no title required

Questionable QCs

Questions where blame could be attributed to others were adroitly handled; for example his inability to stem phone hacking in his newspapers was welded into an amalgam of the Police incompetence , a News International cover up, and attention deficit (NOW) disorder .
Several times Murdoch was given free rein to peddle his own delusional propaganda ; his declaration that “ he had never asked anything from a politician”. The follow up questioning of his Redknapp( too good to be sent down) not me guv assertions, were simply non existent: To go DIsney ; the Lion King doesn’t ask his serfs for favours … it becomes a matter of tribute ( as if the correspondence with Hunt’s office wasn’t a concrete example of the kind of privilege Murdochs mafia enjoyed).
Alot of time was wasted on an audit trail of his life, when direct questioning of his successful pursuit, acquisition & deployment power and money in a total ethics vacuum, would have been far more elucidating : The theme that he was an individual who had acquired a frightening amount of power and wealth on three continents, should have been pursued. How does a complete outsider become King Maker on three different continents.

Principled arguments

Some principles have to be systematically applied to obtain such a consistent result.
Murdoch apparently has no journalistic gifts, but this hasn’t prevented him buying troubled media empires ( be friendly with banks and lawyers).
The next trick is the turnaround : This is quite simple formula of cutting costs & increasing revenue. You cut costs by getting rid of troublesome people & replacing them with machines or forlock touchers ideally on a freelance basis: If they don’t produce compelling copy they don’t get paid.
The next strategy is understanding your market, & off the back of that gaining the advertising revenues that drive all modern media. In the case of media such as TV this means hiring talent early e.g. Simpsons Sky News, Premier League, but when it comes to newspapers Murdoch has largely relied on diet of scandal & pandering to the innate prejudices & predilections of his readership. The phrase no one ever lost money underestimating the taste (& education) of the public seems particularly apt.

Scandalous

Scandal was a double edge sword in that it attracted readers & it was also used to coerce ( for fear of being found out). Murdochs organs often targeted people based on some mythical pre-war (1939) morality, where half the world atlas was pink coloured i.e. he confuscated the Great British Publics historic notion of what was right & proper with the Sixties permissive society, where going topless, taking drugs including the Pill was considered trendy. Hypocrisy, humbug ? probably, effective ? undoubtedly (presumably it was illegal for him to buy an UK a newspaper) .Examples of what I’m talking about was the creation of the Red Top tabloid, the page three girl and his relentless portrayal of black immigrants as as neer do well criminals. This is not to say that Murdoch pursued this strategy on his own ; often his newspapers initiated campaigns, around particular on message individuals … a cursory glance reveals some strange bedfellows including Thatcher, Enoch Powell and Tony Blair a signature of Murdoch’s chameleonic whimsy. Demons … Immigrants, unions, Hillsborough victims, Islam, Argentinians. Watching Clint Eastwood’s Hoover you can only be struck by the parallel between his homosexual blackmailing of homosexuals and Murdoch’s anti-immigrant campaigns.

Vision

The reverential tone of Levesons QC when addressing Murdoch, leads one to question why, apart from his methods has Murdoch been so extraordinarily successful & durable. A distinguishing characteristic is Murdoch’s vision of multinational Empire. He doesnt see or recognise national boundaries and has a long term strategy to developing his Empire. His history is not one of unalloyed success, for example the Times ( despite continual dumbing down) continues to haemorrhage money, but he has always been adept at diverting the revenues of his tabloids to bolster other more prestigous lost sustaining parts of his Empire; for example Sky was intially was a huge financial black hole. Another example of his loss leading Empire has been his involvement in India & China, whose operations are supervised by his recent acquistion Wendi Deng.

Act III

Murdoch like the most interesting Shakepearean characters tried to establish a dynasty based around nepotism. The irony is that his inability to delegate his power outside to professional executives, relying on a bizarre mixture of family homebred forelock tugging sychophants, has led to his self destruction. In his death throes he seems pre-occupied with revenge, as this weeks manoeuvres on a Cameron Government he once endorsed, gains legs.
The last of the media giants has become a dinosaur taken down by the people he cruelly exploited & destroyed . Murdoch now sees a phase of his life where he can only decline & for the arch smooth operator, that can only be scary.

douglas ... 13 ? Dis shit has gotta go!

Well it’s my sixth week in Brazil & I haven’t been robbed … yet, if you exclude the guy who tried to charge me R$3 for a post card (£1 – a card costs about 30p). I’m on the beach in Salvador, the Black capital of Brazil. Most of the slaves landed here and as you know, Brazil was the last major country to make slavery illegal (1850).

