Max Clifford fails to make a star

I struggle to get my head around this, but Ms Fisher enlisted publicist Max Clifford to sell her story to a national newspaper for £50,000. She was at a G20 demonstration, a police officer hit her with a baton, she got a bruised arm and he was later cleared of common assault. That’s it, nothing else to add yet once again Clifford gets involved. I suppose it pays for the lovely house in Marbella!


nick

More Airport Dodgy Dealings

I've been contacted about my post of the 17th, regarding the weighing of luggage at airports. Enquiries are ongoing at this time by the appropriate authority so I'll leave it at that. However, someone else contacted me yesterday regarding the post. It seems it rang a familiar bell with them and they recalled a story from two weeks ago whilst travelling back from the Canaries. Apparently she was behind a man at check-in who placed his suitcase on the scales to be told it was two kilos over the allowance. He replied that it was impossible as he had been below the allowance flying out, had bought absolutely nothing that he was taking home and in fact had binned a pair of trainers and used toiletries whilst away, so the suitcase should have been lighter. Upon hearing this, the check-in girl simply said 'ok' and allowed the suitcase through without any payment!

I'm starting to get extremely suspicious about this potential 'excess baggage' scam.


nick

The future for the Premier League

A pal sent me this article, don't know where it's from, but it makes for worrying reading for those who love football.


There are worries of the financing of TV for premier League Football. The seventeen years of the expansion of the Premier League has been built largely on television money, but possible upcoming changes to the regulations regarding digital television in England could see the once seemingly endless increase of money being paid to the clubs by Sky Sports start to dry up somewhat. At a Premier League meeting three weeks ago, Richard Scudamore admitted as much to the chairmen of the twenty members of the league. The response, according to one source at the meeting, was “stunned silence”.

The Premier League’s business plan is utterly, hopelessly dependent upon a constant stream of money. More than prize money or gate receipts, it is the bed rock upon which the illusion of the league’s wealth is built. The concerns of the Premier League are very real, though. Prompted by complaints that Sky are too dominant in the pay TV market from rivals BT Vision, Virgin and Top-Up TV, the industry regulator Ofcom launched an investigation into the market, in particular focussing on the high cost to these rivals of carrying Sky’s premium sports and movie channels. The results didn’t make for very encouraging reading for Sky.

Ofcom’s intention is to force Sky to cut the cost of the sale of their services to their rivals by something up to one third. Such reductions would be likely to introduce something of a price war, with significant reductions being passed on to consumers. It would also have knock-on effects that would go on to affect Premier League football clubs. On the one hand, if revenues are due to drop, Sky may decide to bid less for sports rights next time around.
Just over a third of Manchester United’s income comes from the domestic television money that they receive, but down at the foot of the table Sky’s pot of gold accounts for considerably more. According to The Times, “the latest accounts for Hull City showed that 84% of the almost £40m increase in turnover it has enjoyed since promotion was from broadcast money”.

The Premier League is sitting on a time bomb and it has three options to deal with it. The current contract isn’t up until 2013, which gives clubs three years to cut their cloth accordingly. Considering the way in which most Premier League football clubs deal with their finances, this seems unlikely. They could pass these costs on to supporters through increasing season ticket sales again, but the pattern of season ticket sales over the last couple of seasons would seem to indicate that the glass ceiling of what supporters – even the most loyal – are prepared to pay for their seats would appear to be close, if not already actually reached. This would be a high risk gamble. The third option would be for the twenty Premier League football clubs to put their fingers in their ears and sing very loudly. It says something about the level of confidence that most people have in those running Premier League clubs that many supporters would pick the latter of the most likely of those three scenarios.


nick

Sky's Merchants of Doom & Gloom

I reckon it’s got to the point where there should be a government health warning permanently displayed onscreen on Sky News. If they didn’t take themselves so seriously it would be laughable. These broadcasting terrorists spray their fear like ricin on a Tokyo subway. The world has managed to overcome the recession that they predicted would bankrupt us all. Avian flu and Swine flu were to decimate the human race similar to the asteroid that did for the dinosaurs. The death of Michael Jackson or Katie Price’s divorce, no story is too small to justify not sending Jeremy Thompson and the vacuous Kay Burley on a jolly to. Thompson thinks he has the gravitas of Richard Dimbleby and Kay is just…..well…. callous and snide a la Peter Andre’s grilling on a personal and private matter that should have stayed just that, not drilled home to the point of making a grown man cry.

