No cold comfort here

Hypothermia deaths are up again from 950 in 2006/07 to 1,876 in 2010/11 almost doubled in fact, no doubt the recent cold snap will have claimed a few more. It used to just be pensioners at risk at this time of year, but the risk has moved into other age groups too as fuel prices consume a much higher percentage of a household budget than they did  10 years ago.
Mail.

Frozen to death as fuel bills soar: Hypothermia cases among the elderly double in five years

• 1,876 patients treated for hypothermia in 2010/11
• Hypothermia death toll within 30 days up from 135 to 260
• Coincides with a surge in energy prices
• Industry analyst estimates 8 out of 10 households ration energy use

Age UK says a quarter of all pensioners live in fuel poverty
The number of pensioners dying from hypothermia has nearly doubled in five years, a period when a succession of cold winters has been coupled with drastic rises in energy bills.
The official figures emerged after several days of Arctic conditions which drove temperatures across the whole country as low as minus 10C (14F).
They showed that 1,876 patients were treated in hospital for hypothermia in 2010/11, up from 950 in 2006/07.
An industry analyst, uSwitch has calculated that in 80% of home energy is being rationed, and called for a cut in VAT on energy bills. 

Some people are complaining that energy firms are making a profit, though I'd expect any firm anywhere to try and make a profit, the profit margins though come on top of government levies such as VAT (20%) and the so called "environmental or green levy" (12%) so 32% of the charges you get go directly to the government, not the supplier, yes that's right, 1/3rd of your fuel bill goes straight into the governments coffers to pay no doubt for bird mincers and expensive solar panels which are then subsidised so they can sell you back the expensive power produced and line the pockets of those who have invested in the useless "green" energy scam.
This government and the previous one have put in place measure that have killed people struggling on the margins of financial stability. They have instituted policies that have driven up the price of heating a home in the name of non existent global warming and the cost has been thousands of our elderly and infirm dying of the cold in the winters they claimed were becoming a thing of the past.
Yet they show no sense of shame, will not remove their grubby paws from out of our pockets and their influence away from our lives.
I wonder just how many would die if say we reduced their heating bills by a third?
They wont though, they'd rather have blood on their hands than give up on their cherished principles of preparing the country for something that isn't happening...

Petty revenge?

The saying used to go "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned" but it equally seems to apply too ousted district council members too. Council leader Fred Brown ex of East Cambridgeshire District Council was ousted in the last local elections for what he claimed were the budget deficits and cut-backs in which he ultimately paid the price for the difficult decisions made by the ruling Conservative group. Of course it might just have been the fact that he had awarded himself a huge pay increase soon after arriving in office in May 2009 and people have long memories when it comes to that sort of thing.
Still what better way to put the boot into your locals than to propose this...
Ely Weekly News.

Ousted council leader Fred Brown wants to help Ely Muslims build a miniature mosque, the Weekly News can reveal.
The former leader of East Cambridgeshire District Council, right, says he has a property in central Littleport which would be “ideal” for Muslims to convert into a prayer centre.
Mr Brown, who lives in Littleport and owns several properties in the village, says he wants to meet up with the group and show them around the building.
Speaking to the Weekly News, Mr Brown, who lost his seat during the elections in May, said: “I want to get in touch with the Ely Muslims and have a chat with them.
It was earlier this year that the Ely Muslims, who currently meet each week at the Paradise Centre in Ely, announced that they wanted to build a miniature mosque in the city.
The management committee of the Paradise Centre had told the group that they would lease them an area of their sports fields, close to the junction with New Barns Road and Deacons Lane, to build the facility if they gained planning permission.
However, the discussions have been put on hold following uproar from many locals, who insist the Muslims should not be allowed to build a new prayer centre.
Since then the debate has intensified with more and more people speaking their minds over the proposals.
The English Defence League (EDL) has even threatened to protest in the city if the plans come into fruition.

Now, it's his land and he can do what he wants with it so long as he isn't breaking any laws, however I suspect that this is either an attempt to offload a badly performing business property he owns or a way to stick two fingers up to the people who decided that they didn't want him to represent them any more. Judging by Mr Brown's history it's a possibility of both being the case. Fact is, despite the attempts by media, government, other (foolish) religious types, socialists and bleeding heart liberals, Muslims are about as welcome as pork pies at Jewish weddings in most communities these days. Although they may appear to blend in at first, as soon as their numbers reach a certain critical mass then they start to "demand" that things go their way and once the first domino falls it just carries on until you end up with some form of ghetto filled with Muslims who don't integrate and who live separate lives to the rest of the community including the usual homophobia, misogyny and religious intolerance that characterises that totalitarian, fascist ideology.
As a way of sticking two fingers up at your community, I can't think of anything better really, well not with any hope of getting planning permission.
I doubt Mr Brown will be standing for election again...

The future?

♫ I believe that children are our future,

Teach them well and let them lead the way* ♪

Unfortunately what some of our children are being taught is not quite what as a society we'd expect. Now I know kids are generally violent little psychopaths not terribly adult in their dealings with each other, but as parents and teachers it's up to us to show them how to deal with those they don't get on with and show respect. It's not an easy job, but sometimes it's made all the harder when religion becomes involved.

Express.

FIVE Muslim schoolboys threatened to kill a patriotic classmate for supporting British troops.

