The answer is in your wheelie bin

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Great Dustbin Debate exposes flawed politics
Janet Daley:

Why is rubbish collection (specifically the reduced frequency thereof) of such huge significance to voters? Because it is a totemic symbol of the Great Public Services Scam in which you are consistently charged more and more for less and less. Because the efficient removal of household waste should be the most minimal expectation of a competent society, given our modern understanding of hygiene and communal health. Because it is one more facet of the political tendency to make people feel guilty for things over which they have no control (in this case, the amount of superfluous packaging they must dispose of) and to use this putative guilt as a ruse for raising tax revenue through additional charges. Rubbish is, in other words, the final straw: it is the ultimate outrage which captures the essence of what people feel to be wrong about the way they are governed.


Get yourself a Turkish minder

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Temperama: Legacy Latest: Blair's Defensive Strategy
Yes, yes, very neat. What he's essentially saying is that he really, really has made society much better but there are a few bad people who don't know how to behave in it and what can you do except get tough with them? Well, maybe. But you see, Tone, some of us think that your antisocial behaviour legislation isn't really getting tough at all - it's just acting tough, which isn't the same thing.
Now Tony, this is tough:
Via NothingToxic

Lies and cover-up in shooting of 92 year old

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2 officers plead guilty in 'drug raid' death

I remember this case when it was first reported. Now, after a long investigation the full story has emerged and it ain't pretty.

The Atlanta-Journal Constitution has published over 80 articles about this story and has been a leading light in bringing the corrupt police officers to book. You can read a summary here.

Via Drug War Rant


We're all going on a summer holiday...

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Dying to Go on Vacation - The Smirking Chimp
The Bush administration's stated reason for the surge is to create the kind of order and relative peace in Baghdad so that the Iraqi Parliament can get about the business of addressing the sectarian issues that divide the country. And, according to the Bush administration the surge will be in full force by this summer – as in July and August.  Okay, so are you sitting down? Guess what? The Iraqi parliament refuses to cancel it's two-month long annual summer recess (vacation.)  When? July and August.  While this outrage has gone largely unnoticed and almost completely unreported in the US, it has not been lost on Iraqis or the Iraqi press...
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Hubris

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Blair: Labour has transformed Britain

Tony Blair claimed today that Britain had been transformed beyond recognition by the Labour government as he prepares to mark his 10th anniversary in power next week.

In a letter to his party's MPs - which was accompanied by a 25-page dossier on the Blair legacy - the Prime Minister insisted Labour had overseen remarkable changes in our hospitals and schools, in law and order and in the economy.



Read the letter:




Great Deals

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I try not to pay through the nose for things but equally I don't usually spend hours hunting down the best deals. But this week I've been looking at mobile phones and external hard drives.

My wife has a Blackberry which she hates so I looked around for a straightforward, easy to use, stylish and cheap phone for her. My son wants to move to a monthly contract so we looked for a phone for him as well. We decided the best deal was from 3. We ordered the phone for Sandra at around 2pm Friday and it arrived by courier at 9am the following morning.

Will wanted a different phone and a different tariff and after some research we settled on a Sony Ericson K800ir. The 'r' stands for refurbished but don't be put, off these are - for all intents and purposes - brand new unused phones.

There are no cashback deals with '3' but if you order through Quidco you'll get £100 back. Get someone to recommend you and you get another £30 each. That means you get a phone (value around £190) 750 minutes and 150 texts a month (there are other combinations)  for around £14.50 a month.  Cheaper than a landline.


The hard drive search was simpler. We use Ebuyer a lot so I checked there first. A Seagate Barracuda 320GB USB 2.0 8MB cache External Hard Drive is £56.99 but if you use Google Checkout when you pay you get £10 off, bringing the price down to £46.99.

That's £45 cheaper than Amazon.