megilleland

Thinking of you Bobby “Of all forms of caution, caution in love is perhaps the most fatal to true happiness.” — Bertrand Russell More quotes from https://www.positivityblog.com/22-inspirational-quotes-on-fear/ “Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom.” — Bertrand Russell “Fears are educated into us, and can, if we wish, be educated out.” — Karl Augustus Menninger “Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death.” — James F. Byrnes “Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” — Plato “Fear makes strangers of people who would be friends.” — Shirley Maclaine And this rings true for all our scientific whizz kids: “Never be afraid to try something new. Remember, amateurs built the ark, professionals built the Titanic.” — Unknown

Illustrates my point above. Outcome - 50% reduction in transfer of virus through contact with the ground.

Well said Bobby. We are certainly living in a mad house where common sense is in short supply. Your post is worthy of inclusion into The Slog. Will you allow me to do it for you I am sure you will get a good reponse. By the way I have heard that from the beginning of August the government want us to hop around alternately on each leg on alternate weeks.

Having got acknowledgements to this complaint but no action I have decided to clear up the mess and trust that either Muir or Balfour Beatty will pick up the mess. Let's see how long it takes. Our local councillor, Bernard Hunt needs to get Muir, Connexus and Balfour Beatty to sort this ongoing problem out. I have spoken to the owner of the house about ownership and responsibility of the verge and hedge and I am getting a different story from him to that plied to me over the years.

I did copy in my local councillor, but had no response from him to date.

In The Daily Express today: Found two boxes of these Mosa N2O Cream Chargers (2 Boxes of 24) under the hedge in Muir Close last June - first time I have come across them. Reported these to Balfour Beatty as I didn't know what to do with them. No advice so far. Do I throw them in the recycling bin as they are pressurised containers?

Hereford recycling centre closed after car hits pedestrian Hereford's recycling centre has been closed today (July 21) after emergency services were called to the site this morning following reports of a collision between a car and a pedestrian. Emergency services are currently at the scene, please avoid this area if possible.

Reply from Connexus (Hereford Housing) 20th July 2020 Good Morning Mr Gilleland & thank you for your email, I have spoken to our Grounds Maintenance Team who have confirmed we do not maintain this area & have suggested you contact the council or highways department or it may be a private contractor. Thank You Mary Customer Services

I believe a private contractor cut the hedge. This area has always been confusing as to who is responsible for the highway verges, trees and open spaces. The verge with this hedge on was the responsibility of the council, although the grass cutting was undertaken by Muir Housing up to a few years ago. Muir Housing then arranged for Hereford Housing to cut the verge and other open spaces surrounding Muir Close. Certain trees come under the council and others under Muir. These areas known as ransom strips allow these bodies to charge service fees to residents to maintain them. There is a strip of grass behind the garages and opposite Sherborne Close which is rarely cut - I wonder whose job that is?

Somebody has cut the hedge on the highway verge in Muir Close and failed to clean up after them. This is the second time that the verge has been left untidy this year and will most probably result in me again having to tidy it all up and taking the waste to the local tip. The state of the kerbs with weeds growing out of them are a disgrace throughout the estate, but no one is really interested in keeping the environment clean. No doubt coronavirus will be the excuse for doing nothing this year, but its about time the council, Balfour Beatty and the Housing Associations sorted this matter out. I have been here 20 years and it is a perennial problem. The same goes for the trees in the area - getting too big and blocking light from people's gardens and houses.

Agenda Council - Friday 17 July 2020 10.30 am Item 7: AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION To agree amendments to the constitution relating to the Health and Wellbeing Board and new pavement licensing legislation Pavement license appeals 14. On Thursday 25 June 2020 the Business and Planning Bill was introduced by the Government, this is being fast tracked through Parliament and anticipated to be law by the end of July 2020. The Bill amongst other matters introduces a new form of pavement licence which will allow food and drink businesses to put tables, chairs and temporary counters etc. on the “highway” outside their premises for their customers to use. 15. This new pavement licence will replace the current highways amenity licence for a temporary period until 30 September 2021. The new licence process will be streamlined in terms of determination. It is currently proposed that there will be a 5 day consultation/publicity period followed by a 5 day period for a decision to be made. If the application is not determined within the 10 days then it will be deemed to be granted. All licences decided on and granted will be valid for a minimum of 12 months. A deemed licence will not be valid beyond 30 September 2021. 16. Licences will be subject to national conditions and locally determined conditions, which will need to be justified. 17. There is not a proposed statutory right of appeal for decisions made on pavement licences under this proposed legislation therefore the draft guidance on pavement licences (outdoor seating proposals) published by MHCLG on 25 June 2020 suggests that councils “may wish to consider the scope of an internal review process, for example permitting appeals to their Licensing committee”. 18. It is suggested that the appeals will be conducted on the same basis as licensing hearings. 19. As the legislation is not yet in force, it is suggested that authority is delegated to the monitoring officer to include this function in the licensing subcommittees functions if no right of appeal if provided for in the legislation. Is there a charge for the licence?

A quick check on 192.com brought up 29 active businesses for Fruit And Vegetable Producers in Herefordshire. How many of these have been checked and tested. Also this article appeared in The Independant pertinent to Herefordshire fruit farm workers. Not a good read. Revealed: Scandal of Britain's fruit-farm workers Bulgarians are flown to Britain, live in packed caravan compounds and pocket just £45 a week to pick fruit for Britain's biggest retailers

With all these masks being worn it is going to be difficult to know who the robbers are: https://youtu.be/DInM68YgcC4

Where do you dispose all of these masks? Are they going to blow around High Town with all the other rubbish.

