Category: Uncategorized

In light of the recent water price rise announcements, I was looking at my water bill and wondered why it can’t be explained more easily, for example how many litres of water do I use in a period and what is the cost per litre of water.

My bill measures water delivered in Cubic Meters (M³). Who can visualise how much that is?  Litres are easier to grasp.

That got me thinking about what all the UK water companies charge, so I went over to the OFWAT site.

Our vision is for a water industry that delivers a world-class service, representing best value to customers now and in the future.

Now you would think that finding out what all the UK water companies charge their customers for water would be straight forward. Say using a link from OFWAT’s home page straight to a table with all the relevant information.

Maybe it’s supposed to be a secret! However, after two phone calls to OFWAT and two of OFWAT’s staff looking in their files, they managed to give me a link location on their web site to… an Excel spreadsheet!!

So I’ve downloaded that file, turned it into HTML (that’s another story) added a column that shows the cost per litre of delivered water.

I think this now gives a good idea of what the cost of water is for the UK companies using something that’s easy to understand – the Litre!

A word about the figures in the Volume columns…

The figure in the m³ column of 120.83p is £1 and 20.83pence. The figure of 0.121p  in the Litre column is .121 of a pence, quite small, but still significant if you use 1,000 litres, which would amount to £1.21, but you need to work out your own cost for your own water bill.

I’m going to update this table a bit more with some further info I’ve obtain in  a day or two.

Finally, as it’s not been published directly on the web in tabular form before that I could find, I suppose I can claim a first!!!

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I’ve been watching the Olympic opening ceremony on my PC TV card. What a fantastic display and story it told of Chinese history (lets leave out any politics for now).

I dearly hope that London is able to put on an equally impressive presentation when 2012 arrives that can match 2008 as well as the epic that Greece put on.

But suddenly I nearly fall of my seat when I see that a Sara Brightman is suddenly on the screen singing at the Chinese Olympics! What the f&^^R%$&*U is she doing there?

She may have a very good voice and she may be very well known in China, but what a massive insult it must be to all the very good Chinese female singers that China has that they cannot field one for their own Olympics.

Who did she *$% to get that gig?

I wonder what we (the UK) would say if the 2012 committee decide to have Britney Spears to sing at the 2012 opening ceremony! Opps! I hope I’ve not planted a bad idea!

On the whole a very good opening ceremony pageant, something the UK will have to work very hard at to follow. But please no Sara Brightman please in 2012!

That’s what I read, as the background to the latest example of government security ineptitude emerges! It seems that the Foreign and Commonwealth  Office (FCO) has no idea of the value of UK Passports on the black market – £1,700 each is what I read.

Even though the stolen passports are of the newer ‘chipped’ version, I bet that the forgers are going to have a field day with these. I wonder how long it will take for these to be used by various undesirables to enter into the EU, maybe some will be caught entering the UK, but as we all know the variation in the way that EU borders are controlled is not universal across all EU countries.

What was the FCO thinking? Transporting these ‘valuable’ ID documents in a non-security van using staff that thought more about their dietary and reading needs than in the security of their cargo. Next we’ll find out that in fact it was TNT that were the shippers!

Instead of spending the reported £20 billion on the new ID card system, the government needs to look inwards again and get a grip on data and document security. It is failing badly.

I see from today’s newspapers that Max is going to pursue more media companies for more compensation.

It really is a strange case, surely he cannot think that by bringing all these additional legal actions he will somehow redeem his character with the public or even with his colleagues in the FIA. I think by now, he must have to resign!

If this had been a case about a Bishop, Judge, Politician or Educationalist, I’m pretty sure they would have just crawled under the nearest rock to hide away

I’m not sure if I should despise him or praise him!

The RSPB has reported an increase of 40% in attacks on Birds of Prey last year. What is wrong with these people that attack and even poison these wonderful birds of Prey.

