Barclays - new CEO

Barclays Bank have appointed a new CEO following the resignation of Mr. Bob Diamond. In a move that will be widely applauded, it is interesting that Mr. Antony Jenkins was formerly head of its Retail Banking division and therefore the Bank is in safer hands.

Barclays are embroiled in a scandal regarding the fixing of the Libor or interbank rate. Fines have been levied by the US regulatory body and the same is likely in the UK and possibly elsewhere. All this has had a negative impact on the Company share price and therefore, once again, it is the innocent shareholders who are now suffering for the misdemenours of the management who, no doubt, are still picking up their bonuses. The same can be said of another Bank, Standard Chartered, who saw their shares fall 15% after alleged illegal trading. Why here, as in other spheres of life is it that the innocent are punished whilst the perpetrators seem to go scot free?

Horizon- Mapping the Universe

A recent horizon programme on the BBC looked at cosmologists attempting to map the universe, including the idea, right at the end, of many universes being created from the one 'big bang', as I understood it, at a time of inflation. The programme also discussed the problems of mapping the unseen 'dark matter' and 'dark energy', giving no answers to the questions of the universe's accelerating expansion.
Readers of my blogs, will know that I have with my multiverse theory shown the origin of these 'dark' forces and explained this acceleration. See here and here.
Cosmologists will not see the light, the 'standard candle' illuminating the secrets of the universe until they abandon the concept of the 'Big Bang' and fully embrace the notion of an infinite and eternal  nothingness which I have termed the 'pleroma'.

Asil Nadir

If you want to see how stupid the British legal system, how it is not fit for purpose, look at the judgement against Asil Nadir. Here is a man who voluntarily returned to the UK from his safe haven in Northern Cyprus to answer fraud charges. I am not going to argue about his guilt in this but I am concerned with the judge's sentencing. Although he returned of his own volition when he could still be comfortable in his island retreat, he is now to be imprisoned for ten years despite the fact that he is NOT a threat to the public and as far as I know has no history of violence. Despite this he must now be maintained in prison for years at the public expense. The public's misery is not caused by Nadir but the bloody legal system that distorts values and insists on locking up the harmless convicted whilst routinely letting off thugs and other anti-social misfits who are a constant menace and threat to good order in society. Nadir sentence should not have been custodial in the first place but failing that suspended, whilst a fine befitting the crime exacted.
It's not only the British system that stinks, that in Norway also needs to be toughened up. How can it be right that the mass murderer receives a sentence of 21 years in a three cell prison suite following his slaughter of 77 youngsters, injuring countless others and ruining the lives of countless more? The Norwegian authorities have fallen over backwards to excuse him by testing his sanity but even though he helped the judiciary by pleading guilty, took ages, no doubt at great expense, before coming to a decision that he was ...er... guilty as charged.

State of the Nation

Scottish and Southern energy are going to raise the price of energy in the autumn. The railways are going to increase the price of rail travel by more than the rate of inflation. These are just two examples of how private companies are taking advantage of their quasi monoply positions to screw the public to maintain the company share price and therefore their value for shareholders.
These are just two symptoms in what is the current British malaise.
Does the british government really expect that the ordinary man in the street can keep on paying all these increases? At what point do they think the electorate will say: 'No more' and take to the streets? The point is that although we believe in a capitalist society, there are some businesses that are too important to be owned by anybody but the taxpayer. Water is another. These companies should be nationalised and run at maximum efficiency for the only people who matter; the population of the UK. If there are to be shareholders it should come from National Insurance contributions from the future pensioners of the country. Their contributions must be not be diluted by being routed through financial people who exact their usurous fees at every turn regardless of the state of the economy.
The increase in VAT has led to a rise in the number of unregistered transactions. Bartering and cash deals are becoming the norm as people try and make ends meet resulting in even less revenue for the treasury. SERVE THEM RIGHT. To my mind they ought to cut fuel duty immediately and introduce VAT at 5% on food. The one will encourage trade and the second will ensure that everybody will pay tax, regardless of what else they fiddle. The Government should stop International aid as it stands. It is a waste of hard pressed taxpayer's money. If Cameron is so devoted to this policy let him put it in his next manifesto and see where it gets him!

