Thursday - June 28, 2012
french bodyguards forget their guns … oh dear, oh dear
H/T Irish Independent
who apparently got it from one of my usual sources, which I missed. How’s that happen?
Asleep at the wheel!
This wasn’t seen as funny by those involved but darn, it sure tickled my funny bone.
Just a very short article. That saying about good things in small packages seems to apply.
Take a look. And cry for France. After you stop laffing.
Hollande’s agents forgot to pack guns
By Henry Samuel in ParisFRENCH secret service agents protecting President Francois Hollande forgot to pack their guns on a foreign visit, it was reported yesterday.
In a blunder befitting Inspector Clouseau, the presidential guards from the elite GSPR unit only realised the guns were absent when they arrived at Rio de Janeiro airport for the UN climate conference this month.
The officers usually travel with a secured briefcase containing an array of firearms, and it later transpired that the guns had been left at the Elysee Palace in Paris.
“They searched the (presidential) Airbus with a fine tooth comb, to no avail,” the French satirical weekly ‘Le Canard Enchaine’ reported. This meant that, for the duration of the trip, the bodyguards’ only means of protecting Mr Hollande were their bare hands.
“In police memory, it’s a first,” said one elite officer.
Blame
The guard in charge of the weapons was soon identified and sacked because he reportedly tried to blame the neglect on somebody else.
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, a government spokesman, said: “A bag of guns did indeed remain at the Elysee. It’s true it was left behind, it’s true it was considered a serious fault on the part of the officer in charge, and so his division commander fired him upon his return.”
She denied that the president’s entire protection unit was unarmed during the trip, saying the bodyguards carried “replacement guns”.
Before the incident, Mr Hollande’s bodyguards had complained to French media that the new president was making their lives difficult by wanting to remain, at all costs, a “normal” figure, even if that meant compromising his security. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Henry Samuel in Paris
Posted by peiper
on 06/28/2012 at 06:53 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - June 27, 2012
BENEFITS ARE A RIGHT
Did something on this subject and this girl some months ago.
She is now in litigation and claiming the govt. is making a slave out of her by making her work someplace for no salary.
BUT .... she is drawing benefits of $83.20 a week. I put it in American dollars but in pounds it’s, £53.45.
Her argument is also that she was working as a volunteer at a museum which is serving the public. So working at the equivalent of our American Dollar stores
where she doesn’t even get the minimum wage, is unlawful. It’s forced labor since if she doesn’t work there, she will lose her benefits. Yikes.
I don’t get her at all. She is drawing benefits and had to work for two weeks. That’s 2, as in two weeks. Out of the whole damn year. That leaves 50 weeks of benefits while she is “looking” for work she wants to do.
Was reading a novel not too long ago, takes place in late 1800s, and the description of the kinds of life that even children had is unimaginable.
How about no benefits, no social security and a bowl porridge around 5 or 6am and then work til 10 at night when you might get another bowl of porridge.
Those were the days my friend, your luck they’re at an end.
The case continues and it’ll be interesting to learn how the court will act on this. She is not the only one to complain.
Being made to work for Poundland ‘was like forced labour’ says jobless graduate in human rights claim
Cait Reilly’s lawyers say programme breached Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, prohibiting slavery and forced labour
The 22-year-old said she spent by five hours a day sweeping up and stacking and cleaning shelves at Poundland in Birmingham
Another claimant, Mechanic Jamieson Wilson, refused to do 30 hours’ unpaid labour a week cleaning furniture for six months
Lawyer compares taking away jobseekers’ benefits to putting asylum seekers in detention centresBy NICK MCDERMOTT
A graduate made to work for her jobless benefits as a shelf stacker in Poundland yesterday claimed the scheme amounted to ‘forced labour’ which breached her human rights.
Cait Reilly yesterday asked the High Court to declare the Government’s back-to-work programme unlawful after she was required to work in the budget store or risk losing her £53.45-a-week jobseeker’s allowance.
The 23-year-old said she had to give up a voluntary post in a museum to take the placement but was promised a job interview if she completed two weeks training at Poundland. However, she says, that never materialised.
The Government is fighting her claim and strongly denies that its flagship work programme, which has placed thousands of jobseekers on unpaid placements since its launch last year, is equivalent to ‘slave labour’.
Unemployed mechanic Jamieson Wilson, 41, is also challenging the legality of another Government work scheme that compels the jobless to take unpaid work.
