May the spirit of this Holy season remain with you always. Wishing for peace in this troubled world.

The Nightmare of Ageing !

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN GUILTY OF LOOKING AT OTHERS YOUR OWN AGE AND THINKING, SURELY I CAN'T LOOK THAT OLD? WELL... YOU'LL LOVE THIS ONE!


MY NAME IS ALICE SMITH AND I WAS SITTING IN THE WAITING ROOM FOR MY FIRST APPOINTMENT WITH A NEW DENTIST. I NOTICED HIS DENTAL DIPLOMA, WHICH BORE HIS FULL NAME


SUDDENLY, I REMEMBERED A TALL, HANDSOME, DARK HAIRED BOY WITH THE SAME NAME HAD BEEN IN MY SECONDARY SCHOOL CLASS SOME 40-ODD YEARS AGO. COULD HE BE THE SAME GUY THAT I HAD A SECRET CRUSH ON, WAY BACK THEN?


UPON SEEING HIM, HOWEVER,  I QUICKLY DISCARDED ANY SUCH THOUGHT. THIS BALDING, GREY HAIRED MAN WITH THE DEEPLY LINED FACE WAS FAR TOO OLD TO HAVE BEEN MY CLASSMATE. AFTER HE EXAMINED MY TEETH, I ASKED HIM IF HE HAD ATTENDED MORGAN PARK SECONDARY SCHOOL.


'YES, YES I DID. I'M A MORGANNER!’ HE BEAMED WITH PRIDE. 'WHEN DID YOU LEAVE TO GO TO COLLEGE?' I ASKED, HE ANSWERED, IN 1965. WHY DO YOU ASK?


 'YOU WERE IN MY CLASS!'  I EXCLAIMED. HE LOOKED AT ME CLOSELY.
THEN THE UGLY, OLD, BALD, WRINKLED, FAT ARSED, GREY HAIRED, DECREPIT, ASKED


                                     " WHAT SUBJECT DID YOU TEACH?’

Parish Safety Volunteers

Multi-agency in Essex to help vulnerable people

A new scheme will see Essex County Fire and Rescue Service and Essex Police working together to help make people safer in their homes.

The Parish Safety Volunteer scheme sees volunteers delivering fire safety, crime prevention and signposting people to well-being advice and help to people living in the same Parish as them. Created using funding from Essex County Council's Strengthening Communities Board, the scheme is an example of the excellent collaborative work taking place between Essex police and fire services.

Each visit will last around an hour and will include crime prevention advice, fire safety advice, fitting of free smoke alarms, and letting people know where to get the best health and wellbeing guidance.

All of the volunteers undergo training by both police and fire service officers so they have the knowledge they need to deliver messages on behalf of both organisations. Two volunteers are already working in Wivenhoe and another 10 are nearing the end of their training and will soon be helping people in villages across the county. Acting Chief Fire Officer Adam Eckley said: “The Parish Safety Volunteer scheme is a fantastic example of the collaborative work taking place between us and Essex Police as we work together to make Essex safer.

“This is a community-based scheme and by using volunteers we are able to forge vital links in these communities which will live on long after the safety visit has taken place. “The volunteers all live in the same parish where they are carrying out the visits, they will be familiar faces to people in that community and that means that us and the police will have links to those people and their communities after the visits are over.

“This scheme shows the direction both organisations are heading in as we work more closely together to deliver protection and prevention advice to communities across Essex.”

Stephen Kavanagh, Chief Constable of Essex Police, said: “The enthusiasm and community spirit of Parish Safety Volunteers will be put to best use – making our communities safer.

“For both the police and the fire service it’s really important that we provide the right training so volunteers can give out vital guidance to residents on fire safety and how to make their homes more secure. Every smoke alarm fitted and every lock securing a shed or security light putting off a would-be burglar adds value to the work Parish Safety Volunteers are doing.”

Learn more about how our emergency services are developing new service delivery models by attending the Congress on Reimagining the Emergency Services on November 16, at West Midlands Fire Service HQ, Birmingham. This brings together the fire and rescue service, the police and ambulance service to discuss and develop a new blueprint for an integrated service delivery model for the emergency services.