Over the past 20 years living in Berkshire, it has been a delight to see the gradual increase of pairs of Red Kites flying in the sky.

Granted there are many other birds of Prey, but Red Kites and Sparrow Hawk are just two that I see so often in this part of the UK.

There should be an increase in the penalties for attacking these bird and in severe cases that should include time in prison. There is no reason what so ever to attacked a defenseless bird.

That could be the fate of the former War time code breakers home if funds are not found soon to save the site. The trust which has been running the site is even selling off roof slates in a bid to raise money.

It’s and shame that subsequent UK governments have continued to  abandon any kind of promotion of the history of what went on at Bletchley Park.

I’m fairly sure that if this was France or the USA then there would be plenty of money to save what must be the best surviving example of how the UK managed to decipher so much secret information that helped bring about an end to WW II.

It might be that you can get all weepy about choir singing – I may have done in the past.

If I had had a chance during the BBC’s latest programme about Choirs, that would have been good, but in the last program we only heard approx 7/8 minutes of full and uninterrupted singing!

So much were the programs presenters, judges and contestants profiled it spoilt the continuity of the whole program and I actually gave up halfway through the second episode.

Last viewer watching would be a better title! Such potential for a really good programme was completely ruined by inept editing and over production! I doubt if I will watch much more!

An ‘under construction’ web site for USA bound travellers to register from 1st August 2008 for entry to the USA is up and running.

An accompanying PDF document can be found here.

Interestingly, even if you think log on and get authorisation and actually travel to the USA, you can still be refused entry and have no comeback on anyone as per the waiver that you sign by logging on…

As a condition of each admission into the United States under the Visa Waiver Program, the submission of biometric identifiers (including fingerprints and photographs) during processing upon arrival in the United States shall reaffirm the waiver of any rights to review or appeal of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officer’s determination as to admissibility, or to contest, other than on the basis of an application for asylum, any removal action arising from an application for admission under the Visa Waiver Program.

Don’t forget, if you don’t register, you won’t get into the USA.

So it begins, the collection of the worlds population data, that is of course if you want to visit the good old US of A!

From January 2009, anyone wanting to travel to the USA under the previous Visa-Wavier program will now have the enter their travel and a number of personal details on the USA Department of Homeland’s VISA computer at least three days before their travel dates! Failure to register will mean that you will not even leave the UK, let alone arrive in the US.

This data will then be shared around a number of USA security agencies and if they flag you for any reason, even it is understood an unpaid speeding ticket, you could well find that your not going to enjoy Uncle Sam’s hospitality anytime soon.

The fact that this can only be done online will cause a number of inconveniences for people not on line at home, but will increased activity at Internet cafes. Of course it is anticipated that Airlines and Travel Agencies will do this for you at the time of booking. Regular travellers will be able to register at anytime and will only have to renew their ‘application’ every two years. All information will be kept for a period of 15 YEARS!

So what information is it that will be collected? I wrote about this as far back as 30th September 2006 when just 34 pieces of information were first discussed.

Now it seems that you will have to provide over 50 pieces of details personal information that will make up a Passenger Name Record (PNR) and will in fact match many elements of the Passenger Exit Record (PER) – also to be introduced on January 2009 by the UK government for all UK citizens to be completed for any trip out for the UK!

So not only will the USA government have all of your personal details if you want to go there; but even if you just want to pop over to Calais for the day, the UK government will also have the full facts.

It’s easy not to give the USA all this data, don’t go! But why do we have to give up all this information just to leave our own country?

See the tables below of the information you will need to supply for your PNR and PER.

PNR

PER

Keep a look out for updates.

Can this really be the true picture of the state the UK has ended up in?

According to this report from the Telegraph the UK the figure is just the tip of an iceberg of knife related crime that the current Labour Government has managed to hide from us!

If the report is to be believed, then this government has no right to be the elected represented body of the UK and should resign immediately. How can Jackie Smith or any of the labour government hold their heads up. They should resign in shame!