Lawyers for the pair are seeking a judicial review into the Department for Work and Pensions programme, saying it violates Article 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits forced labour and slavery.
The schemes, championed by Employment Minister Chris Grayling, aim to help 250,000 young people over the next two years through training and unpaid experience in the public, private and charity sectors. Placement-providers include chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Argos and Asda.
Miss Reilly, who graduated in geology from Birmingham University in 2010, was placed on the scheme after attending a retail jobs ‘open day’ in October last year at the suggestion of her Jobcentre Plus adviser.
Miss Reilly had undertaken the work under ‘menace of penalty’ in breach of her human rights, she added.
The court was told Poundland is a successful firm with a net turnover of £500million, and her placement did not contribute to the public interest.
Posted by peiper
on 06/27/2012 at 12:13 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - June 21, 2012
a very different kind of post for me. and a different sort of eye candy.
I don’t think I have ever done this sort of post before. Don’t know why. I guess I just never thought of it. In fact, if I hadn’t come across a photo card in this room that I thought I had already given to an artist friend we saw only yesterday, I wouldn’t be doing this now. So I’m glad I found it. I think some of you may be impressed with the work and talent it takes to produce what this lady does.
When we visited our former home in Palm Desert six months ago, we made the rounds as we always used to do, of the various art galleries. Some of the things on display are eye popping. It really is on the masochistic side to roam these places because there is no way we could afford much of what we see. Were I wealthy, I’d be tempted to buy one of the galleries and then live in it. They have some very nice galleries in PD. They line both sides of the main street, El Paseo. And in between are some pretty good restaurants. Not all and more’s the pity considering how much they charge. You don’t visit that area if you’re on a diet. Or a budget.
Well, on that last visit we saw this and I think the price was over $1,000.00. I just can’t remember how much. If we were still in that wonderful and much missed tech, dot com bubble, I might not have given the price any notice. But things have a way of changing quickly and those days are gone. All I could do was look at all the ‘stuff’ and drool.
I don’t even have the ability to write a letter and keep a straight line with lined paper. In other words, I simply do not have the eye or talent.
But I admire those who do.
Take a look.
The artist is SILVIA DAVIS.
This is her work space.
When she was about four years old, Davis would sit under a tree all day and …“make things.” “I would go down to the dime store and buy a model. I couldn’t read yet, but I’d look at the picture and figure it out. It might not be right, I might make a mess of the glue, but I would work on it, and put something together. I was constantly tinkering and making things from paper, mud, sticks and clay, and looking at things and making animals, just making, making, making—painting, drawing, building.” When she took the required sculpting class in her art program at the University of Utah, she realized that what she’d been doing as a child had a name: sculpture. She immediately knew who she was. After finishing her bachelor degree Davis continued with a Masters of Fine Arts and has been sculpting ever since.
Posted by peiper
on 06/21/2012 at 06:35 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - June 20, 2012
employers do not have an automatic right to sack bad workers. figures.
For those not familiar with Brit political parties.
Lib/Dem is Liberal Democrats. Yup, they are leftists and are part of the coalition govt. here. The other part are Tories who are supposed to be conservatives. Many of them are. The PM (Prime Minister) is David Cameron, often referred to as conservative lite. Well I guess compared to Lib/Dems he is conservative.
Anyway, the argument has been whether or not an employer has a right to sack a useless employee. Well, the Lib/Dems don’t believe so. Of course they wouldn’t. Just to give you an example and I know this because I was told by the guy directly involved.
Some years ago we used to send laundry out to be cleaned. The mil was still alive and so there was just a lot of extra work avoided by having a laundry pick up and deliver. We got to know the owner a bit and during a conversation he told us about a woman who had been working for him. He caught her red handed stealing and sacked her. Now in a normal and logical non socialist setting, you’d think that would be the end of it. Wouldn’t you? Of course, this isn’t exactly a normal setting nor is it logical. Squatters rights and traveller/gypsies rights trump land and home owner rights as our regulars here have learned over time.
So, the woman who was stealing went to a labor tribunal or some kind of hearing, it’s been awhile so I don’t recall what it was called. But the end result was that he ended up PAYING HER and boy oh boy was he ever pissed off. Just telling us about it turned his face red.
He sacked her alright but he failed to inform her of exactly why. There was some loophole and I just can’t remember what he said he’d failed at. But he ended up losing more money.