The 12-year-old yobs boasted they planned to attack terrified Darius Gill, 13, with knives and knuckle dusters for not supporting Islamic extremists.

They made the threats on ­Facebook after Darius – who has a white mother and Asian father – posted a touching tribute on the same website to troops who have lost their lives defending Britain.

I think we can see where the next generation of poppy burners are coming from.

The gang – along with a white girl also aged 12 – have now been excluded from their school, the ­Sidney Stringer Academy which is in a predominantly Muslim area of Coventry.

One gang member said in a ­Facebook message littered with spelling mistakes: “Fight on ­Monday gonna be heavy knuckle dusters nd knifes hopefully I don’t die.”

Another added: “ill bang him ma slef am a terrorist.” One of the youngsters even posted a picture of himself holding a rifle. Darius’ mother Clare Allington, 42, who lives in Coventry, said: “If I hadn’t read the threats and pulled my son out of school that day he could be dead.

“They might just be school children but they are fanatical and dangerous. The threats have to be taken seriously.

“My son wrote supporting the British troops in Afghanistan and also said he was sad so many soldiers had died.

“It’s appalling and extremely upsetting for Darius.”

The school confirmed that six pupils had been disciplined for the hate campaign and face permanent expulsion pending an investigation.

Now it might just be threats, but facebook apparently was used for it.

Link.

But a gang of pupils at Sidney Stringer Academy in Coventry – a predominantly Muslim area – expressed outrage at Darius’ patriotism.
One message – littered with spelling mistakes – said: ”Fight on Monday gonna be heavy knuckle dusters nd knifes hopefully I don’t die.”
His pal added: ”ill bang him ma slef am a terrorist.”
One of the thugs also posted a chilling picture of himself holding a rifle.
Shockingly, other pupils – who have set up a Muslim Defence League which celebrates British deaths in Afghanistan – also added comments condemning Darius.

They set up a Muslim defence league? A dyslexic one at that?
13 years ago I would have laughed at anyone suggesting that the UK could face a civil war or massive civil unrest by about 2020, now I'm not so sure. 13 years ago I would have laughed at any suggestion of the English working class setting up their own grass roots movement outside the auspices of politics called the EDL to defend against the continuing assault on our culture and values by politicians, activists and a totalitarian ideology wrapped up in religious trappings. I'm not laughing now.
Well we've had New Labour and look around you to see what happens when a political movement decides it would be good to rub the "rights" faces in multiculturalism and diversity by opening the doors of uncontrolled immigration. It might have worked but for one major problem, Islam doesn't do diversity, doesn't do multiculturalism, doesn't play nice with anyone not in Islam.
New Labour may just have consigned the UK's next generation to a terrible civil war in the name of diversity and multiculturalism.

* Awful, awful song

Spiteful and deceitful

Yes as the post title alludes to it's about Gordon Brown and Labour, though it could easily have read petty and pathetic. Now I know the Prime Minister is well paid and I know that David Cameron is a millionaire, however what Brown did just before leaving office underlines just what Labour were and are about.

Telegraph.

Gordon Brown's last act was to deprive David Cameron of hundreds of thousands of pounds 

Gordon Brown's failure to turn up for the State Opening of Parliament may well have been because he couldn't look David Cameron in the face. Mandrake hears that one of Brown's final acts in the Downing Street bunker was quietly to organise a pay cut for his successor which he must have known would leave him out of pocket to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds.

On Brown's orders, the Prime Minister's remuneration package was cut from £194,000 to £150,000, but this was done with such stealth that no formal announcement was ever made.
Indeed, I am told that Cameron entered Downing Street blissfully unaware that he would, as Prime Minister, be earning only marginally more than he had as the leader of the Opposition.
One imagines that the poor chap must therefore have set about implementing his pre-election pledge of an across-the- board cut in ministerial salaries of five per cent with a heavy heart as this took his salary down to £142,000.
Over the course of a five-year parliament, I calculate the personal loss to Cameron will be in excess of £250,000, and this is not counting the pension benefits.
"This was pure Gordon," harrumphs my man in Whitehall. "Quite prepared to make the big sacrifices – so long as it wasn't him who actually had to make them."

OK it's not as if Cameron needs the money and it's not like savings wont have to be made, but this was done deliberately as a swipe at the next Prime Minister of a party that Brown hated to the core of his being. It was this hatred that wrecked the economy as more and more taxpayers funds were channelled into Labour core areas and benefit drones. It was this hatred that saw immigration spiral out of control to rub the Tories noses in multiculturalism. It was this hatred behind the deluded "Tory Toff" campaign and it is a hatred that is prevalent in the Socialist left throughout the country, it seems it isn't about what they can do to improve the country, but more about what they can do to thwart, destroy, impede and disrupt Tory policy, they are in a sense defined by their hatred, rather than their desire to do what's right.
Until Labour can move away from the politics of hate they'll never be a suitable  government for this country even if they do manage to regain power.
The best option perhaps for England will be independence from the UK, that will remove much of Labours powerbase from England and leave the other nations to put up with their economic imbecility and cultural hatred of any right leaning political party to the point of being ready willing and able to destroy an economy and import voters simply to keep out another political party.

Update, Mr Eugenides sums it up far better than I.