Will The Aussies Take This Lying Down?

All public servants in NSW who currently work from home will be made to return to the office as businesses continue to struggle across Sydney's CBD. Premier Chris Minns announced that anyone employed by the government who is still working from home will be made to return to the office from Tuesday.

Or will they bring in flasks of coffee and make their own sandwiches and say 'Your move, Chris me ol' cobber'..?

Executive director of Business Sydney, Paul Nicolaou, celebrated the news. 'This is fantastic news and great leadership by the Premier,' he said.'Employers are telling Business Sydney we have to get really serious about getting the CBD back to its pre-Covid footing. 'The city needs more foot traffic hence more workers back to the city to support the hundreds of businesses and enterprises that depend on them.'

Yet another one who believes that if the demand changes, the change should be cancelled. Don't we call that 'entitlement'? 

H/T: John B via Twitter

You’re Not Entitled To Our Custom, George!

Local businesses are fearful that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer's work from home plans will turn Britain's high streets into ghost towns and destroy their livelihoods.

Buggy whip manufacturers must have felt the same when motor vehicles began to catch on...but I doubt any of them would have felt entitled to halt progress because of it. 

...small independent businesses across England and Scotland have warned the move could be a disaster for shops and may cause a 60 per cent drop-off in customers. Owners, citing how many independent shops have 'gone bust' following the pandemic, say they 'don't support' Sir Keir's proposal and have instead called on the Government to 'focus on small businesses more'.

Meaning what? Halting working from home? Subsidising them for their estimated losses?  

'It is not a good idea at all. It will not be good for business,' George Koumpanakis, who works at Acropolis, a Greek diner inside the Grainger Market, told MailOnline. Mr Koumpanakis warned that the diner would 'probably lose around 60 per cent of business' because it 'relies a lot' on office workers coming in on their breaks.

A lot of business owners are joining this bandwagon, as if they were somehow entitled to the custom of workers.  

'If you stay here for a couple of hours you will see how busy it is when offices are on their lunch,' the 49-year-old said. 'When people come into work they might buy a coffee from the market and might come here for lunch, but they are not going to be doing that if they're allowed to stay in the house from their first day.'

You're forgetting that these businesses grew up around the areas they did to meet a demand, and now that demand has gone elsewhere. They've gone elsewhere because their businesses have changed, but you want yours to remain static. Why not adapt yours to the new requirements, and do delivery to homeworkers instead? 

Ah, You Know What Will Help? Some Doggerel...

No, no, really!

Brighton Palace Pier has received criticism from some customers for not allowing dogs on the popular tourist attraction. One Trip Advisor reviewer, Darren_R1, even wrote a poem in protest, stating that dogs should be allowed on the attraction.

Oh no! Not poetry!  

... the management has defended the policy, stating that it is for the safety of both the dogs and the other customers.

But, but, someone's written poetry...!! 

A spokesman replied: "Lovely poem but a busy pier is not the place for dogs.

"The pier gets too busy and dogs get frightened, also health and safety and also relieving themselves on the deck and around the bins, who will clear it up?

"What if the dogs get into fights, there are too many risks involved with allowing dogs on Brighton Pier and so the rule is no dogs."

What next? Mime? 

"It now transpires that over the winter, he had the right side of his nose pierced, in addition to his left."

Well, of course! When you're used to everyone capitulating when you bring out the RaceCard™, why wouldn't you?

He was cleared by the FIA ahead of the season-opening grand prix on the grounds that the process of taking the studs in and out might cause him ‘disfigurement’.

Really? I think his fashion sense got there first...

Things You Never Knew About Colditz....

...it had a bar! 

Is it just me, or are today's generation the most dim and self-absorbed ever..? 

“The ideal situation would be moving us out of the house.”

Well, actually, I could think of another one:

The woman lives with her husband and two youngest children in Earl Rise.

She said: “I am classed as living in a severely overcrowded house - we are living in a two bed maisonette but four of us live here.”