LibDems kill off ‘no fault’ right to sack
Liberal Democrat ministers have killed off David Cameron’s plans to give employers an automatic right to sack bad workers.
Lib Dem Employment Minister Norman Lamb claimed yesterday there has been no ¿clamour¿ from business for no-fault dismissal
Instead, new laws will allow firms to offer a voluntary pay-off without strings to lazy, incompetent or disruptive employees.
The plan for ‘no-fault dismissal’ was a key plank of the report on employment red tape drawn up at the Prime Minister’s request by venture capitalist Adrian Beecroft.
The report said that unfair dismissal laws which tied the hands of managers and small businesses have stifled economic growth. Under the
Beecroft plan firms would have been able to order a poor worker to go in return for a compensation cheque handed over without negotiation.
But Lib Dem Employment Minister Norman Lamb claimed yesterday there has been no ‘clamour’ from business for no-fault dismissal.
Clauses of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill to be published today will contain no mention of it, but will include regulations on ‘fast-track settlements’ meant to allow unwanted workers to leave voluntarily.
Under the system, a business would tell an unsatisfactory worker that their job was at risk, and offer them a payment to go. The employee could refuse the offer, but would then face the sack under the longer disciplinary processes currently set out in law.
If they took the deal they could not then go to a tribunal to try to get compensation. However, they would not suffer the ‘stigma’ of the sack and will be able to look for a new job without a stain on their record.
Posted by peiper
on 06/20/2012 at 03:09 PM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Tuesday - May 08, 2012
when i first saw the hdline i thought it was a joke. silly me.
I happen to glance at a headline online yesterday, without paying a lot of attention to the story that followed. It was something that went by fast and I thought was the start of a joke I had no time for. Believe me folks, right now my hands are very full and so I imagine a few things will escape notice.
However, when the story appeared in the morning paper, I realized I wasn’t looking at a joke. Unless it was a very bad one.
Look at what the culture has now come to. What other words I wonder, will crop up in the future that “might” be offensive to one or two idiots? By idiots of course I mean those of a politically correct nature, with no other life but that of those on whose behalf they are taking offense.
I’m not sure, but those of you like Christopher who are quite well read in sci-fi might know. Was there ever anything in science fiction (1984 aside) that had as it’s focus or even as a side story, anything as insane with regard to how words are used. It’s been many years since I read ‘84 and do not recall if that story followed the course we are on today.
You may recall a year or so ago there was a verbal dust up over the use of the word black ball. Which faded as other more bizarre news overwrote that one.
So now here we are with the term blacklist.
Has anyone ever in the history of the entire world, ever actually been seriously or even mildly offended by that word? Liberals don’t count.
Police IT department bans word ‘blacklist’ in case it is deemed racist
Police IT staff have been banned from using the word ‘blacklist’ because it could be considered racist.
The Police Federation has condemned the move as a ‘waste of time’ and ‘an irrelevance’.
The term whitelist - a list of acceptable contacts - has also been banned.
Security services chief Brian Douglas wrote in an email: “Information Board are uncomfortable with the use of the term Whitelist (and I presume Blacklist).
“I am sure we can appreciate the sensitivity around the use of such terminology today so please ensure it is no longer used.”A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that the change was not one of policy but simply a move to more ‘appropriate’ phrasing.
He said: “This is not a change in policy. It is a change in internal ICT terminology which reflects a more appropriate use of language in a professional, policing environment.”
John Tully, deptuty head of the Met Police Federation, said while racism was very much an issue - a number of allegations have recently been made against Met officers - the latest move was trivial.
He said: “In real terms it’s an irrelevance. We list things and we call these things by a particular name - does it matter if there’s a colour in that name?
“I really do think we have more important and pressing matters to concern oursleves about at the moment, such as the Tom Winsor report into police pay and conditions.“I represent the rank and file in the Met who won’t be worried by the Met changing the name of a list.
“There are far more important issues at stake in the future of British policing than to waste time concerned with such trivial matters as this.
“I do need to temper that with the background that we are in where there are a number of serious allegations of racism going on.
“But if you look at the bigger picture it’s an irrelevance.”
Sure thing. And this move will alleviate the problem. Perhaps blacks who are arrested for criminal behavior won’t shout race when arrested.
On the other hand, hey. It might work. Just like in the USA.
After the darkies burned down part of LA, every street and hwy in Calif. was named after whatsizname. There’s even a national holiday now where another day without mail and another day when banks close and oh yeah. There are even schools named in his honor. And it worked fine huh?