Article courtesy of www.fire-magazine.com

Gorilla drags boy along Cincinatti Zoo moat

Zoo shoots gorilla dead to protect boy who was pulled into enclosure.

A special zoo response team shot and killed a gorilla on Saturday that grabbed and dragged a four-year-old boy who fell into the gorilla exhibit moat, the Cincinnati Zoo's director said.

Authorities said the boy, who fell 10 to 12 feet, is expected to recover after being picked up out of the moat and dragged by the 17-year-old gorilla for about 10 minutes. He was taken to Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

The three-year-old boy was deemed to be in a life-threatening situation when he fell into the gorilla exhibit moat. Director Thane Maynard said the zoo's dangerous animal response team that practices for such incidents decided the boy was in "a life-threatening situation" and that they needed to put down the 400-pound-plus male gorilla named Harambe.

"They made a tough choice and they made the right choice because they saved that little boy's life," Maynard said. "It could have been very bad."

Maynard said he had not yet talked to the boy's parents.

He said the gorilla didn't appear to be attacking the child, but he said it was "an extremely strong" animal in an agitated situation. He said tranquilising the gorilla wouldn't have knocked it out immediately, leaving the boy in danger.

Maynard said it was the first time that the team had killed a zoo animal in such an emergency situation, and he called it "a very sad day" at the zoo. The lowland gorilla is an endangered species.

The incident was reported at around 4pm. The area around the gorilla exhibit was closed off Saturday afternoon as zoo visitors reported hearing screaming.

Harambe came to Cincinnati in 2015 from the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas.

Hospital officials said they couldn't release any information on the child. Authorities hadn't released the child's name.

Maynard said the zoo's Gorilla World area would be open as usual on Sunday. He said the zoo believed the exhibit remains safe. They are still investigating, but zoo officials believe the boy crawled through a railing barrier, then fell into the moat.

The zoo prides itself for its work in protecting endangered species, and has been part of successful captive breeding efforts in recent years in the effort to save the endangered Sumatran rhino.

Article courtesy of the Press Association.

Food Bank use at record levels, says Trussell Trust charity

Food bank use remains at record levels, with more than 1.1 million units of emergency supplies given out by a leading charity in the last year, figures have revealed. The Trussell Trust said there was a 2% increase in three-day supplies provided to people from its network of 424 food banks in the 2015/16 financial year. More than 415,000 went to children, while on average people were referred to food banks twice in the past year.

Almost half of food banks said there had been an increase in the number of people needing emergency supplies because of benefit sanctions, while other problems included low wages, high living costs or insecure work contracts.

The trust said a million emergency food supplies a year must not become the "new normal". Trust chief executive David McAuley said: "Today's figures on national food bank use prove that the numbers of people hitting a crisis where they cannot afford to buy food are still far too high. "One million three-day food supplies given out by our food banks every year is one million too many. "Reducing UK hunger will require a collective effort from the voluntary sector, Government, businesses and the public, and the Trussell Trust is keen to work with all these groups to find solutions that stop so many people needing food banks in future."

The report said there was a clear link between food bank use and areas of high deprivation. More than 40,000 volunteers helped at food banks in the past year and the public donated over 10,500 tonnes of food. Most of the trust's food banks also offer legal and welfare advice, housing support and clothes. The trust said its figures do not reveal the full scale of food poverty in the UK because other groups also offer food aid.

A Government spokesman said: "Reasons for foodbank use are complex so it is misleading to link them to any one thing. "This Government is determined to move to a higher-wage society, introducing the new National Living Wage that will benefit over one million workers directly this year, and we're also spending £80 billion on working-age benefits to ensure a strong safety net for those who need it most. "The vast majority of benefits are processed on time and the number of sanctions have actually gone down."

Shadow environment, food and rural affairs secretary Kerry McCarthy said: "It is a national scandal that food bank usage is continuing to rise. "Food banks have become a truly shameful symbol of a Tory Government that is failing to stand up for ordinary people. While those at the top are given tax breaks, others are struggling to get by. "Emergency food aid should remain just that - food banks can never be allowed to become a permanent feature of British society."