Now the alarmist focus is on the BA strike and the RMT’s decision to also strike. “It’s just like the winter of discontent of 1978 only it’s spring and 2010 and in 1978 the strikes were about low-pay and now they’re about saving jobs” said Sky’s reporter tonight, with the cue to show piles of uncollected rubbish adorning Leicester Square nearly 32 years ago. So it’s nothing like 1978 then!

Whether Thompson and Burley will fancy presenting from outside a rain sodden Terminal 5 at Heathrow remains to be seen.


nick

A scam or a simple mistake?

Here’s an interesting thought that’s come to light this morning. Our youngest daughter is flying off to Spain to stay a week with a pal from University who’s studying Spanish. Once aboard a train to get to the airport (I’m not saying which), she started worrying about baggage weight. So at the rail terminus she weighed her suitcase at the appropriate office. It checked in at 13.6 kgs, well within the 15 kgs limit.

Now the suspicious bit; at the baggage desk of a well known budget airline and without anyone opening the suitcase between the railway station and the airport, the bag suddenly weighed 17.3 kgs! Unfortunately for the airline, she made a quick shift around of items into hand luggage, so the £40 extra that was expected as they charge £20 per kg over the allowance, did not materialise.

I have reported the matter to the relevant authority, which is why I’m not naming the airport or the airline. I am extremely concerned that until I know any different, it appears that the scales used at airport check-ins may be rigged in the airlines favour. How often are the scales calibrated and by whom? I’ve often seen folks getting hit with excess charges at airports, but it has never crossed my mind before that these may have been as a result of a criminal deception. I hope I’m wrong on this one and I’ll report back with any developments, but my instinct has a nasty gut feeling.


nick
a

There must be no cover-up concerning this allegation

My former council colleague Neil Rogers is 100% spot on with his call for an independent inquiry into the appalling claims that child protection referrals in Wrexham have been “binned” in the past. I am saddened and certainly not re-assured to read Wrexham’s Chief executive Isobel Garner readily admit “we found one or two irregularities” and that the team manager was the subject of disciplinary proceedings.

The most vulnerable members of our society deserve better than that. If they have been denied the best possible protection in the past and indeed placed into positions of danger, then those responsible need to be brought to account. If as I suspect this matter has been exacerbated by the swingeing and miserly budget cuts wielded year upon year by the present administration of ‘anyone but Labour’, we all have a right to know!


nick

Ashok Kumar MP

Sad news coming through that Ashok Kumar, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland has died. He was just 53 years old.


nick

What?

Nick Clegg as printed in the Economist:

"I have never been foolish enough to try and rule great things in or out, other than rule one thing in, which is that I am not going to put the cart before the horse, and I will wait to see what people say in response to the pitch we are making. We are still in the foothills of making that pitch. That will come to a crescendo in the general election campaign. Once we then know how the cookie crumbles as far as the vote is concerned, then we deal with that."


nick

The misery that is 'anti-social behaviour'

There’ll be more shock horror headlines in tomorrows papers over this dreadful story. No doubt the tabloids will terrorise their readers and probably throw the names of poor Garry Newlove, David Morley, Fiona Pilkington and her daughter Francecca amongst others into the mix. But the really sad part of the story will be that the headlines will be right, we as a nation are still putting up with the rubbish behaviour that takes these unfortunate victims to premature deaths.

Why is it that successive government, irrespective of political persuasion, simply can’t get to grips with anti-social behaviour? Over 30 years ago I was visiting residents in certain parts of Wrexham who were living in fear of evenings and weekends when their lives were rendered intolerable by gangs of youths who haunted the streets of their estates. Then we had 18 years of Tory waffle, describing themselves as the ‘party of law and order’ and nothing changed in the anti-social behaviour world. It hasn’t changed since 1997 either, despite ASBOs, CRASBOs, PCSOs and the farcical yellow card system.