The next thing the Government should do is stop the so called Civil Service Mandarins from running the country. If the country wants the re-introduction of the death penalty for some offences, it should happen even if it upsets some old boy's sensitivities. The Human Rights acts should be revoked and people told to be responsible for their and their children's actions. ZERO TOLERANCE of bad behaviour. Remember the majority of people like to live and work within a framework that can best described as Christian but this, I must add, is not the sole proponent of  good social values.
Gove should be allowed to continue his education revolution to introduce values last seen in the fifties before the Guardian reading lefties took control of Whitehall and the Dept of Education. Bring back the cane and use liberally-on the parents too if they interfere.
Ken Clarke should be replaced at the Dept of Justice. He stands for the staus quo and the legal profession who we know are milking the taxpayers dry, favouring the guilty and ignoring the victims of crime and the innocent. Put me in charge and I will reduce costs by half. Criminals will pay and victims will receive all the taxpayer's support. Why cannot ministers see this? They probably can but the Civil Service mandarins know better. They know so much better that they now want to be able to advise opposition parties on policy before a general election. In other words, regardless of a parties' manifesto, the mandarins will tell them what is posible and presumably what isn't. As I understand it, the last Labour Government, in an attempt to negate this 'advice', installed their own men into senior advisory positions. Whatever, it doesn't seem to me that the people of the UK are being properly served by people who have their own corners to fight.

I am beginning to believe that the only answer is for the people of the UK to take to the streets in peaceful protest. The politicians are NOT listening. Industry and the financial institutions are polarising trade and cornering all the money, leaving people and countries stranded. The churches with the exception of Islam have lost the plot. Christians quite rightly no longer believe in the old stories and the church cannot find its new role as the keepers of mankind's soul, their creative and imaginative capacity. Islam works because they take no prisoners in their prosecution of their misguided ideology, frightening the poor and vulnerable into adopting their rigid rules. You can fool some of the people for some of the time.....

Brady and the death penalty

The mother of one of Ian Brady's victims, Keith Bennet, has tragically died before realizing her lifetime ambition to find the grave of her son. As has been widely pointed out she is another of Brady's victims. As usual British justice favours the criminal over the innocent!
Brady has previously disclosed the whereabouts of the remains of his other four victims; so why not that of young Keith? I wonder if this scheming and evil man had calculated that by disclosure he would forfeit his one great bargaining tool in the event of the introduction of retrospective capital punishment. He would surely have been on the list as one of the first to face the gallows but possibly spared if he had vital information on the deceased!

Keith Bennet's mother has said she would have welcomed the opportunity to stab Brady. Who can blame her but British Law does not allow her the satisfaction of natural justice despite the majority of the public being in favour of the death penalty for SOME crimes. This is the sort of Democracy we live in!

Cost of Justice?

When a crime is committed there are normally thought of as two parties; the perpetrator and the victim. These days there is a third; the taxpayer. It is the middle of August. A man recently charged with murder has been remanded in custody. he has made one court appearance to confirm his name and address. he was remanded to appear in November when it is thought he will make a plea. His trial has been tentativily fixed for the end of January. Why does it take so long when it costs the taxpayer £400 per day to keep this man in prison? If he's innocent let him free. Why not let him plead now? If he pleads guilty it will save months of delay and public expense. Nobody can mind justice but surely not at any price. The people in charge of the Justice department must act soon because left unchecked the legal profession will protract the case and every other case at the expense of the public purse. Recently in China a murder defendent was swiftly brought before the court, pleaded guilty and the whole shooting match was concluded in a day. (The sentence was delayed but we must assume there is a political dimension to this particular case.)

Next we must ask why it costs £400 per day to lock up a prisoner? First strip all wrongdoers of their human rights and everything else follows. Everyone is in solitary with NO comingling with other prisoners. All food provided by the prisoner's family, delivered each day befor lunch. If family does not provide food, the state will provide basic staples, the cost will be taken from prisoner's assets. One half hour per day of exercise will be taken on a rota and consist of a secluded walk in court seperated by 'paddles' to maintain seperation. There will be no family visits and television in rooms will be restricted to educational programmes only.
Schoolchildren in problem areas will be routinely taken to the prisons to demonstrate what awaits disrupters and troublemakers who waste the golden chance of education.
Too tough! If you can't do the 'time' don't do the crime.

Message to Government:
Stop thinking about the guilty. Concentrate TOTALLY on the VICTIMS including the taxpayers.

Railways. An offer to the Prime Minister from me, Kevill Davies

So! Richard Branson's Virgin Trains have lost their franchise to run the important 'West Coast' line. They lost out to a Company called 'Firstgroup' who have apparently made an unrealistic offer to the Government to secure the thirteen year franchise, leading to questions of the bid's viability.
The Government has previously been found guilty of accepting unrealistic bids when GNER and National Express had to hand back the keys on the 'East Coast' line. Now they are going to take a gamble on change, lured by the promise of an extra £1bn for the treasury. I don't know about you but I smell an opportunity for corruption here. Call me a cynic but I don't believe that this is a decision based on the interests of the UK or its people.
This follows on from the news that the cost of rail travel is to rise by over six percent in the New Year. With most households reeling from the costs of energy, many will be wondering if they can even afford to get to work, let alone park and pay congestion charges. Whichever way they turn, the Government, who should be on the side of the electorate is screwing its own people. Nobody now for one minute thinks, 'we are all in this together'.
If they keep going as they are families will once again be forced to send their children out to work to make ends meet because with both parents working it will not be enough. What a legacy that'll be for Cameron and Osborne! Back to Victorian times because they couldn't run the Country in the people's interest.