Unite general secretary Len McCluskey said: "Following hard on the heels of the billions stashed abroad by the rich and powerful we have today's heart-rending report from the Trussell Trust that hundreds of thousands of our fellow-citizens, including children, are struggling, one step away from starvation, in the fifth richest economy in the world. "If anything demonstrated the fierce and burning inequality engulfing our country, it is the repugnant contrast between a rich elite who can enjoy tax-light arrangements for the cash they have squirrelled away in the British Virgin Islands with the tales of daily despair emanating from the trust's 424 foodbanks."

Dr Eilidh Whiteford, the SNP's spokeswoman for Social Justice and Welfare, said: "That there is already an existing and desperate need for foodbanks in Scotland and across the UK is a complete disgrace but these figures show that foodbank use is actually increasing which shows just how badly the Tories have got it wrong."

Rachael Orr, Oxfam's head of UK programme said: "It's worrying that the number of food parcels given out by the Trussell Trust has risen yet again, topping a million for the second year in a row."

Article courtesy of the Press Association.

Major Drop In Cannabis Arrests is 'Decriminalisation By Stealth'

Figures showing arrests for cannabis possession in England and Wales have almost halved have divided police and pro-cannabis campaigners who say they reflect two very different realities. Police and the Police Federation distanced themselves from suggestions that the figures showed the force’s stance on cannabis crime had softened, and suggested the decrease was more a reflection of staffing cuts and directives to focus on more serious offences. Cannabis campaigners, however, said the figures were further evidence that the “war on drugs” is failing and that “decriminalisation is occurring by stealth”.

DANNY LAWSON/PA ARCHIVE

Arrests for cannabis possession in England and Wales have almost halved since 2010 Figures published by the BBC on Monday revealed that arrests for cannabis had dropped 46%; cautions had fallen by 48% and the number of people charged had fallen by 33%. The statistics, released under the Freedom of Information Act, are in contrast to Crime Survey data which suggested that cannabis use remained roughly the same from 2010-2015. The statistics - from 32 of 43 police forces - showed arrests for cannabis possession fell from 35,367 to 19,115; cautions for possession fell from 9,633 to 5,036 and people charged with possession dropped from 15,366 to 10,220. Arrests for possession with intent to supply remained about the same - 4,934 in 2010 and 5,012 in 2015. Last July Durham Police said it would no longer target or investigate cannabis users, or those growing the class-B drug for their own use, which Chief Constable Mike Barton told the BBC had “freed up our staff to deal with things that are more important”. Barton told the Huffington Post UK that the figures “are probably a reflection of forces tackling emerging issues such as child sexual exploitation and cybercrime, rather a more liberal approach to law enforcement in general”. He reiterated that Durham Police are not going soft on cannabis crime, saying: “This is about intelligence gathering and deploying a smaller police force to that which is harming the communities, a student smoking a spliff in their bedroom is illegal but I would not expect my staff to get a search warrant to try and arrest them.”

TOM WILKINSON/PA WIRE

Durham Police Chief Constable Mike Barton said he has “always made it clear that I would welcome a grown up debate on current drugs laws”, however, in the meantime his officers will continue to enforce the law, “especially targeting dealers”. He added: “The debate needs to be between the public and politicians, assisted by the press. “My contribution to the debate is as a tough crime fighter with a legacy of law enforcement. “I’ve spent 36 years targeting drug dealers, I’m proud of what my colleagues have done, some officers displaying immense courage, but drugs are now cheaper, purer and more prevalent that when I joined the police in 1980. My conclusion is that we need to consider change.”

Steve White, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said: “It would be dangerous for anyone to look at the drop in arrest numbers and conclude there is less crime, or indeed infer there is a change in attitude towards particular crimes.” White said “cuts” to police numbers were to blame, although he admitted it “is hard to be specific about the exact reasons why arrest figures for cannabis possession are lower”. However, he added: “It would be fair to suggest that a lack of police resources and a resulting need to place focus in difference areas may well have contributed to this change. “The cuts have meant that forces need to make hard decisions about where resources are being spent, and as a result different forces are focusing on different crimes, dependent on their communities, which could account for some of the differences.”

