Speeding

I am one of those people who thinks that speeding is stupid, irresponsible and people who do it deserve at least a £500 fine and 3 points on their lisence. However, I do also think that many of the speed limits in the UK need revising as in some places they are unnecessarily cautious. I think that higher speed limits at night are a good idea too. I do also think that the point at which penalties kick in should be further above the speed limit in some cases.

30mph limits around schools and family residential areas should be sctrict, but 40-50 limits around industrial areas needn't be, so penalties should be applied at, say, 10mph over the limit.

Anyway, the BBC have announced that one third of all cars caught speeding on cameras cannot be traced to an address! People are registering their cars with the DVLA at fake addresses or not at all to avoid getting caught. Presumably because they intend to speed!

I can understand slipping above the limit without noticing, but not registering your address because you know you're going to break the law?!! Seriously. I think this study has revealed something significant about the Great British public... some of us are complete and utter shits.

Immigration Issue

The new system was confirmed today, it will be based on points earned depending on what skills you have and how in demand those skills are. In theory, I don't mind this too much. It's a step back from the open borders that I would like to see, but I do understand that at the moment this ideal isn't possible.

What baffles me a bit though is that there are no restrictions on EU citizens because of the deal we have about European migration. This system of open borders is great, it's exactly what I want to see, I just find it disturbing that what the government seem to be saying is "we have too many immigrants, we need to tighten controls, but if you're one of us [European/white?] then come on in!"

It doesn't sit right with me. Especially given the huge influx of immigrants in the last couple of years from new EU countries, surely these are the areas we should be restricting access from? Especially as they are low-skilled workers. And this is what the government is claiming to be targetting. Personally I don't have a problem with low-skilled workers coming into the UK, most British people, myself included, think cleaning and manual labour to be beneath them! But someone has to do it!

There are also concerns that the new system will make illegal immigration worse, though this was barely mentioned in the linked bbc article.

How Wude!

I was just queueing in D&A to collect my new glasses. It was my lunch break, so I didn't have a great deal of time. Clearly, it was lots of other people's lunch break too as it was pretty busy. I was waiting over ten minutes without being seen when this woman who was stood waiting behind me barged past, heading for a gormless young man who was cleaning test pairs of glasses on the racks and demanded to be seen!!

He politely told her he couldn't help as it was only his second day but offered her a seat in an empty bay. That should have been my seat! I was there before her, I was patiently waiting to be seen, not charging around, pushing in front of people making demands!

You don't get anywhere in this life by being polite, it seems. I waited another minute then walked out. I will try and get away from work early to collect them on the way home. But really? How rude?!

Education

(Wow, 2 posts in one day... I must be bored!)

So, there's going to be a new qualification thrown into the mix. Click. Because "These are important reforms which are intended to address a major generational problem of non-participation in education and training post-16."

Riiiiiiiiight. And... "With fewer low-skilled jobs, we need more high-skilled young people,"

Now, maybe I've missed something here, but don't we have record numbers of people in FHE? And don't we have the rather severe problem that the degree has become almost meaningless as a qualification, with vast legions of graduates being forced to work in call centres? i.e. low-skilled jobs.

I agree we need more high-skilled people, skilled as in knowing a trade or business and in principle I think vocational qualifications are a good thing... it's just the wording of the article I think and the choice of quotes from people involved with the scheme. Getting more people into vocational education and out of academia is a good idea. It will hopefully return the value a degree once held. But someone has to tell the call centres that graduates are over-qualified for these roles!

It might also help by reducing the number of people who go through university not knowing what they want. I think that's the crux of the problem, so many gradutes are coming out of uni with no idea of what to do, so they go to work in call centres. Maybe universities need to give more attention to career possibilities for their students. Hopefully though, by introducing vocational qualifications lower down it will gradually have a filtering effect.

March of Political Moans!!

The latest from John Reid is to up the marital age for immigrants from 18 to 21. Excuse me, but what on earth makes him think he is authorised to detirmine what age people can marry?! Just because someone is under 21 does not mean that the intended marrige is in any way forced either. What a bizarre thing to do.

