A new report confirms something that I suspect many of us already know; do not get so sick that you have to go into an NHS hospital at the weekend because there is much greater chance you will not come out of it!

Patients admitted to NHS hospitals for emergency treatment at weekends are almost 10 per cent more likely to die than during the rest of the week, according to a comprehensive new report.

The facts are quite stunning as regards the number of teachers required here in Northern Ireland. Just reflect on this;

It emerged during an Assembly debate in September that just 30 of 600 new teachers trained in Northern Ireland have been able to secure full-time school jobs this year. There’s an estimated 5,000 teachers currently out of work. That means 5% secured employment, down from 15% in 2006/7 and 23% in 2003/4, according to research from the Higher Education and Statistics Agency.

With 95% of qualified new teachers getting jobs as teachers, WHY are still pushing such vast numbers through Teacher Training College? Surely we must recognise that the market for new teachers has collapsed and so it is pointless to maintain a system that churns out 95% that do not teach? How unproductive is that?

Look, this is beyond a joke and we need to GET OUT of Afghamistan, keep the drones flying so we can kill those who may seek to harm us. Why? Well, just consider this;

Taliban fighters are being paid £100 a month to stop attacking British troops in Afghanistan, it was revealed yesterday. Insurgents are given monthly payments and are allowed to keep their deadly AK47s and other rifles under the Nato-approved ‘reintegration’ programme, but have to hand over larger weaponry.

They are also effectively given an amnesty, meaning they will not face trial even if they have attacked and killed British forces, or committed other atrocities, such as the murder of women and children.

I totally disapprove of this folly and quite honestly the mission in Afghanistanhas become increasingly twisted and bent out of all recognisable shape. We went in to remove the Taliban from power as they had facilitated Al Queda and Bin Laden. Ten years on, we are actually PAYING the Taliban not to kill our soldiers and some seek to have them restored to Government. This muddle headed approach only yields dead bodies and moral weakness. There is no coherent vision and no obvious benefit to US in staying there. Get out.

It’s wonderful the enthusiasm liberals have for spending OUR money;

Hundreds of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ cash is to be poured into Africa to help it cope with the impact of climate change. The £330million handout will be spent over the next four years on schemes to install solar power plants and encouraging investment in low-carbon transport. One of the main beneficiaries will be South Africa, a country which is prosperous enough to have its own space agency. Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem energy secretary, will unveil the foreign aid package at a United Nations summit on climate change which opens today.

In other words, at a time when some people in the UK face are allegedly choosing between food and heat, Huhne is wasting our precious cash in order that he can assuage his eco-wackery. All this Foreign Aid must stop and the €€€billions lavished re-directed to OUR people.

Just read that Ross McManus, father of Elvis Costello, has died after a long illness, aged 84. Losing your Dad is not easy at any age and my sympathies go to Declan and the rest of the family. This is father and son, on stage, back in 1994. Happier times.

Wonder what you make of the news that Muslim students, including trainee doctors on one of Britain’s leading medical courses, are walking out of lectures on evolution claiming it conflicts with creationist ideas established in the Koran.

Professors at University College London have expressed concern over the increasing number of biology students boycotting lectures on Darwinist theory, which form an important part of the syllabus, citing their religion. Similar to the beliefs expressed by fundamentalist Christians, Muslim opponents to Darwinism maintain that Allah created the world, mankind and all known species in a single act. Steve Jones emeritus professor of human genetics at university college London has questioned why such students would want to study biology at all when it obviously conflicts with their beliefs.

I see no harm in attending the lectures, listening to Evolution, and then politely disagreeing. If the evolution aspects of the course have direct medical appliance it is obviously important that they pay attention. But since these are Muslims, there seems no compromise on their part and it all the compromise is on the authorities part. Is this right? Should they be thrown off the course? If these people were “fundamental” Christians (like me) would their feet touch the ground on the way out the exit door?

This is how low we have now fallen in Afghanistan;

Members of the Taliban who give up their fight are being paid £100 a month and will be allowed to keep their guns in a new initiative to end the insurgency. The “reintegration” programme, which has the full support of Nato, is intended to keep them from attacking troops from the International Stabilisation and Assistance Force (ISAF). Those who have attacked and killed British forces are also effectively given an amnesty, which means they will never be put on trial.

We should leave NOW. This is just embarrassing.

Did you read that a senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard says the country will target NATO’s missile defense shield in Turkey if the U.S or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic.

Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, is quoted by the semiofficial Mehr news agency as saying the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what it sees as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel. He says Iran will now respond to threats with threats rather than a defensive position. Tehran says NATO’s early warning radar station in Turkey is meant to protect Israel against Iranian missile attacks if a war breaks out with Israel.

High stakes are being played here. Iran is an existential threat as well as a regional ogre and it needs de-fanged. Israel should do what it needs to do.

In the Irish Republic, you can see how the State is tackling austerity;

Public Sector workers have received more than €1.2bn in incremental pay increases since Ireland‘s worst-ever recession began in 2007, despite the dire state of the public finances. Figures from the Department of Finance show that although the country has had to borrow roughly €20bn a year to run the State since 2008, length-of-service pay increases have continued across all departments, agencies and organisations in the public sector.  Staff are still seeing their gross salaries increase because the Government is allowing them to receive increased pay purely on the basis of time served.

This “incriminality” which characterises the State sector is the road to hell. No one should expect anything on the basis of time served, but rather on success achieved.

A most excellent and ATW approved article here by Janet Daly in the Telegraph. Her contention is that in these times of severe economic challenge we need Government to show real leadership…..by doing LESS.

Now where have I seen the like of this beneficence before? Oh yes – it was under Gordon Brown. As Chancellor (and then later when he was Prime Minister, through his half-hearted proxy Alistair Darling), Mr Brown would stand at the Dispatch Box and shower us with government spending projects. There were injections of cash into house-building, and grants for scientific research, and God knows how many initiatives to create “training” and engineering apprenticeships. All that micro-management: new “start-up” schemes and “one-stop shop” outreach services funded by this department and that department, and then re-packaged and re-announced so that they sounded less tired and predictable.