This Editorial at a Glance:

• Developing a Website with WordPress®;

• How it all works and costs? – The Design;

• The Philosophy and Political thrust;

• An open platform for freedom of speech and dissent;

• The Revelations to come – Who lied in the LFRS and to Whom?

Dear Reader,

It is some time since we have written about developments on the website. It seems an opportune moment to take a deep breath and reflect on all that has happened in the last few weeks. Learning to build and operate a world wide website(www) is intellectually challenging, at least for the Editor, and if he can do it then it is certain others can do it much faster and better.

The construction and operation of a website has until recently been regarded as a specialist field requiring the use of arcane software code, the world of the geeks. However those self-same geeks have recognised that the general public may wish to ‘do their own thing’ and to that end a huge number of them in a cooperative called WordPress have written practical code(tools) to be utilised by the uninitiated, those with a little knowledge and the incentive to do so, but only if they have the practical tools to accomplish this.

WordPress is the free product of all that generous ingenuity and whilst it has 4 or 5 million subscribers on this planet, and certainly is still evolving technically, the basic tools are now available to those who wish to go it alone such as ‘The Morning Bugler’.

So how does it all work?

There are several basic requirements. A reasonably modern computer with good internet access; the WordPress free download program-the ‘engine’ that drives the whole gizmo; a hosting server-a big storage computer for which you pay a rented space-somewhere out there in the borderless ether which stores your WordPress and your website which you have created from its program; and an exclusive website name, in this case ‘The Morning Bugler’(for which you also pay).

Next comes the initial design of the site.

WordPress once more provides examples that can be used and/or selected as the framework for the initial site. They are called ‘Themes’ and when a suitable one is selected it can be modified later to suit your taste or application which you have in mind. For example the banner logo of the The Morning Bugler was created by the Editor using a common illustration(drawing) program and uploaded into the chosen Theme and thence into the ether.

The setting up of the website took about two hours and does require the assistance of a friendly professional geek(The Editor’s son Tim), but equally if you are brighter than this Editor(not difficult) then no doubt you can muddle through as you go using idiot guide books courtesy of FSV-Michael.

 Whilst the ‘engine’ and the site are now in place to make it all work ‘plugins’ are needed. These are little specialist(code) tools which ‘plugin’ to the ‘engine’ to deal with this or that facility a site owner might like to use. A classical example of this is a plugin which monitors the site and records all the visitors and their activity on the site whilst another might provide typing or picture handling capability etc, etc.

Currently there are about 2000+ plugins and not all work as claimed so this is also a ‘wheat from chaff’ learning process. They are free what do you expect?

Now 10 days in it has to be said the learning curve is very steep but when the break through comes, as it does, the sense of achievement is quite outstanding.

In the case of TMB  the initial building blocks are now in situ and the build has commenced and continues with a will…followed regularly by falling off the learning cliff and starting the climb back up again with ego dented.

In practice some of the tools can be a little quirky and the code ‘flaky’ but with time and patience a lot can be achieved.

So how much to speak to the world and to create what is effectively own your own political soap box and newspaper?

Just slightly over £100 for 3 years all done over the Net. All you need is the ‘plastic’ as ever. But why is it necessary and why should anyone want to do this?

The grandiose philosophical reasons for developing the site were expounded at length in the opening Editorial and though those sentiments and raison detre remain what it all boils down to in the end is frustration and an aspiration for freedom of expression.

Freedom to espouse your cause free from bureaucratic obstruction; free from censorship; and free from malignant oppression where your Human Rights are concerned.

No matter how hard one tries; no matter how many letters one writes all of which receive no acknowledgement and certainly never a constructive response the problem remains how does one get attention from the media for the ‘cause’ that is being espoused? Short of, and it happens, taking to the streets with a violent solution in mind?

The answer to all of this is the much abused phrase ‘self-empowerment’. That is what the WWW offers for a little expenditure and a little effort. A platform to speak to the world. Your own soapbox. A world beyond local control, manipulation, and obstruction. A powerful weapon in the hands of a genuine and reasonable democrat.

Now to the look ahead…

Whilst at the moment the Bugler is clearly concentrating on political scandals both within and outside the Fire Service and the scandalous underpayment of pensions to disabled Fire Service Veterans this saga has a long long way to run before the Editor’s thoughts turn to other issues of the day.

However, we must cater for other topics and if someone is aggrieved and struggling to be heard please let us know and we will find space for your views and articles. Are you struggling to save your Fire Station and your job? Have your say even anonymously.There is no charge for democracy here.

But before then there is much work yet to do on the pension issue and many relevant documents to publish to assist those who simply wish to check their pension(s) against the law with their own original records.

The task is simple enough. Firstly we publish the reference works you will need. This is in hand at the moment. Then taking it step by step in plain English we will guide you through the so called labyrinth of pension law to the correct practice to reach the correct calculation of your pension(s) at which point you will determine it is either correct or not, and if not why not?

We will provide an on line standard calculator so that all the tools are to hand. You will do the work with the step by step guidance and tools we will provide and you will reach you own conclusions. After that, from brief experience so far, you will have to recheck your work carefully and, once more,independently just to be confident that the conclusion is correct.

Then what follows if the pension(s) are incorrect is the interesting part.Wrong by how much over what time span?

But before then there is much work to do and Questions to ask and Answer. It is accounting time…

Firstly, we will publish a ‘who is who’ list within this pension scandal, just like a West End melodrama but these are real people; real public servants who we pay; that have real self-serving agendas.

How did they get to be where they are? How did they have such meteoric rises in their good fortunes? Where did they come from? Why did they leave their former employment? What is their working history? Who helped them in patronage, without job or candidate short lists, to get employment in the LCC and the LFRS?

How much do we pay them and more importantly how much do they pay themselves in hidden bonuses? What qualifications do they have to do what they are doing and how did they obtain those qualifications, if any? Where are the public records of their expenses and bonuses? Who approved secret terms and conditions to their appointments and why?

Who lied to who? Who manipulated who? Who deceived the CFA Committee and the Elected members and to what self-serving purpose? Why did the Elected Members fail to do their public duty and what incentive was there to be so bone idle?

How far does patronage extend from politicians to their LFRS/LCC ‘officers’ using tax payers monies? Who has, as yet, unrevealed past criminal records?

Time, research, and revelation upon revelation will tell all…keep reading the Morning Bugler it will get more interesting by the day…