Happy Easter

The real meaning of Easter has had to fight the nonsensical infiltration into the true meaning of Easter.



So here's the comeuppance for the bunny ....

Poll Tax 1990: Bedroom Tax 2013

I remember it well. Will history repeat itself? Hat tip Ferric Streets

Guidelines for applying for College Scholarships

College Scholarships are a must have for any student seeking to secure a college education unless the student is quite wealthy. What are the guidelines for applying for a college scholarship? Is there a universal recommended way of applying for College Scholarships? We all know that over 95% of students attending a college or university either anticipate or plan on securing some sort of college scholarships, student-loan, or financial-aid option unless the student is, again, quite wealthy. However, how many students of multi-millionnaire status are attending a college or university? Very few. Case closed. Therefore, most students need a college scholarship to attend college. College scholarships are very competitive. If you are timid, shy, or unsure of whether or not to compete for a college scholarship then check your bank account for an extra $100,000. If you don't have an extra $100,000, then you need to become LESS timid, LESS shy, and LESS unsure very soon or your aspirations of attending a college will shrink like a dried-out condom left in the sun.

There are guidelines we recommend when applying for a college scholarship. These guidelines are based upon more than 25 years of sponsoring high-school, and college scholarships. According to a panel of scholarship selection experts and administrators that were assembled in California for previous scholarships sponsored by National Academy of American Scholars, the #1 Rule when applying for a big, lucrative, college scholarship of say, $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000, dollars in renewable college scholarships, to remember one single fundamental lesson: The rules of selection for a $250 scholarship are often the same when apply for a $25,000.000. National Academy of American Scholars has used this principle for over 20 years. It is the responsibility of the scholarship applicant to assert himself, or herself throughtout the college Scholarship application process, and leading up to the semi-finalist college scholarship interview.

More recommendations for applying for College Scholarships

Always pay very careful attention to the exact (I repeat, EXACT) instructions when applying for a college scholarship. The #2 reason why many students fail to earn a college scholarship is because of the simple fact that they CANNOT, OR DO NOT have the ability to follow a simple written instruction. Accordinf to the College Scholarship Selection Committee of National Academy of American Scholars, over %60 percent of college scholarship applications were rejected within the first 5 minutes because the student or college scholarship applicant did not exactly plain and simple instructions when submitting their respective college scholarship application.

For a detailed review of our general state-by-state scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options in each and every state, please visit our State-by-State Scholarship Directory website that contains numerous scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for moms, mothers, students, working adults, and single parents that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid :
An NAAS.ORG Approved Scholarship Directory

For a detailed review of our multiple college scholarships, college grants, student-loan options, and financial-aid options for moms, students, mothers, and stay-at-home mothers that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, please visit our website at:

Our Next MACC Chairman

Unfortunately, his speeches are in Cantonese, but he is so hardworking, at least 20 odd ceramahs a month throughout the country. He does not mince his words, its liberal with profanities, much like me. Plus he has a Phd in History and was a senior lecturer at a top HK university. DAP Superman is Hew Kuan Yau.

He has the audacity to declare that he will contest for the same seat as Chua Soi Lek - man, will I love it when he crushes CSL. He is cool. He is very funny, cutting, incisive and makes sense... but what is over riding is his passion for a better Malaysia.

Fair But Not Reasonable

It used to be independent advisors can only recommend shareholders to accept or reject a deal. Accept if its fair and reasonable, reject if its not. But somehow, in recent times there is a new category of qualification for them: fair but not reasonable. To me thats a bloody cop out. A shirking of duties from all sides. 

Its like all MBA graduate employees insisting that we must do a market survey before launching a product. In reality, its not so much to gain more data on potential market - in the end its more to cover their ass ... if the product failed, they can say, "But, we did the survey before launching ....".

The "fair but not reasonable" is a bogus fortune teller kind of opinion ... "Mr. so and so, you will be rich soon, if not you might be poor ... RM500 thank you". 

Can we go back to reject or accept ... pay a few hundred thousand just to get a "Yes, but maybe not ..." view sounds like such a waste of resources. If a deal gets that opinion, and say the deal goes through, the company gets privatised ... and 6 months later the same asset get relisted somewhere else at a 40% premium to takeover price .... end result is NOBODY gets into trouble, not the SC, not the independent advisors, .... oh but minority shareholders get shafted.

Just look at the last four or five opinions from independent advisors, most have taken the safe, insured route of "fair but not reasonable" ... what you are going to get from now ON is a lot of the same fucked up "yes but no" opinions. Apa value add? What can minority shareholders do? Basically you are telling MI, well, you can sell at this shafted price valuation but don't sue me.

I am in no way implying the offer for MISC is not reasonable or that the opinion is wrong by the independent advisor. I am arguing that the opinion would be worth so much more SALT if they can only tell us to ACCEPT or REJECT. In the MISC case, what do you think they will opine if they have only 2 options and not 3???!!! 

