WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Wendyf]

Hi Eileen, nice to see that you are still popping in to the site when you can.

[Cathy]

Thankyou for your reply Nolic, as long as you are OK

[Nolic]

It seems like there are some nasty scenes in Nelson centre at the moment.
t appears that some Muslims decided to demonstrate possible around the charges against the two from Nelson who tried to interfere with the PIA flight on Friday. It seems they announced yesterday that white people should stay out of Nelson and that has inflamed the EDL. Lots of fighting, police in the middle and a number of people hurt. Nolic

[Stanley]

Eileen, nice to hear fronm you! Get fit and back o0n full song as early as you can!
Comrade, sad thing is that the majority of Muslims in Nelson are hard working family people and will be as angry as we are about the actions of yobs like that. I hope the police nip them in the bud!

[hartley353]

It is now 48 years since I left Nelson for the charms of Manchester. At that time it was attracting a growing Asian population, in the summer of 64 my little sister then aged 10 years old came home in tears. It would appear three asian youths had made advances towards her and her friends,and followed them home. Now nearly 50 years on we are reading of systematic abuse by asian youths on young girls happenning in most cities and large towns. How long has this been going on, and how long has the establishment Known of it and done nothing. We live in a multicultural society now, and I believe this is for the better. Would it not be to the good of all that we should culturely work together to make this a better country, and maybe a better world before the prophetic words of Enoch Powel come to pass.

[Thomo]

Much truth in that. We had a case of "Grooming" with a family friend in Burnley. Then last year my wife's colleague a 65 year old lady dragged to the ground and brutally kicked in Nelson, in front of her terrified Grandchildren. Where there are many, there will always be the few who for whatever reason, will spoil the chances of the remainder. I always found Nelson to be a friendly place during my six years at college there, yet this was before the gates opened, sadly it is not the same any more. Who would be a "Copper", Damned if they do, and Damned if they don't.

[Cathy]

Our Grandma (died in 1972) often went from Barnoldswick to Nelson for 'a day out'. Glad she isn't around to see what's happening.

[Marilyn]

May I just point out that the people that the English refer to as "Asian" are not the same race of people we ( in Oz) refer to as Asian.

[Thomo]

Marilyn, the nearest we dare go to when talking about our Asians is "Of Pakistani Descent" most other descriptions being considered racist. Cathy, what happened to Nelson was not good, when two thirds of the original population, mostly Lancastrian or Yorkshire folk were steadily replaced by people of a non local ethnic background. These people came here to improve their general situation, and having twice visited Pakistan I can understand why, they are however held together by a common bond which is religion, integration at a high level is therefore a non starter as that religion is locked in an earlier age. Many people in this country consider that much damage has been done, and many are afraid to say so, racism has become a single edged sword. This of course breeds fringe groups like the NF and EDL, usually labelled thugs and fascists. There is a very fine line here between right and wrong, and it is heavily biased in the favour of the immigrants, the authorities are "hamstrung" having to tread very carefully or risk their careers. The Union Flag flies over our garden, not as a sign of defiance, but as solidarity with the family of a Serviceman butchered needlessly in this country. Even writing as I do here, I have to be careful to "tippy toe" my way through it, as I have already been described as racist by a fellow member, for that he is forgiven.

[Bodger]

I may have posted this before, but i'm sure the Ozzie readers wont mind
http://www.youtube.com/embed/2kpjnGWPmj0

[Stanley]

The strange and almost miraculous report from China about the woman who gave birth while using a squat toilet. The emergency services cut the pipe out with the baby in it, took it to hospital and peeled the pipe off like a banana. The baby survived! (LINK)

[EileenDavid]

How quickly the weather changes here absolutely bucketing it down today. Eileen

[Cathy]

I didn't go into the link about the chinese baby cause I have watched the story on tv here, but how sad that China has a one child policy. They say the mother was either unaware that she had given birth or she is a single mother who knew that the government there doesn't recognise illegitimate children in their system and felt she had to get rid of it. I don't think the government 'values life'. But ofcourse the reaction from the public has been very different with lots of people donating things for the baby and some even offering to adopt the baby. What must that poor Mother be going thru?

Be interesting to know how many abortions are performed in China.

[Tardis]

Reply from Pendle Council re: Council Tax

Thank you for your e-mail. Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying which has been due to other work commitments.


To put my response into some context, it is worthwhile providing some background to the Council Tax charge.


