Daily Referendum

Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling Joke.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:55:00 +0000

I was sent this by a workmate:

BROWN, DARLING AND A DOG

Gordon Brown called Alastair Darling into his office one day and said, 'Alastair , I have a great idea!? We are going to go all out to win back Middle England '.
'Good idea PM, how will we go about it?' Said Darling.

'Well' said Brown 'we'll get ourselves two of those long Barbour coats, some proper wellies, a stick and a flat cap, Oh and a Labrador . Then we'll really look the part. We'll go to a nice old country pub, in Much Something or other and we'll show we really enjoy the countryside, .......... Oh! And remember not to mention the 'Hunting With Dogs' Act

'Right PM' said Darling. So a few days later, all kitted out and with the requisite Labrador at heel, they set off from London .

Eventually they arrived at just the place they were looking for and found a lovely country pub and, with the dog, went in and up to the bar.

'Good evening Landlord, Two pints of your best ale, from the wood please' said Brown. 'Good evening, Prime Minister' Said the landlord, 'two pints of Best it is, coming up'

Brown & Darling stood leaning on the bar contemplating new taxes, nodding now and again to those who came in for a drink, whilst the dog lay quietly at their feet. As they drank their beer they chatted about how heart-rending it was that pensioners were being imprisoned for not paying the council tax.

All of a sudden the door from the adjacent bar opened and in came a grizzled old shepherd, complete with crook. He walked up to the Labrador lifted its tail and looked underneath, shrugged his shoulders and walked back to the other bar. A few moments later, in came a wizened farmer who followed the same procedure, to the bewilderment of Brown and Darling. People of all ages and gender followed suit over the next hour. Eventually, unable to stand it any longer, Darling called the landlord over. 'Tell me' Said Darling, 'Why did all those people come in and look under the dog's tail like that??? Is It an old country custom?

'Good Lord no,' Said the landlord. 'It's just that someone has told them that there was a Labrador in this bar with two arseholes

Remembrance Sunday: We will remember them.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 11:31:00 +0000

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning.

We will remember them.

New Laptop:Toshiba Bradford A500-17X 16"

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:28:00 +0000

Toshiba Bradford A500-17X 16"

I got myself a new Laptop yesterday as my old one finally gave up the ghost. It's a bit of a cracker for the price, being able to meet all my blogging requirements, and play the latest games, stream video etc. The specs are:

Operating system Genuine Windows (R) 7 Home Premium
Processor Type Intel Core 2 Duo processor P7450
Processor speed (2.13Ghz, 1066Mhz, 3MB Cache)
Memory Size 4GB MB DDR3
Hard Drive Capacity 500 GB
Optical Drives DVD RW
CD-ROM Speed 24 x
CD-RW Speed. 4 x
DVD-ROM Speed 8 x
Screen Size/Type 16" TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with LED backlight
Graphics Card Type Nvidia GeForce GT 230M
Graphics Memory 1GB dedicated MB
Sound Type Harman Kardon Speakers
Wireless Enabled YES
No. of USB Connections 4
Other Interfaces HDMI

Tala 2003 - 2009 RIP my beautiful girl.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:09:00 +0000

The best dog in the world died today. My beautiful girl Tala had to be put to sleep when the vet discovered a large tumor on her bladder. She loved everyone and everything, and I loved her.

Bye bye sweetheart.

Lord Stern is a: Pork sword? Mutton Machete? Beef bayonet?

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Lord Stern is a: Pork sword? Mutton Machete? Beef bayonet?

Stop eating meat? How about kissing my arse?

If we weren't supposed to eat meat we wouldn't be fitted with pointy teeth, and it wouldn't taste so good. It's like saying "stop driving cars", you can see the good points involved, but it is totally impracticable. There are ten million cows in the UK, and five million of those are dairy cows. If we were to stop eating "beef cows", we would need more dairy cows to supplement our diets. Granted not as many, but probably about seven million in total . Then there is the human cost (which never seems to matter with these bright ideas) of getting rid of beef cows. The farmers lose their livelihoods, the people working for the farmers lose their jobs, the feed growers and suppliers go out of business, and so do the butchers and abattoirs.