It calmed the savage beast and appealed to the liberal left and all the white idiots who really yearned to be one of the brothers.
And the likes of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson and their minions have all gone away.
So maybe this police dept is on to something. Ya think?
Hey .... how about a national holiday (Brits don’t already have plenty) honoring say, Nelson Mandela? And another one for Gandhi. And even a worthy muslim just to show how all inclusive this club can get. Then there’d be so many national holidays honoring so many (minorities only need apply) that nobody would have to go out to work and all would go on the dole. Except whitey.
Seems like a plan to me.
(probably headed that way anyway)
Posted by peiper
on 05/08/2012 at 05:38 AM
Filed Under: • Democrats-Liberals-Moonbat Leftists • Racism and race relations • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Saturday - March 24, 2012
an example of cops without guns. works well huh?
Haven’t been up to much post wise last couple of days. Wife doing better but right eye still not fully opened. She’s on the mend but it’s slow. I think one of her worst fears may be happening which is some (so far only slight) scaring on the right side of her neck and part of lower chin area.
She keeps looking but doesn’t see it all. This Shingles thing is a nightmare, but at least the blisters are gone and at them moment leaving a pink like rash where they once were. Have to wait this thing out. Much discomfort on her part, lots of itching especially in the eye but can’t scratch. Frustrating.
Interesting papers yesterday including this from the Mail.
This is what happens when cops don’t have guns.
I don’t care what the bed wetting, bleeding heart, handwringers say with regard to American police and guns. It’s always critical. I feel better seeing our cops fully armed when we’re in the USA.
Dog owner charged with allowing pet to maul five police officers during raid which went horrifically wrong
· Pierre Robinson, 25, will appear in court today accused of ‘allowing the dog to be dangerously out of control’
· He is also accused of kidnapping and GBH with intent, which is why police were looking for him
· Blood-stained pavement marks the spot where the officers were attacked
· Armed officers forced to shoot four rounds before dog finally killed
· Four of the officers are said to be in a serious but stable condition and one had minor injuries
· The pitbull-type had attacked before, according to neighbours
· Five police were admitted to hospital last night, but two have since been released
By CHRIS GREENWOOD, NICK MCDERMOTT and MARTIN ROBINSON
PUBLISHED: 15:29, 22 March 2012 | UPDATED: 12:58, 23 March 2012
Five policemen were in hospital last night after being savaged by the animal, and were said to have ‘life-changing’ wounds as serious as those seen after a shootout.
One officer had his arm broken between the animal’s jaws, while others had chunks of flesh torn from their legs and arms. Some will require plastic surgery, and one could lose several fingers.
A side note if I may with regard to war news.
American military under much criticism re. the soldier who killed 16 (or was it 17?) Afghans recently. Expected of course and no excuses being made, but want to bring to your attention another war story that finished up here in the UK.
Not on the same scale but.
Brit soldier returned having not fired his gun or killed anyone during his deployment in Afghanistan. He was very frustrated.
So, he shot his landlady dead because he said, “.he wanted to know what it was like to kill someone.” Sorry, no link to full article but what more needs saying?
Posted by peiper
on 03/24/2012 at 03:51 AM
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Permalink • Wednesday - March 21, 2012
Chess Problem #300
I guess a bunch of you do enjoy these chess problems. I only say that because it does seem like they get a lot of comments.
Today’s post is another Knight fork. White to move. Enjoy!
1. ?
Taken from Combination Challenge by Lou Hayes and USCF Senior Master John Hall (2520)
Graphics courtesy of Exachess.
UPDATE 3/24/12
As I said in the comments, JW got this one. I have to post harder problems. You guys are getting too good.
1. Qxh6+ Kxh6
If 1… Kg8
2. Bh4 N(8)h7
3. Nxg6 winning.
2. Nxf7+ Kg7
3. Nxd8 winning material.
Posted by Christopher
on 03/21/2012 at 09:28 AM
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Permalink • Sunday - December 11, 2011
Can’t Say Better Late Than Never
Peiper mailed me this essay a few weeks back. Lazy me for not posting it then, but things haven’t changed one white in the meantime. The author laments the loss of nearly all labor skills in the UK, and is bothered that while the demand for a good part of that labor still exists, the only people available with the skills to perform it are foreigners. Generations of left wing schooling has taught the nation that it beneath them to get their hands dirty doing work ... with the result that their are now millions who are completely unemployable, and this has caused
A million young Britons are on the dole while motivated foreigners fill job vacancies
The economic news has been relentlessly bleak. But it is not the Eurozone nor the banking crisis that presents Britain with its greatest potential crisis. It is unemployment - or rather the fact that so many Britons today are actually unemployable.
