Real Estate Coaching

Many would-be real estate entrepreneurs are enamored of the idea of flipping houses for big profits. The truth of the matter is that being a professional real estate investor is serious business. It's not some kind of house flip game. Michael Gerber of the landmark "E-Myth" book, says most small business owners spend too much time IN their business instead of ON their business, a key reason for early business failure. Real Estate Coaching - Your Ticket to Entrepreneur Success. Spending your money and time efficiently on the proper activities. Getting paid sooner than if you'd spent time learning it yourself. Working ON your business.

How to Flip a House
However, the Tom Krol Mastery real estate coaching program led by Than Merrill and his partners was recently ranked the #1 rated business education among all industries by Inc. magazine. In fact, Than's company is actually one of the teams on the TV show "Flip This House".

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The Venus factor is a weight loss program that is designed for women. If your Venus index is higher than normal, you are supposed to lose weight; however, if the index is low, you should plan on gaining weight.
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Car Accident Lawyer in Brooklyn - Car Accident Facts

Car accidents are common in Brooklyn due to the numbers of vehicles clogging our streets, highways and freeways. Everyone must get around by car. If you've been unlucky enough to have suffered a car crash in Brooklyn, there are some basic facts you must know.

Fact #1: You can be injured even if your car wasn't.

Fact #2: You must seek medical help right away.
You must report to a car accident doctor specialist within the first 72 hours. If you seek care afterward, your case may be jeopardized and your rights to proper care and a fair car accident settlement may be diminished. The insurance computers "like" treatment in the first 72 hours and score your claim higher while they discount claims for cases that seek care after 72 hours.

Yes, car accident injuries are a specialized field. Your car accident injury expert will also be able to assist you in answering calls and letters from insurance companies and lawyers and refer you to other specialists when necessary.

Fact #4: The average mild to moderate car accident neck injury can take 3 to 6 months to heal.
Studies have shown that upwards of 40% of car accident neck injuries become permanent.

Why You Need a Car Accident Lawyer?
Car accidents have become one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In fact, each and every year car accidents are claiming more than three million lives. When involved in a car accident, the best thing you should do is contact a lawyer.

Why a Car Accident Lawyer is important?
• Costs of wrongful deaths are also well and timely compensated with the help of a lawyer.

• A lawyer is an expert in assessing vital details in police/medical reports as well as interviewing witnesses present at the scene of accident.

• A Brooklyn accident lawyer gathers all necessary information needed, tries to find out how the accident happened and why it happened, including details of all persons concerned. Most importantly, when involved in any car accident, don't talk to your insurance company until you have spoken to an experienced lawyer first. A car accident lawyer will handle all communication that needs to take place as well as giving a professional reply when required, to all questions when raised on behalf of the other party or insurance company.

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There are lots of other royalty free sources for music and video that you can find in the search engines.

My Stock Audio Provider

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Flash templates are ready made web design templates enriched with Flash effect and technology.
One could choose from the entire Flash photo gallery collection the kind of Flash templates they could use for their website and also can get them customized to their needs and requirements. You could just have a look at the most popular Flash component, recent components or even latest components on the online platform itself where the webmasters offer myriad range of services in the form of Flash animations and Flash XML gallery. The Flash slide show and the demos that are available on the website will give you a lucid picture as to how your website will look when you integrate the Flash component into the website.

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Templatepiggie.com is a marketplace that allows users to offer, sell and buy templates for websites in a variety of pricing formats and locations. The actual contract for sale is directly between the sellers and buyers.

New content is continually added to the Templatepiggie.com archive, so there is always something new!

All graphics and templates provided on  Templatepiggie.com  come with the right to use them in all types of projects. There are absolutely no additional fees beyond the price which you pay in our market.

