Sir – Robert Winnett’s report “Brain drain from UK hits record levels” (February 21) reveals some startling trends.

It costs a business 7,000 each time a staff member leaves. The Office for National Statistics has revealed that 600 people emigrated each day during 2007. This means British business footed a bill of more than 1?billion a year to counter the effects of that outbound flow. This is likely to rise at least 15 per cent in 2008.

As a removals company, we see first-hand that these numbers are increasing. In the second quarter of 2007, our overseas moves were up 24 per cent over the first quarter, and bookings for July to September were more than 75 per cent higher than the previous six months.

The ONS statistics quoted underline our own findings: that a combination of poor weather, fears about economic instability and personal security are driving more and more people from Britain. There needs to be a change in how companies can retain their people and block the brain drain.

Grant Bishop, Chessington, Surrey

From today’s DT letters page.

More than two decades after the country established a uniform drinking age of 21, a nascent movement is afoot to allow 18- to 20-year-olds to legally buy alcohol under some circumstances.

I have to say that I have always found the 21 year drinking age to be anathema to everything that defines the US. Its idiotic, against natural justice and an affront to liberty. You can have sex, marry, die for your country, drive, sign contracts but you can’t have a beer. The entire blackmail thing from DC about raising it to 21 was offensive and should be seen as unconstitutional.

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I’ve read another article today about bad nursing care and cleanliness in one NHS hospital Bath’s Royal United Hospital . Lord Mancroft was appalled at the dirty wards and poor nursing care. However, he did have a choice as he was swiftly transferred to a private hospital, lucky him…

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Simon Heffer has some interesting comments on Tory plans to pump money into the NHS.

I gave the president my book. He raised an eyebrow. “Who wrote this for ya, Geldof?” he said without looking up from the cover. Very dry. “Who will you get to read it for you, Mr. President?” I replied. No response. The Most Powerful Man in the World studied the front cover. Geldof in Africa — ” ‘The international best seller.’

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Dear Andrew,

Virgin Galactic is delighted to announce a new destination…space. Climb to 360,000ft. at a cruising speed of almost three times the speed of sound, in unprecedented levels of safety and comfort. See our beautiful planet from 63 miles up and experience the magic of weightlessness.

Redeem 200,000 miles to receive 10% off the cost of a spaceflight, that’s an incredible $20,000 saving!* Join our future astronauts and book your place in history.

Gives me even more reason to write loads and record music. I need to make a decent amount of money so I can use this discount to fly into space. So if anyone publisher/record company/etc wants to offer me a deal on my body of work the email is on the left side of this blog.

Inflation-busting council tax rises will push average household bills above £3,000 for the first time, The Times can reveal.

Council tax, water and energy bills will rise to £2,510 this year, up from just over £2,000 two years ago. Once average phone bills are added, the total rises to £3,169.

So Brown claims that inflation is only 3%. Wonder how he comes up with that figure? And does honestly thing that anyone actually believes him?

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Searching through the House of Commons website this morning I was stunned to find that 69 members of Parliament (65 Labour, 2 Plaid Cymru, 1 LibDem and George Galloway) have put their names to a motion praising Fidel Castro.

I am not surprised to see this quite frankly. Its amazing how aging lefties seem to forget the foibles of dictators as long as they come to it via the left. “He means well” is a cover-up for whatever atrocities a socialist dictator commits.

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In an open letter some of Huckaloon’s supporters are demanding that McCain do 8 things in order to get their support in November. Nice to see that they don’t mind undermining the nominee (in all but name) as much as they can.

Just like their not trashing Romney for his Mormonism, despite the websites doing so, this is yet another example of the type of things Huckabee’s supporters are up to.

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A Huckaloon supporter in full rant.

My wife frog we saw on the way out to dinner at French restaurant on Tuesday. We both thought it was a little; but not maybe not in the light of the earthquake that happened in England a few hours later.

Welcome to the February 28, 2008 edition of carnival of the vanities. I hope you enjoy it.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Maximize the Cognitive Value of Your Mental Workout posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, saying, “Why learning is so important at all ages.”

Mike Buckley presents A Very Useful Government Web Site posted at Mine Your Own Business.

Tiffany Colter presents Writing Career Coach: How I got here: Part 3 posted at Writing Career Coach, saying, “This blog discusses expecting success and how to know when you get there!”

Unrulyweds presents Appreciating Literature… posted at UnrulyWeds.

Freddie L. Sirmans, Sr. presents Can The US Prevent A Starvation Crisis? posted at Can The US Prevent A Starvation Crisis.

