Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Isn't it ironic

Isn't it ironic....... Gerry Adams resigns as an MP and he is awarded a baron ship.

But what I find bizarre about this politician is that he says he wants to enter the Dail because he is concerned about the Irish economy. According to the Belfast Telegraph Adams faltered when he gave a public interview regarding the recession. He's not interested in the economy! He has no knowledge of it.....

Games up big man, so drop the charade and admit what your real agenda is???

He emigrated from London to Dublin... either way hope he stays out of Northern Ireland! 

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Maybe I didn't make myself clear.. but POLITICS IN NORTHERN IRELAND SUCKSI!!!!!

Why is it that politicians or public bodies always want to take the responsibility when something goes right, but what about when it goes wrong, everyone wants to get out of the spotlight quick enough.

The Minister for Culture, Arts & Leisure, the mouthpiece for Sport Northern Ireland on Thursday evening said the business plans linked to the olympic facilities were not up to scratch and that is why the funding was withdrawn.

How ignorant and grossly misleading for a publicly elected minister to say this? This just goes to show how unprofessional Sport Northern Ireland is as a body. How could they let 5 facilities progress to stage two of the process and say that the business plans were not up to scratch? Does this not expose Sport Northern Ireland as being incapable of directing this sort of operation. If the business plans were not up to scratch why did Sport Northern Ireland not go back and question the strength of the business plans? Oh they went back to them alright, but only to get information that they were already supplied with by the governing bodies.

And how convenient this was in holding up the process, ensuring the facilities wouldn't go ahead. Was it ever intended for these facilities to not go ahead. As soon as there was talk of budget cuts, this was a sure indication that the facilities would not go across. And now today the excuse was finally made up - not up to scratch.

None of the politicians or people in these public bodies look at the longer term benefits such facilities would bring. If the process had met the timescale originally set, the facilities would be ready and teams might actually want to come here and train before the 2012 games. Instead there are no facilities for teams to train in and this was not helped by the comments of the CEO of Sport Northern Ireland who came out publicly and said why would people want to come to a place that is still under threat from dissidents.

The Troubles was 30 years ago.... when is this country and the public figures going to move on. Seriously?

Duces     

Friday, January 7, 2011

Politics sucks....

OK so I still only have two followers, but hey, two is better than zero. Show a guy a lil luv....

I wasn't quite sure what to name this blog today ..

First I would like to correct myself on my budget rant... The health budget was left untouched, but this does not solve the problems health professionals face on a daily basis... this is not because the budget is not enough.... its the people within the health sector, who decide where this money goes..... why did they buy 12 ventilators at a grand each. Come on guys... think about it. Mouth to mouth... by a cute woman in a nurses outfit.. how do you think they got the air flowing in those days :) and how many marriages came a result!!

But on a serious note... that money could go 88% of the way to paying a Band 1 nurse... and as I like to say.. 1 is better than 0. So Mr Health Minister... get it together and think how you can really make a difference in the health service.... Ventilators will break, need servicing. A ventilator can only do one job. A nurse can do many!!! A nurse will not break, will not need servicing, apart from being shown the appreciation and admiration they deserve. A nurse will do her job to the highest standard, and all she cares for is the patient. Money can't buy those qualities!


In the next 6 months there are going to be 2 important elections. The first will be the election in Ireland. The second will be the Assembly elections in Northern Ireland. But let me talk about these in reverse.

If current trends are to be true, Sinn Fein will have the majority at the next election. A nationalist First Minister! Will the Unionist want to play second fiddle to them? This will cause the vote for Sinn Fein to go up in the south.

Didn't the Good Friday Agreement say when the majority of the electorate was nationalists that they would offer a united Ireland?

Now hold on one cotton picking second. Who says the Irish want Northern Ireland back? They have said they don't. But why at this moment in time would Northern Ireland be returned to a nation who are on their knees with increasingly crippling debt?

Yes, they have the 12.5% Corporation Tax. But this is not the biggest deciding factor for firms to locate in Ireland as a whole. They are more concerned with the quality of the workforce, and through education we can see that Northern Ireland graduates are some of the best potential employees. The currency would switch to euro. The exact currency that was under threat of failing. The government of Ireland have failed the Irish citizens! (just like England do at winning the World Cup, or bidding to host it for that matter... ). And to go on another tangent ... no boys there was no tactical voting. Nobody voted for you. get over it.

Anyway, I am not so sure a united Ireland will work.

