| Just a thought… I was less than impressed by a quote from a friend of Sir Fred Goodwin, reported in a Sunday newspaper. Sir Fred, widely blamed for the near collapse of The Royal Bank of Scotland which is now in negotiations with the Treasury over insurance covering £294 billion of toxic assets, has now returned home from exile in France for the sake of his children. The friend's quote is: "It doesn't seem right that Sir Fred and his family have to live like virtual fugitives. He accepts people have a right to criticise him and that he made errors but that does not mean his young family's day-to-day lives should be shattered." It's very hard to feel sympathy for that. When are people going to take responsibility for what they do? His actions have contributed to misery for millions, putting the country into great financial hardship, and one of the by-products of reckless behaviour is that people get hurt, quite possibly your own family. Wouldn't that be a good reason not be reckless in the first place? ----------- A current tv advert says that 74% of 35 brunettes agreed with something or other (I can't remember exactly what...) Just to let you know that this equals 25.9 persons. I wonder where they found the .9 person. Of course, had it been blondes, then...no, I suppose I had better not go there. ----------- You know when you're watching important press conferences on television, well, the words that the people are saying are often continually interrupted with the often loud clicking and whirring of cameras. I can't imagine why. Surely all press boys now use digital cameras, and such cameras are, or can be made, virtually noise-free. They certainly don't incorporate those noisy motorwinds that were used on old film cameras to wind film on rapidly. So what's going on? ----------- Yes, high definition television is sharper than ordinary television (known as SD, standard television). SDTV use 576 lines of 702 pixels (approx 400,000 pixels), whereas HDTV uses 1,080 lines of 1,920 pixels (approx 2,000,000 pixels) - about five times sharper. Of course, some programmes are not improved by HD but football certainly is. Thought you'd like to know. -----------
----------- When did 1,895 as a number become 1895? There seems to be a sloppy convention that a number composed of four digits does not need a comma, although if it's composed of five digits it does - 18,995. Sloppy, inelegant, silly and wrong. 2009 is a year date, 2,009 is a quantity. Sorted. While we're at it, why do we sometimes come across 02 when 2 is meant. For example, at the bottom of a page in a government letter you may well find: page 02 of 03. No, there is no such number as 04, as there is no such number as 035,894. Sloppy, inelegant, silly and wrong. ----------- I came across a notice at a doctor's surgery which said that patients who arrived more than 15 minutes late for an appointment would be asked to rebook. The notice hoped that this would be seen as fair. Of course, I complained that it was not fair. I pointed out that two minutes late was quite enough. I was humoured nicely by the receptionist who looked as me as though I came from a different era (which may be true). Sorry, late is late; there may be a good reason, but that's a different matter. -----------
It's difficult to comment sensibly on this, isn't it? ----------- I heard on the wireless that parents are complaining that their children are not getting a proper education because of continual disruption from other pupils using their mobile phone in class. What on earth is that all about? How have teachers and schools allowed that situation ever to come about? Classes mean no mobile phones. Ever. Sorted. ----------- I've heard of road rage and even pavement rage, but I never thought I'd be affected by a rage like that. The one I'm talking about is travel noise rage. London authorities have spent years improving bus and train services and exhorting me to use public transport. Well, it worked. But now I am continually assailed by announcements. Every stop, every station. All the time. And on my local trains (South West Trains) the announcements are VERY LOUD. It's bad enough that every stop is mentioned in at least three separate announcements; we are also assailed by the whole list of stops from here to there, together with so-called security announcements, and with continual warnings to mind the gap between the train and the platform. The guards I have spoken to (in between the deafening announcements) agree with me that the whole thing is ludicrous; they, like I, have complained to no avail. They point out that it is embarrassing to ask a person on the phone in a quiet-zone carriage not to use the phone when the whole carriage is drowned by continual announcements. Please, can anyone tell me why we have these announcements. I've thought about it carefully and can see no real reason for them. In the old days, it you got on the wrong train and ended up at Crewe instead of Birmingham, you didn't do it again. You learned. I recently travelled from Waterloo to Whitton, a journey of twelve miles. During that short journey I was assailed by LOUD announcements, from which there was no escape, a total of 44 times. Given the pattern of announcements it was clear that announcements were missed on 4 occasions. I have to report that no passengers were lost, no passengers were confused, everything worked perfectly, and everyone knew where they were. They were moments of bliss. UPDATE: I hear that there is a groundswell of rumblings amongst the travelling classes that these constant announcements have gone too far! Revolution is at hand. Long live train noise rage. ----------- Robert Green, the West Ham goalkeeper, recently said that what will be remembered from two seasons ago was the club's amazing escape from relegation rather than the Carlos Tevez affair. (Apologies to non football readers. The Tevez affair was when West Ham illegally used Tevez in their side, and he scored goals that kept West Ham in the Premiership, thereby consigning another club to relegation. It was a scandal, for which they were minimally fined (£5 million).) Green is one of these 'Let's move on' people. They don't realise that it's not for them to decide if we'll move on, but for us to decide. West Ham will always be tainted by the Tevez affair. Just as Margaret Beckett (who on Question Time in relation to the MPs' expenses scandal said that it was time to move on) will always be remembered for her misdemeanours. Just as Tony Blair will always be remembered solely as the prime minister who took us into an illegal invasion. They just don't get it, do they? ----------- I've just spotted in our local paper an item under their heading 10 YEARS AGO. It was from the Rugby Football Union who own the Twickenham Stadium, and dismissed as absolute nonsense rumours that the ground would become a Wembley-style venue hosting Rolling Stone concerts. Guess who played at Twickenham in 2003? ----------- From an Home Office notice for job applications: The Home Office is dedicated to promoting equality, fairness and respect. We will create a working environment where diversity is recognised, valued and celebrated. In delivering our business to our diverse society, we will take care to assess the impact of our policies on race, religion and belief, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation and age equality. Good grief. So, that's common sense out of the window, then. -----------
It looks like there are two ways out, and I fear that the one of the left will supersede the one on the right. What does the symbol on the left do better than the symbol on the right. Answer: nothing. (I bet it's something to do with EU regulations!) ----------- I've just come across a notice from my local council for a teaching assistant. It's for a post in the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service. That's bad enough. (Notice how gipsies have now become Travellers or ' the Roamer community'.) The advert goes on to specify all the things that the successful applicant will have to do, including the ability to travel independently. Then it goes on to say that applications are particularly welcome from people with disabilities who are currently under-represented in the service. My main beef with that is, who decides that disabled people are under-represented? Maybe disabled people don't want the job, maybe disabled people know they will not be able to do the job as well as they would like. How patronising on disabled people. ----------- There's an advertisement in my local paper from a Prof Alhaje Sewo, who says he is a clairvoyant, medium, astrologer, born gifted with spiritual power. I can just about accept that he can say that about himself. However, he goes on to say: 'No matter what your problems are, I can help you to solve them by using the occult sciences and the most powerful spell.' That's pretty dodgy. I thought there were advertising standards prohibiting such nonsense. He then goes on to say: 'If you are suffering from an unknown illness and pain inside your body, I can remove it within a few days.' Now, that is just not acceptable. I thought such quacks were outlawed years ago. Prof Sewo then falls apart by claiming the following: 'I will protect you from evil forces (black magic) and from jealous enemies. Don't suffer in silence. You can see me again for any other problems. My work is serious with confidentiality and quick. Results guaranteed.' Although he doesn't say it, you might as well send him your bank details, as you've probably won a Nigerian lottery. -----------
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