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State of the Nation

A picture for Papalscope June 2008

THE STATE OF THE NATION.
PENITENTIARIES FOR THE YOUNG. So the suggestion is that instead of sending young offenders to Borstal or Prison, they too are to go to ACADAMIES. Seemingly the Word ACADEMY has become a Euphemistic Repository for not only Failed Comprehensive Education but too a Euphemism for the reintroduction of what was formerly termed an APPROVED SCHOOL. Not everyone in life has had it easy, no doubt a troubled childhood is an obstacle along the life path of many, but of itself it is not an excuse for perceived under achievement. One either can do, or one can’t do, but it does those who Can’t do a great dis- service to effectively suggest to them that their natural capabilities are of less worth than those of Persons who are Academic by nature.
What a nonsense it is to send everyone to University. Every sort of a degree from a second class University in some futile course of study, immediately brands its recipient as a third rate mind. TECHNICAL COLLEGES were a successful Concept, the Product of which was comparable, if not of exceeding worth , to that of any University in the Land. Which is not to say that the difference between each institution wasn’t as is that between Chalk and Cheese. Life used to be a whole lot harder than it is now. Those who peddle ‘Politically Correct Twaddle’ must share the responsibility for our damaged Society. ‘Right and Wrong,’ ‘Yes and No’, should persist in every area of everyone’s lifestyle. Possibly the age of ‘Majority’ should better have remained at twenty one.

Is it not embarrassing to witness Parents in the ‘Third World’ struggling financially to send their progeny to School or Hospital , when we as a Nation have it so easy? Who would blame any from wishing to abide in England’s Green and Pleasant Land?

QUIS CUSTODIET IPOS CUSTODES ?
(Juvenal )
There is this Controversy concerning this forty two day Detention without Trial. Few would object if PROVEN TERRORISTS were to be locked away for ever. We had all that Business in Northern Ireland with the Diplock Courts, ( Suspension of Jury System
see…… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jury_trial# History_of_the_jury ) then too the matter of Extraordinary Rendition to Guantanamo Bay, where alleged Terrorists were incarcerated and manifestly tortured in the name of Christian Civilisation. Some of these Prisoners have been released from Custody and since they were neither tried nor even charged, each is to be considered as guiltless as you or I. Thus you may wonder whether on the morrow someone is to tap on your guiltless Front Door, and whisk you off to some ‘Oubliette’. A little far fetched? I think not. I know of a working man, whom the Police had to question on the basis that an Informant, being accustomed to seeing him awaiting his bus every morning to work, convinced herself he was none other than the Yorkshire Ripper. His only two peculiarities were that he was a relation of mine and a Town Councillor. Luckily he got away with it.

The concept of Habeas Corpus acknowledged by King John at Runnymede, and the enactments of Charles 11 and George 111, if not too others, is the corner stone of our Freedom, and it would be as well if we remember the fact. The proposed legislation smacks of shutting the Stable Door after the Horse has Bolted. We as a Nation need to be far more careful concerning whom we allow into the Country in the first place. Which Government was it that removed so many of our Door Keepers ? One understands that our remaining ‘Watch Dogs’ have been issued with smart new Uniforms, that should frighten the baddies away.

CONSERVATIVE PARTY re- MANIFESTATIONS.
During the course of this last week one heard mention that it would be Party Policy after winning the next Election, to make provision for a Process of Appeal, concerning alleged Over Valuations of Property for the purposes of paying the Community Charge, or which ever its current euphemism. One may not doubt that some houses may have been over valued, and too that circumstances do change. We here for an instance find we now adjoin the makings of an Industrial Estate, rather than being as previously located between a Farm Yard and a disused SSI ex. Quarry.

OVERVALUATION is not the problem. The Problem is that most houses were UNDERVALUED. We were due to have a Revaluation in the recent past, and it was because our Lords and Masters realised there was this imbalanced, that they ‘funked’ revaluation, for that would have made them too unpopular with the majority vote. One should not doubt that queues are unlikely to form of people wishing to appeal against their current valuation on the grounds that it is too low.