No one should have to endure someone else’s bullying behaviour to the point where they suffer in their own homes. It really is time to say enough is enough and get to grips with the problem with sentences that spell it out loud and clear. The longer it is put off, the harder it becomes to overcome. The overwhelming majority of citizens in our country have had a bellyful and deserve better.


nick

Time to start paying carers a realistic allowance

We finished off assessing the carer’s small grants applications this afternoon and hopefully those who have qualified will be receiving theirs in the very near future. One of the things that struck me as I read through them though, was how many people simply don’t claim what is theirs by right, carer’s allowance.

The current carer’s weekly rate is £53.10 and there are some restrictions. For instance, if you receive certain other benefits at £53.10 or more a week, carer's allowance cannot be paid to you as well. Has anyone who sets these rules any idea whatsoever how little £53.10 actually is? Quite a few of the grant applications I read were from carers who wanted a short break away somewhere, often with the cared for person who may be their partner. Nothing too extravagant, just a simple break to re-charge batteries or experience a change of scenery from the same four walls. It’s £10 just to go and watch ‘Alice in Wonderland’ here in Wrexham. So £20+ for a couple that happen to be a carer and cared for, doesn’t leave much out of £53.10.

Around 1 in 8 adults in the UK is a carer and it’s estimated that all together they save the country £87billion a year. Actually they save us way more than that because annually £740 million carer’s benefits are unclaimed. Isn’t it time we took a serious look at £53.10 and re-assessed it within reasonable living standards? We could also look at re-vamping the claim form too and make it a whole lot less daunting, particularly for elderly claimants.


nick

Problems in Perspective

I took part in the first session of sifting through the mountain of applications for a Carers small grant yesterday. There is a great deal of sadness mixed in with the pleasure of knowing we are helping many Carers who have applied to AVOW for a small amount of funding to help with decorating, gardening or a short holiday. When one reads of applications to help pay for a few days away together because this time next year a cared for partner simply won't be here, you can't help but be moved. It's a humbling experience to be taking part in, but more importantly it is a startling reminder that a lot of the superfluous crap that goes on in our lives is exactly that, superfluous. The circumstances facing so many of our fellow citizens means they have little to be thankful for, yet they face each day with such fortitude and optimism. Life, health and happiness really are the only goals that truly matter.


nick

Ian Lucas MP

My thanks go to Ian Lucas MP who kindly dragged First Minister Carwyn Jones over to Lori's desk to introduce her to him at this morning's launch of the new Solar Centre at Sharp in Llay. He did the same a short while back and introduced her to Ed Milliband.

A nice gesture, thanks Ian.


nick

http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/85994/first-minister-opens-landmark-solar-centre-in-wrexham.aspx

Michael Foot

Just got back from a meeting in Newtown, had a cd on in the car, so only heard about Michael Foot seconds ago. A truly great life.


nick

Prevent crime and the rates will improve.

It's difficult to say 'things were better in my day' without sounding like some old reactionary, but sorry, they were!

The PM's right about it not being acceptable to meet targets, but in my day it simply wasn't done, not to be out on the street. And we're not even talking about Victorian policing, but the 70s and 80s. We had 5 beats within Wrexham town centre and a PC was allocated to each one for the shift. If anything untoward happened while you were away from that beat you had some explaining to do. Similarly, if a supervisor was on that beat and called for you and you weren't around you could expect some grief. We were kicked out the police station on mornings by 6.10 to check town centre properties, before a tea break at 7. The system worked fine, it had done for years and years. Then along came bloody Thatcher. Amazing what a few QPMs dished out amongst ACPO will achieve, well she did plan on us to oversee the heart of mining communities getting torn out! We were told by senior management that 'the public aren't getting value for money when you're walking the beat doing nothing', so we had to start upping the bookings and Fixed penalty tickets were introduced to get those tills ringing even faster.

Ann so when I took Sarah to the railway station at 6.20 this morning and saw absolutely zero Police presence throughout the town, is that value for money? While I acknowledge things are different today, I don't accept that either a better service is provided or that the service is better value for money. Switching the responsibility for the protection of life and property over to CCTV cameras and operators may have been a cute move by Chief Constables, but long term the public has suffered. Maybe if the prevention of crime was actually measured as a positive outcome we could all sleep a little more soundly in our beds.


nick