Buy Blog Reviews in Detail

Some ways to build traffic to blog sites and gather links online meant for SEO involves buy blog reviews. This is a debated subject because many do not feel it is right to pay for blog reviews on products that have not even been used by the reviewer. Sometimes, this can actually hurt your credibility with people that read your blog and know more about the products than the "paid" blog reviewer.

Because websites need to gather links to rank higher on the search engines, many believe that buying blog reviews has gotten out of hand when you consider there must be 100 other ways you can gather links online, whether it means purchasing them or just posting your information and content to let people link to you on their own.

There are ways to build links properly, when done right, using clean techniques. You don't have to pay to get reviews, but can post informational content about products comparing them to information on other products, for example.Some information on products is purely factual, based on the claims or ingredients of the product, so they are simply stating facts in comparison of facts, and not offering a subjective personal opinion. These paid blogs that are purely technical in nature may be considered ethical.

You should go with posts that are genuine and ones that the bloggers have taken the time to research or use the product to make an honest assessment that is useful. Also, reviews from relevant blogs that are already established help make it known that the blogger already knows the market well, as they should.

Tribute to Gadget - Knives Out -

One of the constants in my activity the accomplished few years has been the access of The Inspector Gadget Blog. With the annihilation of acceptable old Night Jack this was the go to abode to see policing "AS IT IS". I accept been accepted to pop in for time to time with the odd comment. 

I've been a connected clairvoyant for years - I don't even anticipate he'd got to 100k hits if I aboriginal lurked, as Copperfield was the appointed abode for antagonistic complaining troops. 

I hardly recognised the authority and debris he wrote about, as I plan in Metroland. It didn't yield continued about for those new religions in ACPO cerebration to clarify through to my own Force area. We've even got some of the aforementioned cocky proclaimed "leaders" who brownnose to their political masters. Some of us are still angry and ambition the accuracy out, but maybe from the central is the abode to access and appearance up the present appearance of administration that moulds approaching policing. This is a altered job to the one I abutting over 25 years ago and a altered ability exists .... aloofness rules forth with Money. 

I'd like to accept that the alone affair that affairs is humans - both on the agents ancillary and the accessible at large. If we get that appropriate the policing will attending afterwards itself after the measures. 

Challenging upwards in whatever way you can is a accurate Administration affection and Mr Gadget (one assumes a Mr.) appears to accept it in spades. I never knew Gadget but again I did, because we see the aforementioned things. I'm captivated to see he is aswell a Radiohead fan and ambition him all the best in his retirement. 

From a Hat - I address and Thank You Gadget. Enjoy Retirement.

envy-moi

envy-moi

Eyes Wide Shut

Parallels = Same Result

Okay I've digested Winsor 2, but I'd actually read the transcript of conversations that had taken place with The Federation so no real surprises in there for me! So what is happening here and why?

It just so happens, that this week Petrol Tanker drivers have voted to strike. There are some interesting parallels here that need examination. I declare an interest as my old man used to be one, and if I wasn't doing Policing, I would have been living in Essex probably doing the same. I am friends with people who are in Unite and I know what has happened in the past few years in that business.

In my father's day he was employed by an oil company to deliver fuel and oil. He was therefore enrolled into their pension scheme, which was one of the best in the private sector. It is a skilled job and safety is the name of the game as effectively you are driving a potential bomb. The drills are everything and routing, cambers, loading, unloading and entry into delivery sites is taken very seriously, with an expectation to act on near misses reported by the drivers. It has therefore been well paid and "The Company" could well afford it.

About 20 years ago "The Company" then decided to save money and put the delivery side of its business out to contract. Tenders were made and effectively the drivers were off the books and employed by whoever got the 5 year contract. Terms and Conditions changed and the longer service people were either paid off or were offered £20k in compensation to take a 25% pay cut. They were most importantly out of the pension scheme and accrued payments were frozen, and then into an inferior pension with the contract winner, where to benefit they would have to work longer.