Madeleine Begun Kane presents Dear Ralph: Go Away! posted at Mad Kane’s Political Madness.

Stefanie Hutson presents The Poor, Misunderstood Semicolon posted at Vat19.com slash Blog.

John Crenshaw presents Paying Off Your Mortgage – Will It Save You Money? posted at Truthful Lending dot Com, saying, “There’s been quite a bit of debate lately over whether or not you should pay off your mortgage or invest any extra money. This article explores the different mortgage payoff methods and will help you decide which, if any, are right for you.”

PublicFlirt presents Improve your success in dating and relationships. posted at FeedBulletin for: financialbullet, saying, “How to use compliments with women to improve your success in dating and relationships.”

Daniel Kretschmer presents The 10 Scariest Paintings in Art History posted at vince’s ear, saying, “A list of the ten scariest paintings ever, from the demons of Hieronymus Bosch to Saturn Devouring His Children by Goya, guaranteed to scare you.”

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of the vanities using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Technorati tags: carnival of the vanities, blog carnival.

I’ve never been one for “linkage”—using one field of trade as leverage in an unconnected trade dispute. Like, say, tying energy exports to a resolution of the softwood lumber issue. For one thing, ownership of natural resources (with the exception of some offshore activity) is given under the Constitution to the provinces to do with it what they choose. It isn’t Ottawa’s oil; it’s Alberta’s.

Second, crippling the economy of our largest export market to try to win a small and relatively-unimportant battle would be a classic case of cutting off one’s nose to spite one’s face.

But make no mistake, we could blow a big hole in US energy security if we chose:

(US) Department of Energy:

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in November, exporting 2.326 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.431 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.686 million barrels per day.

And:

In 2000, about 36 percent of total U.S. net energy imports came from Canada (27 percent) and Mexico (9 percent).

Canada provided almost all United States net natural gas imports in 2000. These imports accounted for about 15 percent of U.S. gas consumption in 2000. U.S. net oil imports from Canada and Mexico accounted for about 26 percent of U.S. net oil imports, and about 15 percent of total U.S. oil consumption in 2000.

Or if you’d prefer a more visual reference (click here for full size, and the tab on top for crude oil stats):

Now, to be sure I am not misunderstood: I have no problem with selling oil and gas to the Americans. They are our neighbors and friends, and ultimately our biggest protectors.

On the other hand, if certain politicians want to pander to ignorance, it’s useful to remind ourselves that we have other options. The Chinese pay on time and in full; and they’ll buy up everything we can pump out of the ground (and then some). Nor do we have to listen to sanctimonious lectures from them.

[Hillary] Clinton:

“I would immediately have a trade timeout”

“We will stop the kind of constant sniping at our protections for our workers that can come from foreign companies because they have the authority to try to sue to overturn what we do to keep our workers safe”

“I have said that I will renegotiate NAFTA”

“No, I will say we will opt out of NAFTA unless we renegotiate it, and we renegotiate on terms that are favorable to all of America”

Open it up, Mrs. Clinton, and you open up all of it, including the original FTA provisions guaranteeing US access to Canadian energy at the same prices Canadians pay.

We went through those (ferocious) arguments back in the ‘80s, and I’ve got no interest in reliving them, especially not in support of your political ambitions. As for your threats of extraterritoriality, you can jam them up the nearest convenient orifice. We don’t need you—or your corrupt union backers—rewriting our laws.

[Barack] Obama:

“I will make sure that we renegotiate, in the same way that Senator Clinton talked about. And I think actually Senator Clinton’s answer on this one is right. I think we should use the hammer of a potential opt-out as leverage”

There’s more than one hammer on that table, rookie.

the blog québécois

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http://blogquebecois.com

As you may or may not already be aware, members of the Watcher’s Council hold a vote every week on what they consider to be the most link-worthy pieces of writing around… per the Watcher’s instructions, I am submitting one of my own posts for consideration in the upcoming nominations process.

Here is the most recent winning council post, here is the most recent winning non-council post, here is the list of results for the latest vote, and here is the initial posting of all the nominees that were voted on.

Dan Hannan MEP has written a sycophantic piece on Muslims in the UK. Its sad to see such a clever writer and politician contribute to cow-towing to British Muslims. The article is full of waffle and is not kind to Catholics. Obviously Cameron has got to Hannan about his writing for the Telegraph.

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This blog has been suggesting that Carter might be the best person to compare Obama to in the end. We do grant Obama the fact he is far brighter than the dolt that is Carter but there are some clear similarities. Stephen Hayes, over at the Weekly Standard, agrees with my suggestion. Lets hope that voters who are old enough realise this before they make a colossal mistake of voting for him.

