The elephant in the room.

Listening to the vox pops on the news over the last few days, it seems to me that the main thing which is so upsetting those public sector workers who intend to come out on strike is not so much that their pension plans are being altered, but more that they're being altered retrospectively, which means that those who have made their arrangements for the future in good faith based on the situation as it was, now find those arrangements may not work any more - as one woman put it "They've moved the goalposts".  Retrospective legislation is always a bad thing - purely for the reasons given.  So had the government any choice?  Probably not - and this is down to successive governments over the years not being prepared to address a problem which all knew was there.  Even back in the early 90s when I was still working I recall dark mutterings that the pension scheme was unsustainable, and would have to change.  It's really only the present crisis situation which has finally forced the government's hand - and it's now too late to go for a gradual change.

How much??

Did you know that to build a mile of motorway costs on average £30million?  I work that out at something over £17,000 a yard, or nearly £500 an inch.  I think we need to see a detailed bill!

Ha ha.

This from my local weekend rag -

The Queen and Dolly Parton were outside the Pearly Gates awaiting admittance.  St Peter said "I'm sorry, we're really full.  There's only room for one of you.  You're going to have to convince me who is the more worthy.".  Dolly Parton stripped off her top exposing her magnificent breasts.  "God blessed me with these" she said.  The Queen popped into the nearby public toilet and pulled the chain.  "OK" said St Peter to the Queen "you're in".  "Hang on" said Dolly Parton "how do you make that out?"  "Oh, come on" said St Peter "everybody knows a royal flush beats a pair!".

You're confusing me with someone who gives a ****

There is a suggestion that the recommended alcohol limits should be halved for the over-65s.  As a 73-year-old who drinks - by my calculation - somewhere in the region of 80 or more units a week I shall take a lot of no notice, but there does seem to be an assumption here that old people have a vested interest in prolonging their lifespan.  I can only speak for myself, but if I were given the option of "carry on as you are and you might live another five years, whereas if you follow this diet and restrict your alcohol intake, you could look forward to another ten years or more", I know which I'd choose!

Cui bono?

The Milly Dowler murder trial has led to much recrimination and soul-searching.  Once again, I have to say that I think we are asking the wrong question.  The question being asked is whether it is acceptable that the defence should be allowed to expose the skeletons in the Dowler family cupboard as part of their strategy.  And of course the answer is - yes they should.  An accused is entitled to his or her defence, and it is perfectly legitimate for the defence to put forward an alternative theory - to say to the jury "The prosecution are telling you it happened like this - we are saying, not necessarily, it could have happened like this" in an attempt to raise a "reasonable doubt" in the jury's mind.  No, the question which should be being asked is - why was there a trial?  Who decided to prosecute and why?  After all, the result - whichever way it went - would make no practical difference.  The accused was already in prison for life - that wasn't going to change.  If the prosecution was brought at the behest of, or even with the agreement of the Dowler family, then I'm afraid they must accept that to a greater or lesser extent they are the authors of their own misfortune.  If on the other hand, it was brought purely as a bureaucratic exercise - simply so that the police could stamp the file "closed" and put it away, then yes, I think that needs to be looked at.  But the fact is that once the decision to prosecute was made, everything else followed with a depressing inevitability.  Mr Dowler said his family had had to pay "too high a price" for the conviction.  Yes indeed - but who was it who decided to go for a conviction in the first place?

Gold medal for idiocy?

So the Olympics Ticket Farce continues?  Those who were unsuccessful in the first round - that is apparently most people - were theoretically able to apply yesterday for the remaining tickets on a "first come, first served" basis.  Except it appears it wasn't - even if you were able to access the site and "buy" tickets, you won't know for a day or two whether you have got those tickets or not.  It seems that applications are simply being logged in the order they were made and then these will be matched to the tickets available - so if there are 100 tickets available for sport X, and you "buy" a ticket for sport X but your application is the 101st received, then you ain't gonna get it. It is difficult to imagine a more convoluted and potentially frustrating method of handling the whole business.

The Lazy Cook

Had to prepare a vegetarian meal the other day, which is outside my usual territory, so I did one of my "quick and dirty" versions of a recipe I saw in the paper over the weekend.  You will need -

Some frozen grilled mediterranean vegetables (Iceland do them)
Handful of frozen peas (optional)
Packet of couscous (I used the moroccan spiced variety)
Some lemon juice
Dried parsley and dried coriander leaves
A good splodge of ready-made mint sauce.

Fry the vegetables and peas in the wok in some olive oil.  Make up the couscous and then add it to the wok.  Add the other ingredients and stir in over a gentle heat for a minute or two.

Seemed to go down well.

Football politics.

The Olympics has resurrected the old problem concerning a Great Britain football team.  Because we enter the Olympics as Great Britain and Northern Ireland, any team we enter for the football competition has to be under that banner.  The problem is that the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish Football Associations are not willing to take part on that basis - partly because of nationalistic rivalries, but mainly because they fear that if a truly Great Britain side ever were to enter a major competition, they would lose their right to compete as separate countries in the future.  The situation is further complicated by the fact that they acknowledge that they have no jurisdiction to prevent any Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish player playing for a Great Britain side if they wish to do so - their only sanction would be to say that anyone who did so would forfeit their right to ever be picked, or picked again for their national side.  So we'll probably end up with GB being represented by a purely English side.