I mean seriously, the offer for MISC is 1.1x book ... lets assume for a moment that book value is RM2bn .... hmmm why don't I fucking give Petronas RM2.2bn and they go and build another MISC from scratch??!! Can you see how ridiculous it is now ... you can cite downturns in sector but you try and build another MISC now and see how much it will cost you, not to mention the human talent, branding, goodwill attached with foreign clients, the network ...

"Absence of competing bid" ... OMG... its like advising your girlfriend to accept the marriage proposal because there seems to be no other guys wanting to propose to you.... cbmf...

 

Can we switch back to just reject or accept ... the current system is seemingly not fair and not that reasonable to minority shareholders.

--------------------------------------------------


Meanwhile back at the EPF/MISC stable ...


The Employees Provident Fund (EPF) is probing the reason for the sales of 
1.494m MISC shares, weeks after its CEO Tan Sri Azlan Zainol said Petronas 
should raise its buy-out price for the national shipping company. "The selling of the MISC shares were done by one of our external portfolio managers and was not from our internally-managed portfolio," EPF public relations general 
manager Nik Affendi Jaafar said in a statement. As such, he said the EPF is 
following up with the fund manager concerned to ascertain the reason for the 
shares were sold, adding a total of 3.99mn shares were sold between March 
12-15. (BT)

MISC's stock price, which had fallen below the RM5.30 buyout price rebounded 
yesterday to end the day at RM5.34. The concern though is that without a higher price, the deal could fall through considering the views expressed by the EPF which owns a 9.6% stake in MISC. EPF's chief executive Tan Sri Azlan Zainol has spoken out asking for a higher price than the RM5.30 per share offered which is at 1.1x MISC's book value. MISC's other big minority shareholder is Skim Amanah Saham Bumiputra with a 6.35% stake. Since the offer is conditional upon getting this 90% acceptance, the offer will lapse if Petronas does not get that level of acceptance.

The Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group has come out to say that the RM5.30 offer price by Petronas is "not compelling enough". Its chief executive, Rita Benoy Bushon said that "Petronas might do well to consider putting a larger carrot on the stick if its intention is to fully take MISC private." 

Petronas’ offer price to privatise MISC is "not fair but reasonable", said the 
independent adviser to the RM8.8bn deal. The offer allows shareholders to 
realise their investment at a premium of between 19.6% and 27.1% over MISC's five-day to three-month volume weighted average market price. Petronas owns 62.7% of MISC's total and paid-up share capital. (BT)

With the independent adviser on Petroliam Nasional Bhd's planned buyout 
of MISC Bhd recommending that shareholders accept the offer, all eyes are on 
the Employees Provident Fund (EPF). The provident fund has already said it 
viewed the offer as being too low. And it has all the right to do so. Its decision to speak out sends the right message to millions of its members. Last Friday, AmInvestment Bank Bhd, the independent adviser to the minority shareholders of MISC, said while the offer was not fair, it was reasonable. 

AmInvestment said the offer was unfair as it was priced at a significant 
discount to MISC's sum-of-parts valuation (SOPV) but considered it reasonable due to a weak shipping outlook that may persist and the absence of a competing bid. So, it recommends that minorities accept Petronas' offer.

In EPF's case, this is very pertinent, because it holds the key in the MISC 
buyout being the second largest shareholder and the largest 
non-interested shareholder with a 9.63% block worth about RM2.44bn. 
In a recent interview with Bloomberg, EPF chief executive Datuk Azlan 
Zainol said the pension fund wants a higher price and that Petronas 
should increase its RM5.30 per share offer. (StarBiz)

Police, Camera, Action! Forest Gate Style

Off message but possibly a Citizen Journalist (blogging) post.

Yesterday evening at about 10.30pm I was at home in Forest Gate, London, when I heard a mass of Police sirens and looked outside of the window to count 17 Police cars and vans drive past along Woodford Road toward Wanstead chasing a car. I could hear a helicopter as well.

I thought this seemed a little excessive but thought well, I don't know the facts, but there is probably a good reason.

To my surprise a few minutes later the noise and flashing lights returned and I looked out again and saw that the Police had managed to stop the vehicle they had been chasing. The chase must have gone in a complete circle and the suspect vehicle appeared to have been boxed in by a Police Car while trying to drive along Woodford Road again (see photo to the right).

The Police taped off the road and later officers searched the roadway and I saw evidence bags being filled near the stopped car. I went to bed shortly afterwards. In the morning everything had gone and it was like nothing had ever happened.

I still don't know what was going on. Will check Newham Recorder next week.

Fwd: Launch of the United Kingdom Child Minders Association

Launch of the United Kingdom Child Minders Association Yesterday I raised a point of order in the Commons regarding the tragic death of my constituent Lucy Meadows. Lucy was by all accounts a dedicated teacher who

Tory Millionaires Day 6 April 2013

Are we really all in this together?

FACT This Tory/LibDem government is planing to cut the top rate tax band on April 6th.

It is estimated that 13,000 millionaires in this country will be £100,000 better off (I can't verify this but believe it to be accurate).

FACT This will happen at the same time that many millions of ordinary workers are facing yet another year of pay cuts?