And there is some interesting digging into Obama’s “women” over at the Asian Times. Let’s just say that Che flag seems even less out of place now.

“Studies have already shown that the waiting time before being able to get surgery is several times as long in a number of countries with government-run medical systems as in the United States. The government of leftist President Hugo Chavez has imposed price controls—and seems to be surprised that lower prices have lead to reduced supplies.”

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Toronto Star:

OTTAWA-The United States returned up to a dozen children and teenagers held as “combatants” in Guantanamo Bay to their respective countries, and might well act if it received a request from Canada to return Omar Khadr, says his military lawyer.

No, no. Consider him our gift, from us to you. We didn’t have time to get a card, but you know how it is, in the frenzy of the season and all.

U.S. Navy Lt.-Cmdr. Bill Kuebler, flanked by members of the three federal opposition parties, yesterday urged the Conservative government to insist on Khadr’s return, suggesting the time is ripe for the U.S. to accede to such a request.

“Omar is, in our view and I think in the view of most of the international community who have looked at this case, a child soldier,” said Kuebler. “His prosecution for war crimes is unprecedented in the history of war crimes tribunals.”

A first! Maybe he can have his own entry in Guinness?

Khadr was 15 when arrested.

The opposition parties united for the first time in calling on the Canadian government to act, and said they would seek an emergency debate in Parliament on Khadr’s fate, as well as a study by a human rights subcommittee of the Commons’ Foreign Affairs committee.

But the federal government appeared unmoved by the arguments, calling demands to have Khadr returned “premature” as “legal” processes are still underway.

So sayeth the “Toronto” “Star.”

[...]

New Democrat MP and justice critic Joe Comartin, Liberal Dominic Leblanc and the Bloc’s Vivienne Barbot said Khadr is a “child soldier” who should be returned to Canada to face “due process.”

Which, if the likes of you have anything to say about it, means he’ll be walking the street the moment he arrives “home.” Say, here’s a proposition for you terrorist symps great humanitarians: Since you have such faith in the poor misguided babe-in-the-woods, how about you put your money where your mouths are and cough up a few million in peace bonds for wee Omar? When we catch him talking to his al-Qaeda buds again—and we will—he goes to jail, and your bonds default to the Crown. Deal?

I didn’t think so.

Meanwhile, the Canadian Bar Association yesterday joined counterparts in France and England in calling on U.S. President George W. Bush to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison, calling it “a grievous affront to the rule of law.”’

Heh. That’s just what I was saying the other day about the Canadian Bar Association.
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http://blogquebecois.com

I have reviewed the web-game, as it stands so far, for BNN. Its shaping up to be quite an interesting historical point & click adventure.

A man said to be one of the most important recruiters for Islamist extremism in the UK has been convicted at the end of a major trial. Mohammed Hamid, 50, of east London was found guilty of training men in secret camps in the Lake District and New Forest to prepare them to fight abroad.

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* Guess whose mentor is a Communist? Obama, that’s who!

* Why isn’t Obama patriotic enough to hold his hand over his heart for the Star Spangled banner?

* What has Obama got against flag pins?

* Obama wants to give away $845 billion dollars of your money to ungrateful Third World countries.

* Who loves to hang around with terrorists? Obama, that’s who!

* Do people even know why they’re voting for Obama?

* Che Guevara and Obama.

* Texas state Senator Kirk Watson can’t name a single thing Obama has ever achieved.

* Obama wants to waste 850 billion dollars of your money.

* Here are 8 things you need to know about Obama and Rezko.

If those are not enough; here are a few more.

This is part of RWN’s Googlebomb.

In recent public debates, no label has carried more denunciatory power than “neo-con,” and no discussion has been more confused. In a recent essay, Peter Berkowitz has shed some welcome light on the misunderstandings around the term, reminding us of the principles of neo-conservatism and their origins…

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Just in case there any of your who think the rockets being fired at Southern Israel are harmless there is a site to set you straight. Its a project to tell the true story of the town of Sderot. Check out the stuff you won’t hear in most of the media (aside from Fox).

The boy who lost his arm yesterday knows the rockets do harm.

Fresh from creating an unholy row about sharia in the UK; Archbishop Williams is now stretching his socialist ideas and trashing capitalism. He thinks that children are too materialistic. What Rowan they aren’t hippy loons like you?

I wonder when Williams is actually going to start paying attention to the fact his church is losing its members like a sieve in water.