The same goes for the thirty five million sheep and the four and a half million pigs. How many people are employed directly or indirectly in the raising and processing of these animals? I'm sure money-bags Stern isn't too bothered about the human cost. Of course this is the same Lord Stern who told us that CO2 was going to kill the planet - shortly before he set up the world’s first independent carbon credit ratings service - with a market value of about €1 trillion by 2020. No conflict of interest at all there then? - nothing to see here - move along.

Lord Stern can have my Big Mac when he takes it from my cold dead hands.

USS Obama and HMS Gordon Brown explained.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:06:00 +0000

I received this today from a workmate. I don't know who wrote it, but it's worth posting:

The USS Obama

Seeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective... ENORMOUS!

BEAUTIFUL!

When the Bridge pipes 'Man the Rail' there is a lot of rail to man on this monster: shoulder to shoulder, around 45 acres. Her displacement is about 100,000 tons with full complement.

Capability

Top speed exceeds 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refuelling

1. Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years
2 Carries over 80 combat aircraft
3. Three arresting cables can stop a 28 - ton aircraft going 150 miles per hour in less than 400 feet

Size
1. Towers 20 stories above the waterline
2. 1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall
3. Flight deck covers 4.5 acres
4. 4 bronze propellers, each 21 feet across, weighing 66,200 pounds
5. 2 rudders, each 29 by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons
6. 4 high speed aircraft elevators, each over 4,000 sq ft capacity
7. Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel
8. Carries enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days
9. 18,150 meals served daily
10. Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water daily, enough for 2,000 homes
11. Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring 1,400 telephones
12. 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets
13. Costs the Navy approximately $250,000 per day for pier side operation
14. Costs the Navy approximately $25 million per day for underway operations.

The HMS GORDON BROWN

Headed for Newcastle , the British Navy welcomed the latest member of its fleet today. The HMS Gordon Brown set sail today from its home port of Skegness .

The ship is the first of its kind in the Navy and is a standing legacy to Prime Minister Brown for his foresight in military budget cuts and his conduct while Prime Minister.

The ship is constructed nearly entirely from recycled aluminium cans and is completely solar powered with a top speed of 5 knots. It boasts an arsenal comprised of one (unarmed) (ex US Navy) F14 Tomcat or one (unarmed) (ex USAF) F18 Hornet aircraft which, although they cannot be launched or captured on the 100 foot flight deck, form a very menacing presence.

As a standing order there are no firearms allowed on board.

The 20 person crew is completely diversified, including members of all races, creeds, sex, and sexual orientation.
The crew, hand-picked from the Civil Service, is specially trained to avoid conflicts and appease any and all enemies of Britain at all costs!

An on - board Type One DNC Universal Translator can send out messages of apology in any language to anyone who may find Britain offensive. The number of apologies are limitless and though some may seem hollow and disingenuous, the Navy advises all apologies will sound very sincere.

The ship's purpose is not defined so much as a unit of national defence, but instead in times of conflict, the HMS Gordon Brown has orders to seek refuge in Blackpool . The ship may be positioned near the Labour Party Headquarters for photo - ops.

We Should be very proud.........

Climate Change Petition: Stop brainwashing our children.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 11:49:00 +0000

Some people believe that No10 Petitions don't work, or are a waste of time. I think that is true in many cases, but sometimes you just have to try to let the government know when they are getting something drastically wrong. My petition to "Stop wasting taxpayer's money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children" is worth signing because it backs up the opinion of over 350 people who have written to the Advertising Standards Agency to complain about the puppy drowning climate change ad. The ad has been called many things: Indoctrination, propaganda, brainwashing, non-factual and frightening to name just a few.

All the major papers and news channels have ran articles questioning the government's judgement for not only showing this ad during prime time TV, but for also spending six million pounds of taxpayers' money on it. For example, today the Daily Mail is running the article: It's YOUR fault the kittens and puppies will drown, Daddy!. My petition has been successful in that it has surpassed the 500 signatures required to warrant a response from the government. At the time of writing 770 people have signed the petition, but many more are needed to drive the message home - so please spread the word.

There could be massive ramifications if the ASA find that the claims made in the ad about climate change cannot be substantiated. It will at least open the debate for a while and stop governments forcing man made climate change down our throats as if it was a fact.

You can complain to the ASA by clicking HERE.

Please sign the petition by clicking HERE, or on the drowning puppy.