FACT One rule for the rich and powerful in this country and another for everyone else?

Government’s own budget watchdog, OBR confirms that by 2015 people will be worse off than 2010

A more of the same Budget from a downgraded Chancellor

This week’s Budget confirmed that Government is totally failing on the economy. It was a more of the same budget from a downgraded Chancellor.

Growth is down, borrowing is up and families are paying the price, while millionaires are laughing all the way to the bank.

The jobs crisis has deepened further this week according to new figures,

Ofcom - don't get stung by high mobile bills this Easter

Dear Mr Jones, Help your constituents to avoid getting a high mobile phone bill whether they are holidaying at home or abroad this Easter with Ofcom's new consumer help guides designed to provide advice on avoiding high bills at home and on holiday as well as tips on how to protect their mobile phone in case it's lost or stolen. Ofcom has produced a series of new guides to give consumers

A review of the Do Something Scholarships and Grants

A detailed review of Do Something Scholarships and Grants

We will be publishing a detailed review of the Do Something Scholarships service. Before providing your student contact information to any scholarship database service, or grant organization, including the "Do Something" organization, please be sure to read this detailed review of Do Something Scholarships and Grants. We discuss Do Something Scholarships in detail, their FaceBook habits, their FaceBook likeability, their receptivity to competitive scholarship listing sources, the quality of their scholarship listings, their duplicate listings, their excluded listings, their association with other listing services and/or companies, and the success rate of their scholarship recipients.

DoSomething.org represents itself as the country’s largest nonprofit for young people and social change. DoSomething Scholarship organizers claim they have 1,425,974 million members (and counting) who "kick ass" on causes they care about.

Claim by Do Something Scholarships: "DoSomething.org seeks to create a worldwide movement of young people kicking ass on causes they care about and making the world a better place. Because, let's be honest: apathy sucks"
Fact: On March 12th, 2013, Do Something Scholarships posted an image on their facebook account that advocated students should steal hamburgers by faking displeasure of a purchased burger and then complaining to management for a refund.

Do Something Scholarships or Do Some Theft: Are Do Something scholarships and grants Legit or Scam?

Do Something Scholarships talks a great game, and has a seemingly impressive roster of partners and supporters. However, Lance Armstrong also had the impressive backing of the United States Postal Service, and numerous other businesses and organizations before he was determined to be a fraud and using deceit to achieve fame and success. Therefore, we are not impressed with any of the cited partners and affiliates of the Do Something Scholarships. Oftentimes, the more name-dropping an organization does then it is all the more reason to become suspicious.

What we do know is certain facts about the Do Something Scholarships. Actions typically speak louder than words. We have re-posted the image of the hamburger posted on te facebook account of the Do Something Scholarships to illustrate the simple principal that consumers should never blindly believe the marketing hype of any organization that contradicts their own self-serving statements. Should students be praised for helping humanity or should students use grant money to learn how to deceive American ratail establishements?

The Do Something message is extremely confusing, contradictory, and yet very carefully scripted. On one hand, Do Something Scholarshps present the appearance of encouraging youth to do good to satify their legal requirements of a non-profit, but at the same time Do Something Scholarships implictly or expressly encourages youth to swear, and even engage in theft of services. An attorney sits on their board and apparently provides advice. Attorneys are professionals that are educated to mask the truth and present a lie as a fact. Let's be honest. If you are conducting your business affairs legitimately, then there is very little incentive to retain a professional whose income is generated by twisting a non-truth into a truth, and using the judicial process for legal certification of a falsehood.

History and asociations of the Do Something Scholarships

According to Wikipedia, Do Something Scholarships organization was co-founded in 1993 by American actor Andrew Shue. If we are to believe Wikipedia, Mr. Shue claims his motivation for creating the Do Something Scholarships organization was to encourage young people to become active citizens and leaders while also making community involvement fun.[2]The ving an attorney sitting on your board is not a very enpromotes profanity, and raw-talk, amongst youth.

Do Something Scholarships has monthly causes sponsored by companies like Staples, Aéropostale, Pepsi and Del Monte, that address issues that concern teenagers. According to the Do Something Scholarships website, Do Something Scholarships have over 300,000 members and reaches over approximately 11 million young people annually.

Suspicious Organizations/Persons Linked to Do Something Scholarships

This review of the Do Something Scholarships will continue the next day. We will dicuss the controversial persons associated with the Do Something Scholarships, and discuss other topics of concern, as well as provide a letter grade summerizing our recommendations.

Please be sure to follow America's Scholarship Center, here at National Academy of American Scholars, for the best in depth reviews of all Scholarship listing databases and scholarship books. As a general rule of thumb, yif even popular scholarship is not in a database then at least 100 hundred others are also excluded for no legitimate reason.

We invite students seeking information about Do Something scholarships, to also review the multiple scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for students, moms, mothers, and single mothers that are sponsored by NAAS.ORG.

Let's All Adopt This - How Car Drivers Say Thank You

There are very few cases of road rage in Japan. See how car drivers say thank you in Japan. If you let another car into your lane, the other driver will press the hazard lights and let it blink a couple of times to say thank you. So cool ... yet I think it will go a long way to de-stress those around us and lets make a step to try and change the Malaysian driving culture bit by bit.