Council Tax is a property and person based tax (the former referring to the basic charge, the latter reflecting that single persons are entitled to a 25% discount). Fundamentally, the payment of Council Tax is not directly a payment for the consumption of services. Pendle, as Billing Authority, collects Council Tax not only for itself but for Lancashire County Council, the Lancashire Police and Crime Commissioner, the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Authority (these local authorities are referred to Major Preceptors) and Town/Parish Councils (Local Preceptors). Indeed, c85% of the Council Tax collected is, in fact, payable to those other local authorities.


Returning to the payment of Council Tax, the law requires Council Tax to be paid in full in advance. There are, however, provisions within legislation that allow the Council to accept payment by instalment. Up until the most recent changes, the Council was allowed to permit payment of Council Tax by 10 monthly instalments; the recent changes now mean that Residents can opt to pay by 12 monthly instalments. As indicated above, payment of Council Tax is not for services received hence it is not, as you suggest, a payment in advance of such services being provided. I should also add that, unlike gas/electric – but not water – charges where the Supplier disconnects non-payers from their supply, the Council is not able to, directly, withdraw services for non payment.


As for the requirement for residents to pay their Council Tax by instalments, as Billing Authority, Pendle is required by legislation to pay a precept to each of Major Preceptors on a monthly basis; payments to local preceptors are made twice a year, on or around 1st April and on or around 1st October. These payments must be made irrespective of the amount of Council Tax collected by Pendle. If the Council did not collect Council Tax on at least a monthly basis, it would be necessary for the Council to borrow funds to pay its precepts.


It is not the case that the Council pays all its bills in arrears. Along with the payments to Preceptors referred to above, there are a range of payments that are made in advance – Insurance premiums, Business Rates, Housing Benefits, VAT, Capital Expenditure (in advance of borrowing) and so on. Again, Council Tax income provides the cashflow to allow the Council to make these payments. Of course, this is a simplified explanation of the Council’s cashflow arrangements which comprise daily cash in/outflows from/to a range of sources of which Council Tax is just one.


At present, the Council offers residents who pay by Direct Debit, three payment dates – 1st, 20th and 31st (or the end) of each month. Other than that, payments are generally due on the 1st of each month. The Council considers these payment date options reasonable in the context of balancing the Council’s cashflow requirement with those of residents. It is also fair to say that the majority of residents appear content to pay on the dates agreed by the Council as annually we collect c97% of Council Tax. In the event a resident is having difficulty paying their Council Tax, we encourage them to contact the Council and, subject to an assessment of their circumstances, we may come to an arrangement to pay their outstanding liability.


In relation to Council Tax Support, as you may be aware, this is not a payment by the Council to a resident, it is a discount applied to the Council Tax Liability thereby reducing the amount that a resident has to pay in Council Tax. The discount is applied at the time that it becomes applicable.


Housing Benefit is a different issue. Firstly, from the Council’s perspective, there is no direct relationship between the payment of Housing Benefit to a resident and their payment of Council Tax to the Council; they are two entirely different transactions. Secondly, the Council merely acts as an Agent for Central Government in the administration of Housing Benefit. The Scheme of Housing Benefit is nationally determined and whilst the amounts payable may be determined by local rental markets, the frequency of payment is determined generally by Government with limited local influence.


Finally, whilst I acknowledge your final comment, the Council can only do what it is permitted by law to do. In compliance with the Council Tax (Administration and Enforcement) Regulations 1992, the Council has allowed payment of Council Tax by 10 instalments since the legislation was introduced. There were no provisions within law to allow payment by 12 instalments prior to 1st April 2013.

[Stanley]

The fact that the pope must be worried about the lack of leadership in the RC church in Scotland. The damage done by the abusive priests is enormous and still ongoing.

[rossylass]

This joke which I have also posted on the lovely pussycat forum. It was posted on Facebook and really tickled me. I hope it will do the same for you.

A Yorkshire man takes his cat to the vet. Yorkshireman: "Ayup, lad, I need to talk to thee about me cat." Vet: "Is it a tom?" Yorkshireman: "Nay, I've browt it wi me".

rossylass
Regular User

Posts: 103
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Has thanked: 29 times
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[rossylass]

Just read the stuff about Asian men grooming girls etc. Sexual abuse happens within all communities and I think the highest incidence is within families - not in the main incestuous. Men target vulnerable women who have children, move in and bingo! For many years I worked as a social worker in Manchester and if a known sex offender moved in with a family the mother was informed. More often than not the mother would choose to believe that her newly resident boyfriend was the victim of a misunderstanding, or the like, even when faced with the evidence and sometimes children had to be removed from the situation because the mother's need for "love" and companionship overrode the needs of her offspring. It has to do with poor self esteem and loneliness and the only way to combat it is to make our women stronger and less needy.