The SMART way to deal with Climate Change. Video.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:37:00 +0000

If you believe in man made climate change or not, you must watch the following four videos. All governmental leaders around the world should sit down, pin their ears back, and listen to some real common sense from Bjorn Lomborg. Please take the time to watch these videos, it will take you about 35 minutes, and you will learn a great deal about how we could deal with climate change in a smarter and cheaper way.

Eat your cats and dogs to stop climate change!

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:58:00 +0000

Eat your cats and dogs to stop climate change! - I kid you not! Some genius (who probably wears clothes made from his own pubic hair) has worked out that even though our cats and dogs have small paws, they have large carbon footprints. A medium-sized dog has the same impact as a Toyota Land Cruiser driven 6,000 miles a year, while a cat is equivalent to a Volkswagen Golf.

This planet saving advice is explained in the book: "Time to Eat the Dog: The Real Guide to Sustainable Living". The author, Robert Vale, says:

"There are no recipes in the book. We're not actually saying it is time to eat the dog. "We're just saying that we need to think about and know the (ecological) impact of some of the things we do and that we take for granted. "Once you see where cats and dogs fit in your overall balance of things, you might decide to have the cat but not also to have the two cars and the three bathrooms and be a meat-eater yourself."

You know what's coming next don't you? I can just imagine Gordon Brown salivating over his new cat and dog tax.

More HERE.

Huffington Post: Steep Decline In Americans' Belief In Global Warming

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:25:00 +0000

From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans who believe there is solid evidence the Earth is warming because of pollution is at its lowest point in three years, according to a survey released Thursday.
The poll of 1,500 adults by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that only 57 percent believe there is strong scientific evidence the Earth has gotten hotter over the past few decades, and as a result, people are viewing the situation as less serious. That's down from 77 percent in 2006, and 71 percent in April 2008.

But while the evidence appears clear, only about a third, or 36 percent of the poll respondents feel that human activities – such as pollution from power plants, factories and automobiles – are behind a temperature increase. That's the first decline since 2006.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/22/steep-decline-in-american_n_330315.html

Please consider signing my petition to get the government's latest climate change TV ad pulled (It's the one with the drowning puppy). 644 people have signed so far.

No10 Puppy drowning climate ad petition hits 300 mark.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:17:00 +0000

My petition to "Stop wasting taxpayer's money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children" is going well and signatures currently stand at 400.

UPDATE @ 16:40: My petition now has the 500 signatures needed to warrant a government response.

UPDATE 2: @18:15 Petition now has 625 signatures.

This is rising fast, as both the Daily Mail and Sky News are covering the story on their websites.

No 10 Petition: Puppy drowning climate change advert.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:11:00 +0000

Over the past week the Advertising Standards Authority has received 202 complaints about the campaign.

There is also No10 Petition (171 signatures and rising) to get this Government propaganda pulled:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop wasting taxpayers' money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.

The government's latest TV advertisement on climate change is pure propaganda designed to frighten our children. Showing kids a puppy drowning in the centre of what looks like a British town is beyond fiction. It shows a weakness of argument for a government to have to resort to fear to bring the public "in line". This advertisement should be pulled immediately.

In the current economic climate, surely the government can find something better to spend six million pounds of taxpayers' money on.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

Climate change Ad has received over 200 complaints so far.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:04:00 +0000

From The Guardian:

The advertising regulator has received more than 200 complaints that the government's latest TV campaign on climate change is misleading.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change launched the £6m campaign, in which the government throws its weight behind the scientific evidence that climate change is man-made and will affect us all, last Friday.

The campaign, by ad agency AMV BBDO, marked a significant change in the government's marketing around its umbrella Act on CO2 initiative. The DECC said it has taken the stronger approach because research has shown that more than half of the UK public think climate change will have no effect on them.

However, over the past week the Advertising Standards Authority has received 202 complaints about the campaign (click on the drowning dog to watch the video).

There is a No10 Petition to get this Government propaganda pulled:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop wasting taxpayers' money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.

The government's latest TV advertisement on climate change is pure propaganda designed to frighten our children. Showing kids a puppy drowning in the centre of what looks like a British town is beyond fiction. It shows a weakness of argument for a government to have to resort to fear to bring the public "in line". This advertisement should be pulled immediately.