One room for you and your current sperm donor, and one for the kids. How on earth is that 'severely overcrowded'..? 

The mum, who wishes to be kept anonymous, has been living inside a Council-owned two bedroom maisonette in Earl Rise, Plumstead since March 2017.

She told the News Shopper that the “mould” has “led her two youngest children develop Bronchitis” – claiming that her seven-month-old son has recently been on a nebuliser.

So you had another child despite the problems? Which I presume the council hasn't offered to fix? 

“I keep the maisonette clean and tidy and I have informed the council of the health issues my children are facing, but they can only suggest removing the ceiling and putting a new one in.”

Oh! Well, then, I ... wait.  

“This would mean I would have to remove the furniture from my children’s room and then put everything back afterwards - but my baby is seven months and I do not have the time to do that.”

 I really need to get a smaller one of these...

No, I'm Pretty Sure You'd Still Have Issues...

A mum-of-two who has been forced to sleep on the floor of her home for four years has been told by the council she won't be able to move for another five.

Has she outbred her living circumstance? Reader, what do you think? 

Ellie Riches, 35, lives in a studio flat that is so cramped, she's had to share a tiny bedroom with her children Nathaniel, 16 months, and Kenzie, five.

*sighs* 

The three-room council home in Pimlico is so small that Ellie's partner hasn't been able to move in, and she and her children struggle to live or sleep.

Clearly, he visited plenty! 

But not only is the size of the property causing the family issues, it's also infested with mice.

"Every morning I have to get up and hoover the floors so they don’t get hold of mice poop."

You mean you wouldn't bother hoovering every day otherwise? 

Ellie said she cannot afford to rent privately, nor move out of Westminster because her whole family lives there, including her seriously-ill mum who she sometimes has to care for. She said: "No one seems to want to help. They just seem to think this is adequate.

"I have enough anxiety just going out. It's bad, but then I don't want to go back home.

"I would lose the majority of my issues if I had a bigger property."

I very much doubt that.  

Worse Than Useless...

A 'devil' dog who mauled a miniature pinscher to death in London attacked a woman as she walked her border cross terrier three weeks earlier, it was claimed tonight.

The victim, known only as Zoe, 44, claims she was left with 'a hole in her arm' after she tried to separate the leadless bullmastiff from her pet Sid at around 8.30pm on July 16.

She believes the 'devil' dog is the same animal which attacked Renata Aladenika's miniature pinscher Rocco in Woolwich Common on Sunday.

What are the odds? How many of these things can there be in the area? 

Zoe said the attack took place near Woolwich Common in south London - and despite calling police she claims no action was taken against the owner.

Hardly surprising. They almost never do, until it comes around to bite them on the arse... 

Speaking of the incident on Sunday, Metropolitan Police said: 'There have been no arrests and enquiries continue.'

The force has been contacted for comment on the further claims.

Probably trying to figure out how to apologise to the owner of the beast for 'profiling' her... 

Update: The 'Mail' did the detective work the Met Police were too lazy to do in tracking down the bitch. And whaddaya know:

The owner of a 'devil dog' who mauled a miniature pinscher to death is a senior manager at a government youth offending unit, MailOnline can reveal.

She declined to comment when approached by MailOnline.

I just bet she did...

Didn't Go How You Planned, Dawn?

Labour's Dawn Butler has accused the police of racially profiling her after she was pulled over while driving in East London.

While someone else was driving, actually.  

Speaking to Sky News, she said: 'The institution is racist.

...

'So there is an institutional racism in the police, we know that, and it needs to be taken out. It's cancerous and it needs to be cut out out of the police force. It's urgent, it's really urgent.'

Unfortunately for Dim Dawn, her Tweet and the video (showing officers being perfectly polite) brought scorn from all but her fellow race hustlers. 

The MP said: 'I wasn't going to go live with this at all...'

