Month: March 2010

Update cos, apparently, I have not written anything in ages and it simply isn’t good enough!

Photography … am getting into using a proper camera and liking the results .. I have it in my cunning plan to have everyone on my Facebook friends list using one of the pictures I have taken as their profile pictures!

I think, there, that shocked you … but seriously, I think it may be getting to that point where I start actually reading on what does what on one of these digital SLR cameras. I also have to remember to take the darned thing out with me more often.

OK, some updates since the last time:

• Josh did a visit to the hospital, all OK at the moment with the Spherocytosis. The current thinking is the leave a splenectomy as long as possible with a view to avoiding it if at all possible.
• James has been seeing Josh regularly for a week now, all seems to be going well though today, for some reason, not so but then, there did seem to be a general atmosphere here that was generally unsettled. I am not overly concerned about it, normal family stuff I guess.
• Have decided that the Citroen Picasso is just not big enough and asked if I could change to an alternate. I don’t hold out much hope.
• This week seems to be quite busy yet, apart from a trip to Birmingham on Tuesday evening to see Alice in Wonderland, I can’t really see that there is much happening at all so, why do I think it is busy?
• Did a trip down to Kent to see my Dad, all went well though, as usual, knackering.

Am already sick of the run up to the as yet unannounced general election. Both main parties seem to be totally unwilling to explain their own policies and would rather concentrate on what the other lot are doing instead … this really just helps me stick with my theory that they are both so similar that neither is now worth voting for and need to be removed from their positions. Problem there is, the Liberal Democrats are so far behind it is near on impossible for them to take over the slot from either the other two and not helped either by a media who insist on only ever reporting that we are either going to have a Conservative or Labour government come June … so much for free and unbiased television.

Am sick of Global Warming. In the 1970’s we had the cold war when any minute we would get a three minute warning before the world as we know it would end. Hell, I remember talk of another ice age by erm, 2010 as it happens and, the world as we know it would come to an end. It seemed also that the hole in the ozone layer was growing at such an alarming rate that by the new millennium, we would all be seriously be affected by the climate change … yes, clearly not so seeing as none of these ‘freak’ meteorological occurrences are actually freak at all, they have all happened before and way before we used nasty CFC’s and through our old fridges into the atmosphere. The entire planet would be killed off by mad cow disease, likewise with swine flu  … guess what. we’re still here. You know, by the time I am 36 the entire oil reserves on the planet will have run out and we shall all be driving electric cars … hmm, yes, that would be a decade ago now.

What we have is a very good excuse for raising extra revenue by so called ‘green’ taxation. Hype the price of fuel to make sure that we use our cars less and preserve the planet. What utter bullshit. What actually happens is that this government and governments before this found a way of taxing the poorest without it being as obvious as raising income tax. Indeed, so good is this green taxation that not only are those at work paying it but also those on the very lowest state and disability benefits are paying for it. It doesn’t even matter they don’t have a car. High fuel prices also equate to higher prices on the things which everyone has to buy as the haulage companies pass on their costs to the consumer. This is all before we forget the huge amount of profits energy companies and oil companies are making whilst continuing to raise prices on gas an electricity. Always we hear the same thing, how they bought the raw material when the price was higher so that the current decrease cannot be passed on yet, when they happen to buy low, they cannot pass on the saving as the revenue is needed as investment in future resource! Some of these companies make profits higher than the GDP of many other ‘countries’, that cannot be right as it is, once again, the poorest contributing most to their huge wealth. I pay around £2000 every year in VAT, that is a lot of money for someone on state benefits. Actually, that figure is an ‘at least’ one as it is based on nothing more than my direct debits and standing orders. It doesn’t include what I consider to be luxury items such as gifts, clothing and days away.

Can’t go to bed too late, I am up tomorrow at 7:30 so, this shall be it for this blog entry

Update cos, apparently, I have not written anything in ages and it simply isn’t good enough!