In the current economic climate, surely the government can find something better to spend six million pounds of taxpayers' money on.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

No10 petition - Stop climate change TV ad propaganda designed to frighten our children.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:16:00 +0000

From The Guardian:

The advertising regulator has received more than 200 complaints that the government's latest TV campaign on climate change is misleading.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change launched the £6m campaign, in which the government throws its weight behind the scientific evidence that climate change is man-made and will affect us all, last Friday.

The campaign, by ad agency AMV BBDO, marked a significant change in the government's marketing around its umbrella Act on CO2 initiative. The DECC said it has taken the stronger approach because research has shown that more than half of the UK public think climate change will have no effect on them.

However, over the past week the Advertising Standards Authority has received 202 complaints about the campaign (click on the drowning dog to watch the video).

No10 petition - Stop climate change TV ad propaganda designed to frighten our children:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop wasting taxpayers' money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.

The government's latest TV advertisement on climate change is pure propaganda designed to frighten our children. Showing kids a puppy drowning in the centre of what looks like a British town is beyond fiction. It shows a weakness of argument for a government to have to resort to fear to bring the public "in line". This advertisement should be pulled immediately.

In the current economic climate, surely the government can find something better to spend six million pounds of taxpayers' money on.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

New Daily Referendum Twitter account.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:48:00 +0000

New Daily Referendum (Daily_Ref) Twitter account.

Hello readers!

I've managed (through a combination of my own stupidity and the tossers @ NTL) to lose access to my Twitter account. This is a bit of a bugger as I had 970 very lovely followers.

I've started a new Twitter account and you can follow me by clicking HERE.

Cheers

Steve

Why are the BNP doing so well in Barnsley?

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 08:51:00 +0000

The Star is reporting that Labour is likely to lose its overall majority of Barnsley Council. They look to be heading towards defeat at the hands the BNP in the St Helens ward by-election tonight. Barnsley has had a Labour council since the 1930's, but the BNP are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with.

Why are the BNP doing so well in Barnsley? Does this high level of support mean that is Barnsley a town chock full of racists? The straight answer is no. I'm from Barnsley and I can assure you that it is not an hotbed of racial hatred. So why are the good people of Barnsley voting for a party that has racist policies?

To understand this puzzle you need to look at Barnsley's recent history. In the last thirty years, Barnsley has changed drastically from a working town with decent wages, into a dying town with nothing but the dole, the sick and the minimum wage. Since the pits closed in the 80's, Barnsley has become a town of call centres surrounded by boarded up shops and factories.

Barnsley's industrial collapse has lead to widespread poverty, low paid jobs and a reliance on the state. That's bad enough for any town, but when you throw high levels of immigration into the mix, the situation becomes desperate for many locals. Well paid jobs are hard to come by in Barnsley, and some of the low paid jobs that would normally get school leavers onto the work ladder, are being taken up by EU migrant workers.

There is another surprising factor that has aided the BNP's growing support in the Barnsley area - Barnsley until very recently was about as ethnically un-diverse as you could possibly get. I went to an High School in Wombwell (a small town in Barnsley) during the 80's and you could count the number of non-white pupils on one hand. I don't even remember any kids with foreign accents. Barnsley is simply not used to immigration and people have a fear of the unknown.

So you have a large town that has lost its major industry - has never seen much in the way of immigration - suddenly hit by an influx of foreign men and women willing to work for minimum wage. This leaves desperate locals, who feel let down by Labour, willing to ignore the less pleasant aspects of a BNP that is promising jobs and prosperity for their families (WWII?). The failure is of course the government's for allowing large scale immigration to an already struggling area.

Barnsley is a perfect breeding ground for the BNP. The people have lost of faith in the Labour Party and have a strong dislike of the Conservative party. The majority of those voting BNP are not doing so because they share their racist views - it's because they feel that they have no one else to vote for.

It's shameful that my home town is becoming associated with racism. It's time for all the major parties to stand up, pull their fingers out, and do something real to stop this spreading to other struggling towns.

BBC: What happened to Global Warming?

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:12:00 +0000

At last we are seeing someone from the MSM deviate from the path of reporting man made climate change as stone cold fact. The BBC's Climate correspondent, Paul Hudson, asks: "What happened to Global Warming?" Apparently this article has been the "most viewed" on the BBC News site for the last three days.

