Sunday, 3 March 2013


Papalscope.




    For he himself has said it, but alas since no one read it, Here is another chance for you to read the pearls of wisdom PAPALSCOPE entrusted to The Independent Newspaper over the last three weeks, I know it reads longer than that, so thought too you might enjoy this u.tube video. from an Australian production of HMS Pinafore.



This seems to work better if cut and pasted into a new window.
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in The stately homes built on the back of slaves · 3 hours ago
    When is Government to compensate all those Private Landlords whose Freeholds each was deprived of for negligible compensation, when such leasehold properties were enfranchised ?
  • Certainly, will tell you after the next general election!
  • What a splendid record. Fortunately one doesnt lose title to the Decoration when disposing of the hardware , nor deprive oneself of honour attaching there to, nor of the possibility of wearing its ribbons or miniatures.
    Many years ago it was reported that the late Lady Winston Churchill  had been forced to sell off, for not dis-similar reasons
    one of her late husband' s own paintings.When the suggestion was made that The Telegraph might buy the picture, and loan it to her as a token of appreciation, seemingly she thought the picture better sold. ( as might have been the Graham Sutherland?)
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in Mike Lynch issues immigration plea · 7 days ago
    It would have been a better idea to educate our own skilled workforce rather than send the potentially skilled to some second grade University where at to attain a useless Degree.
    Bring back those Technical Colleges, bring back those Grammar Schools. Re-establish home based Light Industry even though  old skills were abandoned in favour of the now discredited Financial Sector. The machinations of which  precipitated our country in the Financial Mess it is now in.  Our Government's solution of so called Quantitative Easing is but another name for the devaluation of our currency.
    As current Governance seemingly  isnt up to the Job that needs to be done, maybe its shelves need re-stocking.
  • What then of sausages ? Are they not the' Bags of Mystery' whose name none care to mention ?
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in Green Deal warning for buy-to-let landlords · 8 days ago
    What a splendid  idea, knock down all the sub standard housing after evicting the tenants ? There is a great demand for accommodation now,  so why not keep the houses we already have but build new ones as well ?
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in Green Deal warning for buy-to-let landlords · 8 days ago
    Typical nonsense from Government ? We are short of accommodation. People need somewhere to live, whether it is efficiently heatable or not is neither here nor there. These surveys that Vendors of Houses now have to pay before selling a property are but jobs or the  boys as were those HIPS that hitherto one had to provide. However if one puts fools in Government one gets nonsense legislation. It puts one in mind of France where Vendors have to pay for a Survey that would reveal whether a house has either Termites or Lead paint. Whether a house there has either or both is of no consequence as there is no requirement for  Vendor nor Purchaser to attend the matter. Fortunately now Listed Houses here are excused the idiot expense of efficiency surveys. Its High time that heads rolled in Government.
  • Understandable that Immigrants wish to send their wages back to their families, however don't suppose Sterling is useable elsewhere, so such wages have  be changed into the currency of an Immigrant's Homeland, which currency is financed by our exports. 
  • Probably that is so, did have a chap at school, a while ago now, who got a scholarship to Kings Cambridge before he was eligible to sit his 'O' Level as they then were, not sure what became of him after he edited a monthly publication, certainly didn't become PM.
  • What ever will become of the University of the Third Age, if all are to dream of Spires? However University was always wasted on the Young. In general it would be a far better thing if more  Undergraduates first entered employment, and only after a year or so sought a Degree, because maturity would add a certain something to the process.
  • I dont own a million pound house but ,but can share empathy with those who do, for house prices have been creeping up as the value of money has diminished over the years. What I can not understand is how  Nick Clegg ever became the leader of a once respected Political Party, let alone our Deputy Prime Minister.
  • How Splendid Berksire Girls are, God Bless.
  • Alas  Conservative Governments are as responsible for our housing debacle as are any. It was such Government that gave the right to buy,not only to Council Tenants, but too through the enfranchisements of Leaseholds, to Tenants of Privately owned Property, both classes of purchaser got to pocket money which rightly belonged to others.
     It was  Conservative Government that abolished the old Rating System, which it replaced with the Poll Tax. Not such a bad idea as it happens, as it distributed the burden of taxation amidst the many rather than the few. However that Tax soon gave way to the Community Charge, which Tax is based on all manner of absurdities. However the alleged valuations then made on houses were supposed to take into account whether the property was an Hovel or a Mansion. There is nothing new there then. Why the suggestion of yet another new tax with the army of parasites who will be hired to collect it, when all that needs doing if so minded is to adjust the banding system currently in existence. A separate' Mili-band' is uncalled for. Incidently those who have since thought to do their Hovel up are still required to pay no more than the Community Charge on the Hovel for even then re-valuations do not occur.Where was the Lyons Report buried a while back ?
    The French Government recently introduced a Wealth Tax, so no doubt Labour Government will wish to follow suit
