I was glad to hear today that the Government have announced a radical review (shake up) of prisons. Especially with regard to the imprisonment of people for relatively minor offences and at what sought of level custodial sentences should apply.

It worries me that too many young people end up in prison for the first time and find themselves in an institution that caters more for an education in crime and criminal networking rather than rehabilitaion.

If we could stop or at least drastically cut reoffending rates in the young it would save millions and ultimately improve the lives and long term prospects of thousands.

I am a firm believer that punishment should fit the crime and be seen by society to be fair. In addition we do have to accept that the only place for hardened criminal minds, and especially violent ones is imprisonment.

But one size does not fit all and whether this review is financially driven or not if it addresses the need to at least try and rehabilitate those on first time sentences as different from ‘long term remove from society criminals’ then that’s fine by me.

Oh and before you ask, no I don’t support the death sentence, but life should mean life!

There has been a rise in the number of bogus calls in the area. As a result Bury Council has created the ‘rip off register’. Details are fed in from Bury’s Trading Standards department so it is legitimate information. Below is a list of all the current scams which can also be found on http://news.bury.gov.uk/Rip-off+register.htm

Scam reported June 19: Bogus tradesmen
Two men have been approaching homes in Prestwich offering to pressure-wash driveways for cash. The men aged 20 and 50 both had Welsh accents and were wearing high visibility jackets and hard hats. They appeared very eager to get money from the householder and appear to have no vehicle or tools with them.

Scam reported June  3: Bogus callers
Two incidents in one day have sparked a warning from the council’s trading standards team for people to be on their guard against doorstep criminals. The incidents both happened on June 3 but at opposite ends of the borough, one in Prestwich and one in Ramsbottom. Interestingly, although the descriptions of the men involved in the scams were different, both told the residents that they were working on a neighbouring house and they needed to turn off the water supply to prevent a flood.

Whilst distracted with the first offender, another male entered the property. In Ramsbottom the second male was unseen, entered the house through an unlocked door, opened a cupboard and stole cash. In the incident in Prestwich, the second male was seen to enter the property and discuss the leak with the first. One of the criminals then offered to pay the vulnerable resident for the water used but claimed only to have a £50 note and asked for change.

The resident removed their savings from a drawer and as soon as their back was turned both offenders left the house with the cash.
Residents are advised not to let the individual into the property and to check with United Utilities on 08457 462200 to see if there is any work of this nature being carried out in the local area if an individual comes to their home.

Scam reported 17th May: Dodgy builder
Unknown male knocks on a householders door apologising for the noise coming from next door stating “dodgy builder have drilled through the water pipe”  and that this could flood into the householders  house.  The householder opens door to caller  who follows them in to the kitchen, leaving the front door ajar and asks householder to switch on the taps as the caller is looking for blue water coming out of the taps.  

The house holder states she wishes to call her daughter, offender refuses, blocking her exit through the hallway.  Offender leaves a short time later after being challenged and makes off.

Scam reported 4th May: Just the ticket? not quite
A Bury resident contacted the council’s trading standards team when tickets that she purchased online were not supplied. The website: www.vipblocktickets.com appears to be a scam. Bury Residents are advised that although the temptation to purchase tickets from online ticket sellers can be great; they should proceed with caution. Before purchasing tickets the website should be checked through search engines to see if other users have reported problems.

If buying tickets online; pay by credit card if possible as this may give additional cover depending on the amount paid in the event that there are problems at a later date. When purchasing tickets online, residents are advised to use established websites or the venues own website.

Scam reported May 2010: Fair trade?
Watch out for bogus calls from people offering to reclaim money for you. One recent scam was brought to the attention of officers in Bury by a Greater Manchester neighbour. A resident was called by someone saying they were from the Office of Fair Trading. When she became suspicious and said she was going to call the police the caller hung up. Beware people saying they are reclaiming money on your behalf, if the agency is genuine they will not contact you by phone.

Lottery scam confirmed
A Bury resident contacted the council’s trading standards team worried that she may have received a scam letter in the post. The official looking letter claimed she had won £800,000 Euromillions FIFA World Cup Super Lottery. Alarm bells rang for the resident as the letter asked for her bank details. It claimed to be from the Euromillions FIFA World Cup Super Lottery administered by Wallmarks Finance and Creditors. It used the address for South African High Commission and a fax back application form with the address of the Financial Service Authority. The phone numbers currently used are 0203-3189-540, 0791-927-0178 and 0207-113-2107. The council believes these numbers are redirected outside the UK, although some letters seem to have been posted in the UK.