Paul writes:

This headline may come as a bit of a surprise, so too might that fact that the warmest year recorded globally was not in 2008 or 2007, but in 1998.

But it is true. For the last 11 years we have not observed any increase in global temperatures.

And our climate models did not forecast it, even though man-made carbon dioxide, the gas thought to be responsible for warming our planet, has continued to rise.

So what on Earth is going on?

Climate change sceptics, who passionately and consistently argue that man's influence on our climate is overstated, say they saw it coming.

They argue that there are natural cycles, over which we have no control, that dictate how warm the planet is. But what is the evidence for this?

During the last few decades of the 20th Century, our planet did warm quickly.

Sceptics argue that the warming we observed was down to the energy from the Sun increasing. After all 98% of the Earth's warmth comes from the Sun.

But research conducted two years ago, and published by the Royal Society, seemed to rule out solar influences.

The scientists' main approach was simple: to look at solar output and cosmic ray intensity over the last 30-40 years, and compare those trends with the graph for global average surface temperature.

And the results were clear. "Warming in the last 20 to 40 years can't have been caused by solar activity," said Dr Piers Forster from Leeds University, a leading contributor to this year's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

But one solar scientist Piers Corbyn from Weatheraction, a company specialising in long range weather forecasting, disagrees.

He claims that solar charged particles impact us far more than is currently accepted, so much so he says that they are almost entirely responsible for what happens to global temperatures.

He is so excited by what he has discovered that he plans to tell the international scientific community at a conference in London at the end of the month.

If proved correct, this could revolutionise the whole subject.

Full article HERE.

Could this be the start of a long awaited, balanced discussion on climate change - and man's part in it?

MPs Expenses: Stop your bloody whinging and pay up!

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 10:42:00 +0000

There are many MPs whining that it's "not fair" that they have to repay some of their expenses because their claims were "within the rules". Well boo bloody hoo. It is a totally false claim to say that they were working within the rules - in reality they have been able to make dodgy claims because there was nothing specific within the rules to stop them - and that is completely different. MPs have misused and abused a system that relied on the people using it to behave honourably. To say "I haven't broken the law" or "it was within the rules" is not good enough. Many MPs have claimed for expenses that would not stand up to the scrutiny of their constituents. They got hold of our money purely because the rules weren't strong enough to stop corruption.

Any MP who cannot explain his or her expense claims to their constituents should pay that money back - end of chat.

The following is from the Green Book (Parliamentary Salaries, Allowances and Pensions booklet):

Use of Parliamentary allowances

It is your responsibility to satisfy yourself when you submit a claim, or authorise payments from your staffing allowance, that any expenditure claimed from the allowances has been wholly, exclusively and necessarily incurred for the purpose of performing your Parliamentary duties. The Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards may investigate allegations of improper use of the allowances.

If you overspend, or mischarge something to your allowances, we reserve the right to deduct the costs from your salary or, if you are leaving the House, your resettlement grant.

Andrew Walker

Director of Finance & Administration

Many MPs have ripped the taxpayer off by working "within the rules". Those MPs should shut the hell up and think themselves very lucky to still be in our employment.

Gordon Brown and friends do the Monster Mash

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:46:00 +0000

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Climate Change bedtime story - spoof video.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 08:46:00 +0000

Warning: Contains bad language:

Hat Tip Theo Spark

No10 petition - Stop wasting taxpayer's money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:19:00 +0000

I've just submitted a No10 petition to "Stop wasting taxpayer's money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.":

The government's latest TV advertisement on climate change is pure propaganda designed to frighten our children. Showing kids a puppy drowning in the centre of what looks like a British town is beyond fiction. It shows a weakness of argument for a government to have to resort to fear to bring the public "in line". This advertisement should be pulled immediately.

I'll provide a link if the petition is accepted.

Click on the drowning puppy to view the advertisement.

Kid scaring climate change advert should be banned

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 11:41:00 +0000

I have seen some dirty low down tricks in my time, but this takes the biscuit. The government have spent six million pounds of our money on an advertising campaign aimed to frighten both adults and kids into believing in climate change. The advert will be shown at prime time during the Coronation Street break. I'll let you watch it for yourself, but one highlight is a dog drowning in the centre of what looks to be a British town.