The grooming of children for the sexual gratification of adults is a crime and should be dealt with accordingly, but I fear, as is the case with poor Drummer Lee Rigby, that we are placing the wrong emphasis on these crimes. With the Asian men it is their modus operandi which appalls us and as regards the murder, which as far as we know is what it is, justice will take it's course.

We need to get things into proportion, or there will be rivers of blood as a result of the press and the social media!

So there!

[Thomo]

What made the episode in Burnley particularly nasty was that the youths had got the parents phone numbers. When this 12 year old girl was out with her friends, the parents would get calls such as this:- "Where's your little baby girl now then?" and these parents already had enough problems, having an autistic younger son. The girl was "grounded" and remains damaged by what happened to this day!!!

[Tardis]

The flag and flowers on the cenotaph to Lee Ripley

[Moh]

Regarding the Council Tax - we got our band reduced when we moved here, dated back to 1994, and we got our repayments reduced quite substantially for the remainder of that year,. (we had only been here 3 years - shame the previous owner did not do it). We found out via a website that our immediate neighbours and one across the road with identical bungalows were paying less so we queried it.

[Cathy]

What happened to the new Sundial topic, I went in and saw that Wendy had popped a photo there, i pressed the hand/thumby thing to thank her and then my computer wouldn't give me OG back, so I refreshed it and now there is no Sundial topic.

That's all I did... honest!

It's back, phew.

[Stanley]

Ian was shifting it from the practice thread to local history Cathy. You must have been on as he was doing it. You have not broken the site! Mind you, the last time it went down I was convinced I had done it! Hopefully we will soon have a strategy for dealing with the faults, we're meeting on Thursday to finalise the changes. That's right! We may have to re-learn some things but it will be worth it!

I stumbled across THIS this morning and it interested me. They reckon they have reduced the recidivism rate from 2 in 3 to 1 in 3 and for lesser crimes. Sounds like a good initiative.

[Tizer]

Stanley, the Homeboy gang prevention web page is interesting. I often think the best way to get rid of gangs is by better educating children - if they have more understanding of the world, feel they've got a better chance in life, and are better equipped to debate, analyse and argue then they won't join gangs. Perhaps you saw the news story the other day about the police catching a whole gang - they were daft enough to put photos of their gang activities on the Internet and to send online messages to each other boasting about their bad deeds. The police just followed it through and caught them all! The gangs are a sink for poorly educated kids.

I'm glad to hear the BBC has caught out MP Patrick Mercer accepting money for lobbying Parliament and is making a big issue of it. One of the newspapers used the line `Lobbying is the cancer at the heart of democracy' and, for once, I have to agree with them - how can democracy operate successfully if political decisions are being influenced by what are essentially bribes? What next - Berlusconi for PM? Mind you, the newspapers are the pot calling the kettle black. They are frequently influencing the public by supporting political parties, campaigns, etc. They should be reporting news objectively but now spend most of their time doing whatever makes the most money.

[Stanley]

As I am sure you have noticed Peter, it gets worse as three peers are caught accepting money for supporting causes in the house and even promising to set up 'working groups' with the same object. I'm on record as being dead against all exerting of influence on the political process. The best source of investigative journalism is Private Eye, they name names and it's quite significant that their case must be sound as they are not taken to court. Increasingly there is evidence of Parliament taking note of their exposés, Margaret Hodge publicly congratulated them in Committee not long ago. Even more insidious, because it is hidden is the secondment of 'advisers' free to government by the big accountancy firms, remember the report in the States that proved that the relevant committee in the Treasury was staffed almost wholly by Goldman Sachs personnel? One Senator described it as 'an economic coup' against the state. Then there is the oldest system of the lot, the private conversations in bars and clubs, the system of patronage and nepotism which permeates the corridors of power. Read Harold Nicholson's diaries for a description of how the country was virtual managed from Lady Astor's dinner table at Clivedon during the 20s and 30s.
The bottom line is that it is an Augean stable that needs cleaning out. Question is, where do we find a Hercules?

[Tizer]

The general issue of secrecy in government, large institutions and large organisation was raised by author John Le Carre in his speech at the Hay Literary Festival last week. He was scathing about the secret meetings and is now particularly disturbed by the proposed secret court hearings were the accused won't hear the evidence against them.