Oh, please! You had a grin as wide as a watermelon slice all over your chops in that video. Couldn't wait to speak your brains like you often do. 

After the stop, former shadow home secretary Diane Abbott said: 'This is so unsurprising. When will the Metropolitan Police give up on racial profiling?'

Yeah. That Diane Abbott. 

Kate Osamor MP tweeted to her backbench Labour colleague: 'Hope you're ok?'

Yeah. That Kate Osamor. 

With MPs of this quality, it's not much of a surprise Starmer's Labour Party isn't making headway in the polls against the worst Tory Party since....well, since the last one!

We were just going out to have a nice lunch. My plans were basically ruined. It’s a sunny Sunday, and you don’t get many of those.

Your Sunday was ruined, Dawn? Gosh. You know who else's Sunday was ruined? This kid. 

What a pity your race-baiting is moving that further down the headlines...

If You Want To Keep Something, You Need To Own It...

An Abbey Wood family are "heartbroken" after learning their home of more than 60 years will go back to the council, after their grandmother's death.

'Their' home? It's a council property.

Veronica Davie, of Panfield Road, sadly died at the beginning of this year, January 9. Ms Davies' granddaughter, Alison Basset, of Grovebury road, says the home should be kept within the family.

Then maybe you should have exercised the right to buy while she was still alive.

Ms Basset could not be classed as a joint tenant on the property, and is currently on band B1 priority for overcrowding and has reportedly been on the housing list for 10 years.

I bet she has some of the usual reasons for...

Yup! Called it!

“Nan would want us to have her house and her grandchildren to grow up there.

“My 17-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son share a room and I share with my nearly 3-year-old.

“My son has autism and my daughter has psychogenic non-epileptic seizures.

“I have had no luck getting re-housed with the council and have continuously been messed about by them."

*sighs*

We Can All Do The Sums, You Know...

Squeezed together in their double bed, the children end up hitting each other in their sleep, causing nose bleeds and tears.

Dad, Nosakhare, and mum, Joy Ogbeide, a part time kitchen assistant, sleep on the living room floor.

'How terrible that the taxpayer can't chip in to get them housed in better accommodation' is the subtext.

But wait a minute...

Since 2014 the family has been hoping for a bigger home, joining scores of families living in overcrowded accommodation bidding for social homes when they become available.

But Nosakhare said the family has never risen above 300 in the queue.

*counts on fingers*

If you're overcrowded, it's not the council that's to blame, is it? They didn't provide you with three more kids while you were living in a one-room house (paid for by the taxpayer)...

Newham's deputy mayor, Cllr John Gray, responsible for housing, said: "If I could get the homes to house these families I would, but they simply aren't there. We have hundreds of families with similar levels of overcrowding. It's unacceptable. We are doing everything we can, we're on their side, but we need help from the government."

No. You need self-control and less dependency and entitlement from these families.

Would A Cowcatcher On The Front Help...?

*blinks*

It is, of course, the disabled lobby.

Sherrie Fox lives in Hove and relies on an electronic wheelchair to get around due to several long-term health conditions.

The 54-year-old said: “It was a lovely day and everyone was out on the promenade, it was beautiful.

“But half the path was completely blocked with pebbles. So I could not walk along the railings and, because it was busy, I could not even get a look at the sea.

“I live with pain 24/7 and going over pebbles makes this worse.”

So stay off that beach!Is a look at the sea worth the pain?

Sherrie said: “The council are probably thinking it will happen again but they have got to think of people like me who want to enjoy the promenade.

“You expect the pebbles to be there the days after a big storm but by the second day you would think there would be an effort to clean it, it’s the council’s duty to keep the place tidy.

“I’m Brightonian and I have seen a whole lot of decline over the years, it’s just not the same any more.”

This is a council that can't sweep the rubbish off the streets for weeks, or remove smelly drug addicts sleeping in tents. Why do you think they will deal with pebbles that are going to be deposited the very next day by another storm?

