Bieber Shot....on CSI

Barclay's pay 1% tax.

Just read this article on the Guardian site.

It seems that instead of paying 28% as they should Barclays in 2009 paid 1%. 1 measly %. They did this through basing subsidiaries in tax havens and arguably some of their profits were generated in other countries by their foreign subsidiaries. Come on this is a British company the lion share of profit should be taxable here.

Barclays argue that they paid £2bn in tax in 2009, however most of this was payroll taxes(i.e Ni and income tax on employees pay.). I'm not a banker but even i know that the tax you pay on behalf of your employees does not count as your tax. Apart from the employers NI this is your employees contribution to the nations coffers not yours.

Tax avoidance at its worst. That's up to £2bn in tax we lost from Barclays alone, how many nurses could that have paid? How many libraries could that have kept open? Is it just Barclays? Is it not possible that the structural deficit might be covered in its entirety if we made big business cough up no-more than what they should pay*?

I can't wait to see the Governments reaction if their is any at all.



*By should pay i mean the meaning of it, 28% of profit! Not the wording, 28% of what you decide was the profit for the bit of your business that isn't run by a goat from a shack in the Caymans.

Liverpool Philharmonic Budget Cut.

I recieved a mail today from the Liverpool Philharmonic ask for my help as their budget will be cut by £450,000 at least this year.

This is thanks to a reduction in grants they get from Liverpool Council, which in turn is thanks to cuts imposed on the council by a bunch of Toffs.

Now I think this is terrible but it seems that Michael Eakin the Chief Executive of Liverpool Philharmonic is asking for people to raise this with Liverpool council. Sorry Michael you've got it misplaced, i'm happy to write letters to MPs about this or donate to the phil direct but its not Liverpool Councils fault. An increase in the phils funding will mean a necessary decrease somewhere else.

I have to agree with Liverpool Council a company that is already gaining 2/3 of its income through private sources, is somewhere that can possible take a cut in grant to save money for Vulnerable Children's care for example.

I love the phil although i have enjoyed it mainly in the form of its commercial successful events, Comedy and Pop music concerts. I think the Phil has other avenues open to it to cover for these cuts, from public donations to sponsorship (I notice straight away no adverts on their website.) and even putting on more commercial shows than they currently do.

To see the post form the phil go here.

Tuesdays Ten "Interesting" Facts 5

1. Current PM David Cameron, is the direct descedant of King William IV and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. ...hmmmm
2. Avocados are highly toxic to parrots.
3. before he was famous Liam Neeson drove a forklift in a Guinness Brewery.
4. Sir Patrick Moore wrote a ballet, its called Lyra's Dream.
5. Possible polymath Harry Connick Jr, isn't just a talented actor,singer, pianist, composer, dancer.....he also invented/wrote a computer program to allow musicians to follow the score on a screen.
6. Robson Green has a class four fire works licence which permits him to perform fireworks displays professionally.
7. Lake Nicaragua hosts the only freshwater sharks in the world.
8. Roald Dahl was a fighter pilot in world war II, after his basic training he crashed in no-man's land between the Allied and Axis forces when he was given the wrong directions and run out of fuel. He would partially recover and play a vital role in the Battle of Athens, and many other engagements. He was later discharged due complications from the injures he sustained.
9. Dolly Parton insured her boobs for $1 million each.
10. During the Manhattan project applicants for routine jobs in Alamogordo were rejected if they could read. The milltary did not want employees to be able to read the research notes.

Coldplay To Headline the Pyramid stage

Though it’ll be sometime in April before we get the “Full List” and sometime in June before the excellent clash finder is finished. The slow drip of officially confirmed bands has begun.

With the announcement that Coldplay will make there long over due return to the Pyramid stage on 25th June. They join unconfirmed but very highly rumoured U2, Beyonce and Prince.

Personally I am holding out for Arcade Fire, Foo Fighters and (wishful thinking) QOSTA. All of whom are touring at the right time. Fingers crossed.

It wont be long until I am a blibbering mess of anticipation, as i tick the days off till i'm back were everything makes sense. Let's just hope its a wet one this year.

Lancashire tea

It came to my attention recently that not only is there a Lancashire tea, but it is made in my home town. I wouldn’t have thought we had the climate to grow tea.

So as part of my personal localism agenda to fight the horrid attack on my town’s prosperity by a bunch of callous Eton boys, I intend on pushing this brand like noone has ever pushed a brand before.

Name That Game.

The following was just posted on Spree4's facebook page.

"Name that Game will be restarting tomorrow, so make sure you tune in to win Spree4 credits and a £50 Amazon voucher! Check our Name that Game tab for more info."