Traditionally then the city has a strong African heritage, though the fact Bob Marley ( a Jamaican) is their icon, illustrates the failure of black Brazil to sit at the table of major world influences,

I started coming here about twenty years ago & the African contribution to Brazil is self evident , in terms of music, style & language. However when I first startied coming here it was also pretty obvious that this was a Portuguese colony & largely they are still in charge.. The Portuguese in terms of a culture lean towards the parochial & Brazil still has the feel of a distant colony. The Brazilian education system is completely dysfunctional & it’s difficult to converse as the average Brazilian doesn’t seem to have any idea of correct Portuguese. This is in contrast to the Spanish (the arch enemy of the Portuguese) who have inherent tonal problems (e.g. that slightly gay Galician lisp) with non Latin languages : Brazilian Portuguese is not a particularly heavy tonally; in fact if you listen to Bossa Nova you will be struck by it’s lightness, However the education for most Brazilians is so poor it makes our Dickensian system seem world class.
One thing to admire or perhaps lament about modern Brazil is the level of social integration; You will literally have a Mansion next to a Favela. In contrast to the UK flouting of the few rules, is de rigeur for most Brazilians, but one rule that is self evident is that the darker your complexion the poorer you will be in educational as well as economical terms.

kid in an adult world

Brazilians refuse to acknowledge racism, but the economic patterns are brutally obvious and until recently violence against women & gays was a national trait.
Salvador as a place , is still living in this colonial time bubble. It’s a vibrant city with beautiful people , but equally it has its ugly side ; the street children and a crumbling infrastrucure if you scratch beneath the surface and are not taken in by the African fashion dress parade. Day in day out, kids roam Pelourinho looking for a meal ticket.. This is reminiscent of Rio twenty years ago; you hope that its simply a matter of money as Rio seems to have reduced the problem, but in Pelourinho ( the place where they used to auction the slaves) little seems to have changed.
Relatively speaking Salvador doen’t seem to suffer from the infrastructure decline that is all too apparent in Manaus ; many businesses are black owned and run. I’m staying at Meson Pousada with Lucia, a beautiful Pousada right in the Centro Historico run by a mulata woman. Ticks all the socially desirability boxes; Ethnic minority businesswoman, employing several workers. She knows how to use the Internet & yes ele tem wifi.
Last nite I listened to the Salsa band (Acucar) in the restaurant next door (Cantina da Lua). Also black owned & run. However the service was abysmal ; they actually cleared the table when I went to order food & the meal (Arrumadinha be warned) was plainly shit;

unacceptable face of brazilian cuisine

Basically off cuts of pig meat over a bed of dust like farofa (Manioc). For any Throbbing gristle fans out there (Guy) this may appeal , but I took particular exception to about a 3inch piece of protoplasm (aka pig fat ) that had me trying to speed dial the dentist.
The restaurant also served a comida al quilo that looked as tired as the owner Clarindo Silva.( it must been left there at least day) … A german with his hO (big tits & weave) swallowed the lot without any compuction. When I complained I didn’t see lumps of pig fat on the menu, I got a 50% discount.

lesbian gay poster salvador brasil

There was a pro gay anti-discrimination poster behind the cashier, but you wonder what businesses Lucia & Clarindo could realise if they had a modicum of business training, & had not been businesses thrown up in theat uniquely Brazilian way.
An interesting anomaly is Nigerian Martin : He runs the internet café, speaks good English & actually gave me a receipt ( ok when asked). Yes an honest Nigerian, in Salvador.
We have to stop the Street children in Brazil perhaps even more offensive and pernicious as slavery.
Got 2 go ; surf’s up!

Twins .. after 19 yrs

Pot n kettle

However the Lawrence verdict was subsumed into an unprecedented hara-kiri cross examination as to whether Britain in 2012 was a Racist country ; as if the two hundred years of Empire had been simply tippexed out following the Race Relations Act (1976).
The nineteen year gap between the execution of students Anuj Bidve and Stephen Lawrence seemed to herald an disturbing alarum to the majority of the white media, who though immersed in their fight against injustice & law breaking (Leveson), are largely oblivious to the daily abuse and discrimination that minorities in Cameron’s Britain have become accustomed.
In my self-ordained role as black panther without portfolio, I have highlighted the paucity & malaise of Leadership in the Black Community ; Diana Abbott is hardly the most obvious role model for the Black community, but her ritual hand bagging in the press, exquisitely highlights the dilemma of trying to play the game : you are only tolerated as long as you tow the (uncle tom ) party line. Anyone who dares stick their head above the parapet is summarily decapitated, or put in their place. Another illustration of this was the Suarez/Evra affair which resulted in Oldham player Adeyemi’s abuse at Liverpool ; the Peter Scudamores (Premier League Chairman) were quick to promulgate in the media, the progress & leadership the British Game had given to the rest of the world , a mantra that had the pathetic ring of one of the Office of Budget Responsibilities or George Osbournes forecasts.

