Happy Birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!
April 28th 1960, the day I came into the world!

Is this the start of another conspiracy theory!

Try this.......

Open Microsoft Word and Type in capitals Q33 NY. This is the flight number of the first plane to hit one of the Twin Towers on 9/11.

Highlight the Q33 NY, change the font size to 72 point then change the font by scrolling down to "WINGDINGS"

Scary or what!

ask Dave Pascoe some questions

Voters and residents in Rossmere Ward (and throughout the town if they wish) are invited to put any questions to Dave Pascoe concerning the by election in Rossmere Ward. Any questions on UKIP policy locally and in general you may have can be put by contacting me on an excellent website called 'Votewise'

This is a forum for all election candidates to be quizzed by their electorate.
It appears that out of the five candidates in Rossmere Ward only Dave Pascoe has so far put themselves forward to be subject to interrogation by those whom they wish to serve.

I'll leave that fact open to interpretation by readers

VOTEWISE can be accessed by clicking here

Dave is looking forward to answering any queries you may have.

This blog entry is published by Stephen Allison, 13 Beaconsfrield Square, in support of Dave Pascoe, 64 Dunbar Road, Hartlepool

Going the extra mile!

According to an Article from the Daily Express (see it here) the Crown Prosecution Service has paid out £56,000 in bonuses to staff who came into work in the heavy snow in early February. Two hundred and twenty four of the one thousand London Staff made it into work and are getting a £250 bonus for their dedication in going "the extra mile". A spokeswoman said the bonus was only paid out to workers in London and was added to their March pay packet from a special fund that each region has to give awards for effort for staff.

Going the extra mile! I wonder how much bonus our boys and girls in Iraq or Afghanistan get when the extra mile they go involves being hit by something a little bit more dangerous than a few snowflakes?

Kill the fatted Calf I'm Coming Home

Leaving the big city and heading back to civilisation! Kill the fatted calf mother, I'm coming home!

A brief interlude!

I am sat in a horrible steel, concrete and glass box in the middle of London. From the window I can see the Union Flag flying on the mast at Buckingham Palace which means Her Majesty isn't in residence, no doubt she is somewhere much nicer. We are working flat out on the Election Address for the June 4th European Parliament Elections. Most people don't appreciate the work that goes into that piece of paper that lands on their mat and holds your attention for approximately 2 seconds, the time it takes to get from the mat to the recycle bin.
First the messages have to be decided upon. Ours are fairly simple, "Say NO to the EU" This seems to be an argument that we have won, however we now also need to persuade people that voting UKIP is the best way to say NO.Once the message is decided then the images need to be developed. The Election Address needs to be eye catching. Unfortunately you cannot just do anything you want to. The images cannot be libelous or illegal. The Whole thing needs to be vetted and approved by the Royal Mail and then comes the easy bit, printing 27 million copies. After that they need to be banded in 100's, boxed, labelled and delivered to 62 Post Office Depots around the country. A logistical nightmare!

Another dip into the public purse!

I receive a pension statement today. It’s a remnant from my days at GEC and was never worth very much. Unfortunately the fees and charges for administering the plan (and no doubt paying bonuses to the people who do it) has effectively reduced its value to zero. I hope I don’t end up getting a bill next year! That wouldn’t surprise me. I can see the letter now. “As a result of out diligent management of your pension fund we have managed to limit your losses this year to only 6%. In order to keep your fund at zero you owe use £X. You can choose to pay this to us as a single lump sum or on a monthly basis. If you chose to pay monthly then a credit charge equivalent to 29.9% APR will be added to your bill. Thank you for investing for our future retirement”

Of course our elected representatives have one of the best pension schemes in the world. No worries for them. MPs can choose to make contributions of either 6% or 10% of their gross pay. The effect on their take home pay is much less than that of course as they benefit from relief from tax at the highest rate, and also pay a lower rate of National Insurance. An MP who pays the 6% contributions builds up benefits at 1/50th of their final salary for each year of contributions. If the MP pays 10% they normally build up benefits at a rate of 1/40th. So after a 5 year Parliament the MP can build up a pension of 5/40 or 1/8 of their final salary. Not bad. Retire on half pay after 20 years!

Interestingly all MP’s Staff (who are on a contract of 3 months or longer) are automatically enrolled in a group stakeholder pension (Portcullis Pension Plan) to which the House of Commons contributes 10% of salary. This cost is not taken from the MP’s allowances but is in effect an “extra” 10% paid to staff that does not appear in MP’s expenses claims.

So if an MP is paying his or her partner a £40,000 salary there is another £4,000 hidden away in pension contributions that are not declared to the public. Another nice little earner!

How much does your MP Cost?

The Houses of Parliament Members Allowances Claims for 2007 to 2008 have just been published. The Hartlepool MP comes almost right at the bottom of the table. However, don't get too excited, it's not because he claimed the lowest amount of allowances, it's just because the list is published in alphabetical order!

