Category: Uncategorized

Like everyone in the UK I heard with disbelief that money (some £62 Billion)  had been paid in secret to RBS & HSBC before the whole banking scandal became public.

If, as it now appears, this money was used to shored up HSBC ready for the Lloyds takeover, surely this means that the price that Lloyd shareholders paid was too high.

I seem to remember a few years ago that laws were brought in to stop what was known as Insider Dealing.

Surely if a trader (or anyone else with appropriate knowledge) made moves to artificially hold high the value of a company that they knew to be wrong, then they could be charged with Insider Dealing and face stiff penalties.

Is this announcement not just another example of one rule for us and one rule for the government?

Yes the Banking system nearly collapsed and we would have all suffered, but this Government only added to the problems with it past actions of too little legislation and a watchdog – The FSA – so ineffective that even the bankers that ran it, had no idea what was going on.

We – the tax payers –  are now saddled with so much debt, we will be paying this back to… yes other bankers for many years to come.

What a mess!

I’ve been watching the Sky News this morning about the Cumbria floods and devastating they have been, especially to the families that have lost their homes and businesses and the family of the police officer who died.

But please, having to make a 60 minute (estimates vary) detour to get food and petrol is hardly a big thing when places like Bangladesh with its floods and Somalia with its famine still have much more to deal with.

Perhaps these local ‘interruptions’ will make us realise how much more safe we still are and how much more lucky we are than many other people in the world. There will be many more services available in Cumbria to help locals than might be available for people in many other countries.

Yes it will be tough for many as they rebuild their damaged surroundings. But perhaps Sky can be a little more circumspect in the way they over emphasize the distance that some people will have to travel.

Perhaps they should be focusing in on the cowboy-builders heading that way to make a fast buck at someone else’s expense or the Insurance companies that will be running through their books of excuses for reasons for not paying out.

Its time like this that mainstream news organisations need to use their power to expose, not sensationalise.

Not only are innocent (if arrested but not charged) people  to still have their DNA data kept on a database, but if ‘you’ do manage to get it removed, it can take up to 10 months!!!

So much for all that money on an efficient system!!

Belgium PM gets the Top Job! Blair is out, hoorah!!!!

The BBC as it sees it. 

But what happens now with European legislation reaching out across the whole of Europe. Can the new president stand up to the Franco-German Axis? We will have to see.

What a pathetic newspaper the SUN is. From my reading of feedback from various forums/chat rooms, it seems to me that they have scored a massive own goal.

They should stick to what they do best – if at all, that is sport and page 3.

Yes if it were me I would have written the letter to clear up the spelling etc. , but at least Gordon Brown had the courtesy to write a personal letter, better than a signed-off note!

It’s such shame that an  innocent and grieving mother has been dragged through the public hoop for a few grubby pounds payment from the SUN!

What is this country coming to? A shop assistant warned about being fined for singing in a shop because they did not have PRS license!

Does that mean that if I start singing while I’m shopping in ASDA then I’ll need a license if I’ve entertained other shoppers? What a load of tosh!

The music industry may be in a state of panic about ongoing missed revenues with piracy and illegal downloads ongoing, but these sorts of actions will not help their cause one bit.

PRS – grow up and go after the real license non-payers, not someone just having a sing song to themselves.

From my last post it was clear that my Aunt was very ill and not going to recover and sadly passed away at the beginning of September.

I wanted to write a number of things relating to her final days in hospital and final passing away, but don’t think I’m ready yet. Perhaps in a week or so I’ll get around to it.

Someone once said to me that you we’re always a child till your last parent passes away!

My own mother passed away four years ago (my father dying many years before) and when that happened, I was lucky that her sister (my Aunt) who had been very much a surrogate mother for much of my life was still there and I suppose whilst very sad at my mothers death, I felt some degree of still having a parent!

Sadly that relationship now seems to be drawing to a close as the last five weeks have been taken up by visiting my Aunt who has suffered a massive stroke at the age of 95!

Six weeks ago, when we last had lunch with her, she was still living in her own home and still looking after herself and although dealing with failing with hearing and sight, she seemed able to go on forever!

Sadly, she is now a very very frail 96 year old (she had her birthday in hospital) with severe left side movement restrictions, memory issues and requiring 24hr intensive care, with absolutely no chance of ever returning to her own home!

What a difference six weeks can bring about!

Can someone enlighten me? Four times in the past week I have used the M42 on journeys to a from Derby, three of those times have been very late at night when some of the signs have indicated 40 and 50 MPH speed restrictions in what seems to me quite a random order.

On those three times there have been no accidents, no workmen at work, no cones (I’m specific here as we all know that cones don’t mean work is actually going on!) and no police (if ever) around. Why then are we told to keep to 40MPH when on one night there were only four other cars within 100 metres of my car?

On the forth time it was a Sunday afternoon and they were again at random speed settings of 40/50/60 MPH. I would agree that perhaps they are needed at some points on the M42 when the traffic on a Sunday can get in my opinion busier than a week day.

However, it seems that there does not seem to be any logic to their use. Perhaps the controllers in their little boxes have nothing better to do than try and set speed traps for the unsuspecting motorists. I can’t think its about safety when its 11:30 at night and the full moon is out and there’s not another car to be seen for some distance. Still it takes all sorts I suppose.

I am travelling up and down to Derby at the moment and using the A38 trunk road as part of my route – it saves me £3.70 for just two junctions of the M6 Toll road – expensive I think.

What on earth is happening to the Vodafone mobile phone coverage on that road. After I had left Derby to return South on Sunday night, it was not until I reached Litchfield that I have a full and uninterrupted mobile phone signal!

It seems to me that something is going on in this country with the way that all mobile phone coverage is failing all over the country, three friends of mine who also travel quite  a lot, report that their Orange, 3, O2 connected phones also suffer massive gaps in reception and it’s funny that it all seems to happen in places that you would think should have full coverage, like motorways and major trunk roads.

Or are the mobile phone network providers in cahoots with the government to stop us trying to use our phone even with hands free sets?

Still I suppose it’s a bit like a lots of things in this country, where you pay your excessive fees and you just get a cr*p service.

Perhaps we need an ombudsman to look after this subject for the consumer! No, we already have one, that’s right, OFCOM.