Over the years market forces ensured that salary rates stayed low. The staff turnover was higher as people were often attracted elsewhere, and in driving circles petrol delivery still remained better paid so recruitment was never going to be a problem. Although safety is still high on the agenda, safety incidents are I'm told up, as are the resulting dismissals. Had a PollColl recently? Imagine getting a written warning if you are found at fault instead of some points on your police driving record.

A few years back the wages had effectively not increased much and the union stood their ground for a raise in salary. Oil prices were at an all time high as were company profits for oil companies. Media dirty tricks kicked in to paint the drivers as "greedy" yet same job 17 years after conditions changed, only paid the same money as previously? That was some erosion in pay if you were employed on the old terms.

Interesting times ahead for Policing. G4S will now obviously take parts of core policing and see above for what I suspect it means for current police officers. I think I blogged previously that PCSO's would go that way eventually but never thought that would come to warranted officers. Getting police off the Public Sector pension liability is good for the taxpayer and I suspect an experiment for other public services.

Did you used to judge those people on demonstrations when they went on about corporate greed? Maybe their eyes were open!!

If I'm honest I can see why they'd do this. Policing is not the efficient common sense disciplined occupation I joined over 25 years ago. It really is simple put more on relief to deal with what the public want and dispose of the central control and performance monitoring. There's your 20% savings.

A Prediction

Sometimes you can anticipate extra work coming along so here's a little prediction. I am a technophobe however am aware that in many mobile devices, (Apple for one) that you can either activate a GPS tracker or in the newer versions it's there as standard. Great for police if your phone is genuinely stolen by robbery and you want it back.

Not great for police if your phone is "Lost/Stolen" in a pub.

I predict more than a few drunken persons coming our way with expectations that we'll drop everything in order to track their "Stolen" phone. I believe phone providers are already sending people down to the nick, having told them what we can do.

We'll see !!

I'm Still Standing

Hello - It's been a while and thought I'd pop in for a one off post.

Since I stopped blogging the Country has continued on a downward trajectory and this once fantastic job has followed the trend line. A few years back I would have been ranting about it but there are more important things in life to worry about. I used to sell my soul in my chosen trade and the past couple of years have learnt that I can't do it any more and find myself hanging on.

I am affected by the Winsor stitch up, losing increments but will escape anything that Hutton throws up in relation to my Pension. If I take into account some Army service I can go with a full pension in about 2 years time. I am physically injured and mentally shot but in a better place than previously. I don't work the long hours that I used to and feel healthier for it, although occasionally massage my ego with some extra specialist duty that results in jail time for those I play with. It might mean finishing at 3 or 4 in the morning and still having to make Early Turn but that's a personal thing and I'm not motivated by money as I don't incur overtime anymore.

I do find myself somewhat in a quandary about the financial situation the country is in. As one of Maggie's children I'm very small state minded and see the need for a smaller public sector and the need to cut pensions. It is a good deal we have and obviously unaffordable for the Country at large in the longer term, but that was the deal when I signed on the line and put my body through the grinder. I've fulfilled my side of the bargain policing the streets on shift for most of my service, and have the scars and pains to show for it. NuLabor dodged the big decision at the time on Pensions, however a double hit on Police, targeting Pay and Conditions followed by the Hutton change is in my opinion unfair as it presently stands. I doubt very much if it would have happened if The Police Federation had looked into Full Industrial Rights a few years back. I'd rather HMG looked at benefit tourism, as my eyes tell me there's plenty of savings to be made there, due to European integration, Who did vote for that?

I fear the writing is on the wall and this once Great Institution is heading for privatisation in some form. That means that the Office of Constable will become a thing of the past and all about indicators and bottom lines. If they understood policing and it was just about crime then OK what's the problem? - but Policing is about People and picking up the pieces where other agencies are so obviously failing. Police Officers care and do outstanding work with the Mentally Ill and Young People in a preventative way, along with so many other interactions that are not crime related. The question I pose is, if we don't do it - Who will? Just look at Social Service provision out of office hours and think who currently fills that gap. There are not many indicators in baby sitting children in Police Protection for several hours whilst waiting for Social Services to grind into some action.

