America Goes To the Polls

Today America takes to the polls for its midterm elections. The issues are quite the same as we have high unemployment, increased deficit, public spending, illegal immigration. Without getting into if these issues are artificially created or exaggerated (which they are defiantly at least exaggerated......sorry)

It's funny how the American approach differs to ours. Here the government is trying successfully and fraudulently to lay blame on the previous government. There the government is trying unsuccessfully to lay blame correctly with their previous government. Here there are many people outraged at the governments idealogical drive to destroy public services. There there are many people outraged by the governments attempt to create public services.

Having been to America recently I was amazed at just how flagrant the libertarian propaganda is. Anyone that raises the idea that maybe the way to tackle their massive problem with poverty is to take a little money off the rich is dismissed as commie. Without getting into the problems of having 90% of wealth in the hands of 1% of the population or the problems with professional benefits claimants. At a very basic level I really can't see the problem with providing universal public services. It doesn't stop people from wanting to work to better their lives, it provides a basic level of life for all. After all if society works everyone would be paying for these services (Healthcare, Education etc,)anyway, why not use that combined purchasing power to get those services cheap? Any system that allows children to die because their parents can't earn enough to afford health care just isn't working.

Let's hope that common sense prevails in the end. Only time will tell.

Herberts Halloween Adventure.

Hi my name is Herbert,

I am an Inflatable crocodile.

This is the beginning of my adventures......

....On Saturday 30th October, i went to a 30th party with my two best-friends Cath and Mike. It was an exciting night, the party was for Cath's Drill Sergeant Emma Bailey's 30th birthday. Being so close to Halloween Drill Sergeant Bailey decided to make her party fancy dress....A term that would normally leave Cath and Mike cold and worried, but this time Cath had a plan and Mike had orders from Drill Sergeant Bailey. So the costumes were carefully planned and the props gathered, (That's were i come in to the picture, Mike adopted me from amazon.co.uk. ) and off we three went to the party.



Mike was dressed as Steve Irwin and Cath as Rocky. Drill Sergeant Bailey was very impressed. There was lots of new friends for me to meet, but Mike had to bind my nose to stop me eating any of the children.



We partied-hard and Cath was kind enough to keep slipping me Cider through a straw. We danced and played air guitar. Later having had a few to many sips of Cider i tried out a new look a chilled in the corner.



Than far to soon it was the end of the night. Mike ordered a taxi and we three took our tired selves off to bed.



I had a fantastic time and can't wait for my next adventure.

ConDem Economic policy.

So the ConDems have already shown their true colours. Their massive attack on public services, though unsurprising, are very worrying. Those in the know in local government say ,though it's to early to know the full extent of the cuts the early indication is that they are bad....very bad.

As usual the devil is in the details. The details hide transfer of responsibility for some benefits to the councils from central government, this transfer means cuts to local services of a lot more that the headline 26% over 4 years.

Even worse the ConDems seem to have no Economic policy other than cuts and a little wishful thinking. They seem to think that destroying public services will logically lead to economic growth. Despite the fact £82bn is going to be removed from the economy over the next 4 years. It seems the Tory economic policy is an idiotic parody of the South Park episode Gnomes.

1) Collect UnderpantsMake massive public sector cuts.
2) ??????????
3) ProfitEconomic Growth.

Let's hope that they are right, but in my eyes the Gnomes business plan was much more likely to succeed.


I intend to start a blog thread of CutsWatch where I will document the effects these cuts have on the economy in particular my local town.

Cath's Kilimanjiro - Update

Just to keep people upto date. I haven't heard from Cath since Sunday. I'm thinking her phone has finally given up the ghost. She should be reaching the hotel at some point over the next 24 hours.

Whatever the outcome she's done herself proud.

I've got the Wine/JD on ice and Rocky Balboa in the DVD player, just need to make sure the house is nice and tidy for when she gets back.

Bloody ConDems

Science Spending Cuts.

So the ConDems want to cut the science budget, along with everything else. I suppose if your cutting education spending so scientists of tomorrow end up working at Tesco’s, you don’t need to fund scientific research. What Crazy Dave and his cronies seem to forget is The technologies of tomorrow are based on the scientific break throughs of today. They forget that you can’t always see the economic merit of some research, until many years down the line. Yet another ignorant selfish policy from our rich “friends” this one isn’t just stealing from the poor/middle to give to the rich like their other policies, they are literally selling this great nations future for profits today.