So I do not agree with Gerry Adams politics, but to give the man some credit. He is a hella good strategist. He abdicated his seat in West Belfast, to make himself eligible to run in the Louth constituency as a TD. While no one seems to doubt that he will get in, is there is a longer term goal in there? Does Gerry still fancy himself as President of Ireland? Whilst he can't run for President as a sitting TD, he will be able to at the 2018 election? The next presidential election is this year. So if Mr Adams has a full term in office as TD, he would only have to sit about for 2 years until the 2018 elections..... watch this space!


 The head man in NI Water should not have been made a scape goat.. It should be the minister. 3 different heads of NI Water since the current minister took over?! You were all over the media like a rash when it came to firing the exec directors... Where were you now!! Come on Northern Ireland, do you really want to reflect these sorts of ministers? And as for the inquiry - what a farce? Independent, yeah independent, I don't think. Some one from outside Northern Ireland SHOULD HAVE BEEN APPOINTED. We all know what is going to happen. These so called independent parties are not going to be thorough enough. And the findings will not come out until AFTER the Assembly elections, so it doesn't discredit the campaigning politicians. Just admit it now... these so called ministers will not get any negative repercussions as a result of this inquiry. So whatever the findings, just know the exact opposite is really the truth. Yes, the politicians messed up, but are they going to admit it, NO.

Have you ever heard the saying ... take the plank out of your own eye before the spec out of another? Clearly our public representatives have not!



Keep chuckin them deuces!

Monday, January 3, 2011

The Minimum Wage

Why abolish the minimum wage?

The number of people being paid in the labor market are being paid well and above the minimum wage. In 2005, according to the Heritage Fund, the amount of people earning the minimum wage was 1.5%.  But what about that 1.5%? While they are not getting raises in their pay packet, they are getting money in other ways through tips. These people on paper remain at minimum wage but they are earning far and above that!

The other section of society who earn the minimum wage are students and people under the age of 25. But their mindset is not this is a job for me for life. This is a low paying job, and if I put in the hard hours then there will be many benefits and opportunities that come from this - so this is only a short term situation which will lead to a long term opportunity.

What about those people that are actually earning the minimum wage. These people are mostly like in government housing, earning food stamps and on welfare. This is their way of earning more than the minimum wage.


The minimum wage should be abolished because it is hurting our economy, and the wider international economy. The minimum wage on the one hand ensures a potential worker earns a certain amount of money. But what it also does is push people out of the labor market.

There are many menial jobs that must be paid minimum wage for companies to employ someone to work them. But are a company going to pay minimum wage for such menial tasks. This is why there is such a problem with illegal because they are working these menial jobs and are being paid most times cash in hand well below the minimum wage. They have no case to fight for the minimum wage because they have no legal working status.

If the minimum wage was abolished this would open up many jobs in the labor market for a country's citizens. If the job is worth $2 for the menial job then this is what the company could pay, whereas before they could not because they had to pay the minimum wage.

And how would this put more people (who were previously eliminated from the labor market) back into employment? Before, when they were out of work they were earning $0. Now they have the possibility of earning $2. Common sense would say earning 2 is better than earning 0. The incentive for the company is efficiency. They are getting their monies worth for the wages they are paying.

This brings us back to the simple concept of supply and demand! If there are people available to do the work then there are companies that can supply the jobs.  And if there is no minimum wage, the company can supply far more jobs at a price that is determined to be suitable for that job. With the minimum wage the demand would be far greater than the supply because the companies must pay a certain wage and the consequence being employing far fewer people. This leads to inefficiency. The incentives for employers employing people suddenly decreases. Can they afford it?

So this is why the minimum wage should be abolished, and if you are not convinced with all of the above, then just think the minimum wage is another way the government can control and run our lives. If someone said they would pay you one dollar an hour to wash dishes, 99.9% of us would say "Hell NO".  But unconsciously this is government saying that we need a law to say businesses can't pay us less than a certain amount. Excuse me, what happened to personal choice? Why encourage something that limits our freedom????

Keep chuckin them deuces!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Little faith in Northern Ireland Politics

Northern Ireland politics can be best described in one word... JOKE!

I honestly think Northern Ireland is better off with direct rule from London - and please all those who are offended by this, sit back, and consider this:

The biggest mistake was giving Sinn Fein the responsibility for education.

They have well and truly made a complete mess of it. Doing away with the 11+ was a wrong move. The integrity of the education in this country has been mutilated. Academic selection indicates a pupils ability, and how to match them to the level of secondary education they are best suited. Northern Ireland has the top 25 percent and bottom 25 percent of students in the whole of the United Kingdom when it comes down to results at GCSE and A Level grade. This is endangered of being lost! We need students who can excel in their studies, and this will not happen unless they are grouped according to their ability.

