How dare we celebrate Christmas!

A few years ago there was a big fuss about the effect Christmas was having on non-christians and so an attempt was made to rename it Winterval.  Of course it never caught on because the non-christians in our diverse country just laughed and said of course they weren't offended.
In the same way Muslims decorate their shops and homes for Eid and Hindus houses are beautifully lit up for the festival of Diwali and there is no complaint from anyone.  This tolerance for other faiths and cutlures is one of the things that distinguishes the UK from a lot of other countries in the world.

So what is happening in the USA, the Land of the Free?
Non-christians and Atheists are rioting abut the use of Christmas lights and Nativity Scenes on public buildings!
America has a very strong Christian ethos and it underpins a lot of their political rhetoric and the christians have lived side by side with other cultures for 200 years yet there is still no real toerance or understanding between the different groups who still all cling to their ethnic communities.

I am sorry you can keep your "Land of Opportunity" and give me the Good Old Blighty anyday.

Merry Christmas to everyone, no matter your Faith, Culture, Religion or lack of it.

Empty shops?

A quick walk down the High Steet or around the local Mall will show you that the shops are definitely not empty yet all the shops' takings are well down on this time last year.  Is it because the rush is going to start later and hopefully people will spend in the end? Have customers deliberately reduced their budgets this year knowing that higher prices and lower wage rises are goint to take their toll on family life for a long time to come?
The traditional shops have got to realise that the real reason is that the world of shopping has changed.
The clever brands saw this coming a long time ago and cemented their presence in the online shopping world a long time ago knowing that this would be the prefered method of buying in the future.  The ones who left it too late are the ones bemoaning this "new" trend that is putting them out of business.
I personally have been doing the majority of my gift and gadget shopping via the Internet for at least 10 years.
It is extremely simple to compare products and prices in the comfort of your own sofa after work with a cup of tea or glass of wine to hand.  Forget the weather or the timetable, open your laptop at ten O'Clock at night and leisurely browse on and off for as many hours as you like whilst idly watching a film.  There is no queuing at the till or carrying cumbersome bags.
Yes, give me online shopping any day.
The only drawback can be the delivery.  It can be tricky to make sure you are in or ask a neigbour to take a parcel in for you, but for the growing number of people working from home or working part time this is not a problem.  I am lucky in that I have a partner who works from home.
When I retire I will seriously consider setting up a parcel delvery point and charging customers a small fee to receive a parcel for them and keep it until they finish work..oooh a gap in the market.

Cameron. Man or mouse?

My natural mistrust of David Cameron and all things Tory, especially all things Public School Tory, makes me very sceptical of him achieving a point against Europe in support of the UK man on the street.

So has he been fighting in the National Interest and stood up for us against the big boys or is there some hidden agenda?

Cameron is a self proclaimed Euro Sceptic and so this is a good opportunity for him to appease the vocal back benchers who are calling for us to withdraw from Europe and at the same time to pander to the almost facist anti foreigners that this country has produced as a result of the Mail and Express headlines that spoon  feed them this anger against all people from outside of our borders who, they are told, are here to drain our great nation of all it's questionable assets.
There will be a general hurrah in those drinking establishments frequented by the unthinking majority who will see this as a two fingered gesture to the continent.

The more worying angle is that David Cameron has only stood up for a small sector of this country...The Bankers.
Remind me who it was that reduced our economy to its current teetering on the brink of bankruptcy.  Remind me whose greed robbed the everyday citizen of pensions, savings, jobs and trust in the future.  Oh Yes...the Bankers.

So is it once again jobs for the boys?  Are we once again being blinkered to the high level protectionism that defines the underlying culture of the UK?  Are these financial vultures yet again being baled out by the powers that be?
I hope it is worth it david.  I hope the remuneration you receive after your Term in Office is over fully compensates you for once again selling our great country down the river!

Also in the News is the story that a review into the collapse of Royal Bank of Scotland points the finger at Fred Goodwin and his mis-management of one of the biggest banks in the world that cost the UK taxpayer £45billion yet he gets away with it...
...I wonder where the back handers will fall.

Orange Mist

Mobile Phone Operators make my blood boil.
I had an iPhone bought for me as a surprise on the prmise from the sales team that I could transfer my existing mobile number to the new contract. and transfer my old contract to my daughter.
All well and good and I was very happy with the new phone.

So when we phoned up Orange to switch the contracts over we were told we couldn't do that without changing the number.  Now I have had that number for 18 years and use it for my business so there is no way I am giving it up now.

After hours on wrangling on the phone and standing in a queue at the Orange shop we came across a really helpful assistant who said unfortunately there was nothing we could do but pay for 3 contracts until the unwanted one expires.  The only other way was to return the iPhone and change networks so that I culd get a PAC code to transfer my number over.

My new contract is worth £46 per month so it is ridiculous that Orange, or any other Mobile Network, do not allow you to transfer your number unless you are changing Network.  Whatever happened to customer retention?

Well, to cut a very long story short this lady and I came up with the brain wave of swapping numbers on mine and my daughter's plans so that she could take over my contract until it finished and then I can close her old contract (now my number) and transfer it to a PAYG sim which can then be upgraded to my new iPhone contract...are you following?