Thus it is that we men and women of Tisbury and our like, have to carry the ‘Financial Can’, for others who are probably far wealthier than many of us are. There is too another problem concerning the BANDING SYSTEM, it is of its nature too inclusive , its spread too narrow. Thus the Country Mansion pays little more in ‘Rates’ than the pretty Country Cottage. The recent enough Lyons report was not in favour of REBANDING MODIFICATION, but their rejection was based on a PREFERENCE for REVALUATION. The Advice was not taken. If all Property were re-valued then the Rate burden would be more equitably distributed, therefore we in Tisbury and West Tisbury would be paying less each year towards The Council Tax.

COUNCIL TAX DISCOUNTS, are available for any of insufficient means, and for single occupiers who I believe may claim to pay 25% less than others, also I believe the owners of second homes can claim a reduction of 10%. Such discounts put one in mind of Queen Elizabeth the First‘s, habit of taking a bath every month ‘whether she needed it or not’. No doubt in the course of time one or another of these benefits may come the way of us all. One might wonder though why, if the specified 25% reduction is available for a singleton household, it is not counter balanced by making any house that shelters many wage earners, pay more. Possibly such was the basis of the Poll Tax. The only trouble with that was that was that liability for its payment was incurred at far too young an age. It is iniquitous in these days when so many need a roof over their heads to allow any reduction to those who own a second Home. There is no system of hypothecation when it comes to liability to pay Community Charges..
THE BUDGETARY DEFFICIENCY CREATED BY EVERY SUCH DISCOUNT, IS PAID FOR NOT BY GOVERNMENT, BUT IS ADDED TO OUR INDIVIDUAL COMMUNITY CHARGE BILL EVERY YEAR.
According to Michael Crick’s BIOGRAPHY of MICHAEL HESELTINE, it was Michael Portillo and our very own Robert Key who had dealings with the matter of the Community Charge.

HOUSING. Seemingly the two year ahead projection forecast is that there will be some FIVE MILLION in need of SOCIAL HOUSING. What a disaster it was to sell off all that Council Housing for proverbial Peanuts. However the matter was twice put to the Electorate and eventually came to pass.

Conservative 1974 Manifesto
. SALE OF COUNCIL HOUSES AND FLATS
Our third proposal for extending home ownership is to give a new deal to every council tenant who has been in his home for three years or more. These tenants will have the right to purchase their homes at a price one-third below market value. The community will no longer tolerate the attitude of councils which, for narrow partisan reasons, stand in the way of their tenants becoming homeowners. We will therefore place a duty on every council to sell homes on these terms - giving their tenants what amounts to a 100 per cent mortgage with no deposit. It is of course only right that a tenant who buys his home should surrender the appropriate portion of any capital gain if he re-sells it within five years

The Conservative Manifesto of 1979 ‘upped the anti’
THE SALE OF COUNCIL HOUSES
Many families who live on council estates and in new towns would like to buy their own homes but either cannot afford to or are prevented by the local authority or the Labour government. The time has come to end these restrictions. In the first session of the next Parliament we shall therefore give council and new town tenants the legal right to buy their homes, while recognising the special circumstances of rural areas and sheltered housing for the elderly. Subject to safeguards over resale, the terms we propose would allow a discount on market values reflecting the fact that council tenants effectively have security of tenure. Our discounts will range from 33 per cent after three years, rising with length of tenancy to a maximum of 50 per cent after twenty years. We shall also ensure that 100 per cent mortgages are available for the purchase of council and new town houses. We shall introduce a right for these tenants to obtain limited term options on their homes so that they know in advance the price at which they can buy, while they save the money to do so. As far as possible, we will extend these rights to housing association tenants. At the very least, we shall give these associations the power to sell to their tenants. Those council house tenants who do not wish to buy their homes will be given new rights and responsibilities under our Tenants' Charter. 17 June 2008 17:13

contact : John B. Pope
Email : pionono@tiscali.co.uk