I had the opportunity when out with an MP on patrol to tell it the way it was. He listened and knew I spoke the truth, however the truth is not in line with current government policy or I doubt personal MP career progression.

The facts are it's going to get worse before it's get better. The situation is what it is .. Do your best and try to be happy, and remember you can't change the world but you can possibly do real good for somebody on that next call. That's your reward !!

Nirvana - Maybe The Problem Is Me !

This is my final post and after today this blog will remain forever in the Blogosphere possibly being of interest to somebody. The whole blogging thing was just a questioning of myself searching for the answer to something. There have been no agendas or need of approval from others, it's all I'm afraid been about me. I put it up and analyse it myself and have been helped in my stress battle by those who have visited and taken time to comment. To each and every one of you I am grateful.

Why finish today? Well I made the decision ages ago but my mild OCD wouldn't let me go unless the blog was symmetrical. It is two years since I started and you don't know the agonising I've been through whether to finish yesterday or today. I finally took the plunge for 23rd May, but you know what it doesn't really matter it's just my thoughts that have caused this illogical turmoil.

I've had a good look at myself through the last two years and want to examine further how I can progress along my journey. A narrative has been useful up to now but it is I think a negative influence in my life. I wouldn't leave it and just close without comment like one of my favourite stress blogs Intelligence Detective, I'm going on a positive. Whatever did happen to the General?

I've got a few stress monkey followers and to you I say stick with it and try reading the above book by Jon Kabat-Zinn which I've found very useful. I could go on about it but that would be my judgement, so be open and see if it helps you too.

I've had to get my head around how I go about being a police officer. I have always been a high achieving productive individual and that's before the target culture of recent years. I pushed myself to near destruction to the detriment of my personal life and for what? I think what is happening in policing is unhelpful and gets away from what it's about. Policing should be about compassion and fairness things that are generally lacking in society today. Unfortunately especially on the front line people are driven from higher up to produce more and more, never having time to actually take a moment and think. All these performance departments get caught up in this madness too - when actually if we took a breath and became more open we'd see it was all crap. Policing is simple - just let us police as individuals - all these figures don't matter because they are lies anyway.

I have hopefully managed to break the cycle. I have seen the light and no longer have the desire to be at work all the time striving to be the best and competitive in the extreme. The financial rewards of doing that for years have enabled me to pay my clever daughter through university. No debt for her, paid for through me taking all overtime available over the years. You can call it performance related pay.

So it wasn't being a policeman that done for me I did it to myself, and all the negative stuff was I think just a reaction to job pressure. It would have been the same in whatever job I'd done as that's the way I'm wired up. I think the technical term is emotionally intelligent. I accept that label and all that's happened in my past including a difficult personal life. I'm still here so the past is irrelevant and the future an illusion, all that matters is now.

I'm back in the Zone and have learnt that one can make judgements and decisions in the right way. This needs to be done without automation where we as police officers often fall into the trap of labelling jobs. There is no such thing as just another domestic or just another call about problem kids. I approach things with a beginner's open mind and I've found that connection with my old self. I'm happier in my life and am now only a slightly stressed cop. When Ian Blair left the Met on his last day he said "You have good days and You have bad days". That really does sum up policing for me, in fact it can be applied to life itself. It's how you cope with things that matters.

In my new role I find myself dealing with countless officers suffering from stress in one form or another. Currently 25% of my people have got issues ranging from total Burnout to bereavement problems. I line manage over 20 so that's alot at one time. I'm best placed to deal with it having been there myself. When is somebody going to wake up and look at this within the police? I suspect the baseline data would be shocking if my team is replicated across the force area.