Idea for a sequel to the Masked Singer - The Masked Shopper Hosted by Nick Cannon, with panelists Ken Jeong, Jenny McCarthy, Nicole Scherzinger and Robin Thicke, "The Masked Shopper" is a top-secret shopping competition in which celebrities face off against one another while shrouded from head to toe in an elaborate costume, concealing their identity. Beats Supermarket Sweep any day.

WORKERS at a Herefordshire farm hit by more than 70 cases of coronavirus are understood to have visited four separate shops in the past week, North Herefordshire MP Bill Wiggin has confirmed - including Malvern's Morrison's and Primark, Romanian store and Iceland in Worcester. https://www.malverngazette.co.uk/news/18580261.workers-coronavirus-hit-farm-visited-four-shops-cases-found/

In view of this one outbreak can the council confirm that the many farms in Herefordshire, housing seasonal farm workers in multi-occupancy accommodation, have been tested or will be tested to safeguard the workers and the local residents. A scan of past planning applications highlights the number of casual and overseas workers employed, hundreds in some businesses, hoping to boost their income during their short seasonal stay in the county.

(extracted comment from The Slog) How the UK built a track and trace through the back door of ‘personal government portals’ At present, in parts of the Middle East, people receive a time slot through their phone that lets them know they are allowed to go food shopping. Think this would never happen in the UK? At the outset of this manufactured crisis, the UK government has, by stealth, been signing millions of people up to ‘Personal government portals’. Once a person has done this, they are – by way of terms and conditions – electronically traceable forever. First, this was done by stealth to the self-employed. If someone wanted to claim ‘self-employed income support’, they could not do so on paper or through an accountant. They had to sign up to a UK government portal to get their free money. Thus, at a stroke, about 5-6 million people signed up to one of these things. If you want your free money, that was the only way to get it. But once signed in, you cannot sign out. What about everyone else? Why, now the UK government is offer 500 of ‘voucher’ for every adult and ‘250’ voucher for every child to spend. So how do they get the voucher? You guessed it! The UK government has, through its Nudge Unit, signed up millions of people to these personal portals, a stealth surveillance tool. So if you think the UK would never look like parts of the Middle East, where you receive a message from the gubmint saying when you can and cannot leave your home, they now have the architecture to do exactly that. This is all part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (digital slavery).

In The Guardian 27th June 2020 Britain's desperate lack of public toilets says so much about our country The state of a nation’s public services, from its health system all the way to its toilets, tells you a lot about its priorities. As with so many aspects of our society, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed to many what was already obvious to plenty: that after 40 years of neoliberalism and a decade of Tory austerity, Britain is a place in which private interest trumps public comfort. The BBC found that while in 2010, major councils ran 5,159 public toilets, in 2018 they ran only 4,486. Over the last two decades, the number of public facilities in the UK has dropped by 39%, while the population has increased by more than eight million. Since 2010, 60p in every pound local government receives from central government has been cut – and because local authorities are not legally required to provide public toilets, they fall victim to these cuts. What we have in the demise of public toilets in Britain is a story with which we are becoming more and more familiar – a story about a place that sold off public space to private interests. In much of the rest of the world, the idea that you would have to buy something or even simply feel ashamed to ask to use the toilets in a cafe or some similar establishment is anathema. In the UK, a nation of shopkeepers, the birthplace of modern capitalism, we are used to seeing signs that say: “Toilets for paying customers only.” Workers in cafes, pubs and restaurants are often told not to let anyone use the toilets for free – though the idea that this is a luxury one must pay for seems now to have trickled down to all of us. Full article here. Anyone else pi$$ed off about this?

Bang on Bobby and eloquently put. How far can you push these people?

How far apart did you say?

Interesting statistics about the Herefordshire Labour Market should show where the money will or could come from in the future.

Its started: Qatar has continued to make a Covid-19 tracing app mandatory even as the kingdom has relaxed its lockdown, and despite security loopholes that exposed the personal information of more than a million users. Being caught outside without a phone carrying the app is punishable by a fine of up to £43,000 or up to three years in jail. In Hangzhou, a Chinese city of 10 million people, authorities announced last month that they would seek to expand their coronavirus app to gather more comprehensive health and personal data. Under the proposal, an individual’s status would be colour-coded and scored out of 100 based on medical records as well as other lifestyle choices such as smoking, drinking alcohol, or hours slept.

Hereford Times 38 ads blocked on website when I last looked. Only 1 blocked on HV. Good work Colin.

The stupid fellow urinating next to a memorial for hero PC Palmer's during protests highlights the need for public conveniences to open as soon as possible. In Hereford the closure of public toilets was a stupid move and many people especially those incontinent are greatly inconvenienced. In view that the Covid outbreak is a health risk for all then facilities are necessary to relive oneself especially as shops and businesses expect the public to go into the centre of Hereford. You can't wander around the town looking for somewhere to go and I am sure a lot of people will stay at home rather than risk wetting themselves. When I go to town I rely on shops, bars and stores to do my business, but most of these will still be closed for several more weeks.