Virtual Councils and Universities

You may remember a few weeks ago a council in Greater Manchester scrapped a virtual council they had set up in Second Life which had cost £36,000 of council tax payers. It is not only Councils that are doing this but surprise, surprise Universities are doing this as well. They are spending again vast amounts of public money to investigate and use this technology.

Edinburgh University Professor Calls for Ban on Rugby Scrums

The University of Edinburgh Centre for International Public Health Policy through Professor Allyson Pollock has called for scrums and high tackles to be banned in rugby. The next thing we will have is them asking them to ban air flights for the possibility of a crash, where would this world be if we had not taken risk. I used to respect Allyson Pollock as a sensible academic but she is really showing herself to be a total idiot. As an ex-rugby player who played in the scrum I speak from experience and it was rugby that was very influential in my life.

The survey was based on 190 rugby matches withe 37 injuries recorded with 20 taken to A&E out of those 20, 19 were discharged without admission. Is Allyson Pollock one of these people who does not want children to take any risks and be bubble wrapped from top to bottom to avoid any scrapes or grazes that they may get as a normal child? Get a life for god's sake and use our tax payers' money for looking into serious issues.

Edinburgh Council Spending £10k on US Trip

I have noticed in the Evening News that our city fathers are now planning to spend £10,000 pounds on sending a delegation to the US to greet Edinburgh's entry in the round the world yacht race.

How can they justify this at this time when the council is cash strapped and is cutting services? The usual excuse with this type of junket is that it will bring in money to the city by advertising the city to the wider world, usually the figure of £12 million pound is mentioned. This figure is never broken down into where it comes from. If this type of money comes in it certainly does not bring down our council tax. Councillors should remember that we are their employers. Any further spending cuts that are proposed to be made on services should be protested against at the city council buidlings. Edinburgh citizens should be more active in their displeasure.

For more information on this see Edinburgh Evening News Article

Tesco Shops in the Southside and everywhere else

In the southside we have three Tesco stores within a mile of each other two of them are Tesco Expresses and one is a Tesco Metro. All of them have the same opening times but we find ourselves in the position of having to pay a premium with respect to prices for the Express stores because of the names. How can Tesco justify this as they must be getting their stock from the same distribution points and surely they can not be paying their staff any more than the staff at the Metro store? It is my intention to email them to ask for their justification anyone else wanting to to this use the following link Contact Tesco

Pavement Cyclists

Over the past few months, I have entered into correspondence with the local police and politicians indicating that there is a problem with cyclists riding bikes on the pavement. The police replied to me as if I was a car driver which I am not. They were really not too interested in it.

I use local transport or walk everywhere. The one thing I must state here is that I am not an environmentalist, it is just I do not see the point in duplicating what is already supplied for a small fee or what is available through my own propulsion.

Riding a bike on the pavement is illegal and Police Officers can impose an on-the-spot fine on a cyclist under Section 51 and Schedule 3 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. Time and time again I have noticed police officers ignoring this illegal act. If only they would get out of their cars and impose fines, this would stop.

In the South Side of Edinburgh, cyclists are continuing to get away with this illegal act along with other traffic misdemeanours. What I would urge citizens to do (and it is what I do) is stop any cyclist who is riding on the pavement and tell them that what they are doing is illegal and then walk away. They probably won't give a damn but you will have delayed them and given them something to think about. Also bombard your local MPs, MSPs with letters (as far as I understand it, if you send an MP or MSP a letter they must respond to it)