  • All very Sad, hope it doesnt come to that, but was not this radio but a Gimmick, or representation of similar technology ?
  • Possibly yours wasn't a Boarding Grammar School ?
  • Have no knowlege of how things may have been at Gresham's but ' yesterday was indeed another country' for surely most Boarding Schools tended to boast an errant Staff Member or more Senior Boy, who to some degree or another offended propriety. Laity apart such over familiarity wasn't restricted to the Clergy of any particular Denomination.
    Maybe if such reminiscences are only now coming to light, its to give credibility to the tales of others, whose woes some would deny. Never understand how such hurts are to be compensated for financially.
  • Apart from Benefits sought, the problem is the number of immigrants arriving, and the dependents so many bring with them. That being so where are so many to be accommodated? One has noted when holidaying in France that there is overt begging both in the streets and outside  Supermarkets.  Maybe  because France doesn't treat  its immigrants as generously as we do, that Country has become but a Staging Post for the UK.
    We have an housing shortage and under employment ourselves, and read reports of pressure on both our Schools and Hospitals, and of the sums of money paid to Translators.
    Even so cutting Benefits will do little to help, for the problem isnt Benefits, but the enhancement of our population whether incomers receive Benefits or not. One has heard tell of nett Migration, but one may wonder what that is supposed to prove.
  • Great to read such intellectual comment.
  • Inhertance tax is one thing, but executors finding the money to pay for it another. Most frequently there is a need to sell a property to release Equity, and the Property can not be sold until the Inheritance Tax is paid, and Probate can not be granted until arrangements to pay the Inhertance Tax have been made. In the meantime the property which might house the homeless remains empty.Government would do well to better organise Probate Arrangements.
    I've seen one such house empty since May last year which only today a contractor is being paid to clear of its excellent, clean, quality remaining furnishings and white goods. This because the Executors havent even been able to give the goods away for free. They tried The Salvation Army, and received back but an Invitation to drop into their Sunday Service. There was another item they wished to donate  for exhibition/ fundraising purposes. Tried everyone from the National Trust, Museum of London, The Toy Museum which is believed to be part of the V&A, and The Dickens Museum, but no takers.
  • Is this not what Wikipedia is for?
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in Demand from 'grey lodgers' up by 35pc · 20 days ago
    What a very sensible idea it is for compatible people of  any age to 'House Share'. There is every financial incentive so to do. Shared heating, and other services, community charges and all the rest of it. The young have flat shared for ever, why then should not the elderly do the same, providing all have their personal space , for elderly persons other than my good self do tend to be tiresome!
    Conveniences apart there is the matter of Inheritance Tax which is to remain with us. Remember that all Estates in excess of £325,000 are taxed at 40% and that there are fewer and fewer houses valued under £200,000. If one has sold such a house and dispersed the money along any legitimate Avenues, one can avoid paying Inheritance Tax.
  • Unfortunately its our confrontational system of Justice that is to Blame. One understands that our Legal Process is the finest in the World, if it is heaven help everyone elsewhere.
  • Humanities Degree into an MB.
    'Things aren't what they used to be'.
    A
    further nail in everybody's coffin is the requirement that Nurses
    qualify through some University or another. Has this attracted recruits
    to the Profession who are more interested in attending University than
    working in an Hospital Ward? Alas now there are too many other
    attractions to be found at University, whilst Hospitals have turned
    into failing Businesses.Abolish The University entry, bring back Matron
    and expel any contractors who fail to perform.
    There was a time
    Nursing was seen as a pinnacle of achievement for any woman,(Chaps
    didn't do it much then) especially any trained at one of our famed
    Teaching Hospitals.
  • AvatarYou posted a comment in Home ownership falls to lowest level since 1987 ·23 days ago
    Happily one owns a home, however I know of one couple who find it very hard to find a house to buy. It is not even because they cant afford to buy, just that there are too few houses for sale. Scarcity encourages putative vendors to demand prices that their property doesnt merit. Possibly because they paid too much for it on what was seen to be an ever rising market each can not afford to sell for less than now demanded
    Regrettably much more land needs to be designated for House building whether the rest of us like it or not. Further more we should be making better use of the housing we already have. I believe the BBC has moved to Salford where ever that is, others should so diversify. Shift Parliament and the Offices of State to the Midlands and let London become as a Theme Park for Tourists.
    If we are now housing increasing numbers of persons from the EEC and Immigrants both legal and illegal they too will need a place to live. It is useless for Government to keep wringing its hands and weeping crocodile tears, and bringing in discredited schemes such as Hips, and Thermal Efficiency Ratings, when all people want is accommodation. If that means upsetting the Apple Cart, then that is what it needs to do.
  • Which is the point of the Conservative Party ? It most certainly needed modernising but why throw basic principles out of the window too ? If there was to be an Election today I'd probably abstain from voting




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