For a second my heart was sinking. Was Caitlin Moran, that courageous campaigner against Twitter abuse, herself guilty of a Twitter hate crime?

But all’s well – her tweet wasn’t a vicious attack on Muslims, only against Catholics and, as we know, in the rarified atmosphere of the metropolitan media chattering class, Catholics and other Christians don’t count….

The Catholic Church – they hate women and fuck kids. On a day-to-day level, that's a tough sell.

— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) July 15, 2010

Mind you there’s always one unenlightened cynic ready to drip poison…

That is a revolting slur on hundreds of millions of members of the Church, including the overwhelming majority of Catholic clergy. 

There’s also another religious grouping she could’ve applied those tasteful “comments” to with equal lack of foundation. But then she wouldn’t have had the balls.

Oh Morningcloak….when I read your comment at this article I just knew you had a heart of stone….or maybe not…

At last – a measure of reality coming into the NHS debate from doctors who, for decades, have colluded with other health professionals to perpetuate the myth that “free at the point of entry” is a divine right set in Bevanite stone.

Payment for GP consultation is regarded as quite normal in almost every other health system based on the social insurance model (as is payment for board & lodging for hospital in-patients). It helps to cover costs and filters out those who would abuse the system.

With an increasingly elderly population we could never hope to operate a service which is both caring and efficient.

However, in return for payment, we should demand a more balanced consumer/provider relationship:

• Customer friendly hours for appointments – evenings, Saturdays etc
• Initial appointments within hours rather than two weeks
• Competition between practices to win customers by offering wider services
• Reception geared to interests of consumers rather than providers

After all this is already happening…….

Guido helpfully points out that PCS (The Public and Commercial Services Union) is very unhappy with Local Government Minister Eric Pickles who wants to stop “check off” where union subs are deducted from salary – thus funding the union directly from taxpayers and saving unions the costs of collecting it themselves

What is PCS?

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) is one of the largest trade unions in the UK, with around 270,000 members.

We are organised throughout the civil service and government agencies, making us the UK’s largest civil service trade union.

Naturally PCS links the Eric Pickles move with their general campaign against “cuts”. No doubt there will be the usual choreographed banner waving photo op demonstrating high levels of PCS “anger” – but how representative of the PCS membership is the leadership?  Not much if the turnout at the annual PCS election is any indication……less than 10% bothered to vote…

Over the last fortnight or so those bastions of the right wing press, the Telegraph and Mail, have been feeding us the narrative that David Cameron has shot the UKIP fox by sounding tough on the EU and immigration, chatting to Tory backbenchers over a Downing Street BBQ and listening to elections guru Lynton Crosby – all on the basis of one poll (several others give a different picture)

Doubtless the bright young things at Tory HQ have been schmoozing the lobby correspondents and political hacks at the DT/DM who have responded accordingly. After all they inhabit the same Westminster political/media village and, let’s face it, that village is far away from Norfolk, South Shields, Somerset or even the London suburbs, not so much geographically as temperamentally.

This is why they find the rise of UKIP as incomprehensible – it simply does not fit within the confines of the political box that constrains their view. They can only interpret events in terms of Con/Lab/Lib because….well…that’s the way it’s always been, ennit….

What they have failed to grasp is the possibility that a bunch of outsiders, with little or no contact with media hacks, lobbyists, academics, civil servants and other members of the establishment elite should begin to insert themselves into the body politic by making inroads into the electorate.

UKIP might well dip in certain polling reports as the media files the party under B for Blip – but there are certain key points that the “experts” need to remember

UKIP now have a substantial presence on quite a few local councils, controlling one and either holding the balance of power or forming the opposition in several others – party members are getting the experience of local government.

Over the last few months tens of thousands of people have joined UKIP, getting the party closer to the first goal of overtaking the Lib Dems 42,000

The party is busily consolidating and professionalising itself, using the next few months to prepare for the EU and local elections next May.

Unlike Con/Lab/Lib these new members display a degree of energy and enthusiasm that has long since drained away from the established parties

Issues such as EU membership and Immigration have only begun to be part of public debate because for many years UKIP was the only party that consistently attempted to confront them.

Above all this, however, it is not just through “policies” that political parties begin to gain traction. It is when the rest of the electorate realise that a substantial number of their fellow voters are willing to nail their colours to the party’s mast.