Kieran McDonald encountered similar problems when he tried to visit the beach with his family, including his daughter who has mobility issues.

The police officer said: “If you have a shingle beach then you should have a budget to clear that up after a storm.

“It is not OK to close the beach to less able-bodied people for two weeks.”

He said he had contacted Wish ward councillor Robert Nemeth about the problem.

Last word goes to the commenters:

The sad thing is, they probably do expect this. But put up the rates, and they'll scream 'poverty'.

You're In No Position To Criticise...

A youth-focused trio will lobby the government with knife crime solutions written on chicken boxes that had been distributed by the Home Office.

...Hayel Wartemberg, Ndubuisi Uchea and Shiva Tarbhaker took to the streets of London and gathered responses from members of the public, including practical solutions to knife crime.

Oooh, this'll be good! *gets popcorn*

Uchea said: “It was really beautiful to see people coming up with ideas and then other people coming over and reading those ideas.”

And then laughing their socks off...

Uchea said: “A lot of the time, the policymakers are so far removed from those people living the reality.”

Let's see some of your 'reality' then?

“An interest-free business loan would help turn someone who is running a business as a drug dealer, which does take some business sense, into something with a better purpose.”

Amazing! It boils down to 'Bribe us with taxpayer money not to be criminals'..! Who'd ever have guessed?

"I Have Spawned, Worship Me!"

A quarter of parking spaces reserved for parents with children are being abused by other drivers.

An investigation by comparison website Confused.com found 26 per cent of bays observed were used by someone without a child in the car.

It appears drivers are wrongly taking advantage of parent and child parking spaces, leaving mums and dads battling to find spaces with young children in tow.

There's remarkably little sympathy in the comments, with most people sympathetic to disabled spaces, but finding parent & child priority a step too far.

The company asked drivers why they abused the rules, with the most popular response being they ‘wanted to park close to the entrance’.

We all do. Why should those who have procreated get first dibs?

Taking Us For Mugs Pt 793258715893569741

A mum has spoken out about her struggles living on Universal Credit.

Wait, haven't I heard this before?

The Whitehawk resident, who wished to remain anonymous, was forced to apply for benefits after leaving a relationship, leaving her and her son to stick it out by themselves.

Ah. Different location, far away from Bucko's patch. But pretty much the same whinge.

And she wasn't 'forced to apply for benefits' at all. She appears to have been living on benefits for the last 20 years!

“My last job was 20 years ago, and though I want to work and I’m trying to work, I just can’t get hired.

“It’s looking for someone who will give you that chance.”

She doesn't say what she's qualified in, or what she's applying for, but I suspect it's something that she knows full well she'll never get...

Universal Credit was introduced by the Government last year to supposedly simplify the benefits system, combining all benefits into one monthly payment tailor-made to the claimant’s needs.

But the anonymous mum said the payment is not enough and is starting to affect her mental health.

*rolls eyes*

“I hear people like us being referenced as being “below the poverty line” but they have no ideas what this means. They have no experience of it.

“I remember at Christmas last year when I realised I couldn’t buy my son anything as a present, not even a tiny gift, because we didn’t have enough.

“It was his first Christmas with me for a while and I couldn’t get him anything.”

Lots of working parents have the same experience, because they are taxed to the hilt to support people like this.

The mum has also been heavily affected by another much-criticised Government policy: bedroom tax, which taxes homeowners for each bedroom they do not use.

It doesn't 'tax homeowners' at all. I'm one. I'm not taxed.

She said: “I haven’t been able to move out of my three-bedroom house since our split.

“It’s a house we don’t need or want, but I can’t get out because the council only allows me to bid on specific properties.”

Translation: "I won't move out of the area or take a property that isn't 100% perfectly designed for my wants."

“Some days you just don’t want to get out of bed, but you have to keep going. Poverty is an easy hole to fall into, but it’s hard to get out.”

Doesn't sound much like you 'fell in'. Sounds like you've never bothered to climb out.