Important To View: Can The Pakatan Manifesto Stands The Math Test

The simplest way to attack the Pakatan Manifesto is to say that it will not work, that there is not enough money to fund all that. Tony Pua, a learned person of business and strategist, explains why the Pakatan Manifesto is not a pipe dream. Excellent presentation and convincing too.

BlueHost servers are down again. Affect on Scholarship searches..

BlueHost servers are down again

BlueHost or BlueBroke? Can BlueHost be relied upon as a hosting company? Today, at 12:40pm, PDT, BlueHost Servers went down again. On March 18th, 2013, reports of Bluehost servers were also public. On February 2, 2013, BlueHost Servers were also down. BlueHost has been down 3 times in past 45 to 60 days. Access to valuable, informative, and resourceful scholarships, grants, and financial-aid were therefore affected. Moms, mothers, grandmothers, women, working adults, and students seeking information on educational enhancement, careers, and scholarship opportunities were therefore adverswely affected. BlueHost has traditionally been one of the top tier hosting companies.

BlueHost or BlueBroke?

Cynically, some competitors of BlueHost are now asking if the name BlueHost should be changed to BlueBroke? It is getting harder and harder to trust any Hosting company. BlueHost has many ideal features, and has ranked consistently high on customer service, and their professional web hosting plans. When their servers go down, they can be reached for immediate comment. BlueHost, in fact, has the highest uptime ratio of most hosting companies. Unlike some hosting companies like Apollo Hosting, BlueHost does not attempt to place blame on its own customers. Nonethless, when Bluehost servers are down, hundreds of students, moms, women, single mothers, minority students seeking scholarships, and grants, are certainly affected.

There are three things in life you can trust and rely upon every waking morning:

1. The trinity of God, the Father, and the Holy Ghost.
2. The physical science of the Universe; and,
3. The reliability, integrity, and ethics of National Academy of American Scholars (NAAS.ORG)

The reliability, integrity, and ethics of National Academy of American Scholars (NAAS.ORG) as been demonstrated faithfully since 1988. Any third-parties outside of this axis of reliabilty and integrity, simply cannot be relied upon; and, any information, promises, statements from third-parties outside of this axis cannot be relied upon with absolute certainty, or truth.

Since 1988, National Academy of American Scholars (NAAS) has sponsored merit-based scholarships, grants, and financial-aid continuously each and every year like the mechnical gear of a genuine Rolex watch. When third-parties, middle-persons, or outside vendors hiccup, our fans and supporters suffer. When BlueHost Servers are down, or when other third-party vendors suffer a problem tied to NAAS.ORG then students, moms, mothers, women, military persons that are seeking valuable, and resourceful information on scholarships, grants, and financial-aid are affected.

The BlueHost Brand: Marketing and Guarantees.

The fact of the matter is that NAAS.ORG Agents cannot control, manage, or direct the affairs of BlueHost servers, or third-parties, middle-persons, or outside vendors. We developed, marketed, and have branded the NAAS brand as a symbol of prestige. We are not responsible for the BlueHost brand. If we were responsible for the BlueHost brand there would never be any downtime and we would guarantee the happiness ad satisfaction of each and every BlueHost customer.

Over-all, we believe that BlueHost is a fine company. At the same time, we are tepid in or support until we can see long-term stability in their equipment and servers. We use different servers all the time. BlueHost is one of many servers that we use.

We sincerely hope that Blue Host will restore their servers soon so that persons seeking scholarships, grants, financial-aid, or information about financial-aid related topics can access our valuable websites. Many of articles have #1 page rank on Google. We wish BlueHost. Com the best of luck, and we have high hopes that BlueHost servers will be up soon.

For more information about scholarship and grant opportunities for moms, mothers, women, and high-school students, please review

State-by-State NAAS.ORG Scholarship Directory

For a detailed review of our multiple scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for moms, women, working adults, and single mothers that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, please visit our website at:

West Ham doorstep & Leaflet drop

Pictures in collage are from yesterday morning ward leaflet drop and street surgery 2 weeks earlier.

I was asked to go into one house to see rubbish dumped in a rear garden by a local landlord agency which I later reported. Apart from this eyesore the family liked living in the area but were private tenants with no security of tenure.

Each year their Landlord's agent comes back wanting more rent or they face eviction. This is just plain stupid and the only people who really benefit from this churn are the agents.

Good tenants want security of tenure and good landlords want good tenants. Landlords don't want the time and expense of evicting tenants who pay their rent on time and respect their property. Why can't we have sensible regulation of rents and tenancies like they do in most of Europe and even in parts of the USA?

Yesterday I came across this plaque on a wall in Redriffe Road, E15 dating from1884 which I had never noticed before.  This land use to belong to St Mary's Church in Rotherhithe, South London (or Surrey as that part of London use to be part) and had been purchased in trust for the poor of the parish in 1659. The excellent local history website Newham Story says that the land was leased in 1878 for 80 years to build homes (and maybe a pub). I wonder who is the freeholder now?