Not a lotto dough
A Bury resident has notified Trading Standards of a mailing received claiming he had won 810,950 Euros and is asking for bank details. Has received the letter and  believes it to be a scam but does not recall entering lottery. General information about foreign lottery scams
Foreign lottery scams are a form of advance fee fraud. The consumer receives a letter, telephone call or email telling them that they have won a major cash prize in an overseas lottery (often the Spanish or Canadian lottery). They will often be told to telephone a sales agent who will ask the victim to send money to cover administration, customs and taxes. The winnings however, do not exist and are never received.Cameroon Pet scam 
Animal lovers be warned as another scam which has been reported to trading standards has just been verified. Animals are advertised online with an accompanying sad story describing why they need a new home. Money is asked for to pay transport costs and once received the animals delivery is delayed for a number of reasons. The scammers ask for more and more fees with the buyer now engaged both emotionally and financially.  These scams have been associated with puppies, kittens, monkeys, parrots, the latest reported today was a horse. The scammers tend to use Western union Money Transfers so as to avoid being traced. A resident in Bury who reported that she had fallen victim to the scam realised she had lost her money but contacted the council to make sure no-one else fell into the same trap.Internet Insecurity (reported June 2010)

Bury Trading Standards are warning local residents to be suspicious of telephone calls from people claiming to be from Microsoft.  In the past month officers have been made aware of instances where residents have received unsolicited calls from people claiming that there is a virus on their computer. They have then tried to gain remote access to the computer and ultimately request the consumer provides bank details for payment between £50 and £200 to purchase security software that can remove the virus.Enquiries have revealed that the companies are not connected to Microsoft.
The callers are not based in the UK (often India)
And diligent consumers who have terminated the phone call and taken their PCs for independent examination haven’t got a computer virus.

I think I have finally recovered enough to reflect briefly on the embarrassment that was the England performance in the World Cup against Germany.

It was a truly shocking performance – especially defensively and yet again Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard especially underperformed, but the team generally didn’t look capable and frankly despite their reputations individually, they just weren’t good enough.

If by some incredible miscalculation on the part of the FA – they approach me for the job, I would start from scratch and everything would be dictated by the next world cup, so that means I wouldn’t pick anyone over 27 now – develop a stable young team – team being the key word, not being scared to leave out “stars” if they don’t fit in the team – and take it from there.

I bought an England shirt in 2006, wore it once and this time dug it out and wore it twice. I can’t see myself ever wearing it again. An utterly disgraceful perfomance.

This morning I made my way to the Disability Services Centre which sits on the small remaining corner of the Withington Hospital site that is yet to have houses built on it.

The DSC or “limb Centre” as it is known by patients basically services, repairs and fits prosthetic limbs. I had a lower leg prosthesis fitted following a below right knee amputation as a result of a motor bike accident in ’95 and have been visiting every 12-18 months ever since.

When you  go there they steer you to a “fitting room” where you are sat down. The “fitter” probably titled a prosthetic engineer or some such then comes and after exchanging pleasantries asks to see your prosthesis. Inevitably he then takes it away leaving you marooned in a particularly unattractive room with similarly unattractive blokes all doing that thing of avoiding eye contact with crotch areas.

You then wait and wait and wait – in my instance (hence this blog), I waited 3 hours today. As if to add insult to injury, you have no tele, no radio and mobiles phones are banned.

So there you are sat – stranded legless, footless whatever with the only entertainment being a handful of womens magazines exploring the wonders of Perth, how to knit with confidence and 18 month old horoscopes and adverts for incontinence pads and chairs that propel you to a horizontal position at the flick of a switch.

But believe me that was preferable to the 82 year old gentlemen (very nice chap) that was being asked to walk up and down between some parallel bars in underpants, that seemed only marginally younger than he, with a significant hole in an unfortunate location. 

Momentarily my mood was lifted when a chirpy lady popped her round the door and said, “The user group are having a coffee morning with tea, cakes and biscuits – feel free to pop round.” To a man the 3 patients and myself looked at each other and looked down at our absent limbs.

Losing the will to live wasn’t in it, you actually begin to think you’ll never get out of there. Thankfully I did. This time!

LETTER SENT TO LETTERS PAGES OF LOCAL PRESS

Sirs,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank and congratulate the organisers and all involved in this years Prestwich Festival.With over 40 events starting with a bigger than ever Clough Day and culminating in Sunday’s bigger than ever Carnival, this years festival is a testament to the hard work and endeavours of David Curtis and the Sunshine Team, and to the Clough Centenary Team led by David Stanley.

But more than that it embodies the great spirit and sense of community that we now have in Prestwich. Because outside the big two events there were a plethora of events, both commercial and charitable organised by local people to benefit local organisations and for the benefit of the Prestwich community. I for one was bowled over by the enthusiasm and entertainment provided by local children that took part in this years “Prestwich has Junior Talent” competition at the Longfield Suite.

The challenge now is to maintain the momentum and develop Prestwich Festival over the coming years. But in the meantime David Curtis, The Sunshine Team David Stanley and all who organised an event or participated, should rightly bask in the glow of another successful Festival. 

Congratulations and well done to all involved.

Cllr Vic D’Albert Chair, Prestwich Area Partnership

I’ve just returned from Bury Crossroads 18ths Birthday party. The carers charity in Bury has been going now for 18 years and wanted to celebrate the occasion with carers, staff, trustees and anyone else (like me) who wanted to pop in. So I dropped round to Bury United Reformed Church to show my support and offer best wishes and so on.