Home Gardening

It seemed that the (white ) media was determined to score points. Ms. Abbott’s greatest crime was she dared to express a viewpoint in the week of the Stephen Lawrence verdict. The fact that the tweet was historically correct seemed a trifling detail (OK White British would have been demographically correct) .
A few home truths; the Racism &

Fan buoy

Educashun Educashun

The myth that Racism will vanish through intermarriage & the passing of the old guard remains a myth ; the younger generation show a worrying hatred of difference, whether that be through sexuality or race. You can’t enforce the unenforceable ; the fact that we don’t have bananas thrown on the football pitch is not progress but only means that a particular symbolism has run its course (thank god for CCTV). It is the responsibility of the Education system to challenge these attitudes, an Education system presided over by a white … journalist.

What's wrong wit u niggah?

As the annual mid winter revelry gathers momentum discarding all sense, reason (or Christianity- whatever that is) it’s nice to see that recent recruits to la Vice anglaise, Patrice Evra & Luis Suarez have stepped up to this Sceptered Isle by wholeheartedly entering into our seasonal pantomime spirit (oh no they didnt).

What? a Dick

In case you’ve been on Mars (or shopping) , Msr. Evra (Dick Whittington) a native of Senegal accused Sr. Suarez (Wishy Washy – a Uruguayan) of addressing him as (El) Negrito , 11 times during the October (football) match between Manchester United & Liverpool, while they were waiting for a corner to be taken. After two months (?) the FA Independent Regulatory Commission, has found Sr. Suarez guilty of using insulting words referring to Mr. Evra’s colour (in breach of rule E3).

The football world is intoxicated by huge egos , (with comensurate salaries) & inversely proportional intellects (i.e they’re a bit undereducated) , but the subsequent eruption of angst over this decision, has a comedic quality popping the delusional bubble that encapsulates so called Professional Football.

Naive … moi

Firstly Msr. Evra was criticised for his naivety :

Racial abuse is an Anglo-Saxon (ok Sepp Blatter) character building rite of passage ; his complaint reveals his frailties as a warrior.
His second error was to assume that anyone would, in the vernacular give a toss about his complaint . The FA holds footballers or its clubs to account with reticence; after all that’s what FIFA is there for.

Corroboration

Thirdly there was the hardy perennial, corroboration. Despite the presence of the whole Manchester United defence, not one team member was willing to come forward & support Evra. Even his manager Sir Alec Ferguson displayed a Caledonian sang froid, towards his defender’s complaint, parsimoniously stating that Patrice was … adamant.

Self righteous parody

The peculiar thing about Racist incidents is that the culprits are gripped by a quasi-religious, demented self-righteousness, where they refuse to see sense, admit their guilt & apologise. Instead they stupidly persist in their denial, that they did anything wrong : Paradoxically Suarez admitted his use of the term, citing it as an apelido or nickname. I suppose it must be like admitting that your favourite Uncle is a bit of a perve; the queue of apologists for Suarez’s cultural faux pas was quite revealing . There are still some (semi) educated people out there who simply don’t get it (albeit in a profession not reknown for cultural sensitivity).

Tribal laws

The UK’s Race Discrimination laws date from the 1970’s, but only the most virulent Holocaust denier would dispute their lack of efficacy. The UK is often compared and (unfavourably )contrasted with Africa as being not tribal, but the Professional Football fraternity remains about as transparent as a gang of drug dealers; if you stick your neck out … expect a horse’s head in your bed.
Even now the England captain (John Terry) retains his position while subject to a CPS prosecution.

Dear Deidre

My advice to Patrice is … leave Manchester United mon ami ; to Suarez, if there isn’t panto in Uruguay you have a gr8 career b4 u?
The fact is Suarez & Terry could have avoided all this if had used rite term ; niggah: 4 we no wat we is 4sho!

Have a gr8 holiday & 2012.

Final thoughts

Big up to Suzanne who has lost her Mum through cancer … I feel ur pain sis ; I’m indebted to Alex for this (my translation)?

