Posts by Ian

Plod called in on MPs' expenses leak

Expenses

I used to work as a civil servant.

Everything claimed on expenses had to be receipted. All goods bought on monies claimed) belonged to to the department.

Similar rules exist in my current job.

Jaqui Smith, staying in london AT HER SISTERS HOUSE, claiming her sisters house is her primary residence and then claiming expenses money for her own home in Redditch area is breaking the personal gain condition. Arguably, she is stealing from the taxpayer, whatever, even if it is within the rules, it is immoral.

The Average salary in the UK is approximately £22,000. The cabinet minister claiming £100,000 over 4 years for mortgage interest... £3000 more than the average wage is sickening, though, it would be equally sickening if it were £10. The personal gain condition is broken again.

I work away from mt primary home. I am renting in the town where i work. When I finish this job, if i finish this job i will hand back the keys. The monies claimed will go to the land lord and receipts go to the company. I do not gain. I paid for my own TV, My apartment is furnished. No need to spend money there, and, i will not be trying to claim for my TV.

The MPs are in the jobs for 5 years at a time, possibly extended each general election. There is no need for them to BUY accommodation, renting is more than good enough. If they want entertainment systems, that is their choice... buy a TV set..... Or rent from Granada (or whoever) and hand it back when they are voted out.

These people are public servants who volunteer for a highly paid job. They have no need to claim luxuries against the public purse.

Travel should be on the same terms as Civil servants, second class, unless there is an exceptional reason to travel first class.

Cloting for duties can be justified, if i buy a set of overalls, i want to be reimbursed.

The robbing swine we have as politicians make me sick, all colours of politics....

EC will force users to pick a Windows browser, says Microsoft

can we have some different posts on this topic

and variants thereof.

1 Linux, Apple, no complainrts have been made.

2 Microsoft, is a convicted monopolist STILL not following the terms of its sentence.

To the rednecks, Microsoft is still investigated for openness in the US, this is to verify that there are as few naughty bits of code as possible

To the Linux guys.... don't bait the rednecks, the E numbers in the mountain dew will kick in and we will never shut them up.

To the Apple guys... read the linux bit....

Basically, all you folks are doing is rehashing the same stuff time and time again.. Am sure Sarah Bee is fed up of reading it. Do her a favour, don't write it and let her go home earlier!

Ofcom flashes cash guarantees at BT for fibre investment

BT

Some time ago I contacted BT regarding DSL broadband, their response was ... what is that?

3 years ago i was working in N Ireland. The locals had to raise a petition to get DSL in the local area, BT would not provide it without a "good business case".

The company has had the best part of 20 years income from third party telecos (prior to LLU)

It has procrastinated over the past decade over the introduction of broadband.

It inherited a network of exchanges and cabling infrastructure in the 80s.

It enjoyed a monopoly status for 20 years or so, plenty of time to upgrade its existing network.

WE USED TO OWN BT. It was sold from under us for the short term gain of one political party.

BT is now a bunch of companies under one umbrella. BT the exchange and infrastructure people can and should plan a roll out of a Fibre network. They are still effectively a monopoly. BT the telephone people should be spun off, thaken out from under the BT umbrella. At that point fair charges can be levied equally and fairly against ALL the telecos.

If BT refuse to upgrade the network... Nationalise it, take back what was gifted to it. (won't happen but we can dream)

The Casey Report: Putting your mouth, not brain, in charge

No title- Farewell Freedom I guess

The Political Parties in this country all pander to Murdoch/Mail. Steadily our freedoms are eroded.

There has to be a balance, compensation for the victims of crime and punishment of the perpetrators. That is an obvious statement but laws in this country exist to cover most situations.

For example:-

The latest fashion is to carry knives, not a good idea, I know, and the Press is having fun laying criticisms. The Laws exist regarding carrying offensive weapons. The Police need to implement them and the Judiciary needs to apply the appropriate punishments. In MOST cases I believe that this is so.

The anecdotal evidence as reported by Murdoch and the Daily Mail is that this never happens. Reporting of the anecdotal cases skews the perception of the mass populous and tougher laws are demanded. Focus groups produce crepe like that released last week.

In a few years we will all lose the persumption fo innocence. Our biometric data will be on record for the 100 (laughing at the stupidity of the quoted number) civil servants to access on the non-shared computers of the National ID Card Database.

Consider this.. The police will have your fingerprints, a crime is committed with fingerprint evidence available from the scene. Are they going to use good old fashioned detective work to identify suspects? Will they look for the potential matches from the data base?

Ok, so 1 correct match is made, but how many false positives will be returned (balance of probabilities based on a number of sample points). I can provide an alibi for most evenings and most days, but if you can't.... the criminal can.

Now if there is some intangible reason for you to be suspected, with a fingerprint match (remember that juries are made up of Sun and Mail readers) you will be very vulnerable to the court system.

NO2ID seems very worth while.

Use existing laws. Implement them properly.

Won't start on surveillence cameras.