The one thing that the collation government are doing right, which the NI Assembly are not, is raising tuition fees. The Labour government made the mistake of making university available to everyone. People are not being considered for graduate jobs unless they have a minimum of a 2:1 degree classification. What about the people who get a 2:2 or a 3rd? They still do the same amount of hours and pay the same amount in tuition fees .... and for what - to graduate with a degree that doesn't seem to be worth much. Raising tuition fees will make a 2:2 and 3rd degree actually mean something.

Why do you think the fees have to be raised - it is because of the earnings threshold. The money that is lent by the Student Loans Company is not secured because if a student does not earn above a certain amount then they do not have to pay it back. This means the students coming through are having to pay for this non payment. If it was made that every student paid back what they borrowed in installments according to their earnings then this would also fill a hole in the government deficit.

How is this linked back to academic selection?

Not everyone is university material. Apprentices and internships should be actively promoted for school leavers who do not wish to continue in education. Students who want to go to university can be taught at a certain level, and those wishing not to continue with education can be taught at another level. This is not discriminating because the schools are simply tailoring the learning process to the level that the student needs to attain for their future endeavors

The Northern Ireland Planning Service, supposedly independent from the local government, but is overseen by the Department of Environment cannot even make decisions such as extending the runway at Belfast City Airport, or building the John Lewis store at Sprucefield.

In the case of the City Airport, the issue is only concerning a few hundred feet of concrete, not a completely new runway. Even though Michael O'Leary can get up peoples nose, he was right to pull Ryanair from the airport. He is a businessman, and if he is losing business because a local government cannot make up its mind, then he has every right to go elsewhere to make his money!

The John Lewis saga, has also gone on for a ridiculous period of time because of all the objections and judicial reviews. The courts should be overruling any protests at this stage because they are just petty! Let the Minister for the Environment, make a ruling, and this ruling should be final.

Its people who don't want to compete with the big stores that are protesting. Get over it. We are in changing times, people want the best bargain they can get so if you can't offer it they will go elsewhere. If you want to stay in business you will have to work a bit harder! A hard work ethic is few and far between in some parts of Northern Ireland!

In the past month there has been two major failures of the Northern Ireland Assembly. They did not take an active role in clearing the snow. Instead they put the burden onto the Road Service. This is ironic because even though the Roads Service is supposed to be independent, they are overseen by the Department of the Environment.

The second which as happened in the last week is the water service. Where was the Northern Ireland Assembly - blaming Northern Ireland Water, and Northern Ireland Water, blamed the fact that the pipes were not buried deep enough, which is why in other countries do not face this issue where the temperature falls into the minus figures. But how come it was Northern Ireland that was only affected? Why was the rest of the UK not suffering the same? That might be because of the actual network. There have been news reports in the past indicating how behind the times, the pipes that transports the water throughout Northern Ireland.

Why hasn't this been addressed? Oh, because it would cost to much to replace, and we are in a recession... blah blah blah !!! It's a little thing called water charges. Why will the Northern Ireland Assembly not enforce water charging. I am sick of people saying, oh, but we do pay it through our rates. The amount of rates that we pay do not reflect this!

My last point is that the Northern Ireland Assembly were the last region in the UK to publish a budget. The spin doctors claim this was because the ministers were setting a four year budget and not just a one year budget. This was just political point scoring! They were just concerned that if they only did a one year budget that this would affect their prospects of being re-elected in the Assembly elections next year.

My issue with the budget is that departmental spending is being slashed in favor of free prescriptions and art within hospitals. The amount of money generated from paying for prescriptions would go a considerable way to lowering the deficit. It might also decrease the amount of chancers, who are working the system! The health spending was the only one not to be touched. But why not invest some money in sport and get more children involved. This would curb the obesity pandemic, decreasing the health complications as a result, and not putting such a strain on our health services, freeing up time and personnel to give help where it is most needed!

So that is why I have little faith in the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Keep chuckin them deuces!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

The beginning

So I did think about starting this blog a couple months back and started looking at the mess which is the world economy. The biggest casualty has been Ireland and looking at the bailout plan it seems to be the case that this economic depression may well get worse before it gets better.

I'm starting over though.

A wise man told me, "just put up ya guard"  .... there is a lot of shit in this world, so I just block that shit right out. I may come across as grumpy or just plain socially awkward, but don't be fooled because I can get down with y'all when I feel like it, and y'all will be sprintin to keep up, cos nothing can stop me...

On a serious note, I am well rounded individual with a lot to offer. So here goes........ the first next chapter in my book of life.

If you don't like what I say, then tell me! Free speech is a wonderful thing, so you are entitled to disagree with me! But at least tell me why you disagree with me.



Keep chuckin them deuces!





About time too!

So AIB were again part nationalized since the last post, but one positive that came from it was that no bonuses were being paid out - and no one could legally challenge it!