Qualified to cook food but not the books

I hate to contradict a man that has been a successful entrepreneur, has made it big in the consumer electrical goods Market, has made millions of pounds and now has a seat on the Government via his ascendency to the House of Lords. But why did he choose a glorified Chef to become the next BBC Apprentice. Jasmina, won through quite predictably because of the dogged tenacity she must have had to run a successful business. Her own Restaurant, where she manages up to twenty staff is just the sort of yarn that Sir Alan likes to hear. With each year, in each series we are treated to another tale of how he defied the odds of a Hackney upbringing and made good. But Jasmina's story is not as similar as his own as Sir Alan likes to think.

For twelve weeks Jasmina and the other Apprentice hopefuls completed tasks to prove that their own interpersonal and business skills were worthy enough for Alan Sugar to pick them for a £100K job in one of his corporations. Each week they were tested on their ability to market, to sell, how they communicated and how well they performed in the imfamous boardroom showdown against fierce competition that was more than happy to stab them in the front in order to survive another week.

Many fell at the first hurdle, some were out of their depth, while others were plain bonkers, but when it came to the final with just Kate and Jasmina to choose between it looked like Kate was going to walk it by a mile. Wrong. Kate was just too polished they said, too perfect, she must have had faults they just could not see them. Jasmina on the other hand had run her own business, had started it with her Brother after they had convinced their Mother to re-mortgage her house. But she was to demonstrate that she had all the business acumen of a garden worm.

When she was interviewed by one of Sir Alan's Cronies in the penultimate week she flustered over really knowing the difference between what is Nett and Gross Turnover; and was blissfully unaware that company accounts are recorded and can be accessed by anybody. Important things to know if you run a modern business, you'd think?

Jasmina showed throughout the series that she was a personable young woman with definite social skills suited to run a group of young people who wait tables, but business savvy and a complete entrepreneur as Sir Alan suspects, she is not.

A General Election now could backfire on Mr Cameron

David Cameron has insisted that the Prime Minister should call a general election now. The Question is: with the recent resignations of some Labour politicians, can this government really survive for much longer? David Cameron hopes it won't. However, there may not be be any clear winners if Labour go into meltdown and Parliament is dissolved now.

It's perhaps not an ideal time for The Conservatives Party to contest in a General Election. After all, voters are critical of all the old major parties right now including the Conservatives. The electorates disdain for politicians and its apathy for politics in general could see a lot of them voting for fringe parties, such as the British National Party, just as we witnessed recently at the European Parliament elections or they may simply stay at home and not bother.

Cameron could get it all wrong by calling for the public to vote now. Labour's majority may be small enough to be toppled by a strong opposition party, but the Conservatives who are equally caught up in the expenses scandal will lose many thousands of votes too; no one knows how many.

If the Conservative Party fails to secure a big enough majority they could be struck impotent from driving new legislation through or worse have to power share in a 'Hung Parliament' because they fall short of a clear Commons majority.

If the Conservatives and all the major political parties are to retain their traditional voters, they must clear up their act. They should stop saying sorry and start to have a cross party action plan to sharpen their image. One way of doing that is to select fresh candidates who have not been caught up in any sort of sleave and are certainly not tarnished by the present crisis.

If there were to be a General Election very soon many of the electorate could turn away from mainstream parties and this could damage the Conservatives hopes of returning to power after 11 years in the wilderness.

Underside to Success as ITV is Blasted by the PC police

Susan Boyle has been admitted to the Priory Clinic, because it's claimed, that she is suffering from exhaustion after the relentless pressure she's been under since her singing talent was discovered on ITV's “ Britain's Got Talent.” However, the story is not all about her. Instead the knives are out for ITV producers of the talent show. The Questions being asked are were ITV bosses acting responsibly when they let her sing in the shows final? and “Should the ITV have done more to help what would appear to be delicate person who is not quite ready for all of the public reaction she has received over the last two months.

My question is: Is there really any point to this News Story. When the programmes judges, Cowell, Holden and Morgan heaped praise on her unique talent she must have known if she was able to cope with being in the limelight. Being a modern day recluse she obviously displayed limitations that would be highlighted by the pressures and the expectations from having an extraordinary talent? Why start blaming the ITV for her frailty and why bring in more regulation to stop it from ever happening again. People can be vulnerable, that's what makes us human and we you can't handle singing in front of an audience of 19 million people, I know I couldn't, don't bother, go back to Scotland and look after your cats.

I wish Susan Boyle all the best and I really hope she makes a speedy recovery so she's able to showcase her talent again soon, but lets not start pandering and protecting people who want to pursue fame. It is within them to find the strength to cope with the pressure not for TV producers to hurd weak-minded people on to a show and then be blamed for not looking after their mental state.

Stop saying sorry, Mps who took liberties should resign.

Gordon Brown, (Labour) David Cameron (Conservatives) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) have now all said sorry on behalf of their MPs who have been claiming excessive expenses. Seems that it was not too long ago that another hapless group, the banking elite, were doing the same thing. Its funny how Harriot Harman spoke then about the 'Court of Public Opinion' and how Fred the Shred was not going to get away with his millions after the government had bailed out his failed bank. I suspect, that the so called “ Court of public Opinion “ will not be called in to session by Ms Harman or any other MP in the foreseeable future because of the expenses crisis that has exploded. Furthermore, its unlikely that many of the apologetic bankers and politicians will be tried by the public and many will walk away blissfully with the money that was they extorted.

Its often been said that the rich, are only rich because they never give anything away. However, its a large number of politicians who have become Richer simply by taking money from a floored system that they they themselves created. It seemed like child's play. Systematically, they dipped their hands into an expenses pot like an ordinary person who had discovered an ATM machine that paid out money for free; returning time and time again without reproach or fear of getting caught.

The greedy politicians simply took money for luxuries from a system that almost encouraged the self-financing of MPs in light of their Salary freezes. All this and the people in charge of granting their expenses claims virtually turned a blind eye. I don't believe for a minute that many of the General Public who found themselves in a similar position as politicians with free range to a similar Expenses claim system would not also use it to top up their salaries. Although, the consequences of being found guilty of abusing the system would be far greater for a mere individual.

So the crime of abusing an expenses system whoever you are is wrong. Perhaps there is some justification for why MPs did it then? No. As mentioned earlier, the consequences of an ordinary person doing such a thing would be unimaginable. However, to witness the people that we entrusted to lead our country, spend money for underfloor piping of their tennis courts, Plasma TV's and church collection contributions is heinous. The fact is that the Politicians who sit in Westminster, Guilty or entirely innocent have lost the moral high ground. If their reputation was not bad enough, they have steeped to an all time low in public opinion.

Simply saying sorry does not go far enough and will not abate the anger that the public feels towards the institution that is supposed to set a better example. Once again, the expenses row has highlighted the case that our current batch of elected MPs are no better qualified to lead than anyone else with a vision to be a decision maker in the UK. What happened to Representation of our views, our hopes and concerns? An overhaul of our current procedure of selecting MPs is not too far away and then maybe the trust in our Parliamentary representatives will once again return.