Friday, 11 March 2011

Benefits of 40+

Perks of reaching 40, 50 or being over 60 and heading towards 70!

01....Kidnappers are not very interested in you.

02..In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first.

03. No one expects you to run--anywhere.

04. People call at 9 PM and ask,"did I wake you?"

05. People no longer view you as a hypochondriac.

06.There is nothing left to learn the hard way.

07. Things you buy now won't wear out.

08.You can eat supper at 4 PM.

09. You can live without sex but not your glasses.

10.You get into heated arguments about pension plans.

11. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge.

12.You quit trying to hold your stomach in no matter who walks into the room.

13. You sing along with elevator music.

14.Your eyes won't get much worse.

15. Your investment in health insurance is finally beginning to pay off.

16.Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service.

17. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can't remember them either.

18.Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.

19. You can't remember where you saw this list.

20. And you notice these are all in Big Print for your convenience.

Tell people about this list, those that you can remember, anyway!

And never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill and a laxative on the same night


 

Thursday, 10 March 2011

The First Chairbourne Division.....



is a group set up for people who are unable to attend the march on 26th March, either because of
ill health, 
disability, 
lack of funds, 
event location being too far away, 
family/work commitments 
or other reasons.


The group is to provide a way for people to show their support for the TUC march. 


The group has been set up to demonstrate a virtual attendance, by making a pledge to bombard the media (TV/
newspapers) with letters/emails of support for the march and/or personal stories about how the cuts (all cuts) are
going to affect us and others around us.


If you think this is agood idea and would like to join in, you can either compose your own letters/emails or if you
prefer you can use a draft letter, which will be posted here before the 26th March, to edit and use for your own
message.


We are in process of composing a list of email addresses to various people in the media, which will also be posted
here.


We would like people, where possible, to send their emails while the march is taking place. If this isn’t possible,
just send when you can. The more emails, the bigger impact.


We do hope you will support this idea to give voice to our feelings about the cuts being imposed on us.




For people who do not use Facebook, we will blog with relevant updates here.


PLEASE HELP MAKE THIS A MASSIVE SUCCESS!




-------------------------------------

THE Media Contacts to email, and General Info 

OR nick.clegg.mp@parliament.uk / nickclegg@sheffieldhallam.org.uk



TV & RADIO PROGRAMMES

  • Newsnight newsnight@bbc.co.uk
  • Channel 4 News news@channel4.com
  • ITV Tonight mailto:tonight@itv.com
  • studio@five.tv
  • BBC mike.sergeant@bbc.co.uk
  • Politics Show   politicsshow@bbc.co.uk.


 Andrew Marr..copy and paste letter to the form on his web site:-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/andrew_marr_show/8379560.stm

  •  Sky news@sky.com  & newsonline@bskyb.com
  • Able Radio (Disability Radio) studio@ableradio.com

NEWSPAPERS:

  • Guardian - individual journalists - Firstname.lastname@guardian.co.uk 
  • polly.toynbee@guardian.co.uk 
  • michael.white@guardian.co.uk
  • Daily Mail - news@dailymail.co.uk
  • Daily Mail Online - editorial@dailymailonline.co.uk
  • Kevin Maguire at the Mirror no email but he's on Twitter
  • Kevin Maguire @Kevin_Maguire

  • The Telegraph – dtnews@telegraph.co.u
  • The Sunday Telegraph -     stnews@telegraph.co.uk  
  • Daniel Knowles is an Assistant Comment Editor at Telegraph.co.uk.  
  • He writes about politics and economics and is @dlknowles on Twitter. 
  • Telegraph andrew.gilligan@telegraph.co.uk
  • The Independent -  newseditor@independent.co.uk
  • johann@johannhari.com & Johann on Twitter johannhari101
  • Independent Online - m.king@independent.co.uk
  • Daily Star (spit!!) news@dailystar.co.uk
  • Daily Star Online - geoff.marsh@dailystar.co.uk
  • The Sun - exclusive@the-sun.co.uk
  • The Scottish Sun (didn’t know there was one!) kennyangove@the-sun.co.uk






Thursday, 3 March 2011

New Homes / Re- let homes and Affordable rents.

