TIME WE HEARD ?

I think it was in July, 2009 that the Chilcot Inquiry into the events leading up to the Iraq War was set up, although it was November of that year before the first witnesses were called.  Those open sessions went on until February, 2011 - over a year ago - so I wondered why we haven`t yet heard about the publication of the Inquiry`s Report.

It seems as though the process has been beset with `difficulties,` including an ongoing wrangle with Government Departments about the declassification of certain material, and problems with the turnover of the Inquiry`s support staff.   Nonetheless, the `good news` is that, having concluded the public hearings over a year ago, the written and oral evidence received by the Inquiry members `is currently being analysed` and the report being drafted.

The not so good news is that the co-operation of Government Departments might at best be slow and reluctant and then there is the problem that, if the Inquiry wishes to criticise any individual (names on a postcard, please) then in line with the agreed protocol relating to witnesses, the individual would need to be informed of said criticism and offered the opportunity to make representations to the Inquiry before the report can be finalised.   

The latest information is that  the Inquiry has advised the Government `that it will need at least until summer 2012 to produce even a draft report - and very probably longer.   And so it seems we have all the classic hallmarks of fudge in the making - booted into the long grass citing problems of process and protocol, in the hope that by the time the `negotiated report` is finally presented to the Prime Minister, the great British public will have forgotten what it was all about anyway.

Until March 2010 - two years ago - the Inquiry had already cost £2,300,000 never mind `incidentals` such as the sum of £27,000 just for Tony Blair`s security when he deigned to attend, so the cost in the end is going to be very substantial indeed.   Now I won`t mind that if at the end of it all we get a clear, rational, informative, incisive report that we can trust and believe in.   Trouble is, I`m not that keen on fudge and I have the feeling we might well be getting quite a lot of it.   If we ever get it at all.

ABSENCE OF MALICE ?

There`s a memorable scene in Sydney Pollack`s 1981 masterpiece, Absence of Malice, when an Assistant US Attorney General, James A Wells, played by the wonderful Wilford Brimley, turns up at the Miami Courthouse.   He`s there to investigate whether false evidence has been planted in the local newspaper designed to incriminate someone entirely innocent and whether, if so, the newspaper and the local District Attorney`s office have a case to answer.

During his inquiries, it comes to light that the DA`s office might have leaked a story to the newspaper, which then published it, which prompts James A Wells to declare, "You had a leak?  You call what`s goin` on around here a leak?   Boy, the last time there was a leak like this Noah built himself a boat!!"

I was reminded of this exchange yesterday when I heard the news that we here in deepest Kent are to be hit with a hosepipe ban from 5th April, due to the drought conditions as a result of months of unseasonably dry weather.   Now, we get our water supplied by a private company called South East Water.   They just supply it but it costs me about £350 a year.   Another private company - Southern Water - takes the water away in the form of sewage or highway drainage, for which I cough up about another £400 a year for the privilege.

I have just paid the first half year`s installment on each of these bills, but I did so reluctantly, especially as  Water Companies across the country are responsible for leaks which amount to a staggering 3,356million litres of water lost each and every day.   They`re not my figures, they`re from Ofwat, the water industry regulator.  I`m surprised Noah hasn`t been in touch.   

The legal definition of the hosepipe ban means "they cannot be used on gardens, plants, cars or boats for "recreational use"; to fill or maintain ponds, pools or fountains; and to clean paths, walls, windows or other artificial outdoor surfaces," so I might reasonably expect a rebate as the service I`ve paid for has been reduced, but I`m pretty sure I won`t get one.   

So I guess I will just have to shrug my shoulders and put up with it, but it seems to me that the ban, the £1,000 fine for transgressing it, the reduced service, the absence of a rebate and the appalling level of leakage all point to the fact that the customer once again with these utility companies comes a poor second to the profit motives for their shareholders.   James A Wells might call it malicious.

...AND I KNOW WHO`S DOING WHICH..

Most days when I take Barney for his walkies, we drive to different places where he can be off the lead and have a good scamper around - it not only keeps life interesting but also keeps him used to car travel.   Anyway, we have at least six petrol stations/garages within a five mile radius of home and as we have driven past at least three of them over the past week or so, I`ve noticed that the price of petrol has been going steadily up and up.   

