An uplifting piece for a change that brought a tear to my hard bitten old eyes. In the FT of 21st Feb there was a lengthy obituary to a Dutch Doctor, Willem 'Plim' Kolff, 1911-2009. In summary during the Nazi occupation of Holland he helped many people escape labour camps & worse. He also somehow managed to invent & build the world's first successful kidney dialysis machine. It didn't work first time & patients died. The first success was on a Nazi collaborator. Kolff said " We have to treat patients when they need help even if we don't like them". He went on to lead the development of an artificial heart; man made eye; artificial ear; and one of the first sophisticated prosthetic arms. He believed that his work should benefit everyone, not just one individual, so he never patented any of it.
In an era where the philosophy seems to be that if you are not a rotton bastard you are a stupid bastard we can only pray that there are still people like him out there.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Saturday, 21 February 2009
Fair Play & Taxes
The Government cannot interfere with properly drawn legal contracts however disreputable these might be. We are not going to get rid of the bonus culture, and the damage done by greed and rampant self interest by pleading to peoples better nature.Those that caused the financial system to collapse do not have a better nature. Nor are we going to repair the Governments collapsing tax revenue by conventional means
What the Government CAN do is tax. For this Tax Year, & the next two, ALL income, however derived ( home or overseas) & however disguised, ( including pension contributions), in excess of half a million pounds should be taxed at 100%. This might be unfair on those who maybe deserve their money but no more unfair than the loss of livelihood, home, etc. suffered by ordinary people through no fault of their own. In fact those caught by this tax are already so wealthy that in reality they wouldn't miss it .
What the Government CAN do is tax. For this Tax Year, & the next two, ALL income, however derived ( home or overseas) & however disguised, ( including pension contributions), in excess of half a million pounds should be taxed at 100%. This might be unfair on those who maybe deserve their money but no more unfair than the loss of livelihood, home, etc. suffered by ordinary people through no fault of their own. In fact those caught by this tax are already so wealthy that in reality they wouldn't miss it .
Thursday, 19 February 2009
Words you mustn't use
Setting aside Chris Huhnes gaff over defending the Governments daft decision to exclude Wilders from Britain, thereby giving the visiting nonentity publicity to die for, I am struck by the difference in treatment of Carol vis a vis Jonathan. In my book the latters offence was much worse. When I was small boy in WWII I had a rag doll whose name I must not say and a childrens book about a child I may not name & his little umbrella. Both were much loved & treasured & if they did anything for my views on racism, which is pretty unlikely, the influence would have been one that warmly embraced difference. Well meaning legislation to prevent real abuse is hijacked to promote a quite different agenda. Hypersensitivity is stirred up & freedom of speech goes down the gurgler. We should stop pandering to this nonsense, grow up, get a sense of humour & a life. In terms of improving race relations it is unnecessary intolerance of the trivial that masks the need to be truly intolerant of the important. When I lived in Australia in the 1990's I was often called a 'pommie baaastard' and nine times out of ten it was used to describe a 'mateship' and when it wasn't it was the user of the phrase that was diminished.
Right to die
Two recent controversies in the news. Firstly should alcohol abusers be denied liver transplants & a Law Lords opinion which doesn't really move us any further forward in protecting those who respect the wishes of those who have had enough of life. If we could only convert hypocrisy into GDP we wouldn't have a financial crisis.
Taking the Euthanasia ( or as we now call it Assisted Suicide) issue first,we should remember that actual suicide is desperately sad but it is not nowadays illegal. It therefore simply should be the right of anyone to decide for themselves the circumstances under which they wish to be 'put to sleep' when they can no longer do it unaided.
When you have one liver and six patients needing it, the 'playing God' argument of the anti euthanasia brigade is nonsense. Some person or group has to decide who gets the liver & the criteria ought to be based, & I believe usually is, not on punishment for past behaviour, but on prospects for clinical & post op lifetime benefit. Still a very difficult decision which is agonised over by those in the best position to take it, and not assisted by sanctimonious external busybodies laying down rules to suit their own agenda.
The next argument is that vulnerable people might be pressurised by relatives to end it all. The pro-lifers scorn for the basic decency of most of humanity is truly impressive. If our lawmakers cannot draft a workable law including adequate, but not self defeating, safeguards then they have no business to be in power. Whoops - perhaps I've just shot myself in the foot!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Taking the Euthanasia ( or as we now call it Assisted Suicide) issue first,we should remember that actual suicide is desperately sad but it is not nowadays illegal. It therefore simply should be the right of anyone to decide for themselves the circumstances under which they wish to be 'put to sleep' when they can no longer do it unaided.