Only If

One of the most heart wrenching yet empathetic video ever. Life was never meant to be easy no matter how we shout phrases of positivism. While reality is never always pristine and trouble free, we cannot dwell on them. The struggles, pain and loss that happen to us, much of which we may never have total control over ... are there and will be there in our journey. Happiness, joy and contentment are fleeting and temporary. It seems we get a raw deal in every sense of the word. We soldier on because of our human spirit and the love of those around us, and the love for our own selves. We will never get to understand fully or comprehend the whys. Take care of one another, appreciate the little things in life cause the big ones don't come too often, don't dwell on disappointments for too long, heal yourself, live well, be generous where you can ... and my mantra... bloom where you are planted.

Important Changes to Council Tax (off line Redbridge)

hat tip Barkingside 21 on FaceBook

Advice On Men

No, not from me, its from Oprah Winfrey. I have to agree almost 90% with what she said. Worth a million dollars if it can get you to rethink your choices in life. Of course it doesn't say anything about those who are already married ... but you should know what you should be doing then.

1. If a man wants you, nothing can keep him away. If he doesn’t want you, nothing can make him stay.

2. Stop making excuses for a man and his behavior. Allow your intuition (or spirit) to save you from heartache.

3. Stop trying to change yourself for a relationship that’s not meant to be. Slower is better.

4. Never live your life for a man before you find what makes you truly happy.

5. If a relationship ends because the man was not treating you as you deserve then heck no, you can’t “be friends”. A friend wouldn’t mistreat a friend. Don’t settle.

6. If you feel like he is stringing you along, then he probably is.

7. Don’t stay because you think “it will get better” You’ll be mad at yourself a year later for staying when things are not better.

8. The only person you can control in a relationship is you.

9. Avoid men who’ve got a bunch of children by a bunch of different women. He didn’t marry them when he got them pregnant, why would he treat you any differently?

10. Always have your own set of friends separate from his.

11. Maintain boundaries in how a guy treats you. If something bothers you, speak up.

12. Never let a man know everything. He will use it against you later.

13. You cannot change a man’s behavior. Change comes from within.

14. Don’t EVER make him feel he is more important than you are. Even if he has more education or in a better job.

15. Do not make him into a quasi-god. He is a man, nothing more nothing less.

16. Never borrow someone else’s man.

17. A man will only treat you the way you ALLOW him to treat you.

18. All men are NOT dogs.

19. You should not be the one doing all the bending. Compromise is two way street.

20. You need time to heal between relationships. There is nothing cute about baggage. Deal with your issues before pursuing a new relationship.

21. You should never look for someone to COMPLETE you. A relationship consists of two WHOLE individuals. Look for someone complementary not supplementary.

22. Make him miss you sometimes. When a man always know where you are, and you’re always readily available to him – he takes it for granted.

23. Never move into his mother’s house. Never co-sign for a man.

24. You should know that you’re the best thing that could ever happen to anyone and if a man mistreats you, he’ll miss out on a good thing. If he was attracted to you in the 1st place, just know that he’s not the only one. They’re all watching you and you want more .. so you have a lot of choices. Make the right one.

25. Ladies take care of your own hearts. Share this with other women (just so they know) You’ll make someone smile, another rethink her choices, and another woman prepare. 

UNISON Community Conference 2013: Day 2

The second day of Conference started off with a 09.00 meeting of the Service Group Executive (SGE) to plan ahead the days business. (See Day one, Bedroom tax rally, Speech by Joe Irvin and my pension speech)

In the morning there were a number of workshops and taster training sessions arranged on:- introductions for new delegates; TUPE & transfers; campaigning & public speaking; how to recruit a member; violence at work and negotiating & leadership.

As a branch secretary I spent the first part of the morning taken up with last minute change of branch delegates authorisation and working out how to confirm to the necessary proportionality requirements.

I then chaired the workshop on recruitment and was impressed how serious and thoughtful delegates were about this key and fundamental role.

During lunch we went to the Manchester bedroom tax rally (see report here). Then after lunch the Community seminar session ended and the actual Community Conference started.  This was chaired by UNISON President Chris Tansley.

There was about 21 motions to discuss and debate on various issues and concerns facing our members in Community. My branch delegation spoke on a number of motions including our composited motion on a "Living Wage plus" and "Save our Pensions". I also spoke on the pensions issue on behalf of the SGE.

Out of these 20 odd motions there was really only one motion regarding the big Community specific  branches meeting up to discuss their issues at the expense of all other branches that caused any sort of a stir.

It does make you think what is the point of having a motion based conference that consists of moving, seconding and debating, motion after motion that nobody opposes? I think we need to think again about what we do at conference since I suspect most delegates did not think this was a good use of time and resources.Especially since we completed all of conference business on the Saturday afternoon when we had Sunday morning timetabled for it as well!