This week, unemployment hit a 17-year high of 2.6million and experts warned of a ‘lost generation’ of young people since more than one in five, or one million, aged between 16 and 24 are now out of work.
But these statistics are far from the only ones we should be worried about. What is really alarming is that while fewer and fewer Britons have work, foreigners seem to be taking all the jobs that are available.
Last year, as the number of Britons with jobs fell by 311,000, the number of overseas-born people taking jobs in Britain rose by 181,000 or by 495 per day.
To politicians, obsessed as they are with equality, the disappearance of the working class is a wonderful endorsement of their policies. They boast how so many more of our young are in higher education than ever before, being trained to do something useful in society when they leave college. And it is true that some of them are.
But huge numbers of the young emerge from their colleges resolutely unemployable in any obvious capacity. They have been gulled by these boastful politicians into learning subjects which are entirely unsuitable for higher education, ranging from media studies to hairdressing - subjects which in the past were learnt on the job through apprenticeships and experience.
There are three unbudgeable historical reasons for the unemployment catastrophe we face. The first is the wrecking of our educational system during the Sixties and Seventies. The second is the dismantling of our entire manufacturing and industrial base during the Eighties in favour of ‘service’ and ‘financial’ industries. And the third is the welfare state - which is largely responsible for the erosion of the work ethic in our society.
Fifty years of bad education, 30 years of placing all our hopes in the City of London, and three generations of welfare dependency have put this country in a position where it is almost impossible to see how it can help itself out of its difficulties.
No politician dares to tell the truth to the million unemployed young people, and the millions more ‘students’ who hope to be employed when their studies are complete.
The truth is that this country has been ruined by a political and establishment class with no vision. A class which has undermined the notions of endeavour and duty and replaced them with a cradle-to-grave sense of entitlement in which the State would always bale you out if you were too lazy or too incompetent to work.
It was this deluded liberal class which instilled the belief that to work in a shipyard or a factory or to learn a craft is humiliating —much better to go to a Mickey Mouse university to study some pointless degree.
The result is that we live in a country which makes hardly anything the rest of the world wants to buy. A country whose future is deeply perilous and which has long since lost belief in the three things which made Britain great in the days of Brunel and Wedgwood: training the young; trade; and honest, hard work.
Surely this is a UK-only kind of situation that could never ever possibly happen here in the USA. Right? I’d ask Pedro, Juan, and Jorge their opinions, but they’re over there up on that ladder, still painting that house since 7 o’clock this morning.
It’s a good essay, well worth the 10 minute read. One thing about it that I do disagree with though, is that the old English class prejudice against being in trade is still in evidence: although the author bemoans the lack of painters, plumbers, electricians, and other manual laborers, he can’t let go of the rotten “this kind of work is suitable for those with low intelligence” attitude. Wrong. Wrong, wrong. “dirty hands, empty head” is a crock; there is no reason on earth that a crown molding specialist can’t have a degree in philosophy, or that an electrician couldn’t possibly understand quantum. Besides ... these days a plumber earns more than a corporate middle manager, sets his own hours, runs his own show, and doesn’t ever have to attend a Monday morning status meeting.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/11/2011 at 07:44 PM
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Permalink • Friday - December 02, 2011
Crunchy Crunchy Numbers
Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 Percent, Lowest Since March 2009
WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate fell last month to its lowest level in more than two and a half years, as employers stepped up hiring in response to the slowly improving economy.
The Labor Department says the unemployment rate dropped sharply to 8.6 percent last month, down from 9 percent in October. The rate hasn’t been that low since March 2009, during the depths of the recession.
Employers added 120,000 jobs last month. And the previous two months were revised up to show that 72,000 more jobs added—the fourth straight month the government revised prior months higher.
Still, one reason the unemployment rate fell so much was because roughly 315,000 people gave up looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.
