Wacky Races On the Roads.

Behind the Headlines News

Thursday January 31, 2018

Following the Duke of Edinburgh’s accident, and the subsequent incident in which he was photographed driving two days later with no seatbelt, the Chairman of the Police Federation has said, ‘It’s like Wacky races out there.’ John Apter has warned that errant drivers have become free to drive as dangerously as they wish because there are no longer enough marked police patrol cars out on the roads.

‘You’ll see motorists regularly driving in an anti-social, dangerous and aggressive way,’ said Mr Apter at the National Roads Policing Conference. ‘They’re just not being caught and it’s only going to get worse,’ he continued. ‘They’re driving without a care. You can drive hundreds on miles now and you might see a highways agency traffic officer or a speed camera.

‘But very rarely will you see marked police cars patrolling the motorways moderating people’s behaviour. Road policing is seen as something nice to have. It’s not seen as essential’.

Recent figures have indicated that breath tests have dropped by 42 per cent in the last six years and the number of drivers caught using a mobile phone while at the wheel has also plunged by two-thirds, along with related offences also dropping.

A further criticism of reduced road patrols was made by another Police Federation officer, Dave Blundell, who said, ‘Is a speed camera going to detect a mobile phone? Is a speed camera going to detect a drunk driving offence?’

This stance has been supported by Edmund King, president of the AA, who said, ‘Speed cameras or dashcams can help reduce crime but don’t deter uninsured drivers or mainstream criminals’.

On the basis or reaping what one sows, KJM Today columnist Kevan James has said that the reliance today on cameras-for-everything is a direct result of the massive spread of CCTV under New Labour between 1997 and 2010 and James pointed out that Prime Minister Theresa May, whilst Home Secretary, was also seen to be in favour of increased surveillance with her apparent enthusiasm for new laws supporting the use of such technology.

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Ireland’s Brexit Dilemma

Amidst all the doom-and-gloom for the UK should there be a ‘no-deal’ brexit, the Irish Government’s department of finance has predicted that more than 50,000 jobs could be lost, and unemployment could rise by 2 per cent if Britain leaves with no withdrawal agreement in place.

The department also said that the Irish economy would be 4.5 per cent smaller by 2023 than currently projected, and the modest surplus expected in 2020 would become a deficit instead.

Paschal Donohoe, Ireland’s Minister for Finance, said no deal would have a substantial effect on the resources available for public services. The agri-food sector and indigenous small enterprises that trade with the UK would also be hit, he added.

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Get the Monkey Off Your Pack

Should Labour win the next general election, the decades-old tradition of using cartoon characters on cereal packets could come to an end. Much loved by generations, Tony the Tiger, who has shrieked ‘Therrre Grr-AT!’ from boxes of Kellogg’s Frosties for over 70 years, will be banned, along with Coco the Monkey on Coco Pops boxes, the Honey Monster and others.

Lanour’s Deputy Leader Tom Watson is to urge the advertising industry to stop using the characters and if they refuse, a Labour government will bring in stricter rules as part of the war against obesity.

Mr Watson, who lost 7st and reversed his type 2 diabetes with a regime of diet and exercise that included cutting out sugar, is to accuse advertisers of being grossly irresponsible and is to tell the Advertising Association that, ‘Sugar isn’t just rotting our insides, it’s rotting our teeth.

‘As politicians and policymakers, we are saying: Get that monkey off your pack, If the industry won’t reform itself, we will do it for you.’

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Ban Under 16s from the Web

Daily Mail columnist Sarah Vine (the wife of Conservative MP Michael Gove) has suggested that., following recent publicity over children using social media platforms incessantly, anybody under the age of 16 should now be banned from using smartphones.

Given the numbers of phones used by Under 16s that also now have a tracking app downloaded to them so Parents can see where their children are, Miss Vine might need some considerable luck with

that, as might Anne Longfield, England’s Children’s Commissioner.

She wants young people to be banned from social media if the web giants ‘can’t clean up their act and keep their promises to protect teenagers from posts promoting self-harm and suicide’. She has been backed by Andy Burrows of the NSPCC, who said, ‘Social Networks have repeatedly shown that they are incapable of regulating themselves’.

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