Jackie Howell 1946-2011

A Child is a being that has been borrowed for a crash course in how to love someone other than ourselves, how to change our worst faults, how to show the best in example and learn to have courage. That’s right! Being a father or mother is the greatest act of courage that one can have, as it exposes you to all kinds of pain, especially the uncertainty to be acting properly and fear of losing something so dear. Lose? How? It is not ours ; remember It was just a loan.

Jose Saramago

Ok Buck Lewis will come with chains & bullwhip!

Gaddafi free

On the plus side we finally got rid of Blair’s arch gangsta Gaddafi in a those who live by the sword kinda way. We have also witnessed the emergence of relative freedom in Tunisia, and Egypt, as well as the American withdrawal from Iraq; and who knows maybe even Putin/Jeremy Clarkson beware . A few wrinkles persist for example Syria attempt to maintain its gravity defying King Canutian vision ; surely only matter of time or more tragically a few more thousand dead.

Economic realities

Closer to home the economic policies of the Co-alition have come to roost with a flat-lining economy, increasing unemployment, mass demonstrations by Civil servants , riots throughout the cities & increasing corner painting wrt European Union and a pervasive air of apprehension & doom : History repeating itself with a Government and Local Authority more adroit at destroying jobs than creating them.

Global Banking pressed

If 2010 was the year when global Banking (City of London) and MP’s greed (ok they’re oota da same schools?) came under the microscope , surely 2011 will be remembered as the year the wheels came off the wagon of our so called free press.

Custardgate

If Gaddafi used bullets , Mr. Magoo uses print: It began with the custard pie mendacity of our imported Sopranos (aka the  Murdoch’s): The Select Committee simply showed that Britain’s Tony Soprano is … Mr. Magoo (less the anxiety issues) ; The Select Committee debacle against News international marked a demonstrable falling of the scales from the public’s eyes, and the Parish Council ineptitude of our elected representatives in holding our the Waste Mangement facade of News international to account : Paradoxicaly the pompous,  self aggrandising, glutton that is Keith Vass emerged from the mini-series as a modern day  Perry Mason?

Select panto?

It’s impossible to justify the millions spent on these Select Committee Pantomimes ( oh no it isn’t), as they became mired in the choreographed exchanges between the press Coleones (Wade, Coulsen, Murdochs) and our depth challenged MP’s . It was left to the  Leveson commitee to be the solitary  beacon of hope in that you could actually believe some of the testimonies.
This may seem strange, as many of the complainants were of a thespian persuasion (a profession not reknown for  a rigourous grounding in everyday  reality).

Celebrity reality

Notwithstanding the ingenue testimonies of the Dowlers & the McCaans, I was particularly struck by Steve Coogan’s telephone negotiation with Andy Coulsen & Charlotte Church’s pre-pubescent perverse accommodation with Mr Magoo : These ripped a dissecting shaft of light  through the regulation press carapace ; the public interest argument . The expose of Press financial muscle, being routinely wheeled out, was as chilling as the scene in Puzo’s Godfather, where the singer (Frank Sinatra) asks for help over a troublesome producer in his fledgling acting career( leading to some horse head in the bed action).

Pukka press

In a moment reminiscent of when Jamie (pukka) Oliver showed how our food arrives at our supermarket shelf,  we fully appreciated perhaps for the first time, how tabloid daily exclusives are delivered to satisfy our insatiable Schadenfreude appetite. The icing on this particularly toxic cake proved to be the way these Prangstas, were so easily able to conscript the Police (Met) into their psychotic web.
Thanks to Leveson we finally have insider information on exactly how our unholy triangle of Journalists, Politicians & Police go about their daily business; As we start to document the financial meltdown, I feel empowered to  throw into the mix the analogous economic trinity ; Banking, Taxation & Currency : You pays your money … they make your choice!

Northampton’s shows belated talent

The final death throes of the Fishmarket belatedly throws up a freezer full of local art under the banner Open Exhibition ; A revealing aspect of the Open Exhibition is the fact that you had to get through the dreaded Commitee (presided over by some self-ordained obermeisterfuhrer from MK gallery), and the attendant lack of publicity. The Fishmarket’s foolhardily policy pursuit, of staging five shows of National standing every year, and lack of basic amenities (eg. heat) proved a suicidal cocktail, where the public stayed away in droves: An unloveable place filled with unloveable Art & … .
Notwithstanding that certain whiff of Uni. nepotism, Open Exhibition flies in the face of Northampton’s Talibanshire cultural Republic reputation, with some truly outstanding pieces; Julia Harrold’s mixed media is worth putting your thermals on for.