Sure. Sure, I believe it. Riiight. Let’s ignore how many of those newly added jobs are seasonal retail; extra help hired for the Thanksgiving to Christmas surge. Then let’s merely note in passing that the numbers are so much better perhaps because such a huge crowd of folks have finally used up their super-extended unemployment benefits. But hey, let’s completely ignore the utterly flawed counting system that considers people who no longer get an unemployment check to not be part of the workforce any longer. Nonsense. And don’t go saying that they’ve given up. They may not have; they’re just out of benefits.
You want more realistic numbers? Go to Social Security, and find out how many people between the ages of 15 and 70 have an SSN. Then have the IRS count how many folks reported an earned income. Now hit up the VA and the other side of Social Security and subtract off the folks who are listed as permanently disabled. That’s still not a perfect accounting, but it’s closer to the truth. Then watch those numbers go up and down month after month, year after year.
Posted by Drew458
on 12/02/2011 at 09:51 AM
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Permalink • Tuesday - November 29, 2011
Once More
Back at it for another day.
Oh joy, it’s raining. Wonderful. No, actually, I’m not being sarcastic. I got all the outside windows finished on the customer’s house by sundown yesterday, so today it’s inside work. And ... heh heh heh ... it’s hard to tell if I missed a few spots when the windows are getting rained on. Not that I missed any. I think.
Tomorrow’s window jobs are small ones, just doing a couple of the condos here. They take about 2 hours each.
I have to try and go a little faster today so that I can be done and get the car loaded up early enough so that I can get to bowling league tonight.
And away I go!
Posted by Drew458
on 11/29/2011 at 07:54 AM
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Permalink • Thursday - August 11, 2011
A few days off
Not going to be much posting from me for the next couple of days. I’ve got a window job on a good sized house, and then I have a pair of doors to install. And my usual Sunday work of course. Good thing I spent half of today in the kitchen cooking. Chicken curry, meat sauce, several nice quiches. I’m set.
So here you go ... something to keep you occupied ... majorly clicky clicky but still SFW ...
Hey, it can’t be redheads all the time ya know. Sometimes it’s a blonde, sometimes you just have to wing it.
Posted by Drew458
on 08/11/2011 at 09:04 PM
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Permalink • Thursday - June 23, 2011
soggy
Yes you can actually clean windows when it’s raining. Or when it’s a typical New Jersey summer day with humidity about 105%. But it isn’t much fun. Rather hard to actually get the glass dry. And you can forget about polishing the panes; everything takes a haze from the very air itself.
But I take work where and when I find it, so that’s what I did this morning. At least there was no ladder work on this job. The moment I got the job done and the car packed up the skies opened and it poured for half an hour. In New Jersey, the humidity actually drops when it rains.
And now the storm is past and it’s 5 or 10 degrees cooler out, and it feels wonderful. I’ll dry out eventually. And I have a new happy customer. Yeah, I did a super job on her place, double and sometimes triple cleaning her dirty glass. That’s to my benefit actually; in 6 months when she calls me back for a fall cleaning the windows won’t be so bad. And she’ll have had half a year of getting used to looking through nearly invisible pristine windows, so her sensitivity to what constitutes “dirty” will be raised, and I’ll have another regular customer.
Posted by Drew458
on 06/23/2011 at 12:07 PM
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Permalink • Friday - May 13, 2011
stuck on really,really stupid the rule of the day
Well apparently the word of one prissy and twisted little grasser of 15, carries enough weight to make fools of an idiot local council who blindly took his warped word with regard to a cross on display.
Heaven forbid the jerks would check for themselves first but no. Being the usual bend over backwards frightened adults, they order a ban first. That’s always safest. Right? Jeesh. What a crowd in an already crowded field of wusses.
Fortunately, all’s well that ends but for gosh sake ..... Have a look at this.
Cab driver banned from displaying ‘phallic’ crossA taxi driver was banned from displaying a crucifix on his dashboard after a teenage customer complained that it looked “phallic”.
By Nick Britten
Clair Cook, who runs AnD taxis, was asked by her local council to ensure that the object was removed after being told that the 15-year-old boy had been offended by it.
She described the complaint as “ridiculous” and said the driver of the car was a devout Roman Catholic.Miss Cook claimed that if the symbol had been of any faith other than Christianity, the council would have treated the case with far greater sensitivity.
The row follows a series of previous cases in which employees have been censured for displaying Christian symbols.
Three weeks ago, an electrician working for a housing association in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was told he faced the sack for placing a small palm cross on the dashboard of his van.Miss Cook was told that the boy had complained about the taxi driver’s cross after being taken to school in York. He had also complained about the man’s driving, she said.