Entitlement Culture

Rachel Strachan, 35, from Wiston Road in Whitehawk, Brighton, is disabled and has been registered for assisted bin collection for a couple of years.

She has arthritis in her knees and ankles and has been diagnosed with chronic fatigue disorder.

Her pie hand, however, seems to be, well, shall we say 'overactive'..?

“I have to have naps in the day because of my condition and sometimes I don’t hear the bin men coming round so I have tried to make it clear to them that I need the assistance.

“I physically can’t lift the bins on to the road when they are due to be collected because of my health conditions which is why I signed up for help.”

Let me guess, no husb...

Oh!

Rachel lives with husband Tom, who has a bad back...

Gosh. I wonder why?

...and daughters Abbie, 15 and Paisley, nine.

Can't they do it then?

*grinds teeth*

They have now started putting their recycling in the normal rubbish bin because they say their recycling is not being collected.

Rachel said she has tried to call Cityclean, which runs the recycling collection in Brighton, but struggled to get through to it.

She managed to get through to the 'Argus' ok, though. I bet she has little trouble getting through to Mustafa's Kebabs too...

Rachel said: “It’s ridiculous.

“They want us to recycle to help the planet and go through the effort of telling us what to recycle and what not to recycle.

“But if they can’t help me dispose of it properly then it just has to go into the normal bin which is just really frustrating.

“The regular binmen who take normal waste are really good and understand the assisted collection system, they always help collect the general waste without fail.

“I even bought stickers off Amazon to put on the bin to warn that I need help emptying the bin because of my disability.”

No doubt the council will offer a grovelling..

Oh, wait.

A council spokesman said: “Our records show that Ms Strachan has had two missed collections in 12 months, on April 26 last year and on Tuesday of last week, which she contacted us about.

“Our records also show the previous time Ms Strachan contacted us, on March 6 this year, to complain about the collection crew because they would not remove bulky waste she had left beside her bin, which the council doesn’t collect.

“In that email Ms Strachan claimed we had removed ‘half a sofa’ from her neighbour’s house because he ‘works for your company’, both of which are absolutely false.

“She also made a similar complaint to us around 18 months ago, on November 16 2017, when we told her the council does not remove bulky waste and to contact a company called KSD on 01273 608142.”

Well, well, well....

"But Wait, I'm Special!"

Louise Amery, a chemotherapy nurse at Royal Sussex County Hospital, can only find eight-hour parking spaces for her ten-hour shift.

What’s more, she has to move her car every four hours, meaning she often misses her lunch break.

Louise, 47, said she accepts she has to pay the parking fines she has racked up while on the job, amounting to more than £700...

Well, that's good of her! Should chemotherapy nurses be exempt, then? Or all nurses?

“My debt’s just getting bigger and I am going to get a county court judgement. I am doing a bloody hard job and they’re ticketing me while I’m working.”

Yes. Because you park illegally. That you claim you 'have to' isn't an excuse.

Louise, who lives in West Way, Lancing, said she is left with no choice to be risk the fines as getting the bus or train into work is too expensive.

More expensive than the fines?!?

This Is What The #PussyPass Gets You...

...an ever-growing sense of entitlement:

A mother-of-two who was acquitted of murdering her abusive boyfriend following years of beatings has revealed how she is still waiting to get her children back - two years after she was cleared.

As if those two things should be related somehow. 'Oh, the jury thought it was OK to kill a man rather than leave him? Well, you must be a perfect mother!'

Elizabeth Hart Browne, 29, who stabbed Stephen Rayner in the neck (Ed: three times!) and accidentally killed him at their home in Acton, west London, has slammed the justice system and says that the courts need to do more to support women trapped in abusive relationships.

Why is it 'the courts' issue to resolve? There's plenty of services out there; there's Relate for idiots who think it's a relationship worth saving, and National Express for smart women who decide to leave the brute.