In my opinion there is nothing balanced in this advert. It has been designed to frighten - not to educate - and it should be banned.

Petition:

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Stop wasting taxpayers' money on climate change propaganda designed to frighten our children.

The government's latest TV advertisement on climate change is pure propaganda designed to frighten our children. Showing kids a puppy drowning in the centre of what looks like a British town is beyond fiction. It shows a weakness of argument for a government to have to resort to fear to bring the public "in line". This advertisement should be pulled immediately.

In the current economic climate, surely the government can find something better to spend six million pounds of taxpayers' money on.

Click HERE to sign the petition.

Click HERE to watch the advert.

UPDATE: I've emailed a complaint to ITV.

UPDATE 2: I've received a reply from ITV:

Thank you for your email.

All television advertisements are checked to ensure that they meet the requirements of the Broadcast Act, as detailed in the Television Advertising Standards Code rules and regulations. From the 1 November 2004 Ofcom, the broadcasting regulators, contracted out the responsibility for the code to the Clearcast. The investigation of complaints about apparent breaches of the Code was also contracted out at this time to the Advertising Standards Authority, through its broadcasting arm ASA(B).

Commercials are viewed and cleared prior to transmission by Clearcast at 2nd Floor, 4 Roger Street, London WC1N 2JX. Website http://www.clearcast.co.uk/clearcast The subject matter, content and treatment of all commercials are always given serious consideration to determine their suitability for transmission. All claims and statements made require substantiation, and particular care is needed to ensure that advertisements are not misleading.

For your information the contact details for the ASA are as follows:-

Advertising Standards Authority

Mid City Place

71 High Holborn

London WC1V 6QT

We have made a note of your concerns, which will be logged and viewed by senior management.

Once again thank you for taking the time to write to us and your comments have been noted here at ITV.

Kind regards

ITV Viewer Services - AT

David Cameron's speech to the Conservative conference 2009.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 16:39:00 +0000

So it's all over. If I had to give the conference a score, I'd give 9/10. I look back over the week and I cannot think of any part of it that I considered badly judged. If you think "A Tory would think that", then you should also consider that I have voted Labour in the last three General Elections. Cameron's speech gets a 10. It wasn't rip-roaring, it wasn't overly clever, it wasn't an attack job - However, Cameron's speech was perfect for the situation. Here's my favourite section:

So I won't promise things I cannot deliver. But I can look you in the eye and tell you that in a Conservative Britain: If you put in the effort to bring in a wage, you will be better off. If you save money your whole life, you'll be rewarded. If you start your own business, we'll be right behind you. If you want to raise a family, we'll support you. If you're frightened, we'll protect you.If you risk your safety to stop a crime, we'll stand by you. If you risk your life to fight for your country, we will honour you.

Ask me what a Conservative government stands for and the answer is this, we will reward those who take responsibility, and care for those who can't.

You can read the full speech HERE, or you can watch the full video HERE.

I'll wear a Brown tie to work when I'm 65.

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:00:00 +0000

George Osborne's announcement that the age of retirement will rise to sixty six gave me an idea. On my sixty fifth birthday, if I'm working in an office by then, I'll go to work in a brown tie - and I'll wear it for that final year. That way I will never forget what Gordon Brown and Labour did to this country. If anyone asks, I'll tell them "I'm doing my Brown year".

I will work an extra year as a patriotic duty. (Pension 66)

stephen_green7@sky.com (Daily Referendum) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:25:00 +0000

George Osborne is to announce that the retirement age for men will rise to sixty six. Am I happy about having to work an extra year? Most definitely not - but I do understand the reasons behind having to. George has been forced into this situation by Gordon Brown's massive pile of debt. The debt has to be paid off, or we will never recover from Labour's disastrous and incompetent spending frenzy.

On my sixty fifth birthday I will wake up and thank Gordon Brown, not George Osborne, for stealing away a year of my retirement. But I will go to work willingly in the knowledge that I will be doing so for patriotic reasons. If by working an extra year I can help the country get back on it's feet - then so be it. If by working an extra year I can improve the future for my children and grandchildren - then so be it.

I served in the Navy for sixteen years, and I will see this extra year as one more for the country. But I will NOT forget Gordon Brown.