Iain Wright MP claimed a total of £142,100 in the year 2007 to 2008. This was made up of £124475 in allowances from possible maximum of £151927 plus £3110 of postage and equipment on loan, Plus £14,515 travel between Home and Westminster. The last one being particularly irksome as anyone who commutes from home to work (most of us in effect) will know that travel from home to your place of work is expressly excluded from deductible expenses for tax purposes. Just another example of MPs giving themselves special privileges they deny to the rest of us.

The total breaks down as below

Cost of staying away from main home £17,882 (Maximum £23,083)
Office running costs £20,221 (maximum of £21,339)
Staffing costs £84,844 (maximum of £90,505)
Centrally purchased stationery £884 (maximum of £7,000)
Stationery associated postage costs £1,794 (No maximum identified)
Central IT provision £1,316 (cost of equipment supplied on loan to each Member)
Communications Allowance £644 (Maximum £10,000)

One Allowance Mr Wright unfortunately didn’t claim was the £37,281 Winding-up Allowance payable to defeated or retiring Members after the date on which they cease to be Members of Parliament. This covers the reimbursement of the cost of any work necessary, including staff and office costs, to conclude their parliamentary business after the date on which they cease to be Members of Parliament. Of course I live in hope that he will be receiving this payment sometime in 2010.

While roaming the Internet I also came across The Green Book which is the MPs guide to their own salaries, pensions and allowances. Some interesting reading in there!

Rule 1 of Policy Making

I was asked today why I didn't join the Tory Party and fight on the wining side for a change! Snowballs and Hell came to mind at the thought of me becoming one of Dave's Merry Men. I actually have more respect for the Liberal Democrats (and believe me "respect" and "liberal democrats" are not words I ever thought I'd put in the same without a very big "NO" included somewhere) than I do for the Tories who bleat on about loving this country and thinking Great Britain is the best country in the world. If they really thought that then why are they supporting a party that has collaborated every step of the way in the destruction of Great Britain. The Liberal Democrats are at least (slightly) more honest than that ("honest" and "Liberal Democrat" in the same sentence....my God I'm cracking up).

There are actually many things I admire about the Tory Party, just as there are many more things I used to admire about the Labour Party. I've just realise that I don't admire anything about the Liberal Democrats, the two compliments I paid them earlier were actually relative to the Tories, so if you say you utterly and totally despise something and then comparing it to something you despise slightly less then relative to each other you actually do like one more than the other!

The Lib/Lab/Con are now so close to each other that it makes no difference which one you support. All three are 100% behind the European Union Project, the only differences being in the way they trick you into thinking THEY are different.

The Lib-Dems are totally in favour of the EU but try to say nothing. Rule 1 of the Liberal Democrat Policy Manual; whatever your audience will vote for, promise them that.

The Tories are totally in favour of the EU but the closer to an election they get the more Euro-sceptic they talk. Rule 1 of the Tory Policy Manual; Talk tough on Europe but once the election is over go back to being pro-EU again with a big sigh of relief at having fooled the electorate, again!

New Labour just want to cling to power in any way they can. Tony Blair for example going from Anti to Pro-EU in the flash of a disappearing principle. It's actually more likely that the Labour Party will one day decide to take us out of the EU. It only needs for them to see how it would help them stay in power and the policy of withdrawal would be adopted like a shot because Rule 1 of the New Labour Policy Manual; Never let principles hold you back.

The Lib/Lab/Con, no difference between any of them.

Alnwick

Accompanied the UKIP Lead Candidate for the North East region, Gordon Parkin, to a meeting in Alnwick yesterday. Gordon gave a good speech which was well received and collected lots of offers of help. The Beermats campaign was especially welcomed. The whole Branch were in great spirits after the £100,000 donation and they were especially pleased to hear about the new member joining us in the Midlands. I wasn't allowed to say too much about that as it was embargoed until this morning but judging by the phone calls I've had from all round the country it has been seen as good news.

Now I must dash, north neighborhood forum at 2.00pm

Great Brit MEP

Great Article from the Daily Star today about the "Great Brit" postmaster sacked after banning customers who could not speak English is standing as an MEP.

Deva Kumarasiri, 40, will be a candidate in June’s Euro-elections for the United Kingdom Independence Party.

He won the Daily Star’s first ever Great Brit award last month after barring immigrants who have not bothered to learn the lingo from a Post Office in Sneinton, Nottingham.

The dad-of-two, who came here from Sri Lanka 18 years ago, was asked to stand by UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

Deva said: “Nigel got in touch and invited me to London for a chat and we very quickly found that we had lots in common.

“I had no hesitation in joining UKIP and agreeing to stand for them in the Euro elections, because I want to get elected and speak up for Britain. There are only nine weeks before voting, so there’s a lot of work to be done.

“My priorities will be to save the pound and to push for British jobs for British workers.

“I’ll campaign for newcomers to Britain to learn English and seek to persuade them that integration is absolutely vital to the country’s future.”

Deva admitted he faced a “daunting task” to win one of six East Midlands seats.

But he said: “It’s a great opportunity to get my message across.”

Mr Farage said: “Deva is someone who has passion, belief and patriotism.

“This may be his first blooding in national politics, but he has struck a chord with many people in this country and is a guy who is going places.”