Transform senior policy analyst Steve Rolles welcomed the figures saying a drop in arrests is “good news whatever the reason” as criminalising thousands of young people is “expensive and completely counterproductive”. Steve White said "It would be dangerous for anyone to look at the drop in arrest numbers and conclude there is less crime, or indeed infer there is a change in attitude towards particular crimes” Rolles added that it was “striking” that cannabis use had fallen at a time when enforcement had decreased in intensity. He said: “In direct contrast to the Government’s tough on drugs rhetoric, its clear that levels of use have little or nothing to do with policing tactics, so why do we continue to criminalise and punish, especially when we have such positive evidence from countries that take a different approach? “Its time to end the war on drug users altogether and deal with drugs as a public health issue to be responsibly managed.”

Lee Harris, London Mayoral candidate for the Cannabis is Safer Than Alcohol party told The Independent the drop in arrests is reflective of a “bigger trend around the world as governments at national and regional levels are developing rational, evidence based policies as alternatives to criminalising cannabis consumers”. Harris continued: “Not only does this help to protect consumers, it puts valuable tax receipts back into supporting public services. Here in the UK and in London decriminalisation is occurring by stealth.” “This still leaves the black market and organised crime as the sole provider. This is unacceptable given the potential health risks and the impact on communities. Surely now we must accept the need to regulate and tax cannabis consumption in the public interest.”

Article with courtesy of Steven Hopkins, News Reporter of The Huffington Post (UK)

Classic Irish Humour

Catholic Hair Dryer

Catholic school students are taught that lying is a sin. However, instructors are also advised that using a bit of imagination is OK to express the truth differently without lying. Below is a perfect example of this teaching:

Getting a Hairdryer Through Customs

An attractive young woman on a flight from Ireland asked the priest beside her, 'Father, may I ask a favour?'

'Of course child. What can I do for you?'

'Well, I bought my mother an expensive hair dryer for her birthday. It is unopened but well over the customs limits and I'm afraid they'll confiscate it. Is there any way you could carry it through customs for me? Could you possibly hide it under your robes for me?'

'I would love to help you my dear but, I must warn you, I will not tell a lie.'

'With your honest face, Father, I'm sure that no one will question you.'

When they got to customs, she let the priest go first. The official asked, 'Father, do you have anything to declare?'

'From the top of my head down to my waist I have nothing to declare.'

The official thought this answer a little strange, so he asked, 'And what do you have to declare from your waist to the floor?'

'I have a marvellous instrument that has been designed for use on women, but which, to date, remains unused.'

Roaring with laughter, the official said, 'Go ahead, Father. Next please!

Moose Incident - Bracebridge, Ontario, Canada

The strange things that happen in today's World. Truth is stranger than fiction !

Without the picture, this would be very hard to believe. Read under the picture.

They were laying new power cables which were strung on the ground for miles. The moose are rutting right now and very agitated. He was thrashing around and got his antlers stuck in the cables.

When the men (miles away) began pulling the lines up with their big equipment, the moose went up with them. They noticed excess tension in the lines and went searching for the problem. He was still alive when they lowered him to the ground. He was a huge 60 inch bull and slightly peeved!

With thanks to my good friend Barry Brenham, who lives in Ontario, for sharing this amazing picture with us.

Be Cyber Streetwise and Think Random to create strong passwords this January

To help people be more secure online, the Cyber Streetwise #thinkrandom campaign is urging people to think ‘random’ to create strong passwords.

More people now store valuable data – both personal and business – on devices like a smartphone, tablet or computer. If a hacker gains access to your device they could cause a lot of damage – for example, they can access sensitive data such as your email or bank details or your clients’ details if you are a business owner.

To help you keep your data secure, a new Cyber Streetwise campaign has been launched to encourage you to create strong passwords by using three random words. Combining three words which mean something to you but are random to others will create a password that is strong and more memorable. Use separate passwords for your business and home account as well to further decrease the chances of multiple security breaches.

Cyber Streetwise’s #thinkrandom campaign will be promoting the use of three random words from 8 – 10 January 2016 from its Facebook and Twitter (opens in a new window) accounts to help people be more secure online and thwart cyber criminals. Keep an eye out for a range of inspirational random ideas and don’t’ forget to share the posts.

The #thinkrandom campaign is part of the wider Cyber Streetwise campaign which is encouraging people to take three simple steps to help stay secure online. These are:

Make passwords stronger by using three random words

Install security software on all devices

Always download the latest software updates

Posting courtesy of www.police.uk