Separation of powers.

The latest fiasco of the Justice Secretary being forced to abandon his plan to offer a 50% reduction in sentence for anyone who pleads guilty at the earliest opportunity, shows the folly of the government - any government - getting involved in the judicial process.  Sentencing should be a matter for judges and the executive should keep out of it.

R.I.P.

Brian Haw - just a personal thankyou to the man who dared to mention - and keep mentioning - the unmentionable.  Sleep well.

Ha ha

 I've already told you about the joke voted the funniest of all time (see post 17/10/09).  Here's the one which came second -

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson were going camping. They pitched their tent out in the open and went to sleep. Sometime in the middle of the night Holmes woke Watson up and said: “Watson, look up and tell me what you see.”
Watson replied: “I see millions and millions of stars.”
Holmes said: “and what do you deduce from that?”
Watson replied: “Well, if there are millions of stars, and if even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some planets like earth out there. And if there are a few planets like earth out there, there might also be life.  Why, what do you deduce?”
And Holmes said: “Watson, you idiot, I deduce that somebody has stolen our tent.”

Holy cow!

What a great story!  A farmer in Ireland was baffled - each night he would lock his herd of cows up, but each morning he would find them roaming around outside.  He suspected some local lads might be responsible, so he rigged up a CCTV camera - and would you believe, one of his cows has learned how to undo the two bolts which locked them in with her tongue!  Almost beggars belief but you can see it for yourself on YouTube

You'll do it our way

When is a service not a service?  When it's provided by a bank it seems.  Another of my hobbyhorses, but this idea that cheques will be phased out by 2018 is just another example of the banks ignoring the wishes of their customers (or at least some of their customers) in favour of what works better for them.  The Enid Blyton Trust for Children - which does a tremendous amount of good work for charity -  is closing down, in great part because its founder, who has always paid her bills by cheque, is coming under increasing pressure by the banks to use "new technology" which she has no interest in.  The government has said that they will not allow cheques to be scrapped until "a suitable alternative is found" - but of course the immediate question which springs to mind is - suitable for whom?  The customers?  I somehow doubt it.

Second city blues (or claret and blues)

As readers will know, I'm a Wolves supporter, so am able to sit back and have a quiet smile at what's going on with the Birmingham teams.  For those of you not up to speed, the Birmingham City manager has walked out on them, and Aston Villa are actively considering recruiting him as their manager.  Given that there is an intense, and at times acrimonious rivalry between the two sides, this prospect has not gone down well with either set of supporters.  I think to me the most surprising aspect of all this is that the man in question has not got a particularly good recent track record as a club manager - not rubbish by any means, but surely Villa should be looking to do better?

Introspection.

I've an uncomfortable feeling I'm in danger of being a hypocrite.  I never went on strike while I was a Civil Servant, although one or two were called.   I could never reconcile being a public servant with the idea of deliberately failing to serve the public.  But I always said that if there was one thing which would bring me out on strike, it would be if they started messing around with my pension.  As I saw it, my pay was crap, my job was forever being made more difficult by political interference, my conditions of service were pretty poor and the only thing that made it all sort of worthwhile was that I could look forward to retiring on a good pension.  So how do I now feel about the threat of mass public service strikes over proposed changes to the pension?  The problem is that firstly I am now retired, so there's got to be an element of "pull up the ladder Jack, I'm alright" in my thinking and secondly it's over 15 years now since I retired, and the world has changed.  It is at least arguable that Civil Servants are no longer poorly paid, although I'm sure that political interference is still alive and well.  And then many in the private sector, who had pension arrangements similar to ours, have seen their pension plans torn up and replaced by less generous ones.  So the question is - if I were still working, would I be voting for strike action and prepared to come out?  And the answer is - I simply don't know.  I'm just glad it's a decision I don't have to make.  So am I a hypocrite?

Uh??

When did hats become "fascinators" - and what's the difference?  Being a mere man of advanced years, I don't get it!

Keep that pinch of salt handy.

The strengths of the internet also tend to be its weaknesses.  For example, you can put stuff on there pretending to be who you want, but that equally means that you can't assume that people are who they say they are.  Recent case in point is a blog supposedly written by a Syrian lesbian woman - it now transpires that the author is in fact an American man living in Scotland! So the internet surely is a wonderful thing, but caution is advised.

You couldn't make it up!

Customers at a branch of Barclay's Bank in a town in Essex were surprised to find that although the bank was open, there were no staff.  They were able to wander around, get behind the counter and into the back offices.  It's not known exactly how this happened, but perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the whole business is that, despite a 999 call reporting the matter, it took police over an hour to respond, and it was a further three hours before anybody from Barclay's turned up.  Luckily a few civic minded customers stood guard in the meantime.

Aargh!