Schaffing Flesh; fridgean mulled cider & self-loathing

Being funny has become an increasingly serious business (Basil Fawlty aka Jeremy Clarkson notwithstanding) but it was with naive anticipation that I strolled up for Lewis Schaffer’s free gig at the Nook cafe.
The cafe was packed with a freezing of Northampton cognoscenti . The inauspicious start was a bit like watching a vocalist fumbling for the right key, as Schaffer struggled to raise the temperature of the room beyond some nervous titters, rambling through his New Yoikese tale of UK migration.
Fortunately things seemed to momentarily pick up when he engaged in a bit of audience repartee ; the second half proved acceptable (albeit mull cider fuelled), as he seemed to gain confidence to focus on his neuroses ; a catalogue of misogynist, Gay and Jew hating anecdotes the justification of which seem rather flimsy. The awkward silences continued to punctuate Schaffer’s random anecdotes, and audience banter – specifically his unrequited boner for certain females in the audience (Hazel).
Having negotiated a toilet break, the denouement of the show was his much prefaced Holocaust joke, which given the trajectory of his previous material, proved to be fairly predictable : Having braved the onset of hypothermia, I made my excuses & left .. without paying … I guess even in the season of Peace and Goodwill, it’s just asking too much for a comic to explain their hatred or even be nice? Chris still Rocks imho !

Call to Action

Community Action grants are still available up to Friday.

Toussaint : Qui est ce poufiasse Beckham?

Gangsta economics

As the economy flatlines with dismal growth prospects, to toxic levels of youth unemployment, Clegg thought it timely to remind us that the opium of the working man (football) is discriminatory : Like many of the government pronouncements, Clegg’s was somewhat short on policy remedies.
Whom am I to suggest to Mr.Clegg, that if he’s really interested in creating a more fair Society, he’d be better advised to direct his energies at a schooling system, that encourages Afro-Caribbeans to be vacuous sportsmen, entertainers or by default gangstas.
Failing that pipe dream, I defer to another politician who when caught in fragrante de licto with a certain M.Lewinsky, re-definined sex, whilst pleading the mantra … it’s the economy stupid.

Slave talks

Notwithstanding Clegg’s somewhat random intervention, it’s also interesting to note that fellow millionaires, Patrice Evra & Anton Ferdinand have had the cohones to bite the hand that feeds them, by making formal complaints to the FA wrt racial abuse from fellow players. The latter is remarkable, as a slave revolt of black footballers is mooted, with all and sundry have wading in, including wannabee niggah Beckham.

The spectacle of the nation that globalised slavery now lecturing the rest of the world on racial discrimination, is the most acutely exquisite example of the pot calling the kettle I can recall.

Leveson TV

Another bemusing example of the state of our valueless nation, morphed into the shape of the Leveson broadcasts last week : Amidst more evidence of the marriage of convenience between the Judicary, Police and so called called Free (bought) Press, emerged the inconvenient truth ; celebrities had feelings, albeit mainly for themselves. Resisting the obvious Max Moseley/Hugh Grant jokes, the most poignant testimonies came from the Dowlers & McCaans which set a stark unflattering backdrop to the shadowy mendacity of the Magoo(murdoch)s & their cronies.
Given that it has taken over eighteen years for a court case to be brought in the Stephen Lawrence case , to quote High Grant I won’t be holding my breath(or anything else) over Leveson cleaning up the press.

Lava ignites

Quite often the Police are seen to aggravate racial tension by their army of occupation policy, which results in a firestorm like Tottenham. The unfortunate truth is that the reality it is simply their incompetence, or ignorance. Such a case must be the tragedy that unfolded in Lava Ignite Club where two university students were killed in a stampede to exit the club. It now emerges that the Police attended the club, but were more concerned with minor offences outside the club, rather than the illegal number of people in the venue. No doubt more will be revealed, confirming Northampton Police/Council as an unfit reactionary amalgam of incompetents.?

Noble remembrance.

In the best tradition of Americanata movies I choose to end on a high note with the story of Eddie Noble, who served in the RAF during the second world war.
My research also brings up the BME awards, a kinda MOBO’s for the BME sector?