We had a social and raffle in the evening. This raised money for the Presidents project "Hope Not Hate". Where I won tickets to a County cricket match, which of course being North Wallian I gave away (to my branch chair who despite being Irish is a cricket fanatic) and a UNISON Community bottle opener and stopper! We then went to China Town for a London region meal and one or three beers.

The next morning I went for a run (aka slow jog) around the nearby canals and much to my surprise came across a recreated Manchester Roman fort gatehouse!

This is the 3rd UNISON Community seminar and conference and while it is not all perfect, I really think we are going from strength to strength. We do have a long journey ahead but I am confident we will achieve it.

(Centre picture of Community NEC member, Isobel (Izzy) McVicar speaking about health and safety in our sector UPDATE: See UNISON press release on safety issue in our sector and UNISONactive take on conference).

Lucrative High-School Scholarships

Lucrative High-School Scholarship Opportunities for U.S. High-School Students

Scholarships for High School students are on the rise. Scholarships, grants, and financial-aid for high-school students have been sponsored by National Academy of American Scholars since 1988. American high-school, colleges, institutions, and educational agencies have supported our high-school scholarship programs. We encourage high-schools, educational institutions, and online academies that have students seeking high-school school schlolarships to consider using NAAS.ORG as a resource guide. There is no cost for kindness or sharing.

One of the top #3 reasons why high-school graduating seniors do not receive scholarships, grants, and financial-aid is not because of a lack of eligibility, effort, or interest, but because some overly comfortable high-school guidance counselor is not doing his/her job by providing these students the necessary information about scholarships, grants, and financial-aid that was already provided by the scholarship sponsor to the school. Some teachers and guidance counselors politicize the financial-aid process to the complete and total detriment of the student and their parents. Let the student and make the decision whether or not a particular scholarship, grant, or financial-aid option is suitable. I know of no guidance counselor willing to foot the entire bill for a student's college education but there are many who openly brag online how they censored particluar scholarship information from being received by students.

Although many High-school students seeking High School scholarships have become less reliant upon the traditional high-school guidance counselor, and instead have embraced the Internet as their number #1 source of information about scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, not all students have access to fancy Ipads, fancy laptops, fancy computers, and etc. Believe it or not, some students simply have no home compueter. It is those high-school students that are not receiving the necessary resources they need to find high school scholarships.

Eligibility criteria for Lucrative High-School Scholarship Opportunities for U.S. High-School Students:

For a detailed review of our lucrative scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options in each and every state, from Alaska to Wyoming, for U.S. High-School students that are seeking U.S. Military scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, please visit our State-by-State Scholarship Directory website that contains numerous scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for for high-school students that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid:
State-by-State High-School Scholarship Directory

For a detailed review of our Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze, Scholarship X, and many other lucrative scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for high-school students, that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, as well associated specifc and exact criteria in regards to the amounts, quantity, registration process, please visit our Top U.S. High-School Scholarships page at:

What Has Aid Ever Done For Anyone?... Save the Children

When Save the Children set out to secretly film an anti-aid demo, we didn't realise exactly what we were getting into. Luckily they made the case for aid better than we ever could. Aid saves lives - and we can't forget it.

For more info visit... http://www.whathasaiddoneforanyoneapa...
Directed by Paul Weiland.

What Market Was That?

If we had the kind of market we had on Thursday for 3 months, watch the velocity of money rushing through the economy, the multiplier effect would be enormous. Catching everybody off guard. I mean, Muhibbah went very close to being LIMIT UP, my gosh, when did we ever hear of that phrase nowadays, so ancient.

OK, the Iskandar linked counters led the way for the last few days. Like I said before, for any kind of bull to appear, there has to be a leader. Remember this theme because after the elections we will have a genuine bull run, probably with the same actors and supporting actors.

No one could believe what was happening on Thursday because the election was supposed to be so damn close, to be called any day, and yet you seemingly have the start of the mother of all bull runs appearing. So many retail players were sidelined, but can't help it, the lure of a trend is soooooo  ... intoxicating. Your discipline is called into question and kinda gave way very quickly to the temptations of the 'flesh'. How weak we humans are ...

We can all study the best business books but the madness of crowds usually prevails. Will this run continue? Looks like it. Very hard to stop a moving train. Of course unless parliament is dissolved, that could drag things down somewhat. So its all the more exciting and unbelievable ..... its like a casino that declares that they have changed all the odds in favour of players against the bank (blackjack, banker has to draw till 18; the roulette 0 means all numbers get paid off ...) so you have this wonderful casino but management of the casino also said that there is an earthquake registering 9 on the Richter scale that is coming anytime and there is a house fire in the kitchen that could engulf the casino in a matter of hours .... and yet the punters flock in knowing full well the pending uncertainties. Wallah!

Can these kind of market days suddenly appear? NO. Is it orchestrated somewhat ... if you ask me privately, I will give you a very detailed answer. Things like this cannot happen in our markets unless you can see a confluence of economic and fundamentals and liquidity according to the textbook. You tell me, can the market move like it did with so many funds flowing in, throw in the "syndicates" (in my dictionary "syndicates" is not illegal or sinister but the gathering of two or more people agreeing to do something together). You tell me, can they all suddenly wake up and decide all at the same day to "move stocks".