Tuition

Even worse now it seems that you need to be ultra rich to even aspire to a good education. Tutiton fees heading for £10k+ in the best Universities will mean at least Crazy Dave has managed to clear Ox-bridge of those damn talented poor people. At last these two ancient seats of learning will return to what they should be, a social club for public school boys while they wait to be given high payed jobs in the city by friends of their fathers.

Cath's Kilimanjiro - Update

My partner is as i type these words climbing Kilimanjiro. An amazing feat, i and all her friends and family are so proud.

Here for those who may be interested are updates hot off the press. The main update being that mobile phone coveage on kili seems to be very good.

Day 1

She's arrived in Arusha Tanzania. Where she will stay tonight before starting the climb tommorrow.

24+ Hours, 1 Virgin Train, 3 Tube Trains, 3 Flights and a Bus Ride. All that was missing was a camel Ride. Lol. ..and i saw the beast out of the plane window..holy shit!

Day 2

The Climb begins!

It's 6am here we're just getting up to start the climb. You don't get milk in your brew here as if it not being tetleys isn't bad enough.

After Day One of the climb! Amazed to recieve a text didn't think she would get a signal.

Day one on the mountain. Was a long hard day. It was hot an [i] was over heatingbut made it to camp ok ish. Just waitin for tea. We are 3 times as high as snowdon. Was harder than (i) was expectin and the suns gone down and its bl...oody cold. Am ready for food.

Day 3

The going was hard today. Cath said she'd put her head down and used the mantra "Just keep swimming...swimming swimming." which worked and she arrived safe at camp.

Day 4

After Day Three of the climb, recieved text and phonecall from cath. The trek went well and no problems like yesterday. She seemed fired up ready for the big day tomorrow(11th)

I'm Bloody freezing....Day 3 over with goin good. Big day tomorrow full day than a short kip (ie an hour.) Than up and start the try for the s...ummit, can't wait get home get warm...and watch rocky with a chinese and wine.

More to follow.

If you would like to support cath please sponsor her at http://justgiving.com/CatherineLedger

We Got Glasto 2011 Tickets.

Excuse me for a few minute while i happy dance.............


.....thanks for that. It was hard work 3 hours of refreshing using 2 laptops and 2 smart phones but we finally got through, and we are the lucky ones many people were left disappointed after 4 hours plus when the tickets sold out. Frustrations that aren't helped by the bragging of those that allegedly got Glastonbury tickets on the first try. There seemed to be a massive demand this morning, due to last years a-typical good weather no doubt (I'm praying for rain for next year.) So there was always going to be people disappointed, but SeeTickets seem little interested in creating a better user experience, (come on all you need is a few servers that posts nothing but sorry the queue is full please try again, instead of connection refused messages.) This obviously comes back to my Capitalism versus Consumerism rant. SeeTickets could spend money on a better user experience but there isn't any increased profit in it. Quite the opposte they would actually increase there overheads while still selling the same number of tickets. I think Emily Eavis should look into sharing the tickets between two suppliers as this would lead to them competing and leading to a better user experience for everyone.

This will be my 5th Glastonbury and Cath's 6th. It's an amazing place and in my opinion better in the rain. People come together in the rain help each other out cheer people on as they trudge from one stage to another. Last year under clear blue skies and soaring temperatures, people got angry ,frustrated and selfish. Someone pushed my girlfriend over in there rush to get to a better view for Snoop without apology and I got hit on the head with a full can of cider. It was a massive difference to the normal well natured crowd and I'm sure just because of the a-typical weather.


My Top Tips

1. Take as much as you can comfortably carry.
- Remember it may be a long walk and Queue to get from your car to the site! That said unlike other festivals there is very little you can't take in to the site. The sack tuck below is the one we use its served us very well.
2. Don't stick to the main stages.
- There are 30 stages and countless tents with live music and other activities, if you sit yourself and one of the main stages all day your missing so much.
3. Walk up to the park after the headliners
- It's an amazing view.
4. Go on Friday morning nothing happens til than anyway
-.........sorry i'm lying. Lots happens on Thursday. Not much on wednesday most people use it chillin and getting bearings. Arrive between wednesday morning and Thursday midday. Sometimes arriving later is actually better see below.
5. Be prepared for a long traffic jam and to be parked miles away.
-Gone are the days that turning up early means a close parking spot and a short traffic jam. In the last two years as more people come as early as possible, we have started queueing around 9am Wednesday and have averaged about 6 hours to the site!!!! Also carparking has been changed due to the boundary extension. Some of the carparks are miles (not lying) away from the site and arriving early does not mean you will get the closest ones. We had to walk through several empty carparks to get to the gate last year. ...more to come.