The BBC report that this move is thought to reduce the number of immigrants by 3000 a year. That doesn't seem a particularly large number to me. It strikes me as a similar publicity stunt (to make it look like the government are doing something productive) to the ban on replica swords. Both policies will have little actual effect on the perceived problem (immigration vs. violent crime) but get Labour some press coverage that appeals to the mass public who are enthralled by the tabloids.

Mad.

The Budget

Gordon Brown, on behalf of the Labour Party, is sending our country down the drain in splendid fashion. Scrapping the 10% tax bracket in favour of 20% on all earnings above 5k is just about the most ridiculous and vote-losing policy he could have come up with.

So I'm actually happy with it. Maybe now people will see sense and vote Lib Dem, the only party who gives a damn about the public or the environment!

Brown says the average family will be better off... so answer me this, how is it that out of over 22000 votes cast on a BBC poll, over 60% responded that they will be *worse* off under the new budget?!!!!

To see Ming's response to the budget and get an idea of how other people feel about Labour because of it go here:

http://www.mingcampbell.org.uk/2007/03/21/how-gordon-brown-is-taxing-the-lowest-paid-more/#more-138

The NHS "Spine" and our children's fingerprints

This government just keeps pushing the boundaries of our privacy and democracy. As if the whole thing with ID cards wasn't bad enough, I have today learned that kids are being fingerprinted in school without parental consent (link) and our medical records are going to be held on another central database like the one for ID cards, i.e. just as insecure against hacking and abuse (link).

It's not just me is it? This is getting out of control. We are talking about massive abuses of power on the part of the government. Taking intimate physical details and storing them in an insecure way and even selling them to private businesses! Children's damn fingerprints will be held on file when they get a passport.... because...? Ok, it will help identify the odd John/Jane Doe. But the reasons we have been fed for the government wanting this information have nothing to do with identifying dead bodies.

They've tried to tell us it will prevent terrorism, experts from MI5 quickly denied that one; they've tried the ID theft line, but honestly, if all our details are held in one place one quick hack will make it nice and easy for anyone determined to steal IDs. So they go for the "if you've got nothing to hide you have nothing to worry about" line. *Cough splutter* Riiiight. So it's OK for our government to invade our privacy, sell our details and make us present our ID cards at every shop, bank and service we use???!! I don't think so. One small step towards bar codes on our hands that we have to swipe all over the place.

Anyway, my point, what the heck is going to be solved by having children's fingerprints on file? Of course, we all know that most terrorist acts are carried out by under 10s! Seriously, taking the prints without permission from the parents... which they are *already* doing ... is a gross violation of the trust of the public.

Then there's this thing with our medical records. Again, it will be vulnerable to hacks and abuse and information will probably be sold at a later date. What's worse is that after a certain period of time (this year) people will not be able to opt out. This is appalling. It's all very well for people with long-term conditions that may take them to hospital, but medical bracelets are a quick effective means of communicating this. One glance at a patients wrist tells the doctor not to use penicillin or whatever, rather than postponing treatment until looking the patient up on a database, whose information may or may not be correct depending on if their information has been hacked yet!!

We can't keep letting the government get away with this bollocks. They have gone too far and we have to show them that. If you think you live in a Labour "safe seat" area then talk to your neighbours and tell them your concerns, distribute leaflets, tell people what is going on because a lot of people don't realise. And vote for who you want to lead!! For goodness sake, tactical voting screws democracy over like nothing else, it is exactly how we have been stuck with Labour for this long, despite millions of people being deeply troubled by actions taken by them, from the Iraq invasion to ID cards.

Labour make the public think that they have been fairly elected, but this simply isn't true. The first past the post system means that at the last general election Labour only received less than a third of the votes and only a quarter of the possible vote (due to low turn out)! They do not represent the majority, despite what they claim. You can find out about other options for democracy here.

Anyway, please pass on the links above and talk about what is going on, this gradual theft of our democracy and liberty. I don't mean to sound so dramatic, but I do think it's a serious problem that is in danger of happening in our sleep.

Lords Reform

On 7th March there will be another vote on Lords Reform. To urge your MP to vote for a mostly elected second chamber go here.

It's an important step in gaining actual democracy in Britain, something we don't have at the moment!

OK, seriously

"Is it a claims query?"

"Er, no, it's just an update on some treatment I'm having for a claim."

??????????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's *not* a claims query? Well what is exactly then you moron?!

