Tuesday 1 January 2013

Click on image to enlarge.

Acknowledgement to 'Grammarly' on Facebook.
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Addition: I've just noticed this article in the Guardian, from which I pick the following paragraphs as the most important for people to read...


The year has started, incredibly, with two pieces of good news to counteract an otherwise unending stream of grim revelations about Britain's housing crisis. First, the Scottish government has brought into force a law that will effectively end homelessness there, by requiring local authorities to house all involuntarily homeless people in settled accommodation. The second is that Newham council in east London is regulating the free-for-all in private rented housing by requiring landlords to have background checks before being licensed.
Note that neither of these initiatives has come from the coalition, and therefore won't be applicable throughout Britain. 
The phrase used by the Scottish government is "settled accommodation" – not bed and breakfast, but a home to call your own.
Yes, I know it will be expensive for the councils, but how much less so than having people sleeping on the streets, with absolutely no chance of getting a job, with every likelihood of having to resort to any means at hand to get money to stay warm and get food? 
How much more pleasant will streets be for tourists and residents alike, if they are not tripping over beggars ever few meters? 
How much more civilised than their government, is our government?
Oh, and how will Scottish Labour manage to say that this is a bad thing?

11 comments:

  1. Tris....WONDERFUL! Punctuation and capitalization does indeed matter, notwithstanding what is often the practice on the internet. But on Munguin's Republic, good writing and good sense always prevails. :))

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  2. And of course the word I want is "prevail," not "prevails."

    Sadly, Google Blogspot does not permit such grammatical corrections after the comment has been posted. I always miss them, regardless of how many times I've read and reread the Preview.....LOL.

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  3. LOL Danny. Thank you so much for the compliment. You grammar is always impeccable, so we must excuse you this very rare faux pas...

    I, too, always see the glaring error in the second between clicking "publish" and the text disappearing beyond my power of recall.

    And sometimes not even then do I notice it. I have been indebted, on a number of occasions, to readers, including my mother, John Brownlie and Monty, pointing out howlers in my articles (and headlines).

    Horrific!

    I should say that you can always make use of the rubbish bin at the bottom of your comment to delete that comment. If you copy the comment before you bin it, paste it into a new comment box and do your alterations/correction, your blushes may be spared!

    In respect of your original comment, I think it's not just on the net, but everywhere (including newspapers which have done away with proof readers and rely on electronic proofing), that you see horrible errors.

    I saw a notice in a restaurant window a few months ago that promised: MANAGERS SPECIAL'S

    Hmmmmm and I'm fairly inured now to signs outside shops telling us that they are stocking Carrot's, Turnip's and Cabbage's, or that Mens clothing and childrens toys can be found on the second floor.

    It seems that no one teaches/learns the genitive in schools any more.

    No wonder British kids have such a hard time with foreign languages. They aren't even taught their own!

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  4. I am for such. However i tend to not--at times. I am trying to type what i want to say; and punctuation all that fails me at times. The 'texting' stuff now that is the downfall of grammar.

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  5. "meters" should read " metres" ;)

    ( spell check is US English )

    There's no such entity as "Scottish Labour".

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  6. Right again, Monty! On both counts!

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  7. Well, as you can see by the corrections that Monty has just made of my work, neither am I MrMc.

    Texting has certainly had an effect on spelling and punctuation, as has the spellchecker. There's a tendency to look quickly over your work, not see any wavy lines and assume that all is well with the world.

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  8. tris
    'end homelessness' what utter utter shite whilst reducing and helping the homeless is a good thing(even for the snp scum).
    Using the homeless as a political ploy is vomit inducing but about the level of the Nationalist,
    And then to suggest the Scottish care for there people more than the English is about as racist and untrue as you can get.

    The English Torys would no doubt like to end homelessness by throwing them all into a skip.
    Still there are many many many Scots who feel the same as a conversation in any pub will quickly prove.

    Many people all over the UK and from all political partys(not the English Torys)would and do believe Homelessness is a terrible indictment on our society.
    which WE should all do something to alleviate.


    the snp spin to 'end homelessness' will no doubt go the way of the EU legal advice they had previously claimed they had received.

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  9. Low work Niko, even for you.

    I didn't say that the English don't care about homelessness, although the governments they elect most certainly don't.

    I don't know what kind of pub you go to but "any conversion"....? Wow. I wouldn't like to be in that pub. Either they are all Scottish BNP members down your way.

    I take your point though. There are plenty of Scots who don't give a stuff about homeless as long as they don't clutter their doorsteps, but Scots tend to elect governments that will do something about it.

    If you are saying that the SNP use this as a political ploy, then what you are saying is that any party which does anything (including as you will see from the article) Labour in Newham, then they are doping it as a ploy?

    It couldn't be that it's just the right thing to do... in Newham, in Scotland and in Britain, Europe... all the rich countries.

    I can understand homelessness where no one has a pot to pee in, but in the rich West, it is a disgrace.

    Does Labour in Scotland disagree with finding homes for people?

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  10. tris

    Build homes build homes build homes

    thats the answer more of em lots of em lower prices house more in better houses.

    It wont happen cos many snp supporters are more nimby than most anywhere in the uk.And the snp wont upset them no way

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  11. Of course it is. The SNP has banned the sale of council houses and started building them. There are some real beauties in Dundee, and no one can make a grab from profit out of them.

    Elsewhere in the UK they have continued to sell them (although Labour was going to reverse that 15 years ago). So clearly there is no point in building them because someone would just come along and make money out of it.

    The answer is build build build. It creates jobs, and money and provides houses. Simple.


    And your sources for these assertions about SNP supporters being more nimby than other people in the islands are where exactly Niko....?

    No fuss being made in Dundee where they have been building a whole estate, and lots of small areas.

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