I'll pop into the usual places now and again just to be sociable but for now it's Goodbye. I don't intend to come back but you can never say never. Not had a video up for a while so enjoy ..... just a few more years then I can grow my hair like Kurt's again !!

If I Ruled The World

This blog has only given my perspective on how I see policing and life issues, and that perspective is from somebody who by my own admission has suffered stress so take it as you will. No doubt some of my views have been strong at times and not to the liking of all.

As I'm relatively chilled and at ease with life at present I can roll with it and not get too worked up about work. There are however things I would like to see changed in policing. During the course of writing this blog and confronting my issues I've actually managed to get promoted to Inspector. You might think this gives me control over front line delivery but sadly this isn't the case. I am the duty officer on a response team in a busy area with a derisory amount of officers to deal with the demand of calls. I could actually provide a better service if I was allowed to but others removed from what I do seem to know best. Here are the solutions:

Response policing is actually quite simple, all you've got to do is meet demand. Pro activity in the old sense is lost to us and left to the squads who have time to go hunting for villains. Making it better means bringing back dispatch of resources to the local Division. I'm old enough to have worked in an old comms room as a PC and went on to be a Controller responsible for all local deployments. The sad truth is that the centralised radio dispatch system brought in by most force areas is not fit for purpose and isn't working for the front line. Everybody knows this apart from senior management who are mightily impressed that their targets for picking up the phone to the public are improving.

It's a shame that we are not as good in actually getting to those calls. I sit and look at the long list of calls and many of them don't require a police officer to attend. As a controller I would have sorted out most of them as not being police matters or by giving advice over the phone. Unfortunately the Controller is long dead. By bringing back this role local supervision would be improved with the right units being sent to the right calls. Knowing the abilities of your staff and who might be ducking and diving never escaped the Controller.

There are actually dozens of police and PCSO's on duty each day but they are not deployable because policy dictates they are ring fenced to look after their own portfolios. Neighbourhood teams can only take calls on their beat if the call type matches their local priorities. This is madness and it is madness inflicted by police managers looking after their own areas of business. Now I've worked in community and it's no hardship for those working in that field to take some of the work from response. I actually preferred to report all burglaries on my patch so I could take time to look after the victim's and get a feel for who was screwing my patch. It's purely a time and motion thing and using the most of resources available.

Will somebody have the balls to go back and do this? Don't hold your breath. I whined a few months back about my ever decreasing team of officers. Since then I've lost more and more to little squads that pop up. I'm told they will take work from us, but after a few weeks of them telling me how busy they are, some of the work comes back to us because of their "insufficient capacity".

I am actually shocked and flabbergasted at the numbers we've been reduced to but still we carry on, but people are beginning to wobble. How long before they fall over? I don't rule the world - I can't even be trusted it appears to run my team the way I want to. To be fair even my bosses are dictated to by headquarters who seem to know best. I'll do my best to run my little team regardless but now I hear plans are being made to have us cover other Divisions as well in the name of efficiency. The Controller is dead, so is common sense it seems.

Never Assume

Last man standing happens alot and very often the box of police officers is well ... just empty. Calls still come in to be dealt with regardless, the same target response times needing to be met. Some forces run a Class 1 and others an immediate response I grade for emergencies.

It's near the end of the early turn shift and I'm it as section Sgt. I take the call and ask for more details. It appears a suicide letter has been received in the post by the parent's of a man, who lives on a nearby estate. They call us and as an ambulance has been called it's an I grade in case police need to force entry. I'm literally just round the corner and am thinking nice easy job, knock on the door greet sender of the letter, make sure everything's OK and I'll still be off on time.

I pull into the estate and find the correct block. It's four stories high with no lift and it did cross my mind how nice it would be to find the flat on the ground floor. It never works out that way and I trudge up to the top floor and find the flat. You could tell the occupant must have issues because there are a series of padlocks and clasps on the door frame. Not entirely in line with fire regulations but the sound of the television on the other side of the door confirms my quick job theory.