Cooked myself a meal the other night, and after I'd eaten it suddenly thought "Oh my God, I've just stir-fried a load of beansprouts!"  But I'm still here, so that's all right.  Did notice though, when I went shopping, that there wasn't the usual crowd round the salad section.  What do you make of all this?  Does washing stuff in cold water get rid of nasty bugs like e-coli?  Does cooking (as with my beansprouts) destroy them?  Speaking personally, I feel I need more information on these matters..

90 not out.

I've always had a sneaking regard for the Duke of Edinburgh.  I had an uncle like him - forthright, told it how he saw it, and whilst never deliberately seeking to offend, wasn't too bothered if in fact he did so. Happy birthday mate.

Reprieve

Well thanks to the family's computer whizz my PC is up an running again, so even if my laptop does fail - and it's seeming more and more likely that the warning messages it keeps throwing up about imminent hard disk failure are just some sort of aberration - I shall be able to keep blogging on the PC.  You don't get rid of me that easily you see!

Formula One

I feel rather more comfortable now that the Bahrain Grand Prix has been called off.  I wasn't quite sure how I felt when the news broke that it was being rescheduled - as a TV spectator I would have enjoyed watching it, but given what has happened (and apparently is continuing to happen) there, I would have felt bad about giving tacit support to what is clearly a not very nice regime.  It would be better if sport and politics could be kept separate, but particularly in today's mercenary world, it just ain't possible - even the cancellation of the race carries with it certain political implications

Ouch!!

I don't know what I have done to offend the computing gods, but my PC has packed up on me, and now my laptop - on which I write this blog - is throwing up messages saying that my hard disk is about to fail!  So if I suddenly stop posting, you'll know why.  Hopefully I can get it all sorted out in due course, but I fear it's going to cost me money!

Those in favour....

Vince Cable talking about the possibility of tougher laws on strikes.  The problem he is seeking to address is somewhat similar to that we have with central or local government elections - if a strike ballot is held and only 40% of the workforce bother to register a vote, and 60% of those who do vote, vote for a strike, the union involved would almost certainly describe that as a mandate to take strike action, despite only 24% (60% of 40%) of the workforce having voted for it.  The question is, do you ignore those who didn't vote (as the unions would have it), or do you make the reasonable assumption that those who didn't vote were not in favour of a strike - apathetic perhaps but certainly not in favour?  I think I've said this before, but not voting can be as much a statement of your stance as voting for or against.  I don't think it would be unreasonable to require a certain percentage of the overall workforce to vote in favour of a strike before one can be called.  Of course, what that percentage should be is another matter.

Barbecues

Why the fascination?  It was a nice sunny weekend - "Let's have a barbecue" said my daughter.  It saved me having to cook, so I was not going to demur, but why a barbecue?  Why not simply cook some sausages, burgers and stuff and eat them outside?  When you think about it, barbecues just create a lot of smoke and smell and there's always the risk that the food will not be cooked properly all the way through, with the attendant health risks.  And yet, there's this sort of glamour associated with outdoor cooking - is it a race memory of when this was how most cooking was done back in the days when we lived in caves, or is it a sort of return to nature thing - like going camping.  Whatever, somehow barbecue food definitely tastes more exotic - so, yum!!

You show me...

A report due out soon will suggest moves designed to curb the "sexualisation" of young children.  Whilst fully understanding the motivation behind this approach, I cannot say I am fully in favour of it.  As far as I am concerned, the sooner kids are introduced to the realities of "the birds and the bees" the better.  As somebody who was brought up in the 40s when such things were never talked about - indeed the fact that there was something to be talked about wasn't even talked about - I know the problems which can arise through ignorance - or even worse, misunderstandings arising from faulty playground gossip  There's a fine line to be trodden to be sure, but I'd much rather have been brought up in today's world than the world of my childhood when it come to matters sexual.

R.I.P.

Miriam Karlin - everybody out!

Remembrance.

RMS Titanic is in the news as it's just a hundred years ago that she was launched.  In a quiet little park in Lichfield you will find a statue of her captain, Captain Smith, but not many people know the story of why it is there.  Captain Smith had no known connection with Lichfield - he was born in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and the statue was originally intended to have a place of honour there, but in the immediate aftermath of the sinking, Captain Smith was generally perceived to be in disgrace, and Hanley refused to accept it.  Lichfield stepped in and provided it with a home.  Some eighty-odd years later, following the intense public interest generated by the blockbuster film "Titanic" Stoke approached Lichfield and said they would be glad to have it back.  I am proud to say that Lichfield told them where to stick their request.  So if you visit Lichfield, take a moment to go to Beacon Park there and pay your respects.

Well I never!

Prize for the most blindingly obvious statement of the year so far?  How about this - "Experts suggest there is a direct link between fly-tipping and the cost of waste disposal".

Nice little earner?

Phase one of the great Olympic Ticket Game is over then.  If you have applied for tickets and money has left your account, then you can presume you've been successful - although it will be some time before you know precisely what you've got.  And if you don't get what you really wanted, the only way you can legally offload unwanted tickets will be to an official Olympic site which doesn't even exist yet, and will not do so until next year - and in the meantime of course your money will be in their coffers earning interest for them.  Or am I being cynical??