Jeez. This job'd be fine if it weren't for the customers.

Just not a shouter

I occasionally get people on the phone at work who can't make out what I'm saying. I don't consider myself especially softly spoken, on the phone I speak clearly and fairly loudly, more loudly than in person certainly.

Now, when someone communicates to me that they can't hear me, I speak up. Naturally. Often it's down to the caller being hard of hearing, often they are elderly (this is medical insurance, afterall). I try to be polite and friendly, but I hate raising my voice, it sometimes feels like I'm downright shouting down the phone and it's bloomin' hard to retain a polite tone when speaking *that* loudly!

Just now I had a woman who said I was very quiet. I raised my voice and said "Is that better?", and she actually said "Yes, but I still didn't hear what you said"!!!!!!!!! OK, give me a chance to repeat my question, I was damn well checking that she could hear me this time! Stupid cow.

So I changed my wording (sometimes people don't understand the meaning of "How may I direct your call?") and shouted "Which department can I transfer you to?" and she obviously wanted the helpdesk, they usually do. She sounded put out, but what did she expect when she's being a difficult person despite me trying to be helpful?!

While writing this, I've had another call from a woman complaining about being on hold. She went off on one about the message that plays saying about "one of our agents will be with you shortly" she said it sounded like the staff don't actually work for the company and we should change the wording and I should report it and she couldn't hold the line any longer! Honestly, it's only a word. If they used "administrator" people might think they're on the wrong line, they might think "administrators" can't help with their claim or something. "Advisor" might do the job, but technically I don't think we're able to give advice, that was certainly the case at the last insurance company I worked for.

This job'd be fine if it weren't for the old cronies.

Working too hard

I was lucky enough to be enjoying my temp job. It was simple, nice people and plenty of time to faff online and do coursework too.

Last Friday they offered to take me on on a three month contract. I was really pleased, I still am. It's, I think, just right for me for now and three months is a short enough term so that I can reassess things at the end of it.

I've been working very hard, I had a TMA last week and tutorial to read for and this week so far I've been reading and note taking at work and stayed late last night to get more done before heading to Andy and mine's Monday night roleplaying group.

It was a good game too, Andy's running Midnight and we ran quite late. So it was a late night after a long day of hard work. Then I didn't sleep. I chalk it up to adrenaline from the game, my head was spinning with ideas and plans for my character and I just kept waking up, if I really slept at all. Chester wanted letting out at 5.10 so I got up to do that and got a bit more sleep. I woke utterly exhausted.

Can I do this?

Life Gets In The Way

I'm not that crazy about Valentines Day, I think it's nice to take a moment (or a day) to appreciate a loved one but largely it's a commercial mess with very little hold on me. Maybe because I'm married, maybe it's a bigger deal for single people or those in the early days of a relationship.

But I still hope for the day to be a moderately happy one.

I'm temping at the moment, full time hours with about an hour and a quarter commute each way, allowing for traffic. So I am out of the house from 7.45am until 6.15pm. I'm also studying full time, I take course books to work with me and study at lunch time and sometimes at my desk between calls (I operate a switchboard on this assignment). I had my first essay of the year due in this week so all my time at home has been spent doing that for the last week.

So, I'm tired, grumpy and feeling generally pretty down. I wish I didn't have to work, I wish I could just be studying. I spend all day at work chatting to other OU students online and thinking about the work I *could* be doing. As an OU student, I don't qualify for a student loan, so have little choice but to work at least part time.

This morning I felt a pang of annoyance and disappointment when I expressed my exhaustion to Andy and he responded with an "oh" about me having to stop working full time once this assignment is over. We both knew this year would be hard and when I took this 6 week assignment I prepared him for the possibility of burn out. We discussed me getting a part time job afterwards, cafe work or something and all seemed fine. Andy says he agrees that my degree has to come first, so I am disappointed that he wasn't immediately supportive.

Tonight we had plans to have a nice meal and watch a soppy film. I hope I can shake off this feeling so we can still have a nice Valentine's evening together.

Finally

So there's now been a report to say categorically, once and for all, that *WE* cause global warming. Now, the sensible people all already knew this, but hopefully it will shut up those idiots who refused to believe it, all those "it's perfectly natural for the earth to cycle through warm periods" wankers.