I give it my finest police knock and stand back. There's no reply so it's likely the bloke is out. All the padlocks are locked so he could be out shopping having left the television on. Ever the professional I crouch down to look through the letterbox. It's a studio type flat and I look into the living room seeing a figure sat in an armchair in front of the TV. It looks like he's fallen asleep but the smell of gas has already hit my nose.

I jump up and force the door, padlocks and all, rushing in and grabbing something to smash the glass in the window. It's boiling hot inside and a look to the gas hob tells me why. There's a saucepan on the lit gas with burnt remnants of baked beans. The gas smell is due to the poor ventilation in the flat and the unburnt gas build up. I turn it off and open the windows, looking towards the figure in the chair. He's sat back, head lolling and feet out in front with a plate of beans on his lap as if he's just nodded off. He doesn't look dead but a quick knock shows me he's already in rigor mortis and beyond help. I call it in just as the paramedics arrive. They're carrying their medical bags and were probably hoping for the flat to be on the ground floor too. They are not needed and this appears a relatively straightforwards run of the mill suicide.

I have a look around and seize some medication containers putting them to one side to be bagged up later for the coroner. A late turn unit turns up offering to take over but I've got a responsibility to this dead man to see it through myself. The FME declares life extinct and I await the undertakers having spoken to the coroner's officer. The original informant his mother who lives miles away is going to get a personal death message visit from police sometime soon. Maybe she too expected everything would turn out OK. The undertakers arrive and were definitely hoping the flat was on the ground floor. They have to put the deceased into a body bag, not easy as he's stiff in a seated position and carry him down to the hearse. The estate caretaker sorts out the door so it's secure and I'm all done bar the paperwork.

A couple of days later I get a call from the control room. Can I ring the mother of the suicide victim she wants to speak to me. I didn't really give her any thought as I concentrated on dealing with her son, glad that it wasn't me doing the death message. There's no way out and I make the call trying to give her closure. No, I don't think he suffered, he looked very peaceful and had some baked beans as a last supper and must have been watching television before drifting out of this life. I don't know if it helped but it's something I dislike doing.

What prompts this story? One of my officer's lost a family member a few months back. He'd told me it was an unexpected sudden death. I've been worried about him and assumed he'd be OK but now he tells me that he received a letter in the post too.

Carry On Laughing

Postal voting fraud, chaotic polling stations with people locked out and getting angry - and to be honest we're not really surprised are we? It sort of sums up what NuLabor has done to the country since being in power. They are still hanging in there in case of a last minute deal with the Libs. Brown still sits as prime minister. What a farce !!

The whole lot of them, Tories included are weak and that's why we'll end up with a wet government. What does that mean for policing? If Cameron strikes a coalition deal the Home Secretary could be a LibDem minister. No change for us then, and more of the same old same old awaits.

I hope I'm wrong and Cameron pushes through his promise to dismantle the worst bits of the Human Rights Act. In reality nothing's going to happen until the next election. It's all rather depressing.

Why can't we just be left to get on with it and police without interference? I'm sure it's the same for the NHS with Doctors and Nurses, serving not the patients but the number crunchers sat in their offices somewhere.

At least the Sun is shining today.

Reflections And Regrets

The Superintendo was loving it as he'd received a letter of appreciation from a member of the public praising us the police. These things matter apparently and were at one time used as a stupid measure of public confidence locally. I did waiver a little bit as he went into more detail. The correspondent was an alcoholic who some years earlier had been stopped driving his car, having been drinking, right outside his house. The officers spoke to him and used their discretion to let him enter his house with no further action, just strong advice. He wrote that this event prompted him to sort his life out and the letter was a result of him attending Alcoholics Anonymous, attempting to put the past behind him.

He saw this interaction as an important event in his life. Not sure that DPS would have seen it the same way, but let's assume the officers smelt no alcohol. These alcoholics do hold their drink well. I had one on the intoximeter once and thought he was going to be a borderline pass or fail and was staggered when he blew 140.