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Colby Cosh skewers the defence of Canadian human rights law by Bernie Farber and Len Rudner. As with most of Cosh’s writing it well worth a read.

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CHICAGO - In his first major public address since a cancer crisis… Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Sunday that presidential candidate Barack Obama is the “hope of the entire world” that the U.S. will change for the better.

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For more on Obama’s links to Farrakhan check out this post at Atlas Shrugged, as well as this one which discusses Obama’s position on Israel.

It’s only a start, I realize, but from a tiny acorn the might oak does grow.

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If they won’t use them against morons like the Greenpeace terrorists activists who are currently hijacking a plane by standing on it at Heathrow. Surely its “get off the plane or you will be shot?” Greenpeace is making a complete arse of Heathrow security.

And we have wonder about Commons security. The enviroloons have climbed up on Parliament this time.

English public opinion and an increasing sense of English national identity could pose a challenge to the Union in the future, according to two new reports published today (Monday) by the Institute for Public Policy Research North (ippr north).

This is one of those studies that tell us what we already know. But any effort to raise this issue is a good one.

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Yesterday I posted Diana Muir’s new, and I think important, article on the origins and significance of the phrase, ‘A Land without a People for a People without a Land.’ Today I present this exclusive e-interview with Dr. Muir which fleshes out some of the issues even further.

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A group of students played a first-person shooter while their facial expressions and physiological activity were tracked and recorded via electrodes and various other monitoring equipment. Conventional FPS wisdom would suggest that players like shooting enemies and dislike getting shot. The findings, however, paint a much different picture.

Another nail in the coffin of the rubbish being peddled by politicians and carrying und sharing types about the dangers of video games. I wonder if the dimwit advising Gordon Brown in the UK is going to read this report.

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Should Tonu Samuel ever tire of life as a computer security expert, an alarming array of other career options are at his disposal. Bank robber, blackmailer, spy or international terrorist – all are open to him simply by switching on his computer terminal at his home in Tallin, the capital of the tiny Baltic Sea state of Estonia.

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—————————————————————————————-
Billy Joel was once asked in an interview what the hardest thing to do onstage was, and without hesitation he replied, “whistling.” There was a song on one of his early albums with a whistling intro, and he dreaded performing it for that reason.

I myself have dealt with this dilemma by never appearing on stage.

Or for that matter, ever writing a song with whistling in it. I hate songs with whistling in them.

There! Problem solved!

That left harmonies as our big stumbling block. It’s hard not to feel like a complete goof doing them, especially for my cousin, who had very little experience singing.

It’s a bit like a tightrope act, with Giggles the Clown constantly jiggling the wire and threatening to bring the whole thing down in a heap. (You can hear him puttering around in some of the more ragged edges.)

Or worse, one’s kid sister could stick her head into the door and exclaim, “Hey, you guys sound just like a barbershop quartet!” When that chilling verdict rang out, there was nothing to do but down our tools and head for the local pub to try and drown our sorrows. (Well, we had kind of planned that anyway, but now we had an official excuse.)

========================

[Verse]

Insidious wind come creeping up
A sly typhoon stirring up the dust
Secret tornado
Imploding the house

You’ll cry me a river [rpt.]

The crops you planted
Overtaken by worms
Your petri dishes
Overwhelmed by germs
Now the screws are on
And it’s your turn

To cry me a river [rpt.]
————————————————————————-

[Chorus]

The Mississippi or the Nile will do
I want you to hurt
Like I hurt for you

The Columbia
Or maybe the Rhine
When you fill up the oceans
You’ll be done your cryin’

[ad lib]

you’ll cry me a river [rpt.]
————————————————————————
[Verse, Instr.]
————————————————————————-

[rpt. 1st Chorus]
————————————————————————-

[Verse]

An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth
Vengeance is mine
And it’s the solemn truth
Back to the stone age
And the pain of youth

You’ll cry me a river [rpt.]
————————————————————————-

[Chorus]

The Amazon
where it’s wild and slow
The Vistula
Where the diesel boats go
The Ganges with its banks on fire
The waters are risin’
And they’re gonna run higher
————————————————————————-

[ad. lib., out]

You’re gonna cry

====================

Cry Me A River Warning: Embedded QuickTime audio.

Alternately: Unfortunately it isn’t a streaming site, but you can click on the download link, and when the Windows or equivalent dialog box appears, you can elect to save it to disk, or (first choice) open up the song with the default media player, like iTunes, WinAmp, or Windows Media Player. Cry Me A River

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