When you have one liver and six patients needing it, the 'playing God' argument of the anti euthanasia brigade is nonsense. Some person or group has to decide who gets the liver & the criteria ought to be based, & I believe usually is, not on punishment for past behaviour, but on prospects for clinical & post op lifetime benefit. Still a very difficult decision which is agonised over by those in the best position to take it, and not assisted by sanctimonious external busybodies laying down rules to suit their own agenda.
The next argument is that vulnerable people might be pressurised by relatives to end it all. The pro-lifers scorn for the basic decency of most of humanity is truly impressive. If our lawmakers cannot draft a workable law including adequate, but not self defeating, safeguards then they have no business to be in power. Whoops - perhaps I've just shot myself in the foot!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sunday, 25 January 2009
BBC wrong again
I am greatly saddened by the disintegrating standards at the BBC, a unique institution that seems hell bent on self destruction. Its' latest insanity is to refuse to broadcast the appeal for aid to Gaza on the pathetic grounds of 'impartiality'. It is compounding that folly by refusing to listen to the torrent of distinguished outrage directed towards it.
Of much less import, but symptomatic of the same breakdown, was the way it handled the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand affair. It is not the function of the BBC to spend millions of the licence payers money promoting such people. There are other places they can go to display there talents. Similarly the ubiquitous Jeremy Clarkson who seems to think it OK to set fire to a rare car on television - a great example to vandals everywhere.
And we all know how 'balanced' the BBC is when it comes to giving air time to the LibDems.
Of much less import, but symptomatic of the same breakdown, was the way it handled the Jonathan Ross/Russell Brand affair. It is not the function of the BBC to spend millions of the licence payers money promoting such people. There are other places they can go to display there talents. Similarly the ubiquitous Jeremy Clarkson who seems to think it OK to set fire to a rare car on television - a great example to vandals everywhere.
And we all know how 'balanced' the BBC is when it comes to giving air time to the LibDems.
Saturday, 24 January 2009
Michael Spencer of Icap, and David Ross, co-founder of Carphone Warehouse are
amongst some of the richest men in Britain and are also friends of David
Cameron .Indeed Michael Spencer is Treasurer of the Conservative Party. They
have both been engaged in controversial share dealings which, although not
illegal, hardly help us to believe David Cameron's assertion that the Tories
are the party best placed to look after the interests of ordinary people.
As far back as Dr Beeching, of railway destruction fame, but particularly
since Thatcher, we have been led to believe that putting a 'businessman' in
charge of major public services is the solution to the all problems. Hopefully
the current financial crisis, which has revealed the breathtaking stupidity &
incompetence of so many of these grotesquely overpaid individuals, will
finally bury that myth. One is reminded of the comments of that iconic
economist of the 1930's, John Maynard Keynes, who when asked why, if
businessmen were so stupid they continued to make money, replied "because they
do business with each other".
amongst some of the richest men in Britain and are also friends of David
Cameron .Indeed Michael Spencer is Treasurer of the Conservative Party. They
have both been engaged in controversial share dealings which, although not
illegal, hardly help us to believe David Cameron's assertion that the Tories
are the party best placed to look after the interests of ordinary people.
As far back as Dr Beeching, of railway destruction fame, but particularly
since Thatcher, we have been led to believe that putting a 'businessman' in
charge of major public services is the solution to the all problems. Hopefully
the current financial crisis, which has revealed the breathtaking stupidity &
incompetence of so many of these grotesquely overpaid individuals, will
finally bury that myth. One is reminded of the comments of that iconic
economist of the 1930's, John Maynard Keynes, who when asked why, if
businessmen were so stupid they continued to make money, replied "because they
do business with each other".
I've been quiet for some time but up & running again now.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) three million eight
hundred thousand (3.8 million) UK pensioners have total savings of less than
£1500. Fat lot of good David Cameron's proposal to scrap tax on savings
interest is to them. A current rates they would be just over 5p a week better
off!! Sorry David. Hot air & headline grabbing will not help us get out of
this mess. Try some solid & realistic LibDem policies instead.
According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS) three million eight
hundred thousand (3.8 million) UK pensioners have total savings of less than
£1500. Fat lot of good David Cameron's proposal to scrap tax on savings
interest is to them. A current rates they would be just over 5p a week better
off!! Sorry David. Hot air & headline grabbing will not help us get out of
this mess. Try some solid & realistic LibDem policies instead.
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