It is time for a radical rethink. The Railway industry as we know it must be ended. I have said it before, here, and here, but we need to turn our road network into a fully automated pod transport system where private 'pods' automatically run at high speeds on tracks to preset destinations. We need to give the automobile industry a lead time of twenty years to introduce the scheme but to my mind it is the only answer to the long term problem. It will have other benefits because the technology could be sold all over the world. Drink driving and other car crimes would be eliminated at a stroke. Goods and commercial traffic would travel the same way but by superpods on the converted railway tracks, preserving some jobs for the railwaymen and women. The whole enterprise would be run by the people for the people employing men and women who wish to serve their Nation, not for huge salaries, not for unaffordable bonuses but for the pride in serving their fellow citizens. Capitalism has served its purpose. The world needs to move on to the next phase where skill and innovation are rewarded and making money by manipulating markets is a heinous offence.

David Cameron if you are serious about making a difference, call me as soon as you're back from holiday to see how I can make the difeerence you so badly want.

The rise of atheism in Pakistan

The rise of atheism in Pakistan: Counter-extremism expert, Ghaffar Hussain catches up with 'Hazrat Nakhuda' - founder of the 'Pakistani Atheists and Agnostics' Facebook group

Olympic ambition

Let me see if I've got this straight. In the last thirty years or so 82 men have run the 100 metres in under ten seconds. Only 1 of them is a 'white' man.
So let me ask this. If you are the 'white' parents of an aspiring young sprinter with ambitions of winning an olympic gold medal, should you instead buy him a horse and recommend he takes up dressage?

One final point on the olympics. In a games notable for the emergence of many female athletes across a wide range of disciplines, another young lady won gold yesterday and also the hearts of many of us. Step forward Nicola Adams who won the first ever olympic women's boxing medal. She never stopped smiling and her natural ebulliance coupled with a genuine humility should be an inspiration for anyone interested in sport. Nicola; you are a WINNER!

Invisible Earnings

Can you remember the time, thirty or forty years ago when the newscaster used to tell us that Britains balance of payments was yet again in the red with imports exceeding exports. However, we were not to worry because the deficit was easily cancelled out by 'invisible earnings' such as banking and insurance. How smug we felt, safe and secure in the knowledge that our 'invisible earnings' were seeing the Country right, keeping all our heads above water.
I didn't understand then the thieving nature of what passed for trade in those days; the financial exploitation of the hard working poorer peoples of the world and the seamless transfer of money from those outside the world of banking to those within, aided and abetted by the politicians who lined their own pockets by keeping quiet. Incidentally, Cameron's insistance on ring fencing overseas aid seems to me a device to ensure taxpayer's money eventually comes back into the banker's coffers.
In June the UK recorded its biggest ever deficit; over £4.3 billion pounds at a time when Barclays and Standard Chartered Banks are embroiled with yet more scandalous behavour in their never ending dash for bigger and bigger profits. Their greed knows no bounds but this time, I guess, they have not come to the rescue of the UK's balance of payments. The Country needs to properly trade with the rest of the world and surely this must now turn to manufacturing using modern science and technology. Now is the time for large scale change. If the banks won't help then the nearly nationalised RBS should be taken over by the taxpayers and run in the interests of the Nation. No messing about. Kick the thieving bastards out, confiscate their assets and let their stinking businesses rot in hell. If the politicians continue to run the country according to the wishes of the lobbyists, kick them out too. Cameron and Clegg have demonstrated that they are more interested in their respective Parties than they are to the wellbeing of the Nation. They are both pathetic and I look forward to seeing them both pilloried at their Party conferences despite them being stage-managed to avoid controversy.

More Olympics

A couple of things I'd like to add on the Olympic Games.

The first is how generous the winners have been in thanking all concerned with their success with their self-effacing humility. Greg Rutherford who won the long jump and Jessica Ennis the heptathlon spring to mind as two sparkling examples. They are glittering examples for the next generation of athletes to follow.

The second concerns the otherwise splendid coverage by the BBC. Why are there so many American commentators in the studio to comment on the games? Are there no UK athletes who can do the job or do the BBC need to meet a quota to sell the broadcasts abroad? I doubt if a US broadcaster would reciprocate the gesture!