There has long been a disconnect between ordinary folk and the political class, evidenced by lower voter turnouts and declining party memberships. Voters began politicians and the press and broadcast “journalists” who supposedly “hold them to account”   as performers in a carefully choreographed shadow play that demanded a submissive and silent audience which could only cheer or boo on cue….a bit like the BBC’s HIGNFY

But now UKIP has given the audience the opportunity not only to get up onto the stage but also the chance to send the old established “star performers” out of the stage door and onto the pavement…

….and, believe me, the old guard don’t like it – and they will play every dirty trick in the book to keep UKIP out of the loop and break it.

Fellow UKIP members – you have been warned!!!!!

So it’s official – schools exist not to be places of learning where children acquire the social, intellectual and emotional skills to inherit and improve on their common cultural inheritance but are essentially child minding facilities designed to relieve parents of the responsibility of bringing up their own offspring.

The traditional 9am to 3pm school day does not always fit the demands of working parents, and not enough schools offer before- and after-school activities that meet childcare requirements, according to a new Government report. Childcare is a “major concern” for families, with parents often finding it difficult to arrange the right care at the right price, it says.

It’s convenient with employers because it helps to expand the workforce and maintain a pool of cheap labour. It sends a message to consumers that it’s fine to spend rather than save – goodbye deferred gratification, hello I want it now. Above all it binds families closer to the state and undermines the spirit of independence, the sheer awkward bloody mindedness that made our forefathers suspicious of government.

It’s a poisoned chalice – but do we have the will to dash it from our lips?

America gripped by second night of fury over not guilty verdict for neighbourhood watch man who shot black teenager armed only with a bag of Skittles

A quartet of low level  UK Daily Mail hacks who appear to get paid for cutting and pasting “human interest” stories from the US media could not resist parroting the “skittles” meme so beloved of those who portray Trayvon Martin as just some innocent kid walking along the street with a packet of sweets.

In a rather unbalanced piece which veers dangerously near to sympathising with  the “miscarriage of justice” mantra being orchestrated by both the radical left and the liberal elite there is, unsurprisingly, no reference to the longstanding  pre trial campaign mischaracterising and denigrating George Zimmerman waged by the establishment media.

Initially seized upon by the Democrats as an opportunity to kickstart Obama’s 2012 campaign it has now been hijacked not just by old time race card hustlers like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton but also by the tarnished apparatchiks of the Obama administration who see it as a useful tool to divert attention from their own lacklustre performance.

But skittles as a symbol of innocence might not be such the match winning factor that the shallow Mail scribblers obviously hoped for. We know that Martin’s high school career was not particularly trouble free and that he might well have not been unfamiliar with marijuana. It has also been suggested that the possession of skittles and fruit juice are two thirds of the recipe for something a little more streetworthy.

Not that the Mail and others would allow a burgeoning myth to be deflated by a cooler appraisal of events. After all  we all remember how that Tawana Brawley proved such a useful martyr for Al Sharpton…

Well, who would have thought it. A report finds that for decades the BBC  has been rather deaf to those who were worried about immigration into the UK

The report found that the BBC was too reliant on the views of politicians, who tended to steer clear of “taboo” subjects, such as immigration, and warned that “even today the debate on the BBC may not reflect the public mood”…………………….

 ……………………………….His report concluded: “The BBC was slow to reflect the weight of concern in the wider community about issues arising from immigration. “It remains the case that the agenda of debate is probably too driven by the views of politicians.

“Slow to reflect” is far too gentle a phrase. For nearly fifty years, from Enoch Powell onwards, the BBC has either demonised or ignored any individual or group raising concerns about the sheer scale of immigration into the UK – not just in the news or documentaries but in drama, “comedy” or soaps.

Well, guess what – another report  has” let the cat out of the bag” (as if most of us didn’t know already)…

The full impact of mass immigration on British life was laid bare last night by a Home Office report.

It said that half the population lives in a town or city which has experienced high levels of immigration over the past decade.

Ministers said this ‘uncontrolled’ flow had caused a number of problems for wider society, ranging from pressure on maternity services, high rates of infectious diseases and a squeeze on school places, to disproportionate levels of some types of crime, inflated rents and immigrants living in ‘beds in sheds’

Don’t expect any change from the BBC, however.  Oh they’ll prattle on about “lessons learned” and “balance” but the culture is too deeply embedded for any significant change in attitude, not just at the BBC but throughout our media and political elite where “diversity” is something to be celebrated – as long as it is far away from their own leafy streets and their children’s schools.