Crystal Balls - Who needs them !!!

Well admit we do have one, sometimes we stare into it  
at the FCCL Office, 

BUT it's only  used for very  important things, such as 

trying to ascertain what we have written that makes ill people fit to work (and when we do find out we will be straight on the blower to Iain Duncan Smith or maybe try and sell our technique to ATOS)  obviously we wouldn't dream of profiting from our exploits but would pay ourselves a nice sensible salary of £28k a year in line with the people whose jobs we aim on this blog to defend.

But so far we aren't doing very well and as our crystal ball is still under warranty we may have to return it to the International Crystalball Organisation for some fine tuning 

What do you think of the new nail polish btw? 

So why today didn't we need one?

Well as we have said on a different blog  ( here )  occasionally the karma fairy comes along and gives us a hand. And as we said yesterday in our post  TITS 

 (you can read it by clicking here) 

we think WYFRS use of social media is dire! 

This morning we received an email from Mehboob Khan  (the chair of the fire authority) informing us that  the Local Government Association, Safer, Stronger Communities   had  interesting news, he had as well as appearing as a witness at a parliamentary select committee investigating the horsemeat scandal (aka lasagna- gate) he  has been  involved in this ............  

Fire and rescue services e-bulletin:  March 2013

I have added the link  HERE BUT unless you log on to the LGA site 

( for which you need a government email address), 

 .gov.uk, nhs.net   etc  

you might not be able to access it , so much for transparency !!!!  

Hidden  in the pages - the karma fairy  drew our attention to this

And guess who its hosted by 

THE LONDON FIRE BRIGADE 

It is a bargain at £80 + vat  

Best of all when you go to the topics pages it says 

Staff relations

Can social networking improve staff relations and boost morale? Should social media be managed or controlled? Can social media improve employee performance? 

SINCE FCCL BECAME POPULAR

 WYFRS REISSUED THEIR SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY TO ALL STAFF

WE THINK IN AN EFFORT TO STOP THEM INTERACTING WITH US   

A politicalPolitics

Should politicians be tweeting and using Facebook? What are the benefits for politicians? Has social media improved public awareness and interaction with elected representatives? 

WELL THIS MADE US CHUCKLE AS WELL, COS IF YOU CHALLENGE A POLITICIAN ON FACEBOOK, CHANCES ARE THEY WILL BLOCK YOU !!!!!! 

Anyway  all the details are  on the LFB website which you can access from our  news pages

So hopefully  IF very soon, if the penny drops and WYFRS stump up £80 (plus vat )

  we might soon be seeing 

THIS  

ooooohhhh but there is one ray of hope ACO Dave Walton has a twitter account - you can follow him by clicking  here    in fact WYFRS has one too but its very quiet and spasmodic. 

Why didn't our labour councillors have the guts ????

The Thought of Conservative Boris Johnson Fuming is Something we at FCCL All Relish. 

And yesterday in London, at a meeting of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA)   Labour, Liberal and Green formed a coalition which  overturned  the proposal to close 12 fire stations, remove 18 engines and slash 520 firefighter posts in London  in a vote 9-8. 

But Boris its seems will carry on regardless and ignore the decision and continue with the proposals. 

Paul Embery FBU regional secretary said 

“We welcome the decision of the fire authority to reject these reckless and dangerous cuts. It was the right outcome. But Boris Johnson’s intervention is deplorable. It is arrogant in the extreme for the mayor to think he knows better than his own fire authority.
“The mayor’s unprecedented move raises all sorts of questions about democracy and accountability. He should listen to his fire authority; he should listen to the workforce, and he should listen to Londoners, the vast majority of whom oppose these cuts. If he pushes ahead, we will campaign vigorously to defend London’s fire service.

West Yorkshires own  David Williams who attended,  remarked when giving feedback on  lessons learnt in West Yorkshires fight against cuts 

"All i have to say is that these cuts were by a Labour fire authority - shame on them"

FCCL  who have close links with the London campaign sent a message of solidarity to them in  November as our  friends and family were fighting the closure of New Cross Fire Station , you can read what we wrote HERE

As the local campaigns are starting to coalesce and start to gain significant momentum we do not doubt that here in West Yorkshire the councillors who constitute the Fire and Rescue Authority will at some point be called to account for their actions and votes on the 21st December 2012.

We enclose some links to information about the London decision starting with the  Fire Brigades Union . The  London Fire Brigade , the BBC , and  Socialist Party


And whilst browsing sites to write this blog we found this from the London Fire Brigade -

22 January 2013

London Fire Brigade said today it was called out on Friday night after an over-heated massage pillow caused a fire in a flat in Hornsey.

It’s thought the owners left their home to go on holiday shortly before Christmas, accidentally leaving the pillow switched on.

A spokesperson for the London Fire Brigade said:

“It’s unusual for a massage pillow to cause a fire, but it goes to show just how important it is to switch off electrical items if you’re leaving your home, or even just going to bed.

“The fire caused significant damage to the flat and it’s fortunate that no one was hurt.”

The smoke alarm inside the flat wasn’t working and it’s thought the fire was only discovered when a concierge in the building saw smoke coming out of the flat.

Three fire engines and around 15 firefighters attended the fire. The Brigade was called at 2142 and the fire was under control by 2206. Fire investigators were called to establish how the fire started.

Fortunate - we think is a word that will be much used in the days and years to come. 


And one day  

UNfortunately  


will feature ........

"unfortunately a crew didn't reach the property in time to rescue the people trapped inside"

REMEMBER - Keighley is due to lose a pump by the end of this  month, Haworth Parish Council  is researching how to run a service with volunteers; volunteers who will not be qualified to use the breathing apparatus necessary to enter a smoke and flame filled building. 

Just in case you are concerned we at FCCL  have ensured all massage cushions we might (or might not) own are all unplugged.

For advice on how to stay safe the West Yorkshire Fire site has some good advice, click HERE to access the site. 

We did  however cringe when we read 
"Ensure your electric heaters are properly maintained and in full working order" 


yup great advice if you have the money to do that, but many people in deprived areas don't! 

We also need to tell you of a video that has been doing the rounds of facebook and was added to the Yorkshire Evening Post website yesterday. We have emailed   Hannah Stoneman of WYFRS and she has confirmed that the video is not of West Yorkshire Fire Fighters -  BUT it has been removed by Johnston Press from their website - however it is available on you tube so check out our funnies page HERE