Unfortunately it was in my lunchtime and I couldn’t spare the time to get stuck into the buffet, tempting though it was.

I would just take this opportunity though to congratulate Crossroads on their 18 years. 18 years of support for local carers, many of whom were at their wits end and now receive help, advice and respite for their carer activities.

Goodness knows how much it’s saved the NHS over the years and how much it has improved the lives of some of the 9000 carers in Bury. Well done and keep up the good work. Here’s to the next 18 years!

I know love him or loathe him as the British people do, John Prescott has today gone all hysterical about the fact that former Labour ministers John Hutton and Frank Field have agreed to review pensions and poverty respectively for the Coalition Government.

He has called them “Collaborators”. He seems to have forgotten very quickly that Lib Dems, Shirley Williams and Mathew Taylor amongst others held similar appointments advising Gordon Browns government. Whilst I can tell you that there were eyebrows raised at those appointments there were certainly no screams of “collaborators”.

Of course John Prescott is very much old Labour (or is he hard Labour?) and is still fighting the class wars. He and others in the Labour hierarchy either miss the point completely about this “new politics” of cooperation, concensus building or they are suspicious or fear the end result for their particular brand of confrontational black/white politics.

I think its mostly the latter, with the consequences that may have for Labour generally. Politics in Britain is changing – goodness knows it needed to change – no one knows how it will end up but it’s clear that there will be no going back as promised in the Tory and Lib Dem manifesto’s, so far as I’m concerned whi;lst it may be a bit of a roller coaster ride, it’s certainly change for the better.

7.30 tonight is the time for England to show what they can do, to show their pride and their passion and that they not only deserve to be in South Africa but are capable of going all the way.

It’s time for a performance for the fans, the whole country to take pride in, a performance that will scare the opposition for once and not the supporters.Don’t let us down.

COME ON ENGLAND !

Derek Simpson, joint leader of the UNITE Union has today urged Lib Dem members to rear up their membership cards and join the Labour party rather than be associated with public spending cuts.

Now I realise Labour have long since cast off any pretensions of socialism, and barely adhere to any particular philosphy these days  – in fact its more determined by their leader at the time ie Blairism, Brownism. What next Milibandism?

Besides the void of political philosophy at the heart of Labour at the moment I do have great respect for a number of council colleagues representing Labour who do have sound principles and will fight the historic cause. So the least I expect in return is a similar recognition that members of the Liberal Democrats have principles too – mostly!

I am a member of the Liberal Democrats because I am a liberal – pure and simple. I have liberal values , liberal views, lead a fairly liberal lifestyle and believe hook line and sinker in the political philosophy of liberalism. I would never join any other party. If my party ceased to be liberal then I would leave,  but I would still be a liberal.

I don’t pretend to be comfortable with public spending cuts, but as previously mentioned on this blog the current Government has inherited an appalling financial situation not of our making. If we fail to address the budget deficit we will be unable to protect key front line services, we may be liberal but we are also pragmatic and realistic in supporting those that rely on public services most.

The fact is most of the cuts being announced recently were Labour pre-election spending bribes and “Give-aways” intended to create a feelgood towards a failing administration prior to the election.

My message to Derek Simpson would be , “Derek you don’t belong in the Labour Party any more - labour has failed you, the Union movement and the country. You have  socialist beliefs unlike the Labour party. Thanks for the invite but i’m staying put”.    

With the back drop of global recession and on-going banking crisis, now accompanied by the Euro Zone crisis the Coalition Government is well into public spending cuts mode.

A steady stream of announcements have already been made and of course the daddy of them all is expected in the emergency budget next week (22nd).

And so it would seem that battle lines are now well and truly drawn across the floor of the Commons and they are drawn across the key issue of public spending. With the recent history bringing us to the recent events and to next weeks budget, it’s is now clear that the issue of public spending is set to dominate this Parliament and beyond.

The trouble is now that we have a new Government we have two versions of history. On the one hand Labour ex ministers are running around saying these cuts by the new Coalition are disgraceful and hurting the neediest in society, on the other hand the new Coalition Government Ministers are running around screaming “we don’t have a choice, Labour was spending money we didn’t have”.

The fact at the heart of all this was that during the election all 3 main parties agreed that massive cuts were needed, and all 3 parties refused to say what they would cut. So now Labour are saying we wouldn’t have cut this and that without actually saying what they would cut instead. They probably beleive it’s the perogative of HM opposition, but it’s more opportunism cloaked in deceit posing as opposition.

It’s interesting that during the elction many people were saying that they wanted a hung parliament because they wanted politicians to work together to deal with the massive problems the country faces. Well they got a hung parliament and they got a coalition, a surprising coalition perhaps, but a coalition nevertheless. At such a time – a time of crisis, we also need a responsible opposition – sadly that is lacking.

Labour didn’t have the stomach for coalition, and Labour don’t have the stomach to play a reasonable , constructive role in the new parliament. If that is a shame in itself, the old style brick hurling and 13 years of collective amnesia from the labour benches is disgusting.