The courts only get involved when someone decides to take a life. As they should.

Elizabeth told the Mirror: 'No one comes from a perfect family home. And mine wasn't perfect. Far from it.

'But I don't think that because I have made that mistake I should have my children taken off me for the rest of my life.

'It seems like a further way to punish me because I didn't get the punishment the court wanted me to get. I didn't get life. This is my penance that I have to pay.'

Now, I made 'a mistake' once; I misread the recipe I was following and put a tablespoon of salt in, instead of a teaspoon.

I wouldn't call stabbing the man you've failed to leave for two years three times in the neck 'a mistake'. I'd call it murder. Why didn't the jury?

Jurors heard she had knifed Stephen twice before - but acquitted Elizabeth of murder at the Old Bailey after deliberating for 14 hours and 55 minutes.

You'd think this dim, self-absorbed bitch would thank her lucky stars she got a panel of idiots, and quietly fage into obscurity. But no. Because - emboldened by the acquittal - she now thinks she should be a mother again.

She doesn't seem to have learned she wasn't a fit mother before she plunged a knife three times into 'the man she loved'. Why on earth should she be considered one now? 

Entitlement...

A gran who went on a spending spree after scooping £22k at bingo is now surviving on egg on chips after her benefits were cut.

'Surviving', eh?

The 63-year-old divorcee forked out on a Walt Disney World holiday to Florida - her first in more than a decade - colouring books and a specialist chair for her arthritis , reports Birmingham Live.

But city council tenant Jean says she is now at risk of losing her home after most of her benefit payments were stopped following her win. She has been left struggling to afford to pay her rent and is taking antidepressants because of the stress triggered by the thought of being evicted.

What did she expect?

"I haven’t had any benefits since August last year. The DWP is saying I squandered the money just to get benefits - but I didn't.

"I bought colouring books because if I can’t go out that’s what I sit and do. It’s my hobby. I had one holiday and that was the first I’d had in 11 years.

"I bought a recliner chair for my health, as I have arthritis in my legs. I bought new stuff for the house, things I’ve never been able to replace as I haven’t had the money. "

You 'can't go out', but you could fly to Florida..?

“I can’t even go to a food bank because of my chronic diarrhoea. They don’t have food I’m able to eat.”

But they did in Disney World?

“It’s been seven months, I just want my benefits back.”

And there you have it. This is what the pervasive benefit culture does to people.

H/T: GeorgeSmiley via Twitter

At What Point Do You Stop People Breeding...?

A mother has brought legal proceedings against her seven-year-old son's primary school after she claimed staff made him wear a fluorescent bib because he was autistic.

How else are they supposed to know who to watch? It's not like you weren't told about it.

She said: 'It's just not right - it's massive discrimination. Looking back on it I think the classroom teacher mentioned a bib during the week - but I didn't really think about it, it didn't click until Charlie said something.'

It's the school's fault you can't be arsed to pay attention when the school is telling you what measures they'll take to keep your child safe?

Or....wait, is it to keep the other children safe?

She added: 'I knew during lunch break he's not always allowed out because he has been accused of hurting the other children, I know there's an issue there which the school have to work with me on.

'But they seem to think the best way to deal with it is to make him wear a bib so that teachers know that he's autistic.'

And a danger. By your own admission. But if you get the feeling this woman suffers from a massive case of entitlement here; you're not wrong:

It is by no means the first time Mrs Logan has clashed with the education authorities over the treatment of an autistic son.

Her other three boys, Brendan, 18, Leighton, 16, and TJ, 12, have all been diagnosed on the autistic spectrum...

She does have one child who doesn't.

Mrs Logan also has a daughter Marina, 20.

 Naturally, she doesn't work.

The full-time mother said: ‘I’ve had to fight for all of them. It’s been an absolute nightmare I shouldn’t have to fight like this constantly.’

Maybe you should have thought of that before you went on churning out children destined to be nothing but a burden on the state?