Stick your "natural" argument! Maybe even Exxon Mobil will change their tune. Apparently they've actually been attempting to bribe scientists to refute the evidence lately! Wankers!

Sorry, bit wound up about it. But why should I apologise for giving a damn? Some people do seem to think I should, some people seem to think that passion is a bad thing. But where would we be without passion? Would there be anyone investigating climate change at all? Would we all just sit back and let it happen without those of us who are willing to stand up and say "NO! This has to change!"?

Japanese attempt to sabotage ban on whaling

Japan are planning to kill nearly 1000 whales this year. They are hosting a meeting in February and inviting various governments to make it appear that there is world-wide support for a lift on the whaling ban.

Denmark hold a swing vote on the issue. Under pressure they are likely to not attend the meeting in Tokyo. Write asking their officials not to attend here

Jobs

I need another new job... one day I will find one I can actually tolerate!

More on Iraq

OK, so some bright infiltrator has put camera-phone footage of the execution on the internet and it has created quite a stir. Also, Prime Minister Maliki has said he wants to step down. AND, the Baath party have posted Saddam's former deputy to lead the party.

What did I say? Eh? Civil war draws ever closer and we're caught in the middle. Well, I don't want to say it, it isn't entirely accurate, but there is a case for suggesting that it is actually our fault. Say what you like about Saddam's regime, the country was a heck of a lot more stable then. I suppose with all the infighting they're less likely to be amassing an arsenal with which to attack us... but come on, we all know how unlikely that was. Many of us were saying so before Tony took our troops marching in illegally.

On a slightly lighter note, I started my new job yesterday, training is easy. Blah.

"End of a dark chapter"

Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki has said that the execution of Saddam Hussein "ends a dark chapter" in Iraq's history. Such a mind-numbingly, ignorant and down right false statement at such a time strikes me as further evidence of a puppet regime that has been erected by the US in Iraq.

People are still dying every day in Iraq as the country plummets ever more rapidly towards civil war. Shia and Sunni rivalry continues to build, areas of Baghdad, Basra and other major cities are growing into forts controlled by militarized civilians. Police forces go rogue, occupying forces are faced with daily attacks against them. It's a mess.

What did "we" really get with the execution of the former-dictator? What does it really mean? I'm inclined to think that a martyr for the Sunni minority has been created. The BBC quotes a "Security Advisor" saying that Saddam looked remorseless as he was led out to be executed. Is that really a surprise? Should we expect to see remorse from a man who all along undoubtedly believed he was doing the right thing?

One thing is for certain, this is in no way the end of trouble.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Woot woot! Title announced today! Release date please Jo?

Aaaaand.... rest.

So I have go quite a bit to say actually. I have just got back from a 10 day stint up in Yorkshire visiting my family pre-Christmas, as this year it's Andy's family's turn for Xmas proper.

Andy and I went up together on Friday 8th, the drive was alright. Saturday was particularly exciting as we met up with a dear old friend of mine who moved to the States six years ago who I haven't seen since but stayed in touch with via email. It was amazing to catch up and meet her baby girl!

Then on Sunday we had our annual Christmas walk at Howstein Gorge. We've been going there for like forty years or something, it's a multi-generational family get-together started by my grandparents at which we all gather to walk up a very steep hill and down again for a Christmas meal. When it first started they used to do a twenty mile trek across the moors, when I started going we did a couple of miles up the hill across fields and over stiles and all that, now it has degenerated into a half mile walk up the road! But the spirit remains and it's something I've always looked forward to all my life.

Except that over the last few years it has become something I do out of obligation I suppose, I don't really enjoy it as I am much more aware now of the stupid family politics and there is one particular family member who I have disliked for a good few years who I am happy to avoid. It irks that Andy gets on better with this side of my family than I do too.

Andy drove home on Monday and I stayed to catch up with friends, do some shopping and spend some time with my parents, who I don't see often these days. It was all good, especially spending the day shopping in Leeds with my girl Sarah! I got an all too short visit with my other best mate, Simon, hopefully we'll get a longer visit soon.