Photography … am getting into using a proper camera and liking the results .. I have it in my cunning plan to have everyone on my Facebook friends list using one of the pictures I have taken as their profile pictures!

I think, there, that shocked you … but seriously, I think it may be getting to that point where I start actually reading on what does what on one of these digital SLR cameras. I also have to remember to take the darned thing out with me more often.

OK, some updates since the last time:

• Josh did a visit to the hospital, all OK at the moment with the Spherocytosis. The current thinking is the leave a splenectomy as long as possible with a view to avoiding it if at all possible.
• James has been seeing Josh regularly for a week now, all seems to be going well though today, for some reason, not so but then, there did seem to be a general atmosphere here that was generally unsettled. I am not overly concerned about it, normal family stuff I guess.
• Have decided that the Citroen Picasso is just not big enough and asked if I could change to an alternate. I don’t hold out much hope.
• This week seems to be quite busy yet, apart from a trip to Birmingham on Tuesday evening to see Alice in Wonderland, I can’t really see that there is much happening at all so, why do I think it is busy?
• Did a trip down to Kent to see my Dad, all went well though, as usual, knackering.

Am already sick of the run up to the as yet unannounced general election. Both main parties seem to be totally unwilling to explain their own policies and would rather concentrate on what the other lot are doing instead … this really just helps me stick with my theory that they are both so similar that neither is now worth voting for and need to be removed from their positions. Problem there is, the Liberal Democrats are so far behind it is near on impossible for them to take over the slot from either the other two and not helped either by a media who insist on only ever reporting that we are either going to have a Conservative or Labour government come June … so much for free and unbiased television.

Am sick of Global Warming. In the 1970’s we had the cold war when any minute we would get a three minute warning before the world as we know it would end. Hell, I remember talk of another ice age by erm, 2010 as it happens and, the world as we know it would come to an end. It seemed also that the hole in the ozone layer was growing at such an alarming rate that by the new millennium, we would all be seriously be affected by the climate change … yes, clearly not so seeing as none of these ‘freak’ meteorological occurrences are actually freak at all, they have all happened before and way before we used nasty CFC’s and through our old fridges into the atmosphere. The entire planet would be killed off by mad cow disease, likewise with swine flu  … guess what. we’re still here. You know, by the time I am 36 the entire oil reserves on the planet will have run out and we shall all be driving electric cars … hmm, yes, that would be a decade ago now.

What we have is a very good excuse for raising extra revenue by so called ‘green’ taxation. Hype the price of fuel to make sure that we use our cars less and preserve the planet. What utter bullshit. What actually happens is that this government and governments before this found a way of taxing the poorest without it being as obvious as raising income tax. Indeed, so good is this green taxation that not only are those at work paying it but also those on the very lowest state and disability benefits are paying for it. It doesn’t even matter they don’t have a car. High fuel prices also equate to higher prices on the things which everyone has to buy as the haulage companies pass on their costs to the consumer. This is all before we forget the huge amount of profits energy companies and oil companies are making whilst continuing to raise prices on gas an electricity. Always we hear the same thing, how they bought the raw material when the price was higher so that the current decrease cannot be passed on yet, when they happen to buy low, they cannot pass on the saving as the revenue is needed as investment in future resource! Some of these companies make profits higher than the GDP of many other ‘countries’, that cannot be right as it is, once again, the poorest contributing most to their huge wealth. I pay around £2000 every year in VAT, that is a lot of money for someone on state benefits. Actually, that figure is an ‘at least’ one as it is based on nothing more than my direct debits and standing orders. It doesn’t include what I consider to be luxury items such as gifts, clothing and days away.

Can’t go to bed too late, I am up tomorrow at 7:30 so, this shall be it for this blog entry

This is one election I am not looking forward to. I am old enough to remember the disaster we had under the Conservatives until 1997, I have had a long while under ‘New Labour’.