Why can they not just let me keep my old number and transfer it over?
I KNOW I am not the only person in the UK who needs to keep their mobile phone number for the sake of their business.

So if the overseas advisor tels you something isn't possible FIGHT for it because there may just be a way...

Hacking Scandal

The whole country is up in arms about the scandal of National Newspapers hacking people's phone in order to publish exclusive stories.There is currently an Inquiry going on, The Leveson Inquiry, to delve into the responsibilities for this heinous crime.
Whilst I agree that hacking phones is discgraceful and completely dishonest, especially of those in the News through no fault of their own, it is the public outcry that annoys me.
Why would a newspaper hack someone's phone?
Simple.
It is because the public in this country have an unhealthy and salacious interest in the private lives of other people.  It is in our nauture to assuage our jealousy of the wealthy or famous by delighting in their downfall.  We love nothing better than to see someone "brought down a peg or two" by some scandal.
Where the hell do people think they get the right to pay less than £1.50 to fund this gross intrusion into other's lives just so that they can be amused for a few minutes over breakfast whilst the victim's life gets destroyed.
Celebrities make an honest living often because they are skilled at what they do but part of their job is to promote themselves or their product.  Nowhere in the fine print does their conract force them to display all their secrets, fears or experiences.  If you work in a factory or an office your employer has NO right to examine you home life in case they find something amusing to tell everyone and hence embarrass you so why should it be any different for Celebrities?
The lowest of the low, though, is the intrusion into the lives of victims who have been thrust into the limelight because their lifes have been turned upside down by a crime or event that they could not avoid.  These are ordinary people who do not want to be in this position but have no defence against the vultures who pick their lives apart and feed the scraps to the starving audience. 
Just think of the poor, wrongly accused, landlord of Joanna Yeats.  His life was torn apart and allegations of all sorts were concocted about things he was supposed to have done.  The newspapers flew off the shelves and the man on the street became en expert on the details of his depraved life.  This was an Innocent man!  There was no evidence against him yet he was exposed to a "Trial by Newspaper" with a jury of 20 million all proclaiming his guilt.

So who is really to blame for the filth that gets parading every day on the news stands of Britain?
If the public didn't lap it all up and chew it over in the pub or at work then the journalists would not bother to print it.

So come down off your high horses all you indignant newspaper readers and STOP paying the wages of the journalists and then they wouldn't be able to practice these awful crimes.  They do it for YOU!

Who's Responsibilty?

Whilst I agree with the fact that the UK is much richer because it a multi-faith, multi-cultural environment, there are a lot of people who bemoan the loss of the traditional "Christian" teaching that is lacking in today's state schools and that they have been bought with.
Children coming out of state schools don't seem to know the basics of our Christian culture. They don't know the words to traditional Christmas carols and some don't even know the story behind Christmas or Easter.
So whose responsibility is it to teach them?
If you want your child brought up into a certain faith then surely it is your responsibility to teach that faith to them. The Muslims, Hindus, Jews all seem to have a structure to support their faith in their children yet the Christians seem to think it is the duty of the state to not only educate their children with the curriculum for general education but also to teach them discipline, morals and give them an understanding of Christian principles.
If you want your child to be brought up in the Christian teaching then send them to a faith school or take responsibility yourself, stop passing the buck!

Public Sector Strikes

Am I the only one who is losing sympathy with the public sector?

The private sector has long had to pay for their highly subsidised and protected pensions and generous working conditions and in this time of recession it is once again the everyday worker who is expected to take pension cuts and wage rise freezes without complaint as the don't have the support of numbers that the public sector has.

For God's sake stop whining and live with it like the rest of us have to...

We all have to make adjustments to tidy up the mess left by the selfish rich so why should you be exempt because you work for the taxpayer?

Of course the real answer would be for the tax man to claw back the tens of billions of revenue that is hidden in tax evasion schemes but that would make the government unpopular with the City and who will they get their big bonuses and directorships from then?

Clarkson Shooting

So, Jeremy Clarkson is in trouble again for opening his big mouth. Well that is a suprise.
When will people realise that he is a celebrity journalist and it his job to attract attention to himself, in fact his career depends on it. He is a very intelligent man and knows exactly how to wind up the Mumsy Brigade who cry foul every time he make a light hearted coments.
Come on people...grow up

Are you born Geek?

So at the tender age of 4 an innocent little child goes to school and the moment they set their tiny foot across threshold of this vast educational establish they are Branded.
Welcome to the US of A.
If little Chad can count they are a geek.
If Scott runs fast he is a Jock.
If Katie is blonde she is a cheerleader.
Heaven help them if they are a little bit plump or a slow reader.
Pigeonholing kids this early in life is dangerous and self fulfilling and only amplifies those traits that were maybe only being experimemted with at an early age but become cemented later on. Is it any wonder that all the hollywood culture we are fed is beginning to impregnate our society with this same brainless stereotyping that our young cannot escape from?
Whatever happened to a fresh start?
Ok rant over.