She pointed out that the driver had never been the subject of a complaint before and had an excellent safety record. “I am personally deeply offended and very sympathetic for the driver,” she said. “Not only is an ornament of this nature a religious one, but the complaint and its implication is a very serious one.
“The safety of the passengers is always my number one priority, and so is my drivers’ reputation and trust.”The driver, who asked not to be named, said he had bought the blue cross on holiday in Greece six years ago. He described himself as “incredulous” when he heard about the complaint, adding: “I couldn’t believe that anyone would think it wasn’t a cross.
“I have taken it off the dashboard as requested because I do not want to lose my licence but I do not think this has been handled properly.”Colin Rumford, the head of environmental health and trading standards at City of York council, accepted that the complaint had been handled badly. “City of York Council takes any complaints raised by members of the public very seriously,” he said.
“In this case a complaint was received from a child regarding what they thought was an inappropriate item in a taxi.
“In this instance, it appears that the taxi operator was wrongly advised to remove the item and our intervention should have been confined to making them aware of the complaint. It would then be a matter for the taxi operator to resolve with the customer.”Father Derek Turnham of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Middlesbrough, which covers York, said: “The subject of the display of religious symbols in public places is currently very topical and the Diocese of Middlesbrough would always want to defend the right of people to display their faith in practical ways through various signs and symbols.
“In regard to this case, it is clear that City of York council had to respond to the complaint of what is probably a rather over-imaginative schoolboy, as safeguarding issues are given priority.
“But the diocese understands the anguish of the taxi driver concerned that what, for him, is a very innocent and appropriate symbol has been so misinterpreted.”
Posted by peiper
on 05/13/2011 at 10:49 AM
Filed Under: • Stoopid-People • UK • work and the workplace •
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Permalink • Wednesday - April 20, 2011
more news from la belle france
Might really be a good idea to speak the language if you’re in a position of authority in this sort of case.
I don’t think this could happen in any other country but France. Do you?
Take a look.
Entire workforce at French factory go on strike… because the boss only speaks EnglishBy PETER ALLEN
French workers have staged an uprising with cries of ‘Anglo-Saxon imperialism’ - because their British boss can’t speak the native tongue.
The 184 staff at Thermal Ceramics, an English company based in France, are holding walk-outs every day because discussions over their wages were getting lost in translation.Thierry Juvin, who represents the workers in Saint-Marcellin-en-Forez, in the Loire Valley, said: ‘We say “hello” in French but then communication stops. Every meeting is an ordeal.’
He said workers at the factory, which makes ceramic fibre insulation, wanted to discuss increasing their salaries and improving working conditions, but it was proving impossible.
Mr Juvin said: ‘We have to have someone who translates everything into English, and then anything our English boss says has to be translated into French.
‘This makes dialogue extremely slow, if not impossible.’
Mr Juvin said protests have been held most days since bosses who could only speak English began managing them earlier this year.
‘Our former director left in January and his replacement is an acting director abroad,’ said Mr Juvin. ‘He is English and does not speak any French. So we cannot communicate with him.’
The representative said staff, most of whom belong to one of France’s largest trade union’s CGT, had previously not gone on strike for more than two decades.
Mr Juvin said: ‘’We haven’t withdrawn our labour for twenty three years. Maybe this is because we could speak to our bosses.’
Pierrick Dumont, the trade union representative for the factory, said: ‘I don’t think it’s up to us to make the effort to speak English. We’re French workers based in France.’
Diane Gaillot, chief executive of Thermal Ceramics in France, said: ‘The problem is that the former director had a unique opportunity to go abroad and we have not had time to recruit a new director.
‘But the situation is temporary and we are currently recruiting phase. And certainly the next director will speak French.’
Miss Gaillot said the company had four sites across France, but the one in Saint-Marcellin-en-Forez, which is not far from Lyon, was the only one suffering industrial action.
She added that a meeting about the problems was due to be held in Paris this week.
France has a notoriously nationalistic workforce, with staff frequently complaining about the growing Anglicisation of working practices within the global economy.
This encompasses everything from English being used as the exclusive language of business to reduced lunch breaks.
Thermal Ceramics is a division of the British Morgan Crucible Company, which was founded in London in 1856 and has since expanded all over the world.
Posted by peiper
on 04/20/2011 at 08:11 AM
Filed Under: • FRANCE • work and the workplace •
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