Just be careful, people.

Jon Hamm's Penis Banned From Mad Men

Mad Men is a very good series, but the producers are having a hard time with Jon Hamm's little general, as men during those days wear much tighter trousers, so much so that his cowabunga had to be photoshopped out of posters..etc... What a wonderful positive PR problem to have.

When a man walks into a room, he brings his whole penis with him. A fleshy appendage, no less primitive than the prehensile tail we lost when we evolved, yet no less important than the heart that keeps us pumping. It makes a man feel whole. It drives a man. It’s the stick that chases the carrot. And when it hangs off of Jon Hamm, it causes problems simply because it stands up for itself.

Conflicts between the Mad Men crew and Jon Hamm’s increasingly demanding companion, Little Dick Whitman, have apparently become so prevalent, the show’s producers have “politely” asked the notoriously freewheeling star to stifle his penis with a layer of restrictive underwear, after Hamm’s penis became too distractingly headstrong. “This season takes place in the 1960s, where the pants are very tight and leave little to the imagination,” an insider "source" explains to the New York Daily News. And while, yes, the entire series has so far taken place in the 1960s, either the closer trouser cuts of Carnaby Street have begun to encroach upon Mad Men, or Jon Hamm’s penis has similarly begun to experiment with the styles of the era, and its insistence on copying Bob Dylan’s fly-away hair and Cuban boots have made Hamm’s penis all the more disruptive.

In addition to being banned from the set, Jon Hamm’s penis has also been Photoshopped out of promotional booklets and advertisements, with NYDN’s source laughing, “Imagine how distracting that would be on the side of a bus or building.” Hamm’s representative, however, doesn’t find anything amusing about his client’s enormous, impudent genitals being scrubbed from city buses so as not to cause traffic accidents. “It is ridiculous and not really funny at all. I’d appreciate you taking the high road and not resorting to something childish like this that’s been blogged about 1,000 times,” they said, clearly not familiar with the Internet. 

On a related note, Matthew Weiner is still allowed free rein. "Around here there can only be one Weiner in charge," he said, hopefully.

Don't Lose Sleep over your Job Security: Join UNISON

For once at the UNISON London Regional Committee meeting today, the miserablists agreed with me! The current union TV and media recruitment campaign is reaching out to non members who are just not aware of all the benefits of joining a union.

Times are very tough. This evening I went to my school governors meeting, where I heard that they an advert out recently for one administration job at the school, which was only open for one week, but they had 150 applicants.

If you are in work, the best way to try and save your job is to join a union. If you work providing any form of public services then join UNISON.

We need change if we’re going to rebuild Britain

We need change if we're going to rebuild BritainDear Graham,    The message of George Osborne's Budget today was clear: growth down, unemployment up, borrowing up and millionaires laughing all the way to the bank. This was a more of the same Budget from a downgraded Chancellor. David Cameron and George Osborne's economic plan is failing, but they cannot bring themselves to admit

Youth in Action info for Graham Jones MP

I have been lobbying hard in and around Parliament to increase youth volunteering in Hyndburn. It has been a struggle with much of what is on offer in the private sector, affordable to those with the ability to pay. Young people often enthused by the thought of such an experience. Those that would most benefit are those children from poorer backgrounds yet they are being left out. Particularly

Budget reaction from the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign

Budget reaction from the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign


Dear Graham,


Following the Chancellor's Budget statement today, I wanted to share the reaction from the Enough Food For Everyone IF campaign. Supporters of the campaign have been mobilising ahead of today's Budget statement to show strong support for the UK's historic commitment to spend 0.7% of national income on overseas aid and

Unemployment by Constituency - February 2013 JSA claimant data

Unemployment by Constituency - February 2013 JSA claimant data

Dear Graham Jones,

This is a personalised email from the House of Commons Library consisting of constituency unemployment figures for February 2013 which were published today at 9.30am by the Office for National Statistics.

Key facts

The number of unemployed claimants in Hyndburn constituency in February 2013 was 2,250. This

Lucrative Scholarship Opportunities for U.S. Military Spouses/Wives

We sponsor Military scholarships, Military grants, Pell Grants, and Military financial-aid for Military spouses whose husbands are enrolled in one of the five branches of the U.S. military. Military members may also earn Scholarship Points to further boost their Scholarship LeaderBoard standings.

Service in the U.S. military is not to be taken lightly. Neither is being a U.S. military wife. Not only must U.S. Military men engage in battles on rhe field, in the air, in the skies, in the oceans, and even in the allies, but the biggest battle may the the battle of temptation. U.S. Military wives and U.S. Military spouses have to deal with an array of issues that may not have existed 15 years ago.

Scholarships, pell grants, and financial-aid are urgently needed for U.S. Military spouses for a variety of reasons, not to mention the fact their husbands income may not be sufficient to supplement family needs. U.S. Military wives, and U.S. Military spouses need the opportunity to pursue higher education, vocational training, trade-school, and step to the plate. Scholarships, grants, and financial-aid sponsored by National Academy of American Scholarships is deigned to help U.S. Military spouses, U.S. Military wives, seek the financial-aid and scholarship assistance they need.