This is the second time, they've done this. Basic premise is they put a mostly obscured picture on the facebook page of an old video game. They invite people to guess, if no-one gets it they un-obscure some more of the picture until someone gets it.

Last time it went from being stupidly easy to rather hard, but was quite a bit of fun.

Winner receives 10 spree4 credits, and gets entered into a 5 way draw (well last time it was 1 in 5) to win a £50 Amazon voucher.

To play Join their facebook page here.

Tuesdays Ten "Interesting" Facts 4

1. Salvador Dali once arrived at an art exhibit in a limousine filled with turnips.
2. 2 adults sharing a double bed have less average space than a baby in a cot.
3. Juan Potomachi left £25,000 to his local Theatre on the condition his skull be used when performing Hamlet.
4. Muarry Walker of F1 fame drove a tank in World War II.
5. Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore used to share a flat.....
6. ....As did Michael Douglas and Danny DeVito.
7. Director David Lynch plays Bass Guitar for Heavy Metal group "Blue Bob"
8. before finding fame Davina McCall was a singing waitress in Paris.
9. Monaco's national orchestra is bigger than its army.
10. Tom Hanks doesn't make a good brew.*

*In "You've got mail" he makes Meg Ryan a brew and can only have waved the bag at the water. You've got to let it steep Tom. Personally i like it to brew for at least a 90 seconds.

Oh dear.

This is a friend, letting off some steam about ...erm...well.. something to do with football. Any who I'm not adverse to the odd ill conceived paper throwing outburst of rage myself. So without further delay here for your enjoyment is Jacko and his Ode to Torres....

Whoops he's disabled sharing on that vid so. To see it click here.

Dune Messiah(Novel) Review

Following on from my review of Dune last week. I thought i'd continue on with the next novel in the saga, Dune Messiah. Its important to remember that he Author the great Frank Herbert saw Dune Messiah as the fourth book to the dune novel. In essence making both novel part of one larger story. That said there is a distinct break in the story..

..Its tweleve years since Paul Muad'Dib (Atreides) lead the Freeman to victory over the Emperor and his Sardaukar. Paul now presides over the greatest empire ever known, after the Freeman Jihad he set in motion has waged across a large majority of human space. Despite his political and personnel power, Paul struggles to limit the destruction caused by the religion built around him. A religion ,that some think, no longer needs their living God to be quite so living. Paul struggles with the knowledge that he has caused so much death, but his prescience tells him this was the lesser of evils and that the future could still lead to humanities extinction if he cannot find the right path.

Meanwhile the Bene Gesserit, Spacing Guild and Tleilaxu resent that Pauls Empire usurps the power they had in the previous Imperium. They set their conspiracy to topple Paul and return themselves to power, but are all members of the conspiracy happy to return to the status quo or do they play for a greater prize?

Over the years my love for Dune Messaih has grown somewhat. When I first read it I was young and resented what I saw as sad ending for Paul. Over the proceeding years and the many many rereads I came to agree with Herbert the typical Superman isn't a very good character. Arguably Paul is a rather more fleshed out superman than your son's of Krypton or your Spidermans. Rather than being born with powers or as a result of some accident Paul gains his prescient powers through a ”painful and slow personal progress”. Also Paul isn't the exception to the norm the guild and Bene Gesserit both have members with limited versions of his prescient gift and in the Freeman and Sardaukar we have a large number of normal people who through training have gained almost superhuman fighting skills. This is where Herbert excels himself he presents his superman with trails that really stretch his abilities and where a perfect ending is impossible. In essence Paul is no longer a superman just a great man and a true Messiah.

If you've read Dune you will probably have read this but if not you really really must.

The Kat's Bookshelf - Open.

Recent visitors may have noticed the new links at the top of the page. The newest of these are "The Kat's Bookshelf".

Its still a work in progress but is a catalogue of the many books that I currently have stashed across 2 houses, 1 caravan, work and in friends possession. Its got quick links to reviews for those books iI have reviewed and links to purchase them if you want.

I've separated the books out into read, reading and to read. Also I have a wish-list that might come in handy for anyone that wants to buy my presents.

It's by no stretch of the imagination finished, and will take some time to finish but it's already around 100 strong and growing fast. Feel free to have a look, more info on every book is available courtesy of Amazon on the "Buy this book" links.

Sale Seems to be working.

Spree4.com's sale seems to be working well.

They've already had a Nintendo Wii go for £9.80 today already. That's two Wiis that have gone recently.