Today, unleaded petrol was on offer at £1.39.9p per litre - an increase of at least 5p a litre over the last week.   I don`t know why they mess around with the .9 of a penny business - much easier to call it £1.40 a litre.   I think - but I`m not too sure - that works out at well over £6 a gallon.   Now we know that, for each £1 spent on petrol, 82p goes in taxes to the government, so I don`t complain about the price of petrol - I complain about the punitive amount of tax involved. 

But it got me thinking just how much tax I`m shelling out each month.   There`s the direct tax whipped away from my monthly pension before I ever see it;   the VAT on just about everything, the indirect taxes on things like wines, spirits, beer, cigarettes, insurance premium tax, betting and gaming duty, air passenger duty and the rest.   Fortunately for me, but not HM Gov., I don`t drink, smoke, gamble or fly anywhere and I`m not sure I could afford to even if I wanted to do all those things because the burden of taxation is becoming serious.

Other things that add to my frustration include, for example, the recently announced rise yet again in the cost of tolls for using the Dartford Crossing which was supposed to be free once the original construction costs had been met - which they were years ago.    And it doesn`t help when local councils reject pleas to forego increases in council tax and put them up anyway, none of which helps pensioners like me struggling to survive on a fixed income in the most trying financial circumstances.     

The cost of pretty ordinary everyday stuff like bread and milk has risen sharply and although I am nowhere near approaching penury, I can well imagine how difficult life has become for thousands of people across the country and especially at the wrong end of the social divide.  Seems to me that in the game of give and take I`m doing a lot of the giving and the tax man is doing most of the taking. So what`s the answer?   Well, it might be time to move to Greece where it seems others are doing the giving and the Greeks are being bailed out.

I wonder what Barney would make of that, especially as the world probably makes more sense to a golden retriever than it does to me.

NOT SO FAST - PART 2

The plot thickens.   Not long after my original post about the wisdom or otherwise of handing the England manager`s job to `Arry Redknapp, along come some hints that things may not be as cut and dried as most of the clamouring punters believe.

First, Redknapp himself was reported to be in contract talks with his present club, Tottenham Hotspur, whose Chairman, Daniel Levy, seems genuinely keen for `Arry to stay at White Hart Lane.   The former Football Association chairman, Lord Triesman, has declared that Roy Hodgson `would fit the bill` for the England job which, as current West Brom manager and former Maidstone United left back, allied to his international management experience and urbane manner, he might well.   Hodgson has stalled his own contract talks with West Brom, as he feels it wouldn`t be right to commit himself until the Baggies are secure from relegation.

Now it`s perfectly possible to take all this stuff at face value, but being ever the optimist and avowed conspiracy theorist, I rather hope it means that Tottenham are making Redknapp an offer he can`t and won`t refuse and that Hodgson is keeping his powder dry awaiting the call from FA headquarters.   Today Redknapp`s son, Jamie, has expressed fears that the England role might cause too much stress for his dad, so he doesn`t seem keen.

It all points to the attractive notion that the FA power brokers might well be prepared to fly in the face of `public demands` and turn to the more acceptable option of Roy Hodgson.  

It seems also that Hodgson would be happy to work with Stuart Pearce et al behind the scenes at Wembley, whereas Redknapp would almost certainly demand to have his long standing henchmen around him - Joe Jordan, Clive Allen, Steve Sherwood and the inevitable Kevin Bond, who performs the useful function of being Redknapp`s `driver` from their respective south coast mansions to work every day.

All of that might just be a demand too high and unnecessary for the FA, so there is hope yet that we may, after all, get it right rather than get it soon.

MORE THAN MOST..

It`s been a bad day.   One of those days when you really do wonder what it`s all about, what we`re doing in Afghanistan, how the  families, friends and brothers in arms of the six young men killed in action yesterday must now be feeling.

Now, I unhesitatingly share in the sorrow and grief as the number of casualties we have lost in that God forsaken, seemingly hopeless endeavour reaches 400.   Far too many, far too young and lost to us in what might result in a fruitless exercise of playing our part, doing more than our fair share, in the multi-national force engaged in this mad pursuit.   I know there are many others who share my own feelings that enough is surely enough, but the real tragedy will be that these 400 lost souls may well have been sacrificed in vain as the outcome for any sense of permanent `solution` seems ever more unlikely.

It all reminds me of the remarks alleged to have been made by John Reid who, as Defence Secretary in the Blair government,  is reported to have said that it would all be over in a matter of weeks without a shot being fired.  In fact and to be fair to him, there is no public record of him saying that he "hoped" British troops would be able to leave Afghanistan without firing a single shot.