It is the responsibility of private organizations and scholarship sponsors like National Academy of American Scholars to at least show our deep appreciation, gratitude, and a special thanks to all of the United States Military branches, including the U.S. Marines the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Army the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Airforce. We sponsor military spouse scholarships, grants, pell-grants, and financial-aid for wives and women whose partners serve in the U.S. military. If your spouse or partner is enrolled in one of the five branches of the U.S. military then we sponsor military scholarships. Period. We don't ask detailed questions, and neither do we require any tax returns, or any financial-statements, or so-called "proof" of any need. The only requirement that must be met is your husband a member of the U.S. Military, a U.S. Citizen, and are you his spouse.

U.S. Military Spouse Scholarships general scholarship eligibility requirements:

For a detailed review of our multiple scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options in each and every state, from Alaska to Wyoming, for U.S. Military Spouses, military moms, mothers, and that are seeking U.S. Military scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, please visit our State-by-State Scholarship Directory website that contains numerous scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for for Military personnel and their wives that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid:
State-by-State Military Spouse Scholarships

For a detailed review of our multiple scholarships, grants, and financial-aid options for U.S. Military Spouses and U.S. Military Wives that are seeking scholarships, grants, and financial-aid, as well speciifc and exact criteria for our U.S. Military Spouses/Military Wives Scholarships, and the amounts, quanity, registration process, please visit our U.S. Military Spouse Scholarship page at:

"Save Our Pensions" Community Conference 2013

This is my speech from the Community Conference on Saturday on motion 23 (see text here "Save Our Pensions"). Which is a motion from my branch.

"John Gray speaking on behalf of your Service Group Executive, in favour of this motion and moving this amendment which is intended to update the original motion in light of recent developments.

Conference, please thank Tony (Power - my branch chair) for his excellent speech. From someone who to my personal knowledge has a led a terrific battle to save his pension and that of his colleagues. What I would like to add to the debate here is that no one should be under any illusions about pensions.

The only hope for you and your members have of having a dignified retirement is a well funded and secure employer retirement plan.

You cannot rely on the state pension. The flawed Government plan for a new universal state pension will only provide at best an income just above the absolute poverty line

As a Housing estate officer in the East End of London, I have seen first hand pensioners living in poverty, buying second hand clothes, eating out of date food, huddled in front of the TV in a freezing cold room because they are too scared to turn the heating on. Stuck in this freezing home because they have no money for trips or holidays and shamed that they are too poor to treat their grandchildren.

That is your future, your member’s future if you do not have a decent secure pension from your work.

Pensions are an expensive business. There is an old rule of thumb in the pension’s world that in order to retire on half your pay and a lump sum, you need to save 15% of your pay for 40 years, repeat 15% for 40 years.

Hardly anyone in the best of times can put 15% of their salary in a pension, never mind the times we live in now. That is why your employer will need to put in at least 10% plus into your pension or else it is condemning its work force to retire and die in poverty.

Conference, please remind your employers this when you negotiate over auto-enrollment and ask them the question do they as a responsible employer want their workers to enjoy or endure retirement. Ask them to do the maths. It is quite simple to work what they need to save on your behalf. Are they responsible employers or are they rogue employers?

Yet, what we increasingly find in practice is the exact opposite. As already pointed out by London Housing Associations branch, some employers, who in the past, were good employers and provided access to good quality defined benefit schemes are using the nonsensical and irrational accounting measures as an excuse to close these schemes and replace them with insecure poverty pensions.

They are closing schemes even in the knowledge that there is - as the amendment points out, an urgent government inquiry taking place on ways to change the way we value schemes which could get reduce or even get rid of many deficits.

There is a unholy alliance of the CBI, TUC and National Association of Pension funds who support change. So why has East Thames and Notting Hill Housing associations closed their scheme in recent weeks? why have others such as Barnardos announced similar intentions? what role did the Pension Trust and the Social Housing Pension fund play in bankrupting the charity PeopleCan the organisation Joe mentioned in his speech earlier today?

While our members are in a whole variety of pension schemes, this is important since our UNISON e-survey late last year found that 35% of our members are in Defined Benefit (DB) guaranteed pension schemes

DB guaranteed pension schemes are NOT a thing of the past. UNISON recently won access to the Local Government Pensions Scheme for new starters at South Lakes Housing Association. Wrekin and Telford Housing are offering all staff the LGPS as well.

Due to the behaviour of some employers and pension providers we also should welcome the call in this motion for the wider Labour movement to look into whether, we the unions, should be involved in providing decent pensions provision, as they do in many other countries.

Conference, while we welcome the plans to smooth valuations and replace them with more accurate estimates it is important that the government accepts and implements these accounting changes without delay and that our employers who are disgracefully still rushing to destroy their employees future when they know this inquiry will report soon, should pause and stop.

Conference please support this amendment and the motion. Thank you. (update UNISONactive take on conference)