Donal OHanlon

So HSBC have dropped in share value again (now about 391p) and have asked for a cash injection of £12.5bn. It could be worse – AIG announced $62bn quarterly losses!

At least HSBC have closed new loans to Beneficial Bank in the US, one of the two terrible purchases they made a couple of years back.

On the local news front, no news is bad news as far as Education in Bury goes. The Tories still haven’t come up with a solution for the Derby/Riverside school debacle, and we’re in real danger of losing Bury’s whole BSF (Building Schools for the Future) funding, worth about £80m amongst all the schools!

On the national news, Vince Cable (VC) has been on telly far more than Nick Clegg (Cleggy) ever manages, and he’s only been covering for him for a few days’ paternity leave. It seems clear that the visual media prefer the smooth oldie to the prep’d yoof! As a LibDem, the answer is simply to make him party spokesperson for most things – that way we get some coverage from them.

I’ve sent some questions to the ATT (Area Tasking Team – the local liaison facility between public, police & council) which meets tomorrow. I want to know about lots of things, particularly:

• What’s being done about the scallies hanging around Nutt Lane in Simister
• What local operational activities are being raised to high profile at present
• How does the policing in Prestwich compare with that in Bury centre

 I don’t expect answers – the usual “operational secrecy” clause is likely to apply, but we can ask. If we fail to get proper answers, we may have to demand it under Freedom of Information (FOI) rules which apply to last years’ activities.

The thing that gets my goat with policing in Bury is that it’s seen as a training ground for promotion. We have guys/gals on the ground who stick with us, and Chiefs at the top who often don’t even manage 12 months before they’re off to new pastures – how can we get any continuity or reliability with that?!?

OK – now onto social matters: This govt. have (in some ways, but clearly not with ID cards; 42 days detention etc.) been ambassadors of personal freedom, unfortunately the actions they’ve taken seems to have led to rocketing divorce rates in certain types of household. A recent study looked at the correlation between Working Families Tax Credit and divorce, and found that low-earners were almost encouraged to split up to increase their incomes! Quoting directly from the BBC’s interview with the professor who conducted the study,

“Prof Francesconi says the move could be linked to extra child care support that single mothers get under the scheme. He says the credit, which was one of Gordon Brown’s flagship policies, may have an “unintended consequence” of encouraging women in poor households to divorce their husbands. ”

Not only do we have high teen-pregnancy rates, which lead to single parent households, we also financially encourage those in partnerships to split! Well done, Labour – another feather in your cap!!!

TV Matters – er well, no…it doesn’t. Who really gives a toss about the early death of a reality TV personality, living their adult life and death through the TV screen? It’s sad that a mother dies when her children are young, it’s a shame that someone who could have given something to the world failed to do so, but as far as I can tell she’s most famous for being racist on screen – wow!

How much of what you see on screen makes any difference to your life? How much is just “filler” in between the fun/sad/exciting bits of your life? The only important things I’ve seen on TV were the twin towers attacks of “9/11″ and the announcement of the death of Princess Di. Both things have changed my environment, and thus my reactions to others.

Many other things have entertained me (films, good programs, even some adverts) but few have changed my world. Try turning it off until there’s something on that you really want to watch, and see how much more full & rewarding your life becomes!

Donal