HMRC!!!

I see that the government has apparently managed to lose the personal details of around 25 million people in the UK. Just to put that into perspective, that’s the personal details of around 40% of the population!

Then, just to rub salt into the wound they give you a help line to call that they actually get a cut of the proceeds from!

Unfortunately, many people have been telling the government for a very long time that putting everyone on massive databases is not necessarily a good thing to do. The more information you have in a single place, the more likely it is to be targeted by the criminal element in our society and the more likely it is that a mishap will have massive repercussions!

Unfortunately, our current leaders (and I use that term in its loosest possible sense) seem to believe that they know best and so refuse to listen to anyone who’s opinions differ from theirs!

Personally, I believe that your average 14 year old could probably tell you why big databases are a bad thing and anyone who has ever had to work with even a moderate sized database will know of the pitfalls and problems as should the government given the number of errors that regularly get reported in the press.

So why won’t the government listed? Well that is the million pound question I’m afraid…

And to think, they want to put all out medical records, personal details and identities on massive databases that will be accessed by millions of people daily. Am I the only one who can see where this will go?

Another cycling clamdown comes to nothing!

It’s now been approximately four weeks since Cambridgeshire Police announced its latest campaign against dangerous cyclists in the city.

For those of you who have never had the joy of cycling in Cambridge let me set the scene… Casual observation will quickly confirm that in the city centre only around 30% of the bikes you see will have working lights, of those a sizeable proportion will have the lights they do have obscured by long coats, guitars, sports equipment or stuff in their basket. Then there are those that get a little confused and put red lights on the front of the bike.

On a good day, the proportion of cyclists with lights may increase to as much as 60% when you get out of town, but that is on a good day. Most days you struggle to see more than 50% of cyclist with lights on at all.

Add to this the fact that most cyclists wear dark clothing and ignore red lights, pedestrian crossings, junctions or one way streets and you can see why on average “One cyclist a week is either killed or seriously injured on Cambridgeshire roads”.

As I said at the beginging of this rant, approximately 4 weeks ago, Cambridgeshire’s finest announced their latest clamdown on city cyclists. We were told that "In the coming weeks the police will be increasing the number of special constables and PCSOs out targeting cyclists who don't use lights”.

At this point in time I have to say that I am assuming that the operation is now over (if it ever started) as I have yet to see anyone get stopped for riding without lights or any other infraction for that matter.

Actually this comes as no surprise really as Cambridgeshire Police seem to have two or three ‘crackdowns’ a year and in all my years in Cambridge I have only ever seen two people pulled over.

Unfortunately the lack of respect for the highway code and dangerous riding continues unabated in this fair city and I suppose its only a matter of time before someone else is killed or injured.

Perhaps someone should buy Cambridgeshire’s Chief Constable a copy of the book “The boy who Cried Wolf” for Christmas?