'Affordable rents' will increase costs to public purse


Housing association Family Mosaic has published groundbreaking research into the impact of reletting existing homes on new "affordable rents".
Family Mosaic welcomes the principle behind the government's plans, but commissioned the research because it was worried that rent levels of 80% of market rents would be too high for the people it wants to house in London. So the association asked independent researcher Mark Lupton to look at what would have been the impact had 50 new tenancies granted within its stock in November and December 2010 been relet at 80% or at 60% of market rent.
The research, published in 'Mirror, signal, manoeuvre: Our drive to provide more social housing' found that, had these 50 homes been let at 80% of market rents,  the housing benefit bill for these 50 tenants would have increased by 151%; at 60% of market rents the bill would have increased by 68%.
The research found that the impact on Family Mosaic's tenants will vary by location, with those living in inner London the hardest hit. At 80% of market rent, seven inner London properties in the study would have seen increases of over £200 a week. Outside London, however, these increases would have been less than £50 per week.
In contrast, most of the sample properties in Essex had social rents that are already at 60-80% market rates.
The report concludes that, for those tenants receiving benefits, the proposed new affordable housing model creates, or worsens, the poverty trap, acting as an additional disincentive to gain employment.
Family Mosaic CEO Brendan Sarsfield says, "We are determined to deliver more homes, but this look in the mirror tells us that the new model creates problems for our residents. Market rents per se are not the problem – we have used them in temporary housing for many years. The challenge now is can we make higher rents work as a long-term solution during welfare reform and public spending constraints."
____________________

Comment: There have been many discussions on this, and the extra revenue to be gained by the Landlords to invest into more homes. But if the differential, in the North, Is low between Social Rent and Affordable rent  1)The poverty trap exists even at Social Rent Levels for a LOT of people, and 2) In the North (and many places) The additional revenue would be negligible and the critical mass needed to generate enough to build one extra home would be difficult nigh impossible. This is what affordable rent is supposed to be for. To Generate investment into more homes. It Works in Affluent areas. The poorer or deprived areas are left out again, as the modelling of it requires a base product that frankly doesnt exist in most of the North of England.  - Jules

Wednesday, 2 March 2011

Take Time out NOT to forget How wonderful people can be....

   The  prize doesn't always go to the most deserving...

   
Irena  Sendler
There recently  was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got  permission
to work in the   Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior  motive'.
She KNEW what the  Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.) Irena smuggled  infants
out in the bottom  of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her  truck
a burlap sack,  (for larger kids).  She also had a dog in the back that she trained  to bark
when the Nazi  soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted  nothing to do
with the dog and  the barking covered the kids/infants noises. During her time of doing  this,
she managed to  smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants.
She was caught,  and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her  severely.
Irena kept a  record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a  glass jar,
buried under a  tree in her back yard.
After the war,  she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the  family.
Most had been   gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or  adopted.
 
Recently, Irena  was up for the Nobel Peace Prize... She was not selected.
However, Al Gore  won, for a slide show on Global Warming and Barack Obama
won for a speech  on peace.

Tuesday, 1 March 2011

There are Six Life Truths. So SMILE.

Six Truths in Life



1.   You cannot stick your tongue out and look up
 at the ceiling at the same time, a physical impossibility due to the tendons within your neck. 

 
























2.  All idiots, after reading #1 will try it.




















3.  And discover #1 is a lie.
 















4. You are smiling now because you are an idiot.
   
















5.  You soon will forward this to another idiot.
 









6.  There is still a stupid smile on your face.
 









I sincerely apologize about this but I'm an idiot and I needed company.

Monday, 28 February 2011

Nasa Style Dog Walk

Please read From The bottom upwards as latest updates were recorded at the top.





  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
      
    Command: we have return confirmed as successful. Chips are now being made. Thankyou mission control. Wonderful assistance. #nasastyle





  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Low signal loss of contact. Back now. Command are we ok for a return. Excessive fluid gone. #Nasastyle





  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    We have to burn some excess energy. #Nasastyle





  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Command do we still have contact? Canine is fine. Fluids have successfully passed. #Nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Command we are mid mission. The shit has landed and first bag recovery mission was a success. #Nasastyle





  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Go is initiated. Door in 43 seconds.you may loose contact till return #nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Count down: Dog Walk here: We are go on your command control.....#nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Count down - less than a minute remaining: Stay of door opening requested. Crew ask for extra 1.5 minutes#nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Count down Kit and prep problem, Mobile phone retrieval issues. Portabily issue solved. Revised dog walk T-2.5 minutes from now #nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Count down Revised. Kit and prep problem, comms issue. Revised dog walk in T-2.5 minutes from now #nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    Count down suspended. Kit and prep problem. Revised dog walk in T-3 minutes from now #nasastyle




  • Jules ClarkeJules_Clarke 
    @MeriLizzie OOOH not my thing hush my mouth. I must coat myself up. Prepare kit and walk dog #nasastyle