lawful right to seize a blade.

Why, exactly, should we be tightening legislation because the police have trouble understanding it? We did that with the Dangerous Dogs Act, and yet the lazy bastards still refuse to act if they think they can get away with it. 

And since when did police 'suspicion' that you might do something illegal with a legal possession count for anything? 

Zombie knives are already included in the list of banned knives, meaning it is illegal to possess them, bring them into the UK, sell or hire them out or lend them to someone. But this only applies to the weapons which meet the three criteria: cutting edge, serrated edge and words or images that imply they are to be used for violence.

You have to have some criteria. What's wrong with these? It's not like my kitchen doesn't contain several knives just as capable of killing someone even without the words 'zombie annihilator' written on the hilt... 

Current Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: 'The thugs wielding these deadly knives aim to terrorise their victims and the public, and too often even carry out horrific or fatal attacks.

'They are emboldened by the cowardly idea that carrying these blades inflates their own status and respect.'

And Home Secretaries seem to be emboldened by pressure groups and newspaper headlines into knee jerk reactions that do little to resolve the real problem, Suella. 

Maybe They Are All In A River Somewhere..?

It'd explain their failure to find them, wouldn't it?

It has emerged that senior officers believe there are still “many” firearms in the hands of people who should not have them, despite the former home secretary Priti Patel ordering them to look again at cases where they returned firearms to people after confiscation.

If I disobeyed my boss I'd expect to have a very uncomfortable conversation. Why is that never the case for failing police farces? 

Alarm bells have also been rung because the number of shotgun certificate applications Devon and Cornwall are rejecting has doubled since the Plymouth shootings but the rate in the rest of England and Wales has remained at just 3%, suggesting some forces may still be looking too leniently on applications.

Maybe. Or maybe Devon & Cornwell, realising they had not just dropped the ball but then drop-kicked it into their own goal, were overzealous? 

The new chief constable of Devon and Cornwall, Will Kerr, who came into the post the year after Davison’s attacks, is among those calling for fundamental change.

He said the firearms legislation, introduced in 1968, was “no longer suitable”, arguing that the emphasis was on “permitting rather than preventing gun ownership”.

As indeed it should be. In a modern capitalist democracy, that should always be the default, shouldn't it? Whether we are talking about cars, second homes or guns... 

There's Something Toxic In London, All Right...

But it's not the air, it's something that rhymes with 'air'...

A scheme charging some motorists £12.50 a day to drive in London to cut air pollution has been accused of using data that is ‘complete nonsense’. In an open letter to those opposing his plans, Mr Khan said toxic air led to the premature deaths of 4,000 Londoners each year. He said: ‘Research by Imperial College London shows Bromley has the highest premature deaths linked to air pollution with an estimated 204 lives lost in 2019.’

Ah, really? 

But Bromley Council leader Colin Smith said the study commissioned by City Hall ‘chose to ignore Bromley’s much older population profile’.He said many elderly residents spent ‘their younger years in inner London experiencing the smogs and smoke-filled pubs of yesteryear’. He added: ‘It is complete nonsense.’

Like anything spouted by this jumped up little popinjay.  

Around 4,000 Londoners die prematurely every year as a result of poor quality air, with those in Outer London some of the most vulnerable due to their age and therefore hardest hit. ‘Sadiq refuses to sit back and do nothing when lives are being lost and urges these local authorities to support his plans to bring cleaner air to every Londoner - wherever they live in the capital.’

Then if you really believe this, why are you telling motorists 'It's OK, pay £12.50 and you can suffocate kiddies with your exhaust all day long!'..? 

How Are We Going To Know..?

GPs last night threatened to strike...

Ahahahahaha! Good one!

....over a proposed NHS contract they say fails to pay them enough to see patients.

Well, since they haven't fully got back to seeing patients, why should they expect to be paid? 

The doctors’ union claimed the rates on offer do not take account of inflation – and vowed to take industrial action if the Government and NHS England refuse to renegotiate.

They should refuse. Call their bluff. 

The NHS is braced for strikes on four days out of five next week, with nurses, ambulance staff and physiotherapists walking out.

This is a concerted effort by unions to bring down the government. It can't really be anything else, can it?