Thanks to the government for getting all techie and allowing us to set up petitions on their own website. Thankfully, someone’s made good use of this and added a petition which covers a lot of bases. I urge any registered UK voter to “sign” it:
I don’t expect the stupid, one-eyed, Scots bastard (I’m going to cop it from the RNIB for that one) to pay the slightest bit of attention. Politicians never do, unless public opinion goes the direction they’re already looking anyway, but it would be nice to let him know how much he’s reviled. I don’t think they’re hiding our PM from the real world in much the way that George W.‘s rose-tinted glasses portrayed him as not universally despised. How that guy didn’t top himself I’ll never know.
A statement was released by the Archbishop of York the other day stating that football games shouldn’t be played on Easter Sunday.
Now his reasons are the usual bunkum about it being a special day or worship (for less than 10% of the UK population if I remember the church attendance figures). Therefore the remaining 90% or so should do without.
[Actually, I just did a quick Google. Church attendance is now measured as “attending at least once per month” and the figures for 2007 were 15% – source]
However.
He’s right. Football shouldn’t be played on Easter Sunday. Or any Sunday. Or indeed on Fridays (and not because it’ll annoy the Jewish or Muslim populations, who incidentally seem to have better things to do than whinge about traffic problems near their synagogues and mosques).
It should be played at the traditional fixture time of Saturday afternoon at 3 o’clock. Think how much easier it would make it to get to those away matches. No more bloody late-night kickoffs in the middle of the weeks meaning a nightmare of a journey between Newcastle and London or whatever.
That way, the only people who get pissed off at the people who own Sky and Setanta because they can’t leach as much money out of us.
For some years now I’ve been harping on about how great Nationwide are as the only UK bank with a debit card you can use abroad for no fees. Likewise, their credit card is one of only three (along with Abbey National and the Post Office) with the same no-fee deal. I even changed my regular current account to them to take advantage of these.
But – you guessed it – no more. From 6 May for its credit card, and 1 June on the debit card, you’ll pay an added 0.84% on spending outside Europe, jumping to 1% in July. Their wording is that they themselves are not adding a fee. They’re simply no longer going to “absorb” the fees that Visa charge to the bank. It’s still – I believe – less than virtually every other bank’s existing charges.
So, without doing a huge amount of research it seems that changing the credit card could be worthwhile but that the debit card (for ATM withdrawals) is still a better deal than any other.
One of these men is a ******* idiot, the other I have hope in
For the first time since I was about 12, I think I’d rather be living in the US than the UK.
I’ve spent all day with BBC News in the background and it’s depressing. So many jobs going, hard-working people being forced onto the dole pile and the pound diving lower almost every minute. My upcoming trip is going to be a lot more expensive than it would have been only 6 months ago.
However, one pair of statements really made my ears prick up.
First up was the Labour plan to exempt MPs from having to disclose their expenses. After all the fuss in recent months regarding those very people screwing us over because they knew they could hide it, what on earth made them think it would be a popular move with the voting public to legalise hiding such details?
Amazingly, though, their own MPs and Conservative opposition actually made loud rumblings against it and it seems it won’t get through – assuming they don’t find another way to bury it. Given the whole Freedom of Information thing, any fiddling would all come to light anyway. Just too late for us to to anything other than point fingers But to try and hide it all in the first place… pathetic.
Completely the opposite was Obama‘s first statement as President. All wages of high-earning White House staff have been capped. The giving and receiving of gifts (*cough*bribes*cough*) banned from lobbyists to members of the Administration. Outright. No more can lobbyists walk into an administrative position and work on anything to do with what they used to lobby for. Likewise, no member of staff can walk out and into a lobbying position against the Administration.
Sheer common sense, but unfortunately simple guidelines that have been ignored in the past. Now they’ve been put into place formally so that hopefully a reduction in corruption will follow.
Essentially, while our government throws a hissy fit about not being able to be secretive, the US government has announced a plan to be more transparent than it has been for decades. As the title says – this is a bit backwards to the last few years, isn’t it?
Today is – I hope – a great day. After eight years of utter madness, a lunatic will hand over the reigns of power to someone who seems to actually be intelligent. Finally, finally, George Bush will leave the office of President of the United States. This day could not have come soon enough.
My impressions of Obama are good, but I’m always wary. One thing he’s certainly doing is living up to his promises of “change”. Guantanamo Bay will begin the shutdown procedure during his first week in office. This alone is a huge step in international relations as it was a clever loophole that avoided the Gevena Convention.
I only hope such things aren’t a little gloss on his first few weeks and that he doesn’t sink into the usual nonsense we’re used to from politicians.
Bush’s final speeches have been full of hyperbole and nonsense, either ignoring or twisting virtually everything he’s done over the last eight years. According to them, he’s overcome problems and managed a surprising number of achievements. No mention of the fact that he’d not have had to overcome so many of these issues if he’s not caused them in the first place.
But let’s not dwell on the past. Let’s hope for the future. I’m very happy to see a new face in the White House, especially one that’s come pretty much from left field. Obama seems genuinely intelligent and pretty honest – and also very keen to stamp his mark in a good way.
I wish him the best. Both out of relief and out of hope and partly out of belief. And I thank America for voting him in. It’s making me genuinely happy to see someone who’s at least not an obvious idiot in the most powerful office in the world.
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