John Line's posterous

A great loss in Moto GP today. Marco Simoncelli suffered fatal injuries. His helmet came off and at that speed he did not stand much chance.

No sound on this video :-

The answer is ..... your area being flooded, and for a crocodile warning to be issued!

Thailand is currently encountering bad flooding in a number of areas, as illustrated by :-

"BANGKOK, October 16, 2011 (AFP) - The ancient Thai city of Ayutthaya, which has seen its temple engulfed in the kingdom's flood crisis, has discovered a new menace lurking in the floodwaters -- crocodiles.

Around 100 reptiles are thought to be on the loose after escaping from farms in the area and authorities have issued a 1,000 baht ($33) bounty for each crocodile caught alive, said Public Health Minister Vitthaya Buranasiri.

"The crocodiles need to be captured to keep people safe," he told AFP.

The creatures have been spotted in several areas of the former Thai capital, a World Heritage site and major tourist attraction.

Thailand's worst floods in decades have inundated huge swathes of the kingdom, swallowing homes and businesses, shutting down industry, and forcing tens of thousands of people to seek refuge in shelters.

About 300 people have died in the disaster, although there have been no known incidents of animal-related deaths resulting from the flooding.

The natural resource ministry has dedicated a hotline for people wanting to report wild animals on the loose in flooded areas.

"We are now coordinating with the fishery department for a hotline about any loose animals in the flood areas, whether it is tigers, snakes or crocodiles," said an official, who said the department has received "many phone calls".

The ministry said government agencies have been dispatched to catch the creatures, but was unable to disclose how many had been caught."

Message to LibDems defneding the 50% top rate of income tax ... look at history!

Quite a number of years ago Maggie Thatcher's Government reduced the top rate of tax from 75% to 40%. The result? The Exchequer actually got MORE money in from income tax!

And that surely is what the Government wants, to get in more money. So the thought process needs to be, how to get more money in?

So to me a no-brainer .... LibDems need to stop defending the 50% top rate of income tax.

Due to certain news about mobile phone hacking and the News of the World newspaper, I promise NEVER to buy that newspaper ever again in my life!

I encourage you to give the same undertaking.

Fresh from moaning to the LibDem Candidate in Tyburn Ward about a very misleading statement in one leaflet about the Pupil Premium, I have now received leaflets from the Labour Candidate.

One claim is that "What happened to Child Benefit at the age of 16? Lib Dems & Tories took it." Hmm I thought, have I missed something? Our Grace is now 16, and we are still getting Child Benefit for her. So I checked on the HMRC website, they administer Child Benefit, and I find there has been absolutely no age-related change at all.

I haven't got a clue where the Labour Candidate got the idea from. A figment of his imagination? Simply the rules have not changed. It has always been the case that Child Benefit might cease once the child is greater than school-leaving age, 16, but that will be because the child has ceased to be in full-time education, as defined. That provision is not new at all. It has been on the Statute Book for years.

A moan about anything in a Tory leaflet? Well no, no moan possible, but only because no leaflets received.

Vote "Yes" in the Referendum, for reasons as explained in http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13012312 .

I have just been reading the leaflet published by Birmingham City Council on the subject the possible hugh speed rail link to London, commonly known as HS2. You can see the leaflet by clicking :- http://tinyurl.com/HS2-BCC

There are some surprising featutes, not least because they want comments back by no later than 29th April, but their two public exhibitions are not until 23rd May in Hodge Hill, and not until 17th and 18th June in the city centre.

Also, and this is my main comment, the aspect of noise is hardly covered in the leaflet at all. A search of the PDF leaflet shows that the word "noise" appears just once in the whole leaflet, when it says "Some locations may be affected by small increases in noise levels from the high speed trains". How much extra noise? I haven't got a clue, but surely it is this aspect that will worry residents.

Also, speed of the trains? Given that the trains are going to stop and start in the city centre, they will be doing nothing like their full 250 mph speed, but what speed will they be doing when, for example, the trains pass by the Castle Vale estate, and indeed what noise level will be generated from those trains? There is an existing train line there. How will the noise levels compare?

We need answers!

No doubt that figure is the correct amount of Pupil Premium being received by Tyburn schools, I do not deny it? But that is only part of the story. That is, anyone who has had the chance of seeing a detailed school budget recently will know that a number of budget headings show an increase, including of course the new Pupil Premium, and quite a number of budget headings show a decrease in amount. Indeed most schools might well have an increase in the total amount being received from Birmingham City Council, but it is suspected that the amount of that overall net increase is less than the amount of the Pupil Premium now to be received.

In other words the Pupil Premium is mere window-dressing and many schools will not receive an increase of the suggested amount, overall. Even those that do receive an overall increase, ignoring the Pupil Premium, will find that they need to use that Pupil Premium in order to pay general running costs.

The reason for that, as highlighted in a comment made by Birmingham City Council, shows that schools will struggle this year. The comment reads "The Department of Education has funded Local Authorities on a "flat cash" basis. This means that all inflationary factors have been funded at zero percent. Birmingham City Council has replicated this in the formula funding statement for schools. I.e. there is no funding provision for pay awards and no funding provision for pay awards and no funding provision for non pay inflation."

This is against a background of employer "on costs" for teachers, by far the biggest cost item in school budgets, increasing from 22.1% to 25.1%. The reason for that increase is the 1% hike in the employer's National Insurance rate, and increased employer contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme.

In any case, as previously mentioned by me months ago, the whole idea of the Pupil Premium is flawed, and the reason for that is that it is targetted on those pupils who receive free school meals. Is that a problem? Yes, because free school meals can only be claimed by low-income families where no one in the household works. A low-income family where someone is working could well be getting Working Tax Credit, but where that benefit is being received the pupils in that family are not entitled to free school meals.

So we have the bizarre effect of schools being incentivated by Pupil Premium, but only where the parents are non-working. But surely the Government is encouraging people to find work! Simply, one Government policy is working in total contradiction to another Government policy.

Many condolences to the people of Japan, and in particular the town of Minamisanriki. It is being reported that no less than 10000 people are missing from that one town.

Watch the following video and you will see why :-

I have it on good authority that Birmingham schools and their bursers have now been told that their budget figures from Birmingham City Council will not be supplied until 4pm on 31st March, and those budgets will be for the year to commence on 1st April!

I say .... totally unacceptable! How are schools and their Boards of Governors expected to pass a budget for the year from 1st April, prior to the start of that year? Of course they can't!

What is Birmingham City Council doing? Going out of of its way to upset its schools and school Governors? It does seem so.