You aint nuthin but .... the Ombudsman

The services provided by ombudsmen are free of charge although you have to shed a lot of blood sweat and tears to get to the final outcome.
Each ombudsman scheme operates under slightly different rules, but in general an ombudsman does not consider a complaint unless the organisation, business or professional standards body concerned has first been given a reasonable opportunity to deal with it.
If the ombudsman decides to conduct a formal investigation, a written report on the investigation will be issued, and will normally set out the evidence considered by the ombudsman and proposals for resolving the dispute. If a complaint is upheld, the ombudsman will expect the organisation to provide a suitable remedy.
For those in the know such as Solicitors, you need to look out for certain indicators and strict rules on seeking redress beforehand. These are some of the ones that I learnt during the process:-

Is Ombudsman Logo on service provider letterhead?

Property Ombudsman logo

Those service providers that practice what the Ombudsman preach freely display the logo to impress its client audience rather than hide it. Before filing your complaint, ensure that the service provider actually is recognised to Ombudsman as a client else you are wasting your time and energy before you begin.

Terms of Reference

These are the principles or rules on which the Ombudsman operates. These should be included in the claim pack. If not, you must ask for them before taking any steps on the erroneous road. See example attached.
Signed a full and final settlement clause?
Beware – this may null and void your claim. Always read the small print. (How many times did your Mother or Father tell you that)!
Due to the fact that forgeries of such full and final settlement clauses have been known to occur, if a payment refunded to you from the service provider is incorrect (short by £100s of pounds), you bank the cheque at your peril. This will go against you, even if a letter of complaint swiftly follows the deposit action. The Ombudsman does not entertain proof of signature claims made by you.

Offered compensation already?

Beware if you have already been offered an ex gratia payment or goodwill gesture from the service provider to cover damages, this may eliminate any right to redress according to Ombudsman.

Representation Stage

If you feel that the Ombudsman decision is the wrong one, you have the right to include new evidence to support your claim. This is known by them as contemporaneous evidence and is not the same as the right of appeal. This stage will be considered the judicial review in the majority of cases.
Disciplinary and Standards Committee (DSC)
Once a compensatory award amount is agreed by all parties, the service provider is given a time limited period to pay up or take appropriate remedial action. If he/she does not pay or act on recommendations, then the Ombudsman will report the company in breach of standards laid out to subscribing organisations. However, a referral to the DSC can be a fairly long and drawn out process as they may only meet quarterly.

Property Ombudsman

I was awarded £100 compensation from The Property Ombudsman last week for poor service by an agency. It took me over a year to get the compensation and I found myself frustrated with the process but I have to say that it was a fair one – albeit long and drawn out. In the end, a mere threat to report non payment of the award to The DSC brought about a positive outcome from the agency at fault. The Ombudsman did a professional job to ensure that the money was deposited in my bank account even when the agency failed initially to honour the award to us. Thank you Mr Ombudsman!
Was it worth all the hassle you ask for such a measly amount of compensation? Well if you don’t want other more vulnerable people to suffer at the same hands, I recommend taking up the issue with the Ombudsman. Also, if you want somebody else to keep on top of the compensation payment, the Ombudsman is the one. Of course, you will need to be persistent and consistent and know that some Ombudsmen provide a better service than others. Ombudsmen are human beings after all and at times their service has been said to be far from extraordinary by others.

You have male

I was thinking the other day why is it that The Ombudsman is indeed Ombuds MAN. The ultimate decision maker may be male or female, but why is the generic name of the body in itself male? This to me is quite abnormal and unsettling.
Given that the number of women out of work is at a 23 year high, with cut backs in the public sector, will the term ‘Ombudsman’ ever be transformed to a much needed gender neutral one? This change in line with 21st century equality of opportunity aspirations, would at least allow the average layperson to realise that the role of an Arbitrator is not restricted to men only. Aren’t women after all known to be better at dealing with complaints and redress for customers after all? With its Gender biased name, the Ombudsman is there to assist us normal citizens. You can find the relevant Ombudsman to your type of claim by visiting their homepage.
According to the recent report, A Life Raft for Women’s Equality, the Government Austerity Programme is a threat to women’s rights.  Signatories to the report include Eaves Housing for Women, the End Violence Against Women coalition, Unison, Child Poverty Action Group, Day Care Trust, White Ribbon Campaign UK and Rape Crisis.

NCC disabled

I was pleased to see that this week, a Disability Grant misdemeanour on the part of Northants County Council was brought under the spotlight by the Local Authority Ombudsman. This will be due to an appeal and possible representation that was made by the claimant. The award will exceed £5,000 and was no doubt hard got and well deserved.
The system to appeal against a decision that a service provider makes when we dispute their actions may be very complex but it is a process that is available to the layperson as described all the same.
Good luck!