Curiosity!

The Curiosity Mars lander has been successfully delivered to the surface of the red planet. This is a tremendous achievement and all involved at NASA can be rightfully proud of what they've achieved.

The object of the exercise seems to be principally finding out if life ever existed here or continues to live on this harsh and barren world. I suggest that it is almost certain to find that life has visited the planet at one time or another and that visitations still go on daily. It is my contention that since our universe was born, it has merged with a finite but huge number of other, often much larger and older universes, and that as a consequence life or life producing molecules have been able to freely move throughout the combined space. An infinite number of such Universes, obeying the same laws of physics as on Earth, have been created from an infinite and eternal nothingness (Not Big Bang) and an infinite number will be created in the future.
In this scenario, it can be inferred that other life must be found in the universe although not necessarily in a form we are familiar with. Different evolutionary processes might obtain which because of its infinite time of development might be considered advanced. Because these processes occur over an infinite time scale, they must have occurred an infinite number of times. I, myself, have existed an infinite number of times and have married the same woman an infinite number of times. I have also married an infinite number of different wives, such is the wonder of the possibilities of life in an infinity of universes.

The Olympics- Don't you just love em?

Without in any way diminishing my belief that the Olympic Games as it is should be scrapped and instead held every four years in Greece, I would like to congratulate the men and women who are competing, the organisers for bringing together this sporting spectacle and the fans who attend in their hundreds of thousands for demonstrating the power of sport in uniting the peoples of the world.
As we have seen with the Jubilee and royal weddings, nobody can put on a show like the Brits even if they must allow announcements to be spoken in French first, rather than in English. I hope that the politicians don't try to muscle in on the Glory that rightfully belongs to those with the vision, the organising skill and determination to succeed in making these games both a sporting extravaganza in the present and a lasting  regeneration of a run down area of London for centuries to come.

Destruction of Syria

Video picture released in the last two days suggest the cold blooded murder of prisoners by the so called 'Free Syrian Army'. Amidst the destruction of the Country's second City Aleppo, it is the forerunner of what is about to occur-the total destruction of the Country; not only the visible signs of ruined buildings and infrastructure but also the invisible rifts in communities and families that was seen in Spain fifty years ago and still exists today.
To my mind, the civil war has gone too far to be stopped. Buoyed by the so called 'Arab Spring', the anti-government militias took strength, aided and abetted by the likes of the UK prime minister, Cameron, who supported the notion that President Assad step down. Cameron might ask himself in the light of what is seen in the video, whether he would have been better advised to keep quiet. In Iraq, the overthrow of the dictator, Saddam Hussein, has shown what can happen when the West intervenes in other countries, opening a new can of worms, further public disorder and unrest with daily new outrages caused by the Sunni militants (possibly backed by Al Qaeda) and other dissatisfied factions. Assad may have to have been heavy handed in the past to suppress sedition and daily we can now see what happens when his opponents are let loose. If Assad goes, what then? Do you believe it will be better? The Syrian people might well ask themselves if it is better to be right and dead because before much longer, many more, including innocent women and children, will be slaughtered and the Country reduced to rubble.

I reiterate my earlier call that a better solution to these problems-one that the Syrian general public might feel they can get behind is the reintroduction of the Monarchy. Not with absolute power but within the constitution. The Syrians (and Iraquis) have had a king before and I believe the royal family has living members. The same can be said of Libya. All these countries need a unifying force and a Monarch can be very beneficial as can be seen with King Carlos in Spain. Incidentally, to my mind, Persia went downhill the moment they deposed the Shah. One can see a trend here. Poor Monarch and little or no solid constitution leads to overthrow and division. A dictator comes to power, ruling with an iron fist so that opposition is suppressed and underground. The West finally intervenes, bloodshed follows and chaos results. You can see the same thing happening in Afghanistan.

Muslims in Syria, Iraq, Egypt and Libya might ask why Allah is not coming to their aid. I remember watching a film about the Jews in a Concentration Camp put Yahweh on trial for neglecting his people and finding him culpable. Might not the Muslim communities around the world ask the same question? Let's face it- if there are a billion Muslims in the world praying five times a day, I calculate that since Mohammed's day there must have been about 2,737,500,000,000,000 prayers said. Out of this huge number, statistically some must come true but not once has Allah indicated to the Islamicists whether it is better to follow the Shi'ite or the Sunni tradition, despite millions of people being slaughtered supporting one or the other. I wonder if any of them have thought the unthinkable and considered that the reason for this is that Allah does not exist other than as a figment in the imagination of a sixth century mystic?