eat my words

Well done England, and especially Mr Flintoff - being proven wrong has never tasted so sweet.

mayoral reply

Yesterday I received this reply, from Mayor Davies, to my email of the 8th June.

Thank you for your email, and for taking the time to contact me. I apologise for the delay in responding to you.

The Local Government and Housing Act 2007 introduced a number of changes that affected the operation of the governance of local authorities. These included the requirements for a referendum about a change from an elected Mayor to another form of leadership known as the executive.

The requirements for elected Mayors, and other forms of executive, are contained in the Local Government Act 2000. The 2007 Act makes the changes by amending the existing provisions in the 2000 Act. In Section 69 of the 2007 Act, Section 45 of the Local government Act 2000 is amended, limiting any local authority in England to having no more than one referendum in a 10 year period. This was originally five years. In addition, Section 64 of the 2007 Act adds a new Section 33G to the 2000 Act which provides that should a change of governance be approved in an authority which has an elected Mayor, the change can only be implemented three days after the date on which the next Mayoral election would have taken place, at the time the resolution was passed.

As the Council held a referendum on the 20th September 2001, the earliest date on which a further referendum can be held is the 20th September 2011, and any changes arising from the referendum could not be implemented until May 2013, when the next Mayoral election is due to take place.

Regards

Peter Davies
Mayor of Doncaster

bye bye freddy

Andrew 'Freddy' Flintoff is calling it a day for Test match cricket.

Good, and personally I wouldn't pick him for any of the remaining Ashes Tests. He's an average all rounder, and as the 'new' Botham, he's been a failure.

He has been designated as England's 'talisman' in recent years, and even had a couple of good seasons, but all in all he's never been a match winner. 75 Tests, batting average 31, bowling 32, only 5 centuries and just two 5 wicket hauls - certainly not much evidence of someone who can affect the outcome of a Test match there.

So bye bye Freddy, go back to your money making IPL contract and make a load of dosh whilst they still believe the hype that surrounds you.

swearing helps reduce pain

A study by Keele University researchers found volunteers who cursed at will could endure pain nearly 50% longer than civil-tongued peers.

Thank fuck for that, my twatting back hurts like a fucking bastard.

There, that's better.

foxtons guilty of sneaky grasping greed

Foxtons have been found guilty of sneaky grasping greedy practice in a case taken by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT).

Perhaps time for another Class War picket.

drax 29

The Drax 29, including two Theos, a Felix, Bertie, Robin, Oliver, Jasmin and a Clemmie.

At first I thought;

Heirs to Thatcher's legacy - middle class interfering self appointed saviour bastards who wish to destroy the UK's coal industry - i.e. finishing the job that the old witch began.

But perhaps my mining village working class chip is showing.

Are the climate campers right, or does coal as an energy source, via clean coal technology, have a future - as I believe?

Or more to the point, are human beings, however well intentioned, capable of controlling the Earth's climate by the measures proposed by Theo, Bertie and Felix?

independence from america day

Unfortunately Clare Short will be there.

I've only ever been to one of these demos, pacifist demonstration organised by a Quaker, and there was at least one copper in attendance for every two demonstrators - and plenty of guns, horses and cameras by the dozen. Talk about over-reaction.