I'm sure all of us have done things we regret. There are things I've been involved in that I've learnt from but still I remember them. Most were from early on in my career and they still bother me.

I was blessed with a morning on the area car when a probationer, as the operator was at court. I was expected to produce a return of work before breakfast. We sat up at a process point where there was a no U turn sign to await the unaware victims. It didn't take long before somebody drove against the sign and my old sweat driver pushed the gearstick into drive and cruised up behind the car pulling him over. I jumped out to speak to the driver who just happened to be a soldier in full uniform. To be more precise it was a Lt Colonel. I'd only been out of the army less than 9 months and didn't know whether to stand to attention or what. I'd been tapping the boards in front of my OC just before I got out and now here I was, stood in a position of authority over a higher rank. I glanced at PC old sweat hoping he'd step in and send the Colonel on his way, but he indicated I was to stick him on. I did so writing a ticket but it grated because although he'd done wrong I really wanted to let him off with a warning. That's the way it was when I joined total equality in treatment of offenders.

That incident has stuck with me for whole of my career. I've never been a process king and tended to stop loads of motorists in my early years, but looking for crime not petty traffic process. That was reserved for those failing the attitude test or known criminals as a disruption tactic. One thing I have done, is say to younger officers use your discretion and don't be afraid to do so if you think it is right.

Another time I was station officer and a chap enters with a badly bruised arm. He complained that an associate of his had injured him at his house. I'm not sure of the dynamic of the relationship between them but looking back this chap was possibly more vulnerable than I first thought and was being taken advantage of. In these days common assault as a crime didn't exist and people were referred to civil remedy. I listened and gave the legal advice and also words of wisdom to choose his friends more carefully before recording the matter in the Occurrence Book. I was a 50/50 at the time how to handle this but I dealt with it incorrectly. This bloke came for help and I failed him through inexperience. His arm was really bruised bad and possibly I should have recorded it as an ABH so it could be investigated. We dealt with domestics the same way so although I think we've gone too far with positive action things have definitely changed for the better.

What's done is done and I can't go back and make things right, but these two minor incidents have really moulded my policing outlook on how I've tried to do this job over the years. There's plenty of other mistakes that won't be written about here. I've written about my perfectionist tendencies and looking back they've always been there from the start ..... That's interesting.

Stressed Eyes ..

I must admit with just a little bit of shame that I had momentary good feelings when viewing the coverage of our unelected leader dissing the lovely Mrs Duffy. It takes one to know one and this bloke is clearly suffering. It's scary that he is in charge of the country and even more scary that next week he could in theory, still be there. Oh please Britain anybody but him !!!

I had a chomp myself at somebody last week - not a big rant just a nibbling of some CID balls, which was possibly undeserved to the individual so had to issue my own apology. The difference being I probably meant it and feel good that I did so.

Shouldn't really judge, it's a fault of mine, but Brown is clearly a control freak, and when Duffers fired her questions at him you can just see the frustration as he battles to get in and speak. He clearly doesn't like it and that's what leads to his off camera reaction. Now who a few years back personally took charge of some strategic and operational policing matters when robberies were getting out of hand? You can see why we've had a very controlling government for 13 years.

Mrs Duffy did however show all the politicians up as avoiding the issues that really matter. I used to be in awe of politicians thinking them all powerful and intelligent until I met some of them and listened to the shit they spouted. Many a time I've sat in meetings and have been told how I'm wrong about things happening on my patch. They just all happened to be from the ruling party. They really do live in a different world.

I watched the debates on TV and was left rather flat. All this crack down on expenses crap. If they were true to their word then why didn't one of them also say they'd tackle the expenses scandal within the European parliament? I suspect this would be worse than our own domestic parliamentary problems. Isn't the truth that all of the parties have already lost the power to govern this country?