I'm reliably informed that the Amazon Kindles, iPod Nanos and iPhone 4s are very hot at the moment to. So keep an eye on those auctions for the best deals.

Although with all the movement on the site due to the Super Sunday sale who knows what will go next, or for how much.

Spree4 "Super Sunday" Sale

The guys at spree4 are having a Sale. Unlike the last time their giving everyone a bit of warning. All day tomorrow any small or medium bid package bought by a fan of their facebook page will receive 50% free.


To take advantage of this offer you need

1. To be a member of spree4.com (its free to join)
2. Be a fan of their facebook page.
3. By a small or medium bid package. (£10 or £20 respectivly)
4. If you spree4.com account is under a different name than your facebook profile. Comment on the Sale post in facebook with your spree4 username.(so they know who you are.)
5. Have done all of the above by the midnight tonight (06/02/2011)

Their admins will than add your 50% extra credits. Products on spree4 include Amazon Kindle, PS 3, Xbox 360 with Kinnect, the amazing iPod nano and much much more.

Personal Trainer Week 4

I made it! I survived four weeks. At times I didn't think I would, at others I kind of hoped I wouldn't, but I did it.

This week just to make it that bit more thoroughly exhausting, Joe suggested I do his "Pads and Abs" Class on Monday. This making it three nights in a row. Stupidly I agreed that this did indeed sound like a good way to begin my week. Not such a good idea when abs exercises somehow were hurting my hamstring.

Suitable stretched and warmed up we continued to Tuesday's personal class. In which I did the dreaded rowing intervals.....twice. Plenty of kettlebells and weights. I left tired, hungry, aching and wondering how I would survive circuits the next day.

Wednesday circuits. My arms were heavy, my legs tired and my get up and go had got up and gone. It was an hour of sweat and pain. One hour later however, I stood triumphant.........well leaned triumphant......leaned and tried not to fall down.

Open letter to Norman Baker.

"I accept that the funding settlement for local authorities from DCLG is challenging. It's good to see some councils are approaching this imaginatively, finding savings in procurement and council officers' salaries. However, some are just reaching for the axe."

Regional transport minister Norman Baker.

Showing yet again the difference between a Liberal and a Tory is the sniff of power.

I really wish MPs would have the nerve to tell the truth. Don't blame councils having to make tough decisions on them ideologically or lazily reaching for the axe.

I know that’s the plan, Lets lay blame for all the bad things on naughty councils so that you can reach the next election un-soiled by what you have created. Oh dear I’ve let the cat out of the bag.

The settlement, which some council’s have been enforced to take require cuts to services no matter how imaginative they are. Its fine if your in a conservative borough that is only facing a small 2% cut, but here in the north in Labour councils we are facing cuts of well above 20%. Independent of how well run or efficient they were before. I bet some councils wish they hadn’t bothered making efficiency savings over the last ten years as that hasn’t even been considered in the settlements.

I also like that fact that council workers contracts can be renegotiated to pay less at the drop of a hat yet banker’s pay/contracts are sacred. Have they never heard of market forces, people are paid what the market suggests is appropriate. Most Chief Executives are more than qualified to switch to the private sector and earn many multiples of their current pay, why should they take a cut, the same situation is true for IT staff, personnel staff, procurement etc.

Tuesdays Ten "Interesting" Facts 3

1. Squids sometimes commit suicide by eating their own tentacles.
2. The only food cockroaches wont eat is cucumber. "But it doesn't taste of anything Mr Cockroach." "I'm still not eating it."
3. Hamster's blink one eye at a time. That's why the only two things it is impossible to sneak up on are ninjas and Hamsters.
4. Anthropologists know of no human society/tribe where the children do not play hide and seek.
5. The average nipple size is 0.27 inches for women and 0.22 for men.
6. Alfred Hitchcock had no belly button. It was removed during surgery.
7. Before he was famous Huey Lewis slaughtered rabbits. Well you have to keep busy
8. In order to find his character for Godfather part II Robert De Niro learnt to speak Sicilian.
9. The name Wendy was invented for the novel Peter Pan.
10. Walt Disney first started drawing cartoons professionally in exchange for free haircuts.

Kettlebell Workout.

Anne asked for details about the Kettle Bell workout, that Cath got a while ago. So here it is. Along with said Kettlebells.



It comes highly recommended. I’ve watched it and it looks very good and it even gives you “options” if you’re not up to the full workout yet. As with all these DVDs do as much as you can, and try not to collapse in a heap on the floor.



Cath recommends starting with the 6kg, with the 4kg as "arrggghh my arms are going to drop off" back up. Than working your way up.