What Reid actually said - as he described in parliament in answer to an enquiry from Michael Ancram, MP, in 2009, was that troops were there to help the Afghan reconstruction effort, and that they would be "would be perfectly happy" to leave without firing a shot.

But regardless of this nuance, more than six years on and in the face of our troop fatalities now reaching 400, this is the kind of phrase that seems bound to come back to haunt those in office at the time.   Now I am not a fan of `New Labour,` certainly not a fan of Tony Blair, most definitely not enamoured with Scottish politicians in the Westminster parliament; but I have no doubt that one person who mourns the tragic loss of so many of our brave, young men and women more than most, is the now ennobled Lord Reid of Cardowan.  

NO CHANCE...

It seems to be the season for compromising democracy.   We all know about dodgy elections - anything from banana republics electing `Presidents` through to the one party state that is FIFA and the endless embarrassment that is Sepp Blatter.   Now we have the gentleman in the picture above, giving us a finger and a vacant expression, the vaguely familiar Belgian Eurocrat, Herman Van Rompuy,  who has just been elected unopposed as President of the European Council.


Now Mr. Van Rompuy seems beset with delusions of adequacy, or maybe they`re just delusions.   For example, he declared in his `acceptance speech` that the Eurozone was `on the road to recovery,` which pretty much typifies the delusions to be found in Brussels.   But perhaps even more worrying was his assertion that national parliaments are now EU institutions.


"Decisions by one national parliament - be it in Germany or Ireland, in Slovakia or Portugal - are watched all over Europe.   Maybe not formally speaking, but at least politically speaking, all national parliaments have become, in a way, European institutions," he declared on the eve of his `re-election.`


Now if we lived in truly democratic times, we would expect to have an election for the post of President of the European Council, with rival candidates, different political philosophies to ponder and a choice of who we considered to be the most suitable person to hold this important post.   But not a bit of it.   Van Rompuy has simply been handed another two years in power without an election and once again the people of Europe have been given no chance to have a voice of their own.


Maybe I shouldn`t be too surprised given the recent examples of centrally imposed rule by the EU over Greece and Italy which are but two more in a growing list of instances where democracy seems to be compromised in order to further the political dreams of the Eurocrats, however unrealistic and out of touch they may be.


Watch out for Van Rompuy and his chums - they not only sound deluded but also a bit dangerous, especially to our fading national democracies.

A BINARY DAY..

Over the years, the fortunes of Snopper Street`s footy teams have fluctuated between moon jumping and parrot sickness.   But I doubt whether, in all those years, there`s been  a day quite like yesterday.

Mr. Slightly`s battling Gillingham side made the long journey to cash strapped Plymouth and came away with a 0-1 win, thanks to a 30-yard screamer from Joe Martin.   This victory, hard on the heels of a remarkable televised game in the week when the Gills came back from 2-4 down with ten minutes to go to snatch a 5-4 win in the dying seconds, will hopefully see them return to the League Two play-off spots before long.

Meanwhile, the seemingly unstoppable Charlton made the not quite so long journey down to Bournemouth and came away with a 0-1 win thanks to a last gasp header from Yann Kermogant, keeping the Addicks pretty much out of sight at the top of League One.   The only disappointment yesterday was the continued absence of our street`s hard working pacy wideman, Scott (Buzzin six pack) Wagstaff who is finding it difficult to force his way back into the starting line-up all the time Charlton manager Chrissy (The Legend) Powell seems reluctant to change a winning team.

As for my beloved Saints, well they took a flight from Southampton to Leeds where in another televised encounter they came away from Elland Road with a 0-1 win over the Damned United, thanks to a thunderous volley from Rickie Lambert Southampton`s Goal Machine (RLSGM) and a heroic rearguard action from the Saints back four and in particular veteran keeper Kelvin Davis.   Those hard fought three points keep the Saints on top of the Championship, in real danger of promotion back to the Premier League.

So, yesterday saw a remarkable treble - nine points out of a possible nine;  all three victories away from home in each of three different divisions and with three identical scores - 0-1,0-1,0-1 - a Binary Day if ever I saw one.   I wonder what the odds might have been for an outcome like this or, for that matter, for it ever happening again.   I`m sure my neighbour Mr. Slightly, a financial wizard vastly experienced in the dark arts of having a flutter would know better than me.