Then on Thursday I checked stuff online (email and the like) and found I had got my OU result for this year.... I'm pretty pleased, make that ecstatic! I was just waiting for the result of my 5000 word assignment, worth 50% of the total mark, with 82% for my coursework in the bag. Well I got 77% on the 5000 word-er! So I passed with flying colours! Yay me :D

Then the last weekend was dedicated to a trip up to Scotland to visit my eight year old niece, Maisie. I hadn't seen her since May and before that it had been a year and a half. She's such an amazing little girl, she blows my mind with how generous, intelligent and caring she is. And I discovered - much to Andy's joy - that I'm a pretty good cricket player when playing my mum, brother and Maisie! Seriously, I got a bigger reaction to this news than my OU result!

Monday I came home on the train. By a freak of good timing I was travelling first class for dirt cheap, which was nice. Free orange juice and biscuits, more room etc. But no luggage space so my extra room was taken up by my bags of Xmas presents!

It's good to be home and chilling out for a bit before heading over to Essex on Sunday for Xmas with the in-laws :-/

All my OU course materials for next year have arrived, some of which arrived before I went away and I got a start on that course already. Reading through some of the notes for the assessment of my European Politics course has got me pretty nervous. It certainly looks demanding with a 5000 word assignment in August followed by a project in September. That's alongside the 4000 word assignment and exam for the other course! I am going to be a busy bee.

I also have a full time job lined up from Jan 2nd so I am refusing to start OU work until after Xmas now, getting a serious pit stop in before I have to crack on. Besides, I need my set books before I can go any further and I'm expecting to unwrap them on Xmas day ;-p

The 5000 word essay for European Politics requires lots of independent study, outside the course materials that they send you, so I plan to be hitting the library after work every day for most of June-August.

I made a pact with Sarah about next year. We shook on it, so I have to go through with it now... 2007 will be the year I change my life. I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I never stick to them. This is different, this is an inner revolution.

First and foremost I am going to keep up the hard work with the OU. Two firsts in a row, on a roll.

Second, and very importantly, I am going to keep my job. Seriously, I have walked out of so many awful jobs before, I know this one is going to be awful in advance, but it is decent money, decent hours and easy. So I am going to stick at it while I concentrate on getting good marks so that we don't have to worry about money, I do not need that distraction.

Thirdly, I am going to sort our house out! We have so much crap around this place, I am going to flog and bin our junk, sort out a decent filing system for paperwork (bills etc.), get some more storage so we can finish unpacking - oh yes, for those who haven't seen our office, we still have crates and boxes that haven't been touched after living here for well over four years! We have actually acquired more stuff to unpack as we have gradually brought old crap from our parents' houses over the years despite having nowhere to put any of it. I am going to finish decorating the house, make sure we get the kitchen we ordered and sort the living room out with a new suite and hopefully a shiny LCD HD-readyTV if all goes well financially - which it will, see number 2.

Fourthly, I am going to shift the weight I have been lugging around for years. I did actually manage to lose it once, last year as some of you will remember, I looked fantastic for a couple of months in the summer of 2005 after losing a stone and a half between January and June. Then in September I started working at RSA (eeeeeeeeeevil) and put two thirds of it back on in the space of two months. Argh! Well, it's going again, and a little more as I didn't quite meet my target last time. My new job has a subsidised gym, so no excuses!

Finally, Andy and I are going to start dancing lessons. Somehow I will fit this in! We've both been quite inspired by Strictly Come Dancing (hey, at least I don't watch X Factor!) and I can see it being great for us to do something like this together. We get to learn a new skill, spend time together and get exercise all in one go :-)

Now then, I know it seems like I'm taking a lot on. But the thing about me is that I do tend to do better under pressure and as a teenager I was exceptionally busy, I had something on every weeknight and Saturdays, Sundays too during panto season! If I set myself these goals and make a commitment to myself (not to mention the all important hand shake) I will achieve everything I set out to do. As long as I timetable things properly it will all be doable.

So, if you don't see much of me next year, you know in advance why!

ID Cards - The Latest

OK, so now the government has admitted that the new database to store all this personal data was an expensive and insecure idea. Now they want to spread the data over three existing systems, making it even less secure and still a painfully disturbing scheme in terms of civil liberties. They want to "check everyone in and check everyone out" of the country and are still claiming that this will somehow prevent terrorism, although refraining from saying how. John Reid even admitted that ID cards will not prevent people having fake identities.

Argh!

Read the full story here and sign the No2ID petition here.