The Tories created a country devoid of society with the attitude of every person for themselves. It was them too who created the benefit cheat and the disgrace of the single mother. They too promoted homophobia. It was all sleaze and fiddles and refusals to resign. They were out of touch with the everyday man. They believed, still believe that wealth will filter down whereas, we know that the reality is, the rich get richer whilst the workers get poorer. Yes, their leader is the first in a long time to inspire confidence but, he’s a Tory just like any other.

Under New Labour we have seen prices no longer connected any way to inflation. The poorest are seeing their every day expenses that they cannot avoid rising 10-20% annually whilst the Government claim it is only around 2%. The Government suck up to faith groups at the cost of everyone else allowing those with a faith to dictate the law of the land. I doubt never before have we seen so many non UK citizens living on this island. Very few of the good laws brought into the UK have been implemented because this Government thought we should have them, most were enforced by the EU.

So, I am not impressed by either party, I believe more of New Labour is god for the country but bad for the less well off. The Tories taking over will be bad for the country and bad for the less well off. Who does that leave? The Liberal Democrats and, what do we actually know about them? I find it difficult to get any sort of feeling from them on what they stand for. What worries me is their consistency on green issues and, excuse me, but we know that the only thing green about them is the colour of the money it costs everyone in extra tax. I am sick of having so called green issues used as an excuse to increase the price of things yet, I see very little to quantify why it is we need these policies and what, if anything, we actually gain from them.

 

I may well vote Liberal though, if anything it will be a protest vote against both the other parties. Yes, it is true that voting LD around here may just as well be a vote for the Tories but they will know, if loads vote LD that their winning vote is not a vote of confidence, they will know they were in trouble and have not won because the voters want them but, rather, because they didn’t want either of the two main parties. Let’s watch and see us get a new Tory government with only a third of those who voted having voted for them!

My advice to the undecided, vote Liberal Democrat, show both these complacent parties we are sick of their damn predictability and them both taking the piss with the people of this country

This is one election I am not looking forward to. I am old enough to remember the disaster we had under the Conservatives until 1997, I have had a long while under ‘New Labour’.

The Tories created a country devoid of society with the attitude of every person for themselves. It was them too who created the benefit cheat and the disgrace of the single mother. They too promoted homophobia. It was all sleaze and fiddles and refusals to resign. They were out of touch with the everyday man. They believed, still believe that wealth will filter down whereas, we know that the reality is, the rich get richer whilst the workers get poorer. Yes, their leader is the first in a long time to inspire confidence but, he’s a Tory just like any other.

Under New Labour we have seen prices no longer connected any way to inflation. The poorest are seeing their every day expenses that they cannot avoid rising 10-20% annually whilst the Government claim it is only around 2%. The Government suck up to faith groups at the cost of everyone else allowing those with a faith to dictate the law of the land. I doubt never before have we seen so many non UK citizens living on this island. Very few of the good laws brought into the UK have been implemented because this Government thought we should have them, most were enforced by the EU.

So, I am not impressed by either party, I believe more of New Labour is god for the country but bad for the less well off. The Tories taking over will be bad for the country and bad for the less well off. Who does that leave? The Liberal Democrats and, what do we actually know about them? I find it difficult to get any sort of feeling from them on what they stand for. What worries me is their consistency on green issues and, excuse me, but we know that the only thing green about them is the colour of the money it costs everyone in extra tax. I am sick of having so called green issues used as an excuse to increase the price of things yet, I see very little to quantify why it is we need these policies and what, if anything, we actually gain from them.

 

I may well vote Liberal though, if anything it will be a protest vote against both the other parties. Yes, it is true that voting LD around here may just as well be a vote for the Tories but they will know, if loads vote LD that their winning vote is not a vote of confidence, they will know they were in trouble and have not won because the voters want them but, rather, because they didn’t want either of the two main parties. Let’s watch and see us get a new Tory government with only a third of those who voted having voted for them!

My advice to the undecided, vote Liberal Democrat, show both these complacent parties we are sick of their damn predictability and them both taking the piss with the people of this country