I'm tactically voting this election and voting TORY but it's a vote on loan. There is no difference between any of them in my eyes as they battle for the centre ground. I go Tory only in the hope they are true to form and swing to the right if gaining power and try to sort out this mess of a country.

I've had some dealings with some of their politicians the past few years and at least they listened. I've told them exactly what I think and I do believe if they gain power there will be positive changes in policing. They have also done some innovative stuff in my area which has worked to the benefit of the communities. Firm but fair policing is all that anybody wants. I do have some hope that they might actually be the party of law and order.

England 2010 ... Who Voted For This?

"There is a forgotten, nay almost forbidden word, which means more to me than any other. That word is England". Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

I was on the bus the other day going out to indulge in some cafe culture drinking courtesy of Nulabor. It 's a long bus ride and I get on at the start of the route to my destination in a more central location. I sat myself down in my favoured position by the window so I can see what's going on.

It gets busier and busier as we went along ending up standing room only. As I'm a people watcher I'm aware of who's around me. I'm not averse to listening in to the conversations of others. It appeared that all around me were people speaking in different languages. I felt like I was on holiday where you sit on the local bus oblivious of what everybody else is chatting about.

It's like that at work too. Every day in the custody suite I will enter to find a multi-national gathering of prisoners. I'm on first name friendly terms with one of the interpreters who I see daily too. She works very hard and we are grateful that she comes out at every request. If she's off late I've dropped her off at times so she doesn't have to get a cab back. She needs to work hard as she pays for two of children to go to private schools.

Fast forward to the election debate last night. See any inspirational leadership? No me neither just the same old same old playing it safe. The best part for me was the analysis afterwards. Kay Burley was interviewing some audience members and asked an African lady about immigration. Kay leans in with the microphone expecting a tasty little race reaction. The woman starts agreeing about a cap and then starts to ask why we are flooded with EU migrants before a disappointed Kay whips the mic away and moves quickly on.

It's no coincidence that the Tories began to lose credibility after reneging on their referendum over the European Constitution or treaty if you prefer to call it that. None of the main parties show any inclination to do anything about this. Why? Oh to see a Winston or Maggie Thatcher in one of those debates.

Happy St George's Day - Enjoy it while you can !

Wasted Years

I think I mentioned it somewhere in a post that when I was 16 I took a hell of a beating when out with a couple of friends. It was the early 80's equivalent of post code youth violence, but in them days no mobiles to be robbed of and knives were for show .. not use. In fact if you'd had a mobile it would have been a useful weapon. The boys I was with legged it whilst I stayed to remonstrate with a predictable result.

Some local residents called the police and took me in and I recall bleeding over the washing up in their sink whilst they tended my injuries. They must have known the opposing gang because a couple of arrests were made later.

My relationship with the boys was severely affected. One of them could have been classed as one of my best friends at the time, having known him since early school days. We both worked in offices and after this he chucked in his job and went back to school to do A levels, whilst I stayed in my insurance job. We quickly drifted apart and it was because in my head I had this overwhelming resentment that he should have stayed and took a beating with me. I would never had left him in the lurch if the situation was reversed.

He got in touch via a school reunion website a couple of years ago and we'd agreed we would meet up but never did. I was still pissed with him and things were left. I finally decided after decades this needed to be dealt with and last week met with him for a beer. The conversation flowed about things we have done over the years and it was as if nothing had changed. I had to tackle my resentment and brought up the subject of that night. I told him that I had been really annoyed with him that he ran off and left me to my fate. I think we both knew that the reason we drifted apart was this incident in our lives. He told me that for years he'd felt guilty of leaving me. That was was it - done, and I'm glad we met up. We work in similar jobs with the same client base and I've sent a few his way.

I think if we'd had the same conversation all those years ago we would have remained friends. We will be again - maturity means you become less judgemental. This is